Fang Yuan crushed a gallstone in one hand, and a glob of slurry immediately oozed out, coating his palm.
With a deeply solemn expression, he picked up a loose pebble from the mountain and gripped it tightly.
The yellow slurry coating his hand slowly dissolved the pebble, transforming the solid stone into more slurry.
After a brief moment, Fang Yuan could clearly feel the pebble in his palm shrinking.
About the time it took to drink a cup of tea, the pebble had completely dissolved into slurry and vanished without a trace.
The yellow slurry seeped through the gaps between Fang Yuan's fingers and flowed down onto the Soul Slaying Mountain, dealing continuous, unrelenting damage.
Fang Yuan was silent for a moment before he slowly spoke, asking, "How serious is the situation?"
The Little Fox Immortal wiped away her tears and replied between sobs, "Most of the Soul Slaying Mountain has already been corroded by the yellow slurry. Below the mountain's midpoint, six out of every ten gallstones have turned to mud. Master, what do we do? The Soul Slaying Mountain is going to die... w-w-w, it's all my fault, I should have noticed sooner."
Fang Yuan patted the Little Fox Immortal's head and comforted her, "This is not your fault. There is no need to blame yourself. The true culprit is that Mud Swamp Crab — worthy of being a Desolate Beast, worthy of being an Earth Tribulation!"
Earth Spirits possessed different abilities, each varying in nature, all connected to both the Gu Immortal and the Blessed Land they inhabited.
He sighed and continued, "I had originally felt fortunate that the Desolate Beast didn't possess any Immortal Gu. It turns out this Mud Swamp Crab had long since used a single-use Immortal Gu, and the power of that Gu was concealed within the slurry. Flesh and blood come into contact with it and suffer no harm, but stone is another matter — it gradually gets assimilated into slurry."
During the earlier Earth Tribulation, the Mud Swamp Crab had belched out vast quantities of slurry, from which armies of crabs had surged forth.
Fang Yuan had slaughtered a massive number of crabs, but in truth, the real killing blow had been this yellow mud slurry all along.
Fang Yuan guessed that this was the effect of the Sixth Transformation Mud-Mixing Gu.
The Mud-Mixing Gu was a naturally formed Gu — common at the first and second Transformations, fairly frequent at the third and fourth, and often used by Gu Masters in the construction of city walls. Fifth Transformation versions were rarer; many Fifth Transformation Gu Masters who lacked a powerful Fifth Transformation Gu would often settle for the Mud-Mixing Gu as a stopgap. At the Sixth Transformation, only one existed in the entire world. Moreover, the Mud-Mixing Immortal Gu could only be used once.
The Mud-Mixing Gu could only affect mud and soil, so the swamp where the Mud Swamp Crab had lived must have once been subjected to the Mud-Mixing Immortal Gu's power. The crab had constantly ingested and expelled the swamp's slurry each day, and in doing so, had carried the power of the Mud-Mixing Gu into the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land.
After the Mud Swamp Crab died, the battlefield had been cleaned up, but a vast quantity of yellow muddy water had already seeped deep into the mountain and the earth.
The power of the Mud-Mixing Immortal Gu was so deeply concealed that the yellow slurry naturally carried no trace of an Immortal Gu's aura. Had Fang Yuan not arranged for the Rockmen to enter the mountain and mine stone this time, he might never have detected the signs.
But even if he had discovered the truth in advance, when the Earth Tribulation struck, he would have had no power to stop it.
Fang Yuan's expression was as dark and still as water.
The Soul Slaying Mountain was being corroded by the power of an Immortal Gu, gradually assimilated into yellow slurry. This was catastrophic news!
Of everything in the entire Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, this mountain was the most valuable asset. He had been planning to use it to breed and sell Rockmen. In the future, when he needed to further strengthen his own soul, he would still have to rely on this mountain. He absolutely could not stand by and let the situation deteriorate further.
Immediately, Fang Yuan ordered the Little Fox Immortal to clear out as much of the yellow slurry as possible.
This would at least greatly slow the crisis.
But Dang Hun Mountain was also being eroded internally. This method only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. This was the power of the "Mixing Slurry" Immortal Gu. To eliminate it, Fang Yuan still had to rely on the power of other Immortal Gu!
"I took such an enormous risk and was lucky enough to obtain this holy land for strengthening the soul. Even if I become an Immortal Gu Master in the future, Dang Hun Mountain will still be of great use. I absolutely cannot let it be destroyed like this. The heavens do not want this holy land to fall into human hands, which is why they sent down this terrestrial disaster. Then I shall go against the heavens. Heh, fighting against men, fighting against heaven—this is the true thrill of life, nothing more."
With Fang Yuan's experience, he was far from helpless or at a loss.
He thought of more than a dozen solutions. After ruling out the unrealistic ones, over half were eliminated. Then, after ruling out those that were too difficult, only three remained.
The first was the Earth Path Sixth Transformation Rock-to-Transformation Gu. This Gu was currently in the Western Desert, held by the Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu Master Sun Cu. Sun Cu was a Righteous Path Gu Master who used this Gu to turn sand into stone, allowing mortals to build cities in the desert. He was deeply loved and respected by the common people. He was kind-hearted and soft-spoken, valued family, and doted most on his great-granddaughter. If Fang Yuan could capture his great-granddaughter as a hostage, he could certainly force Sun Cu to comply.
The second was also an Earth Path Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu, named "Starting Anew from the East Mountain." This Gu had already appeared and was hidden in a blessed land in the Eastern Sea. Fang Yuan could enter the blessed land and exchange another Immortal Gu for it.
The third was a Time Path Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu called "Jiang Shan Ru Gu" (The Land Remains the Same). This Gu had not yet been born; it did not form naturally. Its master, Bai Yunsheng, was currently only a Fifth Transformation Gu Master in the Northern Plains.
"When I refined the Immortal Gu 'Ding Xian You' in public at Trifork Mountain in the Southern Border, the news must be spreading like wildfire there by now. A mortal possessing an Immortal Gu in hand—this has surely alarmed all the Immortal Gu Masters of the Southern Border. They must be searching the world for me."
Before becoming an Immortal Gu Master, there was absolutely no way Fang Yuan would set foot in the Southern Border again.
"Although the five great regions of the world are independent, the Southern Border's super clan, the Yi Family, has connections with the mysterious forces of the Eastern Sea. The news of me refining an Immortal Gu will take at least two or three years to reach places like the Central Continent. But the Eastern Sea may not be the same."
Fang Yuan ruled out the Eastern Sea first.