Fei Cai's thoughts, unlike an ordinary son, were cold and collected. His previous action was a ruse. The information from Fei Qing was a surprising one but he had other arrangements that could only be completed in the dead of the night. He left the gu house to use the merit board but also get the last and vital material for rank 2 Sneak Attack Gu. After a thought, Fei Cai had already decided to refine this rank of gu. It will be harder, sure, but rank 2 attack at the cost of 50% of his rank 1 primeval essence was a huge deal. And with two relic gu worms, he will reach peak-stage rank 1 Gu Master, which will reduce the consumption further.

His steps slowed down as he slowly looked at the slave farm. Unlike his previous thoughts where he was afraid of getting caught, Fei Cai realized that he had been thinking too much. After a month of scouting, Fei Cai found that almost every other day, a slave would give birth and it would have a 30% chance of miscarriage. There were a total of three slave farms in Fei Tribe and Fei Cai now slowly made way to the dumping site of the slave farm. 

Due to the nature of the large tent, the three slave farms are isolated in the tribe due to smell and noises but the dumping site was even more horrendous. Fei Cai couldn't help but furrow deeply as the unpleasant scent almost made him hurl his stomach out. Most of this would be collected by the slaves and taken to the depths of the valley where Manure gu worms are planted to enrich the natural vegetation of the valley. 

'There it is...' Fei Cai narrowed his gaze when he saw the bloody structure almost as long as an adult's forearm. The corpse of a newborn. Saying and thinking was one thing but when Fei Cai came face to face with such a situation, even he felt a disgusting feeling. Clenching his jaws, he activated the Lizard Mouth Gu worm. This time, the gu worm was emptied within his room and the contents were hidden securely so that it could fit a corpse of a baby. Slowly manipulating the gu worm to reach the bloodied corpse, Fei Cai made the gu worm swallow it and left the area quickly when he directly stored the gu worm. Once it was brought in, the gu worm was automatically cleaned but Fei Cai still felt his skin crawl at the thought of the dumping site.

"I'm still too green," he stated to himself, "While I thought that another dead body couldn't make me feel disgusted, I was proven wrong. I need to steel my nerves even further," he sighed softly and atter a few minutes, finally reached the merit board.

To Fei Cai, he felt his path was simple. He had been taking quizzes from the computer gu worm every day for the past month and even if his situation hadn't improved, Fei Cai knew that starting with different paths of gu worms, in such a time, would be a deep mistake to commit. Unlike others, he didn't need to have 'experience' the world before deciding on a path of gu worm. Fei Qing had assured him that he didn't have the luxury for it. Meanwhile, with the Icy Tribulations right around the corner, the most effective use of the merit board was to select gu worms that could help Fei Cai survive the cold if push came to the shove and can be used to refine higher-ranked gu worms.

But survival came first.

Ordinarily, Rank 1 gu worms were sold under 500 primeval stones, rank 2 gu worms ranged from 700 to 1000, rank 3 gu worms ranged till ten thousand, rank 4 acquired a price of astonishing hundred thousand, and finally, rank 5 gu worms could easily cost hundreds of thousands if not a million primeval stone. In terms of merit points, 1 merit point was around 3-5 primeval stone. The exchange rate changed daily. Tonight, it was 4 primeval stone.

That meant that Fei Cai had around 80,000 primeval stones to utilize. The elder securing the Merit Board was the thirteenth elder out of a total of 17! The pace of breakthroughs was incredible which testified how much the trials of elder terrified the gu masters of the tribe. Bowing to the Elder slightly, Fei Cai took the retrieval gu and started to go through the rewards list once again. The rewards would also change daily. Sometimes, a gu worm is added, and sometimes, it is removed. But Fei Cai had clear thoughts. His choice was Ice and Snow type gu worms and a few gu materials. 

Even in Ice and Snow path gu worms, Fei Cai searched for the gu worms who had similar food requirements which would make his set of gu worms cost-effective, too. After checking everything, Fei Cai first thought of selling his unnecessary gu worms that were becoming a burden. Ground Eye Gu worm couldn't keep up with Fei Cai's situation. He needed something that could enhance his sight, smell, or hearing, unlike the current method where he would have to bend and wait. Similarly, copper leaf gu worm was useless against piercing attacks, yellow tongue gu couldn't close deep wounds and had an irritation effect. But now, with Lo being a gu master, Fei Cai decided to give all of the obsolete gu worms to him. None of these gu worms were rare or in the direct use of Fei Cai, after all, and it would make Lo more useful to him.

After a few moments, he began his purchase. 

