Chapter 658: Difficulty in resolving the issues, Hei Lou Lan appears Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral In the underground cave, the light of wisdom flickered back and forth from bright to dim. Fang Yuan quietly stood inside it. Only when the wills inside his mind were fully consumed did he open his eyes and step out of the wisdom light halo. The deduction he made had succeeded, but Fang Yuan was gloomy because of it. “To seal Spring Autumn Cicada, as much as over six thousand mortal Gu are required, among them, almost half are rank five, with rare Gu worms reaching two thousand, and there are also about eight hundred ancient Gu worms. These ancient Gu worms are either extinct or on the brink of extinction. My initial estimate is that I require about twenty-three immortal essence stones to use this method.” Fang Yuan was in a poverty stricken state, twenty-three immortal essence stones were a hopeless number for him currently. But Fang Yuan had to brace himself to accomplish this task. Because Spring Autumn Cicada’s recovery was becoming faster and faster, making the situation of the first aperture more critical. Fortunately, with Fang Yuan having turned into a zombie, his first aperture turned into a dead aperture, thus it was able to hold on till now. If the aperture was like before, it might have already burst. “According to the current situation, I estimate I still have over two months to plan and prepare. If this time limit is crossed, the first aperture will not be able to endure even if it is already dead.” Fang Yuan was feeling a heavy pressure. He was now a member of the living dead, even if his first aperture was destroyed, he would not die. But losing the first aperture would no doubt greatly reduce his future cultivation potential, and that would be an immeasurable loss. Fang Yuan was in a difficult situation, and there was only one feasible method to earn twenty-three immortal essence stones within a short period of time – selling Immortal Gu recipes. Returning to Dang Hun palace, Fang Yuan called in Tai Bai Yun Sheng. “I have been paying close attention to treasure yellow heaven over these days, taking almost no rest. But Lang Ya land spirit’s divine sense has not appeared since the beginning.” Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s answer made Fang Yuan feel disappointment. Lang Ya land spirit’s divine sense called itself “Lang Ya Old Immortal” in treasure yellow heaven, and it was very active at that. But now, it had not appeared at all, almost like it was missing. Fang Yuan keenly sensed Lang Ya land spirit was likely to be facing some problems. He recalled his previous life where Lang Ya blessed land had suffered a total of seven waves of attacks. “Previously when I was in northern plains, the second wave of experts had already attacked Lang Ya blessed land. Could it be, the third wave of attacks has already occured and Lang Ya land spirit is busy dealing with it, thus having no time to refine Gu?” Memories of Fang Yuan’s previous life were not able to help him in this aspect. He only remembered about the seven waves of attacks, and did not remember the detailed timings of these attacks. Even if he remembered the exact timing, this world was already influenced by him and had experienced huge changes, who is to say that the changes upon changes might not have shifted the attacks to an earlier time. “My horizons have been continually broadened these days... A piece of ten thousand year profound ice costs half an immortal essence stone! Half a kilogram of hurricane mountain pepper has the selling price of an immortal essence stone! What are divine jade pearls? Ten of them actually cost half an immortal essence stone. There is also, what’s that white spiral silk, its price is even more ridiculous, a pinky sized amount costs three immortal essence stones! Heavens, right now, I realized how poor I am!” Tai Bai Yun Sheng chattered on about his harvest over this time, speaking in an excited tone. During these days, as Fang Yuan interacted with Tai Bai Yun Sheng all the time, he gradually discovered Tai Bai Yun Sheng had a shortcoming, that was his prattling mouth, he was talkative. Fang Yuan handed a letter Gu and interrupted his chattering: “This is the letter sent by Immortal Crane Sect, please read.” Tai Bai Yun Sheng sent his consciousness inside, his brows soon frowned into a knot. In this second letter from Immortal Crane Sect, their tone was even more harsh and fierce, already making their intention to attack Hu Immortal blessed land exceptionally clear. Immortal Crane Sect even used the tone of the victor, demanding Fang Yuan to surrender. “These guys have gone crazy for Dang Hun mountain. If it were me, I would at least first stabilize you, then carry out hidden attacks. Aren’t they afraid their actions will make us take preventive measures?” Tai Bai Yun Sheng said in a displeased tone. “This is the power and confidence of Immortal Crane Sect. They are one of the ten great ancient sects of central continent and have an incomparably deep foundation, having stood tall and straight at Fei He mountain for hundreds of thousands of years. Besides this, I think they are trying to pressure me and also probe the intention of my backers.” Fang Yuan analyzed. “Yes, Immortal Crane Sect is stronger than any single super force of northern plains by some degree. We are too weak, while they are a colossus becoming more and more overbearing. It will be very difficult for us to protect Hu Immortal blessed land from them...” Tai Bai Yun Sheng spoke carefully, glancing at Fang Yuan several times. He already had thoughts of retreating, giving up Hu Immortal blessed land and moving far away, he just did not openly express it. Fang Yuan knew his thoughts. Tai Bai Yun Sheng was a healing Gu Master, he was benevolent and could be said to be feeble, seriously lacking the spirit to make a stand. Fang Yuan did not rebuke Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s intentions. In fact, Fang Yuan had also thought of giving up and abandoning Hu Immortal blessed land. Dang Hun mountain represented extremely huge benefits and Immortal Crane Sect and other super forces would definitely want to possess it. However, that was, of course, only as a last resort. As long as there existed hope along with benefits, it could be said that Fang Yuan would absolutely not speak of giving up easily. Fang Yuan thus consoled Tai Bai Yun Sheng: “Immortal Crane Sect is one of the ten great ancient sects of central continent, a super force, a behemoth, but