The fall was a short one, and against a pile of pebbles, Fei Cai's and Lo's fall was cushioned. Still, they received superficial injuries that would slightly hinder their movements. The fall also acted as the 'bang' to wake Lo from his untimely snooze, and he, too, looked around after getting up, just like Fei Cai. With a cautious gaze, Fei Cai ignored the pain and looked around only to find himself, and Lo illuminated with daylight due to the giant hole right above their head, and the surroundings around him still remained dark. Suddenly, his expression changed, and he looked at his clenched fist. The fist unfurled only to reveal a squashed gu worm as Fei Cai felt incomparably sad. The fluctuations of his emotions subsided within a few breaths, and he cleaned his palm. Fei Cai gazed above his head and found hollow tubes leading down in this very underground chamber. Those were the tubes from the forest lillies, but he failed to find any semblance of roots or stamens. The hollow tube reached near the platform and nothing else.
'Where did the Shriek Rat run off to?'
Fei Cai's gaze flickered, and he raised his suspicions further. This place gave him an eerie feeling. He was in the light while his surroundings were covered in darkness. He only had one thought in his mind. Looking towards Lo, Fei Cai commanded with a calm expression, "Get up here and support me to reach the edge of the hole." Fei Cai still stood on the mound of the pebbles and calculated the distance between the hole and the combined height of himself and Lo. This place was full of uncertainties, and without enough preparations, Fei Cai dared not take the unnecessary risk. This world was cruel, and a single misstep had already landed Fei Cai in such a terrible position. Meanwhile, Lo slowly treaded the pile of raised pebbles carefully and finally reached at Fei Cai's location. Dutifully, Lo knelt on one leg and clasped his palms while extending his arms towards Fei Cai.
Placing one foot on the fists and one palm on the shoulder, Fei Cai positioned himself and let Lo propel him upwards. For a few meters, Fei Cai flew up, but before his arm could reach the edges of the hole, he descended. Lo's expression changed greatly, and he instantly intercepted Fei Cai's fall by getting underneath Fei Cai and cushioning the fall. With a deep sigh, Fei Cai stood up and dusted his clothes before gazing at the young man who sat up groggily.
The first plan and the only plan of successful escape failed and gazing at the dark surroundings, Fei Cai steeled his heart and beckoned Lo to stand up and pointed at a random direction. After the fall, the pair couldn't find the direction in which the tribe was situated, so letting Lo lead was the only method Fei Cai could come up with. The burly youth walked down the pile of pebbles with slow steps while regaining his courage as she whispered hoarsely, "Anything for master!" His body now held traces of blood, and even the act of walking made Lo clench his jaws in pain. Still, master's order was something he couldn't defy, and he continued forward.
Fei Cai observed Lo until the darkness devoured the poor youth. Fei Cai stood still and waited patiently. When it came to risking his own life or his slave's life, the answer was evident. The heavy steps of Lo echoed, making Fei Cai realize that this place was vast and hollow. The footsteps continued to echo at a calm pace. Lo was unharmed till now, and Fei Cai continued to scrutinize his surroundings. His action of gaining a physically talented slave turned out to be the right decision. Had Fei Cai lost to his momentary lust, he would not have been able to bring a female slave into the wilds with him. Not to mention the fact that it would take years for a young female slave to develop curves that could attract his eyes.
As Fei Cai thought internally, Lo's shrill scream rang before everything fell silent except for his ragged breathing. His footsteps grew clearer and quicker as Lo rushed to Fei Cai with a flushed expression and pointed at the direction he ventured in. His gaze was extremely bright, and he continued to point towards the direction. "Master, there— that's a gu worm!"
Lo was a son of the defeated tribe leader and was sold to various places before he was settled alongside Fei Cai. He had slight knowledge about gu worms, and once he faces one, he was able to identify the status of the creature within the darkness. Lo's words made Fei Cai's gaze sharp, and he scrutinized Lo. The slaves were under the effects of gu worms that prevented them from lying to their masters. While Fei Cai indeed was Lo's master, he was also a man with a modern background that made it harder for him to easily believe that Lo did not have the capabilities of lying to him, or trap him.
