Afterward, Zhou Ming continued to exchange Gu, acquiring all eight Gu from the two sets he had chosen.
There were offensive Gu like Poison Ivy Gu and Soul Howl Gu, defensive Gu like Rattan Armor Gu, healing Gu like Vine Root Gu, anti-reconnaissance Gu like Bewitching Soul Gu, movement Gu like Jumping Grass Gu and Ghost Shadow Gu, and storage Gu like Flower Bud Gu.
The Two-turn Flower Bud Gu didn't have a very large storage space, and since Zhou Ming had many items to buy next, he directly exchanged for two Flower Bud Gu.
Adding the Sword Qi Gu he already possessed, Zhou Ming now had a total of ten Gu on him.
But this was still not enough; according to his plan, he still needed to add Grass Willow Gu, Grass Movement Gu, Bewitching Soul Gu, Ghost Garment Gu, Tiger Specter Gu, and Ghost Eye Gu to truly begin constructing a cooperative Wood Path and Soul Path set of Gu.
This would mean Zhou Ming would have at least fourteen Gu on him.
This was an astonishing number; typically, a Two-Turn Gu Master would not have more than ten Gu, because the more Gu one had, the greater the cost of feeding them, and not every Gu Master could afford it.
But Zhou Ming was different; he had sufficient financial resources to support feeding so many Gu, and moreover, the Main God's tasks were bizarre and varied, so he could only make as many preparations as possible to be ready for anything.
Subsequently, Zhou Ming exchanged for four Two-turn Scarlet Iron Relic Gu and then left the Main God Space.
Returning to the Gu World, Zhou Ming was still in an inconspicuous corner of the Market; his sudden disappearance and reappearance did not attract the attention of others, nor did anyone notice that in such a short time, Zhou Ming's Realm had undergone a tremendous change.
Next, Zhou Ming leisurely strolled around the Market, lingering at various stalls but not buying anything.
After about half an hour of wandering, having explored almost the entire Market, Zhou Ming set off to leave.
Not far behind him, several people exchanged glances and quietly followed Zhou Ming, trailing him from a distance as he left the Market.
They walked for about fifteen minutes, gradually moving away from the Market, with no one else in sight, and Zhou Ming's figure appeared somewhat solitary on the vast grassland.
Suddenly, Zhou Ming stopped.
Rustle!
The surrounding grass and trees swayed and rustled; upon closer inspection, one could see that the lush green grass within a ten-meter radius around Zhou Ming had all interconnected, intertwining with each other, like a meticulously woven cage, trapping Zhou Ming in the center.
"Heh heh," "Haha," "Ho ho"
Various strange laughs echoed from all directions, one after another, as if an entire army was ambushed in the grass, surrounding Zhou Ming.
"Playing tricks," Zhou Ming sneered, then suddenly shouted, "Come out!"
"Hmph, kid, looks like you haven't learned your lesson," several figures emerged, precisely the three who had ambushed Zhou Ming that day.
"Last time you got away, but this time we've set up a net in advance; let's see how you'll escape now!"
One of them grinned cruelly, a bone bow slowly appearing in his hand; he drew the bowstring, and a bone arrow materialized, aiming directly at Zhou Ming.
"Come on, let's see if you can still deflect my arrow this time!"
Swish!
The bone arrow shot straight from the string towards Zhou Ming.
"Heh heh, you three really took the bait, didn't you? It wasn't for nothing that I used myself as bait, making a show of it in the Market."
"However, my luck is really good; I managed to run into them twice at this Market."
"Is this also the arrangement of fate?"
Zhou Ming thought to himself, simultaneously activating Ghost Shadow Gu, moving like a phantom, easily dodging the bone arrow.
fate existed in this world.
There was a Rank Nine Gu, named Fate Gu, which was a representation of the Heavenly Dao, prescribing the respective trajectories of fate for all things in the world, and all beings were within it.
However, Fate Gu had once been damaged by the Rank Nine Red Lotus Devil King, and though it wasn't completely destroyed, it had yet to fully recover.
Because of this, the great net weaving the fate of all beings was broken, giving countless people the opportunity to change their fate.
"If my encounter with them is an inevitable fate, then does fate dictate that I kill them, or that they kill me?"
"Heh heh, what an interesting thought."
The three clearly hadn't expected Zhou Ming to dodge that attack so easily and were a beat slow in reacting; just as they were about to activate their Gu again to attack, a sharp shriek suddenly exploded.
The shriek didn't sound in their ears but directly entered their Souls, causing a stinging pain in their Souls and making them feel dizzy and disoriented.
Soul Howl Gu!
All three were Two-Turn Gu Masters, and their dizzy state lasted only a very short time before they successively regained consciousness.
But by then, a long green vine had already lashed out, coiling around the Gu Master on the left.
The barbs on the vine easily pierced the Gu Master's flesh, and the toxins it carried rapidly infused into his blood and flesh.
"Stop!"
"You scoundrel!"
The other two cried out in alarm; the Gu Master who had attacked Zhou Ming earlier conjured a bone saber in his hand and swung it at the vine, intending to rescue his companion.
However, at that moment, his vision suddenly went black; he was completely blinded.
This was Zhou Ming activating Bewitching Soul Gu, temporarily blinding that Gu Master.
Simultaneously, Zhou Ming activated Jumping Grass Gu, leaping in front of the third Gu Master.
