244 RI

Miao Ming Shen's expression did not change, but his eyes were carefully observing.

Zeng Luo Zi's action was part of his arrangements, he wanted to collect more valuable information.

Zeng Luo Zi's information path attainment was impressive even to Miao Ming Shen. With Zeng Luo Zi's move, Miao Ming Shen observed everyone and gained quite some insight.

"We have eight people, other than myself, Gui Qi Ye, Feng Jiang, and Immortal Hua Die, there are also Zeng Luo Zi, Tu Tou Tuo, Tong Hua, and Chu Ying."

Other than Zeng Luo Zi and Miao Ming Shen, Tong Hua and Tu Tou Tuo were also expressionless.

The rest had some sort of change in their expression at least.

Miao Ming Shen trusted Gui Qi Ye, Feng Jiang, and Immortal Hua Die the most, but in this trip, he did not inform them about this, so their reactions were genuine.

Miao Ming Shen had lots of interaction with Zeng Luo Zi, Tu Tou Tuo, and Tong Hua, he knew about their background, they were all rank seven experts that were rare in Eastern Sea.

In Eastern Sea, there was the highest number of lone immortals who are superior to those of other regions, because Eastern Sea was the most affluent in resources.

Miao Ming Shen's concern was Chu Ying. He had met this secluded cultivator several times, he left a deep impression on Miao Ming Shen. The truth was, Miao Ming Shen did not want to invite Chu Ying. But because Chu Ying and Ren Xiu Ping had a conflict long ago, because he saved the lives of Feng Jiang and Hua Die, and most importantly, because he seemed to have an abundant amount of lifespan Gu, all these reasons made Miao Ming Shen inclined to invite Chu Ying for this trip.

He was the only one who knew the location of the blue dragon whale. Therefore, all of the people he invited owed him a favor.

Miao Ming Shen wanted to cooperate more deeply with Fang Yuan. Forget the rest, just the amount of lifespan Gu that Fang Yuan had was extremely alluring to Miao Ming Shen.

Zeng Luo Zi's action made Chu Ying's expression change too.

As for Tu Tou Tuo and Tong Hua, it was unsure whether they were unaffected or pretending to put up a front.

Miao Ming Shen looked at everyone as he laughed heartily: "Zeng Luo Zi, you have good methods."

Tu Tou Tuo snorted while Tong Hua gave Zeng Luo Zi a cold stare.

Fang Yuan looked at Zeng Luo Zi with a surprised expression, but he was laughing coldly inside.

Zeng Luo Zi's gaze swept past Chu Ying, before meeting with Tu Tou Tuo and Tong Hua's gazes, he laughed heartily as he tossed out some information path mortal Gu.

The information path mortal Gu recorded the fine details of the alliance agreement, after inspecting them, the immortals nodded their heads in agreement, while also suggesting some changes.

Of course, these changes were small and negligible, Miao Ming Shen took charge as the leader and after coming to an agreement, they signed it using Zeng Luo Zi's methods.

Once the alliance agreement was made, everyone laughed as the atmosphere became less tense.

"It is time, let's go." Miao Ming Shen moved at lightning speed as the immortals followed him.

Miao Ming Shen flew in the sky for a while before diving into the sea.

"We can't hide in the sky, it is easy to find us. If Ren Xiu Ping learns of this expedition, he would not wait aimlessly. If we enter the sea, that means we are going to use the undercurrent..."

Fang Yuan speculated inwardly.

As expected, after a while, Miao Ming Shen led everyone to the bottom of the sea, they saw a huge python-like undercurrent crossing the trenches in the sea.

Miao Ming Shen's speed gradually slowed down until he arrived before the undercurrent.

Miao Ming Shen looked at Zeng Luo Zi: "Before entering the undercurrent, for our safety and to ensure we will not be separated, Zeng Luo Zi, I would like you to use that immortal killer move to mark us and allow us to sense each other's location."

This was another way to control them.

But Miao Ming Shen did not say it before the alliance agreement, he had said it before entering the undercurrent, nobody could rebuke his sensible words.

"Miao Ming Shen, are you sure?" Zeng Luo Zi pretended to hesitate.

Miao Ming Shen smiled: "We have already made the agreement, we need to work together sincerely, how can we not trust each other when exploring Paradise Earth's true inheritance?"

He said in a serious tone, Tu Tou Tuo, Tong Hua, and the rest nodded in agreement without objection.

Zeng Luo Zi looked around: "Then everyone, don't be nervous or defensive, my move has no offensive capability."

Fang Yuan mentally rolled his eyes as he said: "Go ahead and do it."

"Let me go first." Feng Jiang stepped forward at once.

Zeng Luo Zi first used the immortal killer move on Feng Jiang before the rest took turns.

After a while, all of the immortals were affected by the information path killer move, they could sense each other's locations.

"It is fine now, please follow me, the undercurrents are extremely fast, if you are slow by a step, you will be thrown far behind." Miao Ming Shen said as he entered the undercurrent.

Fang Yuan and the rest followed after him rapidly.

Eastern Sea's deep sea undercurrents did not have fixed paths, they were always changing and had various lengths, it was a display of the great power of nature.

Moving along the undercurrent, the immortals were faster than some movement immortal killer moves, and most importantly, they saved a lot of energy, only having to put up defenses.

If there were water path Gu Immortals who had methods to move rapidly in the undercurrents, they could even defend themselves while fighting enemies here.

Fang Yuan was towards the rear of the group, he found that this group's formation was quite specific. For example, Immortal Hua Die was right beside him, talking to him constantly.

Fang Yuan entertained her on the surface while secretly inspecting his information path dao marks.

After a while, Fang Yuan relaxed.

These information path dao marks were not hard to get rid of, Fang Yuan had lots of methods. He even had immortal killer moves like self cleansing to resist these information path restrictions.

But now was not the time.

"Everyone, we are about to go out, follow me!" Ahead, Miao Ming Shen suddenly spoke.

After several breaths, he left the undercurrent, the rest followed, nobody was left behind.

After leaving, Fang Yuan found that he was in an ordinary nameless sea area.

In the following journey, the immortals used several undercurrents to travel, if there were no undercurrents, they would travel under the sea as well, being extremely low profile. Even if they met desolate beasts or ancient desolate beasts, they avoided them. If they saw any resources, they would ignore them.

After several days of traveling, the group became more cohesive.

Miao Ming Shen was very skillful in human interaction, he solidified his position as the leader.

He was smiling when he suddenly froze, saying: "We are near!"

The immortals were energized.

Fang Yuan felt a little suspicious, he had used several investigative killer moves but could not sense anything. He could not see what method Miao Ming Shen had used or why he was so confident.

The blue dragon whale's existence was known to everyone. But its exact location was a mystery, Miao Ming Shen must have a unique method to know its location.

Fang Yuan had rank eight cultivation level with immense battle strength, it was possible to kill Miao Ming Shen and search his soul. But there were risks involved, Gu Immortals had all sorts of mysterious methods, if he possessed some strange abilities, there might be mishaps occurring.

Thus, Fang Yuan continued to lurk, it would not be too late if he attacked after getting into the blue dragon whale.

As they got closer, the immortals started to sense the peculiarity.

The seawater became more turbulent ahead, if earlier was a drizzle, it was a storm now, the obstruction was far greater.

Desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts increased in numbers, they could not help themselves in this huge storm.

Fang Yuan and the rest had to fight while moving, slaughtering a bunch of desolate beasts before they carved out a bloody path to move on.

At this time, everyone's strength was displayed.

Feng Jiang and Immortal Hua Die had the lowest battle strength, they were soon the ones who needed protection. Miao Ming Shen was leading the group as the vanguard, facing the greatest pressure.

Behind him were Tong Hua and Zeng Luo Zi.

Tu Tou Tuo was an earth path Gu Immortal, his battle strength was greatly restricted in this place.

Next was Fang Yuan, he had already turned into a tiny seahorse that was palm sized, he moved like lightning speed. His strength was only mid-tier in the group, it was nothing impressive.

The journey ahead was getting tougher, from the groups of beasts, figures of immemorial desolate beasts started to appear, the immortals could no longer move forward so casually.

The 'strongest' Miao Ming Shen was merely rank seven.

Following Miao Ming Shen, they flew out of the sea, arriving in the sky.

Rumble!

Intense tornadoes surged in the sky, lightning flashed continuously as thunder rumbled, dark clouds extended to the horizons.

Waves surged from the sea, they were thousands of feet tall.

The situation was just as dangerous as underwater!

Countless flying birds and eagles fought intensely amidst the thunder and lightning.

