A short time skip passed.
Fang Ming's second aperture immortal ascension had ended.
Compared to Hei Lou Lan's ascension, his ascension had not been as dangerous.
Hei Lou Lan had ascended with the Great Strength True Martial Physique. Her foundation was terrifying, but the danger was equally terrifying. Heaven and earth had pressured her with heavenly tribulation, earthly calamity, Reckless Savage true meaning, and Hei Cheng's pursuit.
Fang Ming was different.
He was already a Gu Immortal.
His main body had considerable battle strength. His strength path methods were mature. He had immortal essence, Immortal Gu, experience, and enough preparation. This was not his first time crossing the mortal-immortal boundary.
The second aperture's enslavement path ascension was still an immortal ascension, but to Fang Ming, it was manageable.
The heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity had come.
He suppressed them.
The three qi fused.
The second aperture transformed.
When everything ended, Fang Ming obtained a high-grade blessed land.
Its territory reached roughly six thousand square kilometers.
Its time flow was fifteen times that of the outside world. One day in the outside world equaled fifteen days inside this new enslavement path aperture.
It was far inferior to his strength path immortal aperture, but that was expected.
His strength path immortal aperture had been created through the Great Strength True Martial Physique and later developed through multiple opportunities. Its time flow was much faster, reaching around thirty-eight days inside for every day outside.
But a high-grade blessed land was still excellent.
More importantly, Fang Ming refined two Immortal Gu during the ascension.
The first was Control Eagle Immortal Gu.
This Gu had been refined from his enslavement path core Gu as a mortal. Its effect was direct and practical: it helped him enslave, command, and control eagles.
Among enslavement path Gu Immortals, this kind of Gu was extremely common in concept. Those who specialized in wolves had wolf-control Gu. Those who specialized in beasts had beast-control Gu. Those who specialized in insects had insect-control Gu.
Fang Ming's enslavement path direction had always leaned toward eagles.
Thus, Control Eagle Immortal Gu was a natural result.
The second Immortal Gu was more unexpected.
It was refined from the excess heaven qi, earth qi, and human qi during his ascension.
Gene Enhancement Immortal Gu.
This Gu was Fang Ming's own creation.
Its inspiration came from the junglefowl formations he had copied, studied, and built over the past months. Those formations did not simply hatch food beasts. They improved breeding, stabilized bloodlines, accelerated useful traits, and allowed controlled development.
During the ascension, Fang Ming borrowed the resonance of heaven and earth to deduce further.
He did not only think of food beasts.
He thought of eagles.
A strong eagle population could become an enormous force inside his aperture. They could scout, patrol, hunt, fight, and later form the foundation of his enslavement path combat system.
Ordinary eagles were not enough.
He needed eagles with potential.
Eagles whose bloodlines were enhanced from birth.
Eagles that could grow to higher ranks.
Eagles that were born obedient to him.
Thus, after the ascension ended, Fang Ming did not immediately rest.
He began his first use of virtual refinement copy.
This method was expensive, but its value lay in synthesis.
Fang Ming used three Immortal Gu as the foundation:
Control Eagle Immortal Gu.
Gene Enhancement Immortal Gu.
Junglefowl Incubation Immortal Gu.
Through virtual refinement copy, their concepts were combined, reorganized, and refined toward a new purpose.
The cost was enormous.
Three thousand two hundred immortal essence stones vanished.
Even after Fang Ming's large transaction with Lang Ya land spirit, this was not a small expense.
But when the process ended, a new Immortal Gu appeared before him.
Eagle Gene Enhancement Incubation Gu.
This Gu specialized in incubating eagle eggs while enhancing their genes. It would improve the potential of the eagle chicks during formation, stabilize useful traits, and ensure that all eagles hatched through it were directly connected to Fang Ming's control.
Fang Ming looked at the Gu for a long time.
Then he started building the formation he had deduced during ascension.