Ice Wall Gu, Floating Ice Crystal Shield Gu, Icy Breath Gu, Snow Snout Gu, Spiral Snowflake Gu, Snow Beast Heart Gu, Snow Beast Skin Gu, Snow Beast Head Gu, Snow Beast Arms Gu, Snow Beast Legs gu, Memorize Gu, Sharpen Mind Gu, Snow Beast Strength Gu, Ice Skid Gu, Ice Reform Gu, Ice Crust Gu, Hollow Shard Gu.

Not caring for expenses, Fei Cai went for the rare selection of gu worms of the snow and ice path. Snow Beast series could feed on the ice of snow beasts or icy orchids. Unlike others who had to slowly procure gu worms, he had the resources to establish a set and practice his gu worms from the get-go. Not utilizing his wealth would be the peak of idiocy. But that wasn't all. Back then, due to his lesser knowledge of the gu world, he had selected wolf strength gu for his advantage. Fei Cai did not regret his actions as it was necessary to survive the attack from that greenhorn salamander. But now, if he were to cultivate the current chosen path, Fei Cai needed to remove the effects of Wolf strength gu.

Were it an Ice wolf strength gu, then it would have been no problem but as it stood, he needed the rare, one-time rule path gu worm— Remove Gu. Though rare, it could be found in tribes easily. After selecting remove gu, Fei Cai was left with around 17,000 merit points. Out of them, Fei Cai bought a few materials and once he received the gu worms from the merit board, he refined them instantly while they were still in the effect of the suppression of the merit board. 

Returning to the Gu House, Fei Cai did not wait to settle and try his new gu worms but made Lo enter his room. 

"Master!" Lo bowed and while he looked drowsy due to late night, he stood straight and cupped his hands with a reverent gaze. "Refine these gu worms," Fei Cai stated and gave him yellow tongue gu, copper leaf gu, ground eye gu, and poison arrow gu worm. Stunned and overwhelmed, drops of tears leaked through his eyes as he silently sniffled and refined the gu worms. He had been constantly getting hurt in the hunts but his situation would grow better now. Lo couldn't help but feel warm at his master's grace and actions! After all, he was the only gu master from the slaves of his group. 

But that wasn't all, once Lo had refined all the gu worms quickly, Fei Cai produced the fresh corpse of the baby and looked at Lo seriously. "We are going to refine a gu worm. Tonight, you will use your Phantom Blossom Gu for its greatest use. We don't have a lot of time to waste. The fresher the corpse, the greater the chance of refinement and we don't have another chance if this fails." Fei Cai's words instantly pressurized the young slave as he mobilized his Phantom Blossom Gu worm. 

Seeing Lo's determined gaze, Fei Cai nodded and retrieved a few materials from the corner of his bed and placed it near the smelly corpse. Next, Fei Cai took a deep breath and retrieved a small gu worm from his aperture. It was shaped like a broken shard but it was the size of a fist. On the base of the shard, there was a small hole but from Fei Cai's manipulation, a bunch of materials flowed out. This was a rare Ice Path storage gu— Hollow Shard Gu. Its specialty was that it could even store wild rank 1 ice and snow path gu worms for later refinement! 

After taking back the gu worm, Fei Cai took a few moments to recollect himself and then began. The first was to prepare the corpse. For that, Fei Cai needed to cover its surface with the leaves of silent leaves and then crush the brittle stems of windless stalks into powder and spread over the corpse. This was the simplest action as it did not require multi-tasking at all. But next, he had to gather his primeval essence and use it to fuse Dung Fruit and Wheat cup. Under Lo's astonished gaze, and the urging from Fei Cai's primeval essence, soon, a small gu worm flew out.

Rank 1 Clear Body Gu!

This gu worm had not much use of its direct use but it is great refinement material. Letting the thumb-sized gu worm on the ground so that it does not make Fei Cai mentally exhausted early on, he continued to refine two more rank 1 gu worms. Rank 1 Heart Poison Gu, and rank 1 snap soul gu. Snap Soul gu was quite an effective soul path gu worm that could directly attack the soul and Fei Cai would have considered using it if not for his thoughts of using the Sneak Attack Gu. 

With three rank 1 gu worms and Thieving Heaven's improved recipe, Fei Cai finally began refining rank 2 Sneak Attack Gu by using Pepper Fire on the corpse and setting the corpse ablaze but no sound emerged due to the silent leaves. But time was of the essence. He could not burn the gu house down and when the smoke started to rise, Fei Cai used clear body gu worm. This was the first manipulation as the clear body gu worm turned into an invisible bubble that contained the smoke. The bubble would collapse if Fei Cai's attention is diverted and it instantly placed a major pressure on the young refiner. But continuing with a calm mind, Fei Cai used the second gu worm— Heart Poison Gu!

