Chapter 522

At Ma tribe, Zhao Lian Yun celebrates privately: her scheme has paid off. Fei Cai has become servant leader to Ma Ying Jie, the young tribe leader. She warns him that the promotion makes him a bigger target, so he needs to recruit new subordinates now that the old servants are gone, then press those same old servants for the young tribe leader’s habits and preferences. Fei Cai worries the servants will not talk, but Zhao Lian Yun assures him they will fear him now, and that she has her own ways of making them talk if they refuse. Privately, she reflects that she is not truly from this world and knows countless ways to loosen a man’s tongue, and that learning the young tribe leader’s habits will keep Fei Cai’s new position secure. ^{ch. 522}

At Cao Fu, Fang Yuan works through Hei tribe’s resource list with the east window Gu, a female Gu Master waiting on his decisions. Reparations from Dong Fang tribe, added to Hei tribe’s own stockpile and the offerings of newly surrendered tribes, have swollen the goods battle merit can buy by more than ten times. A few days earlier, Hei Lou Lan convened another alliance meeting and ordered the newly joined tribe leaders to swear a poison vow. Fang Yuan moves fast to claim the best of it before anyone else can. Even with Shadow Sword Expert and other new arrivals in the ranks, his standing stays second only to Hei Lou Lan’s. Others resent it. None dare say so to his face. ^{ch. 522}

He finds a rank four self-reliance Gu among the resources. He takes it at once. His own self-reliance Gu was rank three in Southern Border but was suppressed to rank two after he reached northern plains, and without the Gu recipe he cannot refine it higher. A rank two version he found earlier in Hei tribe’s stock would only have let him inch upward through slow, uncertain refinement. He also spots a rank four charging crash Gu, but passes it over: he has already refined his own rank three vertical charge and horizontal crash Gu into a rank four charging crash Gu. ^{ch. 522}

Even with his five hundred years of experience, Fang Yuan was still very interested at the sight of these things. What draws him most is the refine essence spirit Gu, a healing Gu that converts a Gu Master’s own physical essence into energy that nurtures the soul. Many Gu worms can heal the soul, but this one far outdoes its peers. Dong Fang Yu Liang owns one, and it has been a great support to his wisdom path deductions; for Fang Yuan, dual cultivator of enslavement and strength whose soul wears thin from commanding his beast groups, it would bridge both paths. He takes the Gu worm and its recipe together, reputedly created by Dong Fang tribe’s Gu Immortal Dong Fang Chang Fan for wisdom path cultivation. This meant Dong Fang tribe held far greater attainments in the wisdom path than other tribes. ^{ch. 522}

Owning both is close to owning Dong Fang tribe’s own research on the subject. Gu worms like this can self-detonate on their owner’s single thought, so trading one away is rare outside the interactions the Imperial Court competition itself enables once every ten years, a contest that doubles as a purification process weeding out the weak. The way of Gu traces to the Immemorial Antiquity era, when Ren Zu became the first Gu Master to use Gu worms. Trading stayed rare because the harsh world taught every force to guard its own research. ^{ch. 522}

The venerable Giant Sun answered by setting up the Imperial Court competition as an arena. Because of its battle reparations, the Huang Jin family could pass on their learning through the ages. It held Northern Plains’ overlord position throughout history without decline. After countless Imperial Court battles, Northern Plains became the region publicly acclaimed strongest in fighting strength among the five. ^{ch. 522}

Fang Yuan judges otherwise on overall power: from his previous life’s memories, he holds Central Continent as the strongest region overall, with Northern Plains second. Northern Plains resisted Central Continent most fiercely of the five regions in that war. The other three regions shared Northern Plains’ terrain advantage, yet Central Continent crushed them just as fiercely. Only Northern Plains managed to organise troops to fight back, invading Central Continent in return. In his judgment, Northern Plains owed that strength to Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s design, which honed fighting spirit through battle and war but stayed too narrow, serving only his own bloodline. He set Central Continent’s strength against it: systemic reforms, an advantage rooted in the region’s own core rather than one bloodline’s gain. He read this from his own history: born on Earth with a unique perspective and carrying five hundred years of experience, he understood society clearly. ^{ch. 522}

Scanning further, Fang Yuan notices over a dozen amplify effect Gu on the list, a rule path Gu that boosts whatever other Gu worm it is paired with, at a rank dependent cost in primeval essence. Every path can use it, enslavement and strength alike, and only one rank five amplify effect Gu sits among Hei tribe’s resources, alongside a single rank four, three rank three, and the rest at rank two. He claims the rank five one, which will boost a Gu worm’s effect fivefold. ^{ch. 522}

The attending Gu Master carefully warns him his battle merits will not cover it all. Fang Yuan agrees readily, since the rank five amplify effect Gu and the refine essence spirit Gu are both costly, then tells her to credit him another five hundred thousand regardless. She protests that he still owes roughly three hundred thousand of a previous five hundred thousand loan, and the rules require repayment first. Fang Yuan waves off the rule. It was made by men, so men can remake it. He raises the new loan to eight hundred thousand, says he will square it with Hei Lou Lan himself, and orders her to hand the goods over. ^{ch. 522}