Only a single Immortal Gu could exist in the world at a time. How could this Rank 0 Spring Autumn Cicada exist then? There was only one explanation - because this was not an immortal gu! They did not seem to count as immortal, but rather mortal. Fang Yuan had prepared it from a single primeval stone, after all, so it would be incredulous to think that this could have the power equivalent to an Immortal Gu.

"What can this new gu do?" Fang Yuan asked. It didn't seem like it could take him back in time like the actual Spring Autumn Cicada.

"By itself - nothing," Thieving Heaven said. "And let me tell you something more about what I discovered regarding Rank 0 Gu worms. They are true otherworldly gu worms. In other words, they carry Otherworldly Dao Marks and are covered by them completely. Meaning only Otherwordly Demons can refine them. However, they cannot be advanced further beyond Rank 0, nor do they have effects, and they cannot be used in refinement either - at least as far as I have found."

"So, then this really is useless," Fang Yuan said, holding on to the Rank 0 Spring Autumn Cicada.

"Not necessarily," Thieving Heaven said with a wry smile. "There are no useless gu worms, Fang Yuan - only useless Gu Masters. In time, I'm sure that you'll understand the importance of them. For now though, this is all that I have to say to you. Good luck."

Thieving Heaven waved his hand, and Fang Yuan suddenly found himself back in his room, staring at the painting in question.

Only now it depicted a small vial of clear liquid.

Fang Yuan tried to put his hand inside to try to grasp this vial, but all he felt was the surface of the painting. Try as he might, he could see no difference between this and a normal painting. Perhaps an Immortal could, or maybe - it could fool even an Immortal's eyes. Thieving Heaven likely wanted him to take this painting to the area in question.

'So this is Thieving Heaven's anti-theft precaution,' Fang Yuan thought to himself. Even if he could take out the vial in questions, selling it was another issue. Not that he didn't have his methods, but they were all risky and could easily backfire in many ways in addition to requiring a lot of time to set up.

It was not impossible to go to the area that Thieving Heaven had pointed out. If he could use the White Form Immortal Snake he could reach there within four day's of arriving at Bei Gu Mountain.

The issue was that he did not have free control over the White Form Immortal Snake Gu.

At least, not yet...

A plan began forming in his mind, though it might need to wait a while as he got the pieces ready. There were more pressing matters to take care of.

Fang Yuan glanced outside the window. It was still dark, meaning that he had either been in the painting for 24 hours, or no time had passed in the outside world while he had been within the painting. Both of these seemed unbelievable to him, but given the fact that no one was running around the village, yelling and wondering where he was, this meant that it was probably the latter.

He looked into his aperture and found that the Rank 0 Spring Autumn Cicada was still there.

With a thought, he willed it to self-detonate. It was one thing to carry the actual Spring Autumn Cicada around because that was a Rank 6 immortal gu and could not be easily detected by anyone other than an Immortal. Why would an Immortal find cause to look closely at Fang Yuan?

The Rank 0 Gu worm, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any such properties. It was unlikely that anyone would ever check inside his aperture. Its design was similar to the Spring Autumn Cicada, and although he wasn't sure how many people knew what it looked like, given the fact that it did not give out an immortal aura, he did not wish to take chances. Did any illustrations of the Spring Autumn Cicada exist out there in the world? He couldn't be sure, but it was his ultimate trump card.

Why take the risk? As it was, this Rank 0 Gu worm had no use, as per Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, or at least no use that its original creator, Guo Lian, had managed to find out.

Fang Yuan thought about it and considered the fact that there must have been something that it could do. Otherwise, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable wouldn't have wanted to show it to him.

The next morning, Bai Ning Bing approached him and told him that the Bai clan would be somewhat amenable to joining up with the Gu clan.

"It won't be easy to convince them," she said, "especially coming from me, an external elder. However, as their primeval spring continues to dry up, I think they'll end up seeing reason with joining with you."

"Good work, good work," Fang Yuan said. "We can leave this afternoon, then."

The process of moving the entire Gu Yue village to where Fang Yuan intended it to be would be a long and arduous one. Many things had to be settled. However, above all, he needed to establish his presence upon the mountain. Not to mention, this was a perfect excuse to look for the inheritance that was buried there.

That day, he called Qing Shu and Fang Zheng to him in the clan head's pavilion in private.

"What's going on, elder brother?" Fang Zheng asked.

"It is a matter of great importance," Fang Yuan said. "And I need the two of you to keep silent about this. In other words, it's a secret, which could be quite damaging for the clan if it were to ever get out."

Qing Shu and Fang Zheng both nodded.

"What's the matter?"

"The matter is that, and I hate to say this, but our primeval spring is dying out," Fang Yuan said.

Both Qing Shu and Fang Zheng froze.

"Brother, are you absolutely sure?" Fang Zheng asked.

"I am," Fang Yuan said. "The other clans' primal springs have been dying for sure. We had been hoping that ours would last and recover. However, it's now showing signs that it's clearly dying. The old clan head had left behind records on how to identify a dying primal spring, and without a doubt, ours would be following the other clans soon."

There was no such record, of course, not that the two of them would know it. There was a hidden room in the underground cavern where only the clan head could go. With that said, the rest of Fang Yuan's speech was true. Once the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus ran out, their spirit spring would start showing signs of decline that would grow more overt and obvious, but he needed to act before then.

"What do we do then?" Fang Zheng wondered.

Without a primeval spring, a clan was just a sitting duck. Without one, new Gu Masters would not be able to open up their apertures as they would not have a steady supply of Hope Gu. Without one, where would they get primeval stones in order to trade from? Without one, they would no doubt be attacked by other clans. That Blood Path Gu Master who had tried to extort them earlier would just be the first among many if the news got out that their primeval spring was dying. It was a tragedy that was more catastrophic than their losses from Lord Sky Crane and Bai Ning Bing's detonation from a certain perspective - they could always rebuild, but finding another primeval spring was another story entirely.