As a supreme elder of Spirit Affinity House, Lo Jik was a part of the entirety of the ten great ancient sects as a whole. Like his deduction of Human Champion Series Gu got exposed to the other nine sects relatively quickly, Spirit Affinity House also collected information on the other nine ancient sects, something which Lo Jik could peruse by expending his contribution points. Earlier, he spent a considerable amount of time learning about the impressive gu immortals who rose to prominence and fell prey to the flow of time, unable to defy their fates. He studied about the founders of the ancient sects, the elite talents eventually recruited by Heavenly Court, and the many demonic gu immortals who reigned a short term of terror.
Spirit Affinity House's records were extremely detailed. There was also plenty of information about the other four regions. There were records about Nine-Headed Schemer and Ancient Desolate Immortal. There were also traces of information about Red Lotus Demon Venerable and the existence of a variant human species—Dragonmen. But these records were quite incomplete. The fact that Giant Sun's Self Luck True Inheritance documented Red Lotus Demon Venerable damaging Fate Gu while Spirit Affinity House only recorded a few things related to Red Lotus Demon Venerable was quite suspicious.
Why?
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was once Spirit Affinity House's external elder. The first fairy of the sect at the time of Giant Sun's era was part of his harem. There was a close connection between the two forces. Did Spirit Affinity House know more things about Red Lotus Demon Venerable?
Lo Jik had such questions but he did not consult Fairy Yi or someone like Feng Jiu Ge due to several reasons, prominent of which was the fact that curiosity almost always killed the cat. What Red Lotus did had nothing to do with Lo Jik. What Giant Sun knew also had nothing to do with Lo Jik or the current era.
The current era was prophesized to crown Great Dream Immortal Venerable as sages among sages and the king amongst all the venerables. Lo Jik was mostly concerned about his own strength. And so, he perused the available immortal inheritances and information about different paths he could not access prior to his ascension.
Spirit Affinity House had an impressive collection of true inheritances. They ranged from different paths and boasted various qualities. Some true inheritances were outstanding in investigation methods and some were known for their ability to manage one's blessed land. Alas, nothing really enticed Lo Jik because his collection of true inheritances was of the same level as an ancient sect!
He acquired several venerable supreme inheritances and even obtained Long Hair True Inheritance. Long Hair Immortal was one of the Three Olds and lived in the era of two venerables. Hundreds of experts requested his help in refining the gu and paid with true inheritances and other methods. The venerables were no exception.
As such, Long Hair True Inheritance was not just a refinement path inheritance but a complete collection of hundreds of different true inheritances!
Lo Jik used all the information to refine gu tailored to his needs. The deductions barely took any time when aided by Pool of Wisdom gu house and his unholy number and quality of attainment.
His current need was to reinforce his second blessed land with more human path dao marks. A problem capable of consuming decades of lifetime of plenty of gu immortals only roused the issue of choice overload for Lo Jik. He had too many options and needed to instead consider what method required the least resource for the greatest result while also being efficient about it and raising his strength quickly.
There was human path. Human path was more suited when dealing with human path dao marks, that much was a given.
Lo Jik also developed several food path methods. Food path was related to feeding, eating, digesting, and more. When fed well, a gu master could gain dao marks. Fickle Body Strength was a strength and food path compound killer move. Consuming and digesting the desolate beasts allowed Lo Jik to retain several strength path dao marks. This method also displayed transformation path effects because Lo Jik consumed desolate beasts of several different paths and derived strength path dao marks from the killer move. Successfully refining Accumulation Immortal Gu ensured the explosive rise of effect when using this killer move from now on. Furthermore, Lo Jik plundered Taotie Stomach Immortal Gu from Dark Cloud Immortal, Yin Yun. Taotie was a rare beast filled with food path dao marks. Incorporating this immortal gu would also increase the power of Fickle Body Strength immortal killer move, but Lo Jik would need to account for a transformation path immortal gu and adding countless more mortal gu worms. It was simply not worthwhile to make the killer move more complicated when Accumulation Immortal Gu could be used directly with the killer move.
