Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Earth Refinement Gu
"Begin refinement." Fang Yuan's loud voice boomed across the large building and thousands of hairy men lined up to their stations. Each station was equipped with a miniature formation. Sets of Gu materials rolled into the hairy men's hands via a conveyer belt very similar to that of the modern production line. As the conveyer belt moved the hairy men would refine Gu.
Refining Gu was like cooking. It required time, resources and crucial steps designed to make the process easy and efficient. The refinement stations embodied this to the extreme. Each hairy men only completed one step of the Gu refinement. This made it easy for them to become skilled in that single step. It also saved precious time and materials from the failures they would commit if they were to complete the entire Gu by themselves.
With this highly efficient and practical method of Gu refinement the rate of production was staggering. Hundreds of thousands of Gu popped out of the highly advanced formation every day. This rate far surpassed that of any other Gu immortal. Even Lang Ya would be shocked to see the sheer quantity of Gu being made by the second. And all of this was thanks to the Gu formation made by Fang Yuan.
"Connect Luck! Time Luck! Blood Asset!" At Fang Yuan's command three beacons of light shined up into the sky, one blood red, one gold, and the other a faint yellow. "Three Element Refinement!"
The three beams slowly became larger and larger until they encompassed the entire building. Slowly a strange sensation began to form between the hairy men. Thick lines of gold light formed between them, connecting their luck and spreading it out towards each other. After a few seconds a thread of connecting faint yellow light formed, greatly boosting each of the hairy men's luck. Then a chain of blood red light formed, but not between the hairy men but the unfinished Gu in their hands.
The Gu in the hairy men's hands rose into the sky and under the combined effort of all of the hairy men each and every Gu was successfully refined. After completion the lights flashed one last time and teleported all the Gu right into Fang Yuan's hands.
"Is that good enough for you Vicious Lightning Fiend?" The bald headed man standing next to Fang Yuan gave him a greasy smile.
"Well. The immortal Gu you use in the formation aren't refinement path Gu, are they? I'm not sure if you're suitable for the task..."
Vicious Lightning Fiend looked about as sinister as his title. His head was completely bald and his face was scarred with burn marks. Parts of his body looked stitched together as if he was a doll. With every stitch the color of his skin would change into a decaying grey color. Half of his body looked like a dead corpse and yet the smile on his face never faded.
"If you can find another person with attainment in refinement path and formation path then I welcome you to leave."
Vicious Lightning Fiend raised an eyebrow. "You would let me leave after seeing that you have two immortal Gu related to luck path?"
Fang Yuan laughed. "No other person in Central Continent can help you refine your immortal Gu. Unless an expert from Heavenly Court descends to help you than you need my help."
"That is not necessarily the case. With the success dao marks from the Refinement Path Convention any refinement is guaranteed to succeed."
"Yes. But the Gu that you want does not have an existing recipe. Unless Myriad Dragon Dock has another refinement path expert more skilled than Firesmith Dragon Chief you'll have no choice but to choose me. Firesmith Dragon Chief is certainly capable enough to get to the final rounds of the convention but he has no chance of creating the recipe you want."
Vicious Lightning Fiend looked over at the formation and thought to himself for a few moments. "How much time will it take for you to integrate another immortal Gu into that formation?"
"Hmm, that depends on the immortal Gu. If it's related to refinement path it would fit in perfectly."
Viscous Lightning Fiend pulled out a small immortal Gu. It was shaped like a dung beetle and it had dark brown spots all over it's back. Although it was clearly a refinement path Gu it radiated a unique aura only possessed by earth immortal Gu.
"Earth Refinement Gu. One of the four elemental refinement Gu. I was wondering which forces held the four elemental refinement path Gu. Didn't think Myriad Dragon Dock had one." Fang Yuan took another glance at the immortal Gu and quickly retreated his gaze. "To get ownership of this Gu to use in our transaction must have been costly. I wonder what exactly you plan to do once you get the Gu you want?"
Vicious Lightning Fiend quickly hid the immortal Gu away and smiled. "That is not important. The only thing that matters is the time restraint I have for the immortal Gu. The idea I have for it is very complicated so I'll tell you before we sign any agreement."
Vicious Lightning Fiend spread out his arms and drew two circles in the air. Two strange creatures came out of his shadow, each radiating the aura of a rank 6 Gu immortal. "I assume you already know my immortal killer Lightning Diety is based on the immortal Gu Blood Diety. I want to make my killer move into an immortal Gu. Do you think you can do that?"
