Fang Yuan shook his head and let out a sigh.
The cost of feeding the Zhi Hui Gu was simply too great. Only the Langya Land Spirit was willing to pay such a price.
Fang Yuan had used the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu to gain a new body. His current age was that of a sixteen-year-old. The average lifespan of humans in this world was one hundred years. One hundred minus sixteen — Fang Yuan still had roughly eighty-four years of lifespan remaining, which was considered quite generous.
But even so, Fang Yuan reflected, if he were to obtain Lifespan Gu, he would use virtually all of them on himself. Even if he didn't use them now, he would hoard them for when the need arose.
Lifespan Gu were merely mortal Gu.
However, in transactions between Immortal Gu Masters, Lifespan Gu were the most powerful hard currency there was, with almost nothing that could rival them.
Immortal Gu Masters faced two greatest obstacles in their cultivation: one was tribulation, and the other was lifespan.
Even as powerful as Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables, both were constrained by these two obstacles.
In truth, when Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had constructed the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building back then, one of his most important objectives had been to scour the entire Northern Plains for Lifespan Gu to extend his life. The matter of feeding the Zhi Hui Gu had been placed secondary. In Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's later years, for a long period of time, the Zhi Hui Gu had been left in a state of starvation, forced into deep slumber and unusable.
Later, when Spectral Soul Demon Venerable explored the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, he too had discovered the Zhi Hui Gu inside. Unfortunately, he could not use it, nor could he afford to feed it. Lifespan Gu were hard to come by, and he himself did not have enough to spare. However, at his level in the Soul Path, he had long since achieved cross-disciplinary insight, and his demand for the Zhi Hui Gu was not particularly great.
After Spectral Soul Demon Venerable perished, his great era slowly drew to a close. From prosperity came decline. Gradually, Lifespan Gu began to reappear in the world. Then, from extreme decline came resurgence, and another earth-shattering figure emerged — that was Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable.
For the sake of extending his life, he too had searched for Lifespan Gu in his later years. The supply of Lifespan Gu fell short of demand, and they grew increasingly scarce, until they eventually vanished entirely.
After Paradise Earth's death, the world entered a cycle of recovery and rest, and Lifespan Gu gradually reemerged. The Eighty-Eight True Yang Building opened once every ten years, hosting the King's Court Contest. It scoured the Northern Plains of Lifespan Gu, gradually feeding the Zhi Hui Gu back to a functional state — until Fang Yuan destroyed the King's Court Blessed Land.
Then, driven by the instinct to survive, the Zhi Hui Gu and Fang Yuan had made their way to the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land. After a series of events, they ended up in the current Langya Blessed Land.
"During the Three Kings Blessed Land, I used two Lifespan Gu in succession, attempting to refine the Second Empty Orifice Gu. But there had been no other choice. In my previous life, I had obtained one Lifespan Gu from the Burning Sky Demoness. After my rebirth, however, that opportunity no longer existed, and I had not a single Lifespan Gu in hand. Since the Burning Sky Demoness could give me one Lifespan Gu, her reserves must surely have contained more than one. That she ultimately perished in the Ten Extremities Formation was truly a pity — the Lifespan Gu she held were destroyed along with her... Hmm? Wait, that's not right."
Fang Yuan's thoughts had been drifting, but suddenly he caught himself.
"Lifespan Gu are hard to find — even Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables coveted them and had need of them. The Burning Sky Demoness had been schemed against by Demon Venerable Spectral Soul and perished because of it. All of her accumulated wealth should have been seized in advance by Demon Venerable Spectral Soul! Although Demon Venerable Spectral Soul's grand plan had ultimately failed, the remnants of the Shadow Sect and the Zombie Alliance, along with their remaining wealth, were still astonishingly vast!"
As for the Langya Land Spirit, they too had accumulated a stockpile of Lifespan Gu, and the quantity was quite considerable.
Nearly all of these Lifespan Gu had originated from the Langya Blessed Land.
The Langya Blessed Land had an extremely long history, spanning over three hundred thousand years and having passed through two Venerables.
The Langya Blessed Land had originally been the Langya Cave Heaven, with an internal space of vast proportions. Later, it had deliberately been downgraded to a Blessed Land, but the use of a refining furnace to merge it with the Immortal Aperture world had caused the Langya Blessed Land's space not to shrink but to expand, becoming even more spacious than many Cave Heavens.
Countless fur hairmen lived within, forming three kingdoms. Innumerable beings reproduced and thrived there, generation after generation.
The production of Lifespan Gu stemmed from life itself.
Wherever there was life, wild Lifespan Gu could potentially be born naturally.
With vast space, an enormous population, a long history, and the Langya Land Spirit's complete control over the Blessed Land, the moment any Lifespan Gu came into being, it could be immediately detected and swiftly harvested. The combination of these factors had caused the Langya Land Spirit's stockpile of Lifespan Gu to grow ever larger.
Though Fang Yuan did not know the exact number, even a fool could tell that it was absolutely not a small amount!
After all, ordinary Immortal Gu Masters still needed Lifespan Gu. The Langya Land Spirit did not.
"Commanding the Zhi Hui Gu requires expending the Immortal Gu Master's own lifespan, while feeding it consumes Lifespan Gu. For the time being, it is better to leave it to the Langya Land Spirit."
The Langya Land Spirit's intentions — Fang Yuan did not need to probe to vaguely guess them.
This was simply unavoidable. Fang Yuan had no Lifespan Gu of his own and could not feed the Zhi Hui Gu.
Moreover, he could barely even protect himself. Each tribulation an Immortal Gu Master faced was more difficult than the last, each calamity more powerful than the one before. Fang Yuan was already worrying about the next Earth Calamity and had no attention to spare for the Zhi Hui Gu.
Since the Zhi Hui Gu had been brought out, Fang Yuan had not fed it a single time.
But then again, the Langya Land Spirit was essentially doing him this favor.
"Even in the worst case scenario, even if the Zhi Hui Gu defected to the Langya Land Spirit, it would still be a good thing. I could use my current identity and leverage the Langya Land Spirit's methods to employ the Zhi Hui Gu, paying at most some sect contributions."
All Gu Insects were tools.
All effort was directed toward that ethereal, intangible goal.
For the sake of that goal, Fang Yuan had abandoned far too much, and there was nothing he could not abandon.
The experiment with the Zhi Hui Gu had ended in failure.
But Fang Yuan felt no sense of disappointment. Before leaving, he had requested one thing from the Langya Land Spirit.
A single Information Path mortal Gu, inside which was recorded the scene of him refining the Transformation Immortal Gu.
"This Gu refinement was extremely strange — the tribulation's power suddenly grew that strong! The fact that it succeeded was truly a stroke of fortune. Fang Yuan, if you manage to figure anything out, you absolutely must tell me," the Langya Land Spirit admonished as they parted ways.