Chapter 476: Air Bubble Fish
Translator: ChibiGeneral | Editor: ChibiGeneral
Connecting heaven Gu inlaid itself in the air, figures of wolves flashed past one after another in the mirror.
Suddenly, the scene fixed itself on a turtleback myriad wolf king.
Turtleback wolves possessed broad physique, their whole body was dark-green and they had dark-blue eyes. Every turtleback wolf had shell like that of a turtle.
This shell was very heavy and about one-third of a turtleback wolf’s weight was due to it. Apart from defensive purpose, it could also store nutrition just like camels.
This species had the strongest defense among the wolves.
And the myriad beast wolf king that showed on connecting heaven Gu was no doubt even more enormous, being ten times larger than ordinary turtleback wolves. Its turtle back was towering high, the strong shell shone with bronze color, giving a feeling of abundant strength and power.
“The scale of the wolf group I have is close to thirty thousand. They can mainly be divided into three wolf groups; turtleback wolves, night wolves and wind wolves. There are around ten thousand wolves in each group. Besides them, there are also few poison beard wolves which were obtained from the poisonous grassland. There are also over a hundred water wolves which I bought because of white-eyes wolf.”
Originally, Fang Yuan had over thirty thousand wolves. But after several battles, the loss accumulated and now he only had around twenty-seven thousand. After he sent the old, weak and injured wolves sent to Hu Immortal blessed land, the number of wolves left was less than twenty-five thousand.
Thus, they needed to be replenished.
If ordinary enslavement path Gu Masters wanted to replenish their beast group, they would need to organize a group to hunt, requiring much effort and time, moreover they could not take in too big of a beast group.
Fang Yuan, however, after possessing connecting heaven Gu, was like standing on a Gu Immortal’s shoulder, he had one more option than ordinary Gu Masters, that is to purchase the beast groups in treasure yellow heaven.
Most blessed lands would breed wild beasts. However, when the beast population increased a lot, they would influence the ecology of the blessed lands, and the Gu Immortals that controlled the blessed lands would put them for sale in treasure yellow heaven. Like this, not only could it reduce the pressure on the blessed land, it could also provide some revenue.
Similarly, many Gu Immortals who wanted to nurture the blessed land and replenish the ecology, would purchase some beasts to breed in their blessed lands. Thus, transactions of beast groups was extremely common in treasure yellow heaven.
There were many dazzling lineups of wolf groups put for sale in treasure yellow heaven.
Northern plains’ night wolves, wind wolves, water wolves, poison beard wolves, turtleback wolves; southern border’s lightning wolves, azure wolves, blood wolves, two-headed wolves; western desert’s silk wolves, pearl wolves, sand wolves, tyrant wolves; eastern seas’ ink wolves, greed wolves, red wolves, goldback wolves; central continent’s white-eyes wolves, star wolves, color wolves, blood wolves…
The wolves put for sale were not only common wild beasts, but also mutated beasts like white-eyes wolves, tyrant wolves and greed wolves.
Of course, there were no desolate beast level wolves which had battle strength comparable to Gu Immortals. But Fang Yuan knew there was a desolate beast peach wolf in Lang Ya blessed land.
“Among the three greatest wolf groups I have, only night wolf group has a myriad beast king. If my wind wolves and turtleback wolves also had myriad beast kings to unite them, I would not need to control the hundred wolf kings and thousand wolf kings; it will greatly reduce the burden when I command them. By reducing the burden on my soul, I can then take in even more wolf groups.”
Fang Yuan did not intend to replace the wolf groups, that would be a superfluous move.
He decided to strengthen the wolf group on him.
Little Hu Immortal sent the divine sense for him and inquired the price of this turtleback myriad wolf king.
The Gu Immortal who put it for sale called himself South Sea Turtle Immortal. He wanted ten thousand stalks of blowpipe grass.
Blowpipe grass was the specialty of northern plains, every grass looked like an erect long pipe. When wind blew, the wind would enter the small holes on the grass and produce pleasant pipe sounds.
Blowpipe grass was a common material used in Gu refinement; at the same time, a large expanse of blowpipe grass would slowly give birth to some sound path and wood path Gu worms.
Fang Yuan did not have any blowpipe grass, and although he knew their location, this season was not the time for them to grow and they were all just seeds buried under the earth.
Fang Yuan knew this situation, but did not give up and made Little Hu Immortal ask: “Ask and see if he accepts immortal essence stones.”
Little Hu Immortal conveyed with her divine sense and after communicating for a moment, she reported: “Master, he says he can sell twenty thousand turtleback wolves, but he is asking for two immortal essence stones.”
Fang Yuan scoffed, this was a very expensive price. Immortal essence stones were very precious, turtleback wolves were no more than ordinary wild beasts but transactions required the process of bargaining.
After some haggling, Fang Yuan used an immortal essence stones to buy thirty thousand turtleback wolves and one turtleback myriad wolf king from South Sea Turtle Immortal.
After the transaction was finished, Fang Yuan bought another eighteen thousand wind wolves and one wind wolf myriad beast king. He replenished twenty thousand night wolves, five thousand poison beard wolves and six thousand water wolves. Altogether, he spent two and a half immortal essence stones.
It was not over yet.
The wolf groups entered Hu Immortal blessed land, bringing a grim ordeal to the original ecology and causing many effects. To say the least, Fang Yuan needed to provide enough food to these wolf groups, otherwise these wolves would starve to death because of insufficient food.
Hu Immortal blessed land also had many wild beasts like rabbits, pheasants and so on. But these animals were the food sources of fox groups.
