130 RI

On this day, Fang Zheng was returning after listening to another elder's public lecture, when he was obstructed by a disciple called Shi Hong.

"Elder Fang Zheng." Shi Hong bowed in greeting.

Fang Zheng returned the greeting, but felt somewhat awkward inwardly. This elite disciple, Shi Hong, was older than Fang Zheng, and had originally been a senior disciple several generations above Fang Zheng.

"I would like to receive guidance from Elder Fang Zheng. One of the four entry tasks for the current Refinement Path Convention pertains to refining earth treasury flower Gu. The third last step of refining this Gu requires the use of upstream grass, matched with zen lion's mane, supplemented by the Gu refinement method. But this disciple has always failed in this step, I would like to know what the correct Gu refinement method for this is?"

"This....." Fang Zheng was stupefied, and hesitated. His main cultivation path was enslavement path, and his battle strength when controlling cranes were at an outstanding level among mortal Gu Masters. But he had entirely no understanding of refinement path.

Fortunately, he had the spirit incubating flea, from which Lord Sky Crane transmitted the answer.

Fang Zheng replied: "This Gu refinement technique is called 'one after another'. Its purpose is to entwine every stalk of the upstream grass with every strand of the zen lion's mane. To refine earth treasury flower Gu, you must weave together a hundred stalks and strands within thirty breaths of time. If you go beyond this time, the fire from the Gu refinement will burn these stalks and strands to ashes. Thus, if you are not familiar with this method, you will easily fail in this refinement."

Fang Zheng repeated the words of Lord Sky Crane, and the more he spoke, the calmer he became. After explaining this, he then went to explain on how to practice the 'one after another' Gu refinement technique.

Shi Hong's expression slightly changed, showing astonishment before hurriedly bowing in thanks: "Many thanks for Elder Fang Zheng's guidance, I have learned a lot."

"Do you still have anything you don't understand?" Fang Zheng smiled, getting addicted to this feeling of teaching.

"There is no more, no more. This disciple shall take his leave!" Shi Hong bowed, and left.

After the two parted ways, Fang Zheng walked for a while before suddenly starting to slow down.

He frowned and came to a realization: "This Shi Hong did not come to truly ask for advice, it feels like the other way around, like he was intentionally trying to create difficulties for me."

"Hehe, you noticed it? Good, good." Lord Sky Crane smiled.

Fang Zheng inwardly shouted: "Master, you already knew!"

"Nonsense, your background is extremely easy to probe, your age is also openly on display. Everyone knows you don't cultivate refinement path, Shi Hong, however, intentionally asked such a question, what could it be if not about trying to give you trouble?"

Lord Sky Crane paused here, before asking Fang Zheng: "Do you know why he was trying to create difficulties for you?"

"Why?" Fang Zheng did not understand.

Lord Sky Crane smiled brightly as he explained the reason: "Because Shi Hong likes a female disciple called Yi Yue. And this Yi Yue is Elder Yan Tang's daughter. Elder Yan Tang is weak, he is sidelined in Immortal Crane Sect, and has had difficulties. He plans to betroth his daughter to you to form a connection, an alliance of benefits with you, the youngest elder in the history of Immortal Crane Sect. Otherwise, why would he repeatedly invite you for drinking? Moreover, intentionally arrange his daughter to sit together with you every time?"

"Ahh." Fang Zheng exclaimed as he realized only at this point. He could not help but recall the beautiful appearance of Yi Yue sitting beside him, and warmly serving him dishes. Also how she frequently proposed a toast to Fang Zheng, and how after few sips of alcohol, her face would flush red, which made her even more attractive.

"Do you remember now? Hahaha, foolish boy!" Lord Sky Crane was happy to see Fang Zheng looking dazed. Clearly, the spirit of gossip was commonly held between men and woman, the old and young, and even the living and dead.

Fang Zheng helplessly sighed, shaking his head and saying in a weary voice: "Schemes and benefits again, I really don't like them. From now on, I shall refuse Elder Yan Tang's invitation. I am also an elder like him anyway, refusing shouldn't be considered rude."

"Foolish boy, which organization in this world is not held together by benefits? True feelings of warmth do exist, but they are rare, which makes them even more valuable." Lord Sky Crane sighed with emotions, "Don't avoid these, and especially don't refuse Elder Yan Tang's invitation. Even if you don't marry his daughter, there is also no need to ruin the relation with him. Because currently, you are even more weak than Elder Yan Tang."

"Let's not talk about this. Master, just now the Refinement Path Convention was mentioned, and recently everyone, both disciples and elders, are talking about it. What is this Refinement Path Convention?" Fang Zheng intentionally changed the topic.

"It is good that you asked me this and not others. Otherwise, they would look at you as if you were stupid. I will explain it to you properly. This Refinement Path Convention is not a normal event, but a grand occasion that occurs only every one hundred years in Central Continent. That means, without special lifespan prolonging methods, most Gu Masters can only participate once in their lifetimes." Lord Sky Crane explained.

"Refinement Path Convention, is it an event of refinement path Gu Masters?"

"Not exactly. The cultivation of Gu Masters involves three aspects – nurture, use, and refinement. The Refinement Path Convention is not an event where only refinement path Gu Masters can participate, as long as you have skill in the Gu refinement aspect, or experience and insight, you can participate."

