The caravan resumed its journey, and the morale of its members rose greatly. They felt much safer now—after all, a Rank Four Gu Master had joined them to accompany them on the road.
"Did you hear? The Gu Master who joined us is a lone Gu Master named Shao Mu. He's very young, yet he's already Rank Four—he's truly a dragon among men!"
One Gu Master exclaimed excitedly about Fang Tian, clearly admiring the Rank Four expert who had joined them. The reason for this bias was simple—Fang Tian was human.
After all, the caravan leader was a variant human, a Featherman. Even though he was merely a slave of the Wan clan, the other human Gu Masters in the caravan did not belong to the Wan clan and thus had no authority to oppose him. Now that a human Rank Four Gu Master had appeared—and one who did not belong to the Wan clan—they believed they could act more arrogantly if they managed to bring him to their side.
"Brothers, we must go and meet Elder Shao Mu!"
"Brother Kang is right! How can we not show our respect to Elder Shao Mu? Come on, brothers!"
The surrounding Gu Masters immediately moved toward the front of the caravan, their expressions full of excitement. Soon they arrived beside a Gu worm resembling an ostrich.
Fang Tian was sitting on the ostrich's back when several voices called out to him from below.
"Elder Shao Mu, these juniors wish to pay their respects to an expert like you!"
"Elder, may we come up and receive some cultivation advice from you?"
"Elder Shao Mu, I brought a wonderful gift—look, these are Imprisoned Winds! It's a Rank Four wind-path material!"
Fang Tian looked at the large group of Gu Masters in surprise before suddenly realizing something. His expression immediately turned cold. He stared at them with a dangerous gaze and uttered a single heavy word:
"Scram."
"Ah… what did you say, Elder Shao Mu?"
The Gu Masters were stunned. They stared at Fang Tian with foolish expressions and remained where they were.
"Scram. You have four seconds before each of you loses an arm."
"But Elder Shao—!"
"Four."
Fang Tian spoke calmly. Then, with a swift movement, he punched the air with terrifying force.
The wind was struck with sudden power, gaining incredible momentum before slamming into one unfortunate Rank Two Gu Master. The poor Gu Master was crushed against the ground and instantly turned into a bloody paste.
The surrounding Gu Masters sucked in sharp, horrified breaths as they stared at their unlucky companion—or what remained of him. Then they looked back at Fang Tian, who had not even used a Gu worm. With pure physical strength, he had punched the air and turned a Rank Two Gu Master into a pile of flesh.
Realization suddenly struck them. Frozen for a moment, they then ran in every direction, fleeing far away from the caravan.
Naturally, this commotion attracted the attention of the caravan's Gu Masters and Feathermen, who stared in horror as they stepped around the bloody paste.
Because of this incident, no one dared approach Fang Tian again. Fang Tian did not mind at all—he had obtained the isolation he wanted and had no intention of getting close to these Gu Masters or Feathermen.
"Ah… I suppose I used a bit too much strength. Who would have thought human bodies were this fragile, turning into paste from compressed air?… It seems they'll now regard me as a demonic Gu Master. But it doesn't matter—this won't affect my journey to the Northern Plains."
Fang Tian sighed and returned to reviewing Li Hua's inheritance.
He had already mastered her Wood Path inheritance to a considerable degree, though there was still room for improvement. Meanwhile, he was now focusing intensely on the Refinement Path inheritance.
Wood Path might be the only path he would mainly develop and dedicate most of his attention to. However, Refinement Path was something he absolutely had to focus on and raise his attainment in.
After all, a Gu Master's cultivation consisted of three aspects: refinement, nurturing, and feeding.
Most Gu Masters and even Immortal Gu Masters focused on nurturing and feeding, rarely delving deeply into refinement. Although a Gu Master's cultivation would not suffer greatly if they did not deeply study refinement, mastering it would provide an enormous boost to their cultivation.
Refinement Path was an extremely comprehensive path. It encompassed all paths that existed, those that had disappeared, those invented later, and even those yet to appear.
If a Gu Master or Immortal Gu Master possessed a high attainment in Refinement Path, they could deduce Gu recipes from other paths, even without the corresponding attainment in those paths. From this alone, one could understand the incredible potential of Refinement Path.
But for this exact reason, raising attainment in Refinement Path was extremely difficult.