The spider-shaped gu worm flew and entered the clear bubble, bursting into a bluish liquid that started to condense the smoke. The pressure on the surface of the bubble increased as the smoke continued to fill and condense within it. It was now time to wait. The entirety of the heart poison needed to be mixed and condense into heavier and thicker blue-colored smoke. The wait continued and the pressure of the gu house burning continued to rise. Fei Cai had already spread a thick mat to stall for more time which he would need to discard by tomorrow. 

One minute... three minutes... eleven minutes...

Sweat covered Fei Cai's forehead as Lo gulped slightly. He had never been this amazed by his master. In his heart, Lo couldn't help but worship Fei Cai even more. This was the combined effect of enslavement gu worm and the enslavement techniques practiced on the young boy. 

"Huff, Lo, now!" Fei Cai whispered, making Lo's eyes widen as he used the Phantom Blossom Gu worm. The small bud slowly blossomed. But that was not the point. The gu worm releases phantom pollens that Fei Cai had made Lo practice regularly to control. Under a few urges, the pollens were gathered together in a dreamy violet glow and entered the bubble containing thick bluish smoke. As Fei Cai continued to watch eagerly, the phantom blossoms did not phase through the smoke instead started to mix and condense the smoke further. With every passing moment, the shape of smoke started to turn into a newborn baby. It has a small body and a cute round head with wide purplish eyes. Soon, the baby started to open its mouth and wail but no sound came. Instead, Fei Cai almost lost control of the bubble due to increased pressure.

"It is time, Lo, stop!" Fei Cai let out a low growl and used the snap soul gu! The gu worm turned into clear light that passed through the connection of smoke and vanished. Snap Soul gu was a single-time use gu and under Fei Cai's, now, relaxed gaze, the expression of the wailing phantom baby started to turn normal and its glimmering eyes lost its intelligence. 

There was nothing else Fei Cai could do and wait. He let the bubble disperse and put out the fire by covering the mat with its other side and folded it instantly, wrapping the charred corpse, and stuffing it into Lizard Mouth gu. There was a slight mark left on the leathery flooring but it wouldn't raise too much suspicion.

"Haah!" Fei Cai sighed, "Now all that's left is for—" before he could complete, the floating blue phantom baby rushed into Fei Cai's body and instantly entered his aperture! 

Rank 2 Sneak Attack Gu— Success!

"Master! Are you alright?" Lo instantly expressed his worries as Fei Cai nodded with a hint of a smile. This was the first time he had to go through such a tough refinement process. Although, he had to multi-task once, the pressure of it continued to rise with each minute, increasing the difficulty of refining a gu worm with recipes that had two multi-task processes! 

Fei Cai's eerie gaze flickered as he let Lo return and rest for the night before falling on his mattress and sleeping peacefully. He didn't forget to store his primeval essence and gu materials into the Hollow Shard gu worm before letting himself collapse.

---

Fei Mang fell asleep silently. But unknown to him, he woke up once again. This time, instead of his regular eyes, the youth's pupils were square-shaped. After constant refining of gu worms, Fei Chang had a gu house to his name, too. Fei Mang received a room and right now, he inspected his room once again.

"A little over a month has passed since I took control over Fei Mang's body. Every night, I would use rank 4 Soul to Thought gu worm to manipulate Fei Mang's thoughts and control him to use Fei Chang against Fei Qing in a more extreme manner." The young boy touched his chin. 

Shockingly, this was Fei Sheng! 

After breaking into rank 4, Fei Sheng thought he could have made Fei Chang take more radical approaches but the man remained only competitive. In fact, even after using Fei Mang and trying everything from the boy's action, Fei Sheng couldn't achieve the internal strife he was hoping for. 

"Hehehe," Fei Sheng in Fei Mang's body chuckled dryly, "Fei Qing and Fei Chang, these two are hiding a big secret. Previously, the situation was peaceful but after having a total of 17 elders, these two are capable of keeping an equal competition? This isn't a perfect world! These two cousins are up to something and I need to figure out their secret!" His gaze turned cruel as he recalled how he lost to Fei Qing, allowing the young Fei Qing at the time to be crowned as the Chieftain of the tribe. In fact, the injury from Fei Qing had caused Fei Sheng a backlash which pushed him out of rank 4 and made him struggle in rank 3.

"Fei Qing is cruel and calculative. He can even plot the previous Chieftain's death. How can he tolerate his cousin challenging his position time and again?"

Fei Qing's and Fei Chang's actions have kept many elders satisfied but a person like Fei Sheng who was hell-bent on resolving gis grudges would manage to find out a few clues in time. "Well, I need to shift the boy's thoughts slowly. There's still quite a bit of time left... hehe, little Mang, blame your luck to be born in such a family and unfortunate tribe!"