**Chapter 24: Death Refinement**
I know the chapter is fire if Chat GPT is like: 'This content may violate… ' Blah blah… shut the fuck up.
I have already written the next chapter; it is very long because I have planned for it for a long time.
1. If you had to live in the Gu World, but you could choose the continent, which would you choose? Why?
2. How many methods for non-conflicting dao marks do you know? I know three.
3. If you were to reincarnate, would you be a demonic or righteous path cultivator?
4. Do you like my story so far?
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"I sat in my room, scribbling something into one of my numerous notebooks. This was a scene that had been repeating itself a lot over the past three days since I had refined the Poison Thought Gu.
'This frustration gets me nowhere…'
While the caravan was here, I was going crazy, buying Gu that could potentially be used to refine a very strong Armor Type, a rank 2 at that.
The frustration comes from me investing a lot of money into that idea, but not quite getting my finger on the method to refine such a Gu.
The Gu I have planned for that purpose are:
Two Rank 1 Water Shield Gu, that I had looted from those two thieves.
Two rank 1 Platypus Claw Gu, that a Gu Master in the Convoy sold to me for 250 primeval stones each.
A Water Manipulation Gu, that I bought at the silent Auction for 500 primeval stones.
This was one of the first times that I regretted being born in the eastern sea, as this Gu is definitely only that expensive because water is everywhere here. If I had to guess, this would not even cost 300 primeval stones in the northern plains or anywhere else for that matter.
The last Gu I had bought for this Recipe was the Rank 1 Fast Digest Gu, this had set me back 500 primeval stones. It was that expensive because higher-ranked Gu Masters liked to use it to eat more food.
It was purely the enjoyment of some glutton Gu Masters that shot up the price of this Gu.
So all in all, I had an upfront investment of 1,500 primeval stones, plus the theoretical value of my two water shield Gu. This means even if I succeeded in refining this into a rank 2 Gu, it would not be worth it from a financial standpoint.
I could use half of that amount to buy a premium rank 2 defensive Gu.
'The problem with that is that they are not poison path, or just not up to my standards.'
'If I succeed in refining that Gu I have devised, it will be extraordinary, something that will be worth upgrading to the immortal level perhaps.'
But I have still not gotten any good ideas, one that could actually work, for the recipe. I did not want to try some of my *might work* ideas, as if they don't, it would be a significant financial hit to me.
With the bigger problem being, that I did not have a backup plan for a defensive Gu in case I fail the refinement.
My general idea for the refinement was to use a species of monkey that was found on Fei Yu island, the called long-armed monkey. They were nothing special; the only reason they could be remotely useful for me was that their body type was remarkably similar to humans.
I have had a lot of ideas over the last three days, but something told me that none of them were good enough….
The need to combine all of these Gu, it was just on a level of complicated that I had not encountered before. But I could not figure it out, that made me aggressive; it was something that happened to me even in my past life. This feeling of aggression without an outlet would usually disappear over a good night's sleep because fundamentally I was a calm and collected person.
Stretching my arms above my head, I let out a deep sigh.
'This will get me nowhere; I should go to bed and try again tomorrow…'
Closing my notebook, I arranged it neatly next to the legend of Ren Zu on my desk. Mindlessly, I picked up the loose papers that lay on my table one after the other, and as I was laying them down, I picked up my paperweight.
And all just made click in my mind, and all of a sudden, everything made sense.
I would have never had this inspiration had I not gambled that day.
"Hehehehe"
'Fate works in mysterious ways…. '
The dead I had won by gambling rocks; I wanted to keep it as a reminder. So I just used it as a paperweight; it certainly looked the part. Like a beautiful lotus, its once colorful exterior replaced by the gray tone of death.
With the newfound inspiration, I could not wait to test out my theory…. Neither did I care if it would mean that the refinement would fail and all the Gu would die; it just was a thought that I could get out of my mind in one way, and one way only.
Hastily, I made my way into the basement; my father had brought a few long-armed monkeys into the cells there, after I mentioned that I would likely need them to test out a refinement idea I had.
My breathing was heavy, and I could feel my heartbeat; adrenaline was a real drug.
Slamming the door to the prison cell Number one and the shut, with a force that threatened to blow the door off its hinges, I looked eye to eye with a long-armed monkey.
It was trembling, as if it knew that I was up to no good.
My patience was practically nonexistent at this point, so I summoned a Poison refinement Gu from my Aperture and held it in the direction of the monkey's face.
The Gu did not let me wait for long before it spit out a toxic gas.
