All-class Gu Immortal

Chapter 209 The Powerful Four-Flavor Wine Worm! Five Clans Gather (Part 2)

"We finally succeeded without any major incident!" Zhou Qing's face lit up with joy. He wiped away non-existent sweat from his forehead and let out a long sigh of relief.

"?"

Wan Qizongbo looked at Zhou Qing with a strange expression. There was no danger at all, and as for the surprise, where was it?
"Elder, what's wrong?" Zhou Qing asked, puzzled by Wan Qizongbo's hesitant manner.

"Oh, right, I also have to thank the elder for his help, otherwise I would have been lucky enough to successfully refine the essence."

Zhou Qing quickly expressed his gratitude. In order to increase the success rate of refining the wine worms, he specially sought help from Wan Qizongbo, who had failed eight times in refining the four wine worms.

The other party is familiar with every step of the process of refining the wine worm, and has a precise grasp of the details down to the millimeter.

As Zhou Qing had expected, with Wan Qizongbo's help, he successfully refined the four flavors of wine worms.

"..." Wanqi Zongbo opened his mouth, but still couldn't say a word.

To refine Gu worms, one must find a secret recipe and gather the necessary materials.

The same secret recipe may work for some but fail for others. And a recipe with a high success rate may not be suitable for everyone.

Often, in order to refine high-level Gu worms, Gu masters will spend years, or even more than a decade, collecting materials. If the refinement fails, at best the collected materials will be wasted, and at worst the Gu worms will die, and years of hard work will be in vain.

First-tier Gu worms are fine, as their cultivation cycle is relatively short. However, starting with second-tier Gu worms, the time, effort, and resources required for cultivation and refining increase significantly.

For example, Zhou Qing successfully combined and refined the four-flavor wine worm that Wanqi Zongbo had been trying to refine, while he failed eight times.

For a seasoned second-tier Gu Master like him, cultivating ordinary wine worms is not difficult; it just requires more time to collect fine wines and more spirit stones.

However, ordinary wine worms have no effect on second-tier Gu masters, and have some effect on first-tier Gu masters, but it is still quite limited.

The upgrade from Tier 1 Superior to Tier 1 Supreme is a significant hurdle, requiring a substantial increase in resources.

After all, many fine wines are not available even if you have the money, and in order to ensure quality, you can only brew them yourself.

Especially after finally cultivating two top-tier first-grade wine worms, the attempt to combine them into four wine worms failed. If they were lucky, the two wine worms were severely damaged and their grade dropped.

If you're unlucky, the alcohol worm dies, and you have to start all over again.

However, if successful, the rewards are quite substantial.

The second-tier Four Flavors Wine Worm can enhance the quality and power of True Essence by one minor realm, equivalent to increasing the True Essence in the Yuan Aperture by 20% out of thin air.

If a second-tier early-stage Gu Master possesses third-class aptitude, and both of their Yuan Apertures contain 55% true essence, their total true essence is 110%. However, if they possess the Four Flavor Wine Worms, the quality and power of the true essence in their two Yuan Apertures will increase by a minor realm, each increasing by 20%, effectively equivalent to 150% true essence.

A second-tier early-stage Gu Master with second-class aptitude has 77% true essence in each of his two Yuan Apertures, for a total of 154%.

With the presence of wine worms, even if two second-tier Gu masters of the same realm differ by one level in aptitude, their total amount of true essence is roughly the same.

It should be noted that the difference in aptitude between Gu Masters is like an insurmountable chasm in the early stages.

For Gu Masters with aptitude below the third rank, the hope of breaking through to the second rank is extremely slim, because their true essence is far from sufficient for refining, cultivating, or combining Gu worms, making it almost impossible for them to refine second-rank Gu worms.

The true essence restored by the Yuan Stones alone is simply not enough.

For low-level Gu Masters, high-quality wine worms are an excellent way to make up for their lack of aptitude in the early stages.

The effect of a first-order wine worm is to improve the quality and power of true essence by one minor realm, which is equivalent to increasing the true essence in the primordial aperture by 10% out of thin air.

The second-tier four-flavor wine insect has a stronger effect, equivalent to the true essence in the primordial aperture increasing by 20% out of thin air.