Blue charm lightning shadows flickered in the dark clouds, they were hunted down by immemorial desolate beast thunder phoenix.

Seeing the tail of the thunder phoenix flash by, Miao Ming Shen and the rest breathed in deeply in shock.

"Quick, follow me!" Miao Ming Shen transmitted, his body was covered in sweat, he flew forward rapidly.

The Gu Immortals all had their hidden methods, but this situation was too chaotic, the safest solution was to get away from this place as quickly as possible.

The thunder phoenix screeched as it discovered Fang Yuan and the rest, diving down.

The seawater erupted as an immemorial octopus large as a mountain moved its countless tentacles, treating Miao Ming Shen and the rest as prey for food.

"Damn it, damn it!" Miao Ming Shen's expression was distorted, he almost broke his teeth from gritting too hard.

Even before meeting the blue dragon whale, they were already in a desperate situation, the aura of death was close.

"Split up and run!" After hesitating for a while, Miao Ming Shen screamed.

The Gu Immortals quickly split up and ran.

Crack!

The thunder phoenix was extremely fast, arriving before Fang Yuan in the blink of an eye.

"Chu Ying!" Immortal Hua Die was dragged along by Gui Qi Ye, upon seeing this, she screamed in fear.

"Save me!" Fang Yuan shouted with a look of despair on his face.

Next, the thunder phoenix arrived in a flash, burning him to a crisp by lightning as he died on the spot.

"Chu Ying..." Seeing this, the remaining seven immortals were shocked, they escaped in an even greater panic.

-x-X-x-

Boom!

A grindstone-sized lightning ball crashed onto Miao Ming Shen's back and exploded intensely.

Guh.

Miao Ming Shen's body shook as he spit out blood, his pale face was even weaker now. He tried to concentrate and use an immortal killer move, vanishing from his spot and appearing several thousand steps away.

But even there, lightning weaved and beasts roared, the situation was truly at its worst.

"To think that I would die here!" Miao Ming Shen was filled with despair.

Wasn't Paradise Earth's true inheritance meant to be mild? Why was it so dangerous here?

These questions were no longer the point, Miao Ming Shen's immortal aperture had run out of immortal essence, even though he had his Immortal Gu left, his escape earlier was the final struggle he could muster.

The roaring of beasts almost burst his eardrums, the immemorial thunder phoenix attacked him again.

Around him, none of the other seven Gu Immortals were left, he had lasted the longest, the rest died one by one earlier.

"If I had known this, I would not have explored Paradise Earth's true inheritance. Dying before even meeting the blue dragon whale, hehehe, Ren Xiu Ping is going to die laughing after hearing this." Miao Ming Shen was filled with regret but he also felt very helpless.

In life, who could predict everything that was going to happen, even if it was a dead end ahead? Even for the great wisdom path Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, could she predict everything?

1"Come at me." Miao Ming Shen sighed, straightening his back as he faced the thunder phoenix's sharp claws.

With an intense pain, his vision fell into darkness.

"Did I die..." Miao Ming Shen was quite dazed.

At this time, a voice resounded: "Lord Miao Ming Shen, wake up, quickly wake up."

Miao Ming Shen opened his eyes.

He saw Immortal Hua Die's concerned look, she was standing beside him. Gui Qi Ye, Feng Jiang, and Tu Tou Tuo, even the one who died first, Chu Ying, were all around.

They were all smiling.

"You guys... what happened?" Miao Ming Shen's eyes suddenly flashed: "Wait, is this a test?"

"You are right, we came to that conclusion too." Tu Tou Tuo laughed loudly, replying.

"To think that the first test came before we entered the blue dragon whale, this was simply too dangerous." Miao Ming Shen shook his head, feeling some lingering fear as he inspected his injuries.

But he became stunned immediately.

It turned out that his injuries were all gone, his Gu worms were all intact, even his immortal essence had been restored to its original state.

"This?!" Miao Ming Shen raised his head: "Was it all an illusion?"

"Precisely."

"Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable is truly amazing, we did not notice it at all, we only realized after dying."

"Thinking about it, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was able to create Reincarnation Battlefield, this test was definitely not hard to put up."

"In history, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable created such killer moves to deal with the rank eight expert Combat Demon, Reincarnation Battlefield was the peak of this series, after so many years, Central Continent's ten great ancient sects has nurtured countless Gu Immortal experts using it!"

Miao Ming Shen sighed to himself as his mind got clearer: "I think this is Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's warning, after experiencing death, we can give up many obsessions."

"Lord is right, the feeling of death is truly hard to forget." Feng Jiang sighed.

"At the same time, this is a test of our battle strength. Miao Ming Shen, I have to admit that you are amazing, we saw your performance in the illusion, you lasted the longest among us." Tong Hua smiled.

Miao Ming Shen was joyful but also worried.

Joyful that his great strength had increased his authority in this group, but worried because most of his methods were all exposed. After all, he was facing death, why would he reserve his trump cards?

Miao Ming Shen suddenly thought of Fang Yuan, his gaze flashed: "Chu Ying, to think that I worried and felt aggrieved about you so deeply, yet you were the one who saved the most energy."

His words had deep meaning.

Fang Yuan sighed as he showed a bitter look of shame: "The truth is, I felt horrible when death approached, I was simply too unlucky, why did the immemorial thunder phoenix target me? When I woke up, I was dazed for a long time before gaining clarity."

With attitude Gu, he had sincere and truthful looking acting, Miao Ming Shen stared at Fang Yuan intensely but seeing his expression, his suspicions faded away.

"Then where are we?" Miao Ming Shen looked around, seeing that they were on a nameless island. The island was surrounded by vast blue seawater, extending to the horizons.

There were schools of fish in the sea, waves were moving slowly as winds blew, white seagulls were making sounds, some were flying in the sky while others were flying slightly above the sea level.

"We were about to ask you. We arrived here after waking up, we do not know where to go." Tong Hua said.

Miao Ming Shen nodded: "Everyone, wait a moment."

Next, he shut his eyes, using a mysterious immortal killer move.

This was his unique way of locating the blue dragon whale!

But just on the surface, nobody could decipher his method.

After shutting his eyes, Miao Ming Shen opened it again very quickly, showing shock and joy in his eyes.

"Everyone, as I expected, this is the immortal aperture world of the blue dragon whale!" Miao Ming Shen said some shocking things.

"What?" The immortals were all very surprised.

They more or less knew something about this Paradise Earth true inheritance.

Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable subdued the blue dragon whale and awakened its immortal aperture, he had left behind a Paradise Earth true inheritance in this grotto-heaven.

5Years later, many Gu Immortals tried to find the blue dragon whale but could not find anything.

The Gu Immortals were still prepared to see the true appearance of the blue dragon whale, but to think that they would arrive directly inside its immortal aperture.

"Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's arrangements, they are truly something we cannot comprehend fully."

"This means, entering this place has no difficulty?"

"Then why has nobody entered this place before us?"

"Was the blue dragon whale too hard to find..."

"Then what are we going to do now?" Tong Hua asked.

The immortals all focused their attention on Miao Ming Shen.

Miao Ming Shen was quite satisfied with this situation, they had all arrived at the destination without separating, they still wanted to stick together, he did not waste his effort in consolidating his authority as the leader of the group.

"To speak the truth, I am not sure too, but since we are in the grotto-heaven now, we have already succeeded in the first step. Next, we should find the hidden Paradise Earth true inheritance. This is an unknown place that has existed for many years, we do not know what lives here. To be safe, we should travel in a group, even if anything happens, we can take care of each other." Miao Ming Shen's words were acknowledged by everyone.

Fang Yuan spoke at this time: "I have a simple idea, since we entered this place via Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's arrangement, this small island must not be simple, we should search around this island first."

"Nobody explored this place yet?" Miao Ming Shen asked.

The immortals shook their heads, some looked at Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan smiled bitterly: "Even though I am the first person who got here and learned of the illusion, I was afraid of the lurking danger here. I have been guarding our current location since then."

"Alright, let's split up and look around this small island." Miao Ming Shen immediately gave them some missions.

This island was small, with so many people around, they soon found clues: "Quickly come to the center of the island, there is a rank eight Immortal Gu House here!"

A moment later, eight Gu Immortals stood in front of the Immortal Gu House.

This Immortal Gu House had a peculiar design, from the outside, it looked like an obelisk made of gold.

The surface of the obelisk had many inscriptions.

Feng Jiang took a few glances and shouted: "So this is Paradise Earth's true inheritance!"

Immortal Hua Die who was beside him frowned: "It is really troublesome to inherit this true inheritance."

