Lo Jik maintained the Undefeated Refinement Palms killer move as he focused on the glowing brown lump of light suspended before him. The blue of the phantom arms from his refinement path killer move and the brown of the refinement lump bathed him and his cultivation chamber in flickering light.
The lump of light was far from being calm as its glow and size fluctuated with every breath. Maintaining the killer move was already taxing to one's mind, especially after Lo Jik fine-tuned it by adding a few more refinement path gu worms. He could have added more, however, the intuition from his several attainments remained restricted by his limited primeval essence.
After observing the lump for a while, Lo Jik took out a rank 5 gu worm from his aperture. It looked like an exquisite crystal mantis with a dark-brown carapace.
It was a reward Lo Jik summoned from his trait, a gu worm he could not identify and therefore named—Dust Cloud Hidden Secrets. Originally a one-time consumable gu worm, it released a cloud of dust that covered the target and revealed the effects of different vow-type gu worms by revealing their dao marks on the target's body. It was an earth path gu worm with information path effects.
Under Lo Jik's control, it now released a sharp brown light before fusing with the originally fluctuating lump.
*Voom*
The lump expanded instantly, its surface quaking like a restless lake. The disturbance failed to chip at Lo Jik's control, his refinement path killer move consisting of rank 5 Undefeated Hundred Battles, Preservation, Five Fusions at Once, Prodigal Son, Accumulation, and Multiply Gu Worms as the core set assured one's success if the user followed a correct recipe correctly.
The lengthier the process, however, the more exhausted Lo Jik grew. The nature of this killer move wasn't pure refinement path either, so his refinement path clone gu worm could not use it. That isn't to say the Hairy Man Gu was restricted by this limitation. Hairy Men could use other types of gu worms, but this killer move did not suit the methods a hairy man utilized traditionally.
Lo Jik waited for nearly two hours, almost drawing the entirety of his primeval essence despite the monstrous 60%/hour essence regeneration capability of an extreme physique before resorting to the two lotus gu worms.
Finally, he retrieved the final gu worm of the recipe. It was a relatively forgotten gu worm.
Rank 4 Chant Gu.
The lump of light contracted the second it fused with Chant Gu.
Beads of sweat rolled down Lo Jik's forehead as the final step of the refinement process drew more of his killer move's strength, subsequently increasing the primeval essence consumption.
*Huff*
Lo Jik's exhausted exhale filled the chamber as he held his hand out and caught the newly refined rank 5 human path gu worm, too tired to even manipulate the gu worm using his thoughts.
He started inspecting the gu worm after recuperating for a while.
'Another human path gu worm.' Lo Jik smiled, more than pleased with the result once he used Scan the Dao and other methods on the gu worm.
'Realizing the true nature of Disguise Gu was truly a great opportunity. I wouldn't have been able to start digesting all my gains without it.'
He brought the gu worm near his face.
'What should I name it?'
It was a large, skull-sized mantis. Every single detail of the gu appeared clear in this scale. Yet, its exoskeleton sported thin and exquisitely carved ridges, resembling reptilian scales. Most prominent feature were its sixteen compound eyes!
'This gu wouldn't exist if I wasn't inspired by Desolate Ancient Moon's legend of seeking success. Cognition Gu had advised her to chant self every time she failed to identify success. That chant healed her injuries and reverted the changes of her body to an extent. My gu mimics this legend—reverting changes. It's a human path healing gu worm that also displays transformation path effects. Not only that, but it's also refined using the culmination of my experience regarding gu worms that share their use with feeding patterns or refinement itself.'
Lo Jik momentarily closed his eyes before sighing.
"Self Chant. Hmm. Rank 5 Self Chant."
He produced a rank 3 Poison Vow Gu before feeding it to Self Chant Gu Worm.
It fed on other gu worms.
A change appeared instantly as the large rank 5 Self Chant Gu spat out a cloud of dust to cover Lo Jik's body. The youth experienced his skin prickling and then feeling itchy. Soon, purple-red marks appeared on his body but Self Chant Gu Worm stayed still.
