Every blessed land and grotto-heaven had its unique advantages. Born from the heavenly power of these blessed lands, land and heavenly spirits often displayed supernatural abilities quite impossible for their main bodies. For instance, Little Hu land spirit could teleport others. This was due to the number of space path dao marks on Hu Immortal Blessed Land exceeding the usual norms. Old Man Desolate was a heavenly spirit connected with Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven, far surpassing Hu Immortal Blessed Land's foundation. Old Man Desolate could not only teleport others, he could even read a weaker gu master's mind and sense their emotions for deception. Moreover, it had abundant formation path dao marks and was capable of setting several formations in the blink of an eye.
But it was not so easy to refine a gu house.
Refining a gu house entailed the use of several gu worms at once, fusing them to create a physical structure—a fortress. A gu house came in several shapes and sizes. They had varied abilities but one thing stood true for them all—an immortal gu house could completely suppress several gu immortals. It was the foundation of super forces! One could use a gu house to charge into any number of situations and escape with their lives, combining the strength of several weaker gu immortals and ferociously face dangerous opponents, including a rank 8 gu immortal monster!
But it was extremely expensive to build a single immortal gu house.
"Master is amazing! He is so ambitious!" Old Man Desolate sighed before smiling widely. Lo Jik's formation path talent greatly pleased this heavenly spirit. "To think he actually finished the recipe for the gu house… and such an amazing gu house at that! Hahaha! We are going to be so rich!"
He controlled hundreds of gu worms and activated them at once. The gu worms moved like a dense fog and released a gentle light. It looked like a green fog and a wave of earthen scent filled the scene. Controlling the gu worms with a surprising ease, Old Man Desolate started adding several gu worms of different paths. Every single gu was rank 5, and involved gu worms of every path. There were even gu worms of luck, painting, pill, theft, and other rarer paths.
Gu houses, in essence, were a formation path killer move.
To be precise, they were the peak of a formation. The base of every gu house was nothing more than a formation. This ensured that Old Man Desolate was one of the best assistants to refine a gu house, and Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven was the best location to refine a gu house due to the environment favoring formation path.
The first step in refining this gu house was to build its foundation. Every gu house was like a fortress. It was a perfect combination of offense, defense, storage, investigation, movement, and other aspects of a gu master's profession. These so-called methods were inbuilt killer moves. For defense, aside from a killer move, the gu house also had to be resistant to various other paths. Back then, Spirit Affinity House resisted the battlefield killer move despite having its immortal gu worm refined by the enemy. It had the strength to stand tall. Its primary ability was to help refine the soul, but it was resistant to almost all the known paths because the creator of this gu house spent a long time establishing a firm foundation.
That was also why refining a gu house was a complicated process. During its inception, when deducing the recipe, a gu master had to account for the gu worms of the other paths and balance their activation with the gu house's primary function else the backlash will destroy the gu house itself and cause immense losses.
This was not an issue for Lo Jik.
Earlier, he planned on refining an incomplete gu house because a lot of time was needed to calculate these changes. Fortunately, he obtained Long Hair and Giant Sun True Inheritances. The former revealed the recipes for several immortal gu houses, including Refinement Cauldron and Secluded Residence. Meanwhile, the latter had the recipe for Cooking Luck Pot, a luck path gu house. Lo Jik finally completed the recipe for this immortal gu house by referencing and learning from this inheritance.
"Master."
Old Man Desolate called softly once he finished activating all the gu worms.
Lo Jik observed everything by the heavenly spirit's side.
There was still a few other gu worms left to be activated. Old Man Desolate could not activate them because these gu worms resided inside Dreamer clones' apertures and Lo Jik's mind.
"Hmm."
He nodded and streams of dream-like smoke emerged from the center of his forehead, rushing towards the condensed sphere of green light. These streams expanded in size and soon covered the entirety of the glowing green sphere.
Lo Jik and Old Man Desolate coordinated well in this phase. The craftsmen and dreamer clones had practiced with Old Man Desolate before, their proficiencies completely displayed by Lo Jik as if he had worked together with Old Man Desolate for several years.