A lawyer's task is to find the loopholes in between context and utilize it. Fei Cai was extremely keen on such play, and he only stepped down the mound once he found no traces of insincerity. Fei Cai did not walk ahead instantly and waited for a few moments once he entered the domain of darkness. Fei Cai let his gaze adapt to the darkness, and when his surroundings grew slightly visible, Fei Cai walked in the same direction as Lo. Once again, Lo led the way and only stopped in front of a giant creature that made Fei Cai feel breathless.
The Fei tribe was considered as a large tribe. In Northern Plain, the Tribes can be classified into four categories based on the peak Gu Master leading the tribe and the over-all foundation of the tribe— Small, Middle, Large, and Super.
Small and Mid-sized Tribes are led by Rank 3 Gu Masters of various stages, and the only difference between the two ranks is the total number of Gu Masters. Meanwhile, a tribe is considered Large only when the leader of the tribe has a cultivation of Rank 4. Meanwhile, Super Tribes were led by Rank 5 cultivators, and they had hundreds of Rank 3 Gu Masters and tens of Rank 4. The difference was sky-high! While Fei Tribe only had four elders, one of the elders— Fei Chang— was already a Rank 4 Lower Stage Gu Master while the tribe as a whole did not need more Rank 3 elders due to Fei Qing's specialty.
But, the Fei Tribe has suffered many tribulations. Even if the tribe emerged victorious, it lost too much and got its foundation scarred. According to his father, in its prime, the Fei Tribe was only lower than the Super Tribe due to the absence of Rank 5 Gu Master. In every other aspect, the Fei Tribe surpassed its peers by a considerable margin.
One of the basic necessities that the Fei Tribe lost was the striking gu worm silently sprawled in front of Fei Cai. It was more than four meters tall and almost two-and-a-half meter high with a scaly body and face of a lizard. A disheveled mane also covered its thick neck. Fei Cai instantly recognized this gu worm.
It was a Rank 3 Earth Lizard House Gu Worm!
Earth lizard house gu worms were once a specialty of the Qin tribe, a Super Tribe, that used to control the entirety of the Warm Pond Valley before it fell to its competitors' schemes and opened a space for the strongest of the Large Tribes competing for this unique habitat. The earth lizard house gu worm could dig into the ground and create an underground area. The gu worm also had a tantalizing scent that attracted rodents, and the gu worms excretion fertilized the location, allowing various natural resources to grow at a fast pace. This may be a gu worm, but its real use was not to battle but to support the life of a Gu Master. The unique capabilities of this gu worm also made its value far greater than ordinary rank 4 gu worm.
"But it is starved," Fei Cai wondered aloud as Lo nodded at his master's knowledge. It was Lo's fortune that such an astute master picked him up from the dumps and provided him with patched boots! Meanwhile, Fei Cai observed the gu worm. Its eyes had lost its vigor, and its mane did not have the luster of a healthy being. The scaly body stuck onto the interior of the gu worm— which was a wooden space to provide for Gu Master's living. The poor condition of the gu worm made it evident that the master of the gu worm did not take care of it and may have already met his demise.
Clenching his jaws, Fei Cai decided to enter the gu worm. It may take a long time to explore the region and get out of this hellhole while there may be something left by the previous Gu Master. The earth lizard house gu worm was man-made, and it must have a master. And there are only two types of Gu Master who could leave such a precious treasure in such dire straits— Wealthy ones... or dead ones.
Fei Cai walked closer to the gu worm and injected his primeval essence, making him realize that this gu worm was indeed ownerless and only had a basic will. The thin stream of primeval essence made the gu worm open its large maws, revealing a wooden door above the split-tongue of the lizard.
"Lo, take the lead," Fei Cai commanded shamelessly. Even if the gu worm did not eat humans, Fei Cai did not feel the need to take the risk and only followed Lo when he had successfully pushed open the wooden door. Exhaling softly, Fei Cai followed Lo into the house and stepped into the long and narrow hallway that had doors to the room where the lizard's limbs stretched out. According to the basic information of the gu worm, there should he four rooms and one toilet. Once Fei Cai entered, he found that there were two oval windows behind him that allowed him to see outside. These were the eyes of the lizard.