Then there are the third-tier Seven Fragrance Wine Worms, which are equivalent to an increase of 30% in the true essence within the Yuan Aperture.

There's also the legendary fourth-order nine-eyed wine worm.
To some extent, the wine worm can help a Gu master with poor aptitude to defy fate.

Although Wanqi Zongbo is not good at fighting, he is still a top expert with second-class aptitude and a cultivation level of second-stage perfection. The reason why he wants to refine the four-flavor wine worm is not mainly to increase his combat power, but to have an extra 40% of true essence, which would give him hope of refining the Xuanzhu Gu.

The difference between the third and second tiers is like heaven and earth. A first-tier Gu Master can compete with a second-tier Gu Master by sheer numbers, but a third-tier Gu Master is more than any number of second-tier Gu Masters combined.

Because third-tier powerhouses can already use the power of heaven and earth. First and second-tier powerhouses use their own power, while third-tier powerhouses use the power of heaven and earth.

Even the slightest bit of the power of heaven and earth is beyond human power to resist.

That's why Wanqi Zongbo suffered repeated defeats, yet he kept fighting, determined to cultivate the Four Flavors Wine Worm.

Seeing Zhou Qing succeed on his first try after years of preparation, Wan Qizongbo's mindset underwent some changes.

"Elder?" Zhou Qing asked cautiously, noticing Wan Qizongbo's constantly changing expression.

"Congratulations, you are indeed quite talented in the art of Gu refining." As he said this, Wanqi Zongbo couldn't help but feel a little bitter.

There are no treasures in this world that can increase one's talent for refining Gu. Any treasure that can increase the success rate of Gu refining is just an extra layer of insurance. Whether one succeeds or not depends not only on doing one's best, but also on fate.

Wanqi Zongbo believed that after decades of immersing himself in the art of Gu refining, his skill level was no less than that of the clan leader, especially in cultivating and refining auxiliary Gu worms, which was his forte.

At this moment, Zhou Qing, whose skill level was inferior to his, followed his instructions and successfully combined and refined four kinds of wine insects in one go.

Wanqi Zongbo could only say that Zhou Qing had some skill, but not much.

Aside from a bit of skill, it's all talent and luck.

"I might have a little bit of cleverness in the art of Gu refining, but I'm mainly luckier than others," Zhou Qing said with a smile.

"..." Wanqi Zongbo's eye muscles twitched slightly. Sometimes, what is needed most in refining Gu is precisely the elusive luck.

"Let's see how good this four-flavor wine bug is."

He took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and took the initiative to change the subject.

"Yes, Elder." Zhou Qing nodded and looked at the words that appeared in his line of sight.

In fact, the jade tablet reacted the moment the four wine insects were successfully combined.

Zhou Qing stretched out his hand, and the silkworm, shimmering with four colors, fell into his palm. He used the true essence in his Yuan Aperture to begin refining the four wine insects.

After the Gu worms are combined and refined, they all need to be refined again.

However, because Zhou Qing's Gu worms are connected not only to his true essence but also to his profession of Jade Tablet, he can refine them much faster than other Gu Masters of the same level.

Soon, more and more words appeared in his field of vision.

You have acquired a new Gu worm—the Four-Flavor Wine Worm.

[Rank: Tier 2, Low Grade (Upgradeable, Can be Combined)]

【Four Flavors of Wine Worms: Two Tier 1 top-grade wine worms are combined and refined to form a mixture of two different types of wines: sour, sweet, bitter, and spicy. These wines can be used to feed the worms and aid their growth.】

[Effect: Qi Circulation, Second-Order Yuan Condensation] [Qi Circulation: Allows for early comprehension of the profound mysteries of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top realm, and enables the opening of the second Yuan Aperture with the help of the power of heaven and earth. Absorbing the power of heaven and earth will place a great burden on the physical body and should be done with caution.]

[Second-Order Condensation: Enhances the quality and power of True Essence by one minor realm, significantly accelerating True Essence recovery speed.]

"This is..." Zhou Qing's pupils suddenly dilated as he looked at the description of the Four Flavors Wine Worm in his field of vision.

The ability to gather Qi through the body has become a regular feature, a skill that can only be obtained upon reaching the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top realm.

