Sweet as Honey

Not a dream disturbed his night.

Three hours later, Fang Shu slowly woke from sleep.

The moment he awoke, he felt his thoughts sharpen, his body stir with vitality, and every trace of fatigue from staying up late refining gu vanish without a shadow.

With a light leap, he sprang out of the Venom Pit. At the same time, three tiny flying insects emerged from his nostrils and ear canals, circling unsteadily around him.

Fang Shu circled the water-vat-sized Venom Pit and performed a set of Insect Method forms. He felt even lighter on his feet, his blood and qi flowing smoothly, his entire being in peak condition.

"Excellent! Worthy of a treasure insect. A mere first-tribulation Sleepy Insect can produce such effects."

His eyes shone as he muttered joyfully to himself.

The night before, Fang Shu had used the newly refined Sleepy Insect to aid his sleep. Without wasting even a breath, he had entered deep slumber.

In this state of sleep, the muscles, organs, and even the soul throughout his body received immense recuperation. The quality of his sleep far surpassed that of ordinary immortals.

After waking, he would not feel sleepy again for the entire day.

In other words, with the Sleepy Insect, Fang Shu would henceforth need only three hours of rest each day. Not only would that satisfy his daily need for sleep, but his body would recover slightly faster than that of ordinary immortals.

Compared with before, this gave him at least one additional hour each day to cultivate and refine gu.

Fang Shu was greatly delighted. At last, he personally understood the meaning behind what Hall Master Du had said: his innate bones might be limited, but gu arts were limitless.

"Although my innate bones are difficult to improve, with gu insects to assist me, I can still improve in areas such as cultivation time and cultivation efficiency."

He secretly pondered, If one day I refine even more powerful gu insects, my cultivation speed may not be much worse than that of those with spiritual roots!

As thoughts surged through his heart, Fang Shu's gaze fell once more upon the gu book on the table.

What he had refined was only a first-tribulation Sleepy Insect. If he refined a second-tribulation Sleepy Insect, it could save him another half hour of sleep, while further improving the quality of that sleep.

And with a third-tribulation Sleepy Insect, merely two hours each day would suffice!

Moreover, the Sleepy Insect could be used not only by himself, but also by others, and could be sold.

However, when used by people other than immortals who refined gu, its effects would be diminished to a certain extent. They also had to use the Sleepy Insect intermittently; otherwise, they could easily develop a dependence on it and become unable to sleep without it.

Still, these were minor issues. It was not only gu insects that worked this way among immortal creations. Pills, talismans, and all manner of things could display their greatest effects only in the hands of fellow practitioners.

Having tasted the sweetness of it, Fang Shu's interest in refining gu abruptly grew even stronger.

This thing could both advance cultivation and put food on the table. It truly was a treasure insect!

At once, while his mind was exceptionally sharp just after waking, he threw himself back into the great undertaking of refining gu.

Yet what he tried next was no longer the Tagalong Insect or the Breath-Holding Insect, which were likewise first-tribulation gu insects. Instead, it was the seven low-grade gu insects of "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and tea."

These low-grade gu insects could likewise improve his gu-refining skill, and compared with formulas for ranked gu, they were easier to ponder and study.

Furthermore, over the past month or so, the Insect Method in the Marrow Refinement Chapter had already been fully analyzed. A few days ago, after assessing his progress in gu refinement, Fang Shu had placed the low-grade gu formulas at the front of the analysis order.

Now that he had successfully refined the Sleepy Insect, the formula for a gu insect known as the Rice Worm would be fully analyzed in only two or three more days.

This gu insect used as gu materials the insects most easily produced in grains such as rice, millet, and corn. This insect was called the Rice Worm, also known as the rice weevil or rice beetle.

To refine it, one had to use aged rice stored for more than ten years as a base, mix water with the blood essence of a gu-refining immortal, pound it into rice slurry, select suitable Rice Worms, and then begin the refinement.

Once the Rice Worm was refined, it could drive dampness, rot, and insect infestation from grain, transforming old rice into fresh rice, bringing benefit without harm.

It could itself be eaten, much like a fasting pill. The older the Rice Worm, the more essence of the five grains it contained. As the days accumulated into months and years, it could even advance into a ranked treasure insect.

According to the gu book, Rice Worms over thirty years old were also ritual-refining materials for a treasure gu known as the Wine Insect.

It could be said that the gu book Hall Master Du had bestowed upon Fang Shu contained not only three ranked gu insects with wondrous uses; even its low-grade ones were the same.

Thus, over the time that followed—

Fang Shu immersed himself even more deeply than before in cultivation and gu refinement.

Through his arduous cultivation, he also developed a more complete method for using the Sleepy Insect.

Within a single day, he could use the Sleepy Insect to divide his sleep into three segments, each one hour long, and distribute them across different periods of the day.

Especially when refining gu, at certain junctures where he needed to wait but could not wait too long, he could rest for one hour, then continue after waking.

This sort of time management undoubtedly gave him more things he could do each day, and made his schedule far more flexible.

And so, Fang Shu focused wholeheartedly on cultivating and refining gu.

Even his meals were delivered to the door by his second maternal uncle, Yu Le, who had already entered the hall. For certain gu-refining materials, Fang Shu only needed to write them down, and his second uncle would fetch them for him.

During this time, he also gave one of his first-tribulation Sleepy Insects to his second uncle, letting Yu Le enjoy a little of the good life.

Yet Fang Shu did not feel the slightest bitterness in this kind of arduous closed-door cultivation.

With the Dao Register at his side, he could clearly feel every tiny bit of progress he made each day. In particular, whenever he mastered a gu formula, his chest would brim with an immense sense of accomplishment.

This experience delighted him more than he could say. How could he speak of bitterness?

Hall Master Du also seemed to know that he was in seclusion studying gu arts. Through his second uncle Yu Le, he sent word that Fang Shu did not even need to attend the occasional lectures, and should instead devote himself to comprehending the arts.

Time flowed swiftly.

In the blink of an eye, nearly half a year had passed.

Until this day.

Hall Master Du once again sent word through Yu Le, ordering Fang Shu to leave seclusion, listen to the Dao, and undergo inspection.

Only then did Fang Shu emerge from his state of arduous cultivation.

When he left seclusion, his second uncle Yu Le was waiting at the door, somewhat worried.

Though immortals needed to enter seclusion from time to time, it was still rare for someone in the Essence Refinement stage to shut themselves away for nearly half a year in one stretch.

Thus, in the eyes of outsiders, Fang Shu's seclusion meant either that he had become somewhat deranged, or that he was deceiving himself.

Fortunately, the instant Fang Shu emerged, he was brimming with vigor and radiant with health. Even his complexion had not turned pale from being confined indoors.

His skin was like congealed fat, a jade-like fair white.

Fang Shu cupped his hands. "Second Uncle."

Yu Le wore the hall's servant robes. Compared with before, his complexion was rosy and glowing, and he too seemed full of spirit.

Seeing that Fang Shu was unharmed, Yu Le let out a breath and said with a smile, "You brat... hurry along. The Hall Master is calling for all of you."

After bidding farewell to his second uncle Yu Le, Fang Shu headed toward the inner courtyard of Solitary Gu Hall.

On the square within the inner courtyard, besides the disciples Fang Shu had seen before, several older disciples had appeared as well.

Fang Shu seemed to be the last to arrive.

But at this moment, no one's attention fell upon Fang Shu, who had just arrived. Instead, all eyes were fixed upon someone else.