This was not like the junglefowl food beast formations.
The junglefowl formations were designed for production. They were compact, efficient, and practical. Each one served a clear commercial purpose.
The eagle formation was different.
This was a formation born from heaven and earth inspiration during ascension.
Heaven and earth did not care about cost efficiency.
They gave Fang Ming a formation that was vast, complicated, and excessive.
Its size was roughly equal to three junglefowl formations.
It only had two Immortal Gu as its core:
Eagle Gene Enhancement Incubation Gu.
Control Eagle Immortal Gu.
But the amount of mortal Gu needed was enormous.
Fang Ming spent days gathering, purchasing, sorting, and arranging Gu worms and materials. Formation flags rose. Gu houses were arranged around the core. Nesting regions were built. Feeding pits, observation formations, data-collection Gu, and knowledge-imprinting Gu were placed one after another.
The formation had several functions.
First, it would gather eagle eggs inside Fang Ming's aperture.
Second, it would enhance their genes so that the eagles had higher future potential.
Third, it would incubate the eggs safely.
Fourth, it would collect data on newly hatched chicks, allowing future gene enhancement to become more accurate.
Fifth, it would feed the young eagles during their earliest days.
Sixth, it would forcefully imprint basic knowledge.
How to fly.
How to hunt.
What to hunt.
How to survive.
What areas were forbidden.
This last point was extremely important.
Eagles were not chickens.
They could fly great distances.
Even if Fang Ming placed them far away, a group of eagles could cross huge areas in several days and reach the junglefowl formations. If they caused chaos there, the damage would be far worse than the fire fox calamity.
Fire foxes ran.
Eagles flew.
They could strike from the sky, scatter quickly, and attack formation regions repeatedly.
Fang Ming absolutely would not allow that.
Thus, the eagle formation imprinted forbidden zones into the minds of every chick.
The junglefowl formations were not to be attacked.
The mortal villages were not to be attacked.
Fang Ming's marked resource points were not to be attacked.
Seventh, every eagle hatched from the formation would be born enslaved.
This was the reason Fang Ming integrated Control Eagle Gu directly into the formation.
Eagles were proud.
Trying to enslave them after they matured was troublesome. Their wildness, instincts, and arrogance would resist control. Better to solve the matter from birth.
From the moment they broke out of the shell, Fang Ming would already exist in their instincts as master.
As controller.
As the highest command.
Fang Ming eventually placed the first eagle formation inside his strength path immortal aperture, not his new enslavement path aperture.
There were several reasons.
First, the strength path aperture was still huge and far from full.
Even after six junglefowl formations, twelve villages, beast regions, and growing mortal activity, there was still a vast amount of unused land.
Second, its time flow was much faster.
Thirty-eight days inside for one day outside.
The enslavement path aperture only had fifteen.
If the eagles were raised in the strength path aperture, they would grow far faster.
Third, the enslavement path aperture was empty.
There was no ecosystem there yet.
If Fang Ming put eagles inside, he would have to buy food constantly or transfer resources in. That was inefficient.
The strength path aperture already had a forming ecosystem.
Rabbits.
Wolves.
Foxes.
Chickens.
Food beasts.
Wild beasts.
Humans.
The food chain was crude but real.
Eagles could hunt there. They could fight, learn, compete, and become fierce. If natural hunting was not enough, Fang Ming could feed them with some food beasts directly.
He did not want delicate birds.
He wanted hunters.
War eagles.
The formation was eventually activated.
The first eagle eggs were drawn into the nesting regions.
Faint light flowed across their shells as Gene Enhancement Gu began working.
Fang Ming watched silently.
This was not a business formation.
Not yet.
This was a military foundation.
After the eagle formation stabilized, Fang Ming turned his attention to the mortals inside his strength aperture.
It had been quite some time since he relocated them.
Two calamities and tribulations had passed since then.
In outside time, it was not too long.