Lord Sky Crane continued: "The scale of this grand event is unprecedented, it is the biggest refinement path event in the world. Hundreds of thousands of Gu Masters participate in every Refinement Path Convention, they come from all sizes of sects in Central Continent. Even Gu Masters from Eastern Sea, Western Desert, Southern Border and Northern Plains will appear."

"Southern Border..." A wisp of emotion rose up in Fang Zheng and he could not help but recall Qing Mao Mountain.

He asked, after a moment: "Then what are the four entry tasks Shi Hong mentioned?"

Lord Sky Crane spoke everything he knew without reservation: "The so-called four entry tasks can be said to be qualifications for entering. Any Gu Master, no matter who they are, will refine Gu sometimes in their cultivation journey. The Refinement Path Convention has generous rewards which attract countless Gu Masters to participate. If there were not some tests set up, then there would be way too many incompetent people wanting to try their luck. Thus, the four entry tasks were created, to distinguish the truly skilled ones and those with refinement path attainment."

"That is to say, one must finish the four entry tasks if they want to participate in the Refinement Path Convention." Fang Zheng came to a realization.

"Hehehe." Lord Sky Crane chuckled, "Actually, these four entry tasks test the basic skills of Gu refinement. Usually, any Gu Master with certain experience can pass it."

Fang Zheng was startled: "Master, I can't pass it."

"No problem, with my guidance, if you train crazily in this period of time, you can also succeed."

"Truly? My vision will be expanded!" Fang Zheng was joyous.

Central Continent, Five Virtues Mountain.

Streams of people were busily moving around Five Virtues Mountain.

Five Virtues Mountain was not tall. It was located in the eastern part of Central Continent and was the base of a middle sized sect – Five Virtues Sect.

Five Virtues Sect was considered a large influence within the surroundings. Its background was profound, in the past, the leader of Five Virtues Sect had been an elder of Heavenly Lotus Sect. Heavenly Lotus Sect was one of the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent, a super force. Thus, although Five Virtues Sect had not been established for long, it was able to develop smoothly, and the established forces in the surroundings did not dare to sideline or suppress it.

Fang Yuan, disguised as a mortal Gu Master, was mixed in the stream of people, slowly moving up Five Virtues Mountain.

He was covered in a black robe, his physique was average, not tall, not short, not fat, not thin. He covered his face with a mask and his head with a rain hat, the brim of the hat was low and its shade under the sunlight covered even Fang Yuan's shoulders.

But this disguise was not conspicuous in the stream of people. A lot of people's disguises were even more excessive than his.

Following the slow stream of people, Fang Yuan arrived in front of Five Virtues Sect's entrance.

This tall entrance had an archway of sixteen huge columns, was about ten meters wide and taller than a five storey building. On a plaque atop the entrance were three giant words shining with golden light – Five Virtues Sect. Under the archway of the entrance were six magnificent stone lion statues.

Behind the entrance was a wide staircase paved using the finest blue jade stones, it was like a blue river leisurely moving up Five Virtues Mountain.

The stairs were under the shade of green and verdant trees beside them. Winds of the mountain occasionally blew over, bringing cool sensations with them.

People of all walks of life jostled with each other, pushing and squeezing as they moved up the stairs.

Fang Yuan gazed around, in front of him and towards the left was a group of female Gu Masters with long wavy hair, wearing identical striped dresses, indicating they were probably from the same sect. To his right was a white clothed young master fanning a folding fan, seated on a leopard, and constantly glancing at that group of female Gu Masters.

To his left, a pair of master and disciple, clothed in shabby clothes, were in the midst of a discussion.

"Master, there are so many people!" The disciple said with excitement.

The master chuckled: "There are many people, don't wander off. My good disciple, you have great talent in refinement path, this is an opportunity for you to make a meteoric rise. You can pass the four entry tests with no difficulty, but you must make sure to get a good position. Only in that way will others change the way they look at you, and fight over each other to recruit you."

The disciple proudly smiled: "Master, you can rest assured. I will definitely take first place. With the Gu worm reward of first place, I will treat your illness!"

The master was about to speak, when suddenly an enormous force pushed him from behind.

The master was sent rolling on the ground, and the disciple cried out as he hurriedly moved to support his master by the arm.

"Step aside! Step aside!" A group of five burly men walked over arrogantly.

Behind them was an old Gu Master, whose gaze shined with a dangerous light, he was sitting comfortably on a chair which was carried by four men in front and behind.

"The esteemed lord first elder of Flying Frost Sect is here, are you still not making way!" The burly men who were clearing a path shouted.

"Let's move, people of Flying Frost Sect are here, we can't afford to provoke them."

"Flying Frost Sect sent their first elder, and are coming with such aggression, they are probably thinking of restoring their face from Five Virtues Sect."

"Right, last time, Five Virtues Sect and Flying Frost Sect fought for the mouth of the spring, in the end, Five Virtues Sect barely won, while Flying Frost Sect suffered severe losses."

The crowd discussed amongst themselves, and all made way, not wanting to provoke Flying Frost Sect.

"Damn it, this is going too far!" The disciple supported his master in standing up, and was about to confront them with words.

"Don't." The master was an experienced person, and quickly stopped the young disciple.

