Chapter 10

The sound of *pattering*...

Large raindrops fell densely. They struck the verdant bamboo house, producing a crisp sound.

In the pond in front of the house, the water surface was agitated by the raindrops. Fish darted about happily in the water, and the aquatic plants swayed at the bottom of the pond.

Dark clouds gathered, and the entire view was obscured by a thick, heavy curtain of rain.

In the somewhat dim room, the window was open. Fang Yuan quietly watched the heavy rain, sighing softly to himself, "It has been three days and three nights."

Three days ago, he carried two jars of wine out of the mountain village and continued to explore the surroundings.

But by midnight, a torrential rain had started.

Being drenched like a wet chicken aside, the key issue was that under such conditions, he could no longer explore.

The rain could quickly wash away the smell of alcohol, and if he insisted on exploring in the rain, it might arouse suspicion.

Previously, he had disguised himself as a disheartened drunkard to cover his true motives. But one must not underestimate others' intelligence; only fools would think others are stupid.

Thus, out of necessity, Fang Yuan had to terminate his exploration.

And once the rain started, it continued without stopping, varying in intensity from time to time.

"Under these circumstances, it will be difficult to find the Wine Worm in the short term. To be safe, I should start refining the Moonlight Worm. During this process, if I can find the Wine Worm, that would be best. If not, I'll have to make do. But this is quite normal; the sky is unpredictable. In this world, who can always have things go smoothly and perfectly?" Fang Yuan's mind was very calm. His 500 years of experience had long washed away the little impatience in his nature.

He closed the window and the door, sat down on the bed, slowly closed his eyes, and regulated his breathing. Then he sank his mind.

In the next moment, the image of his own acupoint appeared in his mind.

The acupoint, though located within the body, was extremely mysterious, infinitely large and infinitely small.

On the outside of the acupoint was a layer of light film. The white light film seemed very thin but actually supported the acupoint.

Inside the acupoint was a sea of true essence.

The seawater was bronze-colored, and the surface was as calm as a mirror, with the water level about half the height of the acupoint. The entire essence sea occupied 44% of the acupoint.

This was the bronze essence sea of a first-stage Worm Master. Each drop of seawater was true essence, the life essence of Fang Yuan, the condensation of his vitality, energy, and spirit.

Each drop of true essence was precious because it was the foundation of a Worm Master, the source of power. It was through true essence that Worm Masters could refine and control worms.

Fang Yuan withdrew his mind from the essence sea, opened his eyes, and took out the Moonlight Worm from his chest.

The Moonlight Worm lay quietly in Fang Yuan's palm, like a small, blue crescent moon, delicate and translucent.

With a thought, the essence sea in his acupoint began to churn, and a stream of true essence broke through the surface, moving outside his body and pouring entirely into the Moonlight Worm.

The Moonlight Worm suddenly emitted a deep blue glow, trembling slightly in Fang Yuan's palm, resisting the influx of true essence.

Worms are the essence of heaven and earth, the code of the great way, and the carrier of the law. They are also living beings, naturally free and independent, with their own will. Now, Fang Yuan was trying to refine it, which meant erasing its will. Sensing this threat, the Moonlight Worm naturally resisted.

The refinement process was extremely difficult.

The Moonlight Worm, like a crescent moon, had bronze true essence injected into it, first dyeing the two tips green.

Then this bronze green began to spread to the middle of the crescent.

In less than three minutes, Fang Yuan's face turned pale. A large amount of true essence continuously poured into the Moonlight Worm, causing a continuous feeling of weakness, as if his bones were being drained.

One-tenth, two-tenths, three-tenths... eight-tenths, nine-tenths, one whole.

After ten minutes, Fang Yuan's essence sea had consumed one-tenth of its true essence. However, on the surface of the Moonlight Worm, the two points of bronze green at the tips of the crescent had only expanded a tiny bit.

The resistance of the Moonlight Worm was very strong.

Fortunately, Fang Yuan had anticipated this and was not surprised. He persisted in infusing true essence into the Moonlight Worm.

One-tenth, two-tenths, three-tenths.

