Chapter 43 Developing

Before I could alter my blessed land, I made my way back to the formless blessed land. This time, I was much quicker and had fewer worries about most of the dangers as I made my way back.

After a few hours, I arrived and was able to enter after sending a message to the formless land spirit. "Master, you've succeeded!" His blue form flew around me until he turned into his old man form. "That's right. Now, give me immortal Qi Shape gu."

He handed me the Qi Shape Immortal Gu, and I was able to refine it with ease since his will inside assisted in the process. "Good. Now, how has the progress of the Drain Blood Gu gone?" The formless land spirit took out the Drain Blood Gu, which now had the aura of a rank 5 Gu. "It's been going well, Master. About a week ago, it reached rank 5. I wonder how long it will take to reach rank 6. Haaaaaa, if only one of my Gu could reach the immortal level just by feeding it."

I took the Gu and observed it for a moment. "Hmm, it should take over a month of constant feeding to rank it up. Be sure to feed it continuously." The sooner it ranks up, the less I'll have to worry about feeding it once it reaches the immortal level. I handed him back the Drain Blood Gu and flew toward Qi Water Sea with the formless blessed land spirit alongside me.

"Are you looking for something, Master? Perhaps you wish to take the multi-shining trouts?" the formless land spirit asked. "No, they're doing very well here. Maybe in the future, but not now. Do you have any carp fish here?" The formless land spirit nodded quickly.

"Oh, I do indeed. They're Qi Carp, a basic Qi path fish. They can live just about anywhere, but then again, all carp can. The only bad thing is that they're extremely weak, so everything else eats them. If it wasn't for their strong reproductive rates, they'd be wiped out."

Yes, it's very true; carp are generally weak and mainly used as a food source for other beings. That's why I want them—so I can use them as the base species to create Dragonfish.

"Capture them for me alive and set them aside. In the meantime, I'll be in the Masked Blessed Land once I get some materials from here." The formless land spirit nodded and went to do what I asked, while I flew to the Whole Earth Gu after gathering some resources and activated it.

Stepping into the Masked Blessed Land, the Masked Spirit flew right over to me. "Congratulations on your ascension, Master." I raised my hand to stop him. "How has the formation progress been?"

The Masked Spirit sighed loudly.

"Sorry, Master, but I was only able to get about 34% complete. I've been struggling with a certain part." The Masked Spirit had a huge frown upon his mask as he spoke.

"That's fine. I'll take it over from here." The Masked Spirit handed me a will with all its memories from working on the formation.

Using Gu from the Masked Immortal, I created Masked Wills to assist me and refined the Gu inside of my blessed land. I took my time setting up the formation slowly to ensure no mistakes were made. While my wills created Gu to add to the formation, I did have to refine some Gu personally since they were difficult to refine to higher ranks, and I didn't have many resources to waste on the refining process.

The Gu that took most of my time to refine to higher ranks was the Fast Forward Gu. It was a key Gu in the formation, and I needed it to reach rank 5—along with several others. To succeed, I even put up Primeval Dao Water in the Players Shop and exchanged it for Time Path materials. Any materials I couldn't use as is were turned into Dao Water by the Masked Spirit using Liquid Gu.

With enough materials and my strong soul, I was able to refine the Fast Forward Gu to rank 5, along with others. Using my wills, I had each will complete one part of the refinement and pass it to the next will, which was experienced in the next stage of the refinement. Just like in the story, but instead of hairymen, I used my wills that never tired.

Like a well-oiled machine, my ability to set up the formation sped up. I was able to get it to 70% completion, though I lost track of time while doing so. The Masked Spirit said that I had been working on it for about a month.

..... Meanwhile, inside the MC's Blessed Land....

A Masked Will hovered over the large lake in the center of the blessed land. Inside were a bunch of orange carp that looked like large-sized goldfish. These carp were originally the Qi Carp that the Formless Spirit had handed over.

Before, they were light gray in color, but now they had been slowly changing. The Masked Will activated a mortal method, and from the sky, small red beads fell into the lake. The once calm lake became like a water rapids as the carp all broke through the surface to devour the beads.

The beads were slowly refining the carp, turning them into Dragonfish. This method was never named. Originally, I was going to name it "You Are What You Eat," but it was too long. So, it went unnamed. These carp will soon turn into full-fledged Dragonfish, but there was a quicker way to get full-blooded Dragonfish.

