In the center of the empty hall stood six enormous flowers, their heads tightly closed to prevent any nectar from leaking out. These flowers were Worm Nectar Gu, a type of Gu specialized in sealing other Gu worms and placing them into hibernation. Fang Tian was familiar with them due to his knowledge of Wood Path from a rank five Gu Master inheritance, and because this Gu was one of the practical methods for sealing Gu worms and preserving them from death.
"Six flowers… and six Gu worms. Worm Nectar Gu is a rank three Gu worm capable of sealing rank four Gu worms."
Fang Tian approached the smallest flower, which still reached up to his torso, and injected his primeval essence into it. A thread of true gold essence flowed into the small flower, and without any resistance, it was refined instantly.
The flower opened its head, revealing a plump white silkworm that emitted the aura of rank one.
"Bookworm!"
Fang Tian grabbed the Bookworm, which had just awakened from hibernation, and refined it immediately. The Bookworm flew up and imprinted itself into Fang Tian's head. Soon, he was able to read its contents.
"Heir, your arrival here is already impressive, and you are clearly aware of the hidden dangers of your great talent… There are five Gu worms here that once formed a significant part of my own set. Within this Bookworm, you will also find solutions that can delay the danger. But if you wish to survive, you must complete the inheritance to prove that you are worthy."
Fang Tian let out a disdainful laugh. It was obvious that Li Hua was offering him a carrot in one hand while pointing a stick with the other. By giving him methods that slightly suppressed the pressure on his aperture—but not enough to solve the problem, only serving as temporary fixes—she could force him to delve deeper into the inheritance under the strong motivation of impending death.
Without a doubt, this was a method that would work on almost anyone. Even Fang Tian would have fallen for this trick, given the substantial benefits. But now, these methods merely hold reference value. The land spirit had already eased the pressure on his aperture, and that method would last for quite some time.
Fang Tian reviewed the entire contents of the Bookworm, stored it within his aperture, and then opened the remaining five flowers.
Inside were five rank four Gu worms. Fang Tian immediately recognized Wood Origin Gu, but he did not recognize the other four—though he possessed their information from the Bookworm.
There was Wood Origin Gu, Long Grass Gu used for binding, Protective Root Gu for defense, Wooden Wings Gu for movement, and Wooden Shards Gu.
It could be said that this set of Gu worms was nearly complete, lacking only healing, support, and storage.
From this, Fang Tian could see that Li Hua had intended to nurture her heir—but not in a pampered way that allowed rapid growth. Instead, it was a harsh upbringing that made him struggle for every achievement.
He did not care. He refined the weak-willed Gu worms and fed those he could, while the remaining Gu worms were left starving.
He then exited the chamber and observed the Gu formation, attempting to analyze it.
"This Gu formation serves a purpose in every hall. But how could these Gu worms remain alive after all this time? Li Hua should have died over a hundred years ago. There's no will left behind to feed these Gu worms."
This question occupied Fang Tian's thoughts for some time, but he ultimately stopped dwelling on it due to a lack of evidence and clues. Now that he had investigated the inheritance cave more thoroughly, he still found no will feeding the Gu worms, despite the presence of food. Yet for some reason, these Gu worms had remained alive—barely.
Fang Tian strongly wanted to destroy the formation and barely managed to restrain himself. After memorizing the structure of the formation and the Gu worms used within it, he turned his gaze toward the door of the fourth hall.
Unlike the previous halls, this door was only two meters tall. There was nothing special about it except that it was made from the same blue stone used to construct the chamber he had just exited.
This door led to the penultimate trial hall. From Li Hua's will memories, this hall differed from the previous ones. There were no beast groups to fight, no need to refine Gu worms until they became instinctive, nor to transform one's soul into a half-monster, half-human abomination.
Instead, he would need to use his mind for intense thinking.
And this was the most difficult trial.
Fang Tian grasped the blue door and pulled it open, revealing the scene behind it.
The hall was illuminated by clusters of illusory light suspended along the walls. Unlike the previous halls, this one was not large—relatively small, not exceeding two hundred square meters.
At the center stood a stone protrusion upon which several long sheets of paper were placed and fixed in position.
Fang Tian approached the stone platform and stood before it, looking down at the stack of papers. The contents made him frown deeply.
Six Gu recipes were recorded on six separate sheets, all of which are rank three recipes. On more than a hundred sheets to the side were recorded thousands of names of refinement materials.
But that wasn't the problem.
The problem was that these Gu recipes were incomplete.
"Bitter Clam Pearl, Seven-Grade Pepper, Laughing Stones, Trimmed Shadow… Ten-Year Ice Fist, Calamity Tree Sap, Savage Mutant Blood Mold… Ah, I recognize these materials already. But there are hundreds—no, over a thousand refinement materials listed here that I don't recognize. And I have to sort through them and complete these Gu recipes?"
Without question, this was a test of Fang Tian's attainment level in Wood Path. After all, all the recipes here were Wood Path Gu recipes.
"At least the recipes have a general direction, and there are descriptions of these refinement materials. But the time required will be enormous… Perhaps several months to complete them—and that's still a conservative estimate. If not for the Gu formation here, I would have broken through to the next hall immediately. But I fear that would have severe consequences."
Fang Tian sighed helplessly. He had no choice but to study these refinement materials and deepen his knowledge while using his Wood Path attainment to complete the recipes.
Before doing so, he took out a rank five Gu worm from his aperture and poured primeval essence into it until his reserves reached a dangerously low level. Only then did he barely manage to activate it.
This Gu resembled a two-winged sword and emitted a magnificent rank five aura. It was called Flying Sword Letter Gu, an Information Path Gu worm. It possessed unbelievable speed, capable of tearing through space and even entering closed blessed lands.
Fang Tian had agreed with the land spirit of Ancient Strength Blessed Land to use Flying Sword Letter Gu to exchange messages.
Now that he was in a somewhat difficult situation, he needed to contact the land spirit to purchase large quantities of Inspiration Flash Gu. If there were any Wisdom Path Gu worms capable of increasing the number of thoughts produced, she was to purchase them as well.
He also wanted reassurance that the land spirit had successfully overcome the crisis.
Fang Tian sat on the solid ground, leaning his back against the stone protrusion, and began studying the sheets—memorizing the Gu recipes while deepening his understanding of the refinement materials.