Fang Yuan was wrapped up in his duties as clan head most of the time. That didn't mean that there weren't times where he had a break, or at least that there weren't times where he could tell everyone that he was busy doing something and they needed to handle things on their own.
He had thought about using these brief periods to raise Fang Zheng's cultivation initially, but that had failed, and he still hadn't accumulated enough Human Path dao marks, nor had he reached Rank 5 to try that again with any assurance of success.
Instead, he chose to use this time to delve into something that had been tugging at the back of his mind: namely, the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance. Or at least, what he thought was the 'true inheritance' left behind by the Flower Wine Monk.
Fang Yuan wandered over to the same place where he had found the nearby waterfall, which still had chunks of ice - a remnant of Bai Ning Bing's detonation - that was still prevalent even after all this time.
Fang Yuan went back to the same place where he had found the Audio-Visual Gu. There was nothing abnormal about the area upon first glance, but this was still quite a distance away from where he had found the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider earlier.
'I had thought that the inheritance only consisted of a few primeval stones and the Liquor Worm,' Fang Yuan thought to himself, 'as well as the Audio-Visual Gu. However, there might have been more to it.'
This actually confirmed one of the suspicions he had had long ago: the system had seemed a bit too generous when giving him the reward for turning over the details of this inheritance to the clan. It seemed that there had been more to the inheritance which he had not uncovered initially which he might have been able to had he not turned it over to the clan head.
He had borrowed several investigative-type Gu worms from the clan's storage and activated them. There was something odd about the earth in a specific location, as if it had been shifted ever so slightly.
He took out the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider and then began commanding it to dig. It turned out that his suspicion had been correct. He ended up in a tunnel which was definitely man-made, likely having been made by the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider. He found an Earth Treasury Flower Gu, a storage-type Gu worm, which had another Gu inside: White Boar Strength Gu. This gu worm seemed to be on the verge of death, and Fang Yuan refined it instantly before placing it in his aperture.
Some distance further ahead, there was a boulder which was blocking his path. By now, Fang Yuan had fully utilized the Strength of Ten Men Gu, as well as the system's White Boar Gu and he began to push it.
Fang Yuan continued to push it forward, all the while using his investigative methods. This was a demonic inheritance, after all; it would not be out of the ordinary for there to be a trap that could possibly kill the inheritor.
As he rolled away the boulder, eventually, he came upon a spot where the incline flattened out, and it seemed he had succeeded in this part of the 'test'.
There was a section of the soil nearby which also looked like it had been modified slightly. Fang Yuan, after he confirmed that it was safe, dug up the soil to see that there was another Earth Treasury Flower Gu, and within it was a Jade Skin Gu.
This would have been extremely helpful for him back when he had been at the academy, though by this point, the Moonlight Plate Armor Gu naturally far outclassed it. It was not even worth giving to Fang Zheng to increase his battle strength at this point.
What intrigued Fang Yuan far more than this sort of reward was what lay beyond.
There was a massive cavern which he doubted had been made by the Flower Wine Monk. More likely than not, this was a natural cavern that already existed within Qing Mao mountain, which had been used for this purpose.
There was a great deal of greenery within the cavern as a cool breeze met Fang Yuan.
This place seemed deep enough that it had escaped most of the damage caused by Bai Ning Bing's detonation. Then again, Fang Yuan thought that if he had not used a method from the Dollhouse to melt most of the ice, likely this place would not have survived either.
There were numerous stone pillars which stood out amongst the greenery. They extended from the ceiling and went down towards the earth, forming an inverted forest. There were small holes within each of the pillars, and his investigative methods told him that there were certain things living inside.
Fang Yuan approached one of them cautiously, and something leaped out at him. It was a monkey, almost looking like a statue, but there was nothing statue-like about the way that it moved. Its entire body was grey but something stood out among its nearly uniformly dull appearance; namely, that its eyes were two bright green orbs.
'Jade eye stone monkeys,' Fang Yuan thought to himself. 'To think that there was a colony of them beneath Qing Mao Mountain all this time.'
Fang Yuan had no need to even use Moonblades; his fists were more than enough to shatter the monkey into pieces. He retrieved its pair of eyes - two jade stones.
These actions, however, had attracted the attention of even more monkeys. They had been watching the actions of this one, which may have been a particularly adventurous fellow amongst all of them.
Though, upon seeing their comrade killed, more of them began to venture out towards Fang Yuan, who crushed them all with ease. As a Rank 4 Peak Stage Gu Master, enemies of this sort were nothing compared to him. Even if there were thousands of such opponents, he would mow them down as easily as grass.
He was sure that even a Rank 1 Peak Stage Gu Master could deal with several of these monkeys so long as they had the appropriate gu worms.
Fang Yuan investigated more of the pillars.
It seemed that the monkeys were quite territorial but were otherwise not very violent. They would attack only if someone came within fifty meters of one of the pillars, and they would retreat if he managed to move a great distance away. Not that Fang Yuan had a need to retreat; he was merely trying to understand how this place worked.
'These enemies are weak, but in a way, this is good,' Fang Yuan thought to himself. Although the jade eyes were currently useless to him as he didn't need to use Jade Skin Gu, it didn't mean that they would be useless to other people.
These jade eyes could be used to feed a variety of gu worms and could also be used in Gu refinement. Not only that, they could be sold.
Normally, the Gu Yue Village made a good portion of its revenue by selling Moon Orchid Petals. However, it was always good to have several sources to rely upon. Say, for example, if Fang Yuan had not managed to find a way to save the Moon Orchids, they would have been out of luck as their major source of income would've withered away.
'I could also set this place up as a training ground for new Gu Masters,' he thought to himself.
That was why he did not kill all of the stone monkeys, even though it would have been easy for him to do so. Rank 2 Gu Masters could gather around this area and kill some of the jade stone monkeys, thereby harvesting the jade eyes.
It could become a moderately lucrative endeavor for the Gu Yue village so long as they could claim this area. Given their current status as the strongest village upon Qing Mao, he had no doubt that they would easily be able to secure this resource point.