The obelisk stated that this rank eight Immortal Gu House was a merit board, it was effective in the entire grotto-heaven world. If outside Gu Immortals wanted to gain Paradise Earth's true inheritance, they would need to do the missions on this obelisk and gain merits after completing them.

The more merits they had, the more valuable things they could exchange for.

If one did not accept this, they could only wait on this island, they could not leave and go to other places in the grotto-heaven world.

"According to the inscription, we can only stay here for three hundred days." Tong Hua said with a regretful tone.

Three hundred days in terms of the dragon whale grotto-heaven's time.

"What missions can we do in three hundred days?" Zeng Luo Zi's eyes flashed with bright light, there were only ten missions on this obelisk, each one was different, it meant that these Gu Immortals were going to engage in competition later.

The others were not stupid, they quickly realized this problem, the atmosphere became heavier all of a sudden.

Miao Ming Shen acutely sensed the change in the atmosphere as he spoke: "Everyone, even though the inscription says that, this is our first time here, we cannot be so sure. In my opinion, we should test if we can leave this island. I hope you can all research on this Immortal Gu House, if you have a way of moving it, we can take it for ourselves, that would be wonderful!"

The immortals were deeply moved, this was a rank eight Immortal Gu House, if they could break it and take parts of it, they would have great gains.

Miao Ming Shen continued: "When we looked around, we found a lot of cultivation resources on this island, they are in huge quantities. We should decide on how to split these resources, what do you think?"

The immortals would only benefit from this, why would they disagree, everyone cheered in acknowledgment.

-x-X-x-

The island was small but it contained a lot of cultivation resources.

With this size and amount of resources, they were clearly intentionally arranged.

Fang Yuan and the other Gu Immortals looked around and scavenged for resources before redistributing them. Fang Yuan as Chu Ying was a transformation path Gu Immortal, he obtained a lot of transformation path immortal materials.

But because transformation path projected all paths, these immortal materials were of various types and paths. For example, soul beast cores were soul path immortal materials, but if a transformation path Gu Immortal has a way to transform into soul beasts, then this soul core was also a type of resource for the transformation path Gu Immortal.

Fang Yuan used transformation path as the concealment to pick a lot of time path immortal materials.

Zeng Luo Zi seemingly asked casually: "Friend Chu Ying has a time path transformation? Why didn't you use it when we were in the illusion?"

Fang Yuan laughed: "I am just being greedy, I am sure everyone knows about the demon Fang Yuan. These time path immortal materials can be sold in treasure yellow heaven for many good things. But if I compete with everyone here, it will harm our relationship after all."

"Hahaha, that is a good idea Chu Ying, why didn't I think of it?" Tu Tou Tuo laughed.

Zeng Luo Zi's eyes flashed with bright light, he stopped talking.

After the scare from the illusion, these Gu Immortals finally had a change of mood, these gains were quite valuable after all.

Especially when Miao Ming Shen was not corrupt, he split the gains equally, the atmosphere of the group was quite lively.

Half a day later, the immortals gathered before the rank eight Immortal Gu House Merit Obelisk.

"According to the information on the Merit Obelisk, these resources were all arranged by Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable back then, it was to ensure that the Gu Immortals who did not want to accept the missions would still gain some rewards. Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was truly a kind person!" Tong Hua was in awe.

Gui Qi Ye pondered: "All of us have acted already, we have tried to but this island cannot be broken through forcefully."

"And this Merit Obelisk, we cannot unravel it with our abilities." Feng Jiang added.

The immortals were silent.

How could Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's arrangements be so easily broken? Especially when all these Gu Immortals barring Fang Yuan were rank seven, even though some were elites, against a venerable, they were nothing.

"Miao Ming Shen, I wonder what insight you have?" Tong Hua asked.

Miao Ming Shen shook his head: "I know nothing about Paradise Earth's true inheritance, I am like all of you. In my opinion, since we cannot forcefully unravel Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's arrangements, we only have two options. One is to ignore the obelisk's missions and stay here for three hundred days, once the time is up, we will likely be sent out. The second way is to follow and complete the missions on the obelisk."

The immortals looked at each other.

Undeniably, the resources on the island were all distributed already, who would want to stay here for three hundred days?

The immortals had already gained something, their interest in Paradise Earth's true inheritance grew as well.

In their opinion, the cultivation resources on the island were just the appetizers, Paradise Earth's true inheritance was the true treasure here.

"But to accept missions, we will need to be acknowledged by the Merit Obelisk. The process is like a super clan's life tablet Gu and soul lantern Gu, but more restrictive in nature. If this is a trap..."

"Risk and reward are often interlinked, we came to explore Paradise Earth's true inheritance, weren't we taking a risk? I am going to accept the mission."

"Since this is an arrangement of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, there must be no problem. The true inheritance is right in front of us, if we stop now, we will regret it for life."

...

After some discussion, none of the eight Gu Immortals wanted to give up.

According to the inscription, the eight immortals went up and placed their palms on the Merit Obelisk.

With a bright flash of light, the eight immortals' names were all displayed on the obelisk, the blank area earlier turned into a list.

Fang Yuan's name was there too, but 'Chu Ying' was written instead.

This made Fang Yuan let out a sigh of relief.

He had inspected this Merit Obelisk already, it mainly comprised earth path and sound path, he could not deduce it. Of course, there was a chance of destroying it with Fang Yuan's battle strength. But the risks were too high, he was better off disguising himself and exploring with the others.

The Gu Immortal world was filled with countless methods, this Merit Obelisk was a rank eight Immortal Gu House made by Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, it had a high possibility of exposing his true name. Thankfully, that did not happen, otherwise, Fang Yuan would have to kill everyone around if he got exposed.

His identity was too important, these people might have some peculiar methods, even if they did not, it would be bad if Heavenly Court was lured over.

"Before I understand the situation, I should not attack them. This is Paradise Earth's true inheritance after all, he emphasized on forgiving people for their mistakes, he was kind and magnanimous, if I kill people randomly, something bad might happen."

The eight immortals were listed on the Merit Obelisk, they started to look at the missions.

There were only ten missions written.

Each mission had a vague description, the Gu Immortal needed to explore it themselves.

For example, the first mission — exterminate the surrounding water monsters around sea eagle city.

Water monsters were similar to soul beasts, they were both dao beasts that had various forms, most of them would dissipate after dying, leaving behind water cores or soul cores. These were immortal materials filled with abundant water path and soul path dao marks.

But what level were these water monsters, were they ancient level water monsters or desolate beast level water monsters, there was no information.

Sea eagle city? What was that? Where was it? There was no information.

There was still some clues regarding exterminating water monsters here, but the remaining missions were weirder.

For example, creating a water well in fish round island, or gathering medicinal herbs for three tattoo tribe, maintaining a spirit spring, protecting the merchant caravan, fixing the formation, and others.

The eight immortals looked at the Merit Obelisk, after thinking for a while, Zeng Luo Zi sighed: "My information path methods are useless against this rank eight Immortal Gu House, whatever mission we choose is based on luck. Let me try first, I will choose the first water monster extermination mission."

The others were silent.

Even though Zeng Luo Zi said that, the missions had differences.

Using logical deduction, the harder the mission, the greater the merits. Water monsters were at least desolate beasts, the mission of eliminating them was naturally difficult, the merit reward should be quite high.

As for maintaining a spirit spring, protecting the merchant caravan, and others, they were mortal level missions, the difficulty was lower than exterminating water monsters.

Zeng Luo Zi's choice was clearly to snatch the best mission, the atmosphere in the group suddenly changed.

Zeng Luo Zi remained silent but he was a little nervous in his heart.

Miao Ming Shen nodded as he agreed and said: "Go ahead, I will be the last one."

Everyone looked at him with a different gaze the moment he said that.

Miao Ming Shen waved his hand, saying: "No need to overthink it, I just feel that Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable created such an arrangement with deeper intentions, how could he not think of balance? These simple missions might not be as easy as they seem."

Everyone nodded upon hearing Miao Ming Shen's words.

Tong Hua spoke: "I choose the second mission."

Tu Tou Tuo made his choice too.

Their decision was the same as Zeng Luo Zi, they evidently chose the harder missions.

After Tu Tou Tuo chose the mission, there was still one seemingly hard one. The rest of the missions were all very ordinary.

There were still three rank sevens left, they were Miao Ming Shen, Fang Yuan, and Gui Qi Ye.

"Next... go ahead and choose, Chu Ying." Miao Ming Shen took a look and smiled.

Feng Jiang and Immortal Hua Die were beside him, they did not speak.

