Reverend Insanity: Insatiable

Formless land spirit brought me deeper into his blessed land while up in the sky. In my last life I didn't get to look at this blessed land. Since everyone who was brought in was put into a room to refine individually that were set up ahead of time for many participants.

Half of the blessed land was a sea of deep blue that constantly had large waves, signifying that there was something inside the body of water. Most likely, lots of sea life was raised in it. As for the other half of the blessed land, it seemed to be a thick forest.

However, I could see that he had sections that divided the trees, and in each section, different types of trees grew. We were too high up for me to see any wildlife; even the birds that flew were too far for me to determine their breed. One thing was for sure, though: formless immortal and its land spirit took very good care of his blessed land. Otherwise, the sea and forest wouldn't be thriving so well.

As we flew, I saw a grey blur that grew larger and larger the closer we got. Once we were close enough, I realized that it was a stone castle. This must be where the land spirit and former immortal stayed. He flew us into the castle and straight into a large room that had furniture made out of liquid, various animal hides, and mounts on the wall decorated the room.

He sat me down on a giant blue sphere that was basically the most cool and comfortable bean bag in this world. He handed me back my information path gu. "Before we refine, you have to memorize the immortal gu recipe for qi shape. I put it in your gu. Once you do, we can get started. I'll go prepare the ingredients in the meantime," he said and left the room.

Ah, it's been a while since I've seen this gu recipe. Since formless land spirit held his tryouts for becoming its master much later, many players got their hands on this immortal gu recipe, and players, just like the humans that we are, were very toxic. The gu recipe spread among the players in exchange for goods, leading to a lot of trouble for the person who became the owner of formless blessed land.

He was a hairy man who belonged to a strong clan, but that didn't stop demonic gu masters from killing him. They were either hired or were personally trying to get him to destroy the immortal gu so that they could try to refine it themselves. But why would a mortal have an immortal gu?

The gu went to the clan with the promise that the gu would go to the mortal if he became an immortal. He was murdered and brought back by his clan, who then went after the demonic gu masters that killed him. He suffered a lot from becoming this blessed land's owner. Looks like I'll be helping him in this life.

It was a good thing that he suffered, though. With the immortal gu recipe in so many hands that wanted to refine the gu themselves after his death, the gu recipe was improved and altered many times. Several killer moves were also created thanks to it. Many people exchanged the altered recipe, and I was one of them.

Since I was always able to feed qi shape gu since I had an unending supply of qi dao water, I actually helped spread the gu recipes that made it easier to refine the gu so that I could then sell the qi dao water to others. With the large natural reservoirs being taken or used up, I made quite a killing.

I adjusted the gu recipe, reducing certain expensive materials and adding some that were cheaper or more abundant. Even some of the steps themselves were altered, and I did it until I was satisfied with the results. This gu recipe was helped created with a refinement path gu immortal's help. He stated that the recipe had about a 60 to 70% chance of success, which could be boosted with luck path methods and refined by a refinement path gu immortal to increase it to a nearly 80% success rate.

Unfortunately, since it was just me and the land spirit, our odds were more likely 60%. I wouldn't even dare say we have a 70% chance of succeeding. I specialized in refining food path gu, and although I was familiar with qi shape gu, it was still a qi path gu. The odds of our success rate were lower than 60%, since we would most likely not perform perfectly, but the odds were still higher thanks to the improved recipe.

If I were immortal, I would be able to make a deal with a refinement path gu immortal to refine it for me. For a good deal, a rank 6 gu with a good refinement recipe wouldn't be that difficult for a person who has devoted their life to the refinement path. But if I did that, I wouldn't be able to get from less blessed land. His inheritance could be good, and this blessed land itself can help me just by developing it.

"Are you hungry? Or would you like some tea? It's been a while since I've had company," formless land spirit said, flying into the room as a giant bird. "I'm always hungry, but I'll just have some tea, and I've tweaked the gu recipe. Please prepare the materials." I sent the information path gu back to him, and he turned back into his long-bearded old man form.

"You tweaked it? Are you even taking this seriously? Do you know how much effort I took to deduce this gu recipe?" His face contorted like a cartoon character as he spoke with pain at his last sentence. "I have master path attainment in wisdom path, remember? And I've already deduced my own recipe for rank 6 qi shape gu. I just had to merge the two recipes just now," I told him.

"Still, even if that's all true, there's no way it's that simple," he said as he was going over the gu recipe I handed to him. "Even if you have no faith in me, we'll still use this gu recipe. I've already paid the price for the refinement attempts, so even if I fail, you'll gain precious refinement experience." This time, he was silent for a minute as he was going over the gu recipe.

"I personally don't see anything wrong with it, but I'm not a refinement path gu master. So I'll agree to use this gu recipe, but you only have enough immortal essence stones for at most 4 attempts. Even if this recipe had more common materials, I don't want to waste all my immortal essence beads on refining with an unfamiliar gu recipe," he sat down next to me as a food tray came flying into the room holding two cups and a tea kettle.

He poured out the tea for both of us and handed me the cup. Taking a deep breath, I smelled a sweet tart black tea. Then drinking it, I confirmed what I thought the tea had. Pomegranate, raspberry, and a sweetener that wasn't used often, sugar beet. Along with a black tea that was definitely aged, this tea was on the verge of becoming a food path gu recipe.

"This is a wonderful tea. Is it your own creation?" I asked the land spirit. "Oh, no, I'm no good with cooking or brewing. I bought this tea recipe off a poor immortal gu master in exchange for some materials. He said it was his family's creation and it was easy to make, so it was a good deal for both of us."