It was clear that his food path methods were still in their nascent stage. Lo Jik had yet to develop a complete set of gu worms and killer moves that covered all aspects of gu cultivation.
A good method of acquiring dao marks was theft path. Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable established theft path through an immortal killer move. This immortal killer move had a fearsome might and reputation—capable of stealing dao marks itself! Lo Jik could try replicating this method and steal human path dao marks. The issue with this method was the rarity of human path itself. There were not many human path resources available readily for him to plunder.
Formation and refinement paths could also be employed because the essence of carving dao marks on the body and blessed land was refinement itself.
In reality, every path could be used as a foundation to design a cultivation-type killer move. However, the earlier mentioned paths were more suited for the task.
Among all the paths Lo Jik encountered, there was yet another innovation he had been neglecting due to several other internal and external factors.
Pill path.
Lo Jik searched for pill path in Spirit Affinity House's record but was disappointed by the result. Spirit Affinity House did not possess any pill path inheritance but he did find out some intriguing information. Pill path was developed in the current era by a high-ranking member of Immortal Crane Sect residing inside Heavenly Court.
'Pill path…' Lo Jik cupped his chin. 'Pills.'
Lo Jik studied this path briefly, realizing the dao marks of this path were related to food and wood paths. Being a grandmaster in all the three paths, Lo Jik wondered if he could use food and wood paths to develop his own set of pill path gu worms. Of course, there was also the option of refining a pill path clone to get more recipes.
The act was achieved quick enough. Lo Jik simply had too much experience refining such clones and the new clone, Pill Refiner, was not just a pill path clone but also included refinement sub-path. This was inevitable. Pill path was also intimately linked with refinement path.
'Huh.'
Lo Jik focused more on this path. He was aiming to balance efficiency and cost for the greatest result.
The best option at the moment was to modify Fickle Body Strength and continue consuming beasts to derive human path dao marks. But he lacked necessary gu worms such as Fickle Heart Strength, Unchained Champion, and many others. Meanwhile, he only had Fake Body gu for human path.
As for pill path?
Lo Jik only had Pill Refiner Gu.
'But I feel it's more efficient.' Lo Jik grew more certain of this direction. 'Formation can be used in refining gu worms, especially when it comes to preparing immortal materials. What if I created a formation to refine pills instead? It would involve the strength of the three paths. Hmm. I should also add human path gu worms.'
Lo Jik didn't sit still and started working at once. His divine sense controlled and communicated with several mortal level clones. Unfortunately, he encountered his first obstruction rather quickly. Creating a pill path formation required pill path materials and gu. Lo Jik had some information about mortal level materials but this was going to be an immortal formation.
'No, what I truly lack is pill path dao marks. Let's add transformation path immortal materials. Transformation path dao marks can project their dao marks into dao marks of every other path. Furthermore, I have several transformation path immortal materials in stock.' Lo Jik modified the formation chart and soon felt satisfied by the changes. He got to work again.
This was a path of trial and errors, and encounter more obstructions he did.
'I could create balance with the few pill path gu worms and transformation path materials, but formation and refinement path are causing a conflict.'
Thinking about it, Lo Jik refined several Pill Refiner Gu and also added them into the formation as gu worms instead of clones.
The formation took shape quickly enough before nearly getting destroyed.
Lo Jik exhaled a sharp breath and revised the changes before noticing a few minor issue that shouldn't have been an issue if this formation was constructed in a pill path gu immortal's blessed land. Adding Undefeated Myriad Battle Immortal Gu could have resolved this issue, but it was part of an immortal gu house. Taking it out was another complication and not really wise move.
'This would have been a major issue before Chen Jiu's awakening.'