they also have their worries. How many methods can they use to deal with us specifically? I dare to guarantee, it is not as exaggerated as you imagine, especially when they are greatly underestimating our true battle strength.” Life was not easy, Immortal Crane Sect also had its own problems. New sects were emerging endlessly in central continent, continually bringing huge impacts to the ten great ancient sects. The ten great ancient sects occupied the most important positions in central continent with the best cultivation resources, they naturally would be subjected to competition from all sides. In history, Immortal Crane Sect had experienced golden ages several times, but at present, there was a clear disparity compared to their most prosperous periods. Immortal Crane Sect had not expanded for many years already — this meant they were under some restraints. “Since junior brother wants to battle Immortal Crane Sect, I shall risk my life to accompany you. Don’t worry, no matter how dangerous the situation gets, I will support you till the last moment.” Tai Bai Yun Sheng patted his chest and swore. Fang Yuan nodded: “I also ask Old Bai to not worry, I, Gu Yue Fang Yuan, am not a stubborn man. If there was nothing to be done and the situation was truly unfavorable, I would definitely take the initiative to retreat. Forcing back Immortal Crane Sect’s first wave of attacks perhaps won’t be difficult, but the main problem does not lie here. Immortal Crane Sect is a very big sect, if we repel them, they will at once arrive with another wave. After this continues for few times, Immortal Crane Sect’s offense will become stronger and they will start treating us more seriously. We need to rely on another great force to resolve this issue, making an alliance with another ancient sect.” Tai Bai Yun Sheng repeatedly nodded in complete agreement: “But junior brother, you have already sent a letter to Spirit Affinity House, but until now they have yet to reply. Was our letter Gu intercepted by Immortal Crane Sect, how about we send some more letters?” Fang Yuan shook his head, the letter Gu he contacted Spirit Affinity House with was not his, but the rank five letter sending green bird Gu created by Feng Jiu Ge. Back then, Fang Yuan defeated Feng Jin Huang and obtained Hu Immortal blessed land. Feng Jin Huang was indignant and sent a challenge letter using this letter sending green bird Gu. But Fang Yuan did not respond to the challenge and instead had been detaining this letter Gu. He had already speculated this letter Gu’s owner was very likely to be Feng Jiu Ge. The reason being that Feng Jin Huang had yet to reach rank five back then. Besides Feng Jiu Gu, it was also likely to be his wife, Feng Jin Huang’s mother — Fairy Bai Qing. Regardless of who the owner was, this letter Gu had already been lent to Fang Yuan, its original purpose being to allow Fang Yuan to respond to the challenge letter. And Fang Yuan used this letter Gu to contact Spirit Affinity House. Fang Yuan had been very confident regarding this letter, but Spirit Affinity House still had yet to reply after so long, so he was somewhat unsure now. According to the common sense conjecture: letter sending green bird Gu was created by Feng Jiu Ge, which represented this expert’s will and prestige to some degree. To intercept this green bird Gu and risk offending his impressive and dignified presence, this was not at all likely. However, this possibility could not be completely excluded as well. Thus Fang Yuan nodded and accepted Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s suggestion: “Okay, let’s wait seven days, if we still don’t receive a reply by then, we will send another letter.” Time passed day by day, Hu Immortal blessed land was in a predicament. A strong enemy was approaching from the outside, while on the inside, cultivation resources were lacking. Even if Fang Yuan used his zombie body and wisdom Gu to deduce and sell Immortal Gu recipes of the highest grade, the regretful part was that he did not have the capital to kickstart this plan and could only put it aside for the time being. Lang Ya land spirit and Spirit Affinity House were the keys to break through these predicaments. But it was a pity that these two keys stayed in the dark with no messages from them. Who knew when Fang Yuan would receive news from them, perhaps he wouldn’t for his whole life. Destiny created obstacles, the road ahead of Fang Yuan was once again shrouded in obscurity. “It seems my luck is still not too good.” Fang Yuan scoffed at himself. There was nothing he could do, since he possessed Spring Autumn Cicada, his luck was likely to only get worse. He tried asking Mo Yao about improved Immortal Gu remnant recipes, but Mo Yao claimed that she did not know them. She was residing in Fang Yuan’s body and had gone through the final battle in northern plains with him; she knew Fang Yuan possessed wisdom Gu and thus it was not hard for her to speculate Fang Yuan’s intentions. Mo Yao was a refinement path grandmaster, she very likely knew Immortal Gu remnant recipes which matched Fang Yuan’s criteria. But she did not reply and since Fang Yuan lacked wisdom path methods, he could do nothing to her. Under this kind of situation, Hei Lou Lan suddenly arrived at Dang Hun mountain. Fang Yuan lost a stargate Gu and was already not able to return to northern plains alone. Hei Lou Lan being able to come to Dang Hun mountain was naturally because of Fixed Immortal Travel. As for how she knew the scenery here, that was because Fang Yuan had sent a will to her of his own accord. This was the agreed upon plan, but Fang Yuan was still somewhat surprised: “If I am not wrong, there is still half a month left before the limit of our agreed upon time, right?” “The situation has changed, my friend.” Hei Lou Lan tone’s was grave, revealing a trace of worry. Making this formidable and ambitious person anxious, the situation in northern plains indeed did not seem to be optimistic. However, Hei Lou Lan soon realized her flaw and concealed all her emotions, speaking with a cold smile: “Naturally, I have another goal, that is to make sure you are not on guard. After all, this is your headquarters, in case you arranged traps against me, I would be messing up your plans by arriving earlier!” Fang Yuan laughed, appearing unperturbed, as if there were no issues that could perplex him: “After the battle of northern plains, you and I are already tied together for better or for worse. But for complete cooperation, your previous conditions are still insufficient!”