Fang Tian had been practicing Refinement Path for one and a half years in the outside world, and for over three years inside the Old Strength Blessed Land. Yet his attainment level was still merely ordinary, not even close to quasi-master.
"But it's not that I'm this slow… it's simply that the ceiling of Refinement Path attainment is far higher than Wood Path. I became a master in Wood Path after a year and a half because I possess one of the Ten Extreme Physiques, which grants me faster comprehension of my corresponding path. If I were an ordinary person, it would take about ten years to become a master in Wood Path… As for Refinement Path, it would take fifteen to twenty years… Ah, that's far too long."
If Fang Tian possessed a better Refinement Path inheritance, the time required would be much shorter. But not everything in this world could be perfect.
Fortunately, Fang Tian was never a demanding person. With enough effort, he could compensate for the shortcomings of his inheritance.
He continued reviewing the inheritance. Each time, he found himself amazed by some of Li Hua's ideas, which he occasionally found difficult to understand. However, he knew that in a few years he would reach her level—and perhaps even surpass it.
"Ah! The Plum Lightning Water Oasis! It's very close—I didn't expect us to arrive this quickly!"
A Gu Master nearby shouted loudly, breaking Fang Tian's concentration.
When Fang Tian raised his head, his vision stretched for several kilometers. He soon spotted a vast oasis, roughly the size of a large lake in the Southern Border.
The oasis was beautiful. Plum Lightning Trees grew around it, while green grass extended a short distance away. In the middle of the lake, clear water reflected the blazing sunlight.
Naked children played around the oasis, while adult humans gathered to harvest Plum Lightning leaves under the supervision of Gu Masters.
All the while, Fang Tian's eyes glowed like glass—he was using Crystal Eye Gu, allowing him to clearly observe everything happening inside the oasis.
"Shao Mu, be careful. There is a large Sun clan here that occupies half of the Plum Lightning Water Oasis. They suppress the smaller and medium clans on the other side. So we must not show any bias in this matter."
Fang Tian looked at the Featherman named Ninety-Two in surprise. The Featherman quickly understood the question from Fang Tian's expression.
"When I say 'we,' I mean you and me. As long as you travel with our caravan, you are one of us. Any action you take will be considered my action, so you must be careful with what you do."
"Ninety-Two… are you truly a proud Featherman?"
Ninety-Two's expression turned cold as he looked at Fang Tian with burning anger in his eyes. However, he did not reply and instead flew ahead of the caravan.
"He really is a proud Featherman… but his natural pride has been broken and twisted into something else. But what does that have to do with me? These are the laws of the world. Variant humans barely survive on the edges of the world, while humans prosper and grow stronger."
Fang Tian sighed and flew forward to catch up with Ninety-Two. Although Fang Tian was not truly a member of the caravan, he still had to put on an act to satisfy Ninety-Two.
When Fang Tian reached his altitude, Ninety-Two looked at him with clear disdain in his eyes.
"Your flying techniques are extremely crude. In a real battle, don't use them…"
Fang Tian laughed inwardly but nodded with a serious expression.
"They're coming. Be careful with your actions. The Sun clan has three Rank Four Gu Masters, while we are only two."
"We won't fight them, right…?"
Fang Tian received no reply, which surprised him. He looked at Ninety-Two in confusion, but the Featherman was already watching the Rank Four Gu Masters approaching on the ground.
Fang Tian descended to meet them, while Ninety-Two remained in the air until the Sun clan elders arrived.
The Sun clan elders consisted of two men—one middle-aged and the other an old, frail-looking man. Behind them stood a woman in her thirties.
Ninety-Two stepped forward, cupped his fists, and spoke:
"The caravan of the Wan clan has arrived at the Sun clan. According to the agreement signed between our clans, we request food and drink for our men, as well as shelter for them."
The middle-aged man spoke while the old man and the woman shifted their gaze toward Fang Tian.
"Your men?"
Ninety-Two smiled and fabricated a lie—one that Fang Tian nearly ruined with his expression.
"This is Shao Mu, a business partner who owns thirty-seven percent of the goods in the caravan behind us. Therefore, he and the Wan clan are business partners."
The elders' expressions briefly turned hostile, but they quickly replaced that hostility with understanding.
Soon, they invited Fang Tian and Ninety-Two to their side of the Plum Lightning Water Oasis.