"Wait." Gui Qi Ye suddenly interjected: "Everyone, Lord Miao Ming Shen, to speak the truth, I wanted this mission from the start."

The immortals' expressions all turned weird.

Miao Ming Shen looked at Gui Qi Ye, showing a gaze of shock and criticism.

But Gui Qi Ye ignored him, he looked at Fang Yuan eerily.

"Picking on the weakest person?" Fang Yuan chuckled in his heart, saying: "Gui Qi Ye, since you like it, this means that the mission has an affinity with you, I will not snatch it from you. Hmm... I will choose the seventh mission."

Everyone turned to look, this seventh mission was to collect Earth Trench black oil from the deep sea, it was something that only mortals would do.

Miao Ming Shen quickly added: "Chu Ying..."

"No need to refuse it, I am truly in admiration of Brother Miao for having such a companion. You deserve it, if not for you, how could I have gotten in here?" Fang Yuan laughed heartily.

1Gui Qi Ye looked at Fang Yuan with a kinder gaze now.

Indeed, he forcefully chose the mission not for himself, but for Miao Ming Shen.

Like what Fang Yuan had said, everyone could come here due to Miao Ming Shen, he deserved it with his contribution.

Miao Ming Shen refused, but Fang Yuan persisted.

Miao Ming Shen was helpless as he accepted it.

A moment later, everyone made their choice, the Merit Obelisk shot out a pillar of light, the Gu Immortals were all transported away once they stepped inside.

Fang Yuan's field of vision changed, when he blinked, he was on an unknown island.

"I am a rank eight Gu Immortal, but that Merit Obelisk transported me with no effort. It seems to be the core of this entire grotto-heaven, it is truly profound, as expected of Paradise Earth!"

Regarding these missions, he had a similar conjecture to Miao Ming Shen. He gave up that mission earlier not because he was courteous, but because he was probing Miao Ming Shen.

After Fang Yuan left, only Gui Qi Ye and Miao Ming Shen were left.

"Oh you..." Miao Ming Shen sighed.

Gui Qi Ye cupped his fists: "Please forgive me, lord."

"What wrong did you do? It is just that you underestimated Chu Ying. He was the first person to die in the illusion, so you think he is weak." Miao Ming Shen shook his head.

"Lord thinks Chu Ying is hiding his strength?"

Miao Ming Shen shook his head: "I did not detect anything, the possibility of that is small. But in this unknown environment, we should unite instead of having internal conflicts."

"Yes, I understand."

-x-X-x-

With Fang Yuan's investigative methods, this island was completely transparent in his eyes.

He found that this island that the Merit Obelisk transported him to was very common and ordinary. There were few resources on the island, there was a small fishing village with some people living there.

There was a fishing village, a spirit spring existed as well, of course. Gu Masters existed here too, but in such a poor and desolate place, a rank four Gu Master was the utmost limit.

Fang Yuan had accepted the mission to collect Earth Trench black oil from the deep sea, after he investigated, he soon found that there were traces of black oil oozing out near the fringe of the island.

Other Gu Immortals might go into the sea to collect the black oil already, but Fang Yuan did not do that, the moment he saw the Merit Obelisk, he started to think about Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's intentions.

He concealed himself as he entered the fishing village, it did not have many people living in it, there were only five or six Gu Masters, the highest cultivation was a rank three Gu Master, it could not compare to Gu Yue clan on Qing Mao Mountain. Back then, Gu Yue clan had about ten of such villages under it.

Fang Yuan directly approached the sole rank three Gu Master in the village.

This was an old man with white hair and deep wrinkles, from what others said, he was the village head.

Fang Yuan was quite satisfied.

Having high authority and being old, he naturally knew a lot of things.

Soul search!

Fang Yuan used his immortal method, the old village head's secrets were all exposed.

Instantly, Fang Yuan gained a lot of information that was rather precise. As he expected, this village was very ordinary. There were many of such villages around the island.

"This fishing village doesn't seem to have any trap." Fang Yuan realized this and left the village secretly.

The old village head only felt dazed for a moment, even though it was a bit weird, he went on with his business soon after.

Fang Yuan's soul search method was simply too incredible for mortal Gu Masters to realize.

Fang Yuan left the island and flew to the surrounding islands.

But Fang Yuan experienced what happened on the Merit Obelisk island earlier again.

Even though he could see a small island in the horizon, no matter how he flew, the distance did not shorten.

After using all his methods, Fang Yuan still returned helplessly.

"Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable cultivated sound path in his early years before converting to earth path later, this method of controlling distance is his signature move."

There were many battles in history that showed Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable standing on the spot as his enemies attacked. No matter what they did, their attacks could not reach him, even though the distance was short.

"Other than that, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable has an extremely alluring method, that was to create paradise."

Paradise...

This was also the reason for Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's title. Nobody knew how a paradise was created, but Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable left behind many paradises in the five regions and two heavens.

A paradise's most distinct trait was the lack of calamities and tribulations!

"This dragon whale grotto-heaven was transformed by Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable into a paradise."

From the old village head's soul, Fang Yuan obtained a lot of information that confirmed this. If there were calamities and tribulations, even if the old man could not feel it, there would be information in the village's historical records, but there was none.

Since he could not go to the other islands, he changed directions and entered the water.

As he got deeper, the water pressure intensified.

This water pressure was a problem for Gu Masters trying to excavate oil, but for rank eight Gu Immortals like Fang Yuan, it was an insignificant problem.

For Gu Masters, the sea was very deep, but for Gu Immortals, the water surrounding the island was still very shallow.

Fang Yuan soon found that a large area of darkness appeared in his vision. It was like a huge seaweed that endlessly extended in all directions.

This Earth Trench under the water was very spectacular, the ordinary island was at the fringe of this Earth Trench. From the information he got from the old village head, the surrounding islands were also connected to the extensions of this Earth Trench.

Earth Trenches produced black oil.

Regardless of ordinary Earth Trenches or deep sea Earth Trenches.

Black oil was an immortal material belonging to food path. The quality was very high and production was abundant, it was easy to excavate.

This was a trait of food path, having high production with cheap costs, it was very economically friendly.

Black oil was extremely helpful to immortal zombies. Spreading the black oil in the dead aperture could slow the speed of the disintegration of the blessed land. In the outside world, or to other Gu Immortals, it was a very useful Gu refinement material that was widely used, it had a huge market.

One of the main business of Zombie Alliance was black oil. This was similar to Fang Yuan's guts Gu, but the scale of black oil sold was much larger than guts Gu.

"There are about three million kilograms of black oil here. I can take them all within half a day if I go all out. But I cannot leave the island after a certain distance, even though black oil can move, it is much slower than water. After I take all the black oil here, it will take too long and be too inefficient to wait for the black oil from the other parts of the Earth Trench to flow here."

Black oil was very easy to collect, but that was for Gu Immortals.

For mortal Gu Masters, it was quite difficult.

There was a special category of oil collecting Gu Masters. They specialized in exploring Earth Trenches to collect black oil, these people were professionals in this business. Oil collecting Gu Masters had their own set of Gu worms specially used to collect a certain amount of black oil.

Even though their battle strength was not high, because they were excavating immortal materials, they had abundant wealth and status, they were quite popular.

In the five hundred years of his previous life, Fang Yuan had once been an oil collecting Gu Master in Eastern Sea. That was his fortuitous encounter, he almost became the son-in-law of a certain oil collecting Gu Master, the collection method was also imparted to Fang Yuan by this old Gu Master.

People lived according to their environment, the Gu Masters on the small island survived mainly by collecting black oil. The old Gu Master that Fang Yuan soul searched was the most impressive oil collecting Gu Master in the village. Even though he was old, he would still enter the water and collect them each year.

Seeing the black oil here, Fang Yuan could not help but recall some of his previous life's memories.

He was once an oil collecting Gu Master, he entered the sea to collect black oil, but it was a dangerous job, he was treading on thin ice. The first problem was oxygen, secondly, he could not go too deeply, the pressure would kill him. And the sea was not peaceful, there were many fierce beasts underneath. And finally, he needed specialized methods for the black oil.

How could mortals not use special methods when collecting immortal materials?

Especially if they did not collect the black oil well, it would pollute their bodies, the Gu Master would be covered in black oil grease, it was hard to remove and carried a disgusting stench, as time passes, it would even corrode the Gu Master's own mortal body.

In his previous life, Fang Yuan had been polluted by this black oil. The old Gu Master who taught him the method purposely did that so that he would be forced to marry his daughter.

He was furious back then and felt like he was plotted against, but thinking about it now, Fang Yuan smiled bitterly.

