86 RI
People all around Ma Zun kept on persuading strongly; Ma Zun's expression was ashen as he resolutely refused: "No, my Ma tribe only has warriors who will fight to death, not cowards who will run away. I am a symbol of Ma tribe, it will be a heavy impact to our army's morale if I run away! I cannot leave, we have yet to lose, I still have my pegasus group!"
With a shift of his mind, the pegasus flew into the air like clouds.
These grand beasts had snow-white fur, their mane fluttered in the wind as they unfolded their pure white wings.
These pegasus were Ma tribe's pride.
A grand feeling emerged in Ma tribesmen's hearts as they looked at these pegasus, the feelings of fear quickly calmed down.
"Right, we still have pegasus.... ah!?" Ma Ying Jie was speaking, when suddenly he exclaimed in shock and terror!
Fang Yuan was shooting towards them like a meteor, fiercely crashing through the pegasus group without any intent to dodge.
The pegasus which had rank four battle strength were smashed through, their blood spurting high.
The horse group neighed in panic, their pure white feathers helplessly drifted in the air as their corpse fell down to the ground.
Fang Yuan moved straight through pegasus group and reached above Ma Zun and the group with none able to block him!
Ma Zun was stunned, the Gu Masters beside opened their mouth wide as they looked at Fang Yuan, their heart filled with extreme shock, helplessness and fear.
Fang Yuan's ghostly figure deeply imprinted itself in the depths of their heart, never to be forgotten!
"No, I have not lost yet!" Ma Zun freaked out and was about to use his killer move when he was blocked by Ma Ying Jie.
"Uncle, let me do it. Once you use this killer move, your cultivation will fall. Ma tribe can lose me, but it can never lose you!" Ma Ying Jie shouted, his gaze filled with determination.
"Ying Jie!" Ma Zun's body shook, he looked at this junior whom he appreciated and was most hopeful about, and felt his will to fight to the death.
Ma Zun did not want his nephew to sacrifice for him.
But just like Ma Ying Jie said, Ma tribe could lose Ma Ying Jie, but it needed him, Ma Zun, to command horse group. The eagle group had crumbled apart now and the rat group could not be counted on, if they lose the horse group as well, Ma tribe's defeat will be certain!
"Also, my death is not certain. Uncle, leave quickly!" Ma Ying Jie turned solemn, mobilizing his primeval essence into several Gu worms.
Killer move — Dragon Horse Spirit!
This was a killer move that was specially prepared for them by Snowy Mountain's demonic path Gu Immortal Xue Song Zi.
Neighhh Neighhh...
Many horses beside Ma Ying Jie raised their front legs and gave desperate and crazy neighs.
Large amount of blood seeped out of their body; they fell down one after another as they lost their life.
But at the same time, diverse and gorgeous horse souls resembling rainbows pierced out of the corpses.
"Mutated horse souls..." Fang Yuan's pupils slightly shrunk.
Normal souls were simply impossible to be detected by ordinary people.
But these horse souls had a pair of coral-like dragon horns on their head and were also of every size, as if they were alive, and they also shone with all kinds of colors; only the blind would not be able to see them.
Dragon horses floated up and charged towards Fang Yuan in a very fast speed.
Fang Yuan flew away, pulling apart some distance while also making probing attacks.
These horse souls were troublesome because they were souls. Ordinary physical attacks had no effect on them. At the same time, their self-destruction had the power equal to the soul explosion of the previous shark fin wolf!
Fang Yuan's killer move was strong, but it was not a soul path killer move; if three horse souls self-destructed at the same time, he would not be able to endure it.
After all, his soul cultivation was still at thousand man soul.
"But why would I face you head-on?" Fang Yuan scoffed and slowly landed on the ground.
He was not simply a pure strength path Gu Master, he still had enslavement path methods.
Next moment, wolf smoke surged and healed the wolves beside him. Wolf howl resounded raising the wolves' battle strength by several times.
The wolves then charged towards Ma Ying Jie and Ma Zun like hungry sharks.
"Damn it!" Ma Ying Jie immediately experienced Fang Yuan's insidiousness and unscrupulousness!
He had sacrificed large numbers of horses beside him to form into mutated horse souls for the killer move 'dragon horse spirit'.
But Fang Yuan did not face his horse souls, instead sending his wolf group to death.
The wolves used their lives to wear down the horse souls' strength, and the mutated horse souls started becoming dimmer as they defended against the wolf group's fierce attacks; some dispersed and some self-destructed.
Large numbers of wolves died in exchange for a sharp reduction of the horse souls.
Fang Yuan was displaying the essence of the enslavement path to the extreme.
Enslavement path Gu Masters used cannon fodder to exhaust the enemy's precious strength. For example, consuming their primeval essence, and right now, it was to perish along with the horse souls.
Ma Ying Jie could do nothing to Fang Yuan!
Mutated horse souls were strong, but after slaughtering so many wolves in such a short period of time, they were now powerless to be of any threat to Fang Yuan.
"Uncle, leave! You are our Ma tribe's hope, leave quickly!" Ma Ying Jie shouted, persuading Ma Zun to leave again.
Ma Zun's cheeks streamed with tears, his heart filled with pain, hatred, anger and hesitation.
He gritted his teeth to the point of almost breaking them, but in the end, under the urging of his rationality, he slowly moved his body and led a group of horses, leaving Ma Ying Jie and retreating towards Ma tribe camp.
"Hmm?" Fang Yuan immediately sensed Ma Zun's movement.
Ma Zun was an enslavement path master, hundred times more significant than Ma Ying Jie! Fang Yuan immediately flapped his wings and flew to the sky. He gave up on Ma Ying Jie and began to chase Ma Zun.
"Wolf King, don't leave!" Ma Ying Jie hurriedly mobilized horse souls to fly into the sky to intercept Fang Yuan. @@novelbin@@
Fang Yuan coldly smiled in disdain and made an exquisite turn in the air, throwing all the horse souls behind him.
He was a flying master while these mutated horse souls were no more than Ma Ying Jie's puppets.
Looking at Fang Yuan rushing towards them with killing intent, the Gu Master guards beside Ma Zun immediately became fearful.
With no choice, Ma Zun also used the killer move 'dragon horse spirit'!
Under his control, mutated horse souls formed into a tight defense line; their might was much more than what Ma Ying Jie showed.
Even if Fang Yuan had flying master achievement, it would be difficult for him to break through.
ROAR!
A dragon roar resonated at this moment.
An enormous shadow shrouded over Fang Yuan.
The three clawed, golden horn giant dragon once again charged at Fang Yuan!
Cheng Long had been defeated in one move by Fang Yuan and had fallen down to the ground miserably. He had barely crawled out of the hole when he was attacked by several enemies, and after spending all his strength to thwart and beat away these obstacles, he chased after Fang Yuan in rage, to take revenge.
"You actually came to send yourself to death." Fang Yuan coldly smiled, not in the least moved as he looked at the dragon claws that were rapidly approaching him with an invincible might.
The eagle wings on his back flapped and he easily brushed past the dragon claws.
Relying on his exquisite flying skill, he made the giant dragon go circles around him.
"Not good, I am not Wolf King's match in the air!" Cheng Long soon realized his disadvantage, but it was already late.
Fang Yuan grabbed this gap to fly to the dragon head.
His two bronze arms ruthlessly pounded on the the two eyes of the giant dragon like a battle spear or a sharp sword.
The dragon eyes burst and blood splashed in all directions.
The giant dragon immediately went mad, roaring miserably due to the intense pain.
Fang Yuan was splashed all over with scarlet blood, but he did not stop, he gave a sinister smile and continued piercing deep into the eyes with his two hands, directly attacking the brain membrane. While his other two hands smashed at the dragon head like a heavy hammer.
BANG BANG BANG!
Huge sounds echoed out again and again as Fang Yuan continued to hammer at the dragon head like pounding on a war drum.
The giant dragon started falling down, it struggled with mad fervor and its long tail twisted into a braid.
Stones and mud flew, and the dragon tail lashed out, sending both humans and beasts flying.