Seeing this, Lo Jik started chanting in his heart.
'Me.'
'Me.'
'Me.'
The rank 5 gu worm stirred into movement the second Lo Jik started chanting and climbed up his arm.
To have a giant insect move on one's body was definitely a unique experience. The gu worm moved up to the first purple-red mark and then slashed at Lo Jik's skin with its sharp blade-like limbs. His skin split open despite the resources he invested in enhancing his body.
Strangely, it wasn't blood that soaked Lo Jik's wound but a purple-red smoke which the rank 5 Self Chant Gu Worm inhaled instantly. It continued walking around Lo Jik's body, slashing away. Each slash made Lo Jik wince ever so slightly.
He might be used to extreme pain and punishment, but the injuries caused by Self Chant also impacted his mind and soul.
The gu worm stopped after it consumed every purple-red dao mark on Lo Jik's body. He also stopped chanting after noticing this.
Scan the Dao.
Lo Jik used the killer move on himself before smiling widely.
They were gone!
The dao marks related to all the poison vow gu worms he'd ever used were gone. He instantly spoke about several secrets openly, which he couldn't achieve before.
Thrilled, Lo Jik took out yet another gu worm.
Soul Oath Gu!
Self Chant consumed the gu worm before spitting out another cloud of dust as this time eerie grey markings appeared on his skin. It started moving once Lo Jik began chanting.
*Slash*
*Slash*
*Slash*
Each attack made Lo Jik shudder the slightest bit. This time it felt less pain from his body compared to his mind and soul.
Still…
Lo Jik carefully took the pendant around his neck and stored it in a gu worm.
Success!
How could Lo Jik store the pendant in the gu worm without Xin Cheng's approval? Because he was no longer bound by the effects of Soul Oath Gu!
'Awesome… really awesome!'
Lo Jik grinned. This was the effect of Self Chant Gu! It reverted the use of a gu worm on the body once it ate the same gu worm—not necessarily the exact same gu worm used to form these effects. The applications of this gu worm were simply too much!
He could heal poisons, revert transformations like the use of Yin-Yang Rotation Gu Worm, deal with the injuries restricted by the dao marks as was the case when he was wounded using sword path dao marks against Wang Nan, and even revert the effects of several body modification gu worms!
He wouldn't have needed to rely on a complicated killer move to heal the effects of Aperture Puncture Gu in Shu Zhe's case!
'But its effect cannot be used as an attack without a killer move. The cloud of dust only covers the user of this gu worm.' Lo Jik remained well aware of his creation's limitations.
'It also doesn't work on the dao marks left by immortal gu worms, else I could have used a rank 5 Deal Gu to nullify the effects of the rank 6 Deal Immortal Gu. That doesn't mean I cannot use a rank 6 Self Chant in the future… wait a minute.'
Lo Jik paused and took out Rank 5 Accumulation Gu.
Did he need to advance a rank 5 gu worm to achieve the effects of a rank 6 immortal gu worm?
No.
'Let's not be hasty. I don't have the recipe for rank 5 Deal Gu Worm and trying to purchase the recipe or the gu worm is bound to invite suspicion from other supreme elders. I worked too hard to gain their trust to let it all go to waste like this.'
'Still, I've ticked off a human path healing gu worm from the list. It's not an orthodox form of healing, but it still falls in that category. There are still movement, offensive, defensive, and other types of gu worms yet to be refined to complete my human path set.'
'There's also Fake Soul Gu. I failed in refining the first recipe. The materials in the recipe are correct, but I messed up a few steps in the refinement process of the gu worm itself.'
Either way, he wasn't about to refine another gu worm today.
Which led to…
[Yellow Heaven's Current Fragment (Platinum/Repeatable): Made Bai La orgasm for the first time. Parties involved—Host and Bai La. Rewards Stored.]
Lo Jik summoned the reward with a wry smirk.
Anyone else in his position would have been excited but…
Seeing the three Lifespan Gu Worms worth 260, 410, and 700-years each left him… overwhelmed.
