Suddenly, the scene froze, revealing a Turtleback Wolf Ten-Thousand King.
Turtleback Wolves were thick-set, pitch-black all over, with deep blue eyes. True to their name, each Turtleback Wolf bore a turtle-like shell on its back.
The shell was extremely heavy, and roughly a third of the Turtleback Wolf's weight was concentrated within it. Besides defense, it also acted like a hump, storing nutrients.
Among ordinary wild wolves, this species had the strongest defense.
The Ten-Thousand Wolf King manifested by the Heaven-Connecting Gu was undoubtedly far larger, a full ten times the size of an ordinary Turtleback Wolf. Its round shell stood tall, the bronze-colored carapace gleaming brightly, giving off an aura of abundant fighting strength and a powerful physique.
"Right now, I have a wolf pack of nearly thirty thousand. It's mainly made up of three groups: Turtleback Wolves, Night Wolves, and Wind Wolves. Each group is nearly ten thousand. Besides these, there are a few Poison Beard Wolves from the Rotten Grass Plains, and over a hundred Water Wolves bought because of the White-Eyed Wolves."
Fang Yuan's wolf pack once numbered over thirty thousand. But after a few battles, the losses were heavy. Now, strictly counting, there were only twenty-seven thousand left. Excluding the old, weak, sick, and injured that had been migrated to the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, the combat-ready wolves were less than twenty-five thousand.
This meant they needed reinforcements.
Ordinary Enslavement Path Gu Masters, if they wanted to replenish their packs, had to organize men to capture them. This was time-consuming and laborious, and a pack that was too large couldn't be swallowed.
But after acquiring the Heaven-Connecting Gu, Fang Yuan stood on the shoulders of Gu Immortals, gaining an option that ordinary Gu Masters didn't have—purchasing wolf packs in Treasure Yellow Heaven.
Most blessed lands raised wild beasts. These beasts would overbreed, putting pressure on the blessed land's ecology. The Gu Immortals in charge of the blessed lands would sell them off in Treasure Yellow Heaven. This way, they could not only relieve the pressure on the blessed land but also make some gains.
Similarly, many Gu Immortals who wanted to cultivate their blessed lands and supplement the ecology would buy some beasts to raise in them. Therefore, buying and selling beasts in Treasure Yellow Heaven was very common.
The variety of wolves sold in Treasure Yellow Heaven was dazzling.
From the Northern Plains, there were Night Wolves, Wind Wolves, Water Wolves, Poison Beard Wolves, and Turtleback Wolves. From the Southern Border, Lightning Wolves, Grey Wolves, Blood Wolves, and Two-Headed Wolves. From the Western Desert, Silk Wolves, Pearl Wolves, Sand Wolves, and Tuhao Wolves. From the Eastern Sea, Ink Wolves, Greed Wolves, Red Wolves, and Gold-Back Wolves. From the Central Continent, White-Eyed Wolves, Star Wolves, Erotic Wolves, and Blood Wolves...
Among these were not only ordinary beasts but also variant beasts, such as the White-Eyed Wolf, Tuhao Wolf, and Greed Wolf.
Of course, there were no Desolate Beast-level wolves that could match a Gu Immortal's combat power. However, as Fang Yuan knew, a Desolate Beast called the Peach Greed Wolf was buried in the Lang Ya Blessed Land.
"Of the three biggest packs in my hands, the Night Wolves already have a Ten-Thousand King. If the Wind Wolves and Turtleback Wolves also had a Ten-Thousand Wolf King to lead them, I wouldn't have to control so many Hundred Wolf Kings and Thousand Wolf Kings. This would greatly lighten the burden of taming the beasts, thereby reducing the load on my soul and allowing me to absorb more wolves."
Fang Yuan did not plan to change the wolf packs, which would be an unnecessary trouble.
He decided to strengthen the packs in his hands.
The Little Fox Immortal sent a divine thought on his behalf to inquire about the price of this Turtleback Wolf Ten-Thousand King.
The selling Gu Immortal called himself the Southern Sea Turtle Immortal, and what he wanted was ten thousand stalks of ** grass.
** Grass was a specialty of the Northern Plains. The shape of each blade was like a standing vertical flute. When the wind blew, the sound of the wind would enter the holes on the grass, producing a pleasant and moving flute sound.
** Grass itself was a common material for refining Gu. At the same time, large patches of ** Grass would gradually give birth to some Sound Path and Wood Path Gu worms.
Fang Yuan did not have any ** Grass. Although he knew the location of the ** Grass Plains, the season was not right now, and the ** Grass was still buried in the soil as seeds, having not sprouted.
Fang Yuan, after learning of this situation, was not discouraged. Instead, he instructed the Little Fox Immortal, "Ask him if he'll accept Immortal Essence Stones."
The Little Fox Immortal conveyed the divine thought and, after a few exchanges, reported back, "Master, he says he has twenty thousand Turtleback Wolves to sell, but demands two Immortal Essence Stones."
Fang Yuan chuckled. The asking price was too high. Immortal Essence Stones were very precious, and Turtleback Wolves were just ordinary beasts. Still, a transaction did require a bargaining process.
After a bout of bargaining, Fang Yuan used one Immortal Essence Stone to buy thirty thousand Turtleback Wolves from the Southern Sea Turtle Immortal, along with one Turtleback Wolf Ten-Thousand King.
After completing the transaction, Fang Yuan also bought eighteen thousand Wind Wolves, along with one Wind Wolf Ten-Thousand King. He also replenished his stock with twenty thousand Night Wolves, five thousand Poison Beard Wolves, and six thousand Water Wolves. This cost a total of two and a half Immortal Essence Stones.
And it wasn't over yet.
The entry of the wolf packs into the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land was a severe test of the original ecology and would have many effects. At the very least, Fang Yuan had to supplement the wolves' food, or these wolves would starve to death in the blessed land due to a lack of food.
There were also quite a few wild beasts in the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land.
For example, wild hares, wild chickens, and so on. But these animals were the source of food for the fox packs.
The Fox Immortal had raised a large number of foxes in the blessed land, including Red Foxes, Gold Foxes, Cloud Foxes, Wind Foxes, Autumn Water Foxes, and Light-up Foxes.
These fox packs had suffered heavy losses in the Sixth Earth Calamity, but they managed to preserve their seeds. After many years of recuperation, they had gradually expanded their scale and recovered some of their vitality.
If food were insufficient, it would inevitably lead to the wolves and foxes preying on each other, resulting in extremely severe internal friction, and the cost would outweigh the gain.