"What kind of force is Flying Frost Sect?" Ahead of Fang Yuan, a male Gu Master asked his companion.

After he received the answer, the Gu Master snorted disdainfully: "Hmph, the whole sect has only three rank five Gu Masters, this is a joke."

His companion quickly advised: "This is Central Continent, it is not Eastern Sea, we are outsiders here, it is better to avoid trouble whenever possible. Alright, enough now."

The male Gu Master thought for a moment before finally giving a snort, and without waiting for the Flying Frost Sect's people, he squeezed into the crowd to the right.

"What is with you, are you deaf? Make way, I said make way!" The burly men shouted furiously behind Fang Yuan, and tried to drive him away.

Fang Yuan did not turn around, as if he had heard nothing.

"Hmm?" The burly men were furious, but their expressions changed immediately, "Rank five cultivation?"

Fang Yuan was disguised as a rank five Gu Master, and right now, he intentionally leaked out a trace of his aura.

The burly men were bewildered, but drew back in the end.

On the bamboo chair, the first elder of Flying Frost Sect, An Han, straightened up and stared at Fang Yuan's back.

"Rank five aura... it's real! Such a disguise is not that of a lone cultivator... demonic Gu Master..." An Han narrowed his eyes, and moved his hand, sending the command, "Are you still not moving around?"

The burly men immediately changed direction, moving around Fang Yuan towards the front.

Among mortals, rank five was an existence at the peak, a leader of a force. Even the sect leader of Immortal Crane Sect only had rank five cultivation.

"This group of cowardly bullies!" The disciple and master converged into the crowd again, the young disciple furiously staring at the receding figures of Flying Frost Sect's people.

Shortly afterwards, he looked at Fang Yuan with curiosity, probing and with a slight hint of reverence.

The white clothed young master on the right folded his fan and got off the leopard, the group of female Gu Masters ahead intentionally stopped, many other Gu Masters stopped as well, and took the initiative to approach Fang Yuan, trying to leave a good impression.

Rank five Gu Master... if they could build a relationship with such a character...

Beside the stairs were the Five Virtues Sect disciples in charge of maintaining order, they were hurriedly transmitting messages: "Send the report, there is a rank five Gu Master."

Facing these people, Fang Yuan only said one word — "Scram."

His tone was calm but his voice carried coldness and ruthlessness.

The crowd changed expressions, a chill emerging from the bottom of their hearts, why would they still dare to trouble Fang Yuan?

The young disciple also retracted his gaze in a hurry.

Fang Yuan restrained his aura again. In a range of three steps around him, there was no one else.

-x-X-x-

As one walked along the path on the mountain, they would arrive at a point part way up it. There was a huge platform here, on the mountain wall, there were the huge words of 'Disciple Selection Stage' engraved. Every year, the aptitude of the disciples who had just entered the sect would be tested, and the elders would choose their disciples here.

But here, the place had been modified roughly.

There was a simple Gu formation on the ground, it separated the locations into small areas, and on each of them, there was a number.

Once in a while, the people ahead would move forward by a bit. At the sides of the path, Five Virtues Sect disciples were passing out tokens with numbers on them.

Fang Yuan took his token, the number on it was sixty-three.

Walking into the Disciple Selection Stage, after finding the spot numbered sixty-three, he sat down on the ground.

A while later, when people had finished sitting in the square, an elder of Five Virtues Sect declared: "This Refinement Path Convention has four entry tasks, the test begins now!"

At the next moment, the hundreds of Gu Masters on the Disciple Selection Stage started showing off their skills.

Some of their hands were burning with flames, this was a fire refinement method. Some breathed out smoke, it was a smoke refinement method. Some released several ice snakes, the snakes worked together and breathed out cold air, this was an ice refinement method.

And in Fang Yuan's hands, dozens of starlight specks were dancing, they were like blue fireflies, flying around him.

In accordance with the sequence, Fang Yuan placed the Gu refinement materials in, one by one. Fifteen minutes later, he finished all of the tasks and stood up.

"Such quick speed!" The Five Virtues Sect elder in charge of the event knew about Fang Yuan's rank five Gu Master identity, he had been paying close attention.

Even so, when Fang Yuan stood up, this elder showed shock on his face.

Fang Yuan's speed was simply too fast. He made no mistakes at all, his technique was extremely skilful and experienced.

"What, someone already completed it?!" Fang Yuan's movements attracted the attentions of many Gu Masters who were refining Gu.

"It is that mysterious rank five Gu Master..." The old master stood outside the stage, seeing Fang Yuan, his pupils shrunk as he looked at his disciple in worry, he prayed inwardly: "Good disciple, please do not get distracted from this and lose your focus."

Thankfully, his disciple had been concentrating on refining Gu, he was focused and did not notice the commotion around Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan walked onto the highest platform, as the elder from Five Virtues Sect left his seat and inspected Fang Yuan's four Gu worms.

"No negative conditions, the Gu worms look like they are well fed and in good shape." The Five Virtues Sect elder was secretly shocked, after inspecting them, he cupped his fists at Fang Yuan, saying warmly: "Lord, please come this way into the mountain."

Fang Yuan nodded, slowly walking and leaving the Disciple Selection Stage.

"No way, is this possible?"

"Someone actually got through using less than one third of the time..."