Fang Yuan did not stop his attack, he continued to pound for twenty to thirty times and was finally satisfied when the dragon head was thoroughly smashed into pieces.
White brain matter and blood spurted upon his whole body.
He took a deep breath, the intense odor of blood instead making him feel satisfied! Especially when he looked silently at this giant dragon corpse that he had conquered.
"Man, no matter which world they live in, all lives to conquer; conquer the enemy, conquer themselves..." Fang Yuan sighed with emotion.
Although the dragon had already died, the dragon corpse had not transformed back, one could see how profound Cheng Long's achievement in transformation path was.
"His head was quite tough, but he was no more than an impulsive fool." Fang Yuan lightly commented before looking towards Ma Zun again.
"He... he even killed Cheng Long!"
"Is this still Wolf King? Wasn't he an enslavement path master?!"
The scene of Fang Yuan stepping on the corpse shocked many.
Most of them simply did not dare to believe their own eyes.
How could Wolf King change from an enslavement path master into such a fierce warrior that rampaged in the battlefield?
Meanwhile, the wolf group howled and charged waves after waves without any pause, showing Fang Yuan's exquisite beast controlling skill.
Ma Zun's face was pale, his primeval essence was gradually exhausted as he kept on maintaining the killer move 'dragon horse spirit'.
The mutated horse souls had formed a tight defensive battle formation; the wolf group throwing their lives as they charged forward waves after waves.
Fang Yuan remained unmoved at these sacrifices, only sneering inwardly: 'Now, let me show you the true power of dual cultivation in enslavement and strength path.'
With a shift of his mind, the wolf group immediately changed their offensive pattern, dividing into several groups and breaking forward like sharp cones. The mutated souls' battle formation was unavoidably pulled apart.
As the defensive line became thinly spread, Fang Yuan took the initiative to launch an assault.
Ma Zun felt a chill in his heart and promptly maneuvered the mutated horse souls to intercept Fang Yuan, but this caused the defensive line to turn chaotic.
Fang Yuan laughed and changed the direction of his assault while making the wolf group charge ahead by three hundred steps.
Ma Zun blocked left and right, soon being unable to hold off the attacks.
If he guarded against Fang Yuan's assault, the wolf group would be free to charge forward. If he defend against the wolf group, he would not be able to guard against Fang Yuan.
After several rounds, Fang Yuan saw a gap and fiercely charged towards Ma Zun. The first strike broke Ma Zun's defensive barrier, the second punch seriously injured Ma Zun and the third punch killed this famous enslavement path master!
Ma Zun died!
The horse group crumbled apart and Ma tribe's army's morale lowered to the abyss!
"If I had not seen it personally, I would never have believed this!"
"Horse King actually died by enslavement path master Wolf King's beheading the leader tactic!!"
"Wolf King concealed himself too deeply, he actually cultivated both enslavement and strength path. He simply does not need to fear beheading the leader tactics, how can we deal with such an enslavement path master?"
-x-X-x-
The terrifying strength Fang Yuan displayed inflicted heavy pressure on everyone in Ma tribe army.
Despair was quickly spreading in their heart!
"Now, we can only rely on Rat King, only the rat group can contend against the wolf group!" Ma Shang Feng's face was ashen, Ma Zun's death made him feel like he had fallen into an ice cave. But he was Ma tribe leader, and under this desperation, he looked towards Jiang Bao Ya's direction.
However, the next moment, the only hope left in Ma Shang Feng's eyes was also obliterated.
Rat King had actually fled!
"Heavens, this Wolf King is a monster! Eagle King, Horse King, Cheng Long, Cheng Hu and Wu Ye were all killed by him, will I be able to survive if I don't run away now?"
Blood flowed out of all seven facial orifices of Jiang Bao Ya as he ran away.
He could not do anything about this, he had sworn the poison vow when he joined Ma tribe army. Now that he was deserting in the battle, he naturally suffered the backlash of the poison vow.
But Jiang Bao Ya wanted to retreat even if he had to risk the backlash!
Fang Yuan's terrifying performance had already completely obliterated all will to battle in his heart.
"Rat King, return right now!!" Ma Shang Feng shouted.
But Jiang Bao Ya ignored him and ran madly.
The blood from his seven facial orifices was dying the path, showing his determination to run!
His fleeing attracted the people around him and soon, a large number of Ma tribe Gu Masters began to retreat with large number of tribes gathering their forces as they retreated from the battlefield.
"One really shouldn't rely on outsiders!" Ma Shang Feng spurted out a large mouthful of blood before he blacked out and fainted.
Ma tribe army was utterly crushed, the situation was set!
Despite having the snowman elite troops, they could not turn around the situation.
Gu Master experts also started to retreat one after another.
'I almost had to break my seal and use my true martial physique to fight. Luckily! Luckily!' In a battle ring, Hei Lou Lan who had been attacked from all around, was gasping, his body full of injuries and his primeval essence heavily depleted, but the ominous glint in his eyes was becoming colder and sharper.
Under his order, Hei tribe army began a ruthless hunt.
The more they killed, the more battle merits they would obtain. Even a fool understood this.
Fame and fortune incited Hei tribe army to be like brutal famished wolves.
At first, the elite troops were covering Ma tribe's retreat, but soon Hei tribe's elite troops rushed to them and pinned them down. Ma tribe army had thoroughly collapsed and countless people were escaping to all directions.
Fang Yuan did not move, instead calling the wolf group to protect him.
"Heavy internal bleeding, soul has been weakened to five hundred man soul..." Fang Yuan inspected his body, swallowing the blood in his mouth as waves after waves of dizziness attacked him.
His two bronze arms quietly disappeared. The repercussions of four arm earth king killer move was much more serious than what he had expected.
"The several experiments before only scratched the surface. Now that I used it to its extreme, even going beyond the theorised time limit, a problem has occured. Sure enough, genuine knowledge comes from practice."
Killer move was an exquisite coordination between Gu worms.
But a killer move was not perfected by just planning it.
Only by putting it into practice and revising it continuously, could the killer move be perfected. And this process to perfect it could last a very long time, lasting generations and even over ten generations of continuous deductions and adjustments.
Four arm earth king was a result of Fang Yuan using his five hundred years of experience along with a moment of inspiration. It was made in a hurry and was still in experimental phase.
Fang Yuan was soon able to understand what caused such heavy repercussions.
"It is the rank five earth overlord Gu. This killer move was originally based on ground fight, the longer one is touching the ground, the lighter the repercussions. But I was flying almost all the time in this battle. Thus, this problem was exposed."
"It seems four arm earth king killer move has a lot of shortcomings. From this battle, I can see flying is much more convenient than charging crash Gu, and possesses much higher threat to enemies. Since I have master level attainment in flying, I should make full use of this superiority."
He was not willing to give up flying, so the four arm earth king killer move had to be greatly altered.
Fang Yuan sat on the aged night wolf emperor, quietly pondering while looking at the wanton slaughtering by Hei tribe army.
"Damn it... still vigilant, not giving me even a little chance!" Assassin Wu Ming was hiding in a distant while observing Fang Yuan.
He had been thinking of taking advantage of Wolf King's negligence after the battles, to sneak attack him.
If he succeeded and killed Wolf King, Ma tribe would still have a chance to regroup and make a comeback.
But Fang Yuan did not give him any opportunity, almost as if he saw through his plan.
Wu Ming waited for a while more, but because of Hei tribe experts moving about more frequently nearby, he could not endure anymore and quietly retreated.
Ma tribe was fleeing in defeat, and while they were fleeing, Ma tribe leader Ma Shang Feng woke up.
He was still not resigned and after they fled to the defense line, he tried to hold on by relying on the defense line.
But Tai Bai Yun Sheng's mountain as before Gu wrecked his plan. Hei tribe army broke through the defense line, Pan Ping used his sole blade Gu and luckily managed to get Ma Shang Feng's head in the chaotic battle.
With Ma tribe leader's death, Ma tribesmen no longer had the will to battle.
Tao tribe, Yang tribe and Qi Lian tribe surrendered one after another. The surrendering process unavoidably attracted most of Hei tribe's attention.
