Three days later, Fang Yuan slowly woke up.
His mind was at peace, no longer burdened by the earlier fatigue and restlessness.
"It seems a zombie body is still inferior to the living in one respect — my soul grows weary, weak, and irritable far more easily." Fang Yuan had discovered yet another drawback of his zombie body.
A weakened soul could be bolstered with Guts Gu — that was an easy fix. Soul Swaying Mountain had plenty of Guts Gu growing on it, the finest method available for fortifying the soul.
But a restless, agitated soul required calming. The best way to calm the soul was the water of the lake in the realm of death, recorded in the Records of the Human Ancestor and praised by Sun Yangmang as: the finest of wines.
Fang Yuan didn't have that lake water, and even if he did, he wouldn't dare drink it carelessly. He resorted to an old method — one with clear results: sleep.
"If I still had a normal human body, a brief nap would suffice to soothe my soul's restlessness. But after becoming a zombie, I need three full days of sleep. The Path of the Soul encompasses soul strengthening, soul refining, and soul calming, yet most Soul Path Gu Masters focus on the first two. Thinking about it now, sleep itself must already possess excellent soul-calming properties. There's no need to invest too heavily in that aspect."
After sealing the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fang Yuan's understanding of the Path of the Soul had deepened another level.
Next, he tallied up the accounts of the past few months.
He had traded with the Langya Earth Spirit twice, earning a total of sixty Immortal Yuan Stones. But he had also spent a considerable amount.
In Treasure Yellow Heaven, he had purchased over a thousand Star Firefly Gu, the killer moves Spring Star Rain, Cold Gauze, and Six-Nine Star Dust, a large quantity of Gu refinement materials, numerous mortal Gu, and a group of old hairy folk. Then, in order to seal the Spring Autumn Cicada, he had bought the Little Marsh Gu and the Pine Island Gu. The total cost came to twenty Immortal Yuan Stones.
Now Fang Yuan still had thirty and a half Immortal Yuan Stones left.
But don't be deceived by the seemingly large stash — the price Fang Yuan had paid included his own Green Grape Immortal Essence.
Deducing Immortal Gu recipes was something only he could do himself. After the first trade with the Langya Earth Spirit, his Green Grape Immortal Essence had dwindled to just nine. The second round of deduction consumed six more, and optimizing the Spring Autumn Cicada's sealing plan took yet another. Now only two Green Grape Immortal Essence remained.
Optimizing the Spring Autumn Cicada's plan had been entirely necessary. The originally estimated cost was twenty-three Immortal Yuan Stones. After optimization, it dropped to twenty. All told, he had saved two Immortal Yuan Stones.
With only two Green Grape Immortal Essence remaining, this was a perilous situation. Should anything unexpected arise, Fang Yuan could only activate his killer move Wan Wo twice — hardly enough to cope with rapidly shifting circumstances, especially since the Immortal Crane Sect's assault was drawing ever closer.
So Fang Yuan spent fifteen Immortal Yuan Stones, converting them into his own Green Grape Immortal Essence.
This brought his Green Grape Immortal Essence up to seventeen, while his Immortal Yuan Stones dropped to around fifteen and a half.
The crisis of the Spring Autumn Cicada bursting through his Empty Orifice had been temporarily resolved. The deadlock had also been broken by the alliance with Hei Loulan. His trades with the Langya Earth Spirit had earned him a massive haul of Immortal Yuan Stones, providing the very power Fang Yuan needed to solve his problems.
The originally dire situation had eased somewhat. Like a sky shrouded in darkness with layer upon layer of storm clouds — but through Fang Yuan's relentless efforts, gaps had gradually opened, letting rays of bright, warm sunlight through.
Now another difficult problem lay before him, and it had to be resolved as soon as possible.
That was the feeding of Immortal Gu.
Feeding mortal Gu posed no concern for Fang Yuan. But feeding Immortal Gu had become an increasingly serious problem.
To summarize, Fang Yuan possessed a considerable number of Immortal Gu: the Spring Autumn Cicada, Fixed Travel, Calamity Attraction, Joy of Mountains and Rivers, Wandering the World, Cloud Ascension, Soul Purification, Luck Linking, and Woman's Heart.
An ordinary Gu Immortal often didn't possess even a single Immortal Gu. Fang Yuan had a full nine.
This was an enormous blessing, and at the same time an enormous burden.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was manageable — it fed on the waters of the River of Time, which could be considered as not requiring feeding at all.
Fixed Travel had been fed one Green Grape Immortal Essence by Fang Yuan over a year ago in Central Continent time, sustaining it for six years. But one year passing in Central Continent didn't mean only one year had passed for Fixed Travel. Time in the Royal Court Blessed Land, in Fang Yuan's Immortal Orifice, and in the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land all flowed many times faster than Central Continent time.
Moreover, six years was purely theoretical. The more Fang Yuan activated Fixed Travel, the shorter that duration would become.
Fixed Travel still had some time left before its next feeding, but that day was drawing near.
The remaining Immortal Gu were all troublesome.
Over these past days, Fang Yuan had gathered crucial information about their feeding requirements.
Calamity Attraction's feed was the black blood of the Desolate Beast Six-headed Great Serpent.
Joy of Mountains and Rivers required absorbing large amounts of mountain qi and water qi, along with many Laughing Stones.
Wandering the World needed tens of thousands of Netherworld Jellyfish and several thousand Deep Sea Lightning Eels.
Cloud Ascension required the dragon scales of a Desolate Beast Cloud Dragon, as well as the eyeballs of tens of thousands of Wind Sickle Birds.
Feeding Soul Purification demanded the flesh and blood of over ten thousand White Lotus Giant Silkworm Gu.
Luck Linking needed ten thousand jin of sand from the habitat of the Ancient Desolate Beast Heaven-and-Earth Sandpiper.