"Oh, was he a wood or earth path Gu immortal?" I asked him. "He was an earth path Gu immortal, that's why he was so poor here in the eastern sea. Wait, how did you know that?" He looked up from the tea and asked. "Honestly, I feel like you're underestimating my wisdom path attainment now, but it wasn't hard to tell with what I could taste in the tea. Basically, all the materials were from the earth, which is odd since most teas here in the eastern sea have some sort of ingredient from the sea. Would you mind telling me the recipe?" I told him.

"Ha, the only way you'd get it would be if you traded some materials or become my master," he scoffed at me. "Well, it doesn't matter. I'll get it once I become your master then," I told him. "You underestimate the difficulty of refining an immortal Gu. Let me tell you this: most Gu immortals don't have their own immortal Gu because it's too difficult to refine one, let alone the cost of refining one. I died while attempting the refinement, that's how dangerous it is," he said, like an old man lecturing a child.

"Yes, yes, it's dangerous and expensive, but let me tell you this: I've refined immortal Gu before. This will not be my first nor will it be my last time doing so. So let's get to the refining, please because at this point I'm waiting on you," The land spirit looked upset as he grew horns on his head and his mouth grew fangs. "You young brats always think you're invincible until you're not, but my want to refine the Gu overwhelms my need to prove you wrong."

He stood up and turned into a bird as he flew off, and I took another drink of the tea. This tea could create some type of earth path Gu or a food path Gu with an earth path method. Well, I'll find that out once I refine it in the future. Once I know the brewing process, I could easily convert it to a true Gu recipe.

I spent over half an hour waiting for the formless land spirit. Eventually, the chair I was on lifted off the ground and took me to the center of the castle that had a large outdoor area. In the center of the field was a giant iron cauldron lifted off the ground by iron chains connected to the castle.

"Alright, everything's ready now. Let's get started," the formless land spirit said to me, lifting me off the ground and near the top of the cauldron. "Good, then add the qi dao water now." A giant sphere of water was brought over and dropped into the cauldron, filling up the majority of it. "Now turn on the heat and make sure it reaches and stays simmering."

Five small formations appeared underneath the cauldron, creating five fires that started heating it up. We waited for about 15 minutes until it started to simmer. "Now add the limbs starting from the sea creatures to the land ones."

Next to the formless land spirit was a large golden frog that opened its mouth, letting out various animal appendages. From octopus tentacles, crab and frog legs from many species, to elephant legs, bear paws, and eagle feet. The color of the pot then abruptly changed to a light yellow and got darker and darker until it reached a dark gold color. I told the land spirit to stop.

"Now add the fruits starting from the summer ones to the winter ones and go heavy on the autumn fruit," the fruits fell from the gu next to form less land spirit into the pot. After adding all the fruit, the liquid in the pot started changing to four different colors from green to purple, then to orange, and rusty red. "Now add the beast kings, first the sea, land, sky, magma, and then the ice type beasts.

From outside the castle, unconscious beasts floated over the castle. A large shiny rainbow-colored trout was tossed into the pot. Then a mansion-sized dark brown rhino was added into the pot. Next was a small emerald green parrot, followed by a lava crocodile. The lava crocodile started to heat up the cauldron more than it should be. "Add the next beast quick before it fails," I told the land spirit.

A transparent white penguin was thrown into the pot fast, and the quickly heating pot cooled down. "Now add the plants smallest to largest," the land spirit added white-looking weeds, then some bushes, followed by some saplings, and lastly whole trees that were each shaped oddly.

After they were all added, the liquid in the pot started to move as if it was a living being. It would take form of a rhino, tree, and all the other ingredients that were added, all while changing into various colors. "Now for the last step, help me pour it in," I took out from my aperture rank 5 qi shape gu. Activating it, I created a huge open sphere, all while another giant hand appeared that picked up the cauldron, pouring it into the sphere I created.

Once it was all added into the sphere, I closed it and condensed it, making it smaller and smaller, which was very difficult. I didn't stop till it was the size of a grape. I then had the qi shape gu open its mouth and forced it to eat the condensed liquid ball. The qi shape gu then started to shake and move as if it was given something too spicy and wanted to drink something to cool it off.

As it was shaking around, its aura started to grow stronger and a new small tentacle was emerging from the gu, showing that it was ranking up as the qi shape gu had as many appendages as its rank, but just as it was growing slowly. It grew larger than all its other tentacles to the point it was the size of a grown man's arm.

"It's gonna blow," I jumped off the platform that I was on falling to the ground. As I heard a large explosion behind me, I felt Dao Devourer activate and drain my primeval sea essence like crazy until I had no more. Stopping Dao Devourer from shielding me, then I heard a shattering as the food coat gu defensive ability that I've had activated before shattered under the failure of the refinement.

As I fell, another giant hand appeared and stopped my fall. At the same time, I felt my connection to the qi shape gu disappear, meaning that it was destroyed. I was brought next to the land spirit, who grabbed my shoulders, shaking them. "It was working, the gu was advancing! That was the farthest I've ever come to succeeding, we got to try again, we were so close!" He yelled in excitement, all while I was trying to regain my sense of balance and ignore the ringing in my ear.

I'm glad I acted fast; otherwise, both my body and soul would have been injured. Using some of the gu I obtained from Masked Land Spirit, I calmed my mind and went over what had gone wrong. "How strong was the lava crocodile?" I asked the land spirit. "It was a myriad beast king, just like the rest," he said.

"No, he was definitely stronger than the rest by a lot, if not on the verge of becoming a beast emperor. The beasts have to be near in strength; otherwise, it'll mess up the refinement if we're not careful. Just that one ingredient messed up our refinement. So, before we do this again, let me see the beasts." The land spirit nodded at my words and then took me out of the castle to see the beasts.

I didn't think I would get it on the first try, but if it wasn't for that one ingredient, it probably would have succeeded, but it doesn't matter. At this rate, by the end of the day, I'll succeed in the refinement.