Instantly the movement of the monkey became rigid, and without waiting for the poison to completely paralyze the monkey, I walked up to it.
The fast digest Gu as well as the Water Manipulation Gu appeared in my hand as I was slowly making my way to the monkey. It tried to take a step back, but because of the paralyzing poison, it fell on its back.
As I reached the monkey, I dragged it to the back wall of the prison cell and leaned it against the wall to make it sit upright.
With a deranged smile on my face, I opened its mouth without resistance, as it had lost all of its body's functions by now.
And I pushed my right hand, which held the two Gu down its throat, and I did not stop until my whole forearm disappeared into the monkey.
'This should be deep enough…'
With a slow movement, I pulled my arm out, leaving the Gu deep inside the Monkey. As my arm left, it was full of fluids, of which I only recognized blood, lots of it.
Through my connection with the Gu, I noticed that they were badly damaged and slowly dying. But I did not care and proceeded to take out the two Platypus Claw Gu, out of my Aperture.
I carefully placed one of them into each of its hands and closed them gently.
*Crunsh*
A bone-chilling sound rang out as my left foot landed with full force onto the closed left hand of the monkey.
*Screetch*
*Screetch*
*Screetch*
Even in its paralyzed state, the pain must have been so intense that I was grieving of screams that would leave a normal person unable to sleep at night for days….
The deranged smile did not leave my face though, as…
*Crunsh*
The other hand suffered the same fate. Both of the Gu I had put into the hands had instantly died, a fate that that monkey must be wishing for right now.
But its suffering was not over….
I took the two water shield Gu from my Aperture, all the while the monkey was still screaming its soul out…
They looked like Salamanders, and I slowly and softly laid them both onto the monkey's torso.
*Thud*
*Thud*
My kicks implanted the Gu, about two centimeters into the skin and flesh of the monkey, also ending their lives instantly.
While this was done, the two Gu I had stuffed down its throat died as well. Maybe from the injuries I gave them while I shoved them down, maybe from the monkey's stomach acid… I don't know, and I don't care…
'Now onto the last part… hehehe'
I took a few steps back, now standing about 2 meters in front of the monkey. Instantly, I summoned a primeval stone into my hand and threw it at the monkey with all my strength.
*Thud*
*Screetch*
This time it only let out one scream… but I did not focus on that, as shortly after the primeval stone hit it in the chest, a small bubble of water appeared there and dissolved the primeval stone, like the most potent acid would.
"Hehehe… so it works…."
*Thud*
The next primeval stone hit its face.
*Splat*
This one painted the wall in blood.
*Thud*
*Splat*
*Thud*
*Thud*
*Screetch*
I lost count of how many I had thrown already, but after a while its whole body was covered in that transparent acid….
And the stones I threw did only made a *Splash* sound, as they hit that liquid directly, and instantly dissolved.
I only stopped after something different happened. I had just thrown a stone, and instantly after it hit the acid, it got dissolved, but it did not stop there.
No. The liquid began to slowly dissolve the monkey; first, it was its skin.
Its screams made the ones from before sound like a song mothers would sing their children to get them to have peaceful dreams. This must undoubtedly be one of the most painful things a creature has ever endured.
Then it dissolved its flesh, and halfway through, the monkey died. After that, it was quieter, and the liquid dissolved the rest of the body at record speeds.
It only took 15 seconds for it to be gone in its entirety. All that was left was a blob of acid floating in the air.
*Swoosh*
Instantly it coagulated and took on a form that reminded me of the water shield Gu, a small lizard, but this one had deep green eyes.
The wall behind was filled with blood that formed a half-moon shape, away from the Gu, where the monkey had been just shortly before.
I walked up to it, picked it up, and refined it instantly.
'My first rank 2 Gu, well at least the first I refined.'
Not wanting to wait to test it out, I activated it, and it consumed exactly 65% of my rank 1 upper stage primeval essence.
'Thank god I have the liquor worm.'
As for its effect, it formed a two-centimeter thick layer of water-like substance all over my body.
'This is definitely acid; every attack that comes into contact with me, be it physical or as energy, will be dissolved by the acid.'
The second thing I noticed was that my strength was significantly enhanced while using this Gu.
The third thing was that the armor was forming strong claws at the tips of my fingers.
'I will have to test this Gu out in combat; with this, I can become a killing machine… as it takes barely any primeval essence to hold it, once it has been created.'
'I will name it Acid Armor Gu…. Rank 2'
(1891 words)