He possessed a total of 2370 years in the form of Lifespan Gu Worms.
'Wow…' Lo Jik shook his head.
However, his growth didn't end here. He might be stagnated in terms of refining a proper human path gu set and taking further steps in his goal of forming a good dual cultivation system, but his attainments didn't halt in any manner.
He reached master-level attainment in sword, enslavement, and food paths!
'I'll start investing in more strength path gu worms and…' Lo Jik considered for a moment. Advancing one's attainment to the realm of a grandmaster was exponentially costlier. Focusing on strength path meant he couldn't further buy an outrageous amount of rank 5 gu worms for the other paths atonce.
Though, he could shoulder the expense of the gu worms for an additional path.
'I have ordinary level attainment in wood, star, and dark paths. After them… there are nearly fifteen other paths I haven't even touched at all!'
Lo Jik couldn't help but think greedily.
'Isn't there an even better way of accumulating attainment aside from Dreamer Gu? Well, there is True Meaning, but it is simply too rare. I haven't earned any further true meaning from my trait either.'
'There might be more methods hidden in dream path itself, but I've yet to achieve any meaningful growth in this aspect.'
Even Fairy Yi would cough blood in frustration if she ever became privy to Lo Jik's current thoughts.
'I'll go with wood path. The Lotus Gu Worms fall under this path. I might be able to glean some intuition for a new gu worm with similar effects or even using the lotus gu worms in a killer move.'
Lo Jik decided on the matter as he retrieved the pendant from his storage gu worm and wore it around his neck.
'I can also start investing in Xin Cheng.' He considered luridly.
An information path gu worm reached Lo Jik as he planned out his next few steps, the contents of which made him briefly pause as Feng Jiu Ge all but explicitly confirmed his speculations.
'I can't let this opportunity go.' Lo Jik's brown hues glinted sharply. 'Black Moon has huge origins, which also means a sea of resources. I must quickly digest this information and deduce all the possible implications before… extorting a gu immortal.'
He could barely calm his nerves at the prospect of doing something so abundantly stupid. Yet, according to his wildly sharpening instincts, it was possible—very possible.
'I've been fucked by a gu immortal before, and now I nearly fucked another gu immortal. How can risks related to a mere Black Moon deter me at this point?'
'Xin Cheng and others can wait. Black Moon is my greatest priority. However, I cannot show any visible weakness. Targeting Black Moon opens me up to being targeted by her simultaneously. My most glaring weakness is none other than my soul… Fake Soul…'
<<<>>>
"The more I think about it, the more I sense that something is wrong." Feng Jin Huang frowned as she overlooked her blessed land from her room's window. Her golden brows furrowed deeply as she reviewed her conversation with Lo Jik.
Receiving the recipe for the rank 3 Leader and Follower Gu alongside the relevant killer move led Feng Jin Huang to think about its other applications, the other variant humans. Unlike hairy men, who required to awaken their apertures to refine gu worms, several other variant humans could display great value without ever awakening their apertures.
For instance, rockmen could dig and develop underground regions. They also attracted several earth path gu worms and could make some use of it like various beast kings.
Similarly, there were snowmen and minimen. Using the killer move, she could compel the former to shed ice tears and use the latter to develop the vegetation of the blessed land. One year of free access to Treasure Yellow Heaven did NOT cover the cost of this transaction at all. In fact, it was a mere fraction!
'I already thought about so many uses for this gu worm and killer move. How can Lo Jik, its creator, not have similar thoughts? He might even know more about its application than me. After all, he'd been using it on several batches of rockmen and accumulated enough experience to understand its limitations.'
She was astute and the recent interaction with talents no less greater than her forced her to be surprisingly humble.
'He isn't the kind to swallow losses.' She felt troubled. 'It means… he gained some unknown advantage.'
Feng Jin Huang could only deduce this much and lacked several clues to understand Lo Jik's motives.
'Did he do this out of the goodness of his heart instead?' She rejected the thought with a scoff.
