004. Ice Muscle Jade Bone Defense Achieved
One month later, inside the cave.
Qitian sat cross-legged on the bed, immersing his consciousness, pouring primeval essence into the Jade Bone Gu within his aperture.
This Gu resembled a bone, rounded at both ends and slender in the middle, entirely jade-like.
This was still a Rank 3 Gu; activating it required consuming a large amount of primeval essence instantly. Qitian was Rank 2 upper stage, but with the help of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, he could barely manage to use it.
His primeval essence was almost completely depleted, all poured into the Jade Bone Gu. The Gu melted into a jade-like liquid, flew out of his aperture, and merged into Qitian's bones.
Unimaginable, excruciating pain caused beads of cold sweat to form on Qitian's forehead. In moments, his entire body was drenched in sweat.
Qitian had definitely endured much hardship. To survive, Qitian was ruthless towards others, and even more ruthless towards himself; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to become a Gu Immortal.
The three aspects of a Gu Master: nurturing, using, and refining. In terms of usage, some Gu provided extremely unique experiences. The Jade Bone Gu was one such case; using it induced extreme agony. Yet, this pain could only be endured. Fainting midway would mean all previous effort was wasted.
Historically, many famous Gu Masters had died purely from the pain of using Gu worms like the Iron Bone Gu.
Despite this, under the relentless assault of wave after wave of intense pain, Qitian's face was contorted, and occasional grunts escaped his nostrils.
After all the bones in his body were dyed a jade green by the liquid.
He finally relaxed. Almost simultaneously, a strong wave of dizziness struck him.
His vision went black, and he fell unconscious.
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A day later, Qitian slowly woke up.
"The Jade Bone I refined this time, combined with the Ice Muscle I cultivated over the past month, forms 'Ice Muscle Jade Bone'. My defense is considered initially accomplished; I don't need to worry about defense up to Rank 3."
Ice Muscle permanently transforms the entire body's skin into "ice muscle". It not only provides defense but also prevents sweating and stops bleeding.
Jade Bone Gu permanently modifies the Gu Master's bones, giving them a jade-like texture, making them harder and more resilient.
Gu Masters use Gu according to their will. Different Gu worms often complement each other when used together. For "Ice Muscle Jade Bone", the effects of the two influence each other, resulting in a synergistic, stacking effect.
"In my previous life, after Rank 3, I chose to major in soul path. It could be said I took on a thankless task, as accumulating soul foundation is too slow. It wasn't until I inherited the Qi Clan legacy that I made rapid progress."
"However, my highest achievement in my past life was in soul path, reaching the Grandmaster level. Abandoning soul path is naturally impossible. I'll wait until after inheriting the Qi Clan blessed land to focus on soul path again. During my time in Southern Border, it's better to choose a path that easily forms combat strength."
"Supplementing with strength path is still very necessary. After all, strength path has low costs, provides a relatively significant combat power boost for low-rank Gu Masters, and most importantly, consumes little primeval essence. It's very suitable as a supplementary path," Qitian pondered inwardly.
"After all, the primary goal currently is the Qi Clan blessed land. Before that, the priority is to increase combat strength to ensure safe arrival."
Currently, Qitian's main Gu worms included Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, Empty Granary Gu, Water Trace Gu, Water Prison Gu, Mist Sparrow Gu, Ghost Howl Gu, and White Silver Relic Gu – seven Rank 3 Gu worms.
Rank 2 Bone Spike Gu and Concealed Essence Gu.
Plus the body modifications of Ice Muscle Jade Bone and the strength of one boar and one wolf.
Although Rank 3 Gu worms were used sparingly in battle, his combat strength was at the peak of Rank 2.
Compared to his previous life, the situation was much better.
In his past life, after cultivating for three years and with the help of Relic Gu, he reached Rank 3 middle stage. But back then, his experience was limited; he was essentially a self-taught demonic path Gu Master, always cautious and developing low-key.
However, feeding these Gu worms was quite troublesome, costing Qitian considerable effort.
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One year later, in the cave.
Qitian sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion in the center of the cave, surrounded by darkness.
Observing that the primeval essence inside his aperture had completely transformed into light silver, a faint smile appeared on Qitian's lips.
After a moment, Qitian composed himself and took out the White Silver Relic Gu.
This Gu resembled a round bead, entirely silver in color, only the size of a fingertip. It could raise a Rank 3 Gu Master's cultivation by one minor stage without side effects.
Activating the White Silver Relic Gu, it instantly poured out brilliant radiance, directly illuminating the four walls of his aperture.
About four hours later, Qitian leaped from Rank 3 initial stage to Rank 3 middle stage. His light silver primeval essence transformed into flower silver primeval essence.
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Dusk.
The twilight glow shone through the evening clouds, illuminating the elegant and beautiful fur of a Nether Leopard, making it exceptionally beautiful.
This was a pregnant female leopard. Nether Leopards usually paired up; with the female pregnant, the male was naturally out hunting.
In the air, a sparrow condensed from mist circled nearby.
At the same time, further away, a youth hid in the woods.
"After observing for so long, I finally have this opportunity."
Muttering softly, Qitian fully activated his Concealed Essence Gu and approached the Nether Leopard.
As Qitian had now reached Rank 3, the Rank 2 Concealed Essence Gu's effect was somewhat lacking. He was detected by the Nether Leopard when still a hundred steps away.
Realizing a sneak attack wouldn't succeed, Qitian stopped hiding and chose to attack proactively, seizing the initiative.
Activating the Water Trace Gu to close the distance to the Nether Leopard, while simultaneously using Ghost Howl for disruption.
With a wave of his right hand, five or six bone spikes rapidly formed and shot towards the Nether Leopard.
The Nether Leopard was a unique beast of Purple Nether Mountain, agile and extremely fast.
Although this Nether Leopard was pregnant, it still narrowly dodged. Only one bone spike hit, but failed to breach the leopard's defense, merely leaving a shallow white mark on its spotted purple fur.
This was within Qitian's expectations. After all, the Bone Spike Gu was only Rank 2 and could hardly inflict effective damage on a thousand beast king. However, a large number of them could serve as a distraction.
The two sides clashed back and forth, engaging in a fierce battle.
Although the Water Trace Gu was a precious Gu among Rank 3, providing speed comparable to some Rank 4 Gu, allowing Qitian's speed to match the Nether Leopard's, maintaining this speed consumed considerable primeval essence. As time passed, Qitian gradually couldn't keep up and fell into a disadvantage.
Finally, the Nether Leopard left a wound deep enough to see bone on Qitian's left arm. If not for the Ice Muscle Jade Bone, this arm might have been crippled. Due to the Ice Muscle, the bleeding stopped quickly.
However, the Nether Leopard's aggressive attack also exposed an opening, giving Qitian an opportunity. And this was precisely Qitian's plan: luring the enemy by trading injury for its life.
Ignoring the injury on his left arm, Qitian suddenly erupted. His right hand's five fingers clenched together, the skin turning transparent, clearly revealing the jade-like bones beneath.
He thrust directly into the Nether Leopard's abdomen. Qitian possessed the strength of one boar and one wolf. Although unable to exert it fully, he still easily tore through the leopard's belly hide.
Just as the Nether Leopard fell, a mournful cry came from nearby.
Cursing inwardly, Qitian hadn't expected the male leopard to return at such an inopportune moment.