While the previous first-tier wine worms allowed him to draw upon the power of heaven and earth, they were not as freely usable as they are now.

In addition to its inherent ability to improve the quality and power of True Essence by one minor realm, the Four Flavors Wine Worm also has the ability to significantly accelerate the recovery speed of True Essence.

Sure enough, all his hard work paid off!

"If I can master the middle stage of the Poison Dragon Golden Body and continue to strengthen my physical body, I might be able to adapt to the power of heaven and earth at the Blood Exchange Realm and use the techniques of the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top Grandmaster," Zhou Qing thought to himself.

As long as your physical body is strong enough, it's fine. Although it's not easy, it's definitely much easier than breaking through to the third tier.

Once he adapts to the power of heaven and earth, whether it's breaking through the Three Flowers Gathering at the Top in martial arts or achieving the third-tier Venerable in Gu Dao, it will be much easier for him than for others.

At this moment, as Zhou Qing refined the four wine worms and stored them in his Yuan Aperture, the four wine worms immediately plunged into the True Yuan Lake and began to swallow and spit.

"How is it?" Wanqi Zongbo couldn't help but ask. Although there are many records about the Four Flavor Wine Worms in the ancient books, in the hundreds of years that Bingyun Mountain Village has existed, apart from that Xuanzhu Venerable, no Bingling Clan member has ever successfully refined the Four Flavor Wine Worms together.

"It does indeed have the effect of strengthening true essence." Zhou Qing nodded. "I vaguely sense that some kind of change has occurred in the outside world?"

"Could it be that you sensed the power of heaven and earth? Can the Four Flavors Wine Worm really help a Gu Master open their second primordial aperture?!"

Wanqi Zongbo was taken aback. The ancient texts clearly stated that both first-tier wine worms and second-tier four-flavor wine worms had a certain probability of helping Gu Masters open their Yuan Aperture, but this probability was extremely low and depended entirely on luck.

"It's still unclear." Zhou Qing shook his head. He planned to enter the Fallen Immortal Valley to try it out, so he needed to reveal some of the unique features of the Four Flavor Wine Worms in advance.

"..." Wanqi Zongbo hesitated, as he planned to cultivate two more wine worms and then have Zhou Qing help him refine them together.

Although the Gu worms created by combining them in this way are not as easy to refine as those created by oneself, after witnessing Zhou Qing's luck, he felt that if he relied on himself again, he might fail for the ninth time.

However, Zhou Qing is about to enter the Fallen Immortal Valley and face a life-or-death crisis, so there is no need to mention this beforehand.

"In short, having the four wine worms will increase our chances of success even further," Wan Qizongbo said, changing the subject.

"I also need to tell the clan chief this good news."

With that, Wanqi Zongbo left the quiet room.

"Everything is ready," Zhou Qing breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, although he appeared calm on the surface, he was actually quite nervous deep down about going to Fallen Immortal Valley.

After all, facing multiple first-tier Gu Masters with second-tier Gu worms, even a second-tier Gu Master could not guarantee that no accident would happen. Although his martial arts cultivation had greatly improved, providing some insurance, there was still a risk.

Now that the four flavors of wine insects have been successfully combined, there is no room for further improvement in strength.

All that's left is to do our best.

A month later.

Five hundred li east of the middle reaches of the Five Streams lies a huge, barren mountain.

A crystal dragonfly the size of a house fell from the sky and landed on the top of the barren mountain.

Wanqi Zongbo arrived with Zhou Qing, Wanqi Yushu, Wanqi Wenlan, Wanqi Qingshi, and Wanqi Bowen.

When the Fallen Immortal Valley opens, each of the five major spirit races will have six slots to enter the Fallen Immortal Valley.

However, the Ice Spirit Clan has a genius member who is just over twenty-five years old. The younger members either lack cultivation or have poor aptitude and cannot use second-tier Gu worms, so only five people were sent this time.

"Looks like we've arrived the earliest." Wan Qibowen looked around curiously. The entire barren mountain was completely bare, with not a single blade of grass in the vicinity, let alone a valley.

Zhou Qing was also silently observing the surrounding situation when he suddenly noticed an unusual fluctuation of energy not far ahead.