"Such high refinement path attainment!"

The people outside were talking among themselves, among the Gu Masters who were refining Gu, some were so shocked that their minds wavered, causing their Gu refinement to fail.

Fang Yuan was here to join the Refinement Path Convention, he did not need to hide his skill. He was a Gu Immortal, after all, he did not need to conceal his ability.

He walked up the mountain and after a while, an elder from Five Virtues Sect welcomed him: "Sir, please hold on..."

The elder was about to speak but Fang Yuan waved his hand, interrupting him: "I know your intention. I have no interest. Just this mere Five Virtues Sect cannot accommodate me."

The elder was stunned before rage flashed on his face.

He came here with the sect leader's orders to try and recruit Fang Yuan, to invite him to be an external elder in the sect.

In truth, Five Virtues Sect became one of the signing up locations for the Refinement Path Convention in order to recruit some talents.

With Fang Yuan's rank five cultivation level, Five Virtues Sect was paying great attention to him. With the refinement path attainment that he displayed, even the Five Virtues Sect Leader was shocked, how could he let such a talented person go? Thus, he ordered this elder to come and negotiate.

But before this elder even spoke about his intentions, Fang Yuan rejected him.

Being mercilessly rejected like this made the elder embarrassed.

"What else do you want?" Fang Yuan looked at him coldly.

The elder's face turned purple, he snorted coldly: "Sir, you actually are looking down on our Five Virtues Sect, aren't you being too arrogant?"

"You want to duel me?" Fang Yuan's voice was cold.

The elder's anger subsided, he looked at Fang Yuan deeply: "Good, good, good, sir, you think highly of yourself, I am sure you can obtain a good position in the Refinement Path Convention. My Five Virtues Sect will be waiting to watch it!"

Saying so, he waved his sleeves and left.

Fang Yuan felt indifferent, he continued moving forward, he came to a cliff and arrived at the wood virtue hall.

This hall was hidden in the woods, it was green and mixed in with the grass and trees in the surroundings.

Fang Yuan walked into the hall, there were many tables and chairs inside, elite disciples of Five Virtues Sect were managing the place. Seeing Fang Yuan's arrival, a disciple went up: "Senior, may I ask for your name, sect, and main Gu Master cultivation path."

Fang Yuan replied: "My name is Fang Yuan, my sect will be kept as a secret, my main path will be kept as a secret."

"Oh... okay, senior, please pay a hundred primeval stones as the sign up fee. This fee will be used in..."

Before the disciple finished his words, Fang Yuan tossed him the primeval stones that he had prepared.

The disciple caught it flurriedly, before saying politely: "Please wait a moment."

A short while later, Fang Yuan obtained a token.

On the token, the words 'Fang Yuan' were written, at the back, there was a line of words: Sect hidden, path hidden, signed up at Five Virtues Sect. At the end, there was the time of signing up.

"Senior, please take good care of this token. If you lose it, you should get a replacement as soon as possible, otherwise you will not be able to join the Refinement Path Convention. Please continue on your way up the mountain, the fire virtue hall has the first round of the refinement competition. Only after senior passes this round can you join the second round." The disciple explained patiently.

Fang Yuan took the token and left the wood virtue hall.

By now, the sign up process was over.

Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention was created by the ten great ancient sects, but secretly, Heavenly Court was supporting it.

The Refinement Path Convention was of a huge scale, there were hundreds of sign up locations all over Central Continent. Most of them were sects similar to Five Virtues Sect, having abundant strength and being closely linked to the ten great ancient sects, or simply one of their representatives.

Fang Yuan wanted to join the Refinement Path Convention, he had to sign up at one of these locations. By refining Gu on the spot, and completing the four tasks, he would have the qualifications to sign up and receive the token.

Because there were many demonic path Gu Masters signing up for the Refinement Path Convention, and even Gu Masters from the other four regions, the details for signing up were very flexible. Names could be made up, sects and paths did not need to be stated, the only important thing was the token itself.

There was also a group of special Gu Masters.

These people were either in sects or they themselves had obtained a good position in the previous Refinement Path Convention, thus they could join the Refinement Path Convention automatically.

For example, Hong Yi was such a case.

He was in Universal Life Academy, which had obtained a placing near the end of the list a hundred years ago in the Refinement Path Convention. This gave them three spots to join the Refinement Path Convention automatically.

What was worth noting was that this treatment was only for Central Continent Gu Masters, as well as Central Continent sects.

After all, this Refinement Path Convention was held by the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent, they would favor their own region.

Of course, Immortal Crane Sect had a larger number of spots, but Fang Yuan was only in a subsidiary force of Immortal Crane Sect, if he really went for it, it would be troublesome. Fang Zheng however, was different.

A portion of the spots that the sects had were distributed to disciples and elite disciples, while the other portion went to elders.

Fang Zheng was now an elder of Immortal Crane Sect, he could not compete with the disciples for the spot. His refinement path attainment was very low as well, he could not beat other elders.

Immortal Crane Sect naturally gave the free spots to those with deep foundation in Gu refinement, those Gu Masters that could defend Immortal Crane Sect's prestige in the Refinement Path Convention.

Thus, be it Fang Zheng or Fang Yuan, they had to sign up themselves.