"Move faster, faster, faster!" Zhao Lian Yun was urging from inside the carriage.
Fei Cai was taking the coachman position and used all his strength to lash at the horse, the carriage's two wheels moved at a rapid speed.
Fei Cai was Ma Ying Jie's head servant and being in charge of Ma tribe's young tribe leader's everyday life, he naturally had to accompany Ma Ying Jie to the battle. Zhao Lian Yun was homeless and so could only follow behind him.
Ma tribe was defeated, these two and other mortals also fled for their lives.
However, just relying on the horsepower, the carriage's speed simply could not surpass a Gu Master. While they escaped, they were thrown far behind by Gu Masters.
But because Fei Cai and Zhao Lian Yun were mortals, the army chasing after Ma tribe army let them go.
The battle merits in killing mortals were next to nothing.
Of course, if they encountered Gu Masters in a bad mood or those who liked to kill or wolves who did not care if they were mortals, just one or two casual moves from either of these could send them to their grave.
However, Fei Cai and Zhao Lian Yun's luck were really good, not only did they not encounter such situation, they were actually able to smoothly escape out of the battlefield under countless Gu Masters' eyes.
The two put in all their efforts in escaping.
The old horse pulling the carriage foamed in exhaustion and finally fell on the grassland.
The carriage overturned soon after and broke apart.
Fei Cai and Zhao Lian Yun broke out of the broken carriage in a miserable state. Although they were injured, it was not serious because of the soft grassland.
"Now where should we go?" Fei Cai was indecisive; they were in a vast land without any soldiers or Gu Masters chasing them.
Zhao Lian Yun panted heavily without replying, she was also feeling flustered and helpless.
'Wolf King Chang Shan Yin... there is actually such a terrifying monster in this world! Damn it, if I had known you were this fierce, why would I persuade father to travel so far to side with Ma tribe?'
As she thought of Fang Yuan's terrifying figure rampaging in the midst of innumerable troops, Zhao Lian Yun's body and mind trembled.
Remembering her father who had died in the battlefield, their current homeless situation and the ruthlessness of fate, Zhao Lian Yun began to weep in grief.
"Xiao Yun, don't cry, don't cry, don't worry, I am still here." Fei Cai immediately comforted her.
Zhao Lian Yun buried her head in her knees and cried even louder.
Fei Cai panicked as he comforted and apologizes repeatedly, cutting out a very clumsy figure.
Zhao Lian Yun cried for a while, then suddenly raised her head: "What's the use of your apology! I am really miserable, how could I come to such a world! Now our situation is desperate with nothing to eat or even drink. At night, the bloody odor on the battlefield will attract groups after groups of beasts to forage. Sooner or later, we will starve to death, die of thirst or even freeze to death."
"Eh? Then, then what should we do?" Fei Cai looked at Zhao Lian Yun with an expression that was seeking help.
Zhao Lian Yun rolled her eyes and furiously shouted: "You are really trash! You are older than me, can't you think of something! You want me to think of everything, do you think I am Dong Fang Yu Liang?!"
Fei Cai lowered his head after being scolded, only daring to look at his feet.
Suddenly, he raised his head with bright eyes: "I, I have thought of a good way."
"Ah? What way?" Zhao Lian Yun raised her brows in amazement, this fool had actually thought of a way?
"I feel that as long as we have a horse, we can escape far away from the battlefield. With no odor of blood, we will be able to avoid the beasts."
Zhao Lian Yun fiercely kicked Fei Cai: "Do you think I don't know?! You fool, you big idiot! What good method is this? I also want a horse, where will you get me one?"
Fei Cai jumped in pain from Zhao Lian Yun's kick.
Suddenly, he pointed ahead and shouted: "Look, there is a horse."
Zhao Lian Yun turned around to look and was stupefied, blurting out: "The fuc... there really is a horse!"
But she quickly reacted: "There are no lack of horses in northern plains, but what we lack is the method to capture and tame it. Fei Cai, do you have any method?"
Fei Cai exclaimed, his hand still pointing ahead as he shouted: "Look, there is a person on the horse!"
Zhao Lian Yun concentrated, there really was a person.
As the horse neared the two, Zhao Lian Yun's eyes suddenly opened wide because of the identity of the injured person on the horse's back: "Ma Ying Jie!"
...
"Congratulations brother, congratulations. Hei tribe has won this battle, even if Ma tribe gets support from Gu Immortals, they cannot reverse the situation." Hei Bai who had been observing the battle all along, saw Hei tribe was already beginning to clear up the battlefield through investigative Gu, and impatiently congratulated Hei Cheng who was beside him.
Hei Cheng lightly smiled: "Congratulations to you too. Hei Lou Lan, this kid did not betray our expectations. Ah, right, the demonic path Gu Immortal who supported Ma tribe has been discovered, it is Xue Song Zi of Snowy Mountain's sixth peak."
Hei Bai's expression immediately turned heavy: "Hmph, so it was him. If not for him meddling and fighting with me over wooden chicken Gu, the Immortal Gu would not have escaped the bindings, and I would have already been in possession of wooden chicken Gu."
Hei Cheng comforted him with a smile: "Brother, no need to worry, it will be the same thing if we can obtain wooden chicken Gu with the help of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. This is called: the road to happiness is strewn with setbacks. Once you obtain wooden chicken Gu, you will become an expert among Gu Immortals immediately."
"I don't deserve such praise!" Hei Bai immediately bowed at Hei Cheng and sincerely said: "If not for elder brother's generous help, how could I have such financial ability like Xue Song Zi? Elder brother is really wise and far-sighted, investing so much immortal essence stones, it was an amazing decision. As expected, stocking up the wolf groups before sending them out for support all at once truly caught Xue Song Zi unprepared. This time, even if Xue Song Zi wants to continue sending help, there is no one to receive it."
"Hahaha." Hei Cheng laughed brightly before sighing, "Without investment, how could there be profits?"
He paused a moment and continued: "Also, we were fortunate that other famous super tribes did not really make their move in this Imperial Court contest. There was also the information from Fairy Tan Bi Ya which allowed us to know of the secret relationship between Ma tribe and Snowy Mountain. Another point, this Wolf King Chang Shan Yin is truly a spectacular junior, his performance was outstanding, the one with the most radiance in this contest such that his brilliance surpasses this generation's Gu Masters in northern plains."
Hei Bai also nodded, having the same feeling: "I have already investigated Chang Shan Yin in detail, he is a person of Chang tribe and was very famous, even us Gu Immortals knew of him. Later, he mysteriously disappeared for over ten years, he clearly had a fortuitous encounter. Now, he cultivates both enslavement and strength path, I saw the killer move he used just before, its repercussions are not small but it is indeed somewhat interesting."
Fang Yuan could conceal his injuries from the surrounding people, but he could not conceal it from Gu Immortals.
Hei Cheng was silent for a while before speaking: "This is a Gu Immortal seed, I plan to take him into Hei tribe. After he enters Imperial Court blessed land, we will properly observe him. If he is willing to join us and offer his loyalty, he might be able to become our Hei tribe's external supreme elder in the future."
Hei Bai smiled: "The difficulty of ascending to Gu Immortal realm is unspeakable, elder brother truly thinks highly of him. In my opinion, Tai Bai Yun Sheng is also quite good, we can also ask him to join Hei tribe."
"Mm... but he is a little old." Hei Cheng nodded.
In these Gu Immortals' eyes, only Chang Shan Yin and Tai Bai Yun Sheng piqued their interest and gained their attention among the entire Hei tribe alliance army!
-x-X-x-
When Ma Ying Jie finally woke up, his first sight was Fei Cai's joyous smiling face.
Fei Cai shouted: "Young tribe leader, you are finally awake!"
The simple and honest voice warmed Ma Ying Jie's heart. He struggled to sit upright, but the intense pain caused him to grimace and froth started to bubble from his mouth, he was barely able to ask: "Where is this place?"
Fei Cai scratched his head, and said in shame: "I also don't know where this is, but we should have escaped the battlefield."
"Battlefield?" Ma Ying Jie suddenly started and immediately asked, "The battle, what happened?"