But inside the strength aperture, more than twenty-five years had gone by.
The twelve villages had changed greatly.
At the beginning, each village had around five thousand people.
Now, each had roughly eight thousand.
Children had grown into adults. Adults had become elders. New families had formed. Old village boundaries had expanded. Roads connected several settlements. Small walls, watchtowers, fields, workshops, training grounds, and Gu storage halls had appeared.
More importantly, Gu Masters had emerged.
There were now many Rank 3 Gu Masters.
A few Rank 4 Gu Masters.
And even two Rank 5 Gu Masters.
This growth was not purely natural. Fang Ming's aperture had abundant primeval stones because of the Stone Egg Gu he had buried. Wild Gu formed frequently due to dao marks. Mortal Gu that Fang Ming did not need were distributed as rewards. Beast attacks and tribulations forced the villages to train seriously.
The villages had helped defend the junglefowl formations during the last two calamities.
They had suffered losses.
They had also earned merit.
Fang Ming gathered the most talented Gu Masters, along with those who had contributed most in protecting the formations.
They were brought before the new eagle incubation formation.
The Gu Masters stood in silence, looking at the vast formation before them.
To them, this was not merely a formation.
It was a divine construct.
They had been born, raised, and cultivated inside Fang Ming's world. To them, Fang Ming was not simply a Gu Immortal. He was the ruler of heaven and earth, the being who controlled tribulations, resources, rewards, and punishment.
Fang Ming stood before them.
His voice spread across the area.
"From today onward, the Eagle Sect is established."
The gathered Gu Masters knelt.
The first sect in Fang Ming's aperture was born.
Fang Ming had chosen to organize his mortals by villages earlier because survival had been the first priority.
Villages were simple.
Bloodline, family, land, and shared danger allowed them to stabilize quickly. In an unfamiliar world, clan-like village structures were the easiest way to prevent collapse.
But now, survival was no longer the only concern.
The villages had grown.
And growth brought laziness.
Some people had begun relying on bloodline.
Some relied on family influence.
Some relied on relationships with village elders.
Even with a calamity every ten years, once the villages stabilized, comfort started appearing.
Fang Ming did not like this trend.
He thought of the five regions.
Eastern Sea had vast resources, even more than Central Continent in many aspects. Southern Border also had abundant resources and countless mountains filled with hidden inheritances and materials.
But Central Continent was still the strongest region.
Why?
Not because it had the most resources.
Eastern Sea and Southern Border together had more.
The reason was structure.
Eastern Sea's merchant-like alliances were loose and unreliable. People cooperated when profitable and scattered when danger came.
Southern Border's clan system preserved bloodlines, but buried countless geniuses every year. If a genius was born into the wrong clan, had the wrong surname, or lacked backing, they might never rise.
Central Continent's sect system was different.
It absorbed talent.
It nurtured disciples.
It created competition through contribution.
It gave resources based on merit, talent, achievement, and loyalty to the sect rather than only bloodline.
Of course, Central Continent sects had their own corruption and darkness, but structurally, they were superior at cultivating large numbers of useful Gu Masters.
Fang Ming wanted that.
Not completely.
Not blindly.
But he wanted the useful parts.
Thus, the Eagle Sect was established.
Its purpose was clear.
Protect the eagle formation.
Raise eagles.
Train with eagles.
Use eagles as partners.
Develop enslavement path Gu Masters.
Create future Gu Immortal seeds.
The sect's core cultivation path would be enslavement path with eagles as the main beast group.
Fang Ming provided enslavement path cultivation techniques.
These included methods to control young eagles, coordinate with eagle groups, fight alongside aerial beasts, issue commands quickly, and preserve soul strength during long battles.
He also used his transformation path attainment, gained from Reckless Savage true meaning, to create several mortal Gu recipes and killer moves related to eagle transformation.
Some allowed Gu Masters to temporarily grow eagle claws.
Some enhanced eyesight.