The legacy disciple could imagine Lo Jik showering his lovers with benefits. But why would he do so for Feng Jin Huang?
Indeed—why?
'Could it be that he never gave up on his ambition for business and lied to me during our negotiations? Does he already have plan to enact?' Feng Jin Huang worked her jaw.
"Land spirit," she called softly, beckoning Little Hu Immortal over. "Keep an eye on Lo Jik. What is he doing right now?"
Little Hu blinked before answering.
"Lo Jik just entered Dang Hun Mountain, Master."
"Has he done anything out of the ordinary?" Feng Jin Huang felt a persistent nagging in her heart. She missed something crucial.
Little Hu Immortal blushed at her inquiry.
"Y-Yes… Lo Jik is acting weird, Master."
"Oh?" Feng Jin Huang perked up. "What is it? Tell me."
"He… he didn't mate with Qin Juan or Elder Shu Zhe for the last four days!" Little Hu Immortal's cheeks turned hot and red as she closed her watery eyes in embarrassment, her words leaving Feng Jin Huang in a daze.
Yes. It was certainly strange for Lo Jik to be on a streak of abstinence. But what did it have to do with her doubts?
The answer to her suspicion couldn't be found in Lo Jik's churning and probably full balls!
Feng Jin Huang almost slapped herself across the face the second she imagined forcing such answers out with her bare hands.
"Just… just keep an eye on him and let me know about his transactions in Treasure Yellow Heaven."
"Yes!" Little Hu nodded and straightened up at the command before she disappeared from Feng Jin Huang's view.
<<<>>>
Lo Jik didn't seek Bai La after the girls left for the second round of the convention or show any urgency to take care of his urges if he ever felt like it in the first place. Instead, he was completely absorbed in his cultivation as his pace of digesting all his gains grew the more time passed.
The only regrettable thing was Lo Jik's lack of income, forcing his reserves of immortal essence stones to fall from thirty-one and a half stones to twenty-six as he bought several wood path gu worms with strength path effects like the rank 5 Muscle Branch Gu or strength path gu worms with wood path effects like the Uprooting Strength Gu.
Dream path was almost a cheat code no worse than his trait as his wood path attainment shot through ordinary attainment to master attainment in a matter of days. Of course, it also had to do with the number of Dreamer Gu Worms in his possession.
And lastly, he succeeded in refining Fake Soul Gu—another human path gu worm.
Having a high attainment was just that good.
Lo Jik sat cross-legged as a dark-grey drain fly flew above his head, which rained countless spores of grey light entering his body and illuminating his soul.
The spores surrounded his soul and brightened briefly before striking it from every corner. Instead of the usual refining method expelling the impurities of the strengthened one-hundred-and-twenty human soul, this method instead empowered the spores as they consumed all the impurities.
Most of Lo Jik's methods now displayed certain food path ingenuities not only because of his experience with similar gu worms but also due to his attainment and the shared memories with Wine Drinker Gu Worm working tirelessly in the Brewery Hall Gu.
These spores inflated as they consumed the impurities in Lo Jik's soul, their surface soon covering his rapidly shrinking soul like a thin, grey laminate wrap—oily and sleek. By the time his soul was completely wrapped up by this layer, the Rank 5 Fake Soul Gu above Lo Jik's head crumbled into pieces.
It was a one-time consumable gu like the rank 5 Fake Mind Gu.
'It's done. I can now use Guts Gu to strengthen my soul till a thousand-man soul… no, it should be a thousand-and-two-hundred-man soul for me due to my divine capacity.'
Yet, Lo Jik wasn't overly pleased.
The creation of Fake Soul could only be considered a partial success. He could speculate whatever effects he wanted based on his experiences and the recipe he refined; however, nothing was certain until practical use.
He wanted Fake Soul Gu to be like Fake Mind Gu. Fake Mind Gu created a hidden layer of mind similar to a gu master's true mindscape. This would allow a gu master to refine both the mindscapes using different gu worms. It had to be known that the so-called mind was made from divine and heart sense—the brain and the soul. Losing one of these aspects severely impacted the process of the mind, the creation of thoughts. However, Fake Mind affected both these aspects and further allowed two different types of mind refinement methods.
