A huge quantity of Immortal Essence Stones and immortal materials appeared, causing the Land Spirit of the Ancient Strength Blessed Land to shine brightly with excitement. However, the land spirit followed its master's instructions and turned its gaze toward the Immortal Gu Master who had entered the blessed land.
All this time, the land spirit had been wary of this Immortal Gu Master. Although his cultivation was only rank six, he had arrived as a representative of the Yang Clan.
"Yang Gu, I can hand over Immortal Gu Lady Ru Nan to you, but these immortal materials and Immortal Essence Stones are not enough. Merely three thousand Immortal Essence Stones and ten rank-six immortal materials?"
Yang Gu rebuked the land spirit with disdain.
"Land Spirit, do not test the limits of my Yang Clan. Although we agreed to give you immortal materials and Immortal Essence Stones in exchange for handing Sister Ru Nan back to us, do not mistake this for weakness. Know your place, accept this payment, and keep your mouth shut."
The land spirit grumbled while inspecting the immortal materials using several investigative killer moves. When it found no issues, it waved its hand.
An Immortal Gu Master of the Information Path, Yang Ru Nan, appeared before them. Her condition was relatively good, though she remained unconscious. Her soul had suffered a slight injury from the land spirit's soul-search.
"There is your clan's daughter. You may take her."
Yang Gu sighed in relief. With swift movements, he caught Yang Ru Nan and placed her inside his immortal aperture. Casting one final glance at the land spirit, he flew toward the entrance that the land spirit had opened.
At that moment, Fang Tian appeared beside the land spirit, looking at the pile of resources and Immortal Essence Stones with delight.
"Land Spirit! This is a huge amount of wealth. Although it is nothing for the Yang Clan, it is an enormous fortune for us. We can develop the blessed land using these resources! And the Wu Clan will pay us an even greater amount!"
Fang Tian could barely contain his excitement, and even the land spirit looked extremely pleased.
The Yang Clan had paid Yang Ru Nan's ransom easily with Immortal Essence Stones and immortal materials.
It wasn't that the Yang Clan feared anything. Rather, it simply wasn't worth their effort to crush the ant called Fang Tian. Furthermore, Fang Tian had been polite enough to request a relatively reasonable price—one that could even be considered below expectations.
If the Yang Clan truly wanted to destroy Fang Tian, all they had to do was send out a single Immortal Gu House, or dispatch three rank-seven Immortal Gu Masters, and the Ancient Strength Blessed Land would be destroyed instantly.
But fortunately for Fang Tian, the Yang Clan had no time to bother with an insect like him.
Because of the Wu Clan, all the clans of the Southern Border were barely breathing under immense pressure. This gave Fang Tian some room to breathe and grow—like stubborn grass sprouting from cracks in stone.
"My survival will depend on the reaction of the Wu Clan. If they decide to exterminate me, then it will simply be my bad luck. I will have no choice but to abandon the Ancient Strength Blessed Land and flee to one of the other four regions."
"Master! I will go arrange these immortal materials and return to Treasure Yellow Heaven to purchase cloud soil and proliferating white clouds for the Single Cloud Phoenix."
Fang Tian nodded to the land spirit and was left alone in the western region of the blessed land.
His green robes fluttered gently in the soft breeze brushing against his body. For the first time in a long while, Fang Tian felt a sense of relief.
His gaze drifted toward the vast western region—desolate and ruined after countless battles against calamities and tribulations.
A blessed land faced an earthly calamity every ten years and a heavenly tribulation every hundred years. The Ancient Strength Blessed Land had endured an enormous number of disasters, yet it still stood strong and continued to prosper despite heaven's attempts to annihilate it.
"The next earthly calamity will arrive in three years according to the blessed land's time… which means sixty-five days in the outside world."
"I can cultivate here until the calamity arrives. I estimate that within three years I can break through to the middle stage of rank five without relying on external assistance."
"I can also train my flying, practice the killer moves from Li Hua's inheritance, refine Aperture Longevity Extension Gu, and solve the problem of one of the Ten Extreme Physiques."
The concept behind Aperture Longevity Extension Gu was extremely ingenious.
Li Hua had gained inspiration from the Legends of Ren Zu after discovering a common trait among Ren Zu's ten children—they all died one after another, each after living only a short life.
While contemplating the problem of short lifespans, Li Hua thought about Lifespan Gu. After all, Lifespan Gu was the best method for extending the lives of Gu Masters and Immortal Gu Masters, since it had no side effects.
Because of this, Li Hua conceived the idea of using Lifespan Gu as the core material to refine Aperture Longevity Extension Gu.
Unfortunately, she completed the Gu recipe only near the end of her life, and never managed to refine it.
Thus, the results of ten years of Li Hua's research ultimately fell into Fang Tian's hands.
However, Fang Tian could not recklessly attempt the refinement, because he possessed only a single Lifespan Gu. He had to prepare thoroughly to ensure success—or bring the Gu recipe to Lang Ya Blessed Land.
"The land spirit of Lang Ya Blessed Land is a quasi-Great grandmaster in Refinement Path. If I hand over a mortal Gu recipe to it, it will certainly guarantee success in the refinement."
"After all, the location of the inheritance of the Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable is near Crescent Lake… wasn't there a stone forest there?"
Lang Ya Blessed Land was located in the Northern Plains, and the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was there as well.
One could say that Northern Plains was Fang Tian's only path to ascending as an Immortal Gu Master.
"Then after the earthly calamity ends, I will have to leave for the Northern Plains…"
Fang Tian let out a quiet sigh.
"This will be a long and dangerous journey."
Fang Tian's next destination had already been decided—The Northen Plains