"We lost, lord young tribe leader. Many people escaped and even more people surrendered." Fei Cai answered.
Ma Ying Jie's face turned pale white and his body shook, almost fainting down, but luckily Fei Cai was supporting his back.
Zhao Lian Yun stood at the side, looking at this formerly radiant Ma tribe young tribe leader who had now fallen into such a miserable state; it left a bad taste in her mouth.
'Sigh, this Ma Ying Jie is young and promising, it is a pity he ran into Wolf King Chang Shan Yin. It was not that you didn't try hard enough, but that the enemy was too much of a monster...'
Ma Ying Jie closed his eyes, two streams of tears quietly falling down.
After a while, he opened his reddened eyes and looked at Fei Cai and Zhao Lian Yun, asking in a hoarse voice: "Did you guys save me?"
Fei Cai and Zhao Lian Yun nodded.
"Young tribe leader, what do we do now?" Fei Cai asked.
Ma Ying Jie said with a gloomy expression: "We will return! This battle is our Ma tribe's defeat, but we still have some tribesmen remaining behind in warm pond valley."
Back then, before heroes assembly, Ma tribe schemed and brought about internal disorder in Fei tribe, before swallowing Fei tribe and occupying warm pond valley.
Ma tribe's higher-ups, to be prepared for the unexpected, left behind the old, weak, sick and crippled behind at warm pond valley.
If Ma tribe won, they would take these people back. But if Ma tribe lost, these people would be the seeds to continue the tribe's bloodline!
"Return to warm pond valley? But we don't have water and also don't have any rations. To travel such a long distance..." Zhao Lian Yun's brows furrowed into a knot.
"Heh, little girl, as long as I am here, there will be sufficient water and food. You guys don't need to worry." Ma Ying Jie replied.
The three started their journey, coming across many Ma tribesmen who had fled; Ma Ying Jie took all of them in.
"Lord young tribe leader, I had not thought that I, Ma You Liang, would still live to see you!" When Ma You Liang saw Ma Ying Jie, he immediately said this in a sobbing voice.
He was Ma tribe's rank three elder and was lying on a stretcher now; he had lost an arm and his right leg was fractured, his injuries were severe.
When Ma Ying Jie saw Ma You Liang, tears involuntarily welled up in his eyes: "Elder Ma You Liang, it really is good to see you!"
Although he had taken in many tribesmen along the way, most of them were mortals, while Ma You Liang might be heavily injured and also crippled, but he was still a Gu Master.
Ma tribe had been utterly defeated in this battle. @@novelbin@@
Before the battle, they had been a large tribe whose foundations were deep enough to charge to super tribe level. But after the battle, Ma tribe was completely reduced to a small tribe, falling down from the pinnacle of their power.
To the current Ma tribe, every Gu Master was a very precious strength and hope of the tribe!
"Lord young tribe leader, old tribe leader died in the battlefield." Ma You Liang cried bitterly as he told this grievous news to Ma Ying Jie.
Ma Ying Jie's body shook intensely, and despite having already made mental preparations, his heart was still filled with endless sadness and sorrow after hearing this news.
He gritted his teeth, his whole body seemingly having turned into an iron statue.
After a while of silence, he slowly wiped away his tears and spoke: "From today onwards, I am Ma tribe leader! Elder Ma You Liang, you need to pull yourself together. Our Ma tribe might have lost, but we are not exterminated. Back then, Ancestor Giant Sun set the rule that Huang Jin family's bloodline could not be exterminated. Ma tribe has already paid a disastrous price for the battle, now even Hei tribe cannot eradicate us. We will return to warm pond valley and climb up from this loss. I believe our Ma tribe's radiance won't disperse like this!"
Ma You Liang dazedly looked at the young tribe leader in front of him, and in his blurred vision, he seemed to be looking at Ma Shang Feng and Ma Zun's silhouettes. He stopped sobbing as hope rose up in his heart again.
He then answered with a very deep voice: "Lord tribe leader, I also believe so!"
-------------
Winner takes all.
While Ma Ying Jie was miserably fleeing, it was a scene of celebratory feasts in the many tents of Hei tribe's alliance army with plentiful food and people crowding around the warm bonfire.
"We have won, we were victorious!"
"Ma tribe's ambition was too big, they actually wanted to become a super tribe. This ambition was the cause of their destruction."
"Congratulations to Lord Hei Lou Lan for becoming the Lord of Imperial Court!"
"Esteemed Lord Wolf King, please allow me to propose a toast to you."
The main tent was also a scene of festivity. Besides the fine wine and food, there were also beautiful and passionate northern plains' women dancing gracefully to their heart's content.
The ones present in the main tent were the higher-ups of Hei tribe's alliance army and were all experts. The cultivations of these people were at least rank four, one could say they were the most radiant heroes of this generation of northern plains.
Hei Lou Lan was sitting on the main seat, and to the first seat on his left was Fang Yuan.
Before, because of Tai Bai Yun Sheng's arrival as well as successive joining of several rank five tribe elders, Fang Yuan's position had been pushed to the back.
But after the third battle with Ma tribe, Fang Yuan revealed his rank five peak stage cultivation and with his strength alone, battled the enemy's three enslavement masters, and beheaded Cheng Long, Wu Ye and other famous experts.
One could say Fang Yuan was at least seventy percent of the reason Hei tribe could win against Ma tribe decisively.
Everyone in Hei tribe was shocked at Wolf King's terrifying battle strength and that very night, they readjusted the seat rankings in the main tent.
No one opposed this.
Experts proposed toasts to Fang Yuan one after another, Fang Yuan did not refuse anyone, but only took a sip every time. This was completely not a demeanour of a grand northern plains' warrior, but right now, this instead formed an arrogant and aloof aura on Fang Yuan.
The main tent was filled with a joyful atmosphere.
The Gu Master who proposed the toast just before was Sole Blade General Pan Ping. He used his sole blade Gu and luckily managed to take Ma tribe leader Ma Shang Feng's head in the battle. Thus, his position was only inferior to Fang Yuan in the battle merit board now, being ranked at second.
Seeing Fang Yuan taking a sip in response to his toast, Pan Ping gratefully stepped to the side.
Northern plains natives admire warriors, a terrifying performance like Fang Yuan's was extremely rare even when considering all the Imperial Court contests.
Flying master and enslavement path master, two master level halos shone on his body. His enslavement path and strength path dual cultivation would give an extreme headache to all his enemies.
Seeing Pan Ping becoming satisfied and overwhelmed, and retreating in deference, the surrounding gazes showed respect, worship or fear. Fang Yuan calmly placed down the wine cup and sighed inwardly: "Unknowingly, I have already reached this stage."
Riding on the great wave known as the Imperial Court contest, Fang Yuan's individual battle strength rapidly inflated. Now, he was already at the summit of the mortal world.
He had reached the peak of the mortals.
Advancing further would be the realm of immortals!
In the battle before, he slaughtered famed experts, rampaging all around with no one being able to obstruct him; very few rank five peak stage Gu Masters could display such performance. Hei Lou Lan's light was completely seized by Fang Yuan.
Despite there being great flaws in cultivating both enslavement and strength path, despite four arm earth king killer move being newly created and not yet perfected, they were already enough as a cornerstone to allow Fang Yuan to stand proud in the mortal world.
In three kings blessed land, Fang Yuan used the blessed land's power to kill rank four and rank five Gu Master experts.
And now, he was able to do it with his own strength. Even if Tie clan's previous clan leader Tie Mu Bai resurrected, Fang Yuan had the confidence of killing him.
In a short period of time, Fang Yuan's battle strength had truly increased at a sharply flying speed. This accomplishment that others would find it almost impossible to achieve their whole life, was established on five hundred years of his former life's experience, Hu Immortal blessed land, painstaking efforts and strategies as a base.
'But it is still not enough, far from enough! What can being the peak of the mortal world be considered as? As long as one is not a Gu Immortal, they will simply be chess pieces. Not mentioning the goal of eternal life, just looking at my current goal, I have yet to save Dang Hun mountain.'
