The small hut seemed to churn with surging waves.
Dark red light cast shadows that rose and fell like successive tides, radiating outward from Fang Yuan at their center.
Fang Yuan was refining a Gu.
His ten fingers were spread open, both palms cradling a dark sphere.
The sphere was the size of a washbasin, its surface flowing with a slow, viscous current. It was the essence Fang Yuan had extracted from the black oil.
The refinement had reached its middle-to-late stage—the most critical moment.
With a thought, Fang Yuan opened a sliver of his Immortal Orifice and withdrew a brilliant golden scale.
The scale shot into the black oil sphere, and a soft explosion sounded. In Fang Yuan's vision, the black oil sphere膨胀ed violently at the instant of detonation. At the same time, golden light shimmered within the dark sphere before rapidly condensing into a single golden point.
Fang Yuan's ten fingers trembled slightly. The black oil sphere gradually rose into the air and began spinning rapidly on its axis.
As it spun, the golden light swayed and flickered.
A foul, acrid stench began spreading swiftly—impurities that Fang Yuan was ejecting from the mixture.
Just as the stench was about to seep beyond the hut, the light of an Immortal Formation flickered into existence. Shaped like a pot lid, it formed a translucent blue barrier that locked the odor tightly inside, not allowing a trace to escape.
This stench itself was an immortal material, containing Food Path Dao Marks, and was far more dangerous than the black oil alone. Any mortal Gu Master who came into contact with it would surely perish.
This refinement of Fang Yuan's had already entered the realm of Gu Immortal work, as two types of immortal materials were involved. One was the black oil; the other was the golden fish scale he had just added, plucked from the body of a Golden Dragon Fish—a desolate beast.
Through a series of calculations, Fang Yuan had determined that the Golden Dragon Fish and the black oil shared an exceptionally high degree of compatibility.
A single Golden Dragon Fish scale would not do. One after another, Fang Yuan continued feeding in more golden scales.
The black oil sphere gradually shifted to a black-and-gold hue, and the embryonic forms of many Gu began emerging within the sphere.
What Fang Yuan was refining was the Oil Harvesting Gu.
Specifically crafted for the Gu Masters of the small fishing village. The entire Gu recipe was an innovation of his own design, though he had drawn upon relevant content from the Shadow Sect's True Inheritance and the Langya True Inheritance for reference.
Fang Yuan genuinely wanted to help these oil-harvesting Gu Masters of the small fishing village.
Why?
It all came back to the tasks on the Merit Stele.
What was merit?
This was a question Fang Yuan had been mulling over from the very beginning.
Were the tasks on the Merit Stele really so simple on the surface? The more Fang Yuan pondered, the more he sensed that Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's deeper intentions were hidden within them.
So, helping these small fishing village Gu Masters served a dual purpose—on one hand, it was completing the task; on the other, and more importantly, it was a way to verify certain conjectures forming in Fang Yuan's mind.
Fang Yuan committed evil deeds without any psychological burden. By the same token, doing good left his heart calm and undisturbed.
In truth, for him, there was no such thing as good or evil, no right or wrong—he had long since seen past such notions. Affairs of the world were simply divided into what was beneficial to him and what was not.
Now, with the Paradise Earth True Inheritance laid before him, Fang Yuan was happy to perform good deeds, so as to help himself reap greater benefits.
Xia Lin slowly opened her eyelids. She was awake.
"I... didn't die?" She drifted in a daze for a while before it dawned on her. Her expression was blank, but her eyes gradually lit up.
"You merfolk are tough. If we'd been any later finding you, you'd truly be dead—completely corroded, turned into new black oil." The middle-aged Gu Master noticed the mermaid's awakening and stepped into the room.
"My name is Xia Lin. Did you save me?" The mermaid girl struggled to sit up.
"It wasn't me. It was Master Chu. You really ought to thank him. Your injuries were healed by his hand as well," the middle-aged Gu Master said with a smile.
Prompted by his words, the mermaid girl immediately inspected her own body. The next moment, she was overcome with astonishment and delight.
"Impossible!"
"I was ravaged by black oil corrosion, so grievously wounded that even the most skilled healing Gu Masters in my clan were powerless. And now I've fully recovered."
The middle-aged Gu Master smiled proudly. "Of course! Just think about who saved you—none other than Master Chu!"
As he spoke, the scene of Fang Yuan stepping in to save the day replayed in his mind. The Gu Masters of the small fishing village had been stunned senseless on the spot, unable to regain their composure for a long time.
"Master Chu saved my life and healed my wounds. How could I not repay such a debt of gratitude?" The mermaid girl pressed her lips together, her gaze turning resolute. "Please, sir, arrange an audience. Even if it costs me my life, I must repay even a fraction of this kindness."
"Very well. Come with me." The middle-aged Gu Master thought for a moment, then opened the door and stepped outside.