He could think clearer, quicker, and better. His improvement in refining dream path gu worms alongside his resistance to mental fatigue after a day of relentless cultivation increased by several times. The benefits of strengthening and refining the soul weren't just additive, they were multiplicative. A strengthened soul foundation improved cognitive function, leading to improved speed in the creation of thoughts and the number of thoughts produced every time. However, it was the refining aspect of the soul which supplemented to a gu master's enhanced durability against mental and spiritual exhaustion.
Dang Hun Mountain produced Guts Gu, a gu worm proclaimed to be the very best in the aspect of soul strengthening by the founder and venerable of soul path itself—Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. Meanwhile, Fake Soul Gu created by Lo Jik proved an excellent addition to the refining aspect of the soul without any unnecessary conflict in the dao marks, allowing any gu master to effortlessly reach the level of a thousand-man-soul.
Lo Jik might have gone all the way till 9999-man-soul if not for being a subject of everyone's observation and scrutiny. His body could bear the pressure of a strengthened soul especially because the human path dao marks carved in the form of a protective film around the soul did not conflict with the strength path dao marks used to modify and enhance his physique.
'Soul path gu master won't be able to use their superiority of soul foundation against me. It just so happens that most soul path gu worms relied on the difference between the user's and target's souls. They would first have to deal with the defensive layer created by Fake Soul Gu, which replenishes by itself every time it gets damaged. That… that is Fake Soul's shortcoming instead of its strength.'
Ordinarily, Fake Soul Gu refined one's soul by devouring the impurities introduced to the soul every strengthening session. After the initial use, it relied on the soul's foundation to recover its effect whenever it was damaged, leading to the rapid degradation of the soul's foundation. It could lead to a gu master turning into a vegetable or dying from the backlash in the extreme scenario where their soul was already too weak to support the passive effects of Fake Soul Gu Worm.
So, relying on the protective film around one's soul created by Fake Soul Gu should be a gu master's last line of defense against attacks targeting the soul. They still required to invest appropriately in a soul path defensive gu worm—something Lo Jik already accomplished after gaining free access into Treasure Yellow Heaven.
Not only that, a strengthened and refined soul heightened Lo Jik's control over his killer moves as he began refining different types of gu worms at a quicker pace.
He always kept certain goals in mind like taking small steps towards a greater objective. One of these steps was to refine a strength path movement gu worm tailor-made for his killer move Self Dharma. While he was still spending time deducing its recipe, it didn't constrict Lo Jik to focus on this one goal alone.
Once bound by the worries of providing enough food for his gu worms and therefore forced to limit their ranks to regulate their feeding pattern, Lo Jik broke free from a terribly annoying issue after finalizing his trade with Feng Jin Huang. Of course, just the access to Treasure Yellow Heaven without needing to pay Feng Jin Huang a flat fee based on every transaction was merely a fraction of the benefit he sought this time around. He'd yet to make play for the lion's share of profits.
Still, he advanced, refined new gu worms, and outrightly purchased several necessary strength path gu worms from Treasure Yellow Heaven.
One of the earliest gu worms in Lo Jik's arsenal was his trusty strength path storage gu worm, a rank 4 One's Closed Fist Gu. His current situation entailed that he didn't lack any storage space at all. It was refined from rank 3 Determined Fist Gu Worm, which was similar to Earth Treasury Flower Gu series and capable of storing and forcing a gu worm into hibernation.
This gu worm being more prevalent in ancient times meant its recipe and materials necessary for refining it into the next rank were bound to be rare and expensive… only that this gu worm was part of Imaginative Strength Immortal's inheritance, who prepared alternative recipes for every single one of his strength path gu worms utilizing presently available and cheaper materials.
The appearance of rank 5 Giant's Closed Fist followed the same appearance as rank 4 One's Closed Fist, but the fossilized forearm extending to a closed fist with bulging veins mapping its surface was not only significantly longer but astonishingly thicker, too. Its size was nearly five times that of Lo Jik's entire arm! Rank 5 Giant's Closed Fist utilized five percent of a peak stage rank 4 gu master's essence to store and release stored items through the user's palms as it simultaneously siphoned the gu master's stamina to keep the materials fresh. Like its low-ranked variant, the rank 5 gu worm could not store living gu worms but that didn't stop it from stuffing fossilized gu worms in its massive 600 cubic meters storage capacity.