The teacher had no son or inheritor, he had to do that or he could not impart his family's unique methods to an outsider Gu Master. He had no choice but to use that tactic, what was wrong with playing safe? It was normal!

But back then, Fang Yuan was placed into despair, he had no alternatives.

Without specialized methods, he could not clear the black oil pollution. Even if Fang Yuan knew the method, he needed the Gu worms to do that. These reasons made him relent.

Thinking of this, Fang Yuan felt a sense of his mindset back then.

He was very anxious and in pain, he was greatly attracted to the profits of excavating black oil, he secretly swore that he would change the situation! For example, there were water path Gu worms that could allow him to dive agilely, he could also design some Gu worms to resist the water pressure.

Currently, he could totally refine a bunch of Immortal Gu and create a huge quantity of useful mortal Gu instantly.

But he no longer needed them.

Life often threw you into situations like this. At present, you lack some very crucial things, but when you obtain them, you no longer need them.

That was why getting things when you needed them the most was called a fortuitous encounter, you had to treasure them if it happened.

"Back then when I extracted black oil, I almost died."

"But fortune and calamity come together, I actually met Mo Er when about to die... from that perspective, the old Gu Master did something good after all."

Fang Yuan showed a complex and deep smile on his face.

The white figure appeared in his mind once again.

Her expression was both vague and clear at the same time.

Her name was Xie Han Mo.

Xie Han Mo.

Fang Yuan had never forgotten this name, because she was the person he loved the most in his previous life.

-x-X-x-

Several days later.

Waves ebbed and flowed, crashing into the rocks and creating huge splashes.

Putting it crudely, the unnamed island was poor and had treacherous waters. Firstly, the island was small, and secondly, there was Earth Trench black oil here. Because of the black oil, the resources of other cultivation paths were suppressed, nothing else could exist here.

The greed of humanity was limitless, the concept of human path revolved around reducing deficits and increasing surpluses, the strong grew stronger. Meanwhile, heaven path took away surpluses while replenishing deficits, it emphasized on the balance of all myriad beings.

2Precisely due to an immortal material like black oil, the unnamed island had almost no other resources, the size of the fishing village had been like this for centuries, development was slow and they could only nurture single digits of Gu Masters, they were truly few.

Right now, at the center of the fishing village, in the village head's house, Fang Yuan was currently fighting against a rank two Gu Master.

Boom boom boom.

After some clashes, water splashed around, the middle aged rank two Gu Master was drenched, he sprawled on the ground weakly.

Fang Yuan was using Chu Ying's appearance as he stood on the spot, his arms were behind his back as he smiled lightly.

From the start to the finish of this battle, Fang Yuan was standing on the spot, having not moved at all.

The rank two Gu Master stood up weakly as he cupped his fists: "Master Chu has incredible methods, I am in great awe, thank you for the guidance Master Chu."

He was truly in awe.

A few days ago, Fang Yuan disguised as a rank four Gu Master and entered the fishing village openly, he started to interact with the Gu Masters here.

Back then, his appearance caused a commotion. There were usually no outsiders in the fishing village, especially not a solitary visitor.

Fang Yuan's identity was a traveling Gu Master, he managed to make his presence in the fishing village. Undeniably, his appearance completely disrupted the original peaceful life of the villagers.

Even a mortal without any cultivation would know that a strong Gu Master had entered their village.

Traveling Gu Master.

Such Gu Masters traveled the world, they had no home, they were usually alone but some moved in groups of two or three as well.

Traveling Gu Masters normally had great strength and few weaknesses.

It was common sense.

The world outside was not safe, traveling Gu Masters were able to travel around, they naturally had sufficient strength to do so. This was not just in terms of battle strength, they also needed to take care of their accommodation, food, movement, and feeding of Gu worms.

Without enough strength, one could not become a traveling Gu Master.

Thus, when Fang Yuan appeared, the Gu Masters in the fishing village became very alert.

Fang Yuan's rank four Gu Master aura was extremely threatening to them.

The first time they met, Fang Yuan claimed that he needed to feed Gu, he asked for Gu materials from the old village head.

The old village head was the sole rank three Gu Master in the fishing village, Fang Yuan had searched his soul. He did not dare to reject the request, he had to agree.

After the spar, the middle aged rank two Gu Master approached the village head.

Shutting the door and readying their Gu worms in defense, the two started to talk.

The middle aged Gu Master did not speak, he had a bitter and worrying expression. The old village head smiled: "Now you know how strong Master Chu is?"

The middle aged Gu Master nodded: "Master Chu has unfathomable strength, even if we join forces, we will not be his match!"

4Saying so, he looked at the village head with an indignant expression: "But why should we give him Gu materials? His Gu worms are hungry, that is his problem, why must we solve it for him? Most importantly, our inventory was stocked up over the last few generations, he used up almost everything in just a few days!"

The old village head was silent for a moment before saying with deep meaning: "Traveling Gu Masters have a certain rule, they usually exchange for Gu materials to feed their Gu worms when they arrive in a new place. These Gu Masters are very strong so local forces would usually not reject them, they would cooperate and improve their relationship. We should treat it as a chance encounter."

The middle aged Gu Master frowned, the anger in his voice became more prominent: "Lord village head, you said it yourself, they exchange! But this Master Chu directly took the materials, he did not exchange anything for them."

"So what do you think? What can we do?" The old village head looked at the middle aged Gu Master.

The middle aged Gu Master was stumped, after a few breaths, his anger dissipated, his back became bent as his face was full of bitterness, pain, and helplessness.

"It is about time." At the other end, Fang Yuan smiled.

The conversation between the middle aged Gu Master and the old village head was under Fang Yuan's supervision. In fact, he knew everything inside this fishing village.

A few days ago, he went into the deep sea and wanted to take some black oil. But afterwards, he had a flash of inspiration, he changed his idea.

Fang Yuan realized: "Collecting black oil is nothing, the true key is Paradise Earth's true inheritance! I should test this situation."

Thus, Fang Yuan changed his method, he disguised as a traveling Gu Master to enter the village.

The next day.

The old village head saw that Fang Yuan had visited him, he was filled with bitterness but still showed a smile on the surface, he bent his back as he said: "Master Chu, do you need more Gu materials?"

Fang Yuan smiled: "Old sir, thank you for the hospitality, I am about to leave."

The old village head was dazed, great joy surged in his heart but he controlled himself, he showed a shocked and sad expression, urging: "Master Chu, you are leaving so soon? Why don't you stay for a few more days, we would like to offer you more of our hospitality."

Fang Yuan shook his head, joking: "Old sir, I have imposed on you for the last few days, if I stay any longer, they might not spar with me anymore, but risk their lives to fight me next."

The old village head was shocked as he smiled bitterly: "So you know about it."

Fang Yuan spoke calmly: "I have traveled for many years, how can I not understand your mindset? I do not like to bully the weak, so before I leave, I will leave some things to you."

The old village head was joyful but also a little suspicious, he waved his hand: "Master Chu, no need for that, you are too kind."

"Call all of the Gu Masters here." Fang Yuan stopped smiling, he spoke plainly.

A moment later, all of the Gu Masters in the village had arrived in the old village head's house, except the middle aged Gu Master who sparred the previous day.

"Unfortunately, he went to the deep sea to collect black oil, he is going to miss out today." The old village head explained.

Fang Yuan looked at him deeply as he smiled: "Village head, you've worried too much. Everyone, look at this Gu worm."

Fang Yuan opened his hand, showing a rank two mortal Gu.

This Gu worm was white and blue, it resembled a seashell and was large as a jade bracelet.

Fang Yuan continued: "This is water shell Gu, it can form a layer of water as a shell on the Gu Master's body to resist the sea's water pressure. Using just this Gu worm, you can go six li deep into the sea."

The Gu Masters in the house went into a commotion.

"Rank two Gu worm that can go six li down into the sea?"

"Water shell Gu, why have I never heard of it?"

Fang Yuan smiled: "Try it."

After trying it for a while, the Gu Masters were overjoyed, they found that this Gu worm had another advantage, it used very little primeval essence.

"This is a really rare and precious rank two Gu!" Someone said with a trembling voice.

"It is a pity there is only one..."

This person immediately got fierce stares from the village head.

Fang Yuan laughed heartily: "Don't worry, everyone will get it." Saying so, he took out more water shell Gu, everyone had their own one.

Almost ten water shell Gu were handed out, only one remained in Fang Yuan's hands. He passed it to the old village head: "Give this to him."

The old village head was very moved, he apologized in a choked up voice: "I was wrong, Master Chu is truly magnanimous!"

