The remainder of the refining liquid was fed to Dao Devourer, along with a large amount of alcohol. But even with all that, it still wasn't enough to power Dao Devourer to immortal-level strength. It's close, but not quite there yet. I'd rather not waste the smaller materials just now—fortunately, I still had one large material left that could be used.
Inside of Insatiable Blessed, a large body of water floated thanks to a formation. It was the Dead Sea, filled with salt plague bacteria. I flew straight into the Dead Sea, with Dao Devourer appearing on my body. It began to consume large quantities of both the water and the bacteria. Since both were natural food path resources, Dao Devourer was strengthening quickly.
After devouring a bit more than a third of the body of water, Dao Devourer began to breathe in and out as if it were a living being. This signified it had reached the level of a rank 6 killer move. With this, simple killer moves and a few immortal Gu would no longer pose any trouble. I floated out of the Dead Sea and instructed my masked will to use some water Gu to refill it. It would take time, but eventually, the water would return to a high-saline state.
Since I was already here, I decided to check on the rest of the blessed land. Flying over to the Dragonfish River, I activated Aurora Scent Gu to inspect the area. Every carp in the river had now transformed into dragonfish, bearing no resemblance to their qi carp ancestors. But they weren't all equal. Some dragonfish gave off more food path dao mark fragments, while the majority carried a variety of other dao marks.
Three dragonfish, however, stood out from the rest. These were beast kings, commanding the rest of the dragonfish. Each one had taken control of a portion of the river—one in the middle, and the other two at either end. Though all three were beast kings, they weren't equal in power.
The dragonfish in the center appeared to be the strongest. Dragonfish are physically weak, so they compete through control—whoever can dominate more of their kind gains a numerical advantage. The more food path dao mark fragments they possess, the easier it is to control others. It made sense that the center dragonfish was the leader—it had more food path dao marks fragments than the other two.
I'd say the one in the center is a decent Thousand Beast King, while the other two are Hundred Beast Kings. Their presence will improve the quality of the dragonfish lineage. Once they gather more food path dao mark fragments, I'll start working on upgrading them into Copper Dragonfish and beyond.
Next, I flew over to the Sweet Wood Apes. In the center of their home stood a large hollowed-out tree trunk filled with sweet alcohol. They seemed to be thriving. I'd have my masked will collect some of their wine occasionally. The biggest issue now was the lack of pollinators in my blessed land—but I had solved that in my previous life.
From my hand, a fat dark gold bee with three light yellow rings flew over to one of my larger hollow trees. I then activated a large rank 3 Gu, and small balls of light appeared around it. When the light faded, small light gold bees remained. The Gu was a self-created one called Golden Needle Queen. It produces regular golden bees and can control up to a thousand of them.
These bees also have a chance of evolving into one of two other Gu: Piercer Gu, known for its piercing ability, and Golden General Gu, which can control a thousand normal golden bees. These insects were based on frenzy needle bees, but unlike them, these bees produce honey, making them natural pollinators.
Originally, I had planned to enslave these insects, but I ended up creating something far better. With just this one Gu, I could establish an entire bee population that produces honey and pollinates my blessed land. Once their population grows too large, I can use Enslavement Gu to cull them or introduce predators to balance things out.
After leaving my blessed land and returning to Masked Blessed Land, I continued refining Fast Forward Gu, steadily ranking it up. Masked Will was assigned to continue making smaller formations, while Formless had been draining blood and creating qi water continuously.
As I was resting, the system rang out:
(Now beginning the "Sounds of Harmony" event.)
My vision turned pure white as I was teleported out of my blessed land. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a forest. A soft breeze blew, and animals could be heard all around. But that wasn't what caught my attention. Two other people stood three feet apart nearby.
(Team Four consists of three people who must work together to complete their mission. Group Mission: Defeat the beast that lives between the valley before the other teams. Rewards will vary depending on how the task is completed. Only sound path Gu may be used. Several sound path inheritances will be scattered around.)
"Hmm, this is different from my last life," I muttered. "My cultivation must have forced the system to give me a different mission this time."
"Looks like we'll be working together for a while. Nice to meet you both—my name is Hioshi," one of them said. He was a yellow-haired man, his hair slicked back and held in place with several clips.
"I guess so. My name is Bolin Tudi. I'm not that strong, so forgive me if I slow you down." He looked like a normal human, but the last name Tudi caught my attention.
"You're from the Western Desert Tudi clan?" I asked. That clan was a super force.
He nodded. "Yeah, but it's not all that great. My Gu master talent is D-grade, so I've been struggling. If it weren't for the resources I got from selling stuff in the player shop, I would've restarted a long time ago."
"I know how you feel. I'm also D-grade talent. Luckily, my father is a quasi grandmaster in the refinement path and is teaching me personally. He says I have potential in refinement. Otherwise, I'd be in your shoes." Hioshi added.
They both turned to me, waiting for my introduction.
"You can call me Insatiable. I'm a rank 6 immortal. That's why the system paired me with you guys—I'm too strong, and you two are too weak. This way, things balance out."
They were clearly shocked. I let out a bit of my aura, causing Hioshi to fall to his knees and Bolin to one. Their faces were smeared with fear.
"You two will follow my orders. If you do, we'll win this competition. Now, what Gu did you prepare?"
After they recovered, they looked embarrassed.
Hioshi had tried to get sound path Gu from his clan, but his father blocked access, thinking he wanted to switch paths. Luckily, through the player shop, he managed to get materials and a recipe to refine two rank 1 Gu: Mimic Sound Gu and Peaceful Melody Gu.
Peaceful Melody Gu creates a relaxing sound that causes the target to lower their guard—good for capturing wild Gu or surprise attacks. Mimic Sound Gu allows the user to reproduce sounds they've heard before. At the mortal level, it's used mostly to copy voices for trickery. However, it gains huge value in the future. A player once advanced Mimic Sound Gu to the immortal level and used it to copy and evolve countless sound path killer moves. It became a legendary Gu among players, though right now, it's underrated. Hioshi only refined it because he had extra sound path resources.
That guy's clever. Even without access to his clan's Gu, he managed to make useful ones that can trick or capture enemies.
Bolin, on the other hand, had no sound path Gu. He didn't want to spend resources he could sell in the player shop.
"As an immortal… you wouldn't happen to have any spare sound path Gu to lend?" Bolin asked, what a shameless fool.
"I have plenty of sound path Gu," I replied.
His face lit up, but I quickly crushed his hopes.
"But they're all at least rank 4—you wouldn't be able to activate even one."
Hioshi looked excited. Bolin looked crushed.
"Don't worry, Bolin. As long as you follow my instructions, you'll be fine. First, I want to locate this beast we have to defeat. Then, we'll collect as many sound path inheritances as we can.we'll get you gu along the way. "
I turned around and let out a loud screech—a killer move called Echo Location. It gave me a detailed sense of the surrounding terrain.
The system said the beast was "between a valley," but from my scan, it looked like we were on top of a mountain. I could sense another peak not far off—meaning the valley and the beast were in between the two.
I sighed. "Looks like there's going to be a lot of walking." Inside system challenges, immortals can't fly unless they're using the gu of the event of which I had none.