The Gu Master was greatly alarmed and instinctively tried to activate his defensive Gu, but at that moment, Zhou Ming let out another Soul Howl; the Gu Master's head buzzed, his defensive Gu failed to activate, and with a flash of the Sword Qi Gu in Zhou Ming's hand, the Gu Master's head fell off.
"The first one!"
Zhou Ming activated Ghost Shadow Gu again, flashing in front of the Gu Master entangled by his Poison Ivy Gu.
That Gu Master was unlucky; he was struck by Zhou Ming before he could react, and then suffered two more Soul Howls, unable to even use his defensive Gu.
By this time, due to the injection of the Poison Ivy Gu's toxins, his consciousness was already quite muddled, and he was similarly beheaded by Zhou Ming's sword.
"The second one!"
Zhou Ming leaped again, activating Jumping Grass Gu, and arrived beside the Gu Master who had first attacked him.
When a Gu is continuously activated, there is always a small interval; this is because Zhou Ming had only just refined the Gu and had not yet reached a state of perfect harmony with them.
Therefore, Zhou Ming alternately activated Ghost Shadow Gu and Jumping Grass Gu to compensate for this deficiency and keep up with his combat rhythm.
His killing movements were too fast; at this moment, the Gu Master had not yet emerged from his blind state, but he had already activated his defensive Gu, forming a bone armor to protect himself.
Zhou Ming sneered, not rushing to attack head-on; roots of green vines grew from beneath his feet, gradually coiling tightly around the Gu Master.
"No, don't kill me," the Gu Master seemed to sense his impending doom, his trembling plea tinged with a whimper.
"You deserve to die too,"
Zhou Ming sneered, hacking at his neck with Sword Qi Gu repeatedly; three strikes cut through the bone armor protecting his neck, and the fourth strike severed his neck, taking his life.
"The third one, it's over,"
Zhou Ming stood up, silently thinking to himself.
Zhou Ming searched the three corpses, finding a total of about five hundred primeval stones, but nothing else.
Gu are very fragile; even an Immortal Gu can be easily crushed by a three-year-old child.
Gu that have been refined can even be self-destructed by a Gu Master's single thought, so in Gu Master battles, the victorious party rarely obtains the opponent's Gu.
Even if Zhou Ming had just slain the three quickly enough, how could any speed be faster than a single thought?
The last thought before death was enough to destroy all of one's Gu, leaving none for the opponent.
Zhou Ming didn't care; he destroyed the three corpses to erase all traces, then turned and left, rushing back to Warm Pool Valley, to his small hut, before sunset.
"I wonder if Zhou Hao and the others have returned yet,"
Zhou Ming thought to himself.
When Zhou Hao came to find him, he only said he would wait three days, and then set off with his team.
By that calculation, they had only been out for seven or eight days by now, so they probably wouldn't be back so soon.
"I'll see them after the next mission,"
In this cruel world, intrigue and the law of the jungle were the norm; while internal Family struggles were not as brutal, they were certainly not easy.
Having Transmigrated for over a decade, Zhou Ming didn't have many friends, but the several people in his team had faced life and death multiple times together, so they naturally counted as friends.
Zhou Ming's words last time were heartless, but he wasn't as cold as he appeared.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, bathed in the cool moonlight, Zhou Ming continued his cultivation.
He was still aiming for a major Realm Breakthrough, but in just one day, he had already progressed from attempting a Two-turn Breakthrough to attempting a Rank Three Breakthrough.
Small Realm Breakthroughs for Gu Masters were relatively easy, a matter of grinding; with enough time, one could always Breakthrough, and many Gu could shorten this process, such as Relic Gu.
However, for a major Realm Breakthrough, resources, Aptitude, and time were all indispensable; only with sufficient foundation could one Breakthrough.
This was not something that could be rushed.
Zhou Ming's Two-turn Breakthrough took only ten days of seclusion. But to Breakthrough to Rank Three, with his current accumulation, even a month of seclusion might not guarantee a Breakthrough.
Moreover, Zhou Ming didn't have time for seclusion now; only one day remained until the next mission.
In the ethereal Realm, time passed midnight, and after a few more moments, the Main God's grand voice suddenly entered Zhou Ming's mind, causing him to involuntarily exit his cultivation.
[Next mission information announced: Announced in the form of a world background.]
[Higashiteru Island Country, Moonlight Era. The Country's Ruler, Nohara Momonosuke, who had ruled the world for twenty years, felt his end approaching. He summoned all the Daimyo of the country and announced that he would pass down the throne.]
[However, his requirement for passing down the world was not based on offspring, retainers, or how much wealth or how many samurai a certain Daimyo possessed.]
[He wanted to see the slaughter and blood of samurai with superb martial arts from all over the world.]
[He wanted the Daimyo who aspired to rule the world to bring the samurai they considered the strongest in the world, to have them slaughter each other as proxies for the Daimyo.]
[Ultimately, the strongest 'World's Number One Samurai,' and the Daimyo he represented, would be the successor to this world.]
[This was the game of a Country's Ruler, a tyrant, a Devil King on his deathbed.]
"Samurai?"
Zhou Ming frowned.
Judging by this background, it somewhat resembled the style of the island nation from his previous life, but Zhou Ming had never heard of the Moonlight Era, nor had he heard of Nohara Momonosuke.
"With such a simple introduction, the information obtainable is quite limited."
Zhou Ming tapped the back of one hand with the other, contemplating the situations he might encounter in this mission.
"It seems I'll need to add a few more Gu to be prepared."