"Hmm," Liu Nan said, not even bothering to respond to Fang Yuan's greeting.
"Brother Fang Yuan, do you happen to know that person?" An Zhou asked.
"Indeed, I do," Fang Yuan said. "From some time ago."
"All right then!" the land spirit said loudly, clapping its hands. Its body seemed to radiate excitement. "So we finally have the conditions met: twelve Rank 6 Gu Immortals. I know how difficult it is to cultivate at the beginning, so I wanted this inheritance to only go towards Rank 6 Gu Immortals, not those at rank seven or higher. And so, I left behind clues in various parts of the world for people to come here at the right time. And I'm glad to see that we finally have our twelve contestants. The tournament can begin!"
"However, as I'm sure most of you know from the details in the clues regarding where this inheritance was going to be opened, I wanted each of you to have a mortal Gu Master as a partner as well. We won't just be having twelve contestants, but rather, we'll be having 24 contestants in twelve teams. Each of you must pair up with a mortal Gu Master for the upcoming rounds of the tournament. Once the teams are decided, there is no going back!" the land spirit said.
Fang Yuan removed a large glob of yellowish liquid from his aperture. It was larger than the size of an ordinary person.
"Is that the product of the Honeydrop Seal Gu?" An Rui asked, seeing a shadow within the droplet. It was a type of gu worm that could be used to store living creatures, keeping them preserved for a certain period of time in a state of hibernation before they would have to be taken out. It could stop aging as well as metabolism to a great extent.
"Indeed, it is," Fang Yuan said, undoing the seal.
Bai Ning Bing popped out, Fang Yuan catching her before placing her on the cloudy floor. Bai Ning Bing snorted, glaring at Fang Yuan angrily as she glanced around the place. "Is this the destination? Are we finally here?"
"Indeed, we are," Fang Yuan said. He had been forced to keep Bai Ning Bing not only within hibernation but also within the Dollhouse House, secluded within the White Heaven of his immortal aperture. All of these were precautions to prevent her from contaminating the Integration Formation while he brought her here. Her thoughts were greatly slowed, and the contamination to the overall project was minimal. Right now, though, Fang Yuan would need Bai Ning Bing for the upcoming contest.
"Yes, that's right! It's not just rank six Gu Immortals who should benefit from my generosity, but mortals as well. I was a mortal once, too, and would have died a mortal if not for my uncle's generosity. And so, this tournament will consist of multiple rounds with you all, so allow me to explain the rules. The tournament will consist of a large number of rounds. The competitions will range from refinement to fighting, to even things such as who can eat the most! However, I also do not want this to be a winner-takes-all sort of situation. Even though the top prize for this tournament will naturally be becoming my master and becoming the owner of this blessed land, there are multiple consolation prizes. I will be setting up a scoreboard based on points that you gain from winning in these events. Not only that, but everyone will leave with a share of consolation prizes to help them with their cultivation."
A scoreboard had quickly been set up, and everyone was given the appropriate information type gu worms to use to access it.
Before things began, An Zhou asked him, "Brother Fang Yuan, are you sure that that is the mortal you want to use?"
Other than Fang Yuan, all eleven Rank 6 Gu Immortals had someone who was at rank five to be their mortal partner. Fang Yuan was the only one who had someone at Rank 4. Granted, Bai Ning Bing was at Rank 4 peak stage right now, but there was still a gap of a major realm between her and the other contestants.
"It is fine," Fang Yuan said.
As it was, he didn't have many better candidates. He did not come from a clan who had nurtured someone else that he could use. For the time being, the only other people he could have really relied upon were either Shang Xin Ci or Fang Zheng.
He couldn't bring Shang Xin Ci here because bringing her here would mean involving the Shang Clan in this inheritance. Also, Shang Xin Ci was still a greenhorn and not nearly skilled enough for anything within the tournament that Fang Yuan would require.
As for Fang Zheng, it was much of the same problem; he was just not skilled enough, and Fang Yuan required Fang Zheng for a purpose later on.
His aperture only seemed to be populated by fools who didn't understand the point of Gu Master cultivation, and he couldn't take them out anyway.
Given all of that, he only had Bai Ning Bing to rely upon.
"Like I said," the land spirit said, "I will be giving you all consolation prizes, regardless of whether you come in first or last. No one will come out of here empty-handed. Let us start with this!"
All 12 Gu Immortals were then handed a small amount of Rank 6 immortal refinement material. Many of them began chatting with each other.
"Of course, I'll be keeping these consolation prizes away in storage. While I like competition, if any of you happen to break the rules... just understand, losing is fine. There's no shame in losing and fighting fairly," the land spirit continued, but then it glared at all of them with nasty eyes, its earlier joviality completely gone. "However, if any one of you cheats or I see any of you using unfair means, then I will simply eject you from this tournament, and everything that you have gotten, including participation prizes, will be forfeit. Is that understood?"
"Understood," they all said said.
This blessed land was massive, merely being a small step away from becoming rank eight. Even after his death the land spirit had inherited Tian Ji's refinement path skills and had continued to refine and trade for gu worms. Without a doubt, he must have had at least several hundred immortal Gu recipes, and he would have several Immortal Gu as well. Some of them may not have even been from Tian Ji himself, but rather from his uncle Tian Nan, one of the Refinement Supreme Grandmasters of the eras long past.
With that said, Fang Yuan and many of the others felt that the apple didn't fall far from the tree. Tian Nan was oftentimes called 'Old Eccentric Tian Nan' for a reason, and it seemed that his nephew was as eccentric - just in a different kind of way.
"All right," the land spirit said, clapping his hands together. "Let us start without further ado. Let us go ahead with the first round of this tournament: refinement! The rules are as follows: I want each of you to refine for me a Rank 5 gu worm. However, although the Immortals may direct the mortals when it comes to refining the gu worm, they may not directly interfere in the process through refinement path methods or the like. If you happen to show me a gu worm that I've never seen before, you will get bonus points, naturally. Succeeding quickly will give further points as well. And now, let us start!"
One of the contestants raised their hand. "Is it possible for us to do so in seclusion? I don't want other people to see some of the techniques I have."
The other Gu Immortals had similar concerns. It was one thing to show the land spirit their refinement technique or recipe, but to give it to everyone else was another matter. Not just refinement techniques or recipes - the materials used by themselves could give important clues as to what they did.
"That is fine as well. You may all go into your own isolated places," the land spirit said.
The land spirit waved his hands, and twelve different clouds emerged all around the blessed land in a clockwise fashion, and each of the teams went to a particular cloud.