Humans saw the powerful bodies of beasts, their immense lifespans, and their gigantic sizes, and thus desired to possess what they possessed.
Transformation path developed upon this foundation. Transforming a human's tiny nails into claws capable of shattering rocks, turning a bare body into one covered in thick fur, and changing a small frame into a colossal form rivaling mountains.
Through this, humanity managed to obtain strength equal to — or even surpassing — the original beasts.
Then, humanity gazed upon the heavens and desired to reach them. And once they reached them, they desired to surpass them. This was humanity's greed and its endless desire to grow and obtain everything that could possibly be obtained.
Human path revolved around increasing surplus while reducing deficiency, making the strong even stronger while giving the weak a chance to grow and evolve. Heaven path, meanwhile, revolved around reducing surplus while compensating for deficiency. The strong would face calamities and tribulations, while the weak would perish so that no deficiency remained.
Human path and heaven path opposed one another, each possessing its own unique strengths. But in terms of potential, these two paths stood above all others.
By refining Farmer Gu, Fang Yuan was going against the heavens, walking contrary to the traditional current of immortal Gu Master cultivation. By concentrating power and resources upon a single individual, he desired for all surplus to belong to him alone while denying deficiency altogether.
Fang Yuan refined more Farmer Gu and Pill Refiner Gu, then distributed numerous earth path, wood path, and refinement path Gu worms to them.
There were around twenty Pill Refiner Gu, and Fang Yuan had exhausted most of his resources refining them, but he was extremely satisfied. As for Farmer Gu, many of them had been refined, whether rank four or rank five — Fang Yuan did not care either way.
With Farmer Gu, grasses and flowers would flourish in abundance with excellent health and quality, while the underground environment would become rich with resources, ores, and Gu worms. Likewise, Pill RefinerGu would continuously refine Gu worms in large quantities, with the primary focus being relic Gu — especially golden relic Gu and purple crystal relic Gu.
The world possessed no recipe for relic Gu, whether it was green copper relic Gu or purple crystal relic Gu. They could only naturally form through heaven and earth.
But Fang Yuan possessed the recipes.
Originally, relic Gu was a human path Gu worm, and with grandmaster attainment in human path alongside his refinement path attainment, deducing every recipe from rank one to rank five was not difficult.
The relic Gu trade was immensely profitable.
Especially since the investment was minimal while the profits were enormous. There was no primary seller of relic Gu, and if Fang Yuan flooded the market with massive quantities of relic Gu, he would eventually become the main supplier and monopolize the entire trade!
"You can leave matters as they are for now…"
Fang Yuan spoke to the many replicas that looked exactly like him. Those replicas nodded before heading off to work. These Gu worms could not produce primeval essence on their own, so Fang Yuan had to store primeval essence within them beforehand.
But this was extremely easy. Because they were fundamentally Gu worms, he could assign them to the land spirit, allowing them to benefit from its endless supply of primeval essence!
Fang Yuan nodded in satisfaction while Little Hu Immortal appeared beside him, staring at his clones with curiosity and suspicion.
"Master, these clones all look exactly like you. So scary!"
Fang Yuan's soft laughter echoed in Little Hu Immortal's ears, causing her to raise her head and look at him with her large watery eyes. Fang Yuan patted her fox ears and spoke.
"They are merely Gu worms. What difference does it make whether a Gu worm resembles you or not, as long as it has a use?.."
"Master is wise!.. Every Gu worm has a different appearance, yet we still use them even if they look frightening or disgusting… but I find these Gu worms especially scary. What if one of them claimed to be you?.. That would be incredibly confusing."
Fang Yuan gently stroked Little Hu Immortal's head, but instead of answering her, he asked:
"What about the swamp crab and Immortal Crane Sect? Any response?"
Little Hu Immortal wagged her tail happily before replying:
"I already processed the swamp crab using your method, Master. It's truly amazing!.. I estimate we can earn thirty immortal essence stones from selling the immortal materials… As for Immortal Crane Sect, they sent a Gu Master who is waiting outside. Shall I let him in?"
Fang Yuan nodded.
"Yes, let us meet him. But stay alert."
Little Hu Immortal transported them outside Dang Hun Mountain and toward the entrance of the blessed land, which slowly opened. From it, a Gu Master entered.
This Gu Master wore the robes of Immortal Crane Sect, and around his waist hung a belt marked with the number "5".
"I am Immortal Crane Sect elder Wang Ji Ru. I am here to represent the supreme elders and Immortal Crane Sect in negotiations with Lord Fang Yuan."
Cold sweat covered Elder Wang Ji Ru's forehead as he spoke nervously while looking at Fang Yuan and the land spirit.
All Gu worms, whether rank one or rank five, had already been suppressed by the land spirit. If Fang Yuan wished to kill him, there was nothing he could do.
"I represent Immortal Crane Sect. Surely Fang Yuan will not kill me, right?"
Fang Yuan let out a loud snort toward Elder Wang Ji Ru before speaking:
"Cut the nonsense and get to the point!"
"Ah, Lord Fang Yuan. You accepted Immortal Crane Sect's proposal to trade mutated foxes and rockmen, but the quantities are simply too large. Thus, we wish to use Earth Hole Gu, if milord does not mind!"
Fang Yuan argued with Elder Wang Ji Ru, claiming that Immortal Crane Sect might attempt to use certain schemes through Earth Hole Gu and that he could not trust them. The elder responded that there was no need for concern and guaranteed that Immortal Crane Sect would provide the Earth Hole Gu.
At that point, Fang Yuan stated that he did not trust any Gu refined by them and would therefore refine the Earth Hole Gu himself. Wang Ji Ru attempted to persuade him, saying that Immortal Crane Sect was a righteous path sect and one of the ten great ancient sects, and would never do such a thing.
But Fang Yuan countered that they had planted poison in his brother's mind and sowed discord between them, making him unable to trust them at all, giving every kind of excuse imaginable. In the end, Wang Ji Ru could only agree at a loss.
"But Lord Fang Yuan, refining rank five Gu is extremely difficult. How long will it take?"
Fang Yuan waved his hand casually, and a pair of rank five Gu worms immediately flew out and landed in Wang Ji Ru's hands.
Wang Ji Ru felt utterly dumbfounded as he stared at Fang Yuan with a stunned expression.
"So he had already refined them long ago and was merely waiting for the right moment?"
Wang Ji Ru was truly shocked. From Fang Yuan's actions, it seemed as though he had anticipated the entirety of this discussion beforehand and prepared sufficiently in advance — he had even refined Earth Hole Gu already! And it was obvious he had refined them a long time ago, otherwise how could he behave with such natural ease?!
Wang Ji Ru could not help but nod respectfully toward Fang Yuan before departing.
Outside, He Feng Yang received him and immediately asked about the matter. Wang Ji Ru did not dare conceal anything and recounted nearly every detail, even his own internal thoughts.
He Feng Yang snorted in dissatisfaction as he said:
"This Fang Yuan does possess some skill, I admit it. He clearly has accomplishments in refinement path, but his intelligence is truly remarkable. He is a rare genius… but unfortunately, he is merely a mortal."
"Yes, Lord He Feng Yang. Fang Yuan is nothing before Immortal Crane Sect. It is only a matter of time before he submits to us."
He Feng Yang was pleased by Wang Ji Ru's flattery and thus said:
"Good. You have done well, and the sect will not skimp on rewarding you."
Wang Ji Ru felt overjoyed and repeatedly thanked He Feng Yang before taking his leave.