The space before Fang Tian split open, and with a single beat of the One-Cloud Phoenix's wings, several kilometers were crossed in an instant as they entered the Ancient Strength Blessed Land.
"Strange… why didn't any Gu Immortals intercept me?"
This was truly odd to Fang Tian. He had already prepared for the worst scenario—one in which he would have to sacrifice a great deal just to enter the blessed land while being hunted by Gu Immortals. Yet for some reason, not a single Gu Immortal appeared nearby.
"Master! You've returned, Master! Oh—what is this strange beast? Ah, this is the One-Cloud Phoenix… wonderful, wonderful! Master, this bird is in the growth stage toward becoming a desolate beast. Perhaps in twenty years it will truly become one!"
The Land Spirit lifted the One-Cloud Phoenix with a single hand and began examining it, patting it happily. The phoenix did not dare move and allowed the Land Spirit to inspect it in that peculiar manner. After a while, the Land Spirit finished its inspection, nodded in satisfaction, and transported the phoenix elsewhere within the blessed land.
"Master! You must see what I did during your absence. I taught those bastards a lesson they will never forget as long as they live!"
"You handled matters well in my absence. But tell me the latest developments. Did the Wu Clan or the Yang Clan contact you?"
The Land Spirit then reported to Fang Tian about the results of the defensive battle of the blessed land, and Fang Tian was utterly shocked by the outcome. Not only had the Land Spirit defended the blessed land with almost no damage to its resources, it had even captured two Gu Immortals.
This result could be both good and bad depending on how the Land Spirit handled it. After all, these Gu Immortals were not lone demonic cultivators who could be killed without consequence—they had clans behind them, and those clans would never remain silent if one of their members was captured.
However, the Land Spirit informed him that it had already contacted Gu Immortal Wu Bi and another Gu Immortal from the Yang Clan, and was waiting for their response regarding a ransom for the captives. This was the message the Land Spirit had sent while Fang Tian was still outside.
Now that he had returned, matters had certainly progressed further, so he needed to personally guide the Land Spirit to ensure it did not make a mistake that could bring disaster upon them.
"Ah, Master. The Wu Clan has not replied yet. But the Yang Clan responded and said they would offer appropriate compensation within what they consider reasonable. So I sent them a list of materials—but they returned it, saying I should revise it. They said they did not believe it was reasonable for the value of a Gu Immortal."
"Land Spirit… you are truly simple-minded. Show me the list of materials you gave them, along with their ranks and market values."
The Land Spirit nodded and summoned a Gu worm for Fang Tian. Fang Tian poured a strand of primeval essence into it, and after some time he frowned while looking at the Land Spirit with mild disdain.
"Seriously? About ten thousand immortal essence stones… yes, that might be within their 'reasonable' range. But forty strength-path immortal materials? And most of them are rare or extinct. Ah… Land Spirit, you really must learn the art of negotiation."
Fang Tian crossed out half of the strength-path materials and asked the Land Spirit to replace them with another set of materials—ones that were not rare and could be used to establish resource points.
"Master, these materials are few—barely enough for one resource point. What about replacing them with Guts Liquid and Clapping Monkey Stones? Those two materials can be coordinated to produce a rank-six immortal material known as Guts Sediment. Though… the quantity would be small and suitable only for personal use."
The Land Spirit sighed and sent the revised list to the will of a Gu Immortal in Treasure Yellow Heaven.
The Land Spirit had not wandered around Treasure Yellow Heaven—after all, the blessed land's reserves of immortal essence stones were low and could not be wasted on trivial matters.
Although four months had passed and the blessed land had earned a considerable amount of money from selling its produced resources—beasts, Gu worms, and many other things—those immortal essence stones had already been converted into green grape immortal essence to increase the blessed land's reserves of immortal essence.
This left the Land Spirit with only forty immortal essence stones, which would be used strictly for emergencies. After all, the next earthly calamity would arrive in three years.
Fang Tian was not overly worried about the calamity. After all, this blessed land had survived for thousands of years while enduring earthly calamities and heavenly tribulations. Even though those disasters had limited its development, the fact that it had survived this long—and maintained income sources surpassing most rank-six Gu Immortals—was nothing short of miraculous.
"Land Spirit, move me to the palace and update me on the latest news. Also, bring out the captured Gu Masters and soul search them. As for the captured Gu Immortals… soul search them as well."
The value of a Gu Immortal's soul was immense—thousands of immortal essence stones could not compare to it. After all, the souls of Gu Immortals contained their inheritances, cultivation experiences, and all their achievements.
Once their souls were searched, one could obtain the entire lifetime of a Gu Immortal's cultivation results—whether it involved developing an immortal aperture, their inheritances, killer moves, or hidden secrets.
The Land Spirit transported Fang Tian to the massive palace and returned to its duties of managing and nurturing the blessed land's resources.
Fang Tian appeared in the familiar room where he had first stood when he became the master of this blessed land.
"Now I finally have some time to study Li Hua's inheritance—both her wood-path inheritance and her refinement-path inheritance. The latter is undoubtedly valuable, but it is merely a mortal inheritance left behind by a quasi-master of refinement path. As for the wood-path inheritance… even though it is also mortal, its value is enormous because Li Hua was a quasi-grandmaster in wood path. That alone places it close to the level of true inheritances."
Attainment levels were divided into five major realms:
Ordinary, Master, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, and Supreme Grandmaster.
Between each major level existed intermediate stages such as quasi-master, quasi-grandmaster, quasi-great grandmaster, and quasi-supreme grandmaster.
Most Gu Masters lived their entire lives without ever understanding attainment levels, leaving their attainment at the ordinary level at best. Only a small minority achieved master-level attainment, and such individuals were considered the elite among elites—true dragons among men.
Yet Li Hua had surpassed even them by a wide margin when she broke through to quasi-grandmaster attainment.
This level of attainment was so remarkable that normally only Gu Immortals possessed it.
Now Fang Tian had obtained Li Hua's complete inheritance, covering every aspect imaginable.
Methods for nurturing resource points, killer moves—some complete and some incomplete—Gu recipes numbering in the dozens, perhaps even over a hundred. There were even more incomplete recipes. Li Hua had even attempted to deduce the recipe for the Immortal Wood Origin Gu.
Of course, she had failed—she had only completed about three percent of it.
Beyond that, her inheritance included her entire autobiography, detailing her life and revealing many aspects of the Southern Border.
In total, Li Hua possessed around eighteen killer moves—some for offense, some for defense, some for cultivation, some for movement, and others for transporting and nurturing resources.
Fang Tian's attention was drawn to a particular killer move he had once glimpsed through the influence of Li Hua's will upon his thoughts. That move had left a deep impression on him because of its immense power, even though its core Gu was the Heavenly Essence Treasure Monarch Lotus Gu.
When Fang Tian found this killer move—called Origin of the Primordial Essence King—within Li Hua's inheritance, he immediately lost interest.
Why?
Because that killer move was used purely for cultivation, and it only worked on wood-path lifeforms. In a way, it resembled food path.
The move devoured wood-path beasts or plants to obtain a very small portion of their Dao marks.
For Fang Tian, this was essentially suicide.
His body already contained the maximum limit of wood-path Dao marks. Any further increase would bring him one step closer to death.
Perhaps after becoming a Gu Immortal he could attempt to modify it. If that succeeded, it would become a truly remarkable killer move.
But that was a matter for the distant future.
For now, Fang Tian continued studying Li Hua's inheritance, immersing himself completely and forgetting everything around him.