Fang Yuan held the token and walked up the mountain, entering the fire virtue hall.

This was the first round of the competition in the Refinement Path Convention.

If his results were bad, he would not be able to join the second round.

Fang Yuan went in and was informed of the Gu refinement details.

"In thirty minutes, I have to refine the rank one water light Gu, at least a hundred of them to pass and enter the second round. Refining a hundred and fifty would reward me with five kilograms of phantom shadow petals, a hundred and eighty would get me six basins of rootless water, two hundred would get me ten pieces of thunder strike wood... two hundred and forty is third place, two hundred and sixty is second place, and two hundred and seventy-six is first place, I would get the rank four healing Gu worm that is good at relieving heat toxins, green shine Gu."

Fang Yuan thought in his mind.

This first round's difficulty was higher than the first four entry tasks.

But it should not trouble most of the Gu Masters.

Because they only had to refine a hundred water light Gu to pass and move on to the second round. The rewards for refining a larger number, though, was quite tempting to these Gu Masters.

First place would obtain a rank four Gu worm, green shine Gu.

Rank four Gu were often something that only the elder of a large force, or the leader of a small force would have.

Regarding Fang Yuan, he could buy green shine Gu in treasure yellow heaven.

Fang Yuan's status was too high, these rewards had no attraction to him. But what he found interesting was the challenge of these tasks.

"The materials for Gu refinement are provided beforehand, I can use them for free. They also gave the recipe for water light Gu, and I can follow it casually. But even if I go all out and use the water refinement technique, I can only refine two hundred and fifty of them. This result is only third place. But here in Five Virtues Sect, the third place position has already been taken."

In regards to this, it was first come, first served.

Once the conditions for the first three positions had been fulfilled, no matter how well someone who came later performed, it was useless.

In other words, if Fang Yuan wanted to leave his name on the board, he would have to get first or second.

"Actually, it is not impossible to get first place. I can add in expensive materials and increase the production of Gu worms. Water light Gu is only a rank one Gu, if I use rank two or rank three materials, the production would be higher. But I will have to bear the expenses myself. I can also modify the Gu recipe, with my wisdom path inheritance, I can easily modify this Gu recipe without wisdom Gu's help. But that way, wouldn't I lose the fun of a challenge? Hmm... maybe I can try a water-fire refinement technique. Since water light Gu is a water path Gu, people usually use water refinement or ice refinement for it. I can do the opposite and use fire refinement, there might be an unexpected result!"

-x-X-x-

Fang Yuan had a sudden inspiration, he thought of a great method.

The Gu recipe was given, but Gu Masters could refine the Gu using their own techniques. For example, to fuse two materials, they can use fire to melt them into one, but they could also use water to fuse them together as another method.

Two different methods would be able to achieve the same results.

Thirty minutes later, Fang Yuan's name was on the first place spot, and he obtained green shine Gu.

Fang Yuan did not practice this water-fire refinement method much, but the difficulty of refining water light Gu was too low, even with his rusty technique, he refined two hundred and seventy-seven. He was one Gu above the criteria for first place.

Fang Yuan's exemplary performance made the sect leader of Five Virtues Sect come personally and greet him, apologizing for the poor attitude of that elder. Next, the sect leader vaguely hinted that he wanted to recruit Fang Yuan in a very tactful tone.

Fang Yuan rejected him directly, but this sect leader was not upset, he became even more polite as he sent Fang Yuan out, causing everyone around them to look on with much surprise.

To be able to get first place, this proved that his refinement path attainment was not low.

Regardless of his cultivation level, he would be welcomed and recruited by many forces. With just his refinement path attainment, Fang Yuan had the foundation to go anywhere in the mortal world and live in the lap of luxury.

Furthermore, didn't Fang Yuan have rank five cultivation level?

Thus, the leader of Five Virtues Sect did not dare to offend Fang Yuan, he was very polite. Evidently, not only did this sect leader have a strong background, he even had good foresight, he could adapt to circumstances and place himself lowly, it was no wonder he could create a force like Five Virtues Sect.

But he would never guess that Fang Yuan was an immortal!

Compared to the endless number of mortals, immortals were too rare.

The leader of Five Virtues Sect had been overly worried, with Fang Yuan's personality, even if that elder said worse things, Fang Yuan would be unmoved.

As long as they did not obstruct his path to eternal life, whether they scolded or praised him, Fang Yuan would not care about it at all, these were all just pointless talk.

There was still some time until the second round.

Fang Yuan left Five Virtues Sect and returned to Hu Immortal blessed land.

He stayed in Central Continent for one day, while three days and two nights had passed in Hu Immortal blessed land.

"Master, master, the thing you wanted earlier, I've prepared it already." The moment Fang Yuan returned, Little Hu Immortal appeared, bringing him good news with an expression of 'please praise me' written on her face.

"Very good." Fang Yuan patted Little Hu Immortal's head, she was very happy, her eyes closed and relaxed.

Fang Yuan told the land spirit to prepare some mortal Gu worms, some were bought from treasure yellow heaven, while the others were refined by the hairy men in the stone nests.

Taking these mortal Gu, Fang Yuan mobilized a small amount of star will, they flew out of his mind, into his immortal aperture.

In his immortal aperture, Mo Yao's fake will was imprisoned.

