The Liquor worm's body size was like that of a baby silkworm. Its entire body emitted a pearl-like white light, slightly chubby, and its appearance was very cute.
It fed on wine and water and was capable of flying through the air. During flight, it would curl its body into a ball, and its speed was quite fast.
Although it was a Rank 1 Gu worm, its value was more precious than some Rank 2 Gu worms.
If used as a vital Gu, it would be much better than the Moonlight Gu.
At this time, such a Liquor worm was clinging to a green spear bamboo merely fifty to sixty steps away from Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan held his breath, not approaching rashly, but slowly taking steps back.
He knew that although this distance was very close, for a Gu Master who had only just awakened his aperture to directly capture the Liquor worm, it was extremely difficult, or to say, there was fundamentally no hope of success.
Although with Fang Yuan's current eyesight he could not yet see the appearance of the Liquor worm clearly, he sensed the Liquor worm's vigilance toward him in the unseen.
Fang Yuan retreated very slowly and gently, trying his best not to alarm the Liquor worm.
He knew that if the Liquor worm wanted to fly away, with his own speed he simply could not catch up. Only by waiting until it drank to intoxication and its flight speed slowed down would he have a chance to capture it.
Seeing Fang Yuan retreat further and further away, the Liquor worm lying along the bamboo pole could not help but become restless in its body.
The intense wine fragrance ahead tempted it, attracted it, and made it dream of it. If it had drool, it probably would have already dripped a large pool of drool by now.
But the Liquor worm's vigilance remained high. Fang Yuan retreated two hundred steps before it finally contracted its body and leaped into the air.
When it floated through the air, it curled its body into a dumpling shape, looking like a little white tangyuan.
The tangyuan drew a smooth arc through the air, landing on the clump of grass where Fang Yuan had sprinkled the Green Bamboo wine.
With the delicious food right before its eyes, the Liquor worm dropped most of its guard. It climbed impatiently toward the flower bud containing the wine liquid and stuck its head in, leaving only its chubby tail outside.
It was extremely hungry, and the Green Bamboo wine was so delicious. It sucked in large gulps, quickly immersing itself in the deliciousness of the food and throwing Fang Yuan to the back of its mind.
Only at this time did Fang Yuan begin to cautiously and quietly approach.
He saw the Liquor worm's tail outside the flower bud. This tail was like the tail of a baby silkworm, chubby and round, and the halo it emitted brought pearls to mind.
At first, its tail hung outside, motionless.
Then shortly after, this tail began to bob up and down; clearly, the Liquor worm was drinking very happily.
By the end, when Fang Yuan had already approached to a distance of ten steps, its tail swayed left and right, swinging back and forth with a cheerful rhythm.
Completely hyped up from drinking!
Seeing this scene, Fang Yuan narrowly laughed out loud.
He did not continue advancing, but waited patiently. If he pounced forward now, he would be quite confident in capturing the Liquor worm, but Fang Yuan still wanted this Liquor worm to lead the way and take him to the remains of the Flower Wine Monk.
Not long after, the Liquor worm withdrew from the flower bud. Its body had fattened by a circle. Its head swayed unsteadily, like a drunkard, actually completely unaware of Fang Yuan's presence.
It climbed onto another tender yellow wild flower, rested in the stamens, and feasted on the wine dew.
After finishing this time, it finally felt full. Its body slowly shrank into a ball on the petals, then slowly flew up, rising until it reached a height of about one and a half meters from the ground, before leisurely flying toward the depths of the bamboo forest.
Fang Yuan hurriedly broke into a run to follow it.
The Liquor worm was already completely drunk, and its flight speed had dropped to half of its usual pace. But even so, Fang Yuan had to run with all his might to keep up with its figure.
The night scene was as clear as if washed. The youth shuttled rapidly through the bamboo forest, chasing a speck of pearl snow not far ahead.
The moonlight was gentle, and the clear breeze blew slowly. The bamboo forest was as clear as accumulated water. The emerald green spear bamboos flashed rapidly before Fang Yuan's eyes and then fell behind the youth.
On the ground was lush green grass dotted with blooming wildflowers.
There were also small stones covered with moss, and ungrown tender yellow bamboo shoots.
Fang Yuan's faint phantom shadow also traveled rapidly across the ground, crossing the straight black lines cast by the green spear bamboos.
He stared fixedly at that speck of snow shadow. Amidst the hidden fragrance of the wine, he breathed heavily the fresh air of the mountain forest, moving his legs to follow closely behind.
Due to the rapid traversal, the moonlight below his eyes passed like water, lights and shadows flickering frequently, seemingly like galloping in water overgrown with waterweeds.
The Liquor worm flew out of the bamboo forest, and Fang Yuan also rushed out of the bamboo forest. From a large patch of bright white flowers with slightly yellow centers, a flurry of petals scattered from the wind kicked up beside his legs.
A swarm of Dragon Pill Crickets acting like a flowing musical poem just happened to flow to the front. As Fang Yuan charged straight past them, with a rush, an expanse of red rosy clouds burst open before his eyes, scattering into a patch of red shooting stars and fireflies.
A quietly flowing mountain stream paved with pebbles, its murmuring surface reflecting the spring moon of the night sky, was shattered into tens of thousands of silver ripples by the slapping sounds of Fang Yuan wading through it.
What a pity a stream of wind and moon, trampled and broken into pieces of jade.
Fang Yuan was relentless in his pursuit, following firmly behind the Liquor worm.
Moving upstream along the mountain stream, he could already faintly hear the sound of a waterfall. After turning past a sparse patch of woods, he saw the Liquor worm fly into a crevice of a giant rock.
