Fang Yuan bid his farewell to Jun Shen and his son, telling them that he had urgent business on the surface.
"Feel free to call on us anytime, Brother," Jun Shen offered.
"We have a large number of services we can offer you, and at a significant discount," Jun Lin added. His father looked like he wanted to smack him one more time but then thought better of it.
"I will be certain to do so," Fang Yuan replied. He had, after all, come here specifically to start ties with them so that he could take advantage of Mountain Into Molehill Gu and Molehill Into Mountain Gu in the future.
Although Lu Wei Yin had conveyed the message to Fang Yuan via Yellow Treasure Heaven, the actual exchange of what that message was would be done in person. That was understandable enough.
Fang Yuan was led outside, eventually flying back to where he had first encountered the rank 7 Mushroomman Gu Immortal, the place that Lu Wei Yin has asked to meet up. The immortal was still there, diligently guarding the resource point.
"Hello, Brother Fang Yuan. It is good to see you," the Mushroomman greeted him warmly while flying up to him. "Have you been faring well?"
"Thank you, I have," Fang Yuan replied.
He noted that everyone within this Paradise possessed a friendly, casual demeanor. This Mushroomman Gu Immortal had been wary of Fang Yuan earlier, naturally Fang Yuan was a human and had appeared all of a sudden in their paradise - why would he not be afraid of Fang Yuan?
Now though, it was as if he had dropped all such pretenses of feeling any kind of fear towards Fang Yuan. Immortals could easily project their thoughts and sounds from a great distance; there was no real need to come face-to-face.
As such most Immortals would not approach a foreign Gu Immortal so openly; Fang Yuan had only recently joined and in any other organization he would've been considered a newbie and still someone that others would be wary of.
However, here, there was an inherent sense of trust - something odd for Immortals who had only just met.
There were numerous methods to attack another Immortal at a close distance, especially if they were caught off guard, Fang Yuan mused. Methods that can even conceal an Immortal aura, such as those through Dark Path methods. One could never be too careful.
After a short wait, Lu Wei Yin himself arrived. He was still wearing his straw hat, with an expression that did not betray any kind of emotion to Fang Yuan. While Fang Yuan felt that he could get a good read on many of the other Immortals he had met within this Paradise, Lu Wei Yin was an exception.
Fang Yuan also had a feeling that Lu Wei Yin might know more than he let on - he was Paradise Earth's true inheritor of the Southern Border, after all. As he was Rank 8, Fang Yuan was naturally wary of him.
Lu Wei Yin produced a table and several instruments from his Immortal aperture and began arranging them before Fang Yuan. "Please, take a seat, Junior Brother Fang Yuan."
The Mushroomman nearby remained focused on his task. It was unclear if he was in on this secret or simply not privy to it.
"Normally, I would not disclose Soul Path methods to anyone, that is a rule of those who pledge themselves to Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable and to follow his path," Lu Wei Yin began. "After all, the Soul Path involves large amounts of killing and caused indescribable damage to the world back when Spectral Soul Demon Venerable existed."
He continued, "Naturally, once Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable began to gain power, he began restricting Soul Path methods. But to repair the damage caused by the Soul Path he needed ways to mend souls and the like on his own. Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable managed to develop several solutions that did not involve harming others. As you can imagine, it was his nature to seek peace and conventional Soul Path methods did not suit him."
Fang Yuan nodded. He had already suspected as such. For example, the Reincarnation Battlefield in the Central Continent allowed Gu Immortals to return even after death and was used by them to practice their moves. How could that be possible if their souls were destroyed, unless there was a way to repair them?
From Fang Yuan's own past life experience, Man As Before Immortal Gu could not bring back those whose souls had been destroyed. So there was clearly more to Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's formations than met the eye.
At higher attainment levels, one path could mimic another. Paradise Earth Immortal had likely achieved this through formations mimicking the Soul Path.
"The theory is rather simple," Lu Wei Yin explained. "When living beings die - whether from natural causes or otherwise - their souls typically dissipate and enter the Door of Life and Death. However, soul fragments can remain, particularly in those who have strengthened their souls. You may consider this as 'excess energy' that belongs to the soul which is no longer needed after the body passes on. This excess energy seeps into the surrounding environment. Most living things enter the soil after death, and so the earth can become rich with this excess soul energy. One could find areas where there were a large amount of soul energy, or one could gather a large amount of energy so long as one had enough soil. This can also form in the apertures of Soul Path Immortals and is called 'Soul Soil' - you may have seen it for sale occasionally on Yellow Treasure Heaven."
Fang Yuan nodded. It was not just a good resource, but also key refinement ingredient for
"Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable thought of a way to harness this energy that was within the soil. He struggled at first, until he realized that just as plants absorb minerals and water through the soil, soul energy could be gathered in a similar fashion."
"But soil itself was not enough - one could make plants, but the soil energy tended to leak away when consuming them. Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable continued to wander the Five Regions and Two Heavens. He stumbled across various mysteries that were ordinarily hidden, including those of Food Path. It was while diving into Food Path that he found the inspiration for this."
Lu Wei Yin began the preparation of what he was making. "First, Soul Soil is scattered in large amounts. Then, Soul Flowers are nurtured from this soil, inviting the excess soul energy into themselves. Finally, this Soul-Soothing Tea is formed from their leaves."
While Lu Wei Yin didn't explain every detail of the refinement process for the tea, Fang Yuan could deduce a great deal of the process simply by observing his actions.
"Lord Paradise Earth's Food Path methods were quite profound," Fang Yuan noted.
"Indeed," Lu Wei Yin nodded. "Though he once described his own attainment as but a small glimmer, barely equivalent playing among the sands of the shore while the vast ocean of Food Path lay undiscovered beyond him."