Chapter 493: Surge in Battle Strength
Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral
A moment later.
"Hmph…" Fang Yuan's gaze was cold as he memorised these Gu Immortals' names.
Diao Sou, Great Immortal Ju Shi, Dian Huang Tianmu…
"Old Man Yan Shi, so it was you." He finally understood who the people finding problems with him were. Because most of these Gu Immortals were the ones who attacked Lang Ya blessed land back in his previous life, according to his memories.
"These Gu Immortals mostly come from northern plains, but there are also some from southern borders, eastern sea, western desert, and central continent. If I count Old Man Yan Shi as well, this hidden and mysterious Gu Immortal organization is truly huge!"
Because of this uncommon clash, Fang Yuan learnt about many secret details, he was secretly shocked.
What kind of force was it, who created it?
In his previous life, he had absolutely no idea about it, he was kept in the dark.
Such a huge force was hiding in the background, they were not a simple poisonous snake, but a ferocious tiger hidden behind the trees.
What were they planning, what was their motive?
In the future developments, during the battle of the five regions, what influence did they have in all of these events? As for Old Man Yan Shi, what was his role in this mysterious organisation?
Thinking back about their earlier strife, while it seemed like they were aggressively attacking, they did not use their full strength after all, they had perfect control over their actions.
Outsiders would not have sensed anything, they would only think of this as an ordinary contest.
Even himself, if not for his five hundred years of memories, he would only think that he was unlucky and faced fierce competition when procuring materials.
They struck secretly, interfering with him and found that they could not stop him, thus they stopped.
The entire assault was like throwing a rock into the water, after several ripples, the water surface returned to normal.
Fang Yuan was clear in his heart, he could escape from their assault this time because of Lang Ya land spirit's recipes, but that was only a foundation. Most importantly, the other party did not want to expose themselves or attract any suspicions, thus they did not go all-out.
Although Fang Yuan was a Gu Immortal in his previous life, he was only a mortal now.
Although he had one blessed land, he could not compete against the cooperation of two Gu Immortals, as well as such a mysterious and powerful force.
"The reason why I attracted the attention of Old Man Yan Shi is most likely due to fixed immortal travel Gu." Fang Yuan thought to himself.
Back then, he used a mortal body to refine an immortal Gu in front of everyone, it was simply too glaring and attention catching.
Immortal Gu were something not many Gu Immortals had. Not to mention fixed immortal travel Gu, such a top tier rank six Gu? Naturally, it would attract the greed of Gu Immortals.
The problem was that high profile he had!
But Fang Yuan had no choice, back then, the situation forced him to do so. This also resulted in the best outcome, there was no better way out of it.
"After such a long time, I'm sure the news have spread already. Immortal Crane Sect is definitely investigating this thoroughly, but that is a good thing."
"The clearer they investigate this, the more they would learn about me. I am only about thirty years old, I am a vagabond from a destroyed small-mid sized clan, I am a lone cultivator, or rather, I am a demonic Gu Master!"
"As such a person with low aptitude and lacking resources, I actually managed to learn about Hu Immortal blessed land's scenery and was able to refine an Immortal Gu? How is that possible? This is like an ant becoming a giant and swallowing an elephant, or a pig that grew wings and flew even higher than eagles."
Or using a phrase from Earth, this is scientifically impossible!
"This way, they will definitely deduce that there's an expert behind me! Someone of this level has to be a strong and mysterious Gu Immortal. I am merely a chess piece that this person is using behind the scenes."
"And because of this, if they want to deal with me, they will have to consider the person behind me, or the organisation backing me up. What if this background organisation is a group of people, a super clan, or a super sect? Nobody knows. Any person would want to investigate the unknown, to use all means to learn about their enemies."
"Before they investigate clearly, as long as I hide inside Hu Immortal blessed land and do not do anything overbearing, they will only try to probe me but would not truly go all-out."
Fang Yuan's thoughts moved like waves, sparked like flint rocks as he evaluated his current situation.
"Of course, this is only temporary. Paper cannot cover up a fire, once they find out the truth, or lose their patience, my trouble would come."
The moment Immortal Crane Sect attacks Hu Immortal blessed land, the best outcome for Fang Yuan is to self-detonate the blessed land and make both sides suffer a huge loss, nobody will obtain Dang Hun mountain in that case.
After losing the protection of his blessed land, Fang Yuan would be hunted down by everyone.
Thus, he was using the identity of Chang Shan Yin as a future back-up plan, to leave a way out for himself.
A crafty rabbit makes three homes, as a demonic lord in his time, Fang Yuan understood this clearly.
After collecting his thought, Fang Yuan sighed.
He had to cultivate quickly, it would be best if he reached Gu Immortal stage once again before Immortal Crane Sect and the mysterious force struck. But even so, it would still be a great danger. If he could not survive it, he would be smashed to bits, and end up in the pitiful state of eternal rest.
"The pressure is great…"
Even though Fang Yuan obtained the greatest benefits back at three kings blessed land, because of his actions, he lost the initiative.
Spring Autumn Cicada, Immortal Crane Sect, Dang Hun mountain, mysterious force, earthly calamity of the blessed land…
Even though he obtained Hu Immortal blessed land and his strength soared because of it, he was in even greater danger now.
