Bai Ning Bing laughed and tossed the book aside as he read one of the chapters from The Legend of Ren Zu.
The door was opened at this moment, and the person entering was almost hit in the face by the book.
"Ning Bing, what are you doing?" The one entering was the Bai clan leader.
He frowned, consoling, "I know your mood is bad, but losing your right arm is nothing. In this world, there are many Gu worms that can heal such an injury."
"In the past, I got the clan elders to stay by your side and protect you, but you always rejected it, and even attacked the clan elders. You've finally suffered a loss this time huh?"
"But this is a good thing. Since young you've had too smooth of a path, but as long as it is not death, such a loss is no big deal. Your injuries are already healed, but the wolf tide is getting more ferocious, the clan needs your strength!"
"A bunch of wolf cubs, what can they amount to?" Bai Ning Bing shut his eyes, lying on the bed and answering nonchalantly.
Clan leader's face showed a serious expression, "The situation is not looking good, or rather, it is pessimistic. According to our reconnaissance, there are already three frenzy lightning wolf packs moving near the village. Your failure brought a great influence to our clansmen. I hope that tonight, you can come out and show yourself. As long as you are standing, it can greatly motivate our clansmen. Do you understand?"
"I get it, I get it. It's a small matter." Bai Ning Bing responded, showing impatience.
If anyone else showed such disrespect to the clan leader, they'd face severe punishment—but Bai Ning Bing was an exception.
The Bai clan leader let out a helpless sigh, closed the door, and left.
Alone in the room, Bai Ning Bing opened his eyes, revealing a gaze filled with loneliness and confusion.
He had told no one about the issue with his body or the looming sense of death.
Through ancient clan records, he learned the name of his physique—Northern Dark Ice Soul. It was among the ten extreme physiques, known as fatal talents due to their destructive end once the aperture walls reached their limit.
Though the clan leader had raised and tolerated him for years, Bai Ning Bing had no doubt—if his secret got out, the first to try and kill him would be that very man.
"What's the point of a person being alive?"
In the past, thinking about this question left Bai Ning Bing feeling lost—boredom, frustration, anger, and other dark emotions consumed him.
But now, a strange calm had taken root in his heart.
People grow, and so did he—as a genius, it was inevitable.
Before, knowing his life would end, he feared death and desperately clung to life.
But after nearly dying, that fear had faded.
Letting the Rank three white silver primeval essence nurture his aperture, he felt no concern.
He wasn't afraid of death anymore.
Though he still didn't understand the meaning of life, he knew where to find that answer—
It was in Fang Yuan.
This certainty was beyond words, like a gut feeling he couldn't ignore. And on top of that, Fang Yuan held the Stone Aperture Gu.
"Fang Yuan… we will meet again," he lightly muttered, his eyes shining with a brilliant light, like the glimmer of a diamond.
In the rented house, Fang Yuan held many Gu worms in his hands, falling into deep thought.
Most of these Gu worms were either taken from the corpses Fang Yuan had collected or exchanged using his merit points.
"Time to refine the Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu to Rank two." With this thought, all the Gu worms in his hands hovered toward him in an instant, various lights flashing out to create a rainbow-like glow.
Carefully monitoring the ball of light, Fang Yuan threw in some primeval stones along with Gu materials.
Seeing the ball of light grow bigger and bigger, he quickly threw in the body parts he had previously obtained—hands, legs, torsos, even heads. These completed multiple Gu master bodies and were tossed into the ball of light.
As the ball of light reached its maximum size, Fang Yuan took out more primeval stones and the bone of the Flower Wine Monk, then threw them into the ball of light.
After a few minutes, the light began to dim, and each color gradually merged into one — a metallic red-gold hue.
Seeing the Gu begin to form, Fang Yuan revealed a smile but quickly turned solemn as he noticed the Gu worm starting to show signs of cracking.
"Looks like it's time for the true refinement method of the Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu," Fang Yuan thought, then quickly controlled the ball of metallic red-gold light and swallowed it whole.
Just as Fang Yuan swallowed it, the Gu suddenly did not continue cracking but instead began to solidify.
Fang Yuan, already aware of this step, did not stop the refinement.
Instead, he took out some body parts he had saved earlier and, without batting an eye at the gruesome sight, began cutting them into smaller pieces and eating them.
If anyone were watching Fang Yuan, they would think he was a savage barbarian practicing cannibalism.
But Fang Yuan was indeed consuming human body parts — after all, this was part of the refinement.
Fang Yuan was now treating his own body as a 'furnace' for Gu refinement.
After consuming the body parts, he proceeded to swallow some primeval stones and even took in ground-up bones of the Flower Wine Monk.
For fifteen intense minutes, he consumed unimaginable things. Yet, he never gagged or vomited. Feeling full inside his stomach, Fang Yuan sat down in a lotus position and fully concentrated on refining the Gu inside his own body.
His efforts finally paid off, as the Gu was successfully refined within his body.
Unfortunately, Fang Yuan could not see the complete Gu worm, as it had already been absorbed and used by his body upon refinement.
This refinement process was quite similar to transforming a human into a Dragonman, except Fang Yuan was not turning himself into a variant human, but rather into a Quasi–Ten Extreme Physique.
Nevertheless, this refinement had already reached the pinnacle of the Human Isolation Style — or perhaps even surpassed it.
"The Rank two Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu greatly improved my physique even further. Now, if I were to use strength path Gu worms, they would also receive a slight boost. "Fang Yuan observed his changing body and made a mental note to himself about the effects of the Rank two Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu.
"This Gu is also quite unique. The Rank one version of it has an incomplete physical form, where I only needed one Rank one Gu Master for the refinement material. Whereas, the Rank two to five versions only exist in a Gu Master's body, and the refinement materials would require multiple Gu Masters' bodies. Of course, depending on the Rank I am refining, the Gu Masters also need to be of the same Rank. Any difference and the refinement will fail." Fang Yuan summarised his learning, as this was his second time refining this Gu.
The Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu is truly a one-of-a-kind Gu worm, as whoever wants to use it has to start from Rank one and slowly make their way up.
If Fang Yuan were to refine the Rank two Quasi-Great Strength True Martial Gu without having the Rank one version of it for his physique, the refinement would have guaranteed to fail.
Not only that, but the Gu Master himself has to be the same rank or higher to use it.
Even if Fang Yuan had the materials to refine all the way to Rank five, he would not be able to use it — rather, the Gu might kill him instead, as a Rank five Gu is no joke for a mere Rank two like Fang Yuan.
In other words, only Fang Yuan in this world is capable of refining this type of Gu thanks to his knowledge, experience, and most importantly, his attainment levels.
After a few moments, Fang Yuan's body had already started to visibly change. His body was lean and tightly packed with muscle, every line of his frame etched with definition. Not overly bulky, but wiry and toned — the kind of strength that came from speed, precision, and control. Like a coiled spring, his physique radiated efficiency, built more for performance than sheer size.
Fang Yuan's eyes opened, and he got up from his sitting lotus position to inspect his newly obtained body.
Without further ado, he quickly punched and kicked the air a few times to get used to his body. He practiced imaginary combat, fists and kicks cutting through the air.
After an intense ten minutes of practice, Fang Yuan was satisfied. He noticed that his stamina, speed, and even recovery had improved significantly. He also estimated that his strength had now grown to at least three boars of strength if not more.
"Now to use the red steel Relic Gu to reach the Rank two peak stage." Fang Yuan took out the Relic Gu and was about to use it but was interrupted by a knock on the door.