Fang Yuan intended to use the Second Aperture Gu on himself and so naturally wanted the highest possible aptitude.
There were a number of benefits to having a second aperture, both major and minor. To mortals it would essentially double their aptitude making breaking through easier.
To Immortals, it would give them two Vital Gu meaning it would be less risky to refine certain Immortal Gu. One could get access to heavenly enlightenment twice. If one wanted to cultivate two paths it would help as each aperture could be dedicated to one path. If one wanted to cultivate a single path, it gave more room as well as more resources to work with. One could also move items between each aperture in case they didn't have a blessed land as a base in order to manipulate their tribulations. And one could double the amount of dao marks they had by undergoing double the amount of tribulations; the power of calamities and tribulations was only based on the pertinent aperture undergoing the tribulation in question and did not take them both into account. In other words, the relative gain in terms of dao marks from two apertures far outweighed the risk coming from the tribulations and calamities of both apertures.
But this gu worm was even more valuable to someone like Fang Yuan.
He was thoroughly tired of maneuvering around the hidden setups of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable and Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable. As long as their remnants resided within his primary aperture, he would always have to factor them in. He was certain neither had fully benevolent intentions despite what they said.
But he could not fully purge them until he reached Rank 9.
He needed a fresh start.
By using the Second Aperture Gu, he could forge an aperture entirely untouched by their influence. It would also let him shift his primary cultivation path altogether.
The Human Path offered numerous advantages, but for now it was better suited as a supplementary path rather than his primary one. Fortunately, his many Human Path dao marks were non-conflicting, meaning he could cultivate an entirely new path as his main path without any adverse interference. He could simply let the Human Path continue developing on the side within his current aperture, while his main ambitions moved elsewhere.
Fang Yuan did not have any intention of reverting back to his old identity as a Blood Path cultivator either; that was clearly something that would end up going disastrously wrong.
Other than the Blood Path, his highest attainment levels were in the Emotion Path and the Human Path. Yet he had already decided that neither would become his true, primary path.
Instead, Fang Yuan meant to use the Second Aperture Gu to cultivate an entirely different path as his main path in this life. He had been gradually assembling the required tools needed in order to cultivate that path up until now, and once the Rank 9 gu worm was refined the groundwork would finally be in place for him to do so.
***
Shortly after, a Poison Path expert named Long Qing Tian breached the inheritance. He had already murdered three Shang Clan elders before entering the trial and was looking for an opportunity to cause further trouble. He was promptly struck down by Fang Zheng. From his corpse, Fang Zheng extracted a prized Rank 5 gu worm: Jade Sky Gu. It was an extraordinarily potent Poison Path gu worm.
"Good catch, lad," the Land Spirit remarked. "If he had managed to activate that gu inside, it would have done catastrophic damage to the blessed land if left unchecked."
Even with Fang Yuan's financial backing, the structural collapse of the Ba Gui Blessed Land was essentially irreversible at this point. It could certainly be delayed, but Fang Yuan saw no use for that. Fang Yuan could theoretically devour the land into his own aperture, but that required Master Attainment in the Strength Path and the Land Spirit's complete submission. He currently lacked both, being a Strength Path quasi-Master. Not to mention there was not much use in doing so, the Strength Path dao marks would conflict with the main path he intended to cultivate later on.
"Alright, we are ready for the final stage," Fang Zheng said. Two hairy men slaves had been severely injured during the refinement and could not continue. The others were exhausted but could still work; given how many of them there were they could work in rotations.
The final step demanded painstaking precision.
And so, Fang Yuan's Will took over this step, handling the Divine Travel Gu.
Simultaneously, his Will communicated with Fang Yuan in his own aperture who began drinking from the vials of first-class wine, using gu worms to ensure that he wasn't intoxicated.
With the first batch, nothing happened, but that was because Divine Travel Gu wasn't considered to have been 'consumed' in the refinement yet.
Fang Yuan did it again. He had prepared multiple sets of first-class wine anticipating such an outcome.
On his third round of drinking, he did it!
A massive dao mark coalesced and Fang Yuan was rewarded with Divine Travel Gu!
In the Ba Gui blessed land, at long last, as Fang Zheng sat trembling with exhaustion - blood trickling from his eyes from the severe mental strain of the past few days - a brilliant Rank 6 aura erupted from the refinement cauldron, bathing the bronze hall in a radiant light.