Hu Immortal had cultivated large numbers of foxes in the blessed land; there were red foxes, gold foxes, cloud foxes, wind foxes, autumn water foxes, flowing light foxes and so on.
These fox groups had suffered disastrous damaged in the sixth earthly calamity, but a number were still preserved. After many years of recuperation, they would also gradually grow into a large scale and recover some of their strength.
If there were insufficient food, the wolf groups and fox groups were bound to hunt each other and create and extremely severe internal friction; the losses would be more than profits.
Fang Yuan bought food for these fox groups and wolf groups.
“Golden koi, blue jade carp, fat mudfish, which would be good… Eh? There are actually fish roes of air bubble fish!”
Just as Fang Yuan was about to choose one, he accidentally discovered a Gu Immortal was selling fish roes of air bubble fish.
He immediately decided to buy it.
However, air bubble fish’s fish roes had attracted some Gu Immortals’ attention, causing there to be a price competition.
Fang Yuan made prompt decision and raised the price to one immortal essence stone.
“There are just over twenty thousand fish roes, someone is actually paying one immortal essence stone!”
“This person is mad, even if they are bred, there would only be around three thousand air bubble fish. Although they are precious but they are only worth less than one immortal essence stone.”
Gu Immortals transmitted divine sense containing their ridicule and contempt.
Air bubble fish were difficult to incubate, with only around thirty percent chance of survival rate. To them, the price Fang Yuan was paying was too high.
“If my memory is not wrong, two Gu Immortals would fight over the air bubble sea at the end of this year, the intense poison would invade into the whole air bubble sea and turn it into a death zone. At that time, air bubble fish’s price would sharply rise to over ten folds.” Fang Yuan sneered after obtaining these fish roes.
Those able to become Gu Immortals were no doubt giants among men and great geniuses. Excluding some ignorant and incompetent second generation immortals, most of the Gu Immortals were those with great experiences and wisdom; if Fang Yuan had not started out with such a high price, it would be extremely difficult for him to get these fish roes.
“In future, when the battle of five regions break out, this air bubble fish’s price would increase to hundred folds of now!”
Air bubble fish were the specialty of eastern sea, they were quite peculiar with translucent and round belly, like a round and glossy air bubble. Two dark sesame seeds seemed to be sewed in front of the air bubble, they were its eyes. The fins and tail were very small, giving it very weak movement power.
Air bubble fish were different from other fishes, its movement style was to move by rising and falling. When they were in danger, they would often float out of the surface of the water to the air, to hide from their enemies.
Some mature air bubble fish could even keep staying at the air throughout the year without needing to enter the water, eating the tiny insects in the air as their food.
The greatest use of the air bubble fish was to increase the production of Gu worms.
The worms air bubble fish devoured would be protected and nourished in its belly, gradually evolving into a Gu, then they would pierce out of the belly and fly away.
Because it could increase the rate of Gu worms creation, air bubble fish became a product sought out by all Gu Immortals during the battle of the five regions.
“These air bubble fish needs to be slowly raised, although they only have thirty percent survival rate, they just need to be carefully tended to. Dozens of years later, they would reach a scale where they can be self-sufficient. Hundred years later,they would reach at least fifty thousand in numbers. And same as starlight firefly Gu, it will be a highly demanded good in the battle of five regions.”
The fish roes of air bubble fish were an unexpected harvest, and could be considered a small pleasant surprise.
“With air bubble fish, I can’t choose fat mudfish. Although fat mudfish are the easiest to raise, but they will eat the fish roes of air bubble fish, they can even eat mud to fill their stomach when they are hungry.”
“Comparatively speaking, between gold koi and blue jade carps; one eats gold as food and another eats gemstones. Both have no interest towards the fish roes of air bubble fish.”
Fang Yuan did not lack gold and gemstones because there was a large group of rockmen in Hu Immortal blessed land.
These rockmen lived underground and ate soil as their food. After a long time, all kinds of gold, gemstones and so on would form on their body.
“However gold has a harmful influence on the reproduction of air bubble fish and can decrease the reproduction rate. The mild gemstones, however, have no such disadvantages, so I shall choose blue jade carps.”
Fang Yuan pondered and finally decided upon the fish species.
In his previous life of five hundred years, he had also managed a blessed land. And because of many setbacks he had experienced then, he could now make the most sensible choices.
After obtaining blue jade carps, the water wolves’ food problem was solved. Fang Yuan then bought a large numbers of pink rabbit and iron-shell flowers as food for night wolves, wind wolves and turtleback wolves.
And because of poison beard wolves, Fang Yuan also chose some earth skin pigs. These pigs had a high reproduction rate and could eat both meat and grass; they were also put in the eastern part of the blessed land.
Finally, Fang Yuan bought many Gu worms and large numbers of Gu refinement materials. He spent altogether eight immortal essence stones and hundreds of thousands of primeval stones.
“At once, eight immortal essence stones have been spent.” Fang Yuan would not feel any heartache at common primeval stones, but he still cared about immortal essence stones.
Previously, he had sold many remnant recipes and obtained twenty-eight immortal essence stones, now only twenty remained.
“I can still sell the remnant recipes with me, but the more they are sold, the cheaper they will get. I lack means for getting profits, as for the investment in air bubble fish and starlight firefly Gu, they would only show results after a hundred years. I need to use these remaining immortal essence stones carefully.”
Fang Yuan heaved a sigh. He handed connecting heaven Gu to little Hu Immortal and let her be in charge of dealing with the residence and various other works regarding wolf groups, fish groups, iron-shell flowers and air bubble fish roes.
Fang Yuan entered Dang Hun palace and used the materials he bought to refine Gu.