"This is the Snow Lotus Essence?" Fang Yuan gazed at the immortal material in his hand, clicking his tongue in admiration, his eyes brimming with appreciation.
The Snow Lotus Essence was exquisite. It was only about the size of an adult's fist, with pink petals and a deep crimson stamen. The entire surface of the flower was covered in a layer of ice roughly as thick as a fingernail.
This ice layer was extraordinarily pure, transparent and flawless, radiating waves of cold. This chill was not the bone-piercing cruelty of an icy wind, but rather the briskness of a spring breeze — cold, yes, but brimming with vibrant vitality.
This was a Seventh Transformation immortal material, and it was Fang Yuan's first time encountering one firsthand. It was exceedingly rare — even in the Treasure Yellow Heaven, it was a scarce commodity.
The reason was that this immortal material was only produced in abundance among the massive Snowman tribes. And in the current Five Regions, humanity stood supreme, their dominance unshakable, with every other species forced to the margins to eke out a meager existence.
The reason Fang Yuan could obtain this immortal material so easily was thanks to the fortune brought by the alliance of non-human races.
Not only had Fang Yuan obtained the Snow Lotus Essence, but the quantity was substantial.
"Who would have thought the Snowman tribes had stockpiled such a large amount of Snow Lotus Essence — the quantity truly surprised me," Mao Liu remarked from the side, sighing with emotion.
"The Snow Lotus Essence is rare even in the Treasure Yellow Heaven. If it were sold, it would spark a frenzy of buying. Unfortunately, this world operates by the rule of the fist. The Snowman tribe fears exposure, so they only very cautiously sell small quantities of the Snow Lotus Essence and similar immortal materials every now and then," Fang Yuan said, his gaze piercing through the ways of the world.
"That's exactly right," Mao Liu nodded. "Actually, our Langya Sect also has this sort of resource — things uncommon in the human Gu Immortal world. But we can't just sell them freely. We fear revealing our origins and leaking clues that might attract an attack from human Gu Immortal forces."
A sharp glint flashed through Fang Yuan's eyes.
He saw a business opportunity.
Perhaps in the future, he could serve as a middleman. After all, his identity was that of a human.
These profits were something he greatly needed.
After all, recently, Gu refinement had been extremely frequent, and Fang Yuan had paid a heavy price for it. Although most of the costs had been offset using the contents of various inheritances, going forward, whether it was himself or the other Shadow Sect Gu Immortals, they all needed to cultivate, and their immortal apertures needed to continue developing and growing.
Fang Yuan looked at Mao Liu and gave a slight shake of his head.
He naturally understood that Mao Liu's words carried deeper meaning. By bringing up this matter himself, Mao Liu was not only reminding Fang Yuan but also, in a subtle way, offering his services. If Fang Yuan wished to pursue this avenue in the future, Mao Liu would act as an intermediary, helping Fang Yuan secure these benefits.
But right now, that was not the priority.
"Right now, I want to refine the Purify Soul Immortal Gu as quickly as possible. Since we've obtained the Snow Lotus Essence, let's begin improving the immortal Gu recipe. You and I will each work on improving it separately, then combine our findings, learn from each other's strengths and compensate for weaknesses, and arrive at the optimal Gu recipe," Fang Yuan instructed Mao Liu.
Mao Liu did not forget to put on an act to deceive the Langya Earth Spirit: "Then how many sect contributions can you offer me?"
After a round of haggling, Mao Liu received a satisfactory price, and Fang Yuan left the Gu refinement hall, returning to his own Cloud City.
He had personally verified the Snow Lotus Essence, and just as Mao Liu had recommended, it was indeed an excellent immortal material.
Its nature was cool and stable, yet it carried a hint of warm vitality. Using it to replace the Flowing Fire Rock Core from the original immortal Gu recipe was ideal.
The main reason was that Fang Yuan employed the ice-refinement method. The Snow Lotus Essence naturally suited the ice-refinement approach far better than the Flowing Fire Rock Core.
A single immortal Gu could have many different immortal Gu recipes. To achieve the same goal, there was more than one path.
And when an immortal Gu recipe was placed in the hands of a Gu Immortal with profound attainment in the Dao of Refinement, they would first determine which refinement method best suited the recipe itself, increasing the chances of success.
During the subsequent refinement process, the Gu Immortal might also discover that certain steps in the recipe did not suit them, or that some immortal materials could be replaced with superior alternatives.
Doing this could further improve the success rate of Gu refinement.
What Fang Yuan and Mao Liu needed to do now was precisely this step.
However, the main work of improving the immortal Gu recipe would be left to Mao Liu. After all, Mao Liu's attainment in the Dao of Refinement was far deeper than Fang Yuan's.
Where Fang Yuan excelled was in his Wisdom Dao realm and his Wisdom Dao methods.
The only pity was that neither Fang Yuan nor Mao Liu possessed anything more than ordinary attainment in the Soul Dao.
In the days that followed, Fang Yuan simultaneously worked on improving the Purify Soul Immortal Gu recipe and cultivated his abilities.
Soul Shake Mountain, Soul Scatter Valley.
These two great Secret Realms of Heaven and Earth were once again put to use by him, serving as the grounds for his Soul Dao cultivation.
His progress was truly remarkable — advancing a thousand miles in a single day, leaving even Fang Yuan feeling it was somewhat incredible.
"As expected of the holy land of the Soul Dao. But more importantly, it's these cultivation methods and techniques. This is the content of the Phantom Soul True Inheritance!" Fang Yuan marveled endlessly.