It's him again?
Tu Dai sneered inwardly, his heterochromatic pupils like cold probes, locking onto the ugly figure walking towards the stone platform.
He absolutely did not believe this person was acting on a momentary burst of courage.
Beneath those seemingly stumbling and clumsy steps, the rhythm of his pace and the shifts in his center of gravity revealed an ineffable coordination and control. More crucially, it was those eyes! Beneath the deliberately squeezed-out turbid tears and humble fear, Tu Dai caught a fleeting glimpse of something as cold as an Arctic abyss! It was an absolute calm that had discarded all emotions, leaving only pure purposefulness, a ruthless will that could crush all obstacles to achieve its goal!
This person… is just like me! A predator in human skin! He stops at nothing to get what he wants!
The noisy chatter of the crowd was like turbid tides, Tu Dai paid it no mind, focusing all his attention on the stone platform.
The ugly man shakily climbed onto the stone platform, facing the bandit monkey representative who was nearly half a head taller than him and seemed cast from steel. He appeared so small, so vulnerable. He even flinched, drawing pitying sighs from some Mortals below the stage and undisguised sneers from some Gu Masters.
“Heh heh, I’m just waiting to see this ugly freak’s arm get broken!”
Around Tu Dai, a group of people said mockingly.
On the stone platform, the contest began.
The bandit monkey representative let out a low roar, veins bulging in its arm, pressing down with immense force! The ugly man’s withered arm was instantly bent into a huge arc, his joints emitting a grating “clack clack” sound! His whole body seemed about to be pressed into the stone platform by this immense force, his body trembled violently, and his face showed extreme pain, as if he was about to collapse at any moment.
The laughter from below the stage grew louder.
However—
Just as everyone thought the outcome was decided, at the moment that withered arm was about to break!
On the ugly man’s face, twisted in “pain,” his turbid eyes suddenly flashed!
To outsiders, he still seemed to be struggling to hold on, on the verge of collapse. But Tu Dai saw clearly that a subtle hint of astonishment had already flashed through the bandit monkey representative’s bell-like eyes!
“Ugh… Ugh ah ah ah!”
The ugly man let out a beast-like roar, as if squeezing out the last shred of life’s potential. Under the incredulous gazes of everyone, his bent arm actually began to push back up, slowly yet with an exceptionally firm and undeniable speed, little by little!
The bandit monkey representative’s smug expression froze, replaced by a choked roar of anger and growing panic! It desperately applied more force, its thick arm muscles bulging like rocks, yet the power emanating from the withered arm opposite it was like an endless tide, growing stronger and more stable!
Finally—
“Bang!”
A muffled thud!
The bandit monkey’s thick arm was slammed hard onto the cold stone platform!
The entire mountain path instantly fell into a dead silence.
Everyone was stunned.
“Hmph.”
Tu Dai let out a cold sneer in his heart. A clumsy performance! The so-called “struggle,” “pain,” and “roaring” were nothing but carefully designed disguises! He was definitely a Gu Master! And his cultivation was not low! At least… Rank Two and above!
Everything that happened next further confirmed Tu Dai’s judgment.
The ugly man “difficultly” won another round, performing flawlessly each time, as if he would collapse from exhaustion the next second, yet always miraculously turning the tide at the last moment. In the third round, he finally “lost,” defeated amidst the crowd’s pity and exclamations.
Although the caravan ultimately had a portion of its goods taken as “toll money,” the ugly man, with these three “thrilling” performances, completely changed everyone’s perception of him.
Tu Dai watched all this with cold eyes, as if observing a meticulously staged play. The ugly man, under the grateful and admiring gazes of the crowd, still kept his head down, trying to maintain that “humble” and “dull” demeanor, but Tu Dai could feel that the icy chill deep in his eyes seemed to have deepened a bit.
The caravan set off again, Transmigration through the fog-shrouded valley of Bandit Monkey Mountain. A few days later, the view suddenly opened up.
A majestic and grand mountain rose from the ground. Unlike the gloomy and deep Bandit Monkey Mountain, this mountain, under the midday sun, presented a dazzling, piercing golden yellow. It wasn’t the color of vegetation, but the entire mountain body, from the mountainside to the peak, exposed vast areas of Ore veins shimmering with dazzling light! It was the reflection of massive open-pit gold mines under the sunlight.
Golden Mountain!
The air seemed to be filled with a faint, cold and dry metallic scent. Tu Dai’s heart was calm. The gold in this world, like in his homeland of Lingzhou, was merely a ductile metal, mostly only useful as auxiliary Materials for refining certain specific Gu, its value far inferior to primeval stones.
At the foot of the mountain, relying on the Ore veins and the trade route, two fairly large villages had formed. One was called Huang Family Village and the other Jin Family Village. The caravan decided to rest and resupply here, dealing with the wear and tear from the journey.
The clamor of human voices was deafening, and makeshift markets spread like mushrooms after rain on the open ground outside the villages. Shouts, haggling, the whinnying of pack animals, the clanging of metal Ore… all intertwined into a scene of clamor.