Soon, the sphere of green light consumed the dreamy smoke. It expanded in size as wisps of greenish-pink smoke escaped the surface of the sphere. It was like a strange earthen-scented sun surrounded by a mysterious and dreamy aura.
Lo Jik frowned and afforded this task his entire focus.
Soon beads of sweat started pouring down his forehead. Meanwhile, Old Man Desolate appeared comparatively relaxed.
'Success.'
Lo Jik, Old Man Desolate, and hundreds of craftsmen clones breathed a sigh of relief once the green sun stopped exuding wisps of dreamy-pink smoke and instead nursed waves of light in the center of its structure. This light moved constantly and appeared distinct from the soft green glow. It released a sharp light, ever unchanging in color and size. It looked like a dark-blue ship at a time before transforming into an ancient yellow tree.
Old Man Desolate picked things off by activating several gu worms. At this moment he also activated a wood path rank 7 immortal gu worm.
Lotus Armor Immortal Gu Worm.
A massive lotus bloomed around the sphere of green light. Huge pink petals stretched outwards while hollow roots hung down in the air. Green light reflected onto the surface of the delicate pink petals. Hundreds of craftsmen clones activated several refinement path and formation path gu worms. Coordinating with Old Man Desolate controlling the immortal gu worm, and under the effects of these hundreds of mortal gu worms, the lotus trembled and experienced a shift in its shape.
The petals curled inwards and the hollow root floated upwards, wrapping the sphere tightly. The entirety of the lotus pressed itself upon the green sphere as dark-green flames started burning around it.
The first step was to create the foundation and structure for the gu house. This second step was to actually shape this structure into something more manageable. Gu houses could look like pavilions as much as tall buildings, pagodas, towers, and even strange feats of architecture like a massive needle, a gigantic horn, an outhouse, and more.
Lo Jik designed a gu house shaped like a cauldron.
As the fire burned, the lotus petals soon wilted and turned into ashes. Meanwhile, the roots of the lotus turned dark like a charcoal. The ashes did not float away and instead covered the entire sphere like a dense fog.
'Now.'
Lo Jik did not have to command others. Several other types of clones waiting in the surroundings activated gu worms of their relevant paths, striking the structure at regular intervals in a strange rhythm. The earlier gu worms of different paths resonated with the newfound effects, refining the gu house from inside out.
Lo Jik also activated gu worms a few times.
<<<>>>
"Junior Feng Chan Zi greets Senior Yuan."
Feng Chan Zi greeted courteously. He looked extremely respectful as his grandfather, Old Man Bei Feng, hosted another individual. They were both leaders of their generations, reaching a realm known only to a few and were extremely bright in Central Continent. Old Man Bei Feng was known for his extraordinary combat prowess even amongst other rank 8 gu immortals of Central Continent. He was extremely skilled and his techniques displayed his meticulous and steadfast nature. Though old, his eyes were bright and his squarish face contrasted sharply with his grandson's more handsome features.
Sitting across Old Man Bei Feng was someone even more outstanding in certain aspects of cultivation. Even Wind Cloud Manor's first supreme elder did not dare antagonize this man. He boasted long white hair and thin moustache.
He was also a rank 8 gu immortal—Ancient Soul Sect's first supreme elder!
Like Spirit Affinity House, Ancient Soul Sect also nurtured two rank 8 gu immortals. They were both skilled. Smoke Earth Immortal was known for his ingenious earth path killer moves that were different from the ordinary earth path methods. They were not 'heavy' but light as wind and smoke, extremely swift and deadly. Meanwhile, Yuan Qiong Du was known for his refinement path expertise.
He was a rare refinement path gu immortal! A great expert who refined several immortal gu worm and was known to provide assistance to other rank 8 gu immortals. No one, not even Bei Feng, crossed Yuan Qiong Du due to this reason, unwilling to lose favor of a refinement path great expert who could help them refine gu.
