The pioneer of the Soul Path, a legendary figure who stood at the pinnacle of the Ninth Transformation among Gu Masters — Youn Hun the Demonic Venerable — once made this evaluation:
"The world is vast, but for strengthening the soul, Dang Hun Mountain is the premier choice, and for refining the soul, Luo Po Valley stands supreme. If one could obtain both a mountain and a valley, the mastery of the Soul Path would be assured, and roaming the world unhindered would be no empty boast!"
For this reason, Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley were jointly known as the two sacred sites of Soul Cultivation.
Exactly how much help these two sacred sites could provide to a Gu Master — ever since Fang Yuan had come to possess Dang Hun Mountain, he understood this firsthand.
His Thousand-Person Soul had been cultivated using the Courage Gu on Dang Hun Mountain.
Courage Gu was the foremost premium Gu for strengthening the soul. It directly increased one's foundational reserves with absolutely no side effects, and its efficiency was extraordinarily high.
An ordinary Gu Master who wished to accumulate their soul to the Thousand-Person level typically needed around twenty years. Some geniuses, backed by their clans and cared for by their elders, could halve that time.
And Fang Yuan?
Using the Courage Gu on Dang Hun Mountain, he had strengthened his soul to the Thousand-Person level in less than half a year.
Mind you, this was all while "Dang Hun Mountain was being corroded by the Dilute Mud Immortal Gu and gradually dying."
Thanks to Dang Hun Mountain, Fang Yuan had accumulated his soul to the Thousand-Person level with ease, his progress rocketing straight to the heavens. But soul cultivation, apart from strengthening the soul, also required refining it — purifying the soul.
In this regard, Fang Yuan's progress was far slower.
Compared to the speed at which he strengthened his soul, his soul-refining speed was like a tortoise crawling.
Fang Yuan had always used Wolf Soul Gu to refine his soul, purifying and transforming it, ultimately forming a Werewolf Soul.
But the Wolf Soul Gu he had used had never reached the Fifth Transformation — the highest he'd obtained was the Fourth Transformation. Using a Fourth Transformation Wolf Soul Gu to purify a Thousand-Person Soul was like pouring a bottle of ink into a lake. To dye the entire lake, the efficiency of a Fourth Transformation Wolf Soul Gu was simply far too low.
Before this, Fang Yuan had also tried hard to track down a Fifth Transformation Wolf Soul Gu, but without success.
Without a Fifth Transformation Wolf Soul Gu, there was actually another method.
That was to use the Two Watch Gu or Three Watch Gu to accelerate the flow of one's own time, or to directly enter a blessed land, thereby increasing the rate of one's own cultivation.
But while others could use this method, Fang Yuan could not.
His first Life Gu, the Spring Autumn Cicada, was slowly recovering over time. Before Fang Yuan achieved the rank of Gu Immortal, it was a death-dealing blade perpetually hovering at his throat.
"My current Thousand-Person Soul owes everything entirely to Dang Hun Mountain. Luo Po Valley stands on equal footing with Dang Hun Mountain — if I could obtain it…"
In that moment, an impulse surged through Fang Yuan's heart — to simply switch to cultivating the Soul Path.
"If I revive Dang Hun Mountain and then seize control of Luo Po Valley, with such mighty capital as the two great sacred sites of the Soul Path, switching to the Soul Path truly would be a wise decision. It would be even more promising and far-reaching than re-cultivating the Blood Path of my previous life!"
But almost immediately, Fang Yuan calmed himself down.
"According to the directions in my thoughts, Luo Po Valley lies far away. The urgent priority right now is to revive Dang Hun Mountain — now is not the time to seek out Luo Po Valley. A great battle is imminent, and my current accumulation in the Strength Path and Slave Path cannot simply be discarded."
Fang Yuan had relied on his cultivation in the Slave and Strength Paths to become a prominent figure across the Northern Plains.
But with his current strength, he was still far from being invincible in the mortal world.
A single Shadow Swordsman had already left him thoroughly humiliated.
Though he possessed the Second Empty Orifice and cultivated both Strength and Slave Paths, with a peak Fifth Transformation cultivation, when Fang Yuan was placed within the grand context of the Battle of the Royal Court, he still appeared insignificant.
Within this war vortex engulfing the entire Northern Plains, a single misstep could spell doom — even a Fifth Transformation Gu Master faced the danger of perishing.
"Now that my Slave Path has borne fruit, I can influence the entire war. But my offense is strong while my defense is weak. In the Strength Path, I still cannot guarantee my own safety. If someone like Mo Shi Kuang or Bian Si Xuan closed in on me, I'd be in trouble. My battle against the Eastern Clan must be approached with caution."
Thinking of the great battle about to unfold, Fang Yuan did not share the others' burning battle intent.
Bei Jun Zi had essentially done him a small favor, allowing him to remain behind the scenes with more time to cultivate and increase his combat strength.
In the days that followed, Fang Yuan nurtured his Second Empty Orifice while simultaneously refining Heart-Crushing Infant Cry Gu, all while corresponding with the Little Fox Immortal and managing the affairs within the blessed land.
In the Fox Immortal's blessed land, Dang Hun Mountain's condition continued to deteriorate, the entire mountain range shrinking day by day. Every day, the Little Fox Immortal cleared away massive amounts of Dilute Mud from Dang Hun Mountain, doing everything in her power to delay the mountain's demise.
The nebula blanketed the eastern portion of the blessed land, and the Star Firefly swarm had grown to three times its previous size. According to the Little Fox Immortal's preliminary estimate, there were now fifty to sixty more Star Firefly Gu than before.
The ability for so many Star Firefly Gu to appear in such a short time was thanks to the Bubble Fish.
These Bubble Fish had gradually begun to take effect.
Previously, Fang Yuan had frequently entered and exited the Fox Immortal's blessed land, maintaining the Star Gate Gu for extended periods, which had caused the Star Firefly Gu population to plummet to rock bottom. Now that the Star Firefly Gu numbers were climbing again, it had greatly relieved the pressure.
And in the western portion of the blessed land, the Pollen Rabbits were reproducing in large numbers.