Chapter 304: Bitter Strength Gu Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral Tie Ruo Nan really left. And like she said, she took Tie Dao Ku with her. Fang Yuan understood very well what kind of person Tie Dao Ku was. Being able to fight intensely with Bai Ning Bing for such a long time, he clearly was an expert and could not be looked down upon. Now, he had been recruited by Tie Ruo Nan. "This Tie Ruo Nan must be eliminated, leaving her alive will be an enormous threat." Fang Yuan had an intense premonition in his heart, because Tie Ruo Nan, him and Bai Ning Bing had a common point — They were people who found the road they want to walk on in life. Such people had great willpower and courage, as long as they didn’t die prematurely, they were sure to have huge accomplishments. Tie Ruo Nan also had A grade aptitude along with the support of Tie Clan. She was one of the eight young masters of Tie Clan, just this alone, Fang and Bai could not compare with her even with the purple thorn tokens. "If our growth continues like this, she will gradually throw me and Bai Ning Bing far away. Only through the three kings inheritance, can I decrease the gap between us." Fang Yuan made a plan. With a normal development, Fang and Bai were not Tie Ruo Nan’s match. The latter was one of the young masters of Tie Clan, the resources she received were so much that Fang and Bai could not even begin to compare. Only by walking on an uncommon route, by taking risks and shortcuts, could they decrease this gap. The three kings inheritance and the great demonic righteous battle of Yi Tian mountain were such ’shortcuts’. Spring came and left; autumn left and returned. The river of time continued to flow ceaselessly and over a year passed. Nan Qiu garden, secret room. Fang Yuan was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, beads of sweat seeped out of his forehead, as he gritted his teeth and endured. He was refining Gu and it was the crucial moment. A red, orange and green sphere floated in mid-air; the size of a basket. Its lights tinged Fang Yuan’s face with a variety of colors. Doing four tasks at once! "Stone turtle strength Gu, go." Following Fang Yuan’s will, a darkish light flew out of his aperture and pierced into the three colored light sphere. The addition of stone turtle strength Gu immediately created an intense reaction in the three colored light sphere. The light sphere which had red, orange and three colors, now had a dark light mixed into it. The four colors contended against each other but no one could overwhelm the other, and the battle became chaotic. For a moment, the four colors moved fiercely, just like boiling water which was being stirred by a large hand. Boom. Suddenly, there was a small explosion. The light sphere burst apart and formed a four colored rain. The light rain came fast and left just as quickly; in a blink of an eye, the secret room was submerged in darkness. Everything disappeared. "Failed again..." In the eerie darkness, Fang Yuan sighed softly. Blood slowly seeped out from his nose and due to the failure in refining Gu, his soul also received a backlash, causing him to have a burst of dizziness. This was already the fourth failure. "A year and a half has gone, I have advanced to third inner city from the fourth. However, I haven’t been able to buy bitter strength Gu." Fang Yuan knew the reason. One was because bitter strength Gu was extremely rare and also very expensive; it rarely appeared even in Shang clan city. Second was because Shang Ya Zi was the one who managed the shops and was obstructing Fang Yuan from the dark. Shang Ya Zi was one of the young masters of Shang clan and was in control of the stores in Shang clan city. Fang Yuan wanted to buy bitter strength Gu, and Shang Ya Zi possessed all kinds of ways to obstruct Fang Yuan. Two years ago, Fang Yuan arrived at Shang clan city and had extorted Shang Ya Zi. And after this was done, Shang Ya Zi relied on Bai Gu inheritance to pass the clan’s examination and maintain his young master position. Although he was hindered by poison vow Gu - not being able to make fatal moves against Fang Yuan - this way of taking revenge was still allowed. Shang Ya Zi was after all Shang Yan Fei’s son, each loss he suffered made him wiser. After the setbacks he suffered, he roused his spirit, wiped away his decadence, became cautious in indulging in wine and women, and became more shrewd. He relied on the clan’s system to deal with Fang Yuan, using more hidden means that even the purple thorn token Fang Yuan possessed was of no use. Purple thorn token holders were considered Shang clan’s esteemed guests. But in the end, they were outsiders and could not compare to Shang Ya Zi who was Shang clan’s young master. Since he could not buy bitter strength Gu, Fang Yuan could only attempt to refine it himself. However, the success rate in refining bitter strength Gu was really very low. Counting in today’s attempt, Fang Yuan had already tried the fusion four times and in the process lost brown bear strength Gu, galloping horse strength Gu, green bull labor Gu and stone turtle strength Gu. Apart from these, he had also lost precious supplementary materials and large amounts of primeval stones. Fortunately, Fang Yuan was able to keep on winning at the battle stage and earn resources, allowing him to bear the cost of Gu refinement failure. "Sigh, this time is also a failure... I can only wait for my injuries to recover before I try again." Fang Yuan sighed. Gu refinement required prudence. Failure to refine a Gu could inflict backlash on the Gu Master’s body and soul. Injuries on the body were easier to resolve; but because of multitasking, the soul suffered damage which was extremely troublesome to deal. The higher the rank and rarer the Gu was, the more severe the consequences of failure. Thus, refinement Gu Masters would often be seriously injured or become bedridden because of Gu refinement failures, and sometimes the backlash even led to deaths. It was not that Gu which could heal the soul did not exist, but they were all extremely rare and were usually kept secretly by the large clans. The injuries to his soul this time would inflict light dizziness to Fang Yuan for over a month. This dizziness would affect Fang Yuan’s battle strength and such a minor gap could be fatal in a battle between experts. Thus Fang Yuan