By the time Fang Yuan crossed the seventh pillar, it seemed that the jade eye stone monkeys seemed to have realized that there was little point in trying to fight him.
They must have had their own methods of communication between each other, as they did not challenge him, instead cowering behind their pillars and making nervous sounds.
Fang Yuan found a central area among the stone pillar forest. There was a cave within it which looked like it had been made artificially, and Fang Yuan could already guess what lay within.
There was likely a monkey king inside it - given the huge number of jade eye stone monkeys in the area it would be unusual for there not to be one.
Given the fact that the jade eye stone monkeys which surrounded him had attacked in a rather haphazard manner earlier that meant that there was no one strong ruling over them.
The chances of what lay within being a Thousand Beast King were rather low, but it wouldn't be odd for it to be a Hundred Beast King. Regardless, a Thousand Beast King or a Hundred Beast King -both were of little consequence to Fang Yuan as he advanced.
The monkey king, upon sensing that its territory had been invaded, immediately leaped out towards Fang Yuan.
A single Vermillion Crimson Moon Blade bisected it, killing it instantly.
'It looks like I wasted that attack,' Fang Yuan thought to himself now, seeing that it was indeed a Hundred Beast King.
He had used the Vermillion Crimson Moon Blade on the off chance that it was a Thousand Beast King, simply to settle things quickly.
However, he could have just as easily solved this with his fists.
The monkey king dissolved into small pieces leaving behind only its eyes.
Given enough time, the jade eye stone monkeys around here would repopulate the area, and another monkey king would appear among them.
'This indeed would be quite a good training ground,' he thought to himself.
If this had been him earlier, when he had first found the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, something like that wouldn't have concerned him whatsoever.
He would have only been thinking of getting as many jade stones as possible for his own use. Right now, though, even if this wasn't useful towards him, as clan head, he could find a use for it in order to strengthen Gu Yue Village.
Within the cave he came upon some writing on the wall.
'Golden Chainsaw Centipede's cave is precarious. Earth Communication is the way to avoid disaster.'
He found another Earth Treasury Flower near there within which there was an Earth Communication Ear Grass Gu. This would have been very helpful to him back in the day, though currently it could not fit his needs. While Earth Communication Ear Grass could be considered a first-class investigative gu worm, that was only considering its rank. It could not match the might of a higher-ranking investigative gu.
Fang Yuan used some more investigative methods near the cave.
Piecing together what was written on the wall, he could guess what lay inside. The Chainsaw Golden Centipede was a Rank 3 gu worm, and could reign over a large number of ordinary centipedes much like a beast king would.
The Flower Wine Monk clearly intended for the Earth Communication Ear Grass Gu to be used by whoever reached up to this point in order to try and avoid the Chainsaw Golden Centipede to progress further.
Based on Fang Yuan's estimations, someone at Rank 2 cultivation could've gotten to this point with some effort. No wonder there would be the consideration of them struggling to deal with a Rank 3 gu worm. The Flower Wine Monk, despite being a demonic cultivator, seemed to have set up his inheritance so that even a weak Gu Master could pass through it after a few attempts.
More likely than not, this was for some kind of nefarious purpose and not out of benevolence.
However, Fang Yuan did not have to worry even if he had only been Rank 2 as he possessed a trump card - the Spring Autumn Cicada.
He wandered near the entrance and let out his Rank 4 Gu Master aura. If he was at Rank 5 currently, the Golden Chainsaw Centipede would've shuddered and retreated, though with what he was doing now, it had likely become agitated, sensing that another 'wild beast' had invaded its territory.
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Fang Yuan felt something approaching near him. There were hundreds of centipedes being used as a literal wall as the Chainsaw Golden Centipede hid among them.
They could do nothing before Fang Yuan's defensive methods, and the Rank 3 gu worm finally showed itself when it realized that its human wave tactics were futile.
As it made to rear its fangs to try to attack him, before it could even come near him, Fang Yuan unleashed the Spring Autumn Cicada's Rank 6 aura.
The Chainsaw Golden Centipede was a Rank 3 Gu worm. While it was not completely suppressed by Fang Yuan's Rank 4 aura too much, before the might of the Spring Autumn Cicada, it could only shudder as it became completely dominated.
Fang Yuan refined it instantly.
'If I could advance this to Rank 4, it might be a worthy additional offensive option for me.'
Still, the Chainsaw Golden Centipede was mildly useful to him even if he got it to Rank 4. He simply had better options right now.
He could keep it in the clan's storage and consider it as him giving up something towards the clan. He could consider those to be 'merit points' in case he wanted to exchange something later on. He could also give this to Fang Zheng once he reached Rank 3 or Qing Shu if he wanted to increase their battle strength.
Advancing it to Rank 4 would take up too much of his time and resources which he felt were better spent elsewhere.
"I wonder what else is beyond here?" Fang Yuan thought to himself.
There were still numerous ordinary centipedes following around the cave, but in a way, this was good for him because wherever they scurried about meant that there were no traps there.
He still used his investigative methods as he walked forward, noting that the tunnel opened up into a place which showed signs that it had been modified by a person.
Then, he heard the sound of running water reach him before he happened upon a crystal wall.
Beyond the wall was a stream of water that seemed to merge into their clan's primeval spring. It was free flowing and untouched by ice this deep within the mountain, but that wasn't what caught Fang Yuan's gaze.
There was a gu worm located beyond the crystal wall. A novice might not know what it was, but with his 500 year's of experience there was no way that it would escape his notice.
The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus!
Immediately the puzzle pieces fell together within Fang Yuan's mind.