Refining Gu Again

Hu Fangyuan was in no hurry to begin. He first walked to the window and pushed it open.

The moonlight outside was lovely, its silver radiance spilling in and falling across the floor like a thin layer of frost. With a thought, azure light flashed in his palm, and the Moonlight Pearl Gu floated out and landed on the windowsill.

The little creature was about the size of a fingernail, moon-white all over, with silver light flowing through its translucent body. Seven pale-gold points of starlight shimmered faintly along its back. Seemingly sensing the moonlight outside, it crawled leisurely to the edge of the sill and raised its tiny body toward the full moon overhead. Wisps of moonlight were drawn toward it, slowly merging into its body.

This was a required daily routine. The Moonlight Pearl Gu fed on moonlight. Half an hour of exposure each day not only filled its belly but also condensed its own essence, improving the quality of the Moonlight Dew it produced.

Hu Fangyuan stood beside it and watched, his fingertips tapping lightly against the windowsill. After about fifteen minutes, the Moonlight Pearl Gu's body flashed. Its tiny mouth opened slightly and spat out a crystalline droplet. Pearly in color, the droplet hovered in midair, giving off a faint, fresh fragrance.

Already prepared, he took out a small white jade bottle and held it beneath the drop of Moonlight Dew. The bottle was already a little under half full, all of it accumulated over the past few days.

After putting away the Moonlight Dew, Hu Fangyuan returned the Moonlight Pearl Gu to the Heaven Refining Furnace to nurture it. He pulled out the stopper, tilted his head back slightly, and took a small sip.

The Moonlight Dew dissolved the moment it entered his mouth, a cool, sweet sensation instantly spreading down his throat. The next moment, that coolness rushed straight into his mind. Hu Fangyuan felt a buzz, and his entire spirit was invigorated.

It was as though a dust-covered room had been thoroughly swept clean. Every stray thought and trace of fatigue in his mind vanished without a trace. His soul grew clear, his spiritual seat bright, and even the circulation of Soul Power within his soul sea became much smoother.

Every thread of Soul Power became exceptionally distinct. He controlled it as naturally as moving his own fingers, with far greater responsiveness than usual.

Hu Fangyuan narrowed his eyes in comfort. This Moonlight Dew truly was good stuff. Its nourishing effect on Divine Sense was far stronger than the mind-clearing potions sold on the market.

No wonder the Gu Canon said the Moonlight Pearl Gu was a top-grade rank-one Gu worm for assisting cultivation. The Moonlight Dew it produced each day alone made it worth the price.

Only when that sense of clarity reached its peak and his overall condition settled at its best did Hu Fangyuan turn around and sit on the meditation cushion in the center of the room.

Time to get down to business.

With a thought, the Heaven Refining Furnace within his soul sea trembled slightly and gave a low hum. The next moment, three kinds of materials floated out of the furnace and hovered before him.

The first was a living, dark-yellow beetle pupa the size of a fist, its surface covered in fine patterns. It looked entirely unremarkable. This was the Golden Armor Pupa he had dug out from beneath the roots of a thousand-year-old tree during his recent trip into the mountains.

There were three portions of grayish-white Beast Bone Powder, held in three small paper packets. They had been ground from the leg bones of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast purchased from the Xu Family Trading Company. The bone material was pure and particularly good for nourishing bones.

There was also a portion of Copper Shavings with evenly sized, dark-red grains. These were purified Red Copper Filings, pure in substance and free of impurities.

These three were all the materials needed to refine the Copper Bone Gu.

An ordinary Gu Master refining a Copper Bone Gu would also need plenty of supplementary materials and have to set up a Spirit-Guiding Formation, expending considerable mental effort.

But with the Heaven Refining Furnace, all those steps could be skipped. The Heaven Refining Furnace possessed an innate ability to imprint Dao Marks. As long as the materials themselves had a decent foundation, it could directly activate their inherent Dao Marks, saving countless troubles.

Hu Fangyuan drew a deep breath and extended his right hand, aiming his palm at the three kinds of floating materials. Pure Soul Power poured into the Heaven Refining Furnace, and three wisps of azure light flew from its mouth, landing on the pupa, Beast Bone Powder, and Copper Shavings respectively.

This was the step that activated their Dao Marks.

The moment the Soul Power touched the materials, all three reacted.

A faint bronze sheen gradually appeared on the surface of the previously lifeless-looking beetle pupa. Its tightly sealed shell trembled slightly, as though something inside was awakening.

The three portions of Beast Bone Powder rose into the air, a faint, lustrous white light shining between the grains as a dense aura of vitality spread out.

The Copper Shavings moved without any wind, their grains colliding with a soft rustling. Each grain developed a rich sheen and held a weighty measure of metal-aspect power.