Of course, the greater the rank of the gu worm, the greater its burden on food. Unlike One's Closed Fist Gu feeding requirement of seventy-five kilograms of molten earth stones every four months (18.75 kg/month,) Giant's Closed Fist Gu needed 240 kilograms of molten bone stones every eight months (30 kg/month.)
He further swapped out rank 4 Brave Thoughts and Brave Will for their rank 5 variants. These two gu worms were a staple for Lo Jik during the activation of his strength path killer moves. Needless to say, effects of rank 5 Brave Thoughts and Brave Will touched the very ceiling of the mortal realm because of Lo Jik's Great Strength True Martial extreme physique. One use of Brave Thoughts resulted in several hundreds of fist-shaped orange brave thoughts at once, which could further be consolidated into several brave wills. These two gu worms didn't look much different from their previous counterparts.
One of his most recent boons was acquiring rank 5 Self-Reliance Gu Worm's recipe from Fairy Yi after properly joining Spirit Affinity House. Of course, Lo Jik modified the recipe based on Imaginative Strength Immortal's research and refined it for personal use. To maintain a limited front, however, Lo Jik did purchase two sets of the more expensive materials as listed in the original recipe before using most of it in his next gu refinement because the next gu worm also required a rank 4 Self-Reliance Gu in the first place.
As for rank 5 Self-Reliance, its appearance was the same as the effects it promised—to become an indestructible cockroach itself! It was twice the size of rank 4 Self-Reliance Gu with five pairs of wings on the back of its flat body. Just like the rank 4 variant, the effects of rank 5 Self-Reliance depended on the gu master's physical strength. Possessing the strength of ten rank 4 strength beast phantom already allowed the rank 4 variant to display healing effects no worse than an ordinary rank 5 healing gu worm. The effects of rank 5 Self-Reliance were even greater despite Lo Jik only possessing the strength of five rank 5 strength beast phantoms. It was partly due to his extreme physique and partly because he also used Borrow Strength Gu alongside Heaven Strength Gu to increase his strength several-folds during battles.
Obtaining rank 5 Self-Reliance didn't just make Lo Jik similar to a beast emperor when it came to raw physical status, he became one in human skin itself—effortlessly capable of surpassing said beasts with better instincts, techniques, and a better gu set.
Next, Lo Jik used up his rank 4 Self Strength, Strength Qi, alongside rank 5 Bitter Strength and several other materials he purchased to refine something new… an inspiration that struck during his unfortunate spar with Feng Jin Huang.
Inside Lo Jik's first aperture's crystalline purple essence swam a spirited brass-yellow toad. Its skin glistened like liquid gold and released various shades of metallic yellow. Calling its size great would be an understatement. It was as big as a bamboo hut in the same vein as a Treasure Brass Toad Gu, a carrier type gu Lo Jik saw during the arrival of the caravan in Gu Yue Village.
Rank 5 Self Dharma.
As one might expect from its name, its use was the creation of a gigantic Self Dharma itself! His intuition regarding the transformation of a killer move into a gu worm was a very real concept!
'I don't need to spend a lot of thoughts on creating this Self Dharma. Not only that, using this singular gu worm also lowers the amount of essence consumed during ordinary times. Furthermore, the underlying base of a killer move is still there. I can simply swap out Self Strength, Bitter Strength, and a few other gu worms with this one gu worm and achieve the same effects as before.'
There were simply too many benefits in this path to not advance in it.
However, this approach was costly.
Lo Jik had to purchase another rank 5 Bitter Strength Gu and spent another day refining a rank 5 Strength Qi Gu.
Self Dharma represented a more destructive use of his gu set. However, Lo Jik still needed to rely on Strength Qi and Bitter Strength Gu for more mid-ranged combat by releasing several beast phantoms on his enemies at once.
Finally, Lo Jik also didn't wait around and simply purchased the advanced variations of rank 4 Golden Bell and Strong Spirit Shields.
Rank 5 Golden Vajra Shield and Robust Spirit Shield.
The former provided physical defense, and the latter protected one's soul.
Despite his growth, Lo Jik would say his options in movement lagged the most in the gu set if he had to be overly critical of himself.
