"I'm back!"

Zhou Ming stood inside the isolated room formed by the Solitary House Gu, looking out the window. The sky was vast, with endless blue grass, presenting a magnificent and expansive view of the world.

He had slept for nearly five hours, and now it was close to noon. The sun was high in the sky, and the weather was gradually getting hotter.

"Come on, it's time to witness a miracle."

Zhou Ming took out a leaf from the Flower Storage Gu, which was a leaf from the World Tree.

"Let me see what kind of Gu will be refined from this item with an eight-star rating."

Zhou Ming's heart was filled with anticipation.

In the next moment, the World Tree leaf in his hand suddenly disappeared.

"Hmm?" Zhou Ming was stunned.

Then, he felt something unusual happening inside his body and quickly used inner vision to observe his aperture.

What he saw shocked Zhou Ming!

Inside his aperture, the Primeval Essence Sea was surging relentlessly, and the surface of the sea was constantly rising!

His aptitude, which had reached 88% due to the use of the Forest Spirit Gu, was rapidly improving. It reached 89%, 90%, 91%, 92%... and finally, 99%!

When Zhou Ming's aptitude reached 99%, his entire aperture was almost filled with Primeval Essence, with only a tiny space left at the very top. Primeval Essence overflowed abundantly, and the Primeval Essence Sea gradually returned to calm.

Everything happened too quickly, too quickly for Zhou Ming to even react.

"This... using the World Tree leaf to exchange for an improvement in my aptitude?" Zhou Ming was initially shocked, followed by an uncontrollable anger.

"The Heavenly Dao can actually directly plunder my belongings and even directly enhance my aptitude?"

"What a joke!"

Zhou Ming clenched his teeth, his face full of anger.

Is improving one's aptitude a good thing?

Of course, it is.

However, if the aptitude is improved to 99%, and it's the heavens' doing, then there is a big problem!

The aptitude of a Gu Master is divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D, which is common knowledge among the people.

But only a few Gu Masters know that there are even more excellent aptitudes beyond the A level. There are a total of ten types, collectively known as the "Ten Extreme Physiques"!

The human race in the world of Gu originated from the mythical ancestor, and the ancestor had a total of ten children, each representing an extraordinary aptitude.

Even the best A-level aptitude can only reach 99% of the Primeval Essence in the aperture. But in the aperture of a Ten Extreme Physique, the total amount of Primeval Essence is one hundred percent.

One hundred percent represents perfection.

A Gu Master with a Ten Extreme Physique has an extremely fast Primeval Essence recovery speed and almost no need to worry about Primeval Essence depletion. Even without cultivation, their cultivation level will automatically increase.

Moreover, the Ten Extreme Physique has even more miraculous abilities and can easily crush Gu Masters of the same level. It's not a difficult task.

However, the Heavenly Dao seeks balance, and excessive perfection will inevitably incur heavenly jealousy. The Ten Extreme Physiques, being so powerful, also face numerous calamities and are highly likely to perish before they fully mature!

The most fundamental point is that the pressure from having Primeval Essence at one hundred percent is immense on the aperture. The overburdened aperture is constantly under the threat of destruction.

As a Gu Master's cultivation improves, the foundation of the aperture indeed becomes deeper, but the pressure on the aperture also increases.

Until one day, the aperture can no longer bear this pressure and bursts open with a thunderous explosion, leading to the death of the Gu Master.

However, Zhou Ming's current aptitude is 99%, still within the A level and not a Ten Extreme Physique. So why does his face look so grim?

This is because there have been many precedents in the Gu world where Gu Masters with 99% aptitude suddenly ascended and became Ten Extreme Physiques during their cultivation.

If Zhou Ming had gradually improved his aptitude to 99% through various means, he wouldn't be so alarmed.

But this is the will of the heavens, forcibly elevating his aptitude!

Recalling the previous mission interval when Zhou Ming "offended" and "challenged" the Heavenly Dao with the Forest Spirit Gu, Zhou Ming had to prepare for the worst.

Once he becomes a Ten Extreme Physique, although his strength will greatly increase, his mortality rate will also increase even more. It can be said that crisis and opportunity coexist.

"The biggest problem isn't even that!"

Zhou Ming gradually regained clarity from his shock and anger, trying to restore his rationality and not be influenced by his emotions.

"The biggest problem is that the will of the heavens can actually directly change a Gu Master's aptitude, forcibly seize a Gu Master's resources, and such specific matters."

Looking back at the content of the novel in his previous life, the will of the heavens always plotted slowly, subtly influenced, guided by the circumstances, and pressed on the overall situation.

But there had never been a time when it directly intervened, snatched a Gu Master's belongings, changed a Gu Master's aptitude, cultivation level, and other concrete matters!

"The will of the heavens! The will of the heavens!"

Zhou Ming sat on the solitary mushroom chair, his hand supporting his forehead, gazing blankly at the sky outside the window, letting out a faint sigh.

Regardless of whether this Gu world and the novel he had read were the same world or not, no matter how the will of the heavens acted, in the end, it was still due to his own insufficient strength. He was like a chess piece on the board, a catfish on the chopping board, subject to being manipulated, with no control over life and death.

Since he couldn't resist, he could only try to accept it, bide his time, silently grow, and seize opportunities until he possessed the power to change everything and control his own destiny.

Until then, all those phrases like "going against the heavens" and "I would rather die than be enslaved" were meaningless.

Zhou Ming was never one to be sentimental for long, quickly readjusting his mindset from disappointment.

"I didn't expect such a sudden turn of events. I'll have to make changes to my subsequent plans."

After pondering for a while, Zhou Ming gradually formed a rudimentary plan for another future development.

He cleared his mind and took out the Deceiver's Mask from the Flower Storage Gu.

The familiar presence of the will of the heavens descended once again, and the Deceiver's Mask in his hand silently transformed into a hazy shimmer.

At the same time, a message entered Zhou Ming's consciousness.

[Deceiver Gu, rank 5, capable of changing a Gu Master's appearance for disguise. It can strongly alter one's appearance, physique, and even voice.]

[Deceiver Gu, rank 5, capable of concealing and disguising a Gu Master's aura.]

"Huh?" Zhou Ming was astonished.

Previously, the will of the heavens had always been domineering, directly transforming things that brought him back to the Gu world into Gu worms. Not long ago, it even snatched the leaves of the World Tree without refining them and used them to enhance his aptitude. And now, it was actually giving him a choice?

What was this, slapping someone while handing them a red date?

For a moment, Zhou Ming, who was made suspicious by the fickle nature of the will of the heavens, hesitated and chose the second direction for refining Gu.

What he mainly needed was the ability to conceal his aptitude as a Gu Master and not expose his peak Rank 2 cultivation level within the clan.

In the Gu world, there was the Breath Concealment Gu, which could also conceal one's aura and mask their cultivation level.

However, the Breath Concealment Gu was far away in Southern Border and only existed in the Ziyou Mountain. Who knows if it had been discovered by others yet!

Therefore, Zhou Ming could only rely on this method to refine a Gu worm himself, concealing his cultivation level and continuing to develop steadily within the clan.

During the more than ten years since Zhou Ming crossed over, he hadn't accurately determined the specific time period he was in. It was mainly due to his lack of strength that he couldn't access much information from higher-ups.

He only knew that he was in the same era as the protagonist of the original plot, just that he was ahead in time because based on the limited information he knew, he hadn't come across the information about certain famous individuals and major events in the novel.

This indicated that those events hadn't happened yet, and those people hadn't become famous.

As for the specific time Zhou Ming was in, he could only determine it after his strength improved and he came into contact with more information.