Chapter 200: The Blessed Land That Had To Be Abandoned
The pressure from heaven's will did not end after Eagle Sect slowed its expansion.
Fang Ming had already expected this. Heaven's will would not attack like a Gu Immortal raising a blade in front of him. It would not show hatred, nor would it give him a clean target to kill. Its methods were hidden inside coincidence, timing, and misfortune. A beast moving in the wrong direction, a clue landing in the wrong hand, a hostile immortal arriving a few days earlier than expected, a formation failing at the worst moment. These things looked small by themselves, but when they gathered together, they became a net.
This time, the net fell over one of Fang Ming's hidden blessed lands.
The message arrived through one of his prepared channels. A blessed land he had hidden in Eastern Sea had been discovered, and 3 Gu Immortals had already entered. The land spirit could not hold them for long. Its defensive arrangements were still intact, but the attackers were experienced, and they were clearly not random wandering immortals.
Fang Ming's expression sank the moment he received the message.
That blessed land was not ordinary.
Among the blessed lands he had gathered after Yi Tian Mountain, this one was one of the targets he valued most. It had food path dao marks, and its internal environment was suitable for supporting his food beast production. If he annexed it after raising his food path attainment, it would directly improve the foundation of his food beast business. Fang Ming had even calculated that after proper adjustment, it could raise the income of his food beast formations by around 10%.
10% was not small.
For a mature production system, 10% meant a long-term rise in income, stronger Gu feeding capacity, and more space to scale production. It was far more valuable than a one-time pile of immortal materials.
Fang Ming did not hesitate.
He gathered Eagle Sect's available Gu Immortals and moved immediately.
Purple smoke surged, and the group disappeared from their temporary base.
When Fang Ming arrived inside the blessed land, the battle had already begun.
The sky of the blessed land was gloomy, and the ground was torn with long water marks. Rivers that should have flowed calmly had been forced upward into twisting water dragons. Several resource areas were damaged, and the land spirit's defensive formation was flickering under repeated attacks.
The 3 invading Gu Immortals were all rank 6, but they were not weak.
Their coordination was clean. One controlled water currents to suppress the terrain, one used waves and mist to interfere with vision, and the last one attacked the formation nodes with sharp water blades. They clearly understood how to break into blessed lands. They did not waste time slaughtering mortals or looting random materials. Their goal was to control the blessed land first, then strip it slowly.
Fang Ming watched for only a breath before giving orders.
"Seal the exits. Do not let any of them leave."
Eagle Sect moved.
Bian Si Xuan vanished into the shadows. Ju Go charged toward the main water path Gu Immortal, his body covered in defensive light. The Hua Fairies entered formation positions, their movements linking together. Xiao Ming followed orders carefully, guarding the weaker side and preventing the enemy from breaking through.
Fang Ming himself stepped forward.
The 3 invaders reacted quickly. The moment they saw new Gu Immortals arrive, their expressions changed. They knew this blessed land had an owner, but they had not expected reinforcements to arrive so quickly.
One of them shouted, "Retreat!"
It was the correct decision.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
Fang Ming had already sealed the surroundings with formation methods. The blessed land's entrance was not something they could casually open from the inside while Fang Ming stood there. Purple smoke spread through the battlefield, disrupting their retreat paths. Strength clones appeared one after another, mixed with fire clones whose bodies burned with unstable flames.
The battle became fierce immediately.
The 3 water path Gu Immortals were strong fighters. Their killer moves were not flashy, but they were practical and ruthless. Water chains wrapped around strength clones and crushed them. Mist spread across the battlefield, weakening sight and investigation. A huge wave rose from the ground and slammed into Tyrannical Barbarian battle formation, forcing the Hua Fairies to adjust their position.
Fang Ming did not underestimate them.
Clan Gu Immortals who could be sent to probe a hidden blessed land were often far more troublesome than wandering immortals. They had complete inheritances, proper killer moves, and good coordination. They also carried escape methods, emergency Gu, and message methods. Fang Ming had to suppress them fully before any of those methods succeeded.
The battle lasted more than 12 hours.
During this time, the blessed land suffered heavy damage. Several smaller resource points were torn apart, and one food path area Fang Ming had valued was flooded by foreign water path dao marks. The land spirit screamed repeatedly, but Fang Ming ignored it. The blessed land could be repaired later if it survived. If the attackers escaped, the loss would be far greater.
