Rumble...
A vast, rolling army of soul beasts thundered across the Azure Ghost Desert, raising enormous plumes of dust in their wake.
Far ahead of the soul beast army, a pristine white auspicious cloud drifted through the sky.
It was none other than Fang Yuan's Immortal Killer Move, the Carefree Auspicious Cloud. Fang Yuan had come to the Azure Ghost Desert solely to search for soul cores, and this trip had no specific objective. So for the past few days, he had let the Carefree Auspicious Cloud lead the way.
The results had been quite good — it had absorbed quite a few small soul beast clans along the way.
As a result, this soul beast army had grown even larger than before, its numbers staggering.
"At this number, I've already reached the limit of my ability." Fang Yuan sat atop one of the soul beasts, his body rising and falling gently with each stride.
A twinge of regret stirred within him.
Every being had a scale of power — and a limit to it.
Fang Yuan had already reached his peak in controlling this many soul beasts — he couldn't take on any more.
On one hand, commanding these soul beasts placed a burden on his soul foundation, and ninety million human souls was the bare minimum he needed. On the other hand, Fang Yuan had far too few Dao of Soul Immortal Gu — just a Seventh Transformation Soul Swap Gu and a Sixth Transformation Purify Soul Gu.
The Soul Swap Gu was to be kept as a trump card — it was the core Immortal Gu of the Dream Soul Swap killer move and shouldn't be deployed lightly. As for the Sixth Transformation Purify Soul Gu, Fang Yuan used it for his Ten Thousand Selves killer move and his own soul cultivation — it had many uses. Using it as a substitute to barely command these soul beasts meant it was being stretched across multiple roles.
In cases like the Purify Soul Gu, the utilization rate was extremely high. Fang Yuan had raised a single Gu that performed many different tasks — far more cost-effective than maintaining the Soul Swap Gu.
However, this meant the Purify Soul Gu was sometimes stretched too thin to cover everything.
"I need more Dao of Soul Immortal Gu — Seventh Transformation ones would be best."
Refining more was out of the question.
Refining a Seventh Transformation Dao of Soul Immortal Gu was indeed a tempting idea, but Fang Yuan was running short on resources and couldn't support large-scale Gu refinement. After all, he had invested heavily recently and had already refined quite a few Immortal Gu. Returns, however, had been scarce — only the current Dragon Fish business held real promise.
"I have more Dao of Wisdom Immortal Gu — I could use those as substitutes. But each killer move would need to be modified. Once I return to the Langya Blessed Land, I'll use the Wisdom Halo to develop suitable alternatives."
Fang Yuan's expression remained calm as he plotted and planned.
The Shadow Sect Gu Immortals were stationed at the four corners of the beast herd, commanding the soul beast forces on Fang Yuan's behalf while simultaneously scouting the surroundings.
The Azure Ghost Desert held a vast number of soul beasts, and the soul cores they carried were a resource Fang Yuan desperately needed.
"I currently have ninety million human souls. This harvest of soul cores should be enough to push me to a hundred million."
"But even reaching a hundred million human souls is only halfway along the soul cultivation path described in Spectral Soul's True Inheritance — far from the peak."
A hundred million human souls was the absolute limit of the human soul. Once that point was reached, one had hit the ceiling with no room for further advancement.
But this was how things stood before the Red Lotus Demon Venerable. Once the Red Lotus Demon Venerable shattered Fate Gu, this restriction was broken.
The human soul could continue advancing, but no one could figure out how. In truth, possessing even a million human souls at that time was already considered remarkable.
It wasn't until the Spectral Soul Demon Venerable founded the Dao of Soul that this changed. As the supreme grandmaster of the Dao, he innovated and discovered the method to advance beyond a hundred million human souls.
According to Spectral Soul's True Inheritance, above a hundred million human souls lay the Desolate Soul!
A hundred million human souls transformed the soul from ethereal to substantial, allowing it to directly affect the real world, unlike the phantom body that came before. But even so, a hundred million human souls were still relatively fragile.
This was an inherent deficiency of the human form.
Humans were the spiritual essence of all creation, brimming with comprehension and insight, yet in terms of physical body and soul, they fell far short of other life forms.
However, once one broke through the hundred-million threshold and ascended to the Desolate Soul, the soul alone possessed combat power comparable to Desolate-rank soul beasts!
Following the path of the Desolate Soul and cultivating upward to the very peak — that was the Hundred-Million Desolate Souls.
This level was the apex of soul cultivation — the absolute limit that the heavens and earth could contain.
This was the same terrifying, monstrous colossus of the Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's true body that Fang Yuan had once witnessed with his own eyes. As described in Spectral Soul's True Inheritance, it was the Three Bodies, Six Harmonies, Thousand-Armed Demon Soul!
Reaching this level meant possessing quasi-Ninth Transformation combat power — the ability to directly withstand calamities, defy heaven and trample the earth, slaughter gods and annihilate demons, shaking the world to its core.
Therefore, Fang Yuan's demand for Courage Gu was enormous.
Relying solely on this harvest of soul cores from the Azure Ghost Desert could push him to a hundred million human souls, but what came after that?
For Fang Yuan to reach this pinnacle in soul cultivation, he needed a steady, unending supply of soul cores.
"The best-case scenario would be for me to take direct control of this desert and become its master."
Just as many Gu Immortals did — directly controlling a territory and ringfencing its natural resources as one's own assets. To accomplish this, one needed the military strength to back it up.
Given Fang Yuan's current combat power, he was fully qualified to claim this territory. Especially since the Azure Ghost Desert was unclaimed land.
But therein lay the problem.
"Once I reveal my identity and rule here, it would leave evidence — attracting the Heavenly Court to attack."
"The Reverse Flow Shield Seal can't be disguised, and neither can the Ten Thousand Flood Dragons killer move. Then I'll have to mask my identity and seek to claim this place with Seventh Transformation combat power."
"Once I've successfully seized this place, I could station Ying Wu Xie here and have him command the soul beast army, providing me with soul cores."
Looking at everyone around him, Ying Wu Xie was the most suitable candidate.