Ch 10 - Brothers cheat using the future knowledge

Immortal Crane Sect, Fei He Mountain

"Disciple, the supreme elder is proud of your actions taken at the Refinement Path Convention. Many people are looking upto our elders and disciples. Because of your generosity, the word even reached Heavenly Court and they provided us many benefits for promoting good deeds. They want to encourage such behavior in other sects too. The supreme elder has given you lots of contribution points as well as chance to meet him once. You should take this opportunity.", Lord Sky Crane shouted with excitement.

Haru was excited as this was a golden opportunity which came at the perfect timing.

...

Sixteen days later,

An Zu Earth Trench, Demon Expelling Sect.

Demon Expelling Sect was a super force, there were three Gu Immortals in it. Its sphere of influence spread over an enormous range, it covered dozens of large forces, hundreds of middle sized forces, and countless small forces, including the insignificant Gu Master families.

To be a test location of the eighth round was something Demon Expelling Sect's main headquarters definitely had the qualifications for.

Initially, there were hundreds of thousands of people who signed up. Most of these people were Central Continent Gu Masters, there were also people from Southern Border and the other regions. After seven rounds, only eight thousand were left, it was not even ten thousand, one could see how intense the elimination rate was.

And among them, only four hundred or so were people who had gotten the top three places in all seven rounds of the competition in all the different test locations.

These were talented people who were at least refinement path masters. In any path, people of master level were rare.

Refinement path masters and grandmasters such as Firesmith Dragon Chief, Fang Huai, Tian Min Mie, Feng Jin Huang, Yu Mu Chun, Lui Pin Tian, Dou Ping Tan, Qu Wen and Fang Yuan had taken 1st position till now in all the 7 rounds in their respective test locations.

Only top 6 winners of the Refinement Path Convention would recieve the Infallible inheritance.

Tens of thousands of Gu Masters rushed in on this day, to watch the exciting competitions of Gu refinement.

A immortal Crane Sect elder led over ten disciples into the competition venue. However, Zheng Shan Chuan and his master had accompanied Fang Zheng to another test centre location

"Immortal Crane Sect's elders and disciples." Once they saw this group, the surrounding Gu Masters could not help but stare at them, the sounds of their discussions became louder. Fang Zheng, the elder of Immortal Crane Sect was treated like a celebrity and hence the reputation of Immortal Crane sect had increased a lot. The spectators gave them a favorable glance despite their chance of winning the competition was low.

Suddenly, Myriad Dragon Dock's disciple and elders came in and started mocking Immortal Crane Sect Disciples.

Both the sects had many disputes between them and neither of them wanted to see other to benefit. They were unhappy when they came to know about Fang Zheng's actions. Since Fang Zheng was not here right now, they tried to supress and mock the other elders of Immortal Crane sect.

...

Another location of Refinement path convention.

Haru met with many familiar gu masters who he had helped out previously and waved his hands in response to the crowd and the crowd erupted even louder in his praises.

'Good deeds never go unpaid. One must have a pure heart and move forward despite all the obstacles.'

Haru and Zheng Shan Chuan were quietly discussing the strategies for this round.

"Elder Fang Zheng, I will try my best to win this round. You can now head over to the third test centre location before the rounds start. Let's hope that our gamble work out. Over at the Demon Expelling sect location, only Elder Yan Tang is representing our clan. If any of us can clear this round, the reputation of Immortal Crane sect will rise and we will gain a lot of rewards."

"Yes, Elder Yan Tang wants to form political alliance with me by marrying his daughter to me. It would be great if either of us could clear this round and move forward. Now go ahead and get the 1st prize."

This was a cruel round. Only one Gu Master will be able to win and advance in the each test venue.

The task of the eight round was to refine a keep silent Gu, a rank five sound path Gu worm. The materials provided were: Immortal soul grass, worry stones, a rank four apathy Gu, six rank three muted mouth Gu, two rank four sinking Gu… and the test did not allow the use of other materials. The Gu recipes provided were: Six different keep silent Gu recipes, three different apathy Gu recipes and one collusion Gu recipe.

The participant who successfully refines it first will be the winner and can advance to the next round. The remaining Gu Masters will be eliminated. Fang Zheng and Zheng Shan Chuan had spent past half a month practicing refining this gu worm. Although, they were highly suspicious, Haru gave the excuse that the information being provided by the supreme elder of the Immortal Crane Sect. When Haru went to meet the supreme elder, Lord Sky Crane was left back in his room and hence didn't know the contents of their talk.

He along with Zheng Shan Chuan had no choice other than accepting his explanations. However, this info was only between the 3 of them. Haru had strictly informed them that no one else was to know about this. If others knew, the chances loophole being exposed were high.

They used countless hours to arrive at the fastest and best method to refine Rank 5 keep silent gu.

However, it was still too difficult for Fang Zheng. He could only get 20% success rate despite trying his best while Zheng Shan Chuan had a 60% success rate. 20% might look like a low number but it was very huge and it was partly thanks to knowing the gu recipe in advance and getting guidance from Old Man Qi Shan and Lord Sky Crane as well as seeing Zheng Shan Chuan refining in person. Part of the credit was also due to his profession on earth where he was used to mix different chemicals to produce expected reactions.

Round 8 ended with some interesting surprise. Firesmith Dragon Chief, who was a refinement path grandmaster was defeated by Fang Yuan.

Meanwhile, Zheng Shan Chuan won against a refinement path quasi grandmaster. People were left shocked because he surpassed the others by huge margin.

Each test centre location only had about 10-20 people.

However in Haru's location, there were about 25 people. All those who did not have hopes to compete with Refinement path Quasi Grandmasters had come here. There were some with Master attainment while others were only Quasi Master. Gu masters with ordinary attainment had been disqualified long back. Haru was only able to hold on till now because of superior guidance and his previous profession on Earth.

He knew this was his last chance since he didn't have any knowledge about the tasks of the future rounds. Also, he had been practicing this refinement for more than 3 months. When he met the supreme elder, he requested to practice refinement in the blessed land as a part of the reward for his contribution.

The competition was really tough but he managed to secure victory by a very small margin.

The rewards were many Immortal materials. As a rank 5, it's difficult to come across immortal materials. Seeing so many types of different immortal materials left Haru in absolute pleasure. It was not just for their value but also it opened a new world for Haru.

In front of him was Floating Fire core. It was a round shaped object which was continuously burning with a blazing fire. However, it was not hot at all to the touch. It's unique feature was to absorb all the heat from the surrounding. One couldn't hold it for long or all their body heat would be absorbed. This immortal materials was very useful for ice path cultivators.

Haru was currently using two gu worms to stop it from absorbing heat. It needed to be handled carefully.

This material was used in the Gu recipe for Cleanse Soul Immortal Gu.

Haru knew that he would probably not clear any more rounds since he didn't have nay idea about the contents. 'Well, this is the extent to which I can use the knowledge of the novel to gain benefits here. I need to plan about the future now.'