Northern Plains, Black Mortal Cave Heaven.
Chu Du hovered in mid-air, Immortal Gu auras radiating from his body as his Immortal Essence rapidly depleted.
"Open!"
Suddenly, his voice boomed like spring thunder, his eyes blazing with sharp light, his mighty frame shuddering violently.
The ground several zhang below his feet split open under his Immortal Path Killer Move.
Then, the crack rapidly expanded, stretching forward and backward — ten zhang, a hundred zhang, a thousand zhang!
After several dozen breaths, this section of ground in the Black Mortal Cave Heaven stopped trembling. A massive trench stretching several thousand zhang had formed across the earth.
Chu Du had carved out an artificial trench single-handedly — truly worthy of being a powerhouse standing tall among the Gu Immortals of the Northern Plains!
He panted heavily several times, studying the trench below with a slight frown.
"It's still somewhat lacking. Though it's long enough, it isn't deep enough. Earth Path Gu Immortals would be the most suited for this."
Each Path had its own areas of expertise.
Earth Path Gu Immortals excelled particularly at transforming and cultivating the land.
Chu Du, on the other hand, was known to all as a Strength Path Gu Immortal.
"There's another method — purchasing a large number of Stone People slaves to reshape the area. But... never mind. This trench will serve for the time being."
With that thought, Chu Du took a massive object out of his Immortal Orifice.
The thing was as large as a small hill — a meatball of intermingled black and red, warm to the touch, round and plump, quivering slightly.
Chu Du activated a great Strength hand, gripped the massive object, and carefully placed it into the newly carved trench.
The moment the massive object landed in the trench and touched the soil, it immediately spread out, becoming very flat and covering an area of several li in every direction.
Moreover, its color began to change.
At first, it was only black and red. Once spread out, it absorbed the earth energy, and its overall color kept shifting — blue here, green there. This part was as verdant as jade, that part as crimson as fire.
From his vantage point above, Chu Du gazed down and saw the trench covered in what looked like a spectacular carpet of ever-changing colors.
This was the Variegated Gall!
A Seventh Transformation immortal material, sourced from the deepest depths of the earth.
Chu Du repeated the process, taking out several dozen more Variegated Galls from his Immortal Orifice and placing them one by one.
The originally empty trench was now completely filled, with no room for even one more Variegated Gall.
After a careful inspection, Chu Du let out a turbid breath and slowly ascended high into the sky.
He gazed into the distance, and the landscape of the Black Mortal Cave Heaven filled his vision.
When he had taken the Black Mortal Cave Heaven from Fang Yuan, it had been desolate — ravaged by Fang Yuan until it was unrecognizable. But now, there were mountains and water. Resources were distributed evenly and rationally.
Undoubtedly, all of these resources had been transplanted from Chu Du's own Immortal Orifice.
Though he was merely a lone Immortal, his resource reserves were astonishingly rich and deep.
"Phase one of the construction is now complete. Given time, the Black Mortal Cave Heaven's output will far surpass that of my own Immortal Orifice."
"Let me calculate the days — it should be nearly time for Liu Guanyi's tribulation. Hmm?!"
Suddenly, Chu Du's expression turned sharp. His piercing gaze cut through a thousand li to behold a distorted figure struggling to squeeze its way into the Black Mortal Cave Heaven.
"Who goes there?! How dare you invade my Cave Heaven!" Chu Du bellowed, his body surging forward like the wind.
The figure struggled its way into the Cave Heaven and offered Chu Du a slight smile. "Tyrant Immortal. You juniors truly do have impressive talent. In such a short time, you've actually seized this place."
The newcomer spoke with an enormous air of authority. Facing the mighty Northern Plains powerhouse Chu Du, he still presumed to call himself a senior.
But Chu Du did not argue. Instead, his expression grew very grave as he said: "It's you, Bai Zu Tian Jun."
The Gu Immortal who had entered the Black Mortal Cave Heaven was none other than one of the eight Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals of the Northern Plains — Bai Zu Tian Jun!
Bai Zu Tian Jun had originally been a lone cultivator, but in recent years, after Fang Yuan's destruction of the Royal Court Blessed Land and the Eighty-Eight Angle True Yang Tower, he had seen hope of establishing a super faction.
He had long harbored ambitions. Countless bloodline descendants lived within his own Bai Zu Cave Heaven, and he had even nurtured several Gu Immortals among them.
At first, Bai Zu Tian Jun had allied with Medicine Emperor against Old Ancestor Snowbeard. Though both were defeated, he gained Medicine Emperor's support.
Afterward, when the Hei Family perished, Bai Zu Tian Jun seized the opportunity to claim the Hei Family's Iron Eagle Blessed Land and absorb their remaining forces.
Now, the Bai Zu Family had formally replaced the Hei Family, becoming one of the recognized Righteous Path super factions in the Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world.
However, the Northern Plains differed from the other four regions. The vast majority of super factions there possessed Golden Bloodline heritage. As outsiders, the Bai Zu Family was a rare exception. Though Bai Zu Tian Jun recognized this and proactively built friendly relations with neighboring super factions like the Liu Family, while deliberately surrendering most of the Hei Family's accumulated wealth to satisfy the appetites of the Righteous Path, lone cultivators, and demonic cultivators alike —
After formally establishing the Bai Zu Family, he still found surrounding factions watching him like prey. Deterred by his Eighth Transformation cultivation, these super factions did not openly cause trouble, but their underhanded schemes came one after another.
To protect his hard-won gains, Bai Zu Tian Jun had no choice but to personally oversee matters. This, in turn, delayed many of his plans.