Fang Yuan's eyes instantly brightened, and only then did he stop his footsteps.
"So it is at this place." He panted heavily, his heart thumping wildly. Halting like this, he instantly felt covered in sweat all over. A rush of heat washed through his entire body with the accelerated flow of his blood.
Looking around, he discovered this was a shallow riverbank.
Large and small cobblestones covered the ground, and the river water was only about a finger's width higher than the cobblestones. There were also blocks of gray-white giant rocks scattered casually here.
On the back mountain of Qingmao Mountain, there was a gigantic waterfall.
The waterfall's water flow changed along with the weather. It cascaded thousands of feet, crashing out a deep pool. Beside the deep pool was Bai Village, possessing vigorous power, only stronger and not weaker than Gu Yue Village.
The waterfall also had branches. Clearly, what Fang Yuan faced was a branch among branches.
This riverbank was usually dry. But there was a heavy rain recently, falling continuously for three days and three nights, which led to a shallow stream of water accumulating here.
The source of the flowing water was the giant rock the Liquor worm had drilled into.
The giant rock leaned against the vertical mountain wall. A slender miniature waterfall branched out from the main waterfall, drooping down against the mountain wall like a giant silver python. Crashing on the giant rock, over the passing of long days and months, it had scoured a crevice through the center of this giant rock.
Currently, the waterfall was washing down, the water flow rumbling slightly. Like a pure white screen, it completely blocked off this crevice of the giant rock.
Taking advantage of the time spent observing and sizing up, Fang Yuan's breathing was no longer so hurried. A glint of firm light flashed across his eyes. Walking to the side of the giant rock, he took a deep breath, lowered his head, and charged in.
The crevice of the giant rock was quite large; two adult men walking side by side would have no problem. Let alone Fang Yuan's body, which was just that of a fifteen-year-old youth.
As soon as he charged in, the rapid water flow pressed Fang Yuan's body downward. At the same time, the freezing water completely drenched Fang Yuan from head to toe all at once.
Bearing the water pressure, Fang Yuan took rapid steps forward. After walking a few dozen steps, the water pressure gradually lessened.
But the width of the crevice also shrank accordingly, and Fang Yuan had no choice but to walk with his body turned sideways.
Beside his ears was the rumbling sound of water. Above his head was a patch of bright white. Deeper inside the giant rock was a mass of darkness.
What was hidden in the darkness?
Perhaps a gloomy and slimy venomous snake, perhaps a highly toxic gecko, perhaps traps set by the demon Flower Wine Monk, or perhaps empty of anything.
Fang Yuan moved sideways just like this, slowly squeezing into the darkness.
The water flow above his head was gone. The stone walls were covered in moss, extremely slippery as they rubbed against the skin of Fang Yuan's body.
Fang Yuan was completely swallowed by the darkness. The stone crevice also grew narrower and narrower, gradually rendering him unable to turn his head freely.
Fang Yuan gritted his teeth, continuing forward.
After walking over twenty steps, he found there seemed to be a patch of red light moving in the darkness.
At first, he thought it was an illusion, but blinking his eyes and taking a closer look, he could then confirm that this was indeed a light!
This discovery lifted his spirits.
Continuing for another fifty to sixty steps, the red light grew brighter and brighter, gradually expanding into a long, vertical thin slit on Fang Yuan's retinas.
His straightened left arm suddenly felt the stone wall ahead empty out, and bent down.
Fang Yuan was instantly overjoyed, knowing that there indeed was a space inside this giant rock. He walked a few quick steps and finally squeezed into this slit of light.
The view abruptly opened up, and a space of about eighty square meters revealed itself before Fang Yuan.
"I walked such a long distance, having long passed the giant rock. I should be inside the mountain wall right now." While moving his hands and feet, stretching his limbs, he examined this secret space.
The entire space was filled with dim red light. He did not know where the light source originated from.
The surrounding stone walls were very moist and covered in moss, but the air here was very dry.
Clinging to these stone walls were strands of withered dead vines. The vines tangled and intertwined with each other, weaving across more than half of the stone walls on all sides. Some faded and withered flower roots and stems still grew on them.
Looking at these ruined flowers and withered leaves, Fang Yuan felt they looked somewhat familiar.
"It is the Wine Sack Flower Gu, and the Rice Pouch Grass Gu." Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, recognizing these dead flower stems and vines.
The forms of Gu were many and varied. There were those shaped like minerals, such as the blue crystal-like Moonlight Gu. There were those similar to bugs, like the baby silkworm-like Liquor worm. There were also flower and grass forms, exactly the Wine Sack Flower Gu and Rice Pouch Grass Gu before Fang Yuan's eyes.
Both these Gu were Rank 1 natural Gu. By just infusing primeval essence, they could grow. Once fully grown, honey wine would be secreted from the center of the flowers, and fragrant rice would grow inside the grass pouches.
Fang Yuan followed the root system of the vines and moved his gaze. Sure enough, in the corner of the wall, he discovered the dead roots bunched up into a ball, bulging into a lump.
The Liquor worm was resting on top of this ball of dead roots, sound asleep, already within easy reach.
Fang Yuan walked over. He first tucked the Liquor worm into his chest pocket. Then crouching down, he pushed aside the dead roots and withered vines, thereby discovering a white bone skeleton wrapped inside.
"Finally found you, Flower Wine Monk." Upon seeing this, a trace of a smile surfaced at the corners of his mouth.
He was just about to reach out and peel away all the withered vines, but right at this moment!
"Try moving an inch?" A voice full of killing intent abruptly rang out behind Fang Yuan.