The autumn wind was desolate; red leaves drifted and fell.
Wild grass withered and yellowed, while branches hung heavy with bright red or orange-yellow wild fruits.
"Hmph roar!" A black wild boar, the bristles on its body standing straight up, galloped wildly on the ground with its four hooves.
On the mountain ground, a thick layer of fallen leaves had accumulated.
The wild boar charged and crashed forward, carrying a gust of wind with it, causing the fallen leaves to dance behind it.
Fang Yuan stood quietly, watching the wild boar getting closer and closer, his face completely cold.
Kill!
He suddenly took a large step forward, then his legs strode out in turn. Unexpectedly, he did not dodge or evade, but boldly charged toward the wild boar.
The wild boar's two snow-white tusks pierced through the air, surging with murderous intent.
Fang Yuan turned his body sideways to let the tusks pass, lowered his shoulder, and fiercely slammed into the wild boar's head.
Just as they were about to collide, a faint green jade light flashed on Fang Yuan's shoulder.
Jade Skin Gu!
Bang.
With a muffled sound, the two crashed ruthlessly together.
Fang Yuan retreated three steps in succession, while the wild boar retreated one step.
If one really calculated it, in terms of strength, Fang Yuan was still slightly greater. However, Fang Yuan ran on two legs, which was inferior to the supporting force of the wild boar's four hooves. simultaneously, the wild boar's center of gravity was much lower and steadier than Fang Yuan's.
However, having been ruthlessly smashed on the head by Fang Yuan, although the wild boar was still standing, its thick and fat body was already swaying.
Fang Yuan gave a shout and charged up again. His left hand pressed down on the wild boar's tusks, while his right fist raised high; faint green jade light formed a thin light membrane, enveloping the surface of his fist.
Bang.
The fist smashed down ruthlessly; the wild boar immediately let out a cry of pain and began to struggle with all its might.
The muscles on Fang Yuan's left arm bulged, and green veins popped out like coiling earthworms, deadly pinning the wild boar down.
At the same time, his right fist was continuously raised high and then fell heavily.
Bang bang bang.
Every time the fist struck the wild boar's head, the emerald green jade light on the fist would flash explosively once.
The wild boar was beaten dizzy and disoriented by the fists, and the strength of its struggles became smaller and smaller.
"The final blow!" A flash of lightning passed through Fang Yuan's eyes. He stretched out his upper body, straightened his right arm, raised it to the highest point, then bent his right elbow and smashed down with a boom.
Green jade light clung tightly to Fang Yuan's right elbow, drawing a patch of green shadow in mid-air following Fang Yuan's movement.
Bang!
Fang Yuan knelt on one knee, his elbow ferociously smashing the wild boar's skull to pieces. The wild boar didn't even have time to let out a final miserable scream before it abruptly became still.
A pig head was completely deformed; broken white skull bones pierced through the black skin, exposing themselves. Fresh blood and brain matter slowly flowed out, rendering a patch of magnificent crimson on the layers of withered fallen leaves.
A desolate autumn wind blew over.
It rolled up a few fallen leaves and blew away the heat of the pig blood.
"Let life be as beautiful as summer flowers and death as beautiful as autumn leaves," Fang Yuan muttered, admiring this picture.
The living were intense and brilliant; the dead were bleak, cold, and silent.
Between life and death, there was such a strong contrast, highlighting nature's cruelty as well as the splendor of life.
"No matter which world, the victors are brilliant and magnificent, while the losers fall into ash, defeat, and cold bleakness. The difference between victory and defeat, for me, is the difference between life and death. Because walking on the demonic path, once one fails, it often means death."
Fang Yuan leaned directly against the pig corpse and sat cross-legged on the ground. He released the White Boar Gu, letting it devour the pork, and simultaneously divided his mind to sink into the aperture within his body.
In the aperture, the black-green bronze primeval sea rose and fell, waves generating and extinguishing.
When the primeval sea was full, it occupied forty-four percent of the volume. Just now, in one fierce battle, Fang Yuan utilized the Jade Skin Gu multiple times to increase his defense; thus, primeval essence was consumed, and now thirty-six percent of primeval essence remained.
Calculating it, only eight percent of primeval essence was consumed, not even reaching ten percent. But because this was the black-green primeval essence of the Rank one peak stage, the consumption was already significant.
Rank one initial stage was green copper primeval essence (emerald green).
Rank one middle stage was red steel primeval essence—no, wait, in this translation context, it refers to the color changes within Rank one: pale green, azure green, dark green, and black-green.
(Self-Correction as per translation style: The text explicitly lists the colors)
Rank one initial stage was emerald green primeval essence.
Rank one middle stage was pale green primeval essence.
Rank one upper stage was dark green primeval essence.
Rank one peak stage was black-green primeval essence.
Concentration is essence.
Activating the Moonlight Gu once required utilizing ten percent of emerald green primeval essence; converted to pale green primeval essence, it only needed five percent. Dark green primeval essence reduced it by another half, and black-green primeval essence was the same logic.
That is to say, ten percent of black-green primeval essence was equivalent to twenty percent dark green, forty percent pale green, and eighty percent emerald green.
Using the Jade Skin Gu consumed eight percent of black-green primeval essence; converted to Rank one initial stage emerald green primeval essence, it would be as high as sixty-four percent!
If Fang Yuan were still at the initial stage, with his entire aperture only holding forty-four percent primeval essence, the primeval sea in his aperture would have been completely exhausted halfway through use.