Lo Jik smirked and found a solution. He was willing to spend time and resources developing new methods instead of relying on already researched results because it helped progress his understanding of the great dao and practice new things. Innovation was crucial in the gu world. While he would probably never surpass the attainment of quasi-supreme grandmaster, he could certainly hope, right? How could he ever hope to reach the view of the great dao achieved by all the venerables if he was afraid of researching new things? Furthermore, constantly applying and modifying Chen Jiu's inheritance to resolve conflicts of different paths added to Lo Jik's grand cultivation plan of utilizing all the paths!
A massive immortal formation appeared in Lo Jik's second blessed land. It resembled the view of Sea of Wealth gu house's interior. The deep-green fog covered a large area of land and released the pleasant scent of wet grass and dirt. Lo Jik activated the immortal formation and tossed in mortal human path materials. But he didn't stop there. As the fog churned turbulently, Lo Jik's clones started tossing in a few herbs. These were all common wood path immortal materials bought from Treasure Yellow Heaven. Lastly, Lo Jik actually tossed in several fire path gu worms. The fog instantly shrank as it covered the hazily burning fire inside the formation. A sweet scent spread from the center of the formation as the green fog calmed down.
*Whoosh*
Several blood-red pellets flew out from the center of Lo Jik's formation.
'Calculating things, I spent a total of 25 immortal essence stones for these twenty pellets.' He activated his investigation killer moves and observed the thumb-sized pills. All these pills were round and glossy, appearing no different from marbled spheres. Lo Jik sniffed the sweet scent on the pills and felt his appetite stirred. This was a food path effect.
'The dao marks on these pills resembles top-quality wines. Improving this method more would result in the recipe of an immortal gu capable of creating these pills through immortal essence stones. That would be quite convenient.' Lo Jik knew how most teas and wines were incomplete food path gu recipes. It would appear that pill path also shared this aspect with food path.
Lo Jik swallowed one pill and closed his eyes.
The pill transformed into sweet and sticky blood-red liquid the moment it touched his tongue. It moved down his throat and filled his stomach before vanishing into vapors. Several glowing dao marks appeared on the surface of Lo Jik's skin before quickly becoming a part of his human path foundation.
'Five dao marks.' Lo Jik counted and noted the result. There were twenty pills.
Lo Jik thought for a moment before directly swallowing two pills.
The same thing happened but this time he felt slightly more stuffed. He ended up gaining ten dao marks as a result.
Lo Jik then swallowed three pills before noticing a change. He hadn't reached his limit on how many pills he could swallow, but he noticed the number of dao marks he acquired had decreased instead.
He gained 13 dao marks instead of the expected 15.
Furrowing his brows, Lo Jik swallowed a single pill again, realizing the number of dao marks he gained decreased again.
Three dao marks.
'Eh? This is interesting.'
Lo Jik was left with 13 pills and did not immediately consume them as he noticed a pill path dao mark appear on his body. He observed it for a while before comprehending the truth.
'I see. My body is growing resistant to the effects of the pill. This pill path dao mark represents this event.'
One could indeed grow resistant to drugs. The same thing happened with these pills.
But why?
Pill path was very new and surprisingly exciting. He had never expected this result by consuming the pills. The pills in his hand lacked pill path dao marks but their essence was that of pill path immortal materials. It wasn't strange that Lo Jik developed a pill path dao mark.
Yet, this pill path dao mark was harmful to Lo Jik.
It will surely contribute to his pill path foundation, but it was also making him immune to the effects of these pills.
'So that's how it is.'
Lo Jik smiled.
Every path had its specialties. Take refinement path for instance. It covered all the aspects of cultivation, but refinement path also had many gu worms meant to reduce the backlash from failing gu refinement, improving success rate, and such. These gu worms targeted the special nature of refinement path itself.
Similarly, the body getting resistant to pills must be one of pill path's specialty. So, the answer to this problem also lay within pill path. There must be gu worms meant to target this dao mark and make many pills useful again. Similarly, a pill path gu immortal might target others by carving such pill path dao marks on others as an offensive attack. Lo Jik immediately thought of several things.
