Reverend Insanity

Man tribe owned Hong Yan valley, they had won a few battles these years and had expanded greatly.

Northern plains was different from southern border.

Southern borders had a forest and mountain terrain, it was easy to defend but hard to attack, long distance travelling causes huge expenditure. Southern border clans worked on self development, accumulating slowly and growing stably, keeping a pure bloodline.

But northern plains was a huge grassland, there were lots of conquests going on. The tribes of northern plains rise up fast but also fall just as quickly. A few wins might allow a small size tribe to become a medium size tribe, and from a medium size tribe, expand into a large size tribe. But one loss could also cause this large size tribe to break down into numerous small size tribes.

Man tribe had absorbed Shi tribe recently, and the elder Shi Wu from Shi tribe became Man tribe’s external elder.

He was a bone path Gu Master, he was the one who bought all the bone bamboo Gu in the market, as he claimed to be researching a new Gu path recipe.

Fang Yuan memorised this person to heart, before asking the shopkeeper about soul path and strength path Gu worms.

“I have a rank one jin strength Gu, it can raise the strength of a Gu Master by one jin 1 . Each Gu is sold for two hundred and twenty primeval stones.”

“I have the rank two strength of ten jin Gu, it raises the Gu Master’s strength by ten jin, it is sold for six hundred and ninety primeval stones.”

“I also have the rank three jun strength Gu, one jun is thirty jin, each Gu is sold for four thousand five hundred and fifty primeval stones.”

“Although I do not have the rank four strength of ten jun Gu, if customer needs it, i can arrange for it to be transported over, each strength of ten jun Gu is sold for thirty-six thousand primeval stones.”

The shopkeeper gave a chain of prices that he was extremely familiar with.

At the end, he added: “Of course, this is only the jin strength Gu and jun strength Gu. If customer wants to walk on the strength path, and require beast strength Gu, we also have wolf strength Gu. It can give you the strength of a wolf, gaining stamina and endurance as well. I also have horse strength Gu, it can give you the strength of a horse, it is most useful for running.”

Before, Fang Yuan was using beast strength Gu to walk on the ancient strength path. Jin strength Gu and jun strength Gu were new popular alternatives that appeared in the last few hundred years.

Although strength path was weak and no longer had its former glory, there was still developments done for it.

The one who had this contribution was a famous rank seven Gu Immortal in northern plains called Chu Du, titled ‘Domination Immortal’. He was the one who invented the jin strength Gu and jun strength Gu, and even refined the rank six Immortal Gu ‘Strength of a Thousand Jun’.

A jun was thirty jin.

A thousand jun was thirty thousand jin.

In one of Earth’s legends, the Victorious Fighting Buddha’s Jingu Bang was only thirteen thousand five hundred jin. Er Lang Shen’s ‘Three-pointed, Double-edged Lance’ was only twenty five thousand two hundred jin.

Hu Du became a Gu Immortal three hundred years ago, the recipe he refined was widely spread, quickly becoming the main branch of the strength path in northern plains.

Ancient strength path used beast strength Gu, like green bull strength Gu, Biao strength Gu, dragon strength Gu and so on, Because the materials from the ancient times were already extremely rare by now, the cost of refining Gu was huge.

Domination Immortal Chu Du’s recipe was superior in that the materials were easy to find and had low cost, and the success rate of the Gu refinement was higher than beast strength Gu.

Northern plains was most probably the region where strength path was most flourishing at the moment. Northern plains had battles and conquests often, with strength path’s low cost, they gave evident increase in strength to low rank Gu Masters.

Thus, many Gu Masters in northern plains cultivated strength path as their minor path.

They often fought in fierce battles, when they expend their primeval essence, they would need their physical bodies to fight. Physical strength was very important then.

There is a phrase on Earth: war is the catalyst for technological advancement. This sentence worked perfectly well in this world as well. Northern plains was a place where new Gu worms were constantly invented.

From that Shi Wu elder who joined Man tribe, one could see the attitude that northern plains Gu Masters had towards innovation.

Domination Immortal later died in battle, by the hands of Feng Jiu Ge who descended from the heavenly court. After he died, he was crowned as the ‘Twilight of Strength Path’ by future generations, after his death was announced, countless Gu Masters in northern plains cried painfully.

“Sigh… the number of talents and geniuses in this world is like the number of stars in the night sky, the number of talented people are like carps in the river. The five regions are too big, the size of one Earth cannot compare to even one region. Especially in the battle five hundred years later, dragons and snakes rise from the land, experts and powerhouses compete, and old monsters come out of seclusion one after another, as new talents rise up to power. Countless heroes, conquerors, the differing personalities from the righteous and demonic paths clash and engage in a life-and-death battle. It is truly a grand and exciting event that would go down in history.”

“I have already used old removal Gu secretly to remove ancient bronze skin, essence iron bones, and golden steel tendons, and even my beast phantoms. Firstly, these strength path beast phantoms originate from southern border, they would be restricted in northern plains, and could not be used well. Secondly, if I summon a beast phantom, there is a danger of exposing my identity.”

“My greatest advantage now is Dang Hun mountain, and my five hundred years of experience, with the blessed land’s resources, I can walk on the enslavement path. But enslavement path has a weakness, that is the ‘beheading the leader’ tactic, thus I need strength path to go along with it. Since I have Chang Shan Yin’s appearance now, I also need to merge into northern plains, I should use this jun strength Gu.”

Fang Yuan’s thought flickered as he made a decision, requesting for the rank four strength of ten jun Gu from the shopkeeper.

Next, he looked at the soul path Gu worms.

There were much more soul path Gu worms than strength path.

