Chapter 24 – Blood Refinement
The battle had ended.
The forest was littered with corpses.
Fang Yuan didn't waste a single moment.
He raised his hand.
A strange Gu worm flew out from his aperture.
It hovered above the corpse of the Thousand Beast King.
A faint suction force emerged.
Blood slowly seeped from the enormous body.
Streams of crimson liquid gathered together and flowed into another Gu worm.
A Blood Storage Gu.
The blood was rapidly collected and stored inside.
Fang Yuan then moved toward the corpses of the Hundred Beast Kings.
He collected their blood as well.
Then...
He began harvesting the useful materials.
Fangs.
Claws.
Hair.
Bones.
Tendons.
Even several pieces of exceptionally tough hide.
Nothing was wasted.
Li Tianyu watched from the side.
He didn't ask.
He already had a rough idea of what Fang Yuan intended to do.
After everything useful had been collected...
The two continued traveling.
Eventually...
They found a secluded cave deep within the mountains.
A Hundred Beast King occupied it.
Fang Yuan entered without hesitation.
Several breaths later...
A massive corpse was dragged out.
The Hundred Beast King had been killed.
Fang Yuan didn't bother explaining.
He simply entered the cave.
Li Tianyu followed.
The cave was surprisingly deep.
After reaching a sufficiently secluded chamber...
Fang Yuan finally stopped.
He glanced around.
His eyes were calm.
There was no need to worry about being disturbed here.
His luck path methods had already helped him determine that the surrounding area was relatively safe.
More importantly...
Fang Yuan had absolute confidence in his own strength.
Even without relying on expendable Gu worms or other emergency methods...
His current combat strength was already comparable to an ordinary Rank Three Gu Master.
Li Tianyu, on the other hand, could normally only fight at the Rank Two level.
Although he possessed several expendable Rank Three Gu worms...
Those could only be used as trump cards in an emergency.
They did not represent his true, sustained combat strength.
Therefore...
Fang Yuan had no reason to believe Li Tianyu would suddenly attack him.
If Li Tianyu truly wanted to fight...
Fang Yuan was confident he could suppress him.
With that assurance...
Fang Yuan calmly sat down.
Then...
He began refining Gu.
.....
A Rank Three Gu worm appeared before him.
Fang Yuan calmly activated it.
A large quantity of refinement materials emerged from its storage space.
Each material was placed with precise control.
Blood.
Fangs.
Several uncommon plants.
Fang Yuan processed each material with astonishing efficiency.
There was no hesitation.
No wasted movement.
Every step was executed with absolute precision.
The materials gradually merged.
The Gu worm trembled violently.
Fang Yuan's expression remained unchanged.
His fingers moved.
Another Gu worm activated.
The surrounding blood began to boil.
A faint bloody glow spread through the cave.
The refinement continued.
Several hours later...
The glow gradually faded.
A Rank Three Gu worm floated quietly before Fang Yuan.
He immediately stored it away.
Then...
He began another refinement.
This one was considerably more complicated.
The materials from the Thousand Beast King were incorporated one after another.
The blood essence.
The hardened bones.
The sharp fangs.
Even the beast's exceptionally tough hide.
Fang Yuan's movements remained calm.
Eventually...
Another Rank Three Gu worm was successfully refined.
Two Rank Three Gu worms.
Five Rank Two Gu worms.
Li Tianyu quietly watched the process.
He didn't know exactly how many Gu worms Fang Yuan possessed.
But he could already tell...
It was a considerable number.
These seven Gu worms weren't Fang Yuan's entire collection.
They were merely the ones refined during this period of time.
In fact...
Fang Yuan had been doing things like this repeatedly over the past several weeks.
Hunting beasts.
Collecting materials.
Refining Gu.
Again and again.
At first...
Fang Yuan probably hadn't possessed many high-rank Gu worms.
Yet his arsenal had gradually expanded.
And only recently had Fang Yuan begun displaying genuine Rank Three combat strength.
Li Tianyu's eyes narrowed slightly.
But another question immediately surfaced.
How was Fang Yuan feeding all these Gu worms?
