Vajra Gu must be matured with flesh and blood.
And Love Gu must be matured with a cultivator's lust!
Fang Cheng had visited Miaoxiang Tower a few times. Aside from putting on an act, he spent most of his time secretly refining Gu.
The clientele of Miaoxiang Tower was incredibly diverse. In addition to loose cultivators from within a ten-thousand-mile radius, there was no shortage of prodigies from the major cultivation families, as well as disciples from the Yinluo Sect's Outer Sect, Inner Sect, and even True Disciples!
According to rumor, even a certain Peak Master from the Yinluo Sect was a regular at Miaoxiang Tower...
Just as the flesh and blood of powerful Demon Beasts could accelerate the maturation of Vajra Gu, the lust of powerful cultivators could accelerate the maturation of Love Gu.
After achieving minor success in his Gu arts, Fang Cheng's speed at refining Love Gu far exceeded his expectations.
In just over a month, he had refined a Tier One Middle Grade Love Gu.
If he were given another year or so, he could refine a Tier One Upper Grade Love Gu, even with his Early Sensing Stage cultivation!
'Fang Cheng, oh, Fang Cheng, how can you indulge in refining Gu... The Gu Dao is just a side path. My cultivation realm and magical power are what's truly fundamental!'
Standing on the street outside Miaoxiang Tower, Fang Cheng reflected with a sense of shame.
In this Cultivation Realm, the strong preyed on the weak and crises lurked at every turn. Improving his strength was an urgent necessity.
He had unknowingly wasted over a month at Miaoxiang Tower. He had been far too careless.
'Today, I'll go hunt some Demon Beasts. The Vajra Gu, Poison Gu, and Wine Gu need to be taken care of as well.'
Unlike the Love Gu, the other Gu Insects could be cultivated directly in the Gu Pit back in his small courtyard.
'If only Miaoxiang Tower would let me dig a Gu Pit in their basement... how wonderful that would be...'
Fang Cheng sighed softly, crossed the market's main street, and passed under the archway of the West Gate of the Market. He then summoned a cloud of light and flew toward the Demon Beast Wilderness Island.
Aboard the cloud of light, he flipped his hand over, and a Gu Insect the size of a copper coin appeared in his palm.
The Gu Insect's body was like suet jade, but its pair of small eyes were a seductive, powdery pink, giving off a soul-stealing sensation.
This Love Gu could improve a cultivator's romantic luck and was best at seducing, attracting, and bewitching the opposite sex.
If one carried the Love Gu with them long-term, it could also gradually improve their appearance and disposition, enhancing their personal charm.
Following a familiar path, Fang Cheng arrived at the Demon Beast Wilderness Island, plunged into the dense jungle, and began searching for Demon Beasts.
The Abyssal Marsh was a place where the spirit veins of Yun Country converged, and its Spiritual Qi concentration far surpassed that of other regions.
Therefore, in addition to Human Race cultivators, it also attracted many Demon Beasts.
Within the entire Abyssal Marsh, there were over a hundred such Demon Beast Wilderness Islands!
Of course, the locations of high-tiered spiritual veins had long been occupied by the Yinluo Sect, while other, second-rate spirit veins were controlled by the major cultivation families.
The quality of the spirit veins on this wilderness island was mixed, so it hadn't attracted any particularly powerful Demon Beasts. It was said that the strongest Demon Beast on the island was merely Tier One Upper Grade.
This corresponded to a Late-stage Sensing Cultivator.
Fang Cheng mostly stuck to the outer edges of the island, only occasionally approaching the center to search for a slightly weaker Tier One Mid Stage Demon Beast.
With his current strength, he was far from ready to face a Tier One Upper Grade Demon Beast head-on.
Within the Abyssal Marsh, Tier One Demon Beasts were the most numerous. Tier Two Demon Beasts appeared occasionally but would be slain by members of the cultivation families or True Disciples of the Yinluo Sect.
As for Tier Three Demon Beasts, they were only heard of in legends.
...
Not long after Fang Cheng entered the Demon Beast Wilderness Island.
Beyond the island, in a sky as clear as washed jade, a speck of red light first appeared, growing closer from the distance.
Then, the red light transformed into a blazing ball of crimson fire that descended from the sky. The flames flared and then vanished, revealing a beautiful female cultivator with a graceful figure.