"Fang Yuan? What will is this?" Seeing Fang Yuan's arrival, Mo Yao's fake will felt something amiss.

Fang Yuan's star will laughed, he did not speak but pounced at her.

Mo Yao's will could not dodge in time, bang, the two wills collided, entangling with each other.

Mo Yao shouted in shock, she wanted to break free, she tried retreating.

"Where are you going?" Fang Yuan sneered, at his direction, several Gu worms flew out, forming a mortal killer move as they froze Mo Yao's fake will in her place.

"Fang Yuan, you have to think it through! Ordinary wisdom path methods cannot control me!! If you force me to my limits, both of us will suffer!" Mo Yao's fake will was immobilized, but she could still speak while under the attack of Fang Yuan's star will.

Not only that, Mo Yao's fake will was escaping like liquid water, she got the edge over Fang Yuan's star will as she tried to form into a human shape again.

One could see that in this battle of wills, Mo Yao's will had the advantage, her experience far surpassed Fang Yuan's.

But Fang Yuan was not anxious upon seeing this, he willed and some more Gu worms flew out and formed a mortal killer move.

This killer move turned into a five-edged diamond, it attacked and scattered Mo Yao's fake will.

Fang Yuan's star will counterattacked.

Mo Yao's fake will did not speak, she engaged in battle and tried to defend herself.

But at this time, Fang Yuan's third killer move was used, it formed into a starlight spiral as it hit Mo Yao's fake will.

Mo Yao's fake will had lost control of the situation, she had no choice but to fight with Fang Yuan's star will inside the starlight spiral.

As they merged, the two wills interacted rapidly.

Mo Yao's fake will had countless memory fragments, Fang Yuan's star will learned about them now. At the same time, the memories in Fang Yuan's star will were read by Mo Yao's fake will.

Amidst their interaction, Mo Yao screamed: "Fang Yuan, you are too foolish! You are too arrogant! In that case, so be it."

Saying this, Mo Yao's fake will shrunk rapidly, she was trying to suicide and destroy herself.

Fang Yuan chuckled, he had predicted this, he willed and a starlight pillar descended from the sky, onto the starlight spiral.

In the spiral, Mo Yao's fake will tried to suicide as the fake will shrunk. But under the starlight's radiance, fake will was continuously produced.

In fact, a portion of Fang Yuan's star will was converting into fake will, replenishing her. This forced Mo Yao's fake will to be at a certain size, she could not suicide even if she wanted to.

"Mo Yao, you are too naive. If you had accepted your fate and suicided earlier, I would have no way of stopping you at all. But now, you will die if I want you to, and if I want you to live, you have no way of dying. Be obedient and tell me everything that you know!" Fang Yuan laughed heartily.

Mo Yao's fake will was in despair, Fang Yuan had obtained a method to suppress her so quickly. This was out of her expectations. By now, Mo Yao's fake will knew that she would have no value to him soon, she knew that she could not escape her fate.

Just as Fang Yuan had said, if she had suicided earlier, Fang Yuan would not obtain anything.

But all living beings in this world had their survival instincts. Anyone would want to live, as long as there was hope, even Mo Yao's will did not want to suicide.

A moment later, the battle ended in the immortal aperture, Fang Yuan's star will returned with many benefits.

The remainder of Mo Yao's will had lost her fighting spirit, she could not even form into a human shape. Fang Yuan had many arrangements and replenished her fake will, so that he could search her will again. The vigilant Fang Yuan also left behind many mortal Gu worms to immobilize Mo Yao's will, so that she could not suicide.

Fang Yuan's star will, which was fighting with Mo Yao, had less than thirty percent of its original mass after coming out. Seventy percent was expended earlier.

Fang Yuan's star will flew into the sky, leaving the immortal aperture and flying up into Fang Yuan's mind.

Fang Yuan shut his eyes, checking the details in the star will.

Searching souls and searching wills were different.

Searching souls was directly searching the soul, reading everything in their memories. Searching wills was using one's own will to forcefully interact with another will. In this process, one had to use many methods to force the other party to comply.

Those who were not skilled at dealing with wills would have no gains in the end. Against different wills, the methods required were different. Thankfully, Dong Fang Chang Fan's wisdom path inheritance was very complete, after Fang Yuan studied it, Mo Yao's will, which he had difficulty dealing with earlier, was meat on the chopping board.

Each time he searched a will, it needed to recuperate for a while, after all, wills were more fragile than souls.

What was worth mentioning was, there was less capacity for storing memories in wills than in souls, most of the memories were fragments.

But what Fang Yuan wanted the most were Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance clues. In this last search, Fang Yuan reached his goal.

"Red Lotus Demon Venerable, time path inheritance..." A while later, Fang Yuan opened his eyes, mumbling.

Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance was set in the river of time, Mo Yao did not know what the treasure in the inheritance was. She only knew that to inherit this unrivaled Demon Venerable inheritance, the first condition was to have Spring Autumn Cicada.

Not only this, the Gu Immortal had to self-detonate and use Spring Autumn Cicada to carry their will into the river of time. In the river of time, they had to search for a stone lotus island.

Only after they reach a stone lotus island would they see the will of Red Lotus left there.

"Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance, it is truly hard to obtain!" Fang Yuan sighed.