Fang Yuan's gaze turned solemn as the flames of ambition burned in his heart.
He glanced at Tai Bai Yun Sheng who was at the side.
To save Dang Hun mountain, he required Tai Bai Yun Sheng's Immortal Gu — Landscape As Before.
This was his most important target for this trip to northern plains. Even Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was secondary.
In his plan, if Dang Hun mountain could not be saved, then Eighty-Eight True Yang Building's inheritance could only barely fill his losses.
However, it was a very troublesome thing to take away other's Gu worms.
A Gu worm's survival could be decided on simply a thought from its master.
For example, Fang Yuan only needed a thought and even his Immortal Gu, Spring Autumn Cicada, would easily self-destruct.
Precisely because of this, when Gu Masters battled to death, they would often get next to nothing in terms of Gu worms from the corpse.
And Tai Bai Yun Sheng's situation was even more troublesome!
Immortal Gu Landscape As Before had yet to be born; it was an Immortal Gu created by Tai Bai Yun Sheng after he became a Gu Immortal, and by using river as before and mountain as before as the main materials.
Hence, there were two courses of actions Fang Yuan could take.
First was to capture Tai Bai Yun Sheng and use soul path Gu worms to soul search and plunder the recipe of Landscape As Before from his mind, then refine it by himself.
This plan was too risky.
First of all, Fang Yuan might not be able to capture Tai Bai Yun Sheng alive. Capturing alive and killing were two completely different concepts. Especially when Tai Bai Yun Sheng was very powerful and was a time path Gu Master; the failure of the plan would have huge consequences.
Secondly, even if Fang Yuan was able to capture Tai Bai Yun Sheng alive, does it mean he could get the river as before and mountain as before Gu? In case Tai Bai Yun Sheng made these two Gu self-destruct, all of Fang Yuan's efforts would go to waste.
Finally, it was still unknown if the current Tai Bai Yun Sheng had the Gu recipe for Landscape As Before in his mind.
The possibility of a mortal being able to come up with an Immortal Gu recipe was extremely small. Especially when Tai Bai Yun Sheng was not a refinement path master.
According to the vague rumors in Fang Yuan's previous life, when Tai Bai Yun Sheng became a Gu Immortal, heaven and earth reacted, Dao marks attracted each other and his inspiration exploded, making the two rank five Gu spontaneously merge together to form rank six Immortal Gu Landscape As Before.
If it really was so, then the Gu recipe for Landscape As Before simply did not exist and its refinement process could not be duplicated.
The first course of action could not be adopted, then what about the second?
In truth, it was not any better than the first!
After Tai Bai Yun Sheng entered Imperial Court blessed land, he would advance to Gu Immortal realm. The second plan was to wait for him to become a Gu Immortal and possess the Immortal Gu, then deal with him!
The meaning of this was that Fang Yuan, as a mortal, would be entrapping a Gu Immortal!
-x-X-x-
How big was the possibility of a mortal successfully plotting against a Gu Immortal?
Fang Yuan might be a rank five peak stage Gu Master, but it would be almost impossible for him as well to cross the boundaries of immortal and mortal.
Fang Yuan was a Gu Immortal in his past life, there might be no mortal that had as deep of an understanding of this as him.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan's plan was not just himself as a mortal going against a Gu Immortal. He would borrow the strength of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, the bright guidance from his previous life's rich experience and also the precious information from Lang Ya land spirit; all these allowed his plan to have a higher chance of success. With this, he had a twenty percent chance of seizing Immortal Gu Landscape As Before.
Twenty percent probability was already the highest among the three ways to save Dang Hun mountain.
Only an Immortal Gu could contend against Immortal Gu Gruel Mud.
Based on his wide vision and experience from his five hundred years of experience, Fang Yuan knew of only three Immortal Gu that could save Dang Hun mountain.
First was the rank six earth path turn rock Gu, this Gu was with Western Desert's rank six Gu Immortal Sun Cu.
Second was similarly an earth path rank six Immortal Gu Rebuilding Mount Dongshan, which was in Eastern Sea's Hai Shi blessed land.
Third was time path rank six Immortal Gu Landscape As Before. This Gu had not yet been created and was not a naturally formed Gu. Its master Tai Bai Yun Sheng was only a rank five Gu Master currently.
To seize turn rock Gu, Fang Yuan would have to deal with Gu Immortal Sun Cu who had been a Gu Immortal for over a dozen years.
And the situation would be even more bad if he wanted to scheme against Rebuilding Mount Dongshan; Fang Yuan would be placing himself under the radar of Gu Immortals, and would he be able to exchange for the Immortal Gu as a mortal? This was nothing more than a kid carrying gold and strolling around the black market.
Thus, the third plan of Immortal Gu Landscape As Before had the lowest risk and the highest probability of success.
Even if Tai Bai Yun Sheng would advance into a Gu Immortal, he would only be a greenhorn and would not be familiar with the qualitative change of strength.
Compared to the veteran Sun Cu and that group of Gu Immortals in the Hai Shi blessed land, this opponent was much more easy to deal with.
...
Northern Plains, December.
The blizzard was gradually becoming bigger and appeared more frequently. Even if there was no blizzard, the pure white snow had covered the whole northern plains, and even the blistering hot sunlight became powerless.
The time of the ten year blizzard was already approaching closer.
Tian Chuan, warm pond valley.
"Tribe leader, this is the spirit spring C." Ma You Liang worriedly pointed at the dried spirit spring and introduced it to Ma Ying Jie.
Ma Ying Jie's brows furrowed deeply.
This spirit spring C was one of the only three remaining spirit springs of warm pond valley.
Now that it was dried up, only spirit springs A and B were left to support Ma tribe. This was disastrous news to Ma tribe.
The spirit springs in northern plains were different from the spirit springs in other regions.
Northern springs had little spring water and narrow spring opening, so they burst out fiercely and had poor foundation, so they lasted the shortest time.
Eastern springs were plentiful in numbers, southern springs gurgled, northern springs were intense and western springs were pure.
A mid-sized clan could last for over ten years in southern border, using one spirit spring. As long as they did not use up the spirit spring excessively, they could continue to use the thin and continuous flow of the spirit spring.
But it was different in northern plains.
Spirit springs formed quickly in northern plains and quickly finished as well. Add in the intense warfares in northern plains, a mid-sized tribe would require at least three or four spirit springs to sustain themselves.
Ma Ying Jie became Ma tribe's new tribe leader after he returned to the tribe. Ma tribe had lost at their attempt to charge into super tribe level and was now reduced to a small tribe, causing the large warm pond valley to appear spacious and empty.
Ma tribe had rations and water sources, moreover had made ample preparations.
But a spirit spring was a commodity that was an essential and important resource to a Gu Master's cultivation. Once the blizzard arrives, places like warm pond valley would become the final place of refuge.
Not only beast groups, other Gu Masters would also come to stay.
As the owner of the place, Ma tribe not only had to resist against the blizzard but had to negotiate with these people as well.
The primeval stones from the spirit spring were the backbone in supporting a Gu Master's battles. Now, out of the three backbones of Ma tribe, one was broken. The weak Ma tribe that was left with thirty percent of their foundations suddenly had ten percent less because of the drying spirit spring C. @@novelbin@@
However, Ma Ying Jie had no countermeasures to deal with such a problem.
If he had a 'river as before' Gu, he could immediately restore spirit spring C to its original condition, resolving this problem, but he did not have it.
"Lord tribe leader, are spirit springs really so important?" Fei Cai asked on the way back.
After he returned to the tribe, as a benefactor who saved Ma Ying Jie, he was immediately liberated from his slave status and was now a free person.
At the same time, he was still Ma Ying Jie's personal attendant.
Ma Ying Jie worriedly nodded: "A spirit spring's drying up has an extremely huge influence towards Gu Masters. And Gu Masters are the pillars of a tribe. Our Ma tribe not only needs Gu Masters as an important strength to resist all kinds of calamities during the blizzard disaster, but also to fight for new resources to develop the tribe after the disaster..."
