PS: Here's today's update! Also, a quick plug for the Qidian 515 Fan Festival — everyone gets eight votes, and voting earns Qidian coins. On my knees begging for everyone's support and appreciation!
When he heard his "big brother" arrange for him to go to the treasury and collect an Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan smiled.
Immortal Gu were never in short supply for him. Forget Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu — he had plenty of Seventh Transformation ones too. As for Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan had a total of three: Attitude Gu, Wisdom Sword Gu, and the Flowing Years Immortal Gu. Though for now, the most useful was still Attitude Gu. Wisdom Sword Gu required Eighth Transformation Immortal Essence, and Flowing Years carried the massive drawback of attracting Primordial Year Beast attacks.
But in terms of sheer numbers, Fang Yuan possessed more Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu than Wu Yong.
He even had a Ninth Transformation Zhi Hui Gu.
Of course, strictly speaking, the Zhi Hui Gu didn't truly belong to Fang Yuan.
The Wu Family's treasury would certainly contain many exquisite or extraordinarily powerful Immortal Gu, and quite possibly, many among them would be useful to Fang Yuan.
But deep in his heart, Fang Yuan understood perfectly well what would help him most at this stage.
The Dream Realm!
As long as he went through the Dream Realm, Fang Yuan could use his Dream Decryption killer move to rapidly elevate his Path Realms.
With higher Path Realms, the Immortal Aperture Blessed Lands he could annex would increase.
Unlike now, where his limited Path Realms meant there were many Blessed Lands he simply couldn't annex.
Gu Immortals were few in number.
In any given region, there were typically only a few hundred Gu Immortals. The majority were Sixth Transformation, a smaller portion Seventh, and Eighth Transformation were always just a tiny fraction.
Among these Gu Immortals, the Blessed Lands Fang Yuan could annex were limited to only a portion of the Sixth and Seventh Transformation ones. And among those, only Blessed Lands compatible with his Path Realms could he actually absorb. Not to mention that Fang Yuan couldn't enter the Central Continent, cutting out another chunk. And in the remaining Four Regions, many Gu Immortals were off-limits — those with close ties to Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals, those in hiding that were hard to find. People like Feng Jiuge and Shi Lei.
When you did the math, the Blessed Lands available for Fang Yuan to annex really weren't that many.
The reason he'd been able to annex so many before, causing his cultivation to skyrocket, was twofold. Partly Fang Yuan's own accumulated knowledge — he'd killed numerous Gu Immortals and obtained a wealth of intelligence — and partly because his luck was simply that powerful.
Raising his various Path Realms would bring Fang Yuan obvious benefits.
His range of choices would expand enormously.
And the number of Blessed Lands he could annex would increase.
"Before, annexing Blessed Lands took me from Sixth Transformation all the way to Seventh. But after reaching Seventh, annexing more Sixth Transformation Blessed Lands to cross tribulations — the effect was rather lackluster."
"The speed of cultivation growth will inevitably slow. But once my various Path Realms increase, the speed of advancing within the Seventh Transformation tier will rise again. Recovering the speed of Sixth Transformation isn't realistic — after all, Seventh Transformation Blessed Lands are far fewer. But compared to normal cultivation, it would still be shockingly fast!"
Of course, Fang Yuan couldn't yet estimate the exact speed.
That depended on the specifics.
If his luck was good enough, he might annex a large number of Seventh Transformation Blessed Lands at once. If the quantity was sufficient, jumping straight to Eighth Transformation wasn't out of the question.
That was the power of the Supreme Immortal Aperture.
Demon Venerable Spectral Soul had spent nearly a hundred thousand years, willing to sacrifice the Shadow Sect, the Zombie Alliance, and more, all to forge this Immortal Gu. There was a reason for that.
For an ordinary Gu Immortal, this path of cultivation simply wouldn't work.
"However... the total number of Seventh Transformation Blessed Lands across all Five Regions isn't that large. Jumping straight to Eighth Transformation? Let's not kid ourselves."
Fang Yuan considered this. An immediate leap to Eighth Transformation was far too unlikely.
He was quite clear-headed about it.
Fang Yuan wasn't excessively greedy. He knew what was primary and what was secondary.
So, facing Wu Yong, he answered: "There's no need to go to the treasury. I already have my targets."
"Oh?" Wu Yong was somewhat surprised.
Then, Fang Yuan named two Immortal Gu — one at Sixth Transformation, one at Seventh.
Wu Yong grew even more surprised. He studied Fang Yuan deeply, beginning to grasp his intentions. But he still played dumb: "Those two Immortal Gu are already part of the Super Gu Formation — integrated into it, maintaining that massive dream realm. Are you sure you want these two?"
Fang Yuan nodded without the slightest hesitation, showing his decision had been carefully thought through.
To construct the Super Gu Formation and protect the dream realm, the major Righteous Path forces of the Southern Border had all contributed their manpower and resources. The Wu Family alone had contributed six Immortal Gu — there was no need to conceal this intelligence.
Fang Yuan had already obtained this information from the Qiao Family's Gu Immortals.
As for the two Immortal Gu he had chosen, among all those contributed, they were the most critical for the Super Gu Formation's operation.
One could say that if Fang Yuan became the master of these two Immortal Gu, he would hold the greatest authority within the Super Gu Formation.
With an earnest expression, Fang Yuan continued: "Brother, you grew up in the family since you were young, backed by the Southern Border's strongest superpower. But I didn't. I grew up in the Eastern Sea, alone and without support all my life. I'm a lone cultivator. You've never been one, so you can never truly understand the suffering of a lone cultivator."
"So this time, when I decided to come to the Southern Border and join the Wu family, I never intended to return to the Eastern Sea."
"I admit I have my ambitions — but which Gu Immortal doesn't?"
"Brother, let me be straightforward with you. You're an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal, you possess Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu, and you're the Wu family's Supreme Grand Elder, living freely within the clan. And me? I came from the Eastern Sea with only Seventh Transformation cultivation and a few transformation methods. How could I possibly compete with you? I've never even wanted to oppose you."
"I only want to take my cultivation to the next level. The Qiao family and I reached an alliance — they support me in the competition. I was forced into it. Without the Qiao family's help, I wouldn't even have been able to attend Mother's funeral."