Fei Cai finally walked ahead of Lo. This was a gu worm that housed a Gu Master of unknown caliber. Just the fact that the Gu Master had obtained such a precious gu worm spoke vividly about his accomplishments. Fei Cai opened the first door to the left and found it entirely empty. The wooden space was left unfurnished. With a soft sigh, Fei Cai opened the next door only to find it empty once again. When he opened the third door to the right, his sight was graced with a mattress and a few mounds of ashes. Lo stood behind Fei Cai and leaned forward by a slight amount to get a view for himself.
Finally, as Fei Cai opened the last door, he found a clothed figure lying on the ground. His figure was stiff, and the skin was already light blue in color. While a look of horror emerged on Lo's face, Fei Cai's gaze shone brilliantly, and he walked forward to before kicking the back of the male's foot harshly. A dull thud rang out, but the person remained stiff and unmoved. Fei Cai knelt near the body, and much to Lo's surprise, Fei Cai parted the man's legs and kicked harshly over his crotch!
Lo shivered in fright, but Fei Cai finally felt at ease. This person wasn't acting dead after all. A sigh of relief left his lips as he took a step back and commanded Lo, "Strip him. Search his body and clothes carefully."
Lo nodded in a hurry, afraid that any sort of delay would reward him with a kick to his balls and stripped the man off of his clothing, revealing a fist-sized, pitch-black worm on his back with yellow streaks over its body and also found a stack of parchments tied together in the form of a diary. Other things were of no value, and Fei Cai finally smiled in delight when he gazed at the insect.
Another gu worm!
Fei Cai walked over the dead Gu Master's body and gazed at the gu worm. The Northern Plain was a Continent filled with battle and deaths, and most of the time, before the corpses turn into fertilizers of the excretion of the beasts, they allow a gu worm to manifest naturally if they remain intact for a long time. Rank 1 Manure Gu Worm. This gu fed on the remains of the vegetables and corpses while leaving a trail of high-grade manure that could even produce mutated vegetation with extraordinary benefits! Without waiting, Fei Cai unceremoniously picked the squishy silkworm in his palms as it writhed in struggle and infused his primeval essence into the gu worm to refine it.
This gu had great benefits and easy feeding requirements. Of course, Fei Cai had to refine it for himself. In front of Lo, Fei Cai sat cross-legged and continued refining the gu worm. Thinking of the situation, Fei Cai did not care deeply when he expended three primeval stones to ultimately refine the gu worm in two hours and finally let out a cloud of foul air when the black worm swam within his aperture. Fei Cai's forehead was filled with sweat as he finally picked up the diary of the Gu Master.
The pages contained multiple resources and a few steps that involved mixing them or crushing them. Fei Cai's heartbeat grew wild, and his breathing turned shallow and quick. He usually did not lose his composure, but when faced with the fortune of finding two gu worms and a diary filled with Gu recipes, Fei Cai did feel slightly overwhelmed. The gears in his mind turned furiously, and he locked his gaze with Lo.
"Put all clothes on his body once again."
Fei Cai did not order the obvious to keep a formless pressure over Lo that this discovery was barely any worth. This would keep his mouth shut while a slave already knows what would happen if they divulge their master's secrets.
Finally, Fei Cai and Lo walked out of the gu worm. Now that Fei Cai knew what he was dealing with, he followed the direction in which the tail of the gu pointed. Earth lizard house gu worms were a direction bearing species and would keep the area of the opening form where they dug into the underground in their will and kept their tails pointing at that direction.
Sure enough, after a few minutes of walk, the pair walked up an elevated path and finally pushed the thick covering of leaves away before making their way towards the tribe. Fei Cai couldn't make the correct use of the gu worm present inside, and he had already looted the greatest treasure present inside. The moment he reached the tribe, he ordered Lo to go into the house and requested an audience with his father, who is usually dealing with tribal matters during the evening.