Chapter 558

He can only walk forward. Fang Yuan tells himself he has finally reached the treasure room. Gu worms and Gu recipes sit sealed in the crystal walls to his left and right, like insects trapped in amber. Each one can only be claimed by exchanging an item of equal value. ^{ch. 558}

Among them Fang Yuan finds a familiar Gu: a heavenly essence treasure king lotus. It is blue and white, as large as a face, and made by Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable. It belongs to a series running from rank three treasure lotus through rank four treasure monarch lotus and this rank five treasure king lotus up to a rank six treasure imperial lotus. The rank six version ranks sixth among the top ten Immortal Gu, equal in value to Spring Autumn Cicada, and is now held by the Lang Ya land spirit. Fang Yuan once used a rank three version, which offset his weak aptitude at the time, but he lacked the recipes and springs to advance it and later gave up once his aptitude improved. Advancing it needs seven full spirit springs at rank four, nine at rank five, and eleven at rank six, sixty percent more if Northern Plains springs are used instead of Southern Border ones. This rank five lotus suits his current condition, since the series works as a mobile spirit spring that produces primeval essence on its own. ^{ch. 558}

To take it he must trade something of equal value, and being rich now with his own blessed land, Fang Yuan only has to decide what to give up. His strength and enslavement path Gu and his vital Gu, Spring Autumn Cicada, cannot be exchanged, but weaker Gu can be paired two or three together to match the lotus’s worth. Searching his apertures, he is startled to find eighteen spring egg Gu waiting inside. He then remembers they are his reward for clearing the round with a high grade evaluation, sent straight into his aperture by True Yang Building itself, something normally impossible for anyone but the Gu Master to do. ^{ch. 558}

Spring egg Gu is a rank five Gu shaped like a white goose egg, taken by killing a powerful eggman emperor, that grows into a new spirit spring when buried underground. Large tribes and even Gu Immortals stockpile spring egg Gu and plant them inside their blessed lands to build up spirit springs. The egg he examines is cracked. Traces of primeval essence inside show someone activated it before him. He judges it was one the flying hand snow snatched while active, and that every reward inside True Yang Building shares that same origin. ^{ch. 558}

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable wanted hereditary rule for his bloodline. He first set the Imperial Court contest running to weaken the other tribes. He then used the ten year blizzard to draw Northern Plains’ treasures and materials into Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, since a Gu Master’s cultivation depends heavily on resources. The building was meant as a fatal blow to other tribes’ hopes, gathering their resources so he could later hand them to his own bloodline. ^{ch. 558}

In Fang Yuan’s previous life, Central Continent Gu Immortals exploited this same design: they sent pawns into Imperial Court blessed land to deliberately scatter Gu worms for the flying hand snow to seize. That opened a fatal loophole from within, and the Gu Immortals used it to destroy Imperial Court blessed land and expose Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s schemes to the world. The revelation threw Northern Plains into a frenzy. Even so, Northern Plains stayed the second strongest region after Central Continent, since the Huang Jin family’s tribes had deep enough roots to keep it stable no matter how people reacted. ^{ch. 558}

Fang Yuan holds one spring egg Gu near the crystal wall sealing the lotus, and a light shifts from red to orange to yellow before it stops changing. Adding two more eggs brings a faint green light, but the other three colors suppress it. A fourth spring egg Gu makes the green burst out, balanced against the rest. The wall turns hollow and shakes, and the lotus flies free into Fang Yuan’s hands while the four eggs fly in to take its place. He refines it on the spot using his own primeval essence, since Eighty-Eight True Yang Building lets a Gu Master refine Gu instantly inside it. ^{ch. 558}

From the colors, Fang Yuan works out the treasure room’s system: red, orange, yellow, green, azure, blue, purple and black mark eight tiers, and more lights mean a more valuable treasure. He judges the rank five lotus, a green light item, only mid tier among the room’s range. He touches the wall and feels the four eggs inside, cold under his palm. He can no longer control them. ^{ch. 558}

The Lang Ya land spirit once gave him detailed information about the building. That makes Fang Yuan judge himself among the top three living people who understand Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. Long Hair Ancestor built this crystal wall by extracting the apertures of tens of thousands of Gu Masters with a secret technique, then refining the aperture walls with profound ice Gu, ice wall Gu, grand jade Gu, slow down Gu, vitality Gu and others. The wall is the best medium for sealing Gu worms, keeping them in deep slumber for centuries without harm. ^{ch. 558}

A newly refined wall, his information says, ripples like a water’s surface and feels like stepping into an illusion, but this one has lost that shine, though it is still clear. A thick layer of powder has gathered at its corners. Not even a rank nine venerable can defeat the power of time, and even an Immortal Gu house like True Yang Building wears down a little each time it opens once every ten years. Fang Yuan reasons that this same wear was why Central Continent Gu Immortals were able to bring the building down and destroy it during his previous life. The crystal wall also seals special refinement materials, and it seals even more cultivation experiences from past generations of Gu Masters. Only geniuses who clear a round with a high grade evaluation ever reach the treasure room, so the experience they leave behind is top quality. ^{ch. 558}

Farther on, a stone stele blocks the passage with an invisible wall. It reads guest halt in the script of Northern Plains. Giant Sun Immortal Venerable set the stele there since not everyone who reaches the treasure room shares his own bloodline. Fang Yuan laughs it off, since unlike the outsider Chang Shan Yin he had come prepared for exactly this. He sits before the stele and sends a Gu worm into it, the first step toward breaching Eighty-Eight True Yang Building itself. ^{ch. 558}