By the 9th hour, one invader was heavily injured.
By the 11th hour, Bian Si Xuan found an opening and destroyed one of their escape methods.
Near the end, Fang Ming personally used a fire path killer move to break through their water defense. Fire clones rushed forward and detonated one after another. Steam covered the battlefield, and inside the white fog, Ju Go struck with full force, smashing one Gu Immortal into the ground.
The first died.
Once the first Gu Immortal died, the balance collapsed.
The remaining 2 fought even more desperately, but desperation could not reverse the encirclement. Fang Ming did not give them a chance to surrender. He did not trust their background, and he did not want living prisoners who might carry hidden clan methods. After another round of attacks, the second Gu Immortal was killed by the Hua Fairies' combined assault.
The last tried to self-destruct.
Fang Ming suppressed him with strength path hands, then destroyed his body before the method completed.
When the battle ended, the blessed land was silent except for the shaking formation and the land spirit's exhausted breathing.
Eagle Sect had won.
But Fang Ming's expression did not relax.
Victory did not mean profit.
He immediately collected the 3 immortal apertures and extracted the souls. Then he began soul searching.
The answer came quickly.
Ye clan.
The 3 dead Gu Immortals were from Ye clan, an Eastern Sea superforce.
Fang Ming's eyes turned cold.
Ye clan was not a small force. It had 2 rank 8 Gu Immortals standing behind it. One of them was old, with only a few dozen years left to live, but that was not the key point. The key point was that this old rank 8 was a wisdom path expert.
A wisdom path rank 8.
That changed everything.
Fang Ming looked at the broken battlefield and quickly connected the situation. The moment the first Ye clan Gu Immortal died, the clan might have sensed it. If their life tablet Gu or soul lantern Gu shattered, Ye clan would know something had gone wrong. With a wisdom path rank 8 in the clan, deducing the general location of this blessed land was not impossible, especially since the 3 Gu Immortals had already entered before death.
The battle had lasted more than 12 hours.
That was too long.
During those 12 hours, Ye clan could have reacted. Reinforcements might already be outside, waiting for the blessed land entrance to open. If Fang Ming led Eagle Sect out normally, he might walk straight into an ambush. Perhaps it would not be 3 rank 6 Gu Immortals this time. It could be several rank 7s, many rank 6s, or even a rank 8 projection method.
Fang Ming was not willing to gamble.
"Supreme elder?" Fairy Qing Suo asked softly.
Fang Ming said, "We are not leaving through the entrance."
The others understood immediately.
Teleport Gu.
As long as Fang Ming used Teleport Gu, they could leave without stepping into the ambush outside. That solved their immediate survival problem.
But it did not save the blessed land.
Ye clan had already discovered this place. Even if Fang Ming refused to exit, Ye clan would not wait forever. After some time, they would notice that something was wrong. They might attack the blessed land directly, seal the surrounding region, or send stronger Gu Immortals to break in. This time it had been 3 rank 6s. Next time, it might be a proper superforce operation.
This blessed land could no longer be kept.
Fang Ming turned to the Eagle Sect Gu Immortals. "Strip it."
The order was simple.
The land spirit froze, then cried out in grief.
Fang Ming ignored it.
There was no other choice. Since the blessed land could not be defended, then everything valuable had to be moved. Resource points, mortal Gu, Gu formations, rare soil, food path materials, beast groups, stored goods, and even useful formation foundations were all removed. What could be moved was moved. What could not be moved was dismantled. What could not be dismantled was damaged to prevent Ye clan from taking it cleanly.
Eagle Sect Gu Immortals worked quickly.
They had done this before.
After robbing Zombie Alliance resource points, their skill in stripping locations had improved greatly. The Hua Fairies handled formation extraction. Ju Go moved heavy terrain pieces. Bian Si Xuan searched hidden stores. Xiao Ming coordinated Gu Masters and transport methods, still somewhat inexperienced but far better than before.
Fang Ming stood at the center and watched the blessed land become emptier piece by piece.
His mood was poor.
This was a bad trade.