"That's not quite right." At this moment, a discordant voice rang out, and a yellowish-brown hill appeared halfway up the mountain. It then quickly moved towards the top of the barren mountain and finally stopped not far from Zhou Qing and the others.

hum!
The earthen-yellow hill opened up, revealing a giant earthen-yellow bear that was at least ten feet tall. On each side of the bear stood three young Gu Masters, four men and two women, all dressed in animal skin robes and with their faces painted with various colors of oil paint.

At this moment, accompanied by a burst of earthy yellow light, the giant bear's body rapidly changed, transforming into a dwarf old man less than 1.2 meters tall.

"This is Xiong Tai, the Great Elder of the Xiong Clan of the Beast Soul Clan," Wan Qiyushu explained softly from the side.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Qing's expression shifted slightly. The Beast Soul Clan was divided into two branches: the Xiong Clan and the Lei Clan. The Grand Elders of both branches simultaneously exercised the power of the clan leader. This Grand Elder Xiong Tai, although he appeared frail and thin, was undoubtedly the number one expert in the Beast Soul Clan, radiating an extremely domineering aura of true essence.

"So it turns out that Brother Zongbo is leading the team this time. Come to think of it, it's been more than forty years since we last met," Xiong Tai said with a faint smile.

"More or less." Wanqi Zongbo's expression was rather indifferent. Among the five great spirit races, the Ice Spirit Race had only a so-so relationship with the Wild Barbarian Race and the Beast Soul Race. It was hard to say what would happen to the other two races during this trip to Fallen Immortal Valley, but the Wild Barbarian Race and the Beast Soul Race would definitely join forces to deal with Zhou Qing and his group, so he did not give Xiong Tai a friendly look.

"Why did only five people from the Ice Spirit Clan come this time? Could it be that after Brother Zongyuan was seriously injured, even the younger generation of the Ice Spirit Clan has been affected?" Xiong Tai glanced at the five people behind Wanqi Zongbo, his gaze lingering on Zhou Qing for a moment.

“Five people are enough. As for whether the clan leader is seriously injured, Elder Xiong, if you are interested, you can visit my Ice Cloud Mountain Stronghold and see how much strength the clan leader has left after his battle with the Ink Dragon,” Wan Qizongbo retorted, showing no sign of backing down.

“Brother Zongyuan’s strength is beyond doubt. I was only worried about Brother Zongyuan because I heard that the black dragon’s cultivation has greatly improved.” Xiong Tai’s eyes changed slightly upon hearing this, and then he smiled. Regardless of whether Wanqi Zongbo was bluffing or not, he certainly wouldn’t dare to go to the Ice Spirit Clan.

"Hmph!" Wanqi Zongbo snorted softly and said no more.

Seeing this, Xiong Tai's smile gradually faded, and he adopted a detached, indifferent expression.

The six younger members of the Beast Soul Clan behind him waited anxiously for Zhou Qing and the other four.

Among the three Beast Soul Clan Gu Masters who died in Baiman Mountain were their relatives. Although the official explanation was that the three died at the hands of the Ink Dragon, no one could guarantee that they were not killed by the descendants of the Ice Spirit Clan.

In any case, their goal this time was very clear: after entering the Fallen Immortal Valley, they would prioritize hunting down Ice Spirit Clan Gu Masters.

"Wow!"

Just as the scene fell silent, a clear cry came from the sky. Immediately afterwards, a huge, strange bird with a red glow flew in from afar. Before it even landed on the barren mountain, it emanated a powerful heat.

"Hiss—!" The Heavenly Fire Centipede in Zhou Qingyuan's aperture woke up, its eyes filled with longing as it looked at the strange bird, its mouth watering.

Rumble!
At the same time, a huge roar came from the foot of the mountain. A giant stone man, about three zhang tall, was seen running wildly towards the barren mountain. Seven Gu Masters were sitting cross-legged on his shoulders and head.

"Wow!"

At this moment, the giant bird landed on the mountaintop, and two groups of people, a total of fourteen, flew down from the left and right respectively.

"The Flying Feather Clan and the Shadow Soul Clan have come together. It seems they reached an agreement beforehand." Wan Qiyu's expression was solemn.

In a short while, the five great spirit races, the overlords of the Qilian Mountains, gathered in the desolate mountains.

(End of this chapter)