This was too difficult.

The rank six Spring Autumn Cicada, once activated, would self-detonate the Gu Master with a certain chance of success. To find Red Lotus' will, one had to risk the chance of suicide.

Even if the Gu Master successfully enters the river of time, where would they go to find a stone lotus island?

Fang Yuan had entered the river of time before, even though he had three precious experiences, he did not find any stone lotus islands.

In other words, not only did the Gu Master need to self-detonate and use Spring Autumn Cicada to carry their will into the river of time, they had to manipulate Spring Autumn Cicada and swim in the river, searching for some stone lotus island.

Fang Yuan could not do that!

He currently was using Spring Autumn Cicada only as a passenger, he could not control the direction or route.

"To control Spring Autumn Cicada and reach this level, I need other methods for assistance. But I don't have any."

These methods would be time path methods, in this aspect, Fang Yuan was at a loss, he had nearly no knowledge in it.

Currently, if Fang Yuan wanted to obtain Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance, there was a long road to travel. He needed to make ample preparations.

Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance was in the river of time, it was extremely dangerous for him to try to obtain it.

Fang Yuan could only put Red Lotus Demon Venerable's inheritance aside, for the time being, he was going to stay in Hu Immortal blessed land while waiting for the Refinement Path Convention's second round. At the same time, he would use the light of wisdom to deduce the immortal killer move vaguely familiar face.

He had obtained vaguely familiar face in the Northern Plains auction, it was fifty percent complete. As for what the three core Immortal Gu were, the information was not concealed.

The problem was that Fang Yuan did not have these three core Immortal Gu, they were in another person's possession. Immortal Gu were unique, if Fang Yuan wanted to use the killer move, vaguely familiar face, he would need to modify the move and change the core Immortal Gu to something else. The best situation would be an Immortal Gu he already owned.

This was very difficult, because in regards to transformation path and wisdom path, Fang Yuan's attainment level was not very high.

-x-X-x-

Central Continent, east coast.

Waves were rumbling, crashing into one another, frost energy oozed, creating white fog that covered hundreds of li.

Hundreds of years ago, a piece of profound ice floated over from somewhere, into Central Continent's east coast. This profound ice was huge, it was like an island, it was overflowing with frost energy, many ice path wild Gu were gathered on it, the frost energy even got absorbed into nearby trees.

After the profound ice was found, it attracted a lot of commotion.

The Gu Masters living in the east coast tried to guess the origin of this profound ice.

There were two theories, one was that the profound ice came from far away in the east, it could have originated from Eastern Sea's icy sea region. This sea region had low temperatures all year round, it was icy cold, streams of icy water flowed like dragons or snakes, coiling around deep in the sea. Once they reached close to the surface, they formed into huge pieces of ice.

The second theory was that white heaven had a crack and a piece of ice fell from it. The size of it should have been immensely larger at first. But as it fell, it melted due to the friction against the air, after it ended up in the sea, it cooled down and formed this profound ice island. The edges of this island were smooth and shiny, there were no rough edges, it resembled melted candles, attesting to the credibility of this theory.

This profound ice was beached on the sandy shore, it did not move.

At first, a large number of mortal Gu Masters were attracted and came to scour the place. These Gu Masters who enjoyed the benefits of being the closest and earliest to arrive all made great fortunes. The wild Gu and icy trees on the profound ice were all looted.

Over the next handful of years, more Gu Masters came to the profound ice, staying here permanently with no intention of leaving.

It turned out that although the profound ice island was lacking in resources, the profound ice was hard to melt, the frost energy it gave off made it the perfect place for ice path cultivators to stay in.

Central Continent's east coast was tropical, it was warm all year round, it was hard for ice path Gu Masters to support cultivation. Thus, regarding this profound ice island, many ice path and water path Gu Masters were attracted here.

Places with humans have conflict, the island had limited capacity, as more people came, in order to defend their own interests, the Gu Masters on the island gathered into an alliance, creating a tight boundary around the ice island and preventing outsiders from coming in.

Thus, a moderately sized force was created.

After several hundred years of development, this loose lone cultivator alliance, due to several generations of ambitious leaders, slowly became more firmly structured, they formed a sect. As they developed, the sect grew larger, it was a large force now, there was no force in the surroundings that could match them.

This sect's name was Flying Frost Sect. It hinted that the profound ice island that was the foundation of this sect came from far away, long ago in history.

The second round of competition of Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention was being held, one of the places was Flying Frost Sect.

Fang Yuan held the token as he came to Flying Frost Sect.

The task here was to refine the rank two ghost fire Gu. The rules had changed, it was no longer deciding the winner by quantity, but using time instead.

It asked the Gu Master to refine ten ghost fire Gu at once, Gu Masters using less time would get better positions. The specifications were listed, using fifteen minutes or less would be first place. Since this operated on a first come, first served basis, if someone gets first, then another person who beat the fifteen minute requirement would only get second. If second place was taken, they would only place third. If all three positions were taken, they would get no rewards.

This time, the reward for first place was five rank three ice path Gu worm recipes. For refinement path Gu Masters, ice path Gu Masters, or even large forces, this had a lot of attraction.

When Fang Yuan stepped into the hall to refine Gu, the first three positions were still open.