In just a few breaths, the three previously unremarkable materials had completely transformed.

Their spirituality was contained within, their Dao Marks hidden. They were now true Gu materials ready for refinement.

This was what made the Heaven Refining Furnace so overpowering. An ordinary Gu Master would have had to sit quietly and nurture these three materials for at least three days and nights to activate their Dao Marks, and even then, success was not guaranteed. Hu Fangyuan needed only a few breaths.

With the materials ready, the actual refinement came next.

Hu Fangyuan's expression grew solemn. He raised both hands and formed a simple Gu Refining Hand Seal.

Within his soul sea, his Second Soul Skill, Fire-Refined Scarlet Force, activated instantly.

Hum.

The mouth of the Heaven Refining Furnace suddenly lit up, and a wisp of scarlet flame surged out.

The instant it appeared, the temperature in the room rose, and even the air began to warp.

Yet strangely, when this searing flame drifted to a point half a foot in front of Hu Fangyuan, it suddenly grew quiet.

The flame no longer surged and roiled. Instead, it hovered quietly like a docile red cloud, only its surface rippling slightly as it radiated astonishing heat.

Although he had only recently obtained his Second Soul Skill, Hu Fangyuan's control over the flames was becoming visibly more proficient.

There was no denying that Moonlight Dew was remarkably effective at enhancing Spiritual Power!

Of course, talent played a part as well.

Although Fire-Refined Scarlet Force focused on fierce attacks and intense burning, Gu Refining demanded steadiness above all. Control over the heat directly determined the Gu worm's quality.

His gaze sharpened. With a point of his finger, the mass of Beast Bone Powder slowly drifted toward the flame.

The instant the Beast Bone Powder touched the Scarlet Sun True Fire, the flames enveloped it. With a soft hiss, the remaining impurities in the bone powder were instantly burned to ash. Hu Fangyuan controlled the temperature, neither rushing nor growing impatient as he slowly calcined the powder.

These were, after all, the bones of a Hundred-Year Soul Beast, and they still held quite a few lingering thoughts and impurities from the Soul Beast. He had to calcine them slowly with true fire, removing all of these things and leaving only the purest bone essence. Only then would the Copper Bone Gu he refined be free of future trouble.

Within the flames, the grayish-white bone powder gradually became lustrous white, its volume slowly shrinking. By the end of the calcination, the three originally fist-sized masses of powder had dwindled to three thumb-sized masses, snow-white throughout and giving off a warm, gentle sheen, like powder ground from the finest mutton-fat white jade.

This was pure Bone Essence Powder.

Hu Fangyuan nodded. His control over the heat had been just right. Any more and it would have scorched; any less and impurities would have remained.

With a gentle turn of his wrist, the living beetle pupa slowly floated toward the flames.

With its Dao Marks activated, the pupa was no longer an ordinary thing. Rather than charring its shell outright, the Scarlet Sun True Fire seemed to be warming it. The shell slowly turned red within the flames, the patterns on its surface gradually unfurling as the aura of life inside grew stronger and stronger.

While maintaining the flames, Hu Fangyuan separated out a wisp of Soul Power and gently pierced the pupa's shell, drawing in the surrounding Heaven and Earth Essence and slowly channeling it into the pupa.

Gu Refining meant refining spirit, refining life, and, above all, refining the essence of heaven and earth!

Heaven and Earth Essence was the finest nourishment for a Gu worm.

As Heaven and Earth Essence continued pouring in, the pupa trembled more and more violently. Within its shell, the previously sleeping larva was slowly awakening.

Now.

Hu Fangyuan's gaze sharpened. With a tap of his fingertip, the Red Copper Filings instantly became a streak of dark-red light that shot into the flames and landed precisely on the pupa's shell.

Under the high heat, the Copper Shavings melted instantly into a pool of scarlet molten copper, coating the pupa's shell evenly. The molten copper fused perfectly with the shell. Its originally dark-yellow surface instantly turned bronze, taking on a metallic sheen.

The shell grew hotter and hotter. The larva inside seemed to sense the changes outside and finally moved.

Crack.

An exceedingly faint cracking sound came from the shell.

A tiny fissure appeared on the copper-colored shell. More and more cracks followed, densely covering its entire surface. A tiny insect slowly wriggled its way out.

It was a plump, milky-white larva that looked soft, no different from an ordinary beetle larva. But the first thing it did upon emerging was turn around and bite into the shell behind it.

Crunch, crunch.

The little creature ate swiftly, devouring the copper-colored shell bite by bite and swallowing every bit of it. After eating the shell, the larva's body had visibly grown a size larger, and a faint copper tint appeared on its surface.