usually attempted this after an interval of a month to let his soul have enough time to recuperate. Gu refinement failed but today’s cultivation was not over. Fang Yuan waited in meditation; a short while later, he heard a knock from outside. He opened the door and welcomed Bai Ning Bing. Over this course of a year and a half, Bai Ning Bing made rapid progress and also reached the third inner city, having assembled a set of Gu worms. She was on par with Fang Yuan and rarely suffered losses. They were called the two new stars of this generation in the battle stage and received attention from many people. The two did not speak and only nodded to each other. Bai Ning Bing sat cross-legged on the opposite cushion and placed her palms against Fang Yuan’s back, pouring her snow silver primeval essence. Bai Ning Bing was intentionally suppressing her cultivation and thus, was still at rank three peak stage. In contrast, Fang Yuan’s cultivation was advancing rapidly and was now only half a step away from rank three upper stage. Four hours later, Bai Ning Bing stopped injecting the primeval essence and withdrew her palms. Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes. His aura was even more abundant and there was a vague feeling of fullness. This was the sign of cultivation close to breaking through. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞 "My cultivation is getting close to rank three upper stage, I will breakthrough within a few days." Fang Yuan calmly analyzed in his mind. "After I breakthrough to upper stage, I will use the white silver relic Gu and directly push my cultivation to rank three peak stage. Like this, I can catch up to Bai Ning Bing, and also ease Spring Autumn Cicada’s pressure on the aperture." Spring Autumn Cicada was Fang Yuan’s vital Gu and was also a rank six Gu. Over this course of a year and a half, it had been continually absorbing the water of the river of time and its aura was growing stronger as it recovered, creating a pressure on Fang Yuan’s aperture again. But the situation this time was many times better than the one on Qing Mao mountain. Fang Yuan’s cultivation was advancing rapidly, and with a rank three aperture, it was not as pressing as back then on Qing Mao mountain. All this should be attributed to bone flesh unity Gu and Bai Ning Bing. Cultivation ended; Bai Ning Bing stood up and left the secret room immediately. During the whole process, she did not say a word and her expression was cold as ice. Fang Yuan was also not someone who spoke a lot. Over this year and a half, the two were already used to interacting like this. Fang Yuan inwardly pondered: "When I reach rank three peak stage, Bai Ning Bing’s primeval essence won’t be of much help to me. But from this long period of interaction with her and from the minute changes in her aura, I can vaguely feel that she isn’t far from rank four realm." Even if Bai Ning Bing was trying her best to delay her cultivation, the curse of the ten extreme physique had not disappeared and started showing its effect. According to what Bai Ning Bing said, her aptitude had raised by two percent again and was now at ninety-three percent. Another seven percent increase would reach hundred percent and she would regain her northern dark ice soul physique. "If she reaches rank four, her yellow gold primeval essence would be of great help to me in breaking through to rank four realm." "In some aspects, she and I are in similar circumstances. I have Spring Autumn Cicada and she has northern dark ice soul physique..." Seven days later, Fang Yuan received good news from Wei Yang. An auction! "A rarely seen disaster appeared at Ju Feng mountain and destroyed Ju clan. The remnants of Ju clan had submitted to Shang clan city and are auctioning large amounts of their clan’s collections to maintain their livelihood. Thus, there will be an auction held soon." After saying this, Wei Yang intentionally said to Fang Yuan: "Brother Fang, your luck has come. I have investigated and found there is a bitter strength Gu being auctioned this time." Wei Yang was clear of Fang Yuan’s demand for bitter strength Gu. Fang Yuan had even requested him to make inquiries before. "The main thing is everyone in Shang clan city are viewing this auction with importance, it will be difficult for young master Shang Ya Zi to play tricks." Wei Yang added. The conflict between Shang Ya Zi and Fang Yuan was no secret to Shang clan’s higher ups. "Bitter strength Gu!" "Ju clan!" Fang Yuan’s gaze brightened. Ju clan had centuries of foundation, there was sure to be many useful things up for bidding now that they were selling their properties. Bitter strength Gu which Fang Yuan had not obtained despite searching all over for it, was one of them. "I have accumulated close to a million primeval stones in the course of this year and a half. I have a huge chance of successfully buying the bitter strength Gu." "Cases like Ju clan’s destruction aren’t rare. In this world, besides human disaster, there are also natural disasters. Strong wind blows throughout the year in Ju Feng mountain, although it is a spiritual mountain possessing spirit springs, the environment is really bad. There could be many treasures in Ju Clan’s storage." "I need to participate in the auction!" Fang Yuan immediately decided. ... "What, Ju Clan has a bitter strength Gu?" In a study, Shang Ya Zi slowly furrowed his brows. He was holding a document on one hand; the document contained most of the details of the auction. And his other hand was on the table, his index finger knocking on the surface. "To think Fang Zheng’s luck is so good, I did everything to obstruct him and it seems he is still going to obtain the bitter strength Gu. Even father is paying attention to the auction this time, it won’t be easy for me to interfere." "But, Fang Zheng... I won’t let you get the bitter strength Gu so easily. I will also participate in the auction and make sure you suffer a huge loss!" Shang Ya Zi could not help but let out a cold snort at the thought. He had always kept a grudge due to Fang Yuan’s extortion. He was a narrow-minded and petty person, refusing to see Fang and Bai gain fame and status. He could only ease the hatred in his heart by seeing Fang and Bai’s pain and suffering. Translator’s Thoughts ChibiGeneral ChibiGeneral Sorry this is late, my windows update took 3 hours :(