Although Yin Clan was merely a large-sized clan, their foundation was impressive. Yin Clan did not occupy the entire mountain, nor even half of it, to transform it into human cities or a collection of fortresses. Instead, they only expanded their village and turned it into a small-sized city. The city walls were made of massive stone blocks and had been constructed extremely well, and it was obvious that this was the handiwork of Earth Path Gu Masters.
Moreover, large numbers of Steel Snake Gu had been deployed along the city walls. This caused iron vines filled with sharp thorns to grow.
Fang Tian and his group entered Yin Clan, and they looked around with curiosity, observing their surroundings. Fang Tian in particular was interested in Yin Clan because of the ongoing war between them and Yan Zu Clan.
"But this war will not last long. Yin Clan's clan leader cannot suppress all the clan elders and start a war for personal reasons, even if he is Rank Five."
Fang Tian thought this as he walked side by side with his group under the leadership of a Yin Clan elder. After passing through the gate, the scene inside the city was revealed, from the brick-paved ground, to the finely crafted houses, to the shops where mortals were selling their belongings, and from time to time, one or two Gu Masters could be seen working in these shops.
The accompanying elder spoke with a tone of slight pride.
"Our clan believes that anyone who wishes to become useful to the clan must work by any means, no matter how disgraceful it may be, we do not find labor shameful."
The Gu Masters of Wu Clan did not respond. To them, replying to such a strange mentality was embarrassing. Who would want the descendants of Gu Masters to work like mortals?
After moving for some time, they finally arrived at the main headquarters of the clan elders, and accommodations had already been prepared for them to rest. They were also informed that there would be a banquet later in their honor, presided over by a Rank Four elder.
Fang Tian did not care about that, and instead went to the residence assigned to him to rest and continue his cultivation. Yin Clan was generous enough to allocate an entire suite with two servants to each of them, which Fang Tian found extremely comfortable.
After closing the door to the room assigned to him, Fang Tian deployed several Gu worms in the room, and after inspecting them, he found a simple Gu formation dedicated to surveillance. However, this formation did not explicitly intrude upon his privacy, so he left it alone.
"I have several hours before the banquet, but I would rather cultivate during this time. I must strengthen the walls of my aperture so that I can obtain more time before self-detonation… I think my previous estimations were wrong."
After breaking through to Rank Three, Fang Tian found himself facing death almost constantly, and from time to time, waves of pain would strike from his aperture. Thus, he was certain that his previous estimations had been wrong. Perhaps he would not even be able to reach the peak stage of Rank Three before exploding. Therefore, he would settle for the second-best option, which was to break through to the upper stage and rely on the stone walls of the upper stage to alleviate the pressure. With the use of Light Essence Gu, he would have a long time before his aperture collapsed.
For this reason, he cultivated whenever he had the chance, aiming to quickly break through to the middle stage and alleviate the burden somewhat, then use Residual Gu to break through to the upper stage. However, Residual Gu was extremely rare, and what he needed was White Silver Residual Gu of Rank Three. Wu Clan possessed many White Silver Residual Gu, but the contribution points required were simply enormous.
"Forget it for now. If Wu Ji and I can carry out the plan I devised, we can become extremely rich!"
Fang Tian threw these thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on his cultivation. He fed the walls of his aperture with a massive amount of primeval essence, and even without Residual Gu, at this pace, all he needed was a few months to reach the middle stage. But he barely had a few months.
After two hours of cultivation, Fang Tian was satisfied with the progress he had made and began to think about another matter he had been eyeing.
"The defensive killer move I was thinking about is indeed feasible, and perhaps I can complete it now. But I am in Yin Clan, using Gu worms here would put me in an awkward position, but it wouldn't hurt to do it partially?"
Fang Tian did not know the exact function of the Gu formations placed in his room, but at least he knew that they did not react strongly to slight fluctuations of primeval essence. Thus, he decided to take the risk and test his new creation.
"Using Palm Canopy Gu as the foundation, I link it with Jade Bark Shell Gu, then Wood Origin Gu… this feels somewhat incorrect. Although the results will be successful, I do not feel that coordinating only three Gu worms is a great achievement. What about adding Wood Enchantment Gu? I can provide a support effect to increase the power of the killer move by using it."
Fang Tian attempted to establish a linkage between the four Gu worms, just like the first time he created his killer move, Twisted Vine Manifestation. However, this time, he was extremely restrained in activation so that no aura would leak out and cause trouble.
"Success! The effect seems very good, and the linkage between them is remarkably stable. Is this because they are all of the Wood Path, so there is no conflict in Dao marks? That is, instead of weakening my killer move by adding Gu worms from other paths, I can use Gu worms of the Wood Path to multiply the effect… ah, but this will never work in the end. No matter how talented a person is, they must use Gu worms from other paths to change the direction of their killer moves… they cannot rely solely on their own path."
Fang Tian finished cultivating, and at the same time, someone knocked on the door of his room. The voice of a boy came from behind the door.
"Sir, Elder… the clan has sent word to the elder that the banquet will begin in an hour. The elder must bathe, cleanse himself, and put on clean clothes before attending the banquet… I have already prepared everything, the maidservants are waiting, they will take good care of the elder's body."
This boy had been assigned to him by Yin Clan. He was merely a boy who had just become a Gu Master, but because of his kinship with one of the elders, he had been assigned to Fang Tian, perhaps to obtain a reward or some guidance.
"But I am not generous enough. I can barely endure my own progress, and now they want me to take care of their children?"
Fang Tian opened the door and glanced at the cloud-white-haired boy. Although Fang Tian was short among his peers, this boy was even shorter. They were separated by only three or four years, yet compared to this boy, Fang Tian already seemed like a mature man who had faced his fair share of hardships.
"Lead me to the washing pool. Also, make sure to bring green robes embroidered with copper, and I also want a green headband with a piece of cloth suitable for tying the headband."
"As you command, Elder, but this will take some time. You might be a little late for the banquet."
"No problem, just do as I say."
The boy nodded confidently and led Fang Tian toward another section of his spacious suite. Fang Tian could sense the moisture in the air and see strands of white steam drifting out from one of the rooms. The boy opened the door for him, and inside, Fang Tian could see a huge washing pool made of yellow and copper-colored bricks, and several adult women holding tools for scraping off dead skin or combs for brushing hair, looking extremely prepared.
In the next moment, Fang Tian was grabbed by a strong woman and thrown into the washing pool.