He had killed 3 Gu Immortals and gained 3 immortal apertures, but all 3 were water path apertures. Water path dao marks were not useless in the sovereign immortal aperture, but at this stage, they were not what Fang Ming urgently needed. He had no major water path combat system, no water path Immortal Gu, and no mature water path processing chain.
The resource points inside those 3 apertures also looked better than they truly were.
They contained water path materials, sea plants, shell groups, shark skin stores, special water, and other goods. But many of these things were not meant to be sold raw. Raw water path materials fetched poor prices compared with properly processed products. This was similar to Hei Lou Lan's situation with heavy metals and refinement materials. Without processing formations, plants, methods, and skilled workers, the income would shrink sharply.
Fang Ming could process fire path materials.
He could process metal and strength path materials.
He had formations and knowledge for those categories.
But water path was different. He could not process shark skins the same way he processed heavy metals. He could not turn strange sea water into valuable Gu refinement fluid by desire alone. These 3 apertures represented potential, but potential still needed methods before it became income.
Lang Ya might have such knowledge.
That thought appeared in Fang Ming's mind.
Lang Ya blessed land had a refinement path foundation that surpassed almost every force in the world. Even if Lang Ya did not specialize in water path business, his stored inheritances and refinement knowledge should include water path material processing methods. Fang Ming would have to trade for them later.
For now, he could only accept the loss.
By the time Eagle Sect finished stripping the blessed land, the once valuable land had become hollow. The main resource areas were gone, formations were dismantled, and only damaged terrain remained. Fang Ming gave the land spirit one final glance, then activated Teleport Gu.
Purple smoke swallowed Eagle Sect.
They vanished from the blessed land.
They did not appear outside.
They appeared in another hidden location far away.
Only after confirming that no tracking method had followed them did Fang Ming let the others rest. The battle had consumed a great deal of immortal essence, and the long stripping process had exhausted the Gu Immortals further. No one celebrated.
They had won, killed 3 enemies, and escaped a potential ambush.
But they had also lost a future food path annexation target.
For Fang Ming, that loss hurt more than the battle injuries.
Still, the situation was not hopeless.
Fang Ming reviewed his current foundation again.
Excluding the blessed land now surrounded by Ye clan, he still had 5 food path blessed lands in hand or under control. If he could raise his food path attainment to master level through dream exploration, he could annex them. With those food path dao marks added to the sovereign immortal aperture, he had a real chance of pushing himself toward rank 7.
Rank 7.
The meaning of those 2 words was heavy.
Even if food path became his main dao mark foundation after annexation, and even if food path was not his strongest combat path, rank 7 was still rank 7. Red date immortal essence alone would transform his combat endurance. More importantly, his copy system would then allow him to copy rank 7 Gu.
Rank 7 Gu.
That was the true turning point.
At rank 6, Fang Ming already had many methods, but many high-level situations still forced him to calculate around rank 7 and rank 8 threats. Once he could copy rank 7 Gu, his strength would rise sharply. Nirvana Fire Gu, Calamity Beckoning Gu, and other higher-level Gu would become far more useful to him. His fire path, luck path, and future systems would all gain new possibilities.
The road was still open.
It was only rougher than before.
While Eagle Sect recovered from the Ye clan incident, Fang Ming continued observing another battlefield through the hidden clone inside Hei Lou Lan's formation.
Ying Wu Xie's group was suffering.
Compared with Fang Ming, Ying Wu Xie was in an even worse state under heaven's will. Fang Ming could still hide inside blessed lands, switch locations, and slow his movements. Ying Wu Xie had to keep running. Every time he moved, heaven's will had more chances to guide enemies toward him, expose traces, or create obstacles.
Through the clone's vision, Fang Ming saw enough to understand part of Shadow Sect's current thinking.
Tang Fang Ming was connected to Shadow Sect.
The Western Desert Gu Immortal who had traded dream-sealing and dream-moving methods with Fang Ming in exchange for Leave Dream Gu had not been a random contact. He had informed Shadow Sect about Fang Ming. Because of this, Ying Wu Xie had begun suspecting Fang Ming's role in the immortal dream realm that disrupted Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu refinement.
This suspicion was correct.
But knowing the right answer and proving it were two different things.
Ying Wu Xie did not have proof. He also did not have the strength to directly chase Fang Ming. So he chose a crude but practical method.
