These Deep Dwellers were a curious people.
They had dug nearly three li below the surface, discovering a massive cavern and founding a society there.
By this point, they had spent so much time away from the surface many of them had forgotten what the sunlight even felt like. And at such a great distance, they had no more connection with the outside world either.
With this, they had truly and fully secluded themselves from the surface world.
It was because of this that Fang Yuan had not even realized that they had changed so much. He had paid more attention to those on the surface of the Fang Yuan Continent, after all. If he had not been looking for more sources to make Soul Soil, he might've completely neglected them entirely.
They lived in a thriving village the size of Gu Yue Village, eating mushrooms and underground plants.
What was significant was that they had managed to find a branch from a primeval spring that seeped deep underground, which was the basis for their settlement.
Because there was little in the way of plants so deep underground, they had become rather talented stonemasons. They were able to mold rocks and stone almost as easy as someone would clay - and this became the basis for their civilization.
Most of their houses were not made of bamboo, but rather, of either mud or in the case of their wealthier members, carved from the stone itself.
Light was nonexistent down here. The gentle glow from the primeval spring was barely enough to see, let alone rear plants or, building upon that - animals like cows that ate plants.
Some of the members turned towards using small glowing crystals for light instead, but this was still nothing compared to the radiance of the sun in all of its glory.
While the surface humans had neglected Gu Master Cultivation entirely as they feared that it would make society unequal (to Fang Yuan's great annoyance), these Deep Dwellers had not. Even some Rank 3 Gu Masters had emerged, cultivating mainly Earth and Dark Path gu worms.
Society was not as unequal as it was in places like Gu Yue Village however, the lack of outside threats meant that Gu Master Cultivation was seen more as a means of self-improvement rather than a necessity. Those who were chosen to be Gu Masters considered it their civic duty to help those who weren't. They were considered 'special' but not excessively so to the point where they had significantly higher social status. This meant there wasn't that much tension between the two groups.
But because of this, the incentives for advancing among the ranks was also low.
Although fights could break out among the villagers, they rarely killed each other. No one wanted to leave the warmth of the settlement they had created, because they had all learned to fear the surrounding darkness. And so, the Gu Masters didn't just wipe out the mortal villagers.
Because they lacked sunlight, their skin was pale and thin as paper and their veins were visible quite clearly on a glance. With time, Fang Yuan wondered if they would evolve significantly differently than the people living above. Would their eyesight get worse as eyes were of little use down there?
They had even begun to worship the personification darkness as a kind of three-headed creature that they revered.
Fang Yuan mused that they probably couldn't survive under the sun anymore given their current physiology even if they wanted to go up to the surface.
"I've never seen anything like this before," he noted.
Some clans used Earth Path methods to burrow underground but stayed connected to the surface. These people had committed entirely to the depths and this had greatly changed their society.
The younger generation viewed the surface as a myth. They wouldn't understand the concept of what the 'sun' was even if they were told this point blank.
With that said, not all things were good here. There were a few key issues that Fang Yuan noted their civilization was either suffering from, or going to suffer from.
The first was that they were quickly becoming illiterate. In the low luminescence of the underground, writing had become a lost art. Anyone who tried to read in such low light without any gu worms to help them was without a doubt eventually go blind.
Without sight, books were rather useless. They had not yet thought of anything resembling braille.
Because of this, books were no longer written.
This was a problem as most information was passed down through writing. Even in clans who had gu worms to transmit information, they still relied on the written word to keep the information down to a large extent, for example, in the clan records and to maintain bureaucracy. One could not use gu worms for everything.
On top of which, many gu worms stored information in the form of writing, especially at the lower ranks.
Because of this, the youth of the Deep Dwellers were all nearly illiterate. Although they had a few Rank 3 Gu Masters, only verbal traditions could guide the next generation. Records of gu worms and how they were used - valuable information - was hard to come by unless one was related to someone who knew them beforehand.
This could hamper the growth of geniuses among the Deep Dwellers. When the old guard died out, the new generation would have no idea about life on the surface as it was.
The second issue was regarding food. Moss and mushrooms were fine for a small settlement, but if Fang Yuan wanted to stimulate their growth, he would need to give them a better food source. There were animals that lurked down there in the darkness, but feasting on creatures like bats were far from ideal.
The biggest issue that arose was widespread vitamin D deficiency from lack of sunlight, causing bone deformities and other illnesses.
How to solve this?
Fang Yuan had a flash of inspiration then - he could move one of the milk springs from Bei Gu Mountain into the cavern!
It was an indirect way of interfering that would allow the only society in his aperture that actually valued Gu Master Cultivation to survive.
Ever since the incident with the Jade Eye Stone Monkeys, he was rather reluctant to make any major changes.
The unique experiences of these people were what set them apart and what made them important. Living underground in an area devoid of light led to a strange kind of society the development of which was going to drive the Integration Formation that a normal village couldn't.
However, these people were isolated - giving him the advantage that whatsoever he managed to change here, it would likely remain isolated to this cavern. It was easier to stop his interferences from amplifying and spreading into aspects he hadn't thought of.
Secondly, he felt it was worth interfering here. He needed Gu Masters in the future, and this was the only real group on Fang Yuan Continent that was nurturing them to any extent.
At the very least, he could release some Ambition Gu here. He had only done so on the surface, but these people might be able to benefit from them a bit more.
Fang Yuan then did some more tinkering with the formation around the Emotion Lilies before realizing that he was not getting anywhere soon with them, and that it was best to rest for now.
And so, he took a nap in the Mushroomman Blessed Land.