Chapter 156: Digital Shade Recipe, Flower Wine mystery
Translator: Skyfarrow Editor: Skyfarrow
"Lord Fang Yuan, this way towards the secret room, please enter." In the dark eerie tunnel, a Rank two old Gu Master walked in front, leading the way for Fang Yuan.
The secret room that held all the Gu worm combination recipes of the clan, was not far ahead.
Fang Yuan advanced to Rank three, thus his status had a 180 degree change. All the fusion recipes kept in the clan - as long as they were not Rank four or five recipes, he had the authority to look through.
If it was a Rank one or two Gu Master, to look through the recipes, they would need to pay primeval stones or exchange using merit points.
This secret room was in the basement of the village, at a very hidden location. Even if the village was eradicated, this secret room would still remain.
Back then, the Gu Yue clan’s creator, the first generation clan leader, found a primeval essence spring inside this underground cave, thus deciding to build his village here.
Through the generations of development and growth by the clan leaders, Gu Yue clan’s underground cave had become the Gu Yue clan secret base.
Normally, ordinary Gu Masters did not have the rights to appear at this location. Only clan elders, the clan leader, and the Dark Hall’s Gu Masters in charge of protecting the place had such authority.
Many Gu Masters had only been there once in their lives.
That is during the awakening ceremony, where the youngsters would come to the primeval spring sea, hoping to awaken their aperture.
Other than this, unless there is a special reason, entry to this underground cave is prohibited for all people. Even the Gu Master guarding the place is picked after careful consideration.
After all, the primeval spring in this underground cave is the entire foundation of the Gu Yue village. From the spring center, large amounts of primeval stones are produced, and that sustains the Gu Master cultivation of the entire clan.
In the tunnel, two sets of footsteps could be heard.
Far away, the sound of river water flowing sounded — that is the underground river in the cave.
A moment later, the Gu Master leading the way brought Fang Yuan to a rock door.
He patted his belly, and a Gu worm flew out of his aperture. As sparks flied, it knocked onto the rock door.
The rock door’s surface rippled, like a rock thrown into the water. Soon after, the rock wall blinked and gradually faded away, showing the secret room behind.
The secret room’s size was rather small, being only 666 ⅔ m². Every few steps, there would be a rock table half the height of a person. Tens of rock tables had a white jade plate on them, and on the plate there was a Gu worm silently resting.
These Gu worms had all sorts of colours, being around the size of a fist; they had very similar appearances, like silkworms. On its head, there were two compound eyes like bees or dragonflies, it was colourful and looked like shiny glass. However the surface was not soft, but covered in a layer of insect shell, and the shell even had golden lustre.
"Lord Fang Yuan, this is your first time to the secret room, so let me explain. These are Rank two Digital Shade Gu, all have recipes recorded in them. In the green Digital Shade Gu worms, almost all the Rank one recipes can be found in them. As for the red-black coloured Gu, there are Rank two recipes. White contains the Rank three recipes, and orange has the Rank four recipes. As for Rank five, it is contained in the most central purple Digital Shade Gu worms."
Beside him, the old Gu Master introduced appropriately.
Digital Shade Gu was a recording type of Gu worm. Just one step further in advancement, and it would be the Rank three Photo-audio Gu.
After the Photo-audio Gu is refined, it not only can store a recording, but can also record the voices as well. In the rock crack secret cave, the Flower Wine Monk used a Photo-audio Gu to inform Fang Yuan of the inheritance details.
But to record down recipes, voices are not necessary, thus the Digital Shade Gu is enough.
Fusion recipes, these were very precious. Using normal bamboo paper to record them, if they were stolen, not only can they refine the Gu Yue clan’s specialty Gu worms, it is also a huge leak of the clan’s information.
Knowing the enemy leads to easier battles, and experienced Gu Masters can learn about the strengths and weaknesses of a Gu worm from the refinement recipe.
Once it is leaked, towards a clan the loss would be severe. In future when they battle, the Gu Masters from that clan may also be disadvantaged in Gu worms.
Thus, recipes were strictly controlled, and as classified by ranks, stored appropriately.
Digital Shade Gu was easier to refine and had a low cost, thus it was a common method to contain recipes.
"Lord Fang Yuan, these Digital Shade Gu all belong to the Secret Hall clan elder. But it would not impede you from using primeval essence and browsing through. Just that with your current identity, you cannot browse the Rank four and five recipes. There’s also two more things — the secret room is the clan’s red zone, your every action here is observed fully in secret. Everyday, you can only stay here for fifteen minutes. Once the time is up, you must leave," the Gu Master continued speaking.
"Mm, I understand." Fang Yuan nodded.
"Lord Fang Yuan, this subordinate has no authority to enter, thus I will wait at the door. Once the time is up, I will bring you out," the old man bowed.
Fang Yuan walked into the secret room. Once he entered, the rock door turned from virtual to solid, trapping him in the room alone.
Walking in the secret room, it was peaceful. The echoes of his footsteps could be heard bouncing off the walls as the surrounding walls had Water Light Gu in them.
Their bodies emitted a light, wavering like water, interchanging between light and shadow, with layers after layers shining indefinitely.
Fang Yuan took a red-black coloured Gu worm and injected his white silver primeval essence inside. Immediately two beams of light shot out from the Digital Shade Gu’s compound eyes.
He raised the Gu up, and pointed the eyes at the white jade plate on the table.