Some improved balance while riding flying beasts.
Some allowed brief feather armor transformation.
Some were crude, but practical.
For mortals, practical was enough.
Fang Ming also established a contribution system.
Every mission.
Every battle.
Every innovation.
Every useful Gu recipe.
Every defense of a formation.
Every successfully raised eagle.
Every improvement to the sect.
All could grant contribution points.
Resources would be exchanged through contribution.
Primeval stones.
Mortal Gu.
Killer moves.
Cultivation techniques.
Eagle partners.
Even immortal ascension information.
Fang Ming did not hide the path to immortality completely.
If someone gathered enough contribution, reached the proper cultivation level, and proved loyalty, they could exchange for immortal ascension knowledge.
If contribution was even higher, they could request Fang Ming's assistance during ascension.
They could even request the use of Human Qi Immortal Gu.
This news shook the Gu Masters.
Immortality.
To many of them, it had only been a legend.
Now, Fang Ming placed it at the end of a road.
Difficult.
Costly.
Almost unreachable.
But visible.
That alone was enough to ignite ambition.
Of course, there were conditions.
Anyone who ascended to Gu Immortal through the Eagle Sect would become an elder of the sect.
The current supreme elder was Fang Ming.
The other elders listed were Fairy Qing Suo, Fairy Huang Sha, and Fairy Fen Meng.
These three were not present most of the time, but their names existed in the sect structure as immortal elders under Fang Ming.
Any future Gu Immortal of the Eagle Sect had to agree to several rules through pledge-type Immortal Gu.
First, they had to remain loyal to the Eagle Sect.
Second, they had to defend the sect during calamities and disasters.
Third, they had to complete missions that benefited the sect.
Fourth, after becoming immortal, twenty percent of their future income would belong to the Eagle Sect.
Not Fang Ming directly.
The Eagle Sect.
This distinction mattered.
Fang Ming wanted the sect to become an immortal force, not merely a group of personal servants. If everything flowed only to him, the organization would remain shallow.
If the sect had its own treasury, its own rules, and its own rewards, then future members would fight for the sect's growth.
And Fang Ming, as supreme elder and owner of the aperture, would naturally control the whole structure from above.
As for the current mortal leadership, there was one clear candidate.
Bian Si Xuan.
She had roamed Northern Plains for a long time. Only a few days ago, Fang Ming found her and brought her into his aperture.
She was already Rank 5 peak stage.
More importantly, she had enough experience, temperament, and ability to suppress the younger Gu Masters inside the aperture.
Among all mortals currently under Fang Ming, she was the only one who had reached Rank 5 peak stage and gathered enough contribution to qualify for immortal ascension preparation.
Thus, Fang Ming appointed her as the mortal sect master of the Eagle Sect.
Bian Si Xuan stood below the formation, dressed in plain dark robes, her expression cold and controlled.
She bowed deeply to Fang Ming.
"I will not disappoint supreme elder."
Fang Ming looked at her.
"You are the first sect master. Whether Eagle Sect becomes a true immortal force or remains a mortal organization depends partly on you."
Bian Si Xuan's gaze became firm. "I understand."
There was another Rank 5 Gu Master in the aperture, but he was only initial stage.
He was talented, perhaps even more talented than many older Gu Masters, but his contribution was not enough and his foundation was still shallow.
Fang Ming had hopes for him too.
But hopes were not rewards.
The Eagle Sect would not be built on hope.
It would be built on contribution.
Fang Ming spent a long time designing the sect's early structure.
He created outer disciples, inner disciples, core disciples, deacons, elders, and sect master positions.
He established rules for eagle distribution.
Young eagles would not belong permanently to the first person who raised them unless contribution was paid.
Rare mutated eagles belonged to the sect first.
Private killing of sect eagles was forbidden.
Attacking junglefowl formations was a capital crime.
Using eagle groups to pressure villages without mission authority was forbidden.