Fei Cai exclaimed then asked while walking: "Then, can't we find new spirit springs? Our warm pond valley is so large, who is to say that there are only these three spirit springs."
Fei Cai's words were filled with his optimistic spirit.
Ma Ying Jie gave a bitter laugh: "Northern plains' spirit springs can indeed form in a short time, there might be a fourth spirit spring in warm pond valley, but the probability is close to zero. The thing is every ten years as the blizzard approaches, spirit springs in all regions of northern plains will continue to become dry and dead. After the blizzard disperses, new spirit springs will gush out in large numbers. At that time, all the regions of northern plains will have plentiful water vegetation and you might even find one spirit spring every hundred li. That is the best time for every tribe and every beast group to grow."
"It was like that..." Fei Cai only then realized he had lived for this long and was still ignorant, and was not familiar to such situations.
"Ahh!" Suddenly, he screamed as he fell down to the side.
They were walking a path beside the cliff, fortunately it was a gentle slope and not a precipice. Fei Cai had lost his footing and rolled down from the slope, screaming as he fell.
"This guy..." Ma Ying Jie was amused at the series of hilarious screams from Fei Cai, his tightly knitted brows slightly relaxed.
"You idiot, you can't even walk now? Climb up quickly... hmm?!" Ma Ying Jie suddenly stopped, his eyes opened wide as he looked incredulously at a brand new spirit spring gushing out from the slope.
This spirit spring's mouth had been covered by a rock.
But this stone was pushed by the rolling Fei Cai, letting the spirit spring that was covered reveal itself.
This was clearly a recently formed spirit spring, otherwise Ma tribe would not have missed it during their search before the battle.
The volume of the spirit spring was enormous and in a short few moments of time, over a hundred primeval stones gushed with the spring water and fell on the surrounding ground.
"This...This is actually a new spirit spring and one that directly surpasses the volume of spirit spring A!" Ma Ying Jie was so happy that even his eyes started reddening, "Is this the so-called joy after extreme sorrow? This is definitely the blessing of our ancestors in Longevity Heaven!"
"Tribe..tribe leader... I have returned!" At this time, Fei Cai came back while limping a little, and as he saw the new spring, his eyes similarly opened wide, "Strange, how could there suddenly be a spring here?"
Ma Ying Jie laughed heartily: "Fei Cai, you are the lucky star that heaven sent to me. From today onwards, you should change your name. Fei Cai sounds similar to trash, how could I Ma Ying Jie have trash beside me? From now, you shall be called Hong Yun, Fei Hong Yun! It indicates luck shining on our Ma tribe, joy after extreme sorrow!"
However, Ma Ying Jie was not happy for long, as seven days later, Hei tribe army arrived and surrounded warm pond valley.
The very night the Hei tribe army garrisoned nearby, the three spirit springs of warm pond valley simultaneous turned black, completely polluted.
A letter to surrender soon reached Ma Ying Jie's land.
Ma Ying Jie had not expected Hei Lou Lan to not let him go even after clearly achieving the final victory!
The spirit springs that were contaminated by the use of Gu worms could no longer produce primeval stones and were all useless. Although Ma tribe still had stocks of primeval stones, they had already lost the possibility of continuing to stay in warm pond valley.
"I had not thought Hei Lou Lan would be so hell-bent on attacking! He has requested our Ma tribe to surrender in the letter, which does not violate the rules set by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable back then! Damn it, he is truly hateful!" Ma Ying Jie clenched his fists, his heart filled with anger, hatred, helplessness and powerlessness.
"Hei Lou Lan who is nicknamed Black Tyrant, has always been brutal and violent. It seems the battle before created a fear in him towards Ma tribe. But because of Ancestor Giant Sun's rules, he wants to put Ma tribe under his sight and continue to oppress us." Ma You Liang was sitting stiffly on his chair and analyzed this with a heavy voice.
After pausing for a while, he continued: "Actually, this is also good, we can surrender to Hei Lou Lan which would mean we can enter Imperial Court blessed land as well."
Ma Ying Jie shook his head: "This is where Hei Lou Lan's sinister intent lies in. It is true Ma tribe will be able to stay in Imperial Court, but what about others? Let me ask you, how many tribesmen do we have left with surname Ma?"
Ma You Liang paled as he answered: "Only over one hundred and thirty."
"Precisely so." Ma Ying Jie nodded with a heavy expression, "To grow our tribe, we would need to take in outsiders and also wantonly connect with marriage and have large numbers of offspring. But as long as Hei Lou Lan sent a command to forbid our Ma tribe from taking in outsiders and even only allowing us to have inter-tribe marriage, then how long would it take for our Ma tribe to grow?"
Ma You Liang's face turned even paler.
He realized the seriousness of this problem.
Politics was dirty, and not allowing them to marry outsiders could be easily done. Hei Lou Lan would only need to use the reason of protecting the purity of Huang Jin family's bloodline and he would be able to justly suppress Ma tribe's development.
"Then what should we do?" Ma You Liang lost his composure.
Ma Ying Jie was silent for a while before resolutely saying: "We will bestow surname Ma to the outsiders and take them as our own tribesmen!"
"Lord tribe leader, if we do this, our Ma tribe's Huang Jin bloodline will really be..." Ma You Liang spoke hesitantly.
"We will have preventive measures. Huang Jin bloodline is our Ma tribe's pride, we can never let it be contaminated. If the situation takes a turn for the better, we can denounce these people and strip away their Ma surname."
Ma You Liang only then felt at ease and nodded, approving this plan.
-x-X-x-
Moving carriages and neighing horses.
The huge group of nearly a million advanced towards the central Imperial Court region of northern plains.
The blizzard outside was blowing intensely, causing the big stomach horse to lower its head helplessly.
The white snow on the ground was knee-deep, as everyone moved with extremely difficult steps..
One by one, the blue farm slug Gu moved forward. Their stomachs were stuffed with all sorts of resources, turning their original size of three elephants into a mound-like hill.
Carriages after carriages followed behind the blue farm slug Gu. In order to shield these mortals from the approaching blizzard, they were covered in frost.
To prevent the slug Gu from freezing to death, three Gu Masters would be in charge of one slug Gu, removing the frost on them while using fire path Gu worms to give them warmth, maintaining their temperature.
The army pressed forward towards the Imperial Court. As the blizzard became larger, the army's speed became slower.
Large number of mortal slaves fell during the journey, and never got up again.
Hei Lou Lan could order Gu Masters to save them, but he did not do so.
Even though the Imperial Court blessed land was huge and could accommodate five million people, in Hei Lou Lan's opinion, the resources within the blessed land were his, why would he distribute them to these lowly slaves?
Every extra person meant he had to lose another bit of benefit.
Using the blizzard to sacrifice large numbers of useless mortals, this was a hidden rule among all past lords of the Imperial Court.
Mortal lives were cheap. They were like grass, once the blizzard was over, they would rapidly grow again, increasing in numbers and using up northern plains' scarce resources like leeches, awaiting the next ten year blizzard.
As the blizzard became stronger, the people move against the force of the wind.
Fang Yuan was inside the large lizard house Gu, he could hear the wind outside the windows.
Within the large lizard house Gu, it was warm as spring. Using it to move in such an environment had about five to six times the primeval essence expenditure as before.
But to Fang Yuan, just his rank five peak stage ninety percent aperture could easily sustain this expenditure with no problem.
Moreover, his second aperture had also advanced to rank five upper stage recently.
Fang Yuan came before the window, looking outside the tightly sealed glass window, towards the left.
Ma tribe's members were there.
After Ma Ying Jie took the role of tribe leader, Ma Hong Yun appeared, even Zhao Lian Yun was beside him.
Fang Yuan had already confirmed this secretly, and even instructed Ge tribe to pay special attention to Ma Hong Yun and Zhao Lian Yun.
In his memory, Ma Hong Yun obtained an inheritance of Giant Sun Immortal Venerable in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. In Fang Yuan's following plans, he was a very useful pawn piece. As for Zhao Lian Yun, she was still just a child, she posed no threat. At the same time, she was very close to Ma Hong Yun, Fang Yuan wanted to observe them further. @@novelbin@@
"In my previous life, Ma Hong Yun appeared. Now, despite my influence, Ma Hong Yun still appeared. Then in the future, will he and Zhao Lian Yun still reach that level of achievement just like in the previous life?"