All along, this 'Fake' series was Lo Jik's first proper attempt in achieving true dual-cultivation method.
But the rank 5 Fake Soul Gu did not achieve what he intended. It did not create another layer of soul further capable of being modified by gu worms of a different path.
Still, it was a partial success. One man's trash was another's treasure. The same was only loosely applicable in this situation because Fake Soul Gu Worm's actual use was quite outstanding regardless of Lo Jik's expectations. In fact, it was a match made in heaven for Guts Gu!
'Even if I didn't get what I wanted… I finally raised my defenses against soul path.' Lo Jik exhaled.
Rank 5 Fake Soul Gu rained several protective spores on the soul, consuming all of the soul's impurities. Subsequently, it would even consume the soul itself until the spores expand into a protective film around the user's soul.
It was a human path gu worm with refinement effects on the soul.
Once a gu master strengthened their soul, they would introduce more impurities. The remaining film of Fake Soul Gu Worm's effect would activate and consume all the impurities, further strengthening the defensive layer around the soul as the soul itself condenses into something purer with each strengthening session!
It was a passive-use gu worm like Feng Jin Huang's Adamantium Skin Gu, whose effects protected the woman without consuming any primeval essence.
'Every failure has its value.' Lo Jik compiled his gains. The wave of disappointment didn't stir him into the folly of modifying the gu worm's recipe for the umpteenth time.
Remember, not all inspiration led to success.
He was already fortunate that it wasn't a complete failure.
'Of course, getting what I want should be possible if I raise my soul path's attainment to the realm of a grandmaster. However, that won't be necessary. Or rather, it's just one method of achieving dual cultivation.'
'There is still another way. The initial plan was to refine the 'Fake' series of gu worms—Fake Mind, Fake Soul, and Fake Body Gu Worms. They would create 'layers' for another path's modification to sit on without conflicting with one another, utilizing the non-conflicting nature of the human dao to some efficiency. Fake Mind is possible. Fake Body… should also be possible. But this plan will never work without a Fake Soul Gu worm that achieves the same effect.'
'However, the true goal is the utilization of different paths without letting their dao marks conflict. My earlier idea was similar to planning coexistence of two paths in one body.'
'Such a method requires careful planning and constant supervision. Wouldn't it be simpler if…'
His gaze shimmered.
'If I could just swap them out? Like taking out batteries from its intended slot?'
'Regardless. Let's fully strengthen the soul these few days while the group is still out for the second round of the convention.
***
Alternate Title: Desolate Ancient Moon: Will this method work, Cognition Gu *Cognition Gu: Not only will it work, it will also inspire mah Rizzler!*; Self Chant; Rank 5 Human Path Gu Worms; A good healing gu worm; Lo Jik watching every transformation path gu master struggling with healing the dao marks of their transformation: Pathetic; Lo Jik: I wanna main in human path *Also Lo Jik: Comes up with gu worms that'll make transformation and soul path gu masters cream*; What a man can do during No Nut Convention; More Lifespan; A certain reverend psycho: One can always have more lifespan, one can always live longer; Let's look at Daoist Paul Allen's gu set; Progress; Becoming more and more unhinged; Targeting Black Moon; Fang Yuan and Lo Jik sharing their fortunes and misfortunes *Black Moon getting caught in this nonsense every single FUCKING time*; Little Hu knows what's up; Little Hu Immortal watching Lo Jik cultivate diligently: B-But human smut!; Feng Jin Huang is her mother's mother's granddaughter indeed; Bai La: Thinking of ways to bend Lo Jik *Feng Jin Huang: Thinking of ways to milk Lo Jik… out of information*; Slow Feng Jin Huang; Fake Soul; Partial Success; Even a partial success is mouth-watering; One step back to ten steps forward in dual cultivation; The battery idea; Slots?; Lo Jik about to charge up the dao marks' slots like power rangers
***
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