Normally...
Maintaining a large number of Gu worms was an enormous burden.
Every Gu worm required food.
Some needed food every few days.
Others required rare resources that were difficult to obtain.
Yet Fang Yuan showed no concern whatsoever.
Li Tianyu's gaze briefly swept across Fang Yuan.
He had seen Fang Yuan take out Rank Three and even Rank Four storage Gu before.
Not just one.
Several.
Fang Yuan clearly possessed an astonishing amount of storage space.
Li Tianyu wasn't surprised.
Fang Yuan was a former Venerable.
There was no reason to doubt that he possessed extraordinary storage methods.
Those storage Gu likely contained an enormous variety of resources.
Including...
Gu food.
Enough to sustain many Gu worms for months.
Li Tianyu's thoughts continued.
'As for how he obtained all those resources...'
He already had his own guess.
This was Fang Yuan.
A former Venerable.
There was no reason to believe that he lacked methods for accumulating resources.
During their time on the battlefield, Fang Yuan could have easily used some profound concealment method to hide his appearance, aura, and cultivation.
He could change his identity.
He could disguise himself.
He could move through the battlefield without attracting attention.
Perhaps he had secretly purchased large quantities of Gu food and refinement materials under various identities.
And perhaps...
He had even disguised himself as Li Tianyu.
Li Tianyu's eyes narrowed slightly.
That possibility wasn't as absurd as it sounded.
After all...
He had already become infamous for stealing Gu worms.
If someone appeared to be Li Tianyu while stealing Gu worms...
Who would immediately suspect that another person was impersonating him?
The rumors would only become more convincing.
The stolen Gu worms could then be sold or exchanged for resources.
It was an extremely efficient way to accumulate wealth while keeping the real culprit hidden.
Li Tianyu had even vaguely remembered several strange incidents from the battlefield.
There had been occasions when someone resembling him had been spotted.
At the time, he hadn't paid much attention to it.
Now...
Everything seemed to make sense.
'So it was probably you.'
Li Tianyu glanced at Fang Yuan.
There was another detail that he could now explain.
If Fang Yuan had indeed been the one impersonating him...
Then Li Tianyu could guess another reason why Fang Yuan hadn't targeted Rank Two Gu worms or higher on the battlefield.
Li Tianyu already suspected that Fang Yuan had believed him to be Spectral Soul's reincarnation.
If that were the case...
Fang Yuan could have easily disguised himself as Li Tianyu and stolen Rank Two or even higher Gu worms.
The evidence would naturally point toward Li Tianyu.
His bounty would increase.
The super clans would become even more suspicious of him.
And eventually...
They might decide to eliminate him.
Fang Yuan could then eliminate the supposed reincarnation of Spectral Soul...
Without dirtying his own hands.
Yet he hadn't done so.
Why?
Because as long as Li Tianyu remained on the battlefield...
His identity was useful.
Fang Yuan could continue using his appearance as a convenient cover while quietly accumulating resources.
There was no need to expose such a useful disguise prematurely.
But then...
Li Tianyu had suddenly left the battlefield.
That opportunity had disappeared.
The plan, if it had existed at all...
Had been disrupted.
Li Tianyu's eyes flickered.
'So you've probably been preparing for quite some time.'
Across from him...
Fang Yuan remained completely focused on refining Gu.
He showed no sign of having noticed Li Tianyu's thoughts.
The cave once again fell silent.
Only the faint sounds of Gu refinement echoed through the darkness.
Li Tianyu looked at the Rank Three and Rank Two Gu worms beside Fang Yuan.
His expression gradually became solemn.
His own combat strength had already surpassed ordinary Rank Two Gu Masters.
But Fang Yuan...
Even at Rank One...
Already possessed an arsenal capable of supporting Rank Three combat strength.
And this was merely what Li Tianyu could see.
The true extent of Fang Yuan's foundation...
Was probably far greater.
Li Tianyu silently sighed.
'As expected of a former Venerable.'
The foundation accumulated over an entire lifetime...
Was not something that could simply disappear with a change in cultivation.