Fang Yuan had failed to modify the gu formation correctly.
He frowned, pouring over the details of what he had learned.
There were several areas that he identified that could've been problem - over a dozen, but the truth was that without testing it could turn out that all of these areas were issues or none of them were.
Fang Yuan abandoned his idea of modifying an existing formation and then turned to trying to make one from the ground up.
First, he started with a simple set of four gu worms, finding them rotating amongst each other giving out a soft glow. This achieved a very simple Emotion Path effect - heightening emotions to a small extent.
Then, Fang Yuan went to trying with ten gu worms. This was successful, and as he suspended the formation over the Emotion Lillies he found some of them responding. This gu formation took positive emotions like joy and happiness and converted them into negative emotions like rage and sadness. The Emotion Lillies began changing color in response to the formation, at least, those that were near the formation did.
Fang Yuan was able to accomplish the reverse as well.
He then had to go back to the mortal inheritance to read more about making formations from the ground up.
The formations gradually grew more complex - but Fang Yuan ran into a problem once they reached about thirty gu worms.
The issue was as this point, he was no longer relying on just Emotion Path gu worms, but had to add in gu worms of other paths as well. And this required a good bit of trial and error, with him swapping out gu worms of other paths.
When it came to those fifty gu worms and higher, he had no success at all, the formations collapsing into tinier ones or just not working altogether.
Pivoting to trying to make his own formation, he was able to recreate one of Paradise Earth's own ones - the one he had been trying to adapt in the first place.
However, this had limited success when he tried placing them over the Emotion Lillies. It was better than nothing, but this was not the optimal way to stimulate their growth.
Of course, there was a downside to if Fang Yuan put too many resources into the Emotion Lillies - storing resources of a different path could ultimately affect his aperture negatively. Right now though, much like with the Jade Eye Stone Monkeys, this effect was mostly negligible. The Emotion Lillies, even if they grew to be one hundred times the size they currently were, would not even cover 1% of the area in White Heaven.
Most Immortals had trouble with placing objects in their Immortal Apertures from lack of space - Fang Yuan had the opposite problem. He had too much empty space. The more space he had, the greater would be the intensity of his Earthly Calamity. He needed resources and gu worms to deal with it.
For now, he kept the original formation up. It still stimulated the growth of the Emotion Lillies by 150% and that was worth keeping. Fang Yuan hadn't mastered formations enough to create smaller formations within it that might boost this further, so he could only leave it like this right now; resolving to slowly build on this formation by adding in Emotion Path gu worms later on.
Fang Yuan turned his attention to the islands towards the south now, where he had kept many of his Human Path gu worms away from the residents of Fang Yuan Continent so they wouldn't kill them.
His next goal was to see if he could create a formation that might boost the natural refinement of Relic Gu.
The mortal inheritance he had had nothing to help him build a foundation in this kind of matter; after all, the Human Path was mostly unexplored.
Anything he wanted to accomplish would need to be done after rigorous testing. He was able to create a simple formation with four gu worms, but as he moved on to any number higher than ten he ran into some issues.
This was thanks to his lower foundation in the Human Path, as well as not having any formation from before that could guide him.
However, as he glanced at the Human Path gu worms before him, rearranging him, he had an odd feeling.
Where had he experienced something like this before?
It seemed oddly familiar to him...
The Legends of Ren Zu, Chapter Six, Section Six, stated:
After Boundless Forest Samsara and the miniman had shattered Red Heaven, they had barely managed to escape with their lives and landed in a dark and desolate place.
"Where are we?" Boundless Forest Samsara asked.
"I don't know - fortune would've favored us if we landed near Ren Zu, but we can only explore around here to see what's going on," the miniman said.
"Oh, miniman, I'm sorry to have dragged you into this," Boundless Forest Samsara said. "You were living happily with the other minimen in Ordinary Abyss only for you to end up here..."
"Don't worry about me," the miniman replied. "I was the one who wanted to live Ordinary Abyss - now, what is the point in complaining about where we ended up?"
The miniman and Boundless Forest Samsara continued walking until they happened upon a large group of Rockmen.
"Oh? What are the Rockmen doing?"
"Let's go and ask them."
The Rockmen were gathered in a large circle staring at something. It was a boulder - nothing more than an ordinary boulder, but something about it seemed off.
"What are you all doing?" Boundless Forest Samsara asked.
"Oh, this? This is Impossible Boulder," the Rockmen said.
"Impossible Boulder?"
"Yes. We have been trying to push this Impossible Boulder to the top of the hill many times," the Rockmen said. "Our tribe has been dedicated to it for centuries now, but we have been unable to fully do so."
"Why even bother?" the miniman asked.
"Because our ancestors did so, and so do we," the Rockmen answered. "Go ahead and see if you can move this Impossible Boulder by yourselves."
"Don't worry about this, we need to find your father," the miniman said.
"Actually, I think I want to try this out," Boundless Forest Samsara said, rolling up her sleeves. There was nothing like the promise of a challenge to bring out the competitiveness in someone, and seeing the Rockmen so despondent about it made her want to try to see if she could do so.
As it was, she has spent far too much time in Ordinary Abyss and had regretted slacking off while making her ladder then. She wanted to compensate for it. "Let me have a go at it."
Boundless Forest Samsara noticed that there was something odd about Impossible Boulder - it changed size and weight based on who was pushing it.
The moment her tiny hands touched it, it shrank so it was easier for her to push.
And so Boundless Forest Samsara began pushing the Impossible Boulder up the hill, trying to get it to the top.
The Rockmen cheered her on, hoping for her success.
Impossible Boulder was heavy, but Boundless Forest Samsara did not stop. She continued to push her best - getting about halfway through before she felt her body was coated in sweat - she felt that she couldn't go further.
'No, I have to try and keep pushing,' she thought to herself as she pushed even as her arms burned and her muscles ached.
She kept pushing and pushing, hoping to succeed, but about three-fourths of the way up the hill, she found she could go no further and she collapsed, watching Impossible Boulder roll down the hill back to the bottom.
She had failed!