Fang Yuan gathered the Gu Masters in the village, the old village head was afraid that Fang Yuan was trying to wipe them out, what should he do?

That was not impossible at all.

People were hard to understand, especially when this was a stranger.

Thus, the old village head placed the middle aged Gu Master, his future successor, in a secret location, he was afraid of Fang Yuan's attack!

Fang Yuan's act of giving the water shell Gu made the old village head extremely happy and also ashamed.

But Fang Yuan had just started.

"This is water shell Gu's recipe, I will give it to you." Fang Yuan gave out ten Gu recipes to the Gu Masters present.

They were all stunned!

Giving Gu worms and giving recipes were two different concepts entirely!

"Master Chu, how can we take it?" The old village head received the recipe with trembling hands.

"No worries, take a look at the content." Fang Yuan waved his hand.

Everyone took a look as someone shouted: "Oh heavens, the core Gu material of this water shell Gu is the spiral seashell on the shore of our island's beach?"

"The Gu materials of this recipe can all be found on our island!!" Immediately after, someone shouted.

Fang Yuan nodded: "I have some insight in Gu refinement, these last days, after sparring with several Gu Masters, I understood your lifestyle and cultivation method, while inspecting this island, I tried to look for useful materials. I created this Gu recipe for your village, you must accept it."

As he said that, Fang Yuan saw that the old village head had knelt down on the ground in an instant.

The old village head kowtowed as he said: "I was too blind to see Mount Tai, I did not know that Master Chu was such a genius in Gu refinement! I am too ashamed, I actually misunderstood Master Chu's kindness..."

Before the old village head finished, Fang Yuan helped him to stand up as he smiled and said: "Old sir, don't say that. I am someone who believes that a droplet received in need will be repaid with a whole spring. The Gu materials I got from you were very helpful for my problem. Our encounter is a type of fortune, we need to treasure it."

"But I have just created this water shell Gu, I am not sure of its exact value in reality. Why don't you select a few people to enter the sea with me? We can collect some black oil and test out its actual effect."

"We will do as you say!"

-x-X-x-

Vague water ripples were moving before the eyes, in extreme tranquility, a group of Gu Masters dived into the sea.

The light above them became dimmer, the surrounding seawater was emitting greater pressure on them.

Someone started to use water shell Gu.

The water shell Gu that Fang Yuan invented was simply amazing!

Almost the instant it was activated, the fishing village's Gu Masters felt their pressure reducing, their bodies felt relaxed, as if they had discarded a ton of dead weight.

The Gu Masters all showed joyful expressions, even though they had already tested water shell Gu in their village earlier.

But at this time, someone suddenly made an alert signal.

A large number of weaving sea spiders were approaching them.

These sea spiders moved very quickly underwater, they would split up when they encountered prey, shooting out their spider webs that would entangle the prey before they attacked.

Seeing this group of sea spiders, the fishing village's Gu Masters turned pale, even the rank three village head was full of fear, he could not calm down.

The sea spider group was huge, and they were most skilled at fighting with numbers, to defeat a stronger enemy with collective effort. Many sea creatures would often die to them due to a battle of attrition.

Even rank three Gu Masters were not their match in a drawn out fight.

The deep sea had too much danger. On the surface, the sea was calm, but under the sea, undercurrents surged, dangers lurked everywhere.

"No need to worry." Fang Yuan transmitted before waving his hand at the crucial moment.

At the next moment, the Gu Masters of the fishing village were so shocked their eyes almost popped out!

A huge whirlpool formed instantly, it crashed into the sea spiders, it was like a tornado that swept away all of the sea spiders in it.

"Quickly leave, I cannot sustain it for long." Fang Yuan said purposely.

The fishing village's Gu Masters realized at once and quickly dived deeper.

After they got to a safe distance, the Gu Masters turned back to look, the whirlpool had started to dissipate. The sea spiders were completely disoriented, they had low intelligence and moved according to instinct, seeing that the prey vanished, they gathered again and moved away.

The Gu Masters relaxed at long last, their gazes towards Fang Yuan was filled with admiration and reverence.

The Gu Masters who fought against Fang Yuan earlier finally saw how powerful this Master Chu was! And most importantly, his method was very wise.

If they fought in the sea, the blood would attract more problems.

Trapping but not killing, that was the work of an expert.

The group continued to move with Fang Yuan as their guardian, they met with no danger.

Sea spiders were just one of the lurking dangers, oil collecting Gu Masters faced hundreds of types of aquatic beasts, sometimes, they would even get swept into special currents, helplessly moving along with them.

In the following journey, some problems still occurred, but they were not disasters like the sea spiders.

Diving and stopping continuously, after some hard work, they finally reached the Earth Trench.

They did not need to dive into the Earth Trench, because there was a lot of black oil here already. There had been no Gu Immortals who came to excavate them.

The Earth Trench was filled with black oil, at the same time, some gushes of black oil leaked outside. These black oil streams were like octopuses with long tentacles, they also seemed like seaweed, messy and scattered.

The fishing village's Gu Masters quickly used their Gu worms to get close to the leaking black oil.

They started to collect the oil, moving around like worker bees.

Fang Yuan did not act, he watched from afar.

These Gu worms specially used to collect black oil were the core and vital Gu of these Gu Masters, Fang Yuan did not ask them about this in their previous interactions because it was taboo, but with his ability, he could understand everything with just a single look.

His refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment level was not a joke!

"The number one resource around this unnamed island is black oil. When I use this black oil as material to refine Gu worms for them, their efficiency will increase."

While he was thinking of this, suddenly, a huge group of seashell sharks approached them.

These sharks opened their bloodthirsty mouths, full of shells that were used as sharp teeth.

The seashell sharks were very special.

They began life without teeth, instead, when they grew up, they would choose seashells in the sea and put them in their mouths. As time passed, these seashells would take root and grow, the more years that pass, the whiter and tougher they would become.

The seashell sharks would use the shells as teeth to tear prey that were stronger than seashell sharks apart.

This special relationship made infant seashell sharks very weak, but when they reach adulthood, they would be overlords of the sharks.

This group of sharks were attacking, be it individual or group strength, they far surpassed the sea spiders. But the fishing village Gu Masters were not afraid.

They moved around the black oil terrain with ease and agility. From time to time, they would spray the black oil that they collected as barriers to shield themselves.

Seashell sharks were huge and could not move easily in this black oil area, if the oil stuck to them, they would become slower and even struggle to move as the oil got thicker.

The fishing village Gu Masters used the territory to quickly feed these seashell sharks to the black oil as food.

These seashell sharks struggled until they had no strength left, they were slowly devoured by the black oil.

Normally speaking, the black oil would take a long time to completely corrode these seashell sharks, all of their flesh, bone and blood would turn into new black oil.

Black oil was an immortal material that contained food path dao marks, it was not safe, the Earth Trench filled with black oil was a dangerous area.

Fang Yuan saw this as he sighed in his heart.

He remembered that in the five hundred years of his previous life, he had once seen how the black oil devoured its prey for the first time. From that day on, he had nightmares for several nights, of the black oil sticking onto him and slowly devouring him without any hope of salvation.

Normally speaking, oil collecting Gu Masters would work in groups, they were afraid that the black oil would stick to them and kill them in the process of collection.

But the oil collecting Gu Masters in the fishing village would not form groups, it was too easy for disputes to arise, and encountering dangerous situations might cause everyone to perish.

Right now, everyone grouped together, but it was a special situation.

"I advise that you try to drag out the seashell sharks that are trapped, these are all usable Gu materials." Fang Yuan transmitted.

"Master Chu, these seashell sharks are polluted by the black oil." The old village head hesitated.

"Don't worry, I have a way to remove the black oil. Trust me, these seashell sharks are very useful for you." Fang Yuan smiled.

He had designed a Gu recipe that used these seashell sharks as the main material.

Without water shell Gu, these Gu Masters would not believe him, but after Fang Yuan displayed such strength, the old village head stopped hesitating, he ordered: "You all heard him, hurry up and do it. But be careful, don't let the black oil stick to you, it is too troublesome otherwise."

Not just troublesome, the price would be huge!

Black oil was an immortal material, once it got stuck, the food path dao marks would be carved onto the Gu Master's body. Just the problem of conflicting dao marks would be fatal, and because they had mortal bodies, they could not endure the corrosion of the black oil.

1"Don't worry, I can remove the black oil on you even if it sticks to you." Fang Yuan spoke.

His words made the Gu Masters overjoyed, but even with his assurance, the Gu Masters still acted carefully, they were afraid of touching this beloved and accursed black oil.

The seashell sharks were all dragged out.