He still hadn't gotten around deducing a movement gu worm tailor-made for Self Dharma killer move or replacing rank 4 Dragon Travel Tiger Steps and Crimson Bat Wings Gu Worms.
But he felt more complete. All this alongside his strengthened and refined soul already pushed Lo Jik near a certain stage necessary for one's advancement. He would have fearlessly charged into the realm of gu immortals if it wasn't for his need to maximize his growth and potential due to certain complications related to Divine Concealment.
That's why he needed to wait until he achieved grandmaster-level attainment in strength path.
His current strength path gu set was—
Rank 5: Borrow Strength, All-Out Effort, Little Giant Emperor, Strength Qi, Self-Reliance, Giant's Closed Fist, Heaven Strength, Water Strength, Brave Thoughts, Brave Will, Bitter Strength, Violently Beat Poison, Beating Refinement, Fickle Heart Strength, Golden Vajra Shield, Robust Spirit Shield, and Self Dharma Gu Worms.
And Rank 4: Dragon Travel Tiger Steps, Expend Strength, Crimson Bat Wings, and Little Giant Bone Bow Gu Worms.
Among them, Crimson Bat Wings wasn't even a strength path gu worm but a pure transformation path movement gu worm, unlike Little Giant Emperor, which was partly a strength path gu worm.
'Aside from attainment… I also lack a rank 6 strength path immortal gu worm. I will have to rely on external help if I fail in this plan. Tsk.'
Lo Jik clicked his tongue but soon regained his composure. He simply didn't like putting all of his eggs in one basket.
It was his extreme physique that allowed him to survive the malicious scheme of other ancient sects inside Reincarnation Battlefield. Yet, the limitations of his extreme physique also forced him to stall and seek a strength path immortal gu worm—a nearly impossible task.
He might have had an option of stripping away the extreme physique after returning from Reincarnation Battlefield. However, possessing an extreme physique had already bolstered his potential to one's limits. Why wouldn't he want similar benefits in the gu immortal realm especially when Divine Concealment was a double-edged sword?
'But how can it be so easy to just find an immortal gu worm. And revealing this status to other supreme immortals to borrow an immortal gu worm means not only letting them hold a greater leverage but also contributing Fake Aptitude Gu Worm. Doing so further puts my position in suspicion once again, forcing other supreme elders to speculate what else I managed to keep hidden until now. That won't do.'
'That simply won't do!'
Lo Jik opened his eyes in his dim cultivation chamber. A sharp light flashed past his gaze.
'Black Moon… oh, Black Moon. Please be rich… richer than my wildest imagination.'
This entire plan was dubious at best. The information he received from Feng Jiu Ge gave him more confidence in his approach, but he knew very little about Black Moon to predict her reaction.
'She will return tomorrow. There must be a great deal of pressure on her shoulders to receive an acceptable result given how she's taking this refinement convention so seriously. Only by swiftly increasing her reputation can she fulfil the first requirement of being the sect's fairy—the disciples' collective approval.'
'Defeating Feng Jin Huang earlier merely put her in every disciple's sight. However, not all this attention was positive. Most of Feng Jin Huang's supporters are still fuming with Black Moon. The latter also had sufficient foresight as she tried sullying Huang's reputation by spreading a scandalous rumor involving me. Her plan would have succeeded if not for me ducking away from all her challenges.'
'I would have never expected Black Moon to be a gu immortal if not for Di Qing and Le Tao. Heh, I have my earlier auction to be grateful for in this matter.'
He massaged his forehead.
Scheming against a gu immortal left Lo Jik quite stifled. He fussed over the tiniest detail and revised his plans constantly—scripting and reciting every single sentence and appropriate response for different kinds of possible reaction from the other party.
'Worst case scenario… she tries to go for the killing blow.' Lo Jik deduced grimly. That was why he spent more time covering up his more well-known weaknesses. However, once he covered said weaknesses, he couldn't help but think of other ways to restrain himself during a battle.
Soul path mortal killer moves might be ineffective… but what about space path?
Or time path?
Lo Jik had no defenses against these mechanisms.
Worse still—theft path!
No matter his attainment… no matter his superb pace of growth…
'I'm still a mortal.' He clenched his fists, restraining the urgency in his heart and allowing the humbling chill to spread throughout his body. 'No matter my limitations, however, I still gotta do this. Maybe Love Gu will do its usual magic if things get out of hands. There's also Disguise Gu as my true trump card. I could try using it to tamper with Black Moon's thoughts. But what if she has defense against such methods? Every gu immortal accumulates several methods against all forms of assaults. Defending one's mind and thoughts is also often a gu immortal's priority.'
