Three days later, Fang Yuan slowly came to.
His mind was at peace, free of the fatigue and restlessness from before.
"It seems the zombie body has at least one drawback compared to a living body — my soul grows weary and weakened more easily, and I become irritable," Fang Yuan discovered yet another flaw of his zombie form.
A weakened soul could be strengthened with Courage Gu. That was an easy fix. Courage Gu grew in abundance on Soul-Stirring Mountain — it was the premier method for strengthening the soul.
But an irritable, restless soul required soothing. The best method for soothing the soul was to immerse oneself in the waters of Lost Soul Lake within the realm of death. This water was recorded in "The Legend of Human Ancestor," and was praised by Tai Ri Yang Mang as: "the finest of fine wines."
Fang Yuan had no Lost Soul Lake water, and even if he did, he wouldn't dare drink it carelessly. He used his old method, one with clear and immediate effects — sleep.
"If I had a normal human body, I would only need a brief nap to soothe the soul's restlessness. But after becoming a zombie, I need to sleep for three consecutive days. The Soul Path is divided into three aspects: soul strengthening, soul refinement, and soul soothing. But most Soul Path Gu Masters focus on the first two. Thinking about it now, it seems sleep itself has excellent soul-soothing effects. There's no need to invest too heavily in that area."
After this experience of sealing the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fang Yuan's understanding of the Soul Path deepened yet another level. Next, he tallied up his accounts for the past months.
He had traded with the Lang Ya Earth Spirit twice, earning a total of sixty Immortal Essence Stones. But he had also spent a considerable amount.
In the Treasured Yellow Heaven, he had purchased over a thousand Star Firefly Gu, bought the killer moves Spring Star Rain, Cold Veil, and Six-Nine Star Dust, acquired a large quantity of Gu refinement materials and ordinary Gu, and purchased a group of old hairy people. After that, to seal the Spring Autumn Cicada, he bought Little Marsh Gu and Pine Island Gu. In total, he spent twenty Immortal Essence Stones.
Now Fang Yuan still had thirty and a half Immortal Essence Stones remaining in his possession.
But don't let the large number of Immortal Essence Stones fool you — Fang Yuan had also paid a steep cost with his own Green Grape Immortal Essence.
The task of computing Immortal Gu recipes was something only he could do personally. After his first trade with the Lang Ya Earth Spirit, he was left with only nine Green Grapes of Immortal Essence. The second round of computing consumed six Green Grapes, and optimizing the Spring Autumn Cicada's sealing plan cost another one, leaving him with only two Green Grapes of Immortal Essence.
Optimizing the Spring Autumn Cicada's plan had been necessary. The previously estimated cost was twenty-three Immortal Essence Stones. After optimization, it dropped to twenty. All in all, he saved two Immortal Essence Stones.
With only two Green Grapes of Immortal Essence remaining, that was very dangerous. If something unexpected happened, Fang Yuan could only activate the killer move Wan Wo twice, making it difficult to cope with drastic shifts in the situation — especially with the Immortal Crane Sect's attacks drawing ever closer. So Fang Yuan spent fifteen Immortal Essence Stones to convert into his own Green Grape Immortal Essence.
This brought his Green Grapes up to seventeen, while his Immortal Essence Stones dropped to around fifteen and a half.
Now the crisis of the Spring Autumn Cicada bursting through his Empty Orifice had been temporarily resolved. The predicament had also opened up thanks to the alliance with Hei Lou Lan. The trades with the Lang Ya Earth Spirit had earned him a great number of Immortal Essence Stones, providing Fang Yuan with the power to solve his problems.
The originally dire situation had eased somewhat. It was like dark skies blanketed in layer upon layer of clouds, but through Fang Yuan's relentless efforts, the clouds gradually parted to reveal rays of bright, warm sunlight.
Now what lay before him was another difficult problem, and one that had to be solved as soon as possible.
That was the feeding of Immortal Gu.
Feeding ordinary Gu was not something Fang Yuan worried about. But feeding Immortal Gu was an increasingly serious problem.
To sum up, the number of Immortal Gu in Fang Yuan's possession was considerable: Spring Autumn Cicada, Ding Xian You Gu, Calamity Attracting Gu, Joy of Mountains and Rivers Gu, Roaming the World Gu, Cloud Ascension Gu, Soul Purifying Gu, Linked Fate Gu, and Woman's Heart Gu.
An ordinary Gu Immortal often didn't even possess a single Immortal Gu. Fang Yuan had a full nine.
This was an immense blessing, but also an immense burden.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was fine — it fed on the waters of the River of Time, which could practically be considered as not needing to be fed at all.
Ding Xian You Gu — Fang Yuan had once fed it a Green Grape of Immortal Essence during his time in the Central Continent over a year ago, which could sustain it for six years. But a year passing in the Central Continent did not mean Ding Xian You Gu had also aged only one year. The time in the Royal Court Blessed Land, the time in his own Immortal Aperture, and the time in the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land all flowed many times faster than Central Continent time.
Moreover, the figure of six years was merely theoretical. The more often Fang Yuan activated Ding Xian You Gu, the more that timeframe would shrink.
Ding Xian You Gu could still last for a while, but the time for its next feeding was drawing near.
The remaining Immortal Gu were all troublesome.
Over these days, Fang Yuan had gathered the key information.
The Calamity Attracting Immortal Gu's feed was the black blood of the Desolate Beast Six-Headed Giant Serpent.
The Joy of Mountains and Rivers Immortal Gu needed to absorb large quantities of mountain energy and water energy, as well as many Laugh Stones.
The Roaming the World Gu required tens of thousands of Netherworld Jellyfish and several thousand Deep Sea Lightning Eels.
The Cloud Ascension Gu demanded the scales of the Desolate Beast Cloud Dragon, as well as the eyes of tens of thousands of Wind Sickle Birds.
The Soul Purifying Immortal Gu's feeding required the flesh and blood of over ten thousand White Lotus Giant Silkworm Gu.
The Linked Fate Immortal Gu needed ten thousand catties of sand from the habitat of the Ancient Desolate Beast Heaven and Earth Sand Gull.
As for the Poison Path Immortal Gu Woman's Heart, the Lang Ya Earth Spirit had also said it needed to be fed with women's hearts. This Gu combined refinement and feeding into one — the more women's hearts it was fed, the more powerful it became.