Every Gu Master who obtained a sect eagle had to record its growth, feeding, combat performance, and temperament.
Those records would return to the eagle formation, helping future Gene Enhancement adjustments.
The Eagle Sect was responsible for guarding the eagle formation.
It was also responsible for training eagle groups, exploring safe hunting zones, protecting nearby villages from uncontrolled beasts, and providing aerial support during calamities.
Fang Ming did not leave loopholes casually.
He had seen enough immortal organizations to understand that vague rules created future trouble.
The Eagle Sect was small now.
That was exactly why its foundation had to be strict.
Once it grew large, changing bad habits would become harder.
Days passed inside the aperture.
The first eagle chicks hatched.
Their cries were sharp.
Their eyes were bright.
Some had stronger claws.
Some had unusually wide wings.
Some showed sharper vision.
Some had faint traces of special bloodline potential.
All of them recognized Fang Ming's command.
The Eagle Sect disciples watched them with burning eyes.
To them, these were not ordinary beasts.
They were future partners.
Future mounts.
Future weapons.
Future contribution.
Fang Ming watched the first batch quietly.
The chicks were weak now.
But they were the beginning.
Bian Si Xuan personally took charge of the first training group. She selected disciples not by family background, but by soul foundation, patience, discipline, and contribution.
This immediately caused dissatisfaction among some village clans.
Fang Ming ignored it.
The Eagle Sect was not a village clan.
Bloodline could give familiarity, but not privilege.
If the village elders could not accept this, then they would be left behind.
The sect's existence quickly changed the atmosphere among the villages.
Young Gu Masters who had once cared only about their own village now had another path.
Join Eagle Sect.
Gain eagle partner.
Earn contribution.
Exchange for Gu.
Reach Rank 5.
Pursue immortality.
Ambition began spreading.
Competition became sharper.
That was what Fang Ming wanted.
After the main structure stabilized, Fang Ming finally stepped back.
He could not personally manage every disciple.
He would not personally train every eagle.
That was Bian Si Xuan's job.
That was the sect's job.
Time would reveal whether this system could produce a Gu Immortal, or whether it would remain another mortal force of limited value.
But Fang Ming was willing to wait.
Unlike trade channels, this was not a one-month investment.
This was a foundation measured in decades.
He stood high above the eagle formation, looking across his aperture.
Six junglefowl formations produced wealth.
Twelve villages produced population and mortal Gu Masters.
The new eagle formation produced future war beasts.
The Eagle Sect would gather talent and ambition into one structure.
His strength path aperture was no longer only a land containing resources.
It was beginning to resemble a world with institutions.
A crude world.
An immature world.
But a growing one.
Fang Ming's gaze turned toward his second aperture.
The enslavement path blessed land was still empty.
Six thousand square kilometers of high-grade land waited for development.
Its time flow was slower, but its path foundation was clear.
In the future, eagle groups could be moved there.
Enslavement path resources could be arranged there.
Perhaps another sect branch could be opened there.
Perhaps it would become the true home of his beast armies.
But for now, the strength path aperture was better.
Faster time.
Richer ecosystem.
More people.
More pressure.
More growth.
Fang Ming closed his eyes briefly.
He had finished his second immortal ascension.
He had refined Control Eagle Gu and Gene Enhancement Gu.
He had created Eagle Gene Enhancement Incubation Gu.
He had built the first eagle formation.
He had established the Eagle Sect.
Each step was expensive.
Each step consumed time.
But each step made his foundation wider.
A lone Gu Immortal could be strong.
But a force could grow even while he cultivated.
That was the reason sects existed.
That was the reason Spectral Soul created split souls.
That was the reason Fang Ming needed servants, formations, villages, and now a sect.
He opened his eyes.
Below him, the first eagle chicks cried again, their voices sharp enough to cut through the wind.
Fang Ming listened quietly.
It was still weak.
But one day, this cry would become a storm of wings.