Refining an Immortal Gu!
Red eggmen encircle Fang Yuan and cheer as he nears death, until a formless energy sweeps him away. He wakes in an extremely plain dark blue hall of large cube bronze blocks. A huge tortoise, large as a house, with a thick jade shell, elephant like legs and two dragon whiskers, says it has healed his injuries. He finds them truly healed. Fang Yuan laughs, for he courted death on purpose, without even using the Spring Autumn Cicada, relying on his previous life’s knowledge despite a huge risk, and the risk has paid off. ch. 377
He greets the tortoise as land spirit Ba Gui, finally awake, and it asks suspiciously how he knows it. He says the blessed land came from an ancient strength path Gu Immortal who died in a tribulation, that his dying wish formed the land spirit, and that whoever completes the wish becomes the new owner. Ba Gui confirms that the wish is the land’s test. The land spirit is no longer human, merely the immortal’s will. Fang Yuan names the wish as refining the second aperture Gu. ch. 377
The Gu Immortal created the second aperture Gu recipe but died before its crucial step. The fated person must be a strength path Gu Master who owns beast phantoms and is strong enough, and must also be near death, because the Gu Immortal would not let others take his fortune easily. Finding none, Ba Gui slumbered to preserve its immortal essence as calamities shrank the blessed land to less than one percent of its original size. Three roaming kids used the land’s resources to become the three kings of the demonic path, failed to reach rank six, and before dying remodelled it into the three kings inheritance, though none walked strength path. Ba Gui watched silently, hoping to draw strength path Gu Masters. As entrants drained the land’s immortal essence and destruction loomed, Ba Gui awakened and found none who qualified. ch. 377
Ba Gui is stunned that Fang Yuan knows the second aperture Gu, yet treats the fated person as found. Fang Yuan says it is a rank six Immortal Gu needing immortal essence, and asks how much remains. A three legged bronze cauldron rises from the floor. It holds very little immortal essence, only a thin layer that decreases drop by drop. Fang Yuan judges this better than in his previous life and plans to ration it. ch. 377
In his previous life, Ba Gui brought in a dying strength path demonic Gu Master only near the end. That man refined Gu worms very poorly and died when he started. Ba Gui chose a few more strength path Gu Masters, but it was too late. Gu Masters found the hall, killed the strength path Gu Master refining the Gu, and killed the weakened land spirit. With immortal essence expended, the refinement ended in utter failure, and second aperture Gu became extinct before the first was created. ch. 377
Fang Yuan is secretly excited, for with his A grade ninety percent aptitude a second aperture would give a hundred and eighty percent primeval essence, double recovery speed and a second set of Gu worms. Refining this Immortal Gu is really difficult, but he has three advantages. Firstly, as a rank six Gu Immortal in his past life he refined the Spring Autumn Cicada. Secondly, since the inheritance opened he has challenged strength path Gu Masters everywhere, and Xue San Si and Century Boy, whom the land spirit chose in his previous life, died in his hands. Lastly, by approaching death on purpose and arriving early, he gets great help from a land spirit that in his previous life was very weak and was eventually killed. The Gu Immortal made ample preparations, so Fang Yuan has at least fifty percent chance of success, extremely high against his less than twenty percent with Spring Autumn Cicada. ch. 377
