14 In the mountain crevice hides a profound theory (1/2)
Chapter 14: In the mountain crevice hides a profound theory
Translator: SkyfarrowEditor: Skyfarrow
The Liquor worm was shaped like a silkworm, its entire body giving out pearl white light. It was a little chubby and had a cute appearance.
The Liquor worm fed on wine and could fly. When it flew around, it would curl up into a ball, and its speed was very fast. Even though it was only a Rank one Gu, but it was worth even more than a few Rank two Gu.
To make it into one’s vital Gu was way more beneficial than the Moonlight Gu.
Right now the Liquor worm was glued to a bamboo pole merely 50-60 steps away from Fang Yuan. He held his breath, not closing in rashly, but slowly walking backwards.
He knew his distance was very near, but to really catch a Liquor worm directly it was an incredibly difficult task for a Gu Master who just opened the primeval aperture like him. You could say, there was totally no hope of success.
Fang Yuan’s was unable to see the Liquor worm clearly, but in the darkness he could feel the Liquor worm directing its vigilance at him. He slowly backed away gently, trying his best not to disturb the Liquor worm.
He knew that if the Liquor worm was to fly away, he could never catch up with his own speed. He needed to wait until the Liquor worm drank until it was drunk, and then with its flying speed slowed down he would have a chance to catch it.
Seeing Fang Yuan retreated further away, the Liquor worm crawling on the bamboo pole stirred. The strong aroma of wine before it was so tempting, so attracting, making the worm lost in a reverie. If it had saliva, it would have long been drooling a pool of saliva around it.
But the Liquor worm was incredibly wary and vigilant. Only after Fang Yuan retreated 200 steps back did it shrink a little and bounced into the air. When it fluttered high in the air, its body curled up into a ball, looking like a small and white rice dumpling. The little dumpling swept across the air in a round arc, floating down onto the grass that was sprinkled with green bamboo wine earlier.
With delicious food right before its eyes, the Liquor worm dropped its guard. It impatiently climbed onto a flower bud filled with some wine and popped its little head in, only leaving a chubby tail on the outside.
The Liquor worm was ravenous, and the green bamboo wine was so delicious. It opened its mouth wide and inhaled, very quickly lost in the deliciousness of its food, totally forgetting about Fang Yuan.
At this moment, Fang Yuan started to approach cautiously. He could see the tail of the Liquor worm outside the flower bud. This tail was just like a silkworm’s tail, chubby and rounded. The light it emitted made people think of a pearl.
At first the Liquor worm’s tail was hanging outside, unmoving. Then after a while this tail started to curl upwards, showing that it was drinking really happily. At the end when Fang Yuan was only ten steps away, its tail started wagging and swinging with a cheerful rhythm.
It was totally drunk!
Seeing this made Fang Yuan nearly laugh out. He did not continue walking forward, but patiently waited. If he rushed over right now he would definitely have a huge chance on catching the Liquor worm, but Fang Yuan’s intention was to have this Liquor worm guide him to the Flower Wine Monk’s remains.
In a moment the Liquor worm withdrew from the flower bud. Its body was fatter and its head swayed about, resembling a drunken man. Unexpectedly it did not realize Fang Yuan’s presence. It climbed up onto another bright yellow flower and perched on the stamen, feeding heartily on the wine droplets there.
This time after it had finished drinking, it finally felt full. Its body slowly shrank into a round ball and slowly flew up. When it was 1.5 meters above the ground, it leisurely flew in the direction of the deeper part of the bamboo forest.
Fang Yuan quickly followed after its trail.
The Liquor worm was already heavily drunk, making it fly slower by half of its usual speed. Even though this was the case, Fang Yuan still had to run with all his might to follow after its shadow.
The night was washing past his vision as the young teenager ran in the bamboo forest, chasing after a small bead of snow not far ahead.
The moonlight was gentle, the breeze slow and steady. In the bamboo forest that was like a clear pond, the stalks of green spear bamboo flashed past before his eyes, quickly falling behind him. The ground was a green carpet of grass, riddled with blossoming wild flowers. There were small stones with moss growing, and the yellow shoots of bamboo.
Fang Yuan’s faint shadow was also speeding ahead on the ground, passing through the shadows that each stalk of bamboo cast on the earth like a black line. He tightly kept his sight on the bead of snow, gulping in huge amounts of fresh mountain air, ordering his legs to catch up in the midst of faint wine aroma in the air.
Because of his speed, the moonlight looked like water to his eyes. Light and shadow moved frequently, like he was galloping in water filled with seaweed.
The Liquor worm flew out of the bamboo forest, and so did Fang Yuan. A sea of white flowers with a yellow spot in the middle borrowed the wind from his feet, scattering their petals. A group of Dragonpill crickets resembling a flowing poem just so happened to move to the front; as Fang Yuan dashed through there was a swoosh and a red cloud bloomed before him, dispersing about a sea of red star fireflies that emerged from the cloud.
A quiet mountain stream paved with pebbles, the gurgling water surface reflecting the spring moon in the night sky; with a few splashes Fang Yuan waded across, creating thousands of silver coloured ripples.
It was a pity that this stream, after so many ages, had its beautiful and precious stones trampled upon and broken.
Fang Yuan was in hot pursuit, firmly following behind the Liquor worm. Going upward the mountain stream, he could already hear the sound of a waterfall. After he turned around a sparse forest, he saw the Liquor worm fly into a crevice in the middle of a boulder.
Fang Yuan’s eyes lit up and he stopped in his tracks.
“So it’s here.” He panted heavily, his heart beating against his chest like mad. With this one stop he could feel his entire body covered in sweat, hot air surging throughout his body accompanying his accelerating blood flow.