The Star Firefly swarms had also been placed into Tai Bai Yun Sheng's immortal orifice beforehand. A portion of the Star Dust Grass clusters had been moved as well. Now, with everything fully merged, the scale had been restored to its original state.
The toxic blood transformed from the Blood Poison Begonia only contaminated the earth — it posed absolutely no harm to the Star Dust Grasslands floating in the sky.
Dragon Scale Lake and Jade Beard Lake faced each other from afar. Between and around the two great lakes, numerous smaller lakes had been cultivated, arranged like stars orbiting the moon.
These small lakes and ponds did not require any special soil.
Dragon Scale soil and Jade Beard soil were both materials for Gu refinement. Although they did not meet the standard of immortal-grade materials, the sheer quantity used to construct two great lakes had still cost Fang Yuan a considerable amount.
In these small lakes survived some remnants of Water Wolves and Fin Wolves. The Fin Wolf — a desolate beast that Fang Yuan had subdued — also linger here, catching fish from the small lakes whenever it grew hungry.
The small lakes and ponds teemed with an enormous population of Green Jade Crucian Carp. These fish possessed vitality as tenpacious as blades of grass — even the toxic blood could not kill them. Instead, a portion of them underwent mutation, transforming into Blood Jade Crucian Carp. On the market, these Blood Jade Crucian Carp actually sold for several times the price of their Green Jade counterparts.
In the western region of the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, Fang Yuan replicated the same method — excavating earth, arranging Gu formations, extracting Firestone Coal, and constructing another great lake.
However, this lake contained not a single drop of water. Instead, heat radiated upward in steaming waves. Firestone coal fragments carpeted the lakebed, and whenever the wind blew across the ashen, dark surface of the coal stones, it stirred up a wave of crimson glow.
Fang Yuan named this lake Firestone Lake — the second-best breeding ground for the Dark Fire Dragon Pythons. The optimal method was, of course, the arrangement found in the Eastern Tribe's stronghold — the Jade Pool Blessed Land.
Fang Yuan had learned this optimal arrangement method from Dong Changfan's soul. He understood it with perfect clarity.
Unfortunately, his finances were not yet sufficient to support it. The upfront investment required was simply too vast. After careful deliberation, Fang Yuan could only settle for the second-best option — Firestone Coal — to construct a habitat for the Dark Fire Dragon Pythons.
He placed all the Dark Fire Dragon Pythons he possessed into the lake and let them breed on their own. Then, at a distance, Fang Yuan dug out small lakes at regular intervals, without laying down any soil. After setting up simple Gu formations, he directly poured the toxic blood extracted from his immortal orifice into each one.
Under the isolation of the Gu formations, only a small portion of the toxic blood would seep outward each year, gradually tainting the surrounding soil.
Across the entire western region of the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, Fang Yuan had excavated hundreds upon hundreds of small blood lakes.
Why was Fang Yuan doing this?
This required an explanation of the relationship between natural disasters and blessed lands.
As had been discussed before: fortune hides misfortune, and misfortune leans upon fortune.
The greater the foundation of a blessed land, the stronger its fortune — and the more severe and targeted the heavenly tribulations and earthly calamities it attracted would be.
For instance, during the previous earthly calamity of the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, the desolate beast Mud Swamp Crab had carried the Dilute Mud Immortal Gu. Its target was none other than the most valuable location in the blessed land — Shake Soul Mountain. In the end, Shake Soul Mountain was reduced to a puddle of sludge. Only through Fang Yuan's desperate rescue was it barely saved from destruction.
This showed that the Heavenly Dao was fundamentally fair, upholding balance. If one side held a particular advantage, it would arouse Heaven's jealousy, and heavenly tribulations or earthly calamities would come to diminish it. Of course, the types of disasters were numerous, and this principle was not absolute — only highly probable.
This was the manifestation of "fortune hides misfortune."
But after the Mud Swamp Crab calamity had been weathered, the Fox Immortal Blessed Land had in fact gained a large number of Servitude Path Dao Marks, along with a smaller number of Earth Path Dao Marks.
The increase in Servitude Path Dao Marks made the lives bred within the blessed land easier to control and quicker to reproduce. Stone People, Fur People, fox packs, wolf packs, fish schools — all fell under this category.
This was the Fox Immortal Blessed Land's greatest advantage. After all, its original owner — the Fox Immortal — had been a Servitude Path Gu Immortal. Every time a calamity was survived, the newly added Dao Marks were predominantly of the Servitude Path.
Beyond the Servitude Path, there were also a modest number of Earth Path Dao Marks. These marks enriched the blessed land's soil, deepened the earth, improved its ability to draw upon terrestrial qi, and enabled it to bear the weight of Shake Soul Mountain.
These Dao Marks could not be observed through ordinary means. They had merged into the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, making this small world more comprehensive and more excellent.
And this was the manifestation of "misfortune leans upon fortune."
The Central Continent's grand heaven and earth had targeted Shake Soul Mountain with the Mud Swamp Crab calamity. But after it was survived, the Fox Immortal Blessed Land reaped gains — the increase in Earth Path Dao Marks actually forged a tighter bond between Shake Soul Mountain and the blessed land.
As for this most recent calamity, it had been the sea of Blood Poison Begonia flowers. Fang Yuan privately suspected that the Central Continent's grand heaven and earth had targeted him specifically because of his Blood Path Grandmaster realm.
After weathering it, the Fox Immortal Blessed Land once again gained a large number of Dao Marks. Among them, Servitude Path Dao Marks still accounted for the largest share, further amplifying the blessed land's existing advantages. At the same time, a significant number of Blood Path Dao Marks had been added as well.
The appearance of Blood Path Dao Marks had undeniably improved the Fox Immortal Blessed Land.
The transformation of Green Jade Crucian Carp into Blood Jade Crucian Carp was merely one manifestation. After Fang Yuan had expended considerable effort to strip away the Fox Immortal Blessed Land's uppermost layer of soil, the exposed layer beneath was already sprouting an abundance of delicate grass shoots and small flower buds.
These wild grasses were called Blood Sickle Grass. When fully grown, they curved like sickles — thick along the spine, yet sharp as blades along the outer edge.