There were ghost fire Gu, ghost cry Gu, ghost face Gu, ghost axe Gu and so on for attacking. There were ghost cage Gu, ghost hand Gu, ghost hitting wall for confinement and confusion.

For defense, there were ghost sealing shirt Gu, soul shield Gu and others. For healing, there were ghost qi Gu, ghost tears Gu and others. For investigation, there was ghost eye Gu. For movement, there were soul fly Gu, and elusive ghost Gu.

There were also ghost soldier Gu, impermanence ghost, air travel ghost, and nine son mother ghost Gu, all of them had to do with enslavement path.

This was the true manner of a great path.

Strength path was extremely weak now, while soul path was still standing strong, this point could be easily seen here.

Strength path Gu worms only consisted of jin strength Gu, jun strength Gu, and beast strength Gu, most were for attacking. In terms of defense, investigation, and assistance, there were little. It was hard to create a Gu set from just strength path Gu.

As for soul path, there were many Gu worms that were in all the different aspects. Forming into a set, they could help each other and obtain greater effects.

Look at that Domination Immortal Chu Du, he was a strength path Gu immortal, but he used other Gu worms for defense, investigation, and storage etc.

Fang Yuan came with an objective, he set aside all these soul path Gu worms, only looking at those which could be used to refine the soul.

There were no rank four Gu for that, but a bunch of rank three.

There was divine soul Gu, dragon soul Gu, ice soul Gu, dream soul Gu, moon soul Gu, general soul Gu, grudge soul Gu, poem soul Gu, horse soul Gu, heroic soul Gu, qi spirit Gu, body spirit Gu, cloud spirit Gu, wind spirit Gu, tiger spirit Gu, and others.

These Gu worms could refine the soul, they all had their unique use.

For example, refining the soul into ice soul, in the future when the Gu Master uses ice type Gu worms, they would gain a considerate boost. Cloud spirit, wind spirit, had the same effects.

If one used dragon soul Gu to refine a dragon soul, when he uses dragon strength Gu, dragon scales Gu, or dragon travel Gu, there would be a boost to the effect.

Fang Yuan looked for a while, and did not find any Gu that was more suitable for him, thus he chose the wolf soul Gu that he had planned to buy.

From ancient times, soul and enslavement were of the same origins.

Enslavement path was originally split from the soul path, when Gu Masters combined it with the immemorial wisdom path, the enslavement path finally became an independent path.

Beast enslavement Gu, slavery Gu, they were used to control the soul, allowing one to become a ruler of the mind.

If Fang Yuan refined the wolf soul, it would greatly help him in enslaving wolf packs.

The rank three wolf soul Gu was seven thousand and seven hundred primeval stones. Fang Yuan bought them in bulk, buying all of the stock in the shop, getting all eight wolf soul Gu.

Wolf soul Gu’s effort could be stacked, a rank three wolf soul Gu was not enough to refine Fang Yuan’s hundred man soul.

Wild Gu worms had their own will, they were hard to refine. But the Gu worms Fang Yuan bought had already been refined by others, thus when the transaction ended, all these Gu were in Fang Yuan’s control.

He kept all these Gu inside his aperture, and left the shop, going to other shops.

His aim was rank two and three wolf enslavement Gu, as well as rank three wolf soul Gu.

A million primeval stones was insufficient, but what Fang Yuan wanted were common rank two and three Gu.

He did want to buy rank four Gu.

But this market was too small, there were few rank four Gu, and were all not the ones he wanted.

After three days, Fang Yuan became famous in the market. Every shop knew that there was a rank four expert buying Gu in bulk.

By the fifth day, Fang Yuan spent a lot already, over five to six hundred thousand primeval stones.

During this period, he would walk around the market’s ranch often.

In the ranch, there were many livestock sold, of which big stomach horses were most popular. This horse, even mortals needed it badly. As for those who bought the hump wolves for battle, they were mostly Gu Masters.

There were also many Gu Masters who caught wild beasts to sell here. Like bulls, horses, falcons etc. On the grassland, the most commonly seen were wolves, they were also sold in large numbers.

Fang Yuan asked around, comparing goods and prices, until he saw a pack of thick back wolves that he wanted.

Fang Yuan had poison beard wolves and wind wolves. It was hard to replenish poison beard wolves, and since they were weak in the sunlight, they were destined to be eliminated. Wind wolves had fast speed, while thick back wolves had high defense. If they could be added into his wolf army, they would cooperate well together, and form a proper wolf pack.

But on the ninth day, Fang Yuan accidentally found out that among a group of water wolves, there was a young mutated beast.

He immediately bought these water wolves without causing suspicion, getting a great deal for himself.

The market lasted thirteen days.

Fang Yuan bought over a thousand water wolves, and many Gu refinement materials, as well as food to feed his Gu worms, as he left on the tenth day.

After his purchases, he had only three thousand primeval stones left on him.

Money was spent like flowing water, Ge Guang watched in amazement as he admired ‘Chang Shan Yin’ secretly, this hero truly had a grand disposition.

Fang Yuan followed Ge tribe and returned to his original place to stay.

He cultivated with all his heart, using wolf soul Gu to refine his soul while refining Gu on the other hand.

After two failures, he successfully refined the rank three golden back wolf skin Gu into the rank four azure wolf skin Gu.

Azure wolf skin Gu was used for defense, although it was common, it fixed Fang Yuan’s problem of insufficient defense.

On this day, he finished his soul refinement and stopped cultivating, when a cry was heard outside his room.

“What happened?” He opened the door and asked the Gu Master who was guarding the place.

The Gu Master said grimly: “Our big missy Ge Yao died. The search team found her torn clothes in poison grassland, she was killed by poison beard wolves!”