Most were not dead, they still had some vitality.

Falling into the black oil would not cause suffocation immediately.

At this time, a small surprise occurred.

"Look at what I found? A trapped mermaid." A Gu Master dragged out a mermaid corpse.

Her body was covered in black oil, her appearance could not be seen, but from her build, it seemed to be a girl.

"She has some life force left..." The Gu Master who saved the mermaid said with surprise.

"Let me." Fang Yuan acted.

The Gu Masters were very shocked, because they saw that the black oil moved like an obedient child, getting away from the mermaid and gathering in front of Fang Yuan as a big black ball.

"Master Chu is truly unfathomable!"

"Such methods, how much black oil can he get each time?"

Gu Masters were in admiration and envy, their respect towards Fang Yuan increased again.

"Don't worry, with me around, you will all be safe." Fang Yuan's action was just to reassure these people, but at the next moment, the smile on his face froze.

His sight was stuck on the mermaid's face, he went into a daze.

"Mo Er?!"

-x-X-x-

At this depth, the sea was entirely pitch black.

But Fang Yuan's vision was dark green.

"Alright, this new Gu that I exchanged for is quite useful, with it, I can barely see in the deep sea." Fang Yuan was quite happy.

The deep sea was complex, one could not shine light here carelessly, or predators might be lured to oneself unknowingly.

In this dark green area, there were some deep black patches.

They were black oil of course.

The black oil tangled and weaved together like huge pythons. They were almost still, but the visual impact was huge.

Fang Yuan breathed in deeply, the gills on his face moved as they took in oxygen from seawater, allowing him to breathe underwater.

Calming down, he carefully approached the black oil. He stretched out his arms and stopped when he was several meters away from the black oil.

Next, he activated his Gu worm. A bright blue light slowly gathered in his palms, the two blue lights formed into beams of light that shined into the black oil. Droplets and lumps of black oil flowed along the blue light beams and slowly gathered into Fang Yuan's palms.

Fang Yuan's palms were like two bottomless holes sucking in black oil.

Time passed, but Fang Yuan continued to keep his alertness up.

He not only maintained his investigative methods on the surroundings, he also paid attention to the primeval essence storage in his aperture.

Because he used multiple Gu worms at once, Fang Yuan's primeval essence expenditure was not low. After a while, he reached a critical level.

"It is time to stop and return to the sea surface. Sigh, my aptitude is too low, if I had A grade aptitude, I would be able to last much longer!"

Fang Yuan sighed in his heart, at the same time, he stopped using his Gu worms, preparing to leave.

But in the process of leaving, an accident happened.

Suddenly, a huge force emerged in the peaceful sea, sending Fang Yuan flying.

"Oh no, an impact current!"

Fang Yuan's heart shook, he wanted to use Gu worms to escape.

These impact currents seemed like normal seawater, but when lifeforms entered them, they would emit a strong pushing force.

Bam bam bam!

In the process of escaping, Fang Yuan met with several impact currents, his bones were fractured and blood oozed out of his nose and mouth.

Fang Yuan gritted his teeth, his eyes were wide opened and bloodshot, he tried to find a way to escape this predicament.

But he was not in the best condition, he had used a lot of his primeval essence, at the same time, the scale of these impact currents was huge and Fang Yuan lacked the method to deal with them, he could only dodge using his luck.

Soon, Fang Yuan expended all his primeval essence, an impact current from behind pushed him into the black oil.

"Am I going to die here?" Fang Yuan could not escape, he watched as the black oil stuck to him, before it spread and devoured him.

His primeval essence was used up, but thankfully, the gills were made from transformation path Gu worms, they could last for some time.

But this was truly his last few moments.

"This is the final moment of my life... sigh, I wanted to accumulate more black oil to gather wealth and exchange for a way to get rid of my black oil corrosion from the market... but now, I do not need to worry about this problem anymore... hehehe..."

Fang Yuan smiled bitterly, he fell into deep despair.

Eventually, the black oil completely covered him, his body was enveloped by the black oil.

"Am I going to die..."

Death was approaching, but Fang Yuan was completely peaceful in his heart.

Or rather, more accurately, he was indifferent.

Towards his death, he was indifferent about it.

"Alright... so be it if I die."

"After coming to this world, after so many years, I have been wandering from place to place, I am just too tired, too tired."

"Who can truly avoid death?"

"I might as well rest now."

Fang Yuan shut his eyes.

After some unknown period of time, he slowly regained his senses.

In a daze, he heard someone who was around him speak.

"Saintess, why did you save this mortal Gu Master? All these years, haven't the humans bullied us enough!"

"That's right, Saintess, this is clearly an oil collecting Gu Master, this sea area belongs to us mermen. He is a thief that steals our black oil, he is too shameless. We can let him die on his own."

At this time, a kind and refreshing voice resounded: "Since we met, how can we leave him in the lurch? I know he is a human and not a merman, but he is still a living being. Humans bully us, but a lone Gu Master like him is innocent. He is here to steal black oil, but how much can a person take? He took such risks to steal black oil, it shows how ostracized and troubled he is, why should we be stingy in helping him?"

"Saintess, you are just too kind, is that fine?"

"He is not anyone important, he is too lowly, there is no use in saving him!"

Fang Yuan tried his best and slowly managed to open his eyes.

His field of vision was still blur, he saw three vague figures.

White, blue, and red.

Human body, fish tails... from the blur figures, he could tell that they were three mermen.

Merman was a type of variant human, they could breathe underwater naturally and live. Mermen were attached to rivers and water bodies, they were most skilled at water path. Be they male or female, they were very beautiful and good looking.

"Thank... thank you... I will repay this kindness. May I know your names?" Fang Yuan spoke with difficulty, his hoarse voice became smoother as he talked.

But this was his current limit, his body was too weak, he could not muster any strength, these words were all that he could say.

"Hmph, we do not need your repayment. If not for Saintess, we would not save a dirty human like you."

"You do not need to know our names, but Saintess is named Xie Han Mo, you should remember it, etch this into your memory forever! You were incredibly lucky to have been saved by Saintess."

"Alright, you two, enough." The white figure sighed in a gentle voice, she said to Fang Yuan: "Even though you feel weak now, I have already healed your injuries. You were corroded by black oil earlier, I cannot heal this injury in one try, but I have left you a Gu worm, you can heal yourself with it."

Saying so, the white figure brought her two attendants and left, getting out of Fang Yuan's vision.

Fang Yuan wanted to speak, but he had exhausted his strength, he could not speak.

The extreme fatigue and weakness had his vision turn black again.

This was what happened in the five hundred years of his previous life.

Fang Yuan's gaze became clear, he returned from his recollection.

At this time, he had already led the fishing village's Gu Masters back to the island.

This was one of the old village head's houses, it was not dark.

At dusk, the lingering rays of light entered the room through the windows.

Outside the window, seagulls were flying around the beach, chirping loudly.

The mermaid who was saved was a young woman, she was still unconscious now. After Fang Yuan saved her, her pale face had started to become rosy again. She had thick eyelashes that casted shadows on her face.

Looking at this mermaid girl, Fang Yuan was absent-minded for a bit.

Looking at her carefully, she did not look like Xie Han Mo from Fang Yuan's memories, their appearances were very different, even though both of them were equally beautiful.

"They are only similar in disposition, and..."

And the biggest difference between this mermaid girl and Xie Han Mo was the color of their scales.

Mermen had human bodies and fish tails, their scales were of varying colors. Blue and red were common, while white and black were very rare.

White scaled mermen and mermaids could become saints and saintesses, while black scaled were treated as cursed and inauspicious, they would be killed the moment they were born, their parents were often the killers.

Xie Han Mo was a white scaled mermaid, she was the saintess of the mermen tribe. And this mermaid girl had blue scales, it was very common among mermen.

"Master Chu." At this time, the old village head and the middle aged Gu Master arrived at the door.

Fang Yuan nodded lightly as they came in.

After collecting black oil from the deep sea, be it the old village head or the middle aged Gu Master, they looked at Fang Yuan with utmost respect.

On one hand, Fang Yuan had unfathomable strength, and on the other hand, Fang Yuan gave them immense benefits. Water shell Gu was so useful, they had all experienced it on this trip.

And most importantly, Fang Yuan promised after returning that he was going to create a Gu worm for them, this Gu worm would be very useful to them.

"Master Chu, food has been prepared. Should you..." The old village head smiled.

"I will take care of her, don't worry master. When she wakes up, I will bring her to you." The middle aged Gu Master added.