She wore a magnificent black Profound Gold patterned long skirt, and her hair was styled in a Cloud-Pile Palace Bun. A Waterdrop Red Jade adorned her brow. On her face, a beauty that could make fish sink and geese fall, was a faint smile.
The woman glanced at the island with her beautiful eyes and scanned it with her Divine Sense for a moment. Seemingly having discovered something, she chose a direction and flew straight into the Demon Beast jungle.
...
「In the jungle.」
Fang Cheng stood beneath a towering ancient tree that would take three people to encircle, retracting his sword light with lingering fear.
Before him, a giant ape about ten feet tall lay on the ground, its massive head severed from its powerful body. Demon blood sprayed everywhere.
This was the second Tier One Mid Stage Demon Beast Fang Cheng had slain today, a Strong Demon Ape.
"That was close!"
Fang Cheng glanced at his chest. Three claw marks, each about an inch deep, were a shocking sight. If he hadn't dodged quickly, he would have been disemboweled.
The protective spiritual light from his Third Layer of Sensing cultivation couldn't block the Strong Demon Ape's attack at all.
If not for his minor mastery of the Cyan Profound Sword Technique, he would have undoubtedly lost this battle.
'I can't be this reckless anymore. From now on, I should stick to the outer areas of the island...'
Fang Cheng stored the Demon Ape's corpse in his storage bag. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed what looked like a wooden hut nestled in the dense canopy of the large tree.
'Could this be where the Demon Ape usually cultivated?'
He muttered to himself, and with a flicker of his body, he flew up into the canopy and arrived in front of the wooden hut.
The wooden hut was small and crude, but it could provide shelter from the wind and rain.
Inside, some spirit fruits, medicinal herbs, and many broken cultivator magical artifacts were scattered about, apparently collected by the Demon Ape.
Fang Cheng went in and rummaged around. "No Spirit Stones, no storage bags..." he said, disappointed. "Huh?"
Suddenly, he unearthed a palm-sized jade talisman. Although the spiritual light on it was dim, it was mostly intact.
Carved on the Jade Talisman was a fierce beast that looked like a cross between a dragon and an elephant. The patterns were simple yet grand, concealing a hint of Daoist rhyme, making it look quite extraordinary.
'It was probably left behind by the cultivator who fell to the Demon Ape,' Fang Cheng speculated as he put the Jade Talisman away.
'I'll study this talisman carefully after I get back to the market.'
The few spirit fruits and herbs were of Tier One Lower Grade quality and could be sold for a few Spirit Stones back at the market, so Fang Cheng collected them all.
He turned, left the wooden hut, and floated lightly down from the tree.
Before he could land steadily on his feet, his vision blurred, and a figure in a black skirt appeared before him.
Fang Cheng smelled a faint, unusual fragrance wafting toward him.
Lifting his gaze, he saw a beautiful female cultivator in a magnificent black skirt standing before him.
The woman in black looked at Fang Cheng, her gaze falling upon his handsome, distinguished face. A strange glint flashed in her beautiful eyes.
'Fang Hen's junior brother is certainly handsome.'
A smile touched the corners of her lips. She executed a family secret technique, and her eyes began to glow with a mysterious light as she looked at Fang Cheng.
'I'd like to see just how he escaped the Celestial Demon Curse.'
She channeled her magical power and activated the secret technique, instantly inspecting Fang Cheng from top to bottom, inside and out, but found nothing.
She only sensed that his soul was robust and unimpeded. His body was also perfectly ordinary, with no rare treasures or protective divine techniques from a powerful expert.
'Strange. Could it be that he was born with great fortune and profound destiny, and that's how he resisted the Celestial Demon Curse?'
A moment later, the woman in black retracted her magic and frowned in thought.
She had always been extremely confident in her own abilities. If the man before her had some "fortuitous encounter," it surely wouldn't have escaped her pupil technique.
The only explanation was that this young man was born with profound destiny and possessed great fortune, which was how he had escaped the Celestial Demon Curse.
Cultivators of this type were born with a root of wisdom and outstanding comprehension.
'That must be it. Otherwise, he wouldn't possess such outstanding attainments in sword techniques, and Fang Hen's master would not have passed his legacy down to him.'
The woman in black gradually became certain of her speculation.
...