The Masked Will activated a mortal Gu that looked like a green bean and dropped it. Before it hit the lake, the Gu exploded, and a pink mist spread over the lake. The surface of the lake no longer had carp jumping out to eat, but the water was still turbulent.

The Gu was Estrus Gu, an Enchantment Path Gu that made beasts go into heat. Carp already had high reproductive rates, and now, with Estrus Gu, it would speed up the process even more. Soon, they'll turn into full-blooded Dragonfish, and with young carp mixed in with Dragonfish genes, it will be perfect food for the adults turning into full fledge Dragonfish.

.... Back to the MC....

While the Masked Spirit was assisting me with the formation, the Formless Land Spirit was making as many jars of wine as possible using Wine Gu. I even made sure to give him Liquid Gu to create various types of wine, using any excess food from both blessed lands and even buying materials from the Players Shop.

So, lots of barrels of wine were stocked up. Only a small amount was used to feed the rank 1 Liquor Worms. All I had to do was create even higher quality wine to feed them less, compared to using lower-quality wine. While I was working on the formation, a Masked Will of mine flew over to me and waited until I looked over at it to return to me.

Taking the Masked Will back into me, I learned what it needed to report. This Masked Will was part of a group tasked with refining Sound Path Gu for me in the next game event. I had some Sound Path Gu recipes since Sound Path flourished because of the players, but most of the Gu I had were defensive types. However, I did have a few that weren't. Since they were Sound Path Gu, it was much more difficult for my Masked Wills to refine them to higher ranks.

I found myself creating more Masked Wills to replenish the ones lost in failed refinement attempts for these Gu than for any other group of wills I was using. But it was necessary because, just like the Strength Path event, where only Strength Path Gu were usable, only Sound Path Gu would be usable in this event.

Time went by as I devoted my personal attention to the formation, until there were only three pieces left. I placed a Green Grape Immortal Essence Bead in a small hole in the ground at the center of the formation. The Masked Spirit looked to be in pain as I did so, since this was one of his Immortal Essence Beads.

With a power source, the formation could now be activated, and I did just that. The Gu formation activated, and from the sides of the formation, where I had placed several wine barrels, they were slowly being drained. At another side of the formation, a large container of Qi Dao Water that I had taken from the Formless Blessed Land was being drained.

In the small hole where the Immortal Essence Bead lay, a small amount of water was filling the hole. "Master, may I ask what this formation does?" the Masked Spirit asked, standing next to me. I took out the Steep Tea Gu from my Blessed Land and placed it in the small amount of water. "The main purpose of this stage of the formation is to refine this Gu to the Immortal level. Though it'll take some time, it will slowly refine it, and as long as I fuel it with materials and Immortal Essence, it will definitely reach the Immortal rank."

In my last life, once I realized I couldn't have the Immortal version of the Liquor Worm, I created Steep Tea Gu. By then, I was an Immortal and had the backing of my sect. With their full support and the help of a Formation Path Immortal, this formation was created—to refine Steep Tea Gu to the Immortal level, and even beyond. Though it would require an Immortal-level Steep Tea Gu and some modifications to the formation, this formation is the foundation of an Immortal Gu House.

My sect wanted a Steep Tea Gu to reach the Immortal level just as much as I did. With it, we could advance Immortal Essence Beads to the next rank. Its ability only became more valuable as players advanced and died. Say a rank 7 player died and had to become a rank 6 Immortal again. With Steep Tea Gu, they could use their true strength much faster than without it. But the main reason the sect wanted to invest in Steep Tea Gu was to help several capable rank 7 Gu Immortals become quasi rank 8.

Rank 8 was the current peak of this world, so a sect with multiple quasi rank 8s would be one of the strongest forces alive. We reached the top, with only the original top forces rivaling us. Eventually, a few player sects came close, but the gap was always there.

For now, I'll focus on refining my Steep Tea Gu to the Immortal level. Once there, I'll be able to refine my Immortal Essence Beads to the next rank. With rank 7 essence, I'll be able to do many things. I'll even be able to roam and interact with other Immortals with no issues.

Most rank 6 Immortals have to be very wary of others. Rank 7 Immortals can't be underestimated; only a rank 8 could do so to them. But what if the rank 7 expert the rank 8 Immortal ran into was a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal? At that point, even a rank 8 would have his guard up.

Almost no one would mess with a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal. There have been too many times where they were messed with, only for them to come up with some scheme that ruined their enemies—or worse.