All the intense and precarious situations, are pressuring him step-by-step, like a whip or a scythe, driving him to move forward.
If he slows down for even a moment, the outcome would be unthinkable!
If it were others, they would have exhausted their mind and body, crushed into pulp by such despairing circumstances. Only Fang Yuan, by racking his brain and thinking out of the box, could manage to find a chance of survival amidst looming disaster.
But even though he tried so hard, the situation was not taking a turn for the better.
Like now, he was facing a new problem.
Immortal essence stones were running out!
He had first sold large numbers of Immortal Gu recipes and obtained twenty-eight immortal essence stones. But after some purchases, especially the current bulk purchase, his spending was too high and his funds were running out.
Right now, Fang Yuan had four immortal essence stones left. But there were too many areas he needed to invest in.
Helpless, he had to stop investing in the wolf groups.
But Fang Yuan's original plan was to dual cultivate strength and enslavement path. Now that he had a second aperture, this plan was taking form.
Three things dictated an enslavement path Gu Master's strength.
Firstly, it was the size of the enslaved beast group.
Secondly, it was the enslavement path Gu worms that the Gu Master had.
The third was the enslavement path Gu Master's soul. The deeper the foundation of their soul, the more beasts they could enslave, and the stronger beast kings they could control. The time that they could manipulate beast groups to battle would lengthen as well.
"After my purchase, my wolf group's size is already second-rate in northern plains' mortal plane. The first-rate enslavement masters are still the three of them — Ma Zun, Jiang Bao Ya, and Yang Po Ying."
"But my enslavement path Gu worms were all from Chang Shan Yin. They are only rank four, I have to get them to rank five so as to deal with the great battle in northern plains."
"Thankfully, despite Dang Hun mountain's slow death, it can still be used. With guts Gu, my expenditure is greatly reduced, but other than that, I still need large numbers of wolf soul Gu to improve my wolfman soul."
Facing his cultivation requirements, the immortal essence stones in Fang Yuan's possession seemed lacking. Bulking purchasing wolves only fulfilled one of the three aspects in Fang Yuan's enslavement cultivation.
Next, he bought a few more Gu recipes in treasure yellow heaven, as well as many refinement materials and the rank five wolf soul Gu that he desperately needed, getting a total of eighteen.
This way, he spent another immortal essence stone, he only had three left.
Fang Yuan placed his sights on relic Gu next.
His second aperture Gu was just formed, it is only rank one initial stage, it had to cultivate from the beginning.
But where would Fang Yuan get the time to cultivate? By using relic Gu to boost the cultivation level, he could bring out this second aperture's usefulness in the short run.
Even though he had such intentions, the immortal essence stones were almost used up already, Fang Yuan could only buy the green copper, red steel, white silver, and yellow gold relic Gu.
Next, he chose the body modification Gu worm.
The body is like a sack, it holds the soul. When the soul is strong, while the body is unable to hold it, it would form a bottleneck, and the soul's growth would be halted.
Similarly, if the body was not strong enough, the one had to be careful when using strength path Gu worms. If they overexerted themselves, they might break their own bones and tear their flesh before even hitting the enemy.
After Fang Yuan finished his transaction, he had only two immortal essence stones left.
These two stones were kept to deal with emergency situations.
For the next two days, Fang Yuan did not leave Hu Immortal blessed land, he cultivated on Dang Hun mountain.
"This is the final guts Gu." On a cliff, Fang Yuan grabbed this Gu.
Splat.
With a crisp sound, yellow-brown mud flowed out.
This was a rotten Gu, its body was corroded by the gruel mud Immortal Gu, it lost the ability to enhance souls.
"Dang Hun mountain's vitality is falling, the number of intact guts Gu is dropping as well… but, after these few days of strengthening, due to the huge number, my soul still managed to reach thousand man soul."
Fang Yuan closed his eyes, feeling the soul in his body.
This thousand man soul was much more solid than before, it gave off a dense feeling. Almost as if it was stuffed inside Fang Yuan's body, it gave a feeling of almost bursting out.
Thousand man soul was the signature trademark of an enslavement expert. Back then, Chang Shan Yin had thousand man soul.
Fang Yuan opened his eyes, with a thought, he called little Hu Immortal, and teleported himself into Dang Hun palace.
Sitting on his cushion, he took out a white silver relic Gu.
Through his earlier tests, there was no problems with this relic Gu, thus Fang Yuan injected his primeval essence into it.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, after inspecting the second aperture, he nodded in satisfaction.
"Second aperture has reached rank three peak stage too."
This way, Fang Yuan's first aperture was rank five peak stage, having crystal purple primeval essence. Second aperture was rank three peak stage, having snow silver primeval essence.
Although snow silver primeval essence could not compare to crystal purple primeval essence, it could still provide some help to Fang Yuan.
After all, in the northern plains contest for the Imperial Court, rank three Gu Masters were the absolute vital force.
"After I use the yellow gold relic Gu, I will reach rank four peak stage, that would be the best. Of course, the happiest thing is that the second aperture gives me the option for another vital Gu. This way, I alone can have two vital Gu."