Having successfully struck a deal with the Lang Ya Land Spirit, Fang Yuan truly heaved a sigh of relief.
This deal had come at the most critical of times, and the profits gained would help Fang Yuan break through his current predicament.
Though Fang Yuan's past-life memories contained quite a few methods of obtaining Immortal Essence Stones, these methods all required time to plan and preparation, or carried considerable risk.
Trading with the Lang Ya Land Spirit was the only option that combined low risk with high reward.
After a moment's thought, Fang Yuan left the Cloud Path Immortal Gu, Rising Step on Blue Clouds Gu, in the Lang Ya Blessed Land as collateral for the deal.
Rising Step on Blue Clouds Gu was a movement Gu. Fang Yuan was not lacking in movement Immortal Gu — he already had Drifting Across the World. The latter was suited for Water Path Gu Immortals and was more effective when activated in river, lake, and sea environments. Rising Step on Blue Clouds Gu, on the other hand, excelled at ascending and descending. In terms of straight horizontal speed, it was a notch below Drifting Across the World.
Fang Yuan was a pragmatist. For him, Drifting Across the World Gu was undoubtedly the more practical choice.
That night in the Northern Plains, Fang Yuan returned alone to the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, while Tai Bai Yun Sheng remained behind in the Lang Ya Blessed Land.
Fang Yuan was extremely satisfied with this expedition.
Though he had consumed one drop of Green Grape Immortal Essence, in that situation, without knowing the true state of the Lang Ya Blessed Land, the priority had been to swiftly defeat the Mud Swamp Crab and seize control of the situation. Immortal Essence was indeed precious, but it had to be used when necessary. Unused Immortal Essence had no value at all!
Forget one drop of Green Grape Immortal Essence — even if it were eight or ten drops, Fang Yuan would not hesitate to use them when the time came.
He took stock of everything. This time, the expenditure was minimal, but the harvest was bountiful.
First. He had recovered Fixed Immortal Travel.
The recovery of Fixed Immortal Travel was indeed a tremendous stroke of luck. With Fixed Immortal Travel, Fang Yuan could cross between realms. His footprints would span the Five Regions. He could fully exploit his advantage of rebirth, laying out plans everywhere to extract maximum benefit.
Even in the worst-case scenario — if the Crane Sect broke through the Fox Immortal Blessed Land — Fang Yuan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng could still retreat with Soul-Swaying Mountain and Wisdom Gu.
He could advance to attack and retreat to defend.
Though Fixed Immortal Travel was merely a Sixth Transformation movement Immortal Gu, it granted Fang Yuan an enormous strategic advantage.
This was something that Rising Step on Blue Clouds Gu and Drifting Across the World Gu combined could not achieve.
Fang Yuan's burden was greatly lightened because of this.
Second, he had formed the Snow Mountain Alliance with Hei Loulan and Fairy Li Shan.
Hei Loulan possessed the Great Strength True Martial Body, one of the Ten Absolutes. Her potential was vast, and once she ascended to immortality, her combat strength would be formidable.
Fairy Li Shan was a prominent figure in the Northern Plains. On one hand, she was the third-ranking leader of the Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land. On the other hand, she was widely connected, maintaining dealings with many Righteous Path Gu Immortals of the Northern Plains. The Righteous Path had its scoundrels and oddballs, and the Demonic Path was even more varied. All conflicts originated from self-interest — the Righteous and Demonic Paths were not always at each other's throats. Between them, there were also trades and even secret collaborations.
Fairy Li Shan possessed the Mountain Alliance Immortal Gu, and this was the key reason for her widespread popularity.
When Dong Fang Chang Fan was negotiating alliance-building with the major Righteous Path forces, he needed the Mountain Alliance Gu. Gu Immortals of the Demonic Path were even more suspicious and distrustful of one another. To establish a massive organization like the Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land, the Mountain Alliance Gu was even more essential.
The unbreakable watch-and-protect alliance established through the Mountain Alliance Gu served as the primary foundation of trust among Demonic Path Gu Immortals.
By allying with the two of them, Fang Yuan would gain powerful support on one hand, and on the other, he would resolve his greatest weakness — insufficient real-time intelligence.
With Fairy Li Shan's extensive network, gathering intelligence would be far easier than for Fang Yuan alone.
Furthermore, Fang Yuan obtained detailed intelligence on four Immortal Gu.
The ones he had seized by breaking through the Formless Fist were Soul Purification, Rising Step on Blue Clouds, Woman's Heart, and Linked Fate.
Ranked from lowest to highest in value, the first was Rising Step on Blue Clouds. For Fang Yuan, this Gu had the least practical value, and using it as collateral with the Lang Ya Land Spirit was an optimal utilization.
The Poison Path Immortal Gu, Woman's Heart, was a one-time consumable Gu — refined and used together — so its practical value was somewhat higher. Generally speaking, such one-time consumable Gu possessed tremendous power, much like the Mud-Mixing Immortal Gu.
Above Woman's Heart was the Immortal Gu Soul Purification. Soul Purification could refine the soul, with effects far surpassing Fang Yuan's previous Wolf Soul Gu. Fang Yuan had the Courage Gu, making soul strengthening easy. Before entering the Down and Out Valley, Soul Purification Gu was the best substitute available.
Beyond that, Soul Purification Gu was also the core Gu of the killing move Ten Thousand Selves. This made its value even greater.
Fang Yuan compared the two. Without using the killing move Ten Thousand Selves, his combat strength was inferior to an ordinary Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal. But once he employed this move, his combat strength would surge wildly, reaching the upper echelon among Sixth Transformation Gu Immortals.
Of course, it was still a notch below the Blood Path combat strength from his five-hundred-year past life.
In his five-hundred-year past life, Fang Yuan had been a Demonic Path Colossus at the peak of the Sixth Transformation, just one step away from the Seventh. His combat strength had been terrifying, firmly occupying the upper tier of the Sixth Transformation, with two shocking records of defeating ordinary Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals in battle.
Lastly, there was the Linked Fate Gu.
This Fortune Path Immortal Gu was the most unexpected great harvest of all! Its value even surpassed Soul Purification Gu by a small margin.
This was because though Soul Purification Gu was the core of Ten Thousand Selves, it was not irreplaceable.
But the importance of Linked Fate Gu, for Fang Yuan, was unique!