The greatest argument against Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable being the originator of Yellow Treasure Heaven was the fact that Fang Yuan had met the man - or at least his will - and he had made no mention of it. It was unlikely that Thieving Heaven would tell him everything, but he had made no mention of Yellow Treasure Heaven either.
Could it be that the inheritance within the Western Desert was the key to Yellow Treasure Heaven? Unlikely, and he wouldn't know until he got there.
Fang Yuan sent his Will into Yellow Treasure Heaven. There were thousands of Wills within Yellow Treasure Heaven left behind by people who were both buying and selling.
Fang Yuan glanced through the markets. While there were some things of interest, it was pointless to think about buying them because he didn't have Immortal Essence Stones to trade with. Some people could simply barter, but that would require one to have something the other person needed- something extremely inconvenient to arrange, and so few people actually went through with this kind of thing.
The only real exception was trading Immortal Gu. Immortal Gu could not ordinarily be purchased, being unique existences and highly valuable; they could only be exchanged for other Immortal Gu.
Fang Yuan fed Rank 6 Ambition Gu another bead of Grape Green Immortal Essence, and it spat out a massive number of mortal Ambition Gu.
It was time to see if he could find a market for them. He did not know if there was a use for Rank 5 Ambition Gu, so he kept them aside. Their low numbers suggested they were valuable, but if he couldn't justify what they did, how was he going to put them on the marketplace or sell them? Naturally no one would buy from someone who hadn't the slightest clue what it was they were selling.
Instead, he turned to the Rank 4 and Rank 3 Ambition Gu as potential goods to sell. These would be quite valuable to the leaders of Super Forces or those who had to take care of their descendants.
Not only could they be sold to those who wanted to raise up their mortal offspring or others that they doted upon, they could also be used as the 'carrot' via which many Righteous Path forces tried to dangle in front of their members to motivate them. An easy example was Wei Yang - who served Shang Yan Fei because he was stuck at Rank 3 because of his B-grade aptitude. Shang Yan Fei had promised him an aptitude-raising gu worm if he could find it - but a Rank 3 Ambition Gu would also partially solve this problem.
The aptitude-raising gu worms would still be preferentially given to Shang Clan Clansmen, but this put a 'lower tier' of rewards beneath them that could motivate many external elders. After all, advancing through Ambition Gu didn't solve the problem of low aptitude when it came to fights, and such Gu Masters would be weaker than those who had climbed up via ordinary means. It was a way of rewarding outsiders while also keeping them partially suppressed.
Fang Yuan placed his will within Yellow Treasure Heaven and decided to trade under the moniker of 'Great Strength True Martial Jr.' a reference to the original The Legends of Ren Zu.
He placed 100 Rank 4 Ambition Gu and 1,000 Rank 3 Ambition Gu on the market, making an announcement throughout Yellow Treasure Heaven: "Selling mortal Ambition Gu! Yes, that's correct - the Ambition Gu based from The Legends of Ren Zu. Come here to learn more about the details of said gu worms."
Fang Yuan was an experienced salesperson. He had accumulated a large fortune even when he had been a mortal Gu Master, though it had ultimately been taken from him through force, his business acumen was second to none. He remained quite adept with sales tactics. If he wanted to sell this new type of Gu worm, he needed to generate interest, and there was no better way than attaching the tagline: The Legends of Ren Zu.
The Legends of Ren Zu were famous throughout the world, even among Variant Humans. Any gu worms mentioned within it, even mortal ones, was incomparably valuable, as they often held hidden secrets. Fang Yuan's announcement quickly drew several people lining up.
"What can it do?"
"What is this?"
"The treasure light is two and five meters! This is certainly something at least mildly valuable."
One of the special features of Yellow Treasure Heaven was the presence of Treasure Light Gu. Treasure Light Gu came in both mortal and immortal variations. Its ability was simple: it would emit a light based on how valuable a treasure was. Because of this, it could detect fakes and genuine articles with ease. The main disadvantage of using Treasure Light Gu was its limited range; one often needed to be right next to the object to detect it. Either that, or use gu worms to expand its reach.
However, in Yellow Treasure Heaven, that was not an issue since everyone was simply buying and selling, and it served as a guarantee for buyers. The higher the worth of the item, the greater and brighter would be the treasure light emitted.
Yellow Treasure Heaven had Rank 8 Treasure Light Gu - its powers were quite wonderous and it was extraordinarily hard to fool. This was important as Yellow Treasure Heaven had no refund or exchange policy, and this provided some guarantee to buyers that what they were trading was genuine. It also gave people a rough idea of what certain things were worth - there were too many things that could be sold to make anything approximating a working catalogue of them.
Fang Yuan was only selling mortal Gu, so he did not expect the value to be too high. With that said, the Rank 3 batch still displayed two meters of rainbow-colored treasure light. As for the Rank 4 Ambition Gu, even though the quantity was ten times lower than the Rank 3, the light emitted was five meters!
As buyers flocked to him, Fang Yuan simply updated the information regarding what they could do so he didn't have to repeat himself over and over.
Discussion soon began brewing within Yellow Treasure Heaven.
"So these can be used to break through major realms?"
"Yes, just as documented in The Legends of Ren Zu. What did Ambition do there? It broke through the crystal walls of one's aperture, didn't it? And it helped Great Strength True Martial escape!"
"Too bad that they are single use though... tch! I have several hundred children and grandchildren, I would need to buy several sets for them."
"If they were multiple use though, the buyer probably wouldn't sell them though..."
In the mortal world, this would be a peerless treasure.
For those who had poor aptitude, it could make the impossible possible. For those who had good aptitude, it would make the possible even easier to obtain. Those geniuses with high aptitude could soar even faster. Everyone had a limited lifespan - if one could get five extra years out of being a Rank 5 Gu Master, wouldn't one take it?
"Three Immortal Essence Stones for these hundred Rank 4 Ambition Gu," someone made an offer rather quickly.
Fang Yuan did not respond immediately, waiting to see if there would be other offers.
As he was considering the first offer, another will brushed past and offered four Immortal Essence Stones.
Currently they had nothing to go on save for Fang Yuan's word and the light from Treasure Light Gu to see what they were worth. As time went on and they saw what it could do, Fang Yuan expected demand to increase.
"I can give you five and a half Immortal Essence Stones for both the Rank 4 and Rank 3 Ambition gu worms," another Will said. The Will in question called itself 'Ambition-Seeking Immortal' and did not identify itself as a member of a Super Force or sect.
"Friend, the Rank 4 gu worms might be sold for four Immortal Essence Stones, but the Rank 3 are worth at least two! Six stones!" Fang Yuan countered.
"Deal," Ambition-Seeking Immortal said.