Qing Shu moved to support Fang Zheng, he had returned to the hall two days earlier.
Second Aperture Gu was born!
Fang Yuan had received two Immortal Gu at once!
"You've done it! You've actually done it!" the Ba Gui Land Spirit wept tears of joy.
"Do you recognize me as your master?" Fang Zheng asked, wiping his face.
"Without a doubt! You are the true master of this Blessed Land!" the Land Spirit proclaimed.
Through the residual Will inside Fang Zheng's aperture, Fang Yuan immediately placed words into his brother's mouth.
"In that case," Fang Zheng announced, "I freely transfer full ownership of this Blessed Land to my elder brother, Gu Yue Fang Yuan."
"If that is your true wish, so be it," the Land Spirit agreed, bowing its head.
As Fang Zheng gazed at the newly refined Second Aperture Gu, a sudden wave of hesitation washed over him. The thought came unbidden - he had bled and suffered greatly to refine this Immortal Gu - shouldn't it belong to him? Why hand it over to his brother? Sure, Fang Yuan had given him resources, but none compared to the shocking value of a Rank 6 Immortal Gu...
'No! What am I thinking?!' Fang Zheng snapped himself out of the dark thoughts, horrified at his own greed. 'Brother has protected me and given me everything. How could I even entertain the thought of betraying him over a single gu worm?'
With that thought, Fang Zheng passed out.
Everything was unfolding seamlessly. Fang Yuan possessed the Second Aperture Gu, Dang Hun Mountain was within reach, and above all, the greatest prize of all was finally materializing.
Fang Yuan raised a hand to his right eye socket. An immortal aura was finally developing.
The Rank 9 gu worm promised by the Goody Two-Shoes System was on the verge of total completion!
"Yes! It's done, it is finally over!" the land spirit said, crying tears of joy.
Though he was happy, it didn't change the fact that the blessed land was collapsing. Fang Yuan could not take its remnants into his own aperture, so he instead commanded it to cooperate with him now that he could command the land spirit.
Space Path gu worms were used on both sides.
A spatial tunnel was now formed between the two blessed lands.
"Qing Shu, retrieve Fang Zheng and bring him into my blessed land immediately alongside everything else of value," Fang Yuan ordered.
Qing Shu scooped up the unconscious Fang Zheng and leaped through the portal. He had brought along Hundred Undefeated Battles Gu with him. While the refinement had been going on, Qing Shu had also obtained the King Quan and King Bao Inheritances. The two dog emperors followed after him and entered the Black Heaven in Fang Yuan's aperture alongside a massive number of dogs.
The surviving hairy men slaves panicked, shouting toward the portal, "What about our freedom, Lord Immortal?!"
"What do you expect, I am a man of my word after all," Fang Yuan chuckled coolly from the other side. "If you want your 'freedom' now, stay there and perish in the void as that place collapses. Or step into my aperture, and I will release you into the mortal realm at the first safe opportunity."
Realizing they had no choice, the hairy men scrambled through the spatial tunnel. By this point, their presence wouldn't affect the Integration Formation's results, the Rank 9 gu worm's refinement was close to completion.
Several of the blessed land's native hairy men also followed them along; Fang Yuan intended to put them to good use in the future.
Fang Yuan's Will quickly swept through the central hall, looting every remaining gu worm there and putting them in his aperture.
The land spirit was on its last legs, it did nothing to question or even oppose Fang Yuan now that he was its master, simply smiling as its obsession had finally been completed. "Thank you, Gu Yue Fang Yuan. Now, I may finally pass away in peace..."
Fang Yuan's Will gave him a gentle smile. "No need to thank me. The pleasure was all mine. And now that we're done please detonate the blessed land." After the land spirit detonated, the Winds of Assimilation would soon kick in, wiping everything away.
Fang Yuan was essentially telling the land spirit to kill itself. The blessed land was doomed, but could still stand for a few more days depending on circumstances. However, Fang Yuan couldn't risk any evidence of what he had done leaking out and had already taken nearly everything of value in it. That which was left behind, he could only write off as a loss.
The land spirit sighed, but understood Fang Yuan's intentions. "So be it, lad."