"Hmm." Yuan Qiong Du accepted Feng Chan Zi's greeting with a twinkle in his eyes. "Ah. I remember! You must be the junior who was chased by the beasts, right? The sworn brother of that other talented junior from Spirit Affinity House."
Feng Chan Zi's expression froze before he squeezed out a smile. He felt extremely bitter while forcing out the subsequent words: "Yes, Senior. I'm Gu Yue Lo Jik's sworn brother."
Old Man Bei Feng rolled his eyes and pointed out.
"Oh, Little Feng, don't fall for this Old Coot's teasing."
"Eh?" Feng Chan Zi blinked as Yuan Qiong Du burst into loud laughter, instantly shedding the air of mystery around him.
"Hahaha! Your grandson really has a tolerant nature, Old Feng. Good. Us gu immortals have to bear who knows how much humiliation before reaching greater heights. Feng Chan Zi, was it? Good. You have potential, child."
Feng Chan Zi smiled more sincerely and accepted the praise as he felt overwhelmed by pride.
"Are you done?" Bei Feng sneered. "Don't listen to him, Little Feng. Old Yuan has had a mischievous nature ever since he was young. His master might have set him straight, but he's been roguish for years now."
"Hey! How dare you badmouth me in front of a junior, Old Feng?! You might be more experienced in combat but I'll just poison you, hmph!"
Bei Feng was about to jab in return but paused after sipping the tea.
'Oh, no! Did Senior Yuan really tamper with the tea? He brought this out as a gift but who knows about his true intentions.' Feng Chan Zi felt worried as he noticed his grandfather's strange reaction.
Bei Feng slowly set the cup down just as Feng Chan Zi's thoughts were about to spiral out of his control.
"This tea… I see. You've also experienced a breakthrough. This is an impressive tea. What is it called?"
"Name? This tea?" Yuan Qiong Du chortled. "A tea of this level no longer deserves to be named by yours truly."
Bei Feng's expression changed slightly. He saw through Yuan Qiong Du's lighthearted tone and understood the truth at once. Old Man Bei Feng had invited Yuan Qiong Du for his own needs. Why else would he invite a refinement path expert if not for refining an immortal gu worm? Similarly, Yuan Qiong Du also wanted to assure Old Man Bei Feng of his more recent refinement path breakthrough by presenting this tea.
It was widely accepted that the recipes for tea, wines, and gourmet foods were incomplete food path recipes. Just as one brewed tea using precious materials, one could also replace a few materials or add more refinement path materials to completely refine a new food path gu worm. But this step required a great deal of deductions, something most gu masters decidedly refrained from investing because they were not food path experts. Everyone's time, energy, and resources were limited. Why would they spend time in their hobby of brewing tea to the extent of neglecting their cultivation?
Yuan Qiong Du and Bei Feng were of the same breed. The latter instantly understood the depths of the former's abilities by drinking this tea, realizing that Yuan Qiong Du was extremely close to refining a new gu worm but chose not to. That is why this tea did not have any name. It did not deserve it because Yuan Qiong Du, a master of his craft, decided it was not a worthwhile endeavor!
"I called you here for a reason, Little Feng." Old Man Bei Feng cut to the chase as Yuan Qiong Du's smile vanished slowly. "We will be refining an immortal gu worm. You will act as our assistant."'
Feng Chan Zi's expression changed. This was a massive opportunity! After all, he could view the entire process of refining an immortal gu worm first-hand. There could only be one reason for his grandfather to invite an established senior like Yuan Qiong Du.
"W-What rank 8 immortal gu do you want to refine, grandfather?"
Old Man Bei Feng and Yuan Qiong Du appeared stunned before laughing loudly!
"Ohh! This is too good. The joke writes itself, Old Feng!" Yuan Qiong Du wheezed as he wiped a tear off the corner of his eyes.
Even Old Men Bei Feng rubbed his nose and replied sheepishly.
"We aren't refining a rank 8 immortal gu worm, Little Feng. I invited Old Yuan to help me refine a rank 6 immortal gu worm."