Hei Lou Lan contacted Fang Ming.
The message was simple on the surface. Fairy Li Shan was alive, their situation was poor, and they needed Fang Ming to use Teleport Gu to send them back to Northern Plains. Fairy Li Shan even hinted that she had a way to help Fang Ming remove Blazing Heaven Demoness's will from Nirvana Fire Gu.
The bait was not poorly chosen.
If Fang Ming had no better method, the Nirvana Fire Gu issue might have tempted him. Blazing Heaven Demoness's will inside a rank 7 Gu was troublesome. If Fairy Li Shan truly had a method to help remove it, that information would have value.
But Fang Ming only smiled when he saw the message.
Through the hidden clone, he had already seen more.
Ying Wu Xie had contacted a rank 7 Shadow Sect remnant. The arrangement was obvious. If Fang Ming teleported over, the other side would try to suppress him. Whether they wanted to capture him, interrogate him, or kill him depended on what Ying Wu Xie could manage afterward.
It was a simple trap.
Simple did not mean useless.
Teleport Gu made Fang Ming's movements too convenient. If he went personally to pick someone up, and the location was prepared in advance, then the enemy could focus all their effort on that moment. Against a rank 7 Shadow Sect remnant, Fang Ming would not treat the risk lightly.
The amusing part was Hei Lou Lan.
Fang Ming did not know exactly how much she had noticed, but she was not stupid. The formation inside her aperture had been suspicious from the start. After traveling with Ying Wu Xie and seeing Shadow Sect's behavior, she likely understood that Fang Ming had left something behind.
Yet she did not remove it.
She let it remain.
In other words, while Ying Wu Xie tried to use Hei Lou Lan as bait, Hei Lou Lan quietly allowed Fang Ming to watch the bait being prepared.
Fang Ming found this very interesting.
Hei Lou Lan was not loyal to Ying Wu Xie. She was not loyal to Fang Ming either. She was loyal to herself. That made her predictable in a different way. As long as Ying Wu Xie threatened her survival more than Fang Ming did, she would tolerate Fang Ming's hidden method.
Fang Ming did not answer Fairy Li Shan.
There was no need.
As for Nirvana Fire Gu, he already had another path. Once he joined Lang Ya Sect, he could use Lang Ya's rank 8 Refinement Cauldron to forcefully refine it and remove Blazing Heaven Demoness's will. Lang Ya would certainly demand payment, perhaps even a heavy price, but that was still safer than walking into Shadow Sect's trap.
Besides, Fang Ming had already been considering joining Lang Ya.
The Ye clan incident made that thought firmer.
He needed water path material processing knowledge.
He needed Refinement Cauldron.
He needed access to Lang Ya's resources, missions, and stored inheritances.
He had already robbed Fang Yuan's Hu Immortal blessed land. The biggest reason to remain outside Lang Ya Sect had disappeared. Before, staying outside gave him more freedom to attack Fang Yuan's assets without internal sect restrictions. Now, the situation had changed. Joining Lang Ya Sect could bring more benefits than remaining an outsider.
There was also the long-term matter.
Lang Ya blessed land contained Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's arrangements. Among the venerables, Thieving Heaven was the least likely to be actively scheming against Fang Ming right now. That did not mean Fang Ming trusted him, but compared with Star Constellation, Giant Sun, Spectral Soul, and others, Thieving Heaven's position was different.
Protecting Lang Ya, using Lang Ya, and eventually absorbing Lang Ya into his own foundation all matched Fang Ming's long-term direction.
Fang Ming looked away from the clone's vision and returned his attention to the reports before him.
One blessed land lost.
3 water path apertures gained.
Ye clan alerted.
Shadow Sect suspicious.
Heaven's will pressing everywhere.
The path ahead was messy, but not blocked.
Fang Ming stood up.
"It is time."
Since outside pressure was increasing, he would move closer to a stronger foundation. Since raw water path resources could not be processed, he would buy the methods. Since Nirvana Fire Gu still carried Blazing Heaven Demoness's will, he would use Lang Ya's Refinement Cauldron.
And since Lang Ya Sect still had so many treasures hidden behind its doors, he would stop standing outside them.
Fang Ming activated Teleport Gu.
Purple smoke rose around him.
His next destination was Lang Ya blessed land.