'There is also another aspect to this result. There must be pills so outstanding that they would create no backlash of this nature. These pills will undoubtedly be superior to my current creation. So, the current pills in my hands, even if refined to the level of an immortal gu, would be considered low-quality pills.'
Lo Jik instantly comprehended several aspects of pill path through a single backlash.
'The answer to this issue most definitely lies in pill path, but it's not isolated to pill path itself.' Lo Jik wanted to develop pill path out of personal interest and advancing his cultivation but he never forgot about his goal of efficiency. He needed to balance things. He could either spend a long-time developing pill path gu set to tackle this issue or simply do things differently.
So, Lo Jik started modifying Fickle Body Strength. He kept the structure and thought process of the immortal killer move but replaced food and strength paths with human and transformation paths.
The two cores of this compound killer move were none other than Accumulation and Taotie Stomach Immortal Gu Worms.
You see, he already developed a human path healing gu—Self Chant Gu. He incorporated this gu into this killer move, targeting the pill path dao mark that emerged from the backlash. Meanwhile, Taotie Stomach Immortal Gu fortified his stomach.
The killer move cost three beads of immortal essence every activation and allowed Lo Jik to devour the remaining thirteen pills at once without even nearing his limits.
His human path foundation jumped from 480 human path dao marks to 576!
Thinking about something, Lo Jik activated Fickle Body Strength immortal killer move. This killer move cost Lo Jik twelve beads of immortal essence every activation. He targeted the corpse of a recently purchased Desolate Dragon Elephant. Earlier, the same killer move cost two beads of immortal essence and allowed Lo Jik to cultivate 90 strength path dao marks with every activation.
Now?
Lo Jik smacked his lips in satisfaction as extreme pain assaulted his body! Pills were gentler and did not inflict such ruthless pain on the user. But pain had long become Lo Jik's most trusted companion. Enduring the agony, Lo Jik observed the results.
400 strength path dao marks!
This was the limit.
Adding rank 6 Accumulation Immortal Gu prompted the strength of Fickle Body Strength immortal killer move to exceed its earlier effects exponentially. Acquiring 400 strength path dao marks was the limit because the target was a desolate beast. This killer move could finally be used on an ancient desolate beast and acquire even greater sum of strength path dao marks!
'So, adding the cost of desolate beast corpses and the beads of immortal essence used to activate the killer move, I spent an average of 52 immortal essence stones to refine 400 strength path dao marks. Meanwhile, 28 immortal essence stones net me a hundred human path dao marks.'
Lo Jik was excited!
'The potential of pill path far exceeds my earlier imagination!'
It might seem this research result was a bust but Lo Jik had only just developed the formation meant to refine the pills. It was far from being completed and polished. Meanwhile, when Lo Jik did not have Accumulation Immortal Gu, he used to spend a total of 42 immortal essence stones for 90 strength path dao marks.
Pill path was far more efficient than Lo Jik's previous predictions. And this was just one aspect of this path!
Truly exciting!
There was another way to look at things.
His strength path was quite developed and he also spent a considerable time polishing food path methods to suit his cultivation plan. But he surpassed all the previous results within the matter of a few hours (days in his human path blessed land.) Pill path would only progress from here as Lo Jik refined and deduced more and more pill path recipes by using his accumulations as a foundation.
Best of all, Lo Jik obtained a legitimate method of cultivating human path. If not for his desire of accumulating beast strength phantoms, Lo Jik might have entirely ditched Fickle Body Strength immortal killer move and used pill path for cultivating strength path—
'Fuck, can't I refine pills using desolate beasts that grant me beast strength phantoms?' Lo Jik thought before shaking his head. 'Nah. The killer move itself is efficient and requires me to simply search different beasts and plants.'
Some ideas might appear outstanding on the surface but could only be rejected due to several reasons.
***
Join the discord through the link in the synopsis.
Read 60 chapters ahead @ Patron and Subscribe Star (Links in the synopsis.)
Support the Fanfic through comments, likes, reviews and such (if the published site allows it.)