After rebirth, Fang Yuan had been deeply interested towards the topic of changing history, a desire to know growing deep inside his heart.
The flow of history had inertia, as well as changes.
With his personal experience, the butterfly effect theorized on Earth was slightly off.
Five hundred years in his past life, Ma Hong Yun was given a surname and allowed to cultivate as a Gu Master. That was because he obtained a relic Gu and gave it to Ma Ying Jie.
Right now, it was because of Hei Lou Lan's pressure, that caused Ma Ying Jie to have no choice but make this decision. This decision, gave birth to a new Ma Hong Yun.
The process was different, but the result was the same.
The event that unfolded before him made Fang Yuan ponder, as he uncontrollably thought of one word — fate!
Fate, this was a word much more mysterious and ethereal than space or time.
Legend says that there was a luck path among Gu Master paths, but until today, no one could confirm it.
However, there were many important characters that were connected to fate.
In <>, it clearly indicated the existence of destiny Gu.
The second generation Immortal Venerable of the Heavenly Court, the creator of wisdom path, controlled this Gu, thus being able to plot against three future Demon Venerables.
In three kings blessed land, Fang Yuan was informed by the land spirit — Red Lotus Demon Venerable was a great hero, breaking the restriction of destiny, allowing all life in this world to regain control of their own fate.
In fact, Fang Yuan had vaguely heard such a rumor: Giant Sun Immortal Venerable controlled a luck path Gu worm, thus he had extremely good fortune and ease in his cultivation journey, avoiding disasters and gaining great blessings.
"In this world, is there really a thread of fate that connects all living beings together?" Fang Yuan went into deep thought.
In the five hundred years of his previous life, although he became a Gu Immortal, he only managed to unravel a tiny portion of this world's mystery and secrets.
Be it his previous life, or this life, the more he progressed, the stronger he got, the more he felt his own ignorance and insignificance.
The more insignificant and ignorant he felt, the more interest he had in moving forward, he wanted to progress further!
"Compared to this world, I am merely an ant..." Fang Yuan's blood was filled with pride and humility, obstinance and understanding.
Collecting all his scattered thoughts, Fang Yuan concentrated his attention on the matter ahead.
"Imperial Court blessed land rejects Gu Immortals, I am already rank five peak stage, this is likely the first and the last time I am entering the Imperial Court, to physically come into contact with Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
"But this time, Hei Lou Lan purposely went over to warm pond valley to force Ma tribe to surrender, this was a strange move." Fang Yuan's gaze became solemn.
Ma tribe had already lost terribly, and they had the Huang Jin bloodline, why would Hei Lou Lan do this?
This was understandable in his previous life.
Back then, Ma tribe was not completely helpless, they had strong defense and was a turtle shell that was hard to take down. Hei Lou Lan had no choice but to force them to surrender.
Now that Ma tribe was declining, Hei Lou Lan still moved his army and laboriously forced Ma tribe to surrender, he spent so much effort to suppress Ma tribe, did he have deep enmity with Ma tribe personally?
Fang Yuan shook his head.
There were no evidence that could support this thought.
"Nevermind, maybe Hei Lou Lan was just spurred on and wanted to raise his merits. This is only a small detail, my own strength is always the most important thing."
Thinking so, his mind entered his aperture.
The injuries from using the killer move four arm earth king had already recovered.
As for the killer move, he had several adjustments.
He changed earth overlord Gu to wind overlord Gu. As for the other supplementary Gu worms, they were adjusted accordingly.
This way, he would not need to step on the ground, and would fight best in the wind. The stronger the wind, the more battle strength he can display, and the smaller the drawbacks he would face after using the killer move.
But Fang Yuan was not satisfied.
This was only a temporary compromise, the weakness of this killer move had not been reduced.
If he fought in an environment without wind, the consequences of using the killer move would not be any better as before.
For Gu Masters, there were way too many methods to restrict the wind.
Once his weakness was exposed publicly, his killer move would no longer have any threat to his enemies, they would have no fear towards it.
"Actually, no matter how good my modifications were, I would not be satisfied. My true aim is to eliminate the weakness of my strength-enslavement dual cultivation. The killer move four arm earth king is merely a starting point."
But this result could not escape from the limits of transformation path.
What Fang Yuan wanted was to completely and utterly modify his body, he did not want to achieve such temporary transformation.
Nevertheless, reaching this point had already expended Fang Yuan's five hundred years of knowledge accumulation.
After all, Fang Yuan was a blood path Gu Immortal back then, his attainment in strength and enslavement paths were merely subsidiaries, he merely touched the tip of the iceberg.
If possible, Fang Yuan wanted to quickly become a blood path Gu Immortal. But it was different now after rebirth. His vital Gu was not a blood path Gu.
A crucial condition for becoming a Gu Immortal was the vital Gu.
Originally, after Fang Yuan got the second aperture Gu, he would have a second chance. But that crucial blood path vital Gu was still buried in the inheritance, it had not appeared yet.
Fang Yuan could not wait in vain, the situation was forcing him, he could only choose to strengthen himself now, to deal with the challenges ahead, and all the enemies lurking around him.
Staying alive, that was the most important thing!
Fang Yuan had also realized that his foundation in strength and enslavement paths were lacking. His involvement in a wide range of paths in his previous life allowed him to easily control Gu worms of many paths, while being skilled in the combination of different Gu worms. Among them, his attainment in enslavement path was the highest.
But to resolve the issue of strength-enslavement dual cultivation, an age old question, he would need to move ahead of history and undergo creative and daring experiments, his foundation was lacking in this aspect.
Even though Fang Yuan had clues to Luo Po valley now, maybe after he obtains Luo Po valley, he would be able to convert to the glorious soul path.
But Fang Yuan never liked placing his hopes on certain possibilities in the future.
Even if he changes to soul path in the future, his hard work in enslavement and strength would be a precious resource and would greatly benefit his future cultivation.
Knowing his own inaptitude, Fang Yuan had been reading intensely these few days.
He used his huge pool of battle merits to exchange for dragon horse spirit, three hearts combination soul, all sorts of killer moves, as well as dozens of small strength path inheritances. He also got the recorded journal of four enslavement masters, among them, rat epidemic, thunder explosion. leopard rush, and horse barrage, these four killer moves were invaluable.
Fang Yuan's foundation had always been thick, these days he had been reading laboriously, his understanding and knowledge in strength and enslavement path surged greatly by several times compared to before.
Different from his previous life where he studied these paths as a side path, he had personally experienced these paths this time, and together with his theories, he gained countless inspirations.
But these inspirations could not resolve his problem now.
"Actually, looking at information about the transformation of the body, the first records were in <>. When Ren Zu fell into a certain-death situation, in order to save her own father, Desolate Ancient Moon came to Cheng Bai mountain and killed the rockman..."
Fang Yuan had a burst of inspiration as he flipped <> beside him.
This was the first classic of the Gu Master world, countless mysteries were hidden within it. Even existences like Gu Immortal kept a copy of it with them at all times, occasionally flipping and learning from it.
