Boom
With a sudden explosion, a small silkworm, gray in color and no larger than a little finger, slowly formed into existence.
Fang Yuan took a glance at the silkworm, his expression turning into a frown.
"Master, this... this is amazing!" The land spirit, a young man, could barely contain his excitement, his eyes fixed on the silkworm.
"Master, are you perhaps a reincarnation of a venerable? Or else... how can we explain this?"
The spirit held the silkworm close, rubbing it in awe.
"We've refined a Rank 9 Gu!"
"Woooh!" The land spirit cheered, carefully holding the tiny gu in his hands.
But Fang Yuan, on the other hand, only frowned, his gaze shifting between the new Gu and his second aperture, which contained the Rank 8 Fixed Immortal Travel Gu. He sighed deeply.
"So it's fate, after all," he murmured, his voice heavy with realization.
"Since the Fate Gu hasn't been destroyed, no venerable can exist in this world—even if it's just a 'fake' venerable."
He glanced again at the newly refined Rank 9 Calamity Repelling Gu, shaking his head.
Though he managed to refine this Rank 9 Gu in under ten tries, he couldn't refine a Rank 9 Fixed Immortal Travel Gu after a hundred attempts. That just showed the overwhelming power of Heaven's Will.
Despite using the Human Isolation style, Fang Yuan was still unable to refine a Rank 9 Gu that could help him generate the Yellow Apricot Immortal Essence. But that didn't mean there was no hope.
"It's just... so troublesome," he sighed again, before calling out to the land spirit, "Little Treasure, come here."
Little Treasure, the land spirit, joyfully holding the Rank 9 Gu, walked over to Fang Yuan. "Master, do you need more materials?"
Fang Yuan shook his head. "Do you have any Primeval Stones?"
Little Treasure's face fell as he shook his head. "Sorry, master, I don't have any Primeval Stones… but… I do have Immortal Stones."
With that, the land spirit opened a space in the grotto heaven, revealing a massive mountain of large, sparkling Immortal Stones.
Fang Yuan's eyes widened in disbelief at the sheer quantity.
"There are over six hundred billion Immortal Stones in this grotto heaven," Little Treasure said proudly.
Fang Yuan nodded, his expression a mix of awe and resignation.
"No wonder the demon venerable who once owned this grotto heaven was so rich and powerful. He was probably the wealthiest and most influential venerable in history."
Fang Yuan shook his head. "No wonder he could buy all those Immortal Gu at auction like it was nothing."
In the future, when Fang Yuan had auctioned some of his own Immortal Gu, the demon venerable had bought them all at absurd prices, leaving Fang Yuan speechless at his extravagance.
Now, Fang Yuan could understand why. Those Immortal Stones had been gathered for over 300,000 years. A single Immortal Essence Stone was considered precious by most Gu Immortals, but spending all of these stones for even a thousand years wouldn't come close to depleting them.
"It's alright," Fang Yuan said, trying to shake off the thoughts of the demon venerable's wasteful spending. He looked around the grotto heaven, noticing the numerous Immortal Gu placed as decoration and the rare materials stacked on the side—evidence of the vast wealth here.
However, there wasn't a single beast or living being in sight, just the land spirit and the treasures.
Fang Yuan spoke again. "Since refining my second aperture isn't possible right now, I need to get ready to go out and ascend to become a Gu Immortal soon."
"Collect these mortal Gu worms for me. I need to prepare."
"You can work with her." As he spoke, a fog-like wolf girl materialized from his aperture, her expression pouting. "Master, I don't want to work with him."
The land spirit, seeing the wolf girl, grinned. "Don't be like that. If you work with me, I'll give you a taste of heavenly wine."
The wolf girl's eyes lit up. Land spirits couldn't normally eat or drink, but this special wine could be consumed by them.
Still, she snorted and said, "Even though you're a pervert, I'll work with you because my master said so."
"Pervert!" The little wolf girl muttered, but the young man didn't take offense.
Fang Yuan simply watched the interaction between them without comment.
...
Let the world burn, or drown in desire — what is that to me?
Brothel or battlefield, ash or ecstasy — all are the same to me.
Let them rot in their lust, drunk on false purpose and fleeting pleasure.
I walk my path alone— untouched by gold, unshaken by blight.
So long as I claim my truth, let heaven crack and hell rise — I remain free.
....