Fang Yuan eyed the lightning creatures carefully and nodded. "It's not as difficult as you imagine. Blood Diety Gu and many other enslavement path Gu create creatures similar to what your killer move is. The problem is that these immortal Gu are typically weaker than the killer move. If you wanted to use this immortal Gu you'd need to adjust your killer move around it. It may be more suitable to refine another immortal Gu that can quickly increase your battle strength."
Vicious Lightning Fiend's eyes widened. He obviously hadn't expected Fang Yuan to give genuine advice but surprisingly he did. But he didn't take Fang Yuan's advice. The killer move Lightning Diety was far too complex and costly to use. Every single time he used it the killer move would cost him dozens of immortal essence beads and various precious immortal materials. To him, it was completely worthwhile to decrease his overall strength as opposed to increasing it.
Refining Lightning Diety into an immortal Gu would cut his costs when using the killer move. It would also allow for a far more powerful killer move centered around Lightning Diety Gu in the future. Vicious Lightning Fiend planned to fight many people in the near future so decreasing the damages to his economic status was extremely important. Myriad Dragon Dock was supporting him in his cooperation with Fang Yuan but that cooperation was limited. If he decided to refine a Gu to increase his battle strength the price of using the improved killer move would be far too much.
"No. Refining Lightning Diety Gu is the best possible option for me. Cutting costs is more important than immediate strength. I ask that you help me create Lightning Diety Gu."
"Very well. I won't argue against you. Refining Lightning Diety Gu, whether it be the recipe or the actual Gu won't be difficult but I need my payment upfront."
Vicious Lightning Fiend sighed. This was going to be the most annoying part of the agreement. Fang Yuan was the same person who forced him to hand over an almost complete immortal Gu recipe for just one Lightning Diety. He had no doubt that Fang Yuan would suck him dry but he still pulled out his information path immortal Gu. He already came with the mindset that he would need to pay ridiculous amounts of money for this immortal Gu.
"First of all, I want the Earth Refinement Gu upfront. Second, I want to know all the information of your killer move Lightning Diety. That includes all the Gu used, whether they're immortal Gu or not. I want the recipes to all of the mortal Gu used in the killer move as well as the immortal Gu, regardless of rank."
"I don't have all of the recipes to my immortal Gu and I definitely can't give you the recipes of all my mortal Gu. Some of them are personal creations and are extremely valuable. I can't give them to you."
Fang Yuan rolled his eyes. "Fine. I'll just take the immortal Gu recipes that you do have. But don't give me that bullshit about your mortal Gu recipes. I'm not a lightning path Gu immortal so no matter how valuable the recipes are, they're nothing more than reference material. Those mortal Gu recipes are non negotiable."
Fang Yuan didn't even pause to let Vicious Lightning Fiend talk. "Other than that I want at least 10,000 immortal essence stones for my hard work. Coming up with an entirely new immortal Gu recipe is costly. Especially on such a tight time restraint."
"What!" Vicious Lightning Fiend was outright offended by the price. "10,000 immortal essence stones? I barely make that in a decade! You really I'd spend so much on one single immortal Gu?"
Fang Yuan's smug smile almost made him want to attack him. "I'd be very disappointed in your capabilities if you didn't have at least 10,000 immortal escense stones saved up. Besides the essence stones I want lifespan Gu. Let's see...15 years worth is good enough."
"15 years!" At this point Vicious Lightning Fiend was tearing at his non existent hair. "I would never pay that much just for an immortal Gu!"
Fang Yuan lazily pulled at his robe and revealed a Gu recipe. It wasn't complete but it's meaning was profound. "Take a look at this and tell me it isn't worth investing so much."
The Gu recipe that Fang Yuan handed to Vicious Lightning Diety wasn't normal. In fact, it was the very thing he wanted. A recipe for the non existent Lightning Diety Gu. It was only around 10% percent completed but all of the core ideas and principles that made up the lightning killer move Lightning Diety were listed.
"You managed to make this much progress without knowing all the information of the killer move?" Vicious Lightning Diety stared at the incomplete Gu recipe in shock. How long had it been since they had proposed this meet up? Just a week? Even with the time dilation in the blessed land this rate was absolutely monstrous.
"And that's considering I have no foundation in lightning path. If the Gu you wanted was enslavement path or refinement path...well, I'm sure you can imagine what that would be like. You're not looking at some bottom feeder. I'm a refinement path great grandmaster."
Suddenly Fang Yuan's image in Vicious Lightning Fiend's head became much brighter. This wasn't just a one time transaction. It was very possible that this could be a long term relationship. And not just between him and Fang Yuan but Fang Yuan and Myriad Dragon Dock.
"Fine. I agree with your terms. Let's sign the contract."
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