Tu Dai stood at the edge of the camp, his gaze sweeping over this vibrant makeshift market. He casually pulled out an inconspicuous piece of gray coarse cloth from his pack, simply wrapping most of his head and face, leaving only his heterochromatic pupils exposed. His figure swayed slightly, and he blended silently into the surging crowd, like a drop of water merging into a stream.
Wrapped in gray coarse cloth, Tu Dai moved through the bustling makeshift market like an inconspicuous shadow.
The stalls set up by the villagers were dazzling, but most of them were golden ornaments and utensils, reflecting a dazzling yet somewhat gaudy light under the sun. Gold was like ordinary stones here, abundant and cheap, only satisfying Mortals’ vanity and practical needs.
These things, of course, did not catch Tu Dai’s eye.
His footsteps finally stopped in front of a relatively impressive shop. The bluestone facade, with a sign that read “Golden Jade Gu Hall” (the character “jade” was clearly to elevate its status), stood out among the simple stalls. Here, they sold what Gu Masters truly needed.
Gu.
Pushing the door open, the interior of the shop was much tidier than outside, but customers were sparse, with only two or three Gu Masters with weak auras quietly inquiring at the counter.
As soon as Tu Dai entered, a middle-aged man with a beaming smile quickly came forward to greet him, bending low at the waist.
“Distinguished Gu Master! Your presence honors our humble shop! Please come in, what kind of Gu do you need? I will introduce them to you in detail!”
His smile was enthusiastically almost fawning, his eyes quickly scanning Tu Dai’s coarse cloth attire and his heterochromatic pupils, assessing the visitor’s depth.
Tu Dai ignored his enthusiastic greeting. He walked directly to a row of hardwood chairs placed against the wall inside the shop, and sat down as if no one else was present, his posture carrying a detached indifference.
The shopkeeper’s smile did not diminish in the slightest, as if he was long accustomed to the strange temperaments of Gu Masters. He immediately approached, pulling out a fairly well-bound hardcover booklet from his sleeve as if by magic, and respectfully presented it with both hands.
“Gu Master, please see, this is the catalog of Gu currently available in our shop. The type, rank, function, and required primeval stones are all clearly recorded here. Please take your time to look and choose!”
Tu Dai took the booklet expressionlessly, his fingertips brushing the slightly rough pages. He flipped through quickly, swiftly filtering out information on useless or inferior Gu. The types of Gu recorded in the booklet were indeed not many, mainly Rank One Gu, and many of the descriptions of Gu’s effects had significant deviations from what he knew or expected.
A moment later, his fingertip stopped on a page.
“This one.” Tu Dai’s voice was flat, pointing to a line of description in the booklet.
The shopkeeper craned his neck to look, his smile growing wider, with a touch of perfectly appropriate admiration, “You truly have good taste.”
“Oh my! Sir has excellent eyesight! This is a batch of Rank Two Golden Forging Gu that just arrived in our shop! Although it’s a one-time consumable Gu, the effect is absolutely domineering! Once activated, it can instantly make the Gu Master’s bones as hard as gold! It’s a divine item for saving one’s life at critical moments!”
As he spoke, he deftly bowed.
“Please have a seat! I’ll go to the storeroom to get it for you right away! Guaranteed to be in perfect condition!”
Tu Dai nodded slightly, as a response.
Although he would have better alternatives than the Golden Forging Gu in the future, in the resource-scarce and uncertain journey of the caravan, a consumable that could greatly increase his survival rate in an instant was worth far more than a distant “better” option.
Moreover, he already possessed the Rank Three Rib Shield Gu, a defensive Sharp Weapon he found in Bai Zhan Rou’s remains and successfully refined with the help of Dao Tian Can Hun. Its excellent defensive power did not even require true Qi activation, making it a tailor-made protective talisman for him, with his barren primeval sea and D-grade Aptitude!
The Golden Forging Gu’s ability to strengthen bone hardness, when used in conjunction with the Rib Shield, would be enough to elevate his defensive capabilities by a level in a short period!
As for primeval stones?
Tu Dai had already communicated with Dao Tian Can Hun. After all, he was a Venerable, so Tu Dai naturally didn’t have to worry about primeval stones.
Soon, the shopkeeper returned, carefully holding a jade box padded with red velvet. Inside the box, a Gu resembling a tiny golden bean, its surface shimmering with a liquid metallic luster, lay quietly. Tu Dai inspected it and found no issues, and the transaction was completed. He did not refine it immediately, only carefully put it away.
“I also need some fresh cow’s milk and goat’s milk,” Tu Dai instructed indifferently.
The shopkeeper was stunned, clearly not expecting this Gu Master to also want dairy products, but immediately smiled and agreed: “No problem! Absolutely fresh! I’ll arrange it right away!”
Gu need to be fed, and these milks were exactly what was needed to feed the Rib Shield. As for the Little Void Gu and the Stealth Attack Gu, one existed between reality and illusion, the other was as eerie as a sleeping dead infant, requiring no active feeding from him, which was convenient. The Golden Forging Gu, on the other hand, fed on gold, but when it was purchased, it was already in a state of satiety, and Tu Dai was confident that he would have “made the most of it” before it got hungry again.
After casually strolling around the market for another round, confirming that he had no further needs, Tu Dai then quietly left, just as he had arrived, and returned to the caravan.