After another twenty minutes, Fang Yuan's essence sea was left with only 14% of its true essence, and the bronze green on the Moonlight Worm had expanded by a thin line. If the two green areas were combined, they covered about one-twelfth of the Moonlight Worm's surface.

The rest of the surface was still the pale blue of the Moonlight Worm.

"Refining worms is indeed difficult." Seeing this, Fang Yuan sighed and cut off the supply of true essence, stopping the refinement of the Moonlight Worm.

By this point, he had refined the Moonlight Worm for a full half hour, and his essence sea had consumed more than half of its true essence, leaving only 14% remaining. The Moonlight Worm had only been refined to one-twelfth.

Moreover, more troubling was that the Moonlight Worm still emitted a deep blue glow. Although Fang Yuan had stopped refining it, it continued to resist, still expelling Fang Yuan's bronze true essence.

Fang Yuan could clearly feel that the true essence infused into the Moonlight Worm was being gradually expelled and dissipated outside his body. The bronze green at the tips of the crescent on the Moonlight Worm's surface was slowly shrinking.

At this rate, in about six hours, the Moonlight Worm would expel all of Fang Yuan's true essence. At that point, refining the worm would be like starting from scratch.

"Each refinement is like a battle between two armies, a battle of attrition. The Moonlight Worm has only been refined to one-twelfth, but I have consumed three-tenths of my true essence. To refine worms, a Worm Master must replenish the essence sea's true essence while continuously refining and consolidating the victory. Refining worms tests not only the skill of mobilizing true essence but also the patience for a prolonged battle."

Fang Yuan thought about this as he took a piece of essence stone from his money bag.

Worm Masters usually have two methods to replenish consumed true essence.

One is natural recovery. Over time, the essence sea automatically replenishes true essence. For someone with Fang Yuan's C-grade talent, it takes about one hour to replenish four-tenths of true essence. In six hours, he can recover 24% of his total true essence.

The second method is to absorb the natural essence from an essence stone.

Essence stones are treasures of nature, containing natural true essence that can be absorbed by Worm Masters.

Fang Yuan held the essence stone and continuously drew out natural true essence from it, infusing it into his essence sea.

The fine light on the surface of the essence stone gradually dimmed, while the water level in Fang Yuan's essence sea visibly rose.

After about half an hour, the essence sea had recovered to 44% of its volume. At this point, the trend of rising water levels stopped. Although there was still space in the acupoint, Fang Yuan could no longer store more true essence. This was the limitation of his C-grade talent.

This highlights the importance of talent in cultivation.

The higher the talent, the more true essence can be stored in the acupoint, and the faster the natural recovery of true essence.

For Fang Yuan, to refine worms and consolidate the results, he must absorb essence stones because his natural recovery of true essence is slower than the Moonlight Worm's expulsion of true essence.

However, for someone with A-grade talent like Fang Zheng, he can replenish eight-tenths of true essence per hour. In six hours, he can recover 48% of his total true essence, while the Moonlight Worm can only expel three-tenths of true essence in the same period.

He doesn't even need the help of essence stones. By continuously refining and taking a few breaks, he can successfully refine the Moonlight Worm in a few days.

Therefore, from the beginning, Fang Yuan knew that in this Moonlight Worm refinement test, he had no chance of winning first place. It wasn't about strength but about talent, which is the primary factor.

The second factor is essence stones.

If essence stones are abundant and used without hesitation, someone with B-grade talent might surpass those with A-grade talent and win first place.

"I only have six essence stones, which can't compare to those like Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who have the support of their elders. My talent is only C-grade, which can't match the A-grade talent of Gu Yue Fang Zheng. This test has no chance of winning from the start. I might as well divert my energy to search for the Wine Worm. If I can refine the Wine Worm as my life worm, it would be much better than the Moonlight Worm. Hmm? The rain outside the window has lessened and seems to be stopping. This heavy rain has been continuous for three days and three nights; it should stop now."

Fang Yuan put away the Moonlight Worm, got off the bed, and was about to open the window when a knock on the door sounded.

Outside the door, the voice of his personal maid, Shen Cui, said, "Young Master Fang Yuan, it's your servant. It has been raining for three days, so I have brought you some wine and food. Young Master, have some to relieve your fatigue and boredom."

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