Two beams of light hit the white jade plate, and after some fluctuations, words started to appear.
This was the recipe on how to refine the Moonscar Gu.
First it listed the Moonscar Gu’s strengths, which was the increase in attack distance, twice of the Moonlight Gu. The weakness was the subpar attack.
Next was the refinement recipe — Moonscar Gu is refined from fusing the Moonlight Gu and Scar Rock Gu.
Next is the important points for refining this Gu, the crux was — if during the refinement, some jade rock is added in, or done during a night when there is abundant moonlight and exposed to it, there would be a higher chance of success.
Lastly, it is the experiences of the Gu Masters who had attempted to fuse this Gu. This had the greatest content, almost up to ten thousand words.
Fang Yuan took a look and memorised some things to heart.
It was after all countless people’s experiments and tries, and the experienced gathered from numerous attempts. Some information, even Fang Yuan did not know.
After all, Moonlight Gu is a unique Gu to the Gu Yue clan. In his previous life, he had never become a clan elder or came here to browse the recipes.
Time was limited, so Fang Yuan quickly took a look and placed the Digital Shade Gu back to its spot, then picked up a white coloured Gu to observe.
In the white Digital Shade Gu, there was the Rank three fusion recipes.
Most of the recipes did not suit Fang Yuan, as they needed Gu worms like Moonwhirl or Moonscar Gu as the base.
Fang Yuan did not look through closely; to save time, he skimmed through.
He first used the Moonlight Gu to fuse with the Little Light Gu to form Moonglow Gu. On that basis, there was only three refinement recipes worth using.
First was the Rank three Golden moon, with the same ten steps of shooting distance, but the attack power is increased once again. Once shot out, the golden coloured crescent moon would nearly be half a man tall, and had a strong imposing aura.
Second was the Frost Moon Gu. The moonblade becomes eerie white and icy, having an element of ice to it. Whoever it hurts will be invaded by the coldness, moving slowly.
The third is the Illusory Moon Gu. This Gu was more unique — it is not used to attack, but once activated, it can allow the Gu Master to create a shadow clone to attract attacks and confuse the enemy.
Especially when this Illusory moon Gu, once refined, can be used as the basis for the Rank four Moonshadow Gu.
"Moonshadow Gu can be implanted into a Gu Master’s aperture and suppress them from using primeval essence." In the information on the Illusory Moon Gu, there was only some vaguely explained information about the Moonshadow Gu, as reference.
"Moonshadow Gu... isn’t that the Gu worm used by the fourth generation clan leader to sneak an attack on the Flower Wine Monk?" Fang Yuan seeing this, frowned deeply.
In this world, there are countless Gu worms, and even with his five hundred years of experience, he only knew less than 0.001% of all the Gu worms in this world.
He originally had a rough idea of the Moonshadow Gu, but now that he knew the Gu worm’s effect, suspicion rose in his heart.
Moonshadow Gu had a unique use. It was able to suppress 30% of the primeval essence in a Rank four Gu Master’s aperture, 15% of a Rank five, and 60% of a Rank three Gu Master. That means, with a C grade talent like Fang Yuan, only having 40~50%, if they were hit by this Moonshadow Gu, they would be unable to deploy a single ounce of primeval essence, losing all their battle strength and were as good as crippled.
Of course, if it were Fang Yuan, if the Moonshadow Gu was used on him, it would be ‘throwing a meatbun at the dog’ - what’s gone can never come back.
That is because once the Moonshadow Gu enters his aperture, the Spring Autumn Cicada will demonstrate its dominance, and under its aura, the Moonshadow Gu would be instantly refined by him, and become his.
What puzzled Fang Yuan, was not the Moonshadow Gu’s effect, but the Flower Wine Monk.
"I remember that on the shadow wall, the Flower Wine Monk was bathed in blood, full of injuries. Firstly, his battle with the fourth generation clan leader and elders only gave him mild injuries. I thought those severe injuries were caused by this Moonshadow Gu, but to think that this Moonshadow Gu is only used to suppress primeval essence, crippling the Gu Master. Then where did the Flower Wine Monk get his severe injuries from?"
Fang Yuan’s thoughts were meticulous, thus becoming more suspicious. Back then, when the Flower Wine Monk lost to the clan elders and escaped, what actually happened?
Moonshadow Gu was not the cause of his death. So then, what was?
At once, the originally clear Flower Wine Monk inheritance, became a complete mystery to Fang Yuan again.
"Lord Fang Yuan, it has been fifteen minutes, I believe you have had some gains. No matter what, please come again tomorrow." At this point, the door turned into an astral state again, as the old Gu Master stood outside and said respectfully.
"Okay." Fang Yuan’s gaze shone as he put down the Digital Shadow Gu, leaving the secret room.
Regardless of whether it is the Golden moon, Frost moon, or Illusory moon, these refinement recipes were not what he wanted. That is because they all consumed large amounts of moon orchid flower petals.
Moon orchid flower petals were hard to store, only able to live for a few days. In Fang Yuan’s plans, he wanted to leave the Gu Yue clan and roam the world. If he refined these Gu, without any food they would die in half a year. He might as well not refine them.
However, there were still Rank three recipes that he did not manage to see.
"I’ll come again tomorrow, I guess." Such a thought flashed across his mind.
Translator’s Thoughts
Illusory Moon Gu is practically Kagebunshi no Jutsu!