"Rank 6?!" Feng Chan Zi gasped in shock.
"What do you mean with that tone?" Yuan Qiong Du suddenly frowned and inquired sharply.
Feng Chan Zi quickly regained his composure and shook his head while Yuan Qiong Du continued.
"Oh, you have potential but Old Feng spoils you rotten. I know about that Grass Puppet Immortal Gu your grandfather gifted you. It is an immortal gu worm. Do you think it is easy and cheap to refine?"
Yuan Qiong Du pointed at Feng Chan Zi's nose and scolded coldly.
"Hmph! I'm a rank 8 refinement path gu immortal, but does that mean I'm one of the 'Three Olds' with supreme grandmaster attainment in refinement path? Even then, could the three olds guarantee a 100% success in refining every gu worm, no matter the rank?"
"No! They could not! What is so strange about an expert like your grandfather struggling with a rank 6 gu immortal. Let me tell you the truth, junior Feng Chan Zi. Ordinary gu immortals would have less than one percent success rate in refining rank 6 immortal gu worms, one-tenth of a percent to refine a rank 7 immortal gu worm, and one-hundredth of a percent to refine a rank 8 immortal gu worm."
"But my skills far surpass ordinary gu immortals! What more, your grandfather wants to refine an immortal gu worm that is known for its low success rate! We would be lucky to successfully refine it under ten failures."
Feng Chan Zi couldn't help but lower his head. The earlier traces of pride in his heart vanished entirely as Old Man Bei Feng observed everything while nodding internally.
"Let us start preparing the materials." He prompted as Yuan Qiong Du sighed and nodded.
"Yes. We can celebrate properly after succeeding."
Despite scorning Feng Chan Zi earlier, Yuan Qiong Du sounded extremely confident in his skills.
<<<>>>
Lo Jik and others controlled the process. They had already used the second immortal gu worm—Soul Claw Immortal Gu Worm. It was a soul path offensive gu worm, but the use of a gu worm has always been relative to a gu master's intentions. Right now, a soul path offensive immortal gu was being used as a supplement to a refinement gu house.
'Time for the last step.'
Lo Jik took out a rank 6 immortal gu worm. It looked like an ordinary stone disk but had the size of a millstone.
Undefeated Myriad Battles Immortal Gu Worm.
It was a one-time consumable human path immortal gu worm capable of removing all the chances of natural failure when refining a gu. However, an improper recipe or mistake committed by oneself could still result in failure!
The gu worm flew out and entered the fluctuating mass of green light as the entire thing instantly shot out with bright rays of light!
Lo Jik handled this process completely on his own, skillfully controlling the process despite the exhaustion until an impressive structure stood before everyone.
Old Man Desolate instantly grinned widely.
Other clones cheered.
Meanwhile, Lo Jik observed this beauty.
It was the size of a small hill and looked like a cauldron. It was dark-green in color, its surface polished and gleaming with the grotto-heaven's natural daylight. On its surface was a relief sculpture of a delicate and an almost realistic-looking lotus. The cauldron had no handles or lid for its face. It stood on four legs with hollow indentions on their surface similar to a lotus' hollow roots. Compared to other immortal gu houses, it wasn't a thing of aesthetic beauty. However, to Lo Jik, it was one of the most beautiful things to exist!
It was his…
Undefeated Refinement Cauldron.
***
Alternate Title: Today is the day that the Joke wrote itself; Feng Chan Zi, the joke; Refining an immortal gu house; A budding contender for the top 10 immortal gu house ranking; Stonks; A refinement cauldron; Bei Feng's help; Mischievous rank 8 gu immortal; Feng Chan Zi unable to catch a break; Costly gu immortal refinement; Nameless tea; Lo Jik's new sworn brother; The peak of formation path; Practice makes perfect; Feng Chan Zi easily getting influenced; Refining a rank 8 immortal gu, lmao; Rank 7 immortal gu house; Best formation path environment
***
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