"The higher a Gu Master's cultivation, the stronger their combat strength; this is reflected in primeval essence. The higher the stage, the darker the color of the primeval essence, and the more durable it is. However, this black-green primeval essence of mine was refined from upper stage primeval essence by the Liquor worm. Unlike Fang Zheng, who has now already advanced to Rank one peak stage." Thinking of this, Fang Yuan's gaze flashed.
Time hurried by; it was now already late autumn.
More than two months had passed since Wang Da's assassination attempt.
Fang Zheng was poisoned and slept for seven days and seven nights. After waking up, it was as if he had changed into a different person. He became extremely diligent, cultivating with utmost hardship.
Some say every tribulation in life is a wealth like gold.
Regardless of whether this saying is correct, Fang Zheng indeed absorbed many things from this tribulation. He was like a piece of unpolished jade; after polishing, the magnificent jade quality inside had been revealed.
He was the first student to advance to the upper stage, and not long ago, he was again the first to advance to Rank one peak stage, once again leaving his peers behind. The brilliance of A grade aptitude began to bloom on his body.
"I am not far from the peak stage either, at most ten days to half a month. Speaking of which, I have never stopped nourishing my aperture every day, it's just that C grade aptitude truly has no way to be mentioned in the same breath as A grade or B grade. At the same time, there is another reason…" Thinking of this, Fang Yuan grinned, letting out a soundless bitter laugh.
Every set interval of time, he had to hunt and kill Jade Eye Stone Monkeys to feed the Jade Skin Gu. At the same time, he possessed to continuously explore inside the stone forest to seek the clue for the next step of the Flower Wine Monk's strength inheritance.
The topography of the stone forest was considerably complex, with giant rocks hanging vertically from the ceiling wall one by one. If Fang Yuan was slightly inattentive, he would get too close to a certain stone pillar, thereby triggering an attack from the Jade Eye Stone Monkey group.
Several times, Fang Yuan was chased by dozens of Jade Eye Stone Monkeys until he fled. The most dangerous time was during a retreat; he stepped into the warning line of another stone pillar, triggering two waves of stone monkeys, a full hundred of them chasing to kill him.
Fortunately, these Jade Eye Stone Monkeys had a shut-in nature. Every time they chased out to kill, they would not chase too far. After chasing for a certain distance, they would often return to their home and continue being shut-ins.
Even so, there were several times Fang Yuan was placed at a juncture of life and death. At crucial moments, the Jade Skin Gu played a very good defensive role.
Such exploration forced Fang Yuan to invest a large amount of time and energy; this was the biggest reason why his cultivation progress was relatively slow.
"But even so, it is much better than in my previous life. Also, the stone forest exploration hasn't been without results. At least I already know that the surrounding ring of stone walls is completely devoid of issues. Preliminary estimates suggest the clue for the next step of the strength inheritance should be somewhere within the stone forest."
Fang Yuan was deep in thought when a black shadow stepped over dried branches, approaching.
This was a wandering old wolf.
It had a coat of brownish-yellow fur, walked with a limp, and one eye on its face was also disabled; the remaining left eye emitted a cruel and alert green light.
It stared tightly at Fang Yuan, its nose twitching. Wolves were like dogs, always having a keen sense of smell; it should have been attracted by the bloody smell of the pig.
Wolves were generally pack animals, but there were also such wandering crippled wolves. There was competition within wolf packs as well; to maintain the vitality of the entire wolf pack, some crippled old wolves with low combat strength would be weeded out.
Fang Yuan stood up rapidly, looking quietly at this old wolf.
Previously, after killing a wild boar, the primeval essence in his body would have very little left, and his combat strength would drop drastically. If he encountered a wild beast stirring up trouble, he would choose to steer clear.
But these few months, his combat strength had risen rapidly. Now with the Jade Skin Gu in hand, dealing with a crippled wolf was more than easy enough.
Red leaves covered the mountains.
The setting sun shone in the evening.
One person and one wolf were fifty paces apart, staring quietly at each other.
In the wolf's eye, green light flickered, revealing a cruel and cunning meaning. Fang Yuan's eyes, however, were deep and profound; his pitch-black pupils revealed a cold intent.
The White Boar Gu drilled out; it was full and flew back into Fang Yuan's aperture with satisfaction.
The old wolf glanced at the wild boar on the ground; only bones and pig skin remained, the meat almost completely eaten by the White Boar Gu.
The green light in the wolf's eye shrank. It first retreated a few steps, then turned its head and drilled into the bushes.
For this old wolf to survive until now, it naturally possessed certain wisdom. It keenly sensed Fang Yuan's terrifying nature and cautiously chose to retreat.
It came suddenly and left hurriedly.
There was no ruckus of a wild boar galloping and crashing, nor the noisy snarling and growling of a tiger.
The confrontation with Fang Yuan began in silence and ended in silence.
"Under the theme of survival and death, nature breeds who knows how much brilliance." Fang Yuan stood in place, not going to chase and kill. There was nothing on this old wolf worth him making a move.
Howl!
However, in the very next moment, the miserable howl of the old wolf suddenly transmitted over.
The wolf howl erupted suddenly, then stopped abruptly in an instant; in that interval, a dense aura of death was revealed.
Crack, crack.
From the direction of the bushes, the sound of dried tree branches being stepped on soon transmitted over.
The sound was unscrupulous and getting closer and closer. Fang Yuan's pupils shrank.
"To be able to resolve that cunning old wolf in an instant…" His gaze became increasingly cold and clear.