Fang Yuan calculated the time.
It was still quite ample!
Even though he had already killed both Meng Tu and Shui Gu, made a trip to the River of Time to obtain Hong Lian's true inheritance, and traveled all the way to the Southern Border to retrieve that planned wild Immortal Gu—
Having accomplished all of this, there were still several days to spare before Zhang Ji would begin selling Floating Life Fire, as he had in his previous life.
"The main reason is that in my previous life, I spent several months calculating Killing Moves like the Yan Emperor and Yanluo Zi."
"But this time, after my rebirth, I set off immediately, saving a great deal of time and energy."
Over the next few days, Fang Yuan naturally did not remain idle.
Using his Future Body, he continuously teleported out from the Langya Blessed Land, his footprints spanning across the Five Regions, with the Southern Border receiving the most visits.
The places Fang Yuan specifically targeted were all locations where ground trenches were forming.
In his previous life, as the Five Regions fell into turmoil and the earth veins merged, ground trenches had begun appearing one after another across various locations, growing increasingly violent. It was not until the final battle, when Fang Yuan fell at Dragon Lord's hand, that the barriers between the Five Regions completely dissolved, the earth veins unified, and the formation of ground trenches abruptly ceased.
After several days, Fang Yuan's harvest was exceedingly rich!
Immortal materials were piled into small mountains, and on top of that, he had collected three wild Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu.
Fang Yuan's luck was still considerably worse than in his previous life, but acquiring these resources was by no means difficult.
Because he knew exactly where to look!
The formation of ground trenches was driven by the will of Heaven — no Gu Immortal could fully fathom it. Each ground trench that formed stretched for tens of thousands of li, even hundreds of thousands of li, and was extraordinarily deep. Thoroughly exploring them was no easy task.
Even superpowers would find it extremely difficult to explore the ground trenches in a short time and harvest the most valuable resources!
But Fang Yuan had a clear target — he had long known where the rewards lay and headed straight for them.
This was all thanks to the intelligence he had deliberately collected in his previous life.
The formation of ground trenches followed no pattern whatsoever. For the vast majority of Gu Immortals, such intelligence was worthless. But for Fang Yuan, who possessed the Spring Autumn Cicada, it made all the difference.
"In my previous life, I never ventured into the ground trenches. Relying on my personal ability alone, competing against the superpowers would have been far too difficult."
"The most critical factor was the immense pressure from Heavenly Court, which forced me to face it head-on and rack my brains plotting for Hong Lian's true inheritance! I simply had no time or energy to spare for the ground trenches."
"But looking at it now, the gifts of the ground trenches truly are abundant. Quite tempting."
"This is only the beginning. Over the next few years, the formation of ground trenches and the upheaval of earth veins will only grow more violent, and even more resources will emerge."
"The surge in resources will inevitably drive a massive boost in Gu Immortals' strength, and greater power will only fuel greater ambition! In my previous life, when the Gu Immortals of the Four Regions jointly attacked Heavenly Court in the Central Continent, the resources from these ground trenches played a crucial role behind the scenes. Five hundred years ago, the all-out war across the Five Regions and the ensuing chaos — the ground-trench resources and the realm breakthroughs from dreams were the primary causes."
During his spare moments, Fang Yuan would analyze the overall situation, assess his own position, and constantly refine his grand plan of rebirth.
This rebirth was quite different from his previous ones.
The most significant difference was that his current strength and influence were of pivotal importance, far surpassing those of any prior rebirth.
Such strength and influence meant that upon his return, the ripple effect was far greater.
Fang Yuan carried out his grand plan with strict precision on one hand, while remaining fully vigilant against potential problems on the other.
Just as Fang Yuan had predicted, problems did arise!
And they struck at his very vitals.
Several days later, Fang Yuan observed the Treasure Yellow Heaven but could not find a trace of Zhang Ji.
According to the timeline from his previous life, Zhang Ji should have already begun selling Floating Life Fire!
Fang Yuan promptly launched an investigation. Fortunately, intelligence regarding Zhang Ji was not difficult to obtain.
"Zhang Ji, a Gu Immortal of the Black Heaven Temple, was defeated in a competition by Old Lord Canyang of the Immortal Crane Sect. As a result, when the two Gu Immortals later encountered Floating Life Fire during their expedition, it all ended up in Old Lord Canyang's hands."
The Immortal Crane Sect and the Black Heaven Temple were both among the Ten Great Ancient Sects of the Central Continent.
In terms of sect power, the Immortal Crane Sect was weaker than the Black Heaven Temple, but in terms of individual Gu Immortal combat strength, Old Lord Canyang was naturally superior to Zhang Ji.
Zhang Ji of the Black Heaven Temple, though a Seventh Transformation cultivator, was thoroughly ordinary. Old Lord Canyang, on the other hand, had long been famous — his signature Killing Move, Life-Chasing Fire, gave countless Gu Immortals headaches. A few years ago, he had even entered the Northern Plains together with Feng Jiuge to investigate the truth behind the collapse of the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
The news of Zhang Ji's defeat at Old Lord Canyang's hands spread quickly.
Fang Yuan didn't need to guess — he could figure it out with his eyes closed: the Immortal Crane Sect was clearly pulling strings behind the scenes.
The Immortal Crane Sect was weaker than the Black Heaven Temple, so naturally they had to seize every opportunity. Now they were leveraging this victory to bolster their sect's prestige.
Fang Yuan was not surprised by Old Lord Canyang's victory. What interested him was why Old Lord Canyang had appeared here in the first place.
In his previous life, there had been no trace of Old Lord Canyang whatsoever. Zhang Ji had peacefully and smoothly harvested the Floating Life Fire.
"This doesn't bode well."
"Unlike Zhang Ji, Old Lord Canyang is a Fire Dao Gu Immortal — Floating Life Fire would actually be useful to him."
"Even if it were useless, Old Lord Canyang could simply hand it over to the Immortal Crane Sect. Unlike Zhang Ji, he was stronger and held a far higher standing within the sect. Handing over the Floating Life Fire would certainly earn him generous rewards, and his personal gains would be far from negligible."