-x-X-x-
Fang Yuan flipped < When Ren Zu was in a certain-death situation, after he fell into Luo Po valley and had no way to get out. Desolate Ancient Moon, in order to save her father, climbed up Cheng Bai mountain and tried to get to the top, in order to get that one and only success Gu. As long as she made a wish to success Gu, Desolate Ancient Moon would be able to save Ren Zu. But when Desolate Ancient Moon got to the foot of the mountain, she was obstructed by the rockman. It turns out that when Ren Zu's second daughter arrived at Cheng Bai mountain, she ruined love Gu's wonderful dream. Out of anger, love Gu awakened the rockman in order to obstruct Desolate Ancient Moon. After Desolate Ancient Moon killed the rockman, and got to the mountain waist. Love Gu had yet to leave, it appeared before Desolate Ancient Moon and said: "Oh human, you interrupted my sweet dream, yet you still desire to take away success Gu. Now I will topple the entire Cheng Bai mountain, you can have fun finding that one and only success Gu out of billions of rocks. Hahaha." Saying so, love Gu crashed towards Cheng Bai mountain. Cheng Bai mountain was not an ordinary mountain, it was a mound entirely made up of stacked rocks. After love Gu crashed into it, the entire mountain crumbled. Love Gu left smugly, leaving behind Desolate Ancient Moon who looked at this huge pile of rocks in a daze. How was she going to find that one and only success Gu among this chaotic pile of rocks? Desolate Ancient Moon was troubled, without a choice, she had to return to cognition Gu to seek advice. After cognition Gu heard Desolate Ancient Moon's description, it sighed: "Love Gu had always been demanding and unreasonable, even if it was me, or my child wisdom Gu, we would not want to confront it." "Right now, Cheng Bai mountain had collapsed, you can only look at these rocks one by one, to find the real success Gu from among them. There are no other ways." Cognition Gu said again: "But you have to be careful, there are two Gu on Cheng Bai mountain. One is success Gu, at the peak of the mountain. The other is failure Gu, at the bottom of the mountain. Failure is the mother of success, but it also has many other children. Those rocks are success Gu's siblings. When you pick those rocks, many unthinkably bad situations will occur. I will tell you a secret here, as long as you continue to affirm the belief of 'me' in your heart, these disastrous situations will gradually disappear." Desolate Ancient Moon heard this and her heart sank, she asked again: "Then how do I differentiate the rocks in my hand? What do success Gu and failure Gu look like?" Cognition Gu sighed: "They look almost the same, but it is easy to differentiate them. Just hold them in your hands, you will learn about their identities." "In your search for success Gu, that failure Gu will be your biggest threat. You cannot hold on to the failure Gu, otherwise, you will be completely lost and your life would be in danger." Desolate Ancient Moon heard this and nodded, expressing her gratitude. Cognition instructed her again before leaving: "Do not say that I taught you that. If love Gu comes to find me, I'd be in trouble. In the face of fanatic and toyful love, wisdom and cognition can only run away." "Don't worry, I won't expose you." Desolate Ancient Moon agreed, returning to Cheng Bai mountain. Seeing the huge pile of rocks, her heart was gloomy. Success was not easily obtainable, to obtain success, she would need to bend down and search while taking great risks. Desolate Ancient Moon breathed in deeply, picking up the first rock. This rock was ordinary, but when Desolate Ancient Moon held it in her hand, it shook slightly. A light wound appeared on Desolate Ancient Moon's hand. This was not success Gu, but one of success' siblings, one of the children of failure Gu. Desolate Ancient Moon's heart was shocked, she touched the wound on her hand as she recalled what cognition Gu said —"When you pick those rocks, many unthinkably bad situations will occur. You have to affirm the belief of 'me' in your heart." "So this is the terrible situation." Desolate Ancient Moon understood. She chanted in her heart: "Me, me, me, me..." As she chanted, the wound on her hand miraculously healed! Only a light scar was left. She tossed the first rock away, and picked up the second rock. When she held this rock in her hand, Desolate Ancient Moon's heart jumped, as an intense feeling of fear assaulted her. Desolate Ancient Moon was shivering in fear, she almost ran away to escape, away from this place. But she held on, and chanted 'me'. After a long time, she slowly recovered as the fear in her heart was gone by half, finally picking up the third rock. This rock made her dejected. She could not help but think: "I want to find that one and only success Gu among these billions of rocks, how difficult is that, how long would it take me?" She could barely move anymore, she felt that the future was shrouded in darkness, it was too difficult to find success Gu. She almost wanted to give up, but she thought about her father who was trapped in life and death door. "If I give up, who will save father?" Desolate Ancient Moon shuddered: "Oh no, I forgot to chant 'me'." Desolate Ancient Moon chanted again, getting rid of the despair in her heart, bending down to pick up another rock. Once she held the fourth rock in her hand, Desolate Ancient Moon was shocked to find out that her nose had changed, it turned into a pig's nose. She chanted 'me' once again, allowing her nose to recover. Spending a lot of time, she exerted all her effort to get rid of the pig nose. But her nose was still slightly deformed compared to before. Like this, Desolate Ancient Moon continued to pick up rocks, hoping to find that success Gu. But days passed, and all she found was failure Gu's children. Among these rocks, some made her injured, some made her dejected, despair, or fear, while some made her grow a pig head, rat's tail, etc. Despite Desolate Ancient Moon chanting 'me' continuously, some of the scars still remained on her. As they accumulated, these scars turned her into a monster. She grew six heads, three arms, five tails, and looked like a centaur. She had sixteen legs, and some of her legs had soft fur, some had snake-like scales, some had sharp claws, some had tough hooves. In the search for success, people often transform and become completely different. But Desolate Ancient Moon also became much stronger because of this. After going through so much, she had become several hundred times as strong as before. These rocks could not longer trouble her. "Success, oh success, where in the world are you?" Her seven mouths opened together. Some were screaming, some were shouting, some were whispering while others were growling. The more she failed, the more she desired success in her heart. After her great effort, the number of unpicked rocks became fewer and fewer. Eventually, when there were only two rocks left, Desolate Ancient Moon was stuck between two difficult choices. Undeniably, among these two rocks, one was success Gu, while the other was failure Gu. If she obtains success Gu, that would be the best. But if she picked failure Gu, then Desolate Ancient Moon would become completely lost, she would be in danger of dying. Even if Desolate Ancient Moon became a monster, becoming so much stronger. One step to heaven, one step to hell, what should she choose? Desolate Ancient Moon could not help but become hesitant. "If I do not dare to take the next step for fear of failure, then I will never succeed! I am already so strong, success is a step away from me, even if I take failure Gu, as long as I chant 'me', I should be able to endure it right?" Eventually, she mustered her courage and stretched out her palm, picking one of the rocks. Unfortunately, she picked failure Gu. An unforseen feeling of lost, self-doubt assaulted her. "Me, me, me..." Desolate Ancient Moon continued to chant 'me, but her voice became softer, as her seven mouths stopped moving eventually, her expression turning into a daze. She had fallen into endless perplexity, she had completely lost herself. The biggest tragedy for a human, is to lose your sense of self. ... "Sigh..." After reading this, Fang Yuan sighed as he closed the book. At once, his thoughts were drifting as he showed a very complicated expression. It was still snowing outside the window, snowflakes were floating in the air. As the ten year disaster approaches, the blizzard did not show signs of weakening, instead it was growing. Northern Plains, end of December. When Hei Lou Lan led the army and and arrived at the last minute, at Imperial Court blessed land's entrance, the alliance had about half its members left. A large number of mortals died on the way there. @@novelbin@@ In fact, many Gu Masters died from the attacks of beast groups. The item to open the Imperial Court blessed land was on Hei Lou Lan. When he stood up, a mild golden light shone in the air. Immediately after, the golden light intensified, forming a light ring. The light ring expanded, turning into a grand city gate. On the gate, there were exquisite silvery flower patterns. Many fist-sized copper buttons were plastered on the gate. Boom... There was like an invisible hand behind the door, pulling the heavy door open. Immediately, the thick smell of sandalwood spread. The snow in the air stopped moving. Under the influence of a mysterious power, the snow in the air gathered like bees, in an instant, a solid and magnificent ice ladder was created. At the top of the ladder, it was connected to the floating Imperial Court gate. It extended all the way to the ground. "Imperial Court blessed land!" Hei Lou Lan could not conceal his excitement, he took three steps as one step as he ascended the ice ladder, becoming the first person to enter the Imperial Court. "Eighty-Eight True Yang Building..." Fang Yuan was the second person, his gaze became solemn as he took calm strides in. After that, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, Hao Ji Liu and other high level experts went in. About an hour later, the entire Hei tribe army had entered Imperial Court blessed land. The ice ladder broke apart, as the red city gate closed itself. The light ring shrunk into one dot, and vanished. "They have all entered." The Gu Immortals observed in secret retracted their helpless and nostalgic gazes.