Fang Yuan shook his head and sighed.
The cost of feeding the Wisdom Gu was far too steep. Only the Langya Earth Spirit was willing to pay it.
Fang Yuan had used the Supreme Immortal Embryo Gu to gain a new life. His current age was sixteen. The average lifespan of humans in this world was a hundred years. A hundred minus sixteen — Fang Yuan had roughly eighty-four years left to live. That was fairly long.
But even so, Fang Yuan reckoned that if he ever obtained Life Gu, he would use them on himself almost without exception. Even if he didn't use them right away, he would hoard them for a rainy day.
Life Gu were merely ordinary Gu.
Yet Life Gu were the strongest hard currency in Immortal Gu Master transactions — almost nothing else could compare.
An Immortal Gu Master's cultivation had two greatest bottlenecks: one was tribulation, and the other was lifespan.
Even as powerful as Immortal Venerables and Demonic Venerables were, both were constrained by these two bottlenecks.
In truth, back when Giant Sun Immortal Venerable constructed the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, one of its most important objectives was to scour the entire Northern Plains for Life Gu, helping him extend his lifespan. The matter of feeding the Wisdom Gu was secondary. In Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's later years, for a long period the Wisdom Gu fell into a state of starvation and had to enter deep slumber, unusable.
Later, when Spectral Soul Demonic Venerable explored the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, he also discovered the Wisdom Gu within. Unfortunately, he couldn't use it, nor could he afford to feed it. Life Gu were exceedingly rare — he barely had enough for himself. Still, with his attainment in the Soul Path, he had long since achieved cross-disciplinary understanding, and his need for the Wisdom Gu was not particularly great.
After Spectral Soul Demonic Venerable perished, the grand era belonging to him slowly drew to its close. From prosperity came decline, and Life Gu once again began to appear in the world. Then, from decline came prosperity once more. Another earth-shattering figure emerged — the Land Blessed Immortal Venerable.
He too sought Life Gu in his later years to extend his lifespan. The supply of Life Gu fell short of demand, gradually dwindling until they vanished entirely.
After the Land Blessed Immortal Venerable's death, heaven and earth cycled, recovering and replenishing. Life Gu gradually reappeared. The Eighty-Eight True Yang Building opened once every ten years for the Royal Court Contest, harvesting Life Gu from the Northern Plains, slowly feeding the Wisdom Gu until it recovered its condition. This continued until Fang Yuan destroyed the Royal Court Blessed Land.
Then, driven by the instinct to survive, the Wisdom Gu and Fang Yuan made their way to the Fox Immortal Blessed Land. After a series of events, they ended up in the present Langya Blessed Land.
"During the Three Kings Blessed Land incident, I used two Life Gu in a row, attempting to refine the Second Orifice Gu. But that was unavoidable. In my previous life, I obtained one Life Gu from the Burning Heaven Demoness. After rebirth, however, that opportunity was gone, and I didn't have a single Life Gu in hand. If the Burning Heaven Demoness could give me one Life Gu, then her reserves must have contained more than just one. She ultimately died within the Ten Absolute Formation — a pity. All the Life Gu in her possession were destroyed along with her… Hmm? Wait. That's not right."
Fang Yuan's thoughts drifted, then suddenly shifted direction.
"Life Gu are extraordinarily rare. Even Immortal Venerables and Demonic Venerables covet them and have need of them. The Burning Heaven Demoness was killed through the scheming of Demonic Venerable Spectral Soul. Her entire fortune — it should have all been taken in advance by Demonic Venerable Spectral Soul! Although Demonic Venerable Spectral Soul's grand plan ultimately failed, the remnants of the Shadow Sect and the Zombie Alliance, as well as their remaining wealth, were still staggering!"
As for what the Langya Earth Spirit held in hand — there too was an accumulation of Life Gu, and the quantity was quite considerable.
Nearly all of these Life Gu originated from within the Langya Blessed Land.
The Langya Blessed Land had a remarkably long history — over three hundred thousand years, having passed through two generations of Venerables.
The Langya Blessed Land had originally been the Langya Heavenly Abode, with an immense internal space. Later, it deliberately descended to become a Blessed Land, yet the process of merging it into the Immortal Gu Master's aperture world through the refining furnace caused the Langya Blessed Land's space to increase rather than decrease, becoming vaster than many Heavenly Abodes.
Countless Furizens lived within, forming three kingdoms. Innumerable beings reproduced and thrived there, generation after generation.
The emergence of Life Gu stemmed from life itself.
Wherever life existed, wild Life Gu could potentially be born naturally.
With vast space, enormous populations, a long history, and the Langya Earth Spirit's absolute control over the Blessed Land — the moment any Life Gu appeared, it could be immediately detected and swiftly harvested. These factors combined to cause the Langya Earth Spirit's accumulation of Life Gu to grow ever larger.
Fang Yuan didn't know the exact number, but anyone could tell with half a brain that it absolutely wasn't small!
After all, even ordinary Immortal Gu Masters used up Life Gu, but the Langya Earth Spirit didn't need to.
"Driving the Wisdom Gu requires expending the Immortal Gu Master's own lifespan, while nurturing the Wisdom Gu demands the consumption of Life Gu. For the time being, it's better to leave it to the Langya Earth Spirit to feed."
The Langya Earth Spirit's intentions — Fang Yuan didn't need to probe them. He could already make a vague guess.
There was nothing he could do about it. Fang Yuan had no Life Gu of his own and couldn't feed the Gu.
Moreover, he could barely keep himself safe. Each tribulation an Immortal Gu Master faced was more difficult than the last, each disaster stronger than the previous. Fang Yuan was worrying about the next Earth Disaster and had no bandwidth to spare for the Wisdom Gu.
Since the Wisdom Gu had been brought out, Fang Yuan hadn't fed it even once.
Then again, the Langya Earth Spirit was doing him a favor by taking care of it.
"Even in the worst case scenario, even if the Wisdom Gu defects to the Langya Earth Spirit, that's still a good outcome. I can use my current identity and leverage the Langya Earth Spirit's methods to utilize the Wisdom Gu — at most I'll pay some sect contribution points."
All Gu were tools.
Every effort was directed toward that ethereal, elusive goal.
For the sake of that goal, Fang Yuan had abandoned far, far too much. There was nothing he could not abandon.
The experiment with the Wisdom Gu ended in failure.
But Fang Yuan felt no particular disappointment. Before leaving, he asked the Langya Earth Spirit for one thing.
A single mortal Gu of the Information Path, within which was recorded the scene of his attempt to refine the Transformation Immortal Gu.
"This refinement was extremely peculiar — the tribulation's power suddenly spiked so dramatically! That it succeeded was truly a stroke of luck. Fang Yuan, if you manage to figure anything out, you absolutely must tell me," the Langya Earth Spirit urged Fang Yuan as they parted.