Unfortunately, his trait could not copy immortal gu worms.
What a pity.
It became a very real issue for the current Lo Jik.
<<<>>>
Refinement Path Convention's second round ended a while ago, allowing the disqualified gu masters to recuperate from any backlash during the refinement itself and giving qualified gu masters without a blessed land less than decent time to prepare for the third round. This convention had to maintain harsh conditions and weed out hundreds of thousands of contestants and let the truly brilliant gems shine throughout the continent.
"I barely missed the qualifications…" Lu Zuan Feng sighed sharply as he took shade under a tall tree. Near him sat the hooded Fang Zheng, his green and black eyes alike tranquil and unmoved.
They did not converse a lot and remained silent for the most part, deceptively alert of their surroundings and recovering from natural fatigue.
*Shrhrhrhrh*
A prominent patch among the carpet of lush green grass once swaying in the light and calming breeze trembled unceasingly. Lu Zuan Feng and Fang Zheng felt strange vibrations from the ground as they maintained their composure while secretly preparing for any accidents. A dark brown mole soon dug out of the ground before turning into a gu worm and shooting at Fang Zheng.
*Fwip*
Fang Zheng caught the gu worm accurately, the corner of his black and baggy robes billowing at his swift movement.
It was a Mole Letter Gu Worm.
Lu Zuan Feng observed Fang Zheng and concealed his disappointment after failing to accurately read his partner-in-crime. The latter was becoming more mysterious by the day.
"We have a mission," Fang Zheng spoke plainly, his once young and energetic voice now beaten by life and hardship into something monotone—something hidden.
Lu Zuan Feng caught the gu worm and searched its content with his will while inquiring calmly. "Did you truly believe her words? That Wang Nu will outsource her missions to us and share the rewards from her sect equally…" Divine Thief allowed suspicion to bleed into his tone. "She might try and screw us over."
"And the information path contract between us?" Fang Zheng shot back steadily.
"She's part of an ancient sect." Lu Zuan Feng sneered. "Who's to say she doesn't possess a method to nullify the contract from her side, only leaving us compelled to complete our part of the bargain?"
"And you entered the contract knowing all that?" The mutated tree spirit cocked his head.
Lu Zuan Feng's brief silence exposed his true thoughts to Fang Zheng as the latter leaned against the tree to continue resting once again. Didn't this mean the former was confident of his chances even if Wang Nu turned out to a be a rotten element in their deal?
"The rewards from completing missions from an ancient sect are better than targeting and hunting lone gu masters participating in the convention from the other four regions. As for suspecting the validity of our contract… wasn't this issue the very reason why we included the clause of Wang Nu being forced to meet us personally to collect the mission requirements alongside letting us use Bamboo Gentleman Gu and alleviate our suspicions?" Fang Zheng had already considered all these issues before entering a contract with Wang Nu. Wisdom path gu sets could effortlessly shorten weeks of planning and deductions into hours.
Lu Zuan Feng looked up to the canopy of trees blocking the sky.
'He's right.' Thought the Divine Thief. 'So why do I feel so restless?'
***
Alternate Title: Surpassing all legacy disciples; Covering weaknesses; More weaknesses; Either invincible or flawed, there is no in between; Thousand-man soul, Guts Gu proper human path soul refinement partner; Fake Soul's flaw; Spending wealth; Rich bitch; Stifled; Nervous planning; Doing what must be done; All eggs in one basket; Advancing gu set; Bai La's new mission: Tame a beast emperor… not a mortal; Killer move into a gu worm; Self Dharma Gu; Issues of Divine Concealment?; Too successful that it's burdensome; Refine, purchase, advance; Lacking movement; Nearing peak of strength path; The legendary art of protagonists reaching pseudo-level of the next rank; Gu Immortals cannot be defeated *Lo Jik: Hold my bicep*; The contract; New tasks; Outsourcing missions; Wang Nu… used her head?; Growing steadily; Second round ends; Praying for Black Moon's health and wealth; Lo Jik: Pokes Black Moon *Two big aunts in distance: Thou have signed your death!*
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