Fang Yuan looked at the mermaid girl as he shook his head, he walked out of the house: "No need to see me, when she wakes up, get her to leave. Even though this is the territory of humans, and her action is akin to stealing, in my opinion, she has a hard life, give me some face and let her off."

"Master Chu, don't worry, we will not find trouble with her!"

"Yeah, all these years, there had been many mermen who came here to steal black oil. We have always tried to turn a blind eye to it, after all, we cannot finish extracting all the black oil under the sea, it is fine to share some." The old village head chuckled.

Fang Yuan nodded.

He had already gotten whatever information he needed from the old village head and this young mermaid girl through soul search.

There was something interesting.

In the outside world, merfolk had lower status than humans, both sides had huge conflicts and often fought. But here, merfolk and humans had better relationships, they interacted a lot and were at peace, there were even instances of marriage between them.

"It seems that this grotto-heaven is the paradise of humans and also merfolk."

-x-X-x-

Inside the small house, there was a huge turbulence.

Dark red lights moved like waves, surging around Fang Yuan.

He was refining Gu.

His ten fingers were outstretched, his two hands were holding onto an eerie ball.

This ball was basin-sized, it was flowing on the surface, this was the essence of the black oil that Fang Yuan extracted.

The Gu refinement was already at the late stage, now was a crucial moment.

Fang Yuan willed as a crack opened in his immortal aperture's entrance, he took out a piece of shiny golden scale.

The scale flew into the black oil ball, causing a small explosion. In Fang Yuan's vision, he saw that the instant the black oil ball exploded, it expanded rapidly. At the same time, the golden light shined in the black oil ball, before condensing into a small dot.

Fang Yuan's ten fingers vibrated, the black oil ball floated into the air and started to revolve around itself.

During the process, the golden light continued to flicker.

A stench started to spread, these were the impurities that Fang Yuan expelled.

The stench was about to permeate out of the house when the immortal formation's light flickered, it was like a pot lid that was blue in color, it trapped the stench and prevented it from going out.

This stench was an immortal material containing food path, it was more terrifying than the black oil. If mortals came into contact with it, they would die.

Fang Yuan's Gu refinement was already immortal level, because it involved two immortal materials. One was the black oil, the other was the golden scale, it was pulled from a desolate beast golden dragonfish.

After a series of deductions, Fang Yuan found that the golden dragonfish and the black oil had a high level of compatibility.

One scale was not enough of course, Fang Yuan continued to toss in more golden scales.

The black oil ball slowly turned into a black-gold color, a lot of incomplete Gu worm silhouettes were seen in the ball.

Fang Yuan was trying to refine gather oil Gu.

This was specially made for the Gu Masters of the fishing village. Fang Yuan created the recipe himself, he also used the information in Shadow Sect's true inheritance and Lang Ya's true inheritance as reference.

Fang Yuan was truly trying to help the fishing village's oil collecting Gu Masters.

The reason?

It was because of the Merit Obelisk's mission.

What was merit?

Fang Yuan had been thinking about this problem from the start.

Were the missions on the Merit Obelisk so simple? The more Fang Yuan thought about it, the more he could feel a certain objective that Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was trying to achieve.

Thus, helping these fishing village Gu Masters was meant to complete the mission and also to ascertain the conjecture that Fang Yuan had in his mind.

Fang Yuan did bad things without feeling any remorse. Similarly, he did good things without any changes in emotion.

To be honest, he had already become indifferent towards good deeds and bad deeds, he did not care about kindness or evil. In this world, there were only two things, those that benefited him and those that harmed him.

Right now, in the face of Paradise Earth's true inheritance, Fang Yuan would be willing to commit good deeds to ensure that he gains the maximum benefits.

Xia Lin slowly opened her eyes, she was awake.

"I... am not dead." After being in a daze momentarily, she reacted and her eyes started to shine.

"You are quite a lucky mermaid, if we found you any later, you would be dead. You would be corroded into black oil." The middle aged Gu Master saw that the mermaid woke up and walked into the room.

"My name is Xia Lin, did you save me?" The mermaid girl struggled to get up.

"Not me, it was Master Chu. You should really thank him, he was the one who healed your injuries." The middle aged Gu Master smiled as he spoke.

The mermaid girl inspected herself upon the reminder, she was extremely happy after that.

"Unbelievable!"

"I was corroded by the black oil and was heavily injured, even the greatest healing Gu Master in my tribe would not be able to save me, but I am completely healed now."

The middle aged Gu Master smiled arrogantly: "Of course! It was Master Chu who saved you after all!"

Saying so, the middle aged Gu Master thought of the scene when Fang Yuan saved her, he made all of the Gu Masters dazzled, most of them could not regain their senses after a long while.

"Master Chu saved my life and healed my injuries, how can I not repay this kindness?" The mermaid girl pursed her lips, she showed a firm expression: "Sir, please bring me to him, no matter the price, I must repay him."

"Alright, follow me." The middle aged Gu Master considered it for a moment before walking out of the room.

The mermaid girl Xia Lin forced herself up, she used a Gu worm to create a wave that carried her as she moved behind the middle aged Gu Master.

The two went into an estate, they got past the garden and arrived in front of Fang Yuan's house.

Rumble!

Suddenly, a black-golden light burst up into the sky from the small house.

"This is?"

"What happened?"

This phenomenon could be seen from all over the surroundings, many of the Gu Masters in the village were alerted as they came to observe.

"After dinner, Master Chu said that he was going to refine Gu. He locked himself in the room and instructed that no one was to disturb him." The old village head watched as he said: "This means that Master Chu's Gu refinement has already made progress."

"Master Chu's Gu refinement attainment is simple too profound, look at this scene, his Gu refinement must not be simple at all."

"Thanks for stating the obvious, Master Chu is extraordinary, how can he be simple?"

Xia Lin listened carefully.

These Gu Masters' conversation made her think of a supreme Gu Master expert. He must have white hair, a kind temperament, a cool and composed nature, great strength, and immense kindness and magnanimity.

As the dark gold light faded, a fragrance spread around the area, a huge hole was created at the roof of the small house.

A moment later, the door of the small house was pushed open, Fang Yuan walked out.

The fishing village's Gu Masters were all waiting in anticipation, the moment Fang Yuan came out, they bowed and greeted: "Master Chu!"

The mermaid girl Xia Lin looked at Fang Yuan curiously, it turned out that Master Chu was so young, she did not expect this.

She quickly knelt down: "Master Chu, you saved my life. I need to repay this kindness even if I have to break all the bones in my body!"

2"No need, it was just a simple matter." Fang Yuan gave the mermaid girl a glance, she was not Xie Han Mo after all.

The deceased had already passed on, she was gone with the wind.

2Days later, Fang Yuan returned to the Merit Obelisk.

"Oh? A new mission appeared!" Fang Yuan's gaze focused on the changes of the obelisk.

There were ten missions originally, now there were still ten, but most of the content had changed.

On another side of the Merit Obelisk, the rankings had changed too.

"I am third..." Fang Yuan soon found his ranking.

He was a little joyful, his guesses were already affirmed.

Looking at this from Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's perspective, merit was helping others, it was the action of good deeds. Fang Yuan saw his ranking and compared it with the others, he was sure: If he did this alone and collected the black oil personally, he would not place third.

Of course, helping these Gu Masters without putting in work was not possible too.

Thus, after refining gather oil Gu, he distributed them and went into the sea, collecting most of the black oil, leaving only a small amount for the fishing village's Gu Masters.

At the base of the Merit Obelisk, there were some scattered information path mortal Gu.

Fang Yuan picked them up and looked into them.

As he expected, these were left behind by Miao Ming Shen and others, they had recorded their findings.

Some found that humans and mermen lived together in peace with equal statuses.

Some chose difficult missions, even though they killed the desolate beast, many humans were implicated and lost their lives. When they returned, they found that they were at the bottom of the ranking.

Some understood that the meaning of the merit board was to do good deeds and help people, but they had only guessed it, the conjecture was not confirmed.

These Gu Immortals were chosen by Miao Ming Shen personally, they were not idiots.

Miao Ming Shen's discovery made Fang Yuan's eyes shine. He found that they were not the first group who came in here, there were Gu Immortals who entered before.

The most valuable information came from Feng Jiang.

He found that there was a forbidden area in this paradise, it was a sea area that people called Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea.

In legend, after Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable turned this grotto-heaven into a paradise, he suppressed a supreme demon in this sea area, he set up a super immortal formation to make him regret and repent.

Thus, this supreme demon's cries of regret could be heard in the sea area all the time.

Fang Yuan saw this information, the name of a Gu worm appeared in his mind — regret Gu!