"The difficulty of the second round is much harder than the first round. It is not hard to refine ten ghost fire Gu one by one, I can easily use less than fifteen minutes. But the challenge is in refining ten ghost fire Gu at once. Ghost fire Gu is both a fire path and soul path Gu, the steps are quite tricky and complicated, they would expend a lot of mental energy, if I keep on refining them, over time, my soul will turn weak very easily. This is one of the special traits of soul path Gu worms."

Fang Yuan considered it, he decided to use soul path and fire path techniques together to burn ghostly souls and create fake ghost fires, then using them to refine true ghost fires.

Flying Frost Sect was a righteous sect, Fang Yuan had to prepare the ghostly souls himself if he wanted to burn them. Flying Frost Sect would not provide such a Gu refinement material.

"Evil and unorthodox methods!" Seeing Fang Yuan's technique, An Han, who was outside snorted.

The leader of Flying Frost Sect, who was managing the event on the stage, watched as his pupils shrunk, he thought: "Five Virtues Sect's leader tried to gather this person but was rejected. This person is burning souls now in public, this is clearly a demonic act, he is an unscrupulous individual. Even if Flying Frost Sect recruits this person, we will only invite trouble, forget about it."

Other than abiding by no fighting or killing, any Gu Master could join the Refinement Path Convention, be they righteous or demonic, there were no limitations that barred demonic path Gu Masters.

They could only use refinement path techniques to interact and compete. Precisely because of such freedom, the Refinement Path Convention was such a popular event.

People who did not know the true details would think that this was the magnanimity of the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent, but only people like Fang Yuan knew this was because of the Infallible inheritance. The Infallible inheritance had hidden requirements, the more Gu Masters that participated, the better.

But the righteous path and demonic path were different, Fang Yuan used souls to refine Gu, this was an evil and cruel act that would be despised by the righteous path.

The observing Gu Masters were mostly from the righteous path, seeing a demon like Fang Yuan, they felt a strong sense of distaste inside them, they did not want to see Fang Yuan's Gu refinement succeed.

Maybe it was because of their collective wishes, at the crucial moment, the soul fire in front of Fang Yuan exploded, out of the ten ghost fire Gu that were about to form, one of them had turned into ash, falling from the fire and piling on the floor.

Everyone saw this and their eyes shined brightly, some indiscreet righteous path Gu Masters even made joyful exclamations. But immediately recalling Fang Yuan's rank five cultivation level, they shut up, although the delight in their eyes could not be concealed.

An Han showed joy on his face as well.

Fang Yuan gave him huge pressure, according to his earlier progress, he was already on the last few steps before succeeding. Fang Yuan's refinement speed was very fast, the souls were burning very effectively, if he passed the next few steps, he would be able to complete the refinement in less than fifteen minutes, the position of first place would go to Fang Yuan.

Of course, Fang Yuan had no interest regarding the reward and position.

An Han was different, he was the first elder of Flying Frost Sect, as the host, if he lost, he would lose face in front of his peers. Furthermore, getting first place in one of the rounds of the Refinement Path Convention was an extremely great glory for refinement path Gu Masters. Finally, the first place reward also enticed An Han greatly.

"Alright, this way, he would need to refine Gu again. If he refines nine ghost fire Gu, missing one would mean he would not pass. He can only restart from scratch and make ten more. He has to make them at the same time to pass." An Han controlled his expression from changing, feeling great joy inwardly.

"Indeed, evil deeds lead to bad outcomes, even if he is using souls to refine Gu, he is still going to fail."

"He reached first place in the first round at Five Virtues Sect, so be it. But here in Flying Frost Sect, first place has to go to Lord An Han!"

"Evil and unorthodox methods leading to Gu refinement failure, this is truly heartening."

The surrounding people talked among themselves, the stage itself had a Gu formation that isolated sound, preventing the Gu Masters from being distracted.

But just when they were all rejoicing, the ghost fire in Fang Yuan's hands split into two lumps.

Two lumps, one big and one small, inside the large lump were nine incomplete ghost fire Gu, while the small lump had nothing.

Fang Yuan's expression did not change, he breathed in deeply as he finally became more serious.

Earlier, that ghost fire Gu had exploded not due to his own mistake, but because refining Gu had a chance of failure. Even though the failure rate of rank two Gu was not high, and he had already performed as well as possible, when a minor stroke of bad luck like that hit him, there was nothing he could do.

Now, he was holding the large lump of ghost fire and keeping it burning, while his other hand was throwing three souls into the small lump of ghost fire, a boar soul, a goat soul, and a human soul.

The three souls burned together, the small lump of ghost fire burst into life, there were pitiful cries of pain coming from within.

"He is using a human soul!"

"In broad daylight, he is publicly burning a human soul... this... this... this!"

"Hehehe, worthy of a demonic path rank five expert, being so rampant."

Flying Frost Sect's members had ugly expressions.

They were a righteous sect, Fang Yuan was burning a human soul to refine Gu here openly, he was totally disregarding Flying Frost Sect. But now was the Refinement Path Convention, even though Flying Frost Sect was unhappy, they could not stop Fang Yuan from refining Gu. Unless they wanted to offend the ten great ancient sects and cause the downfall of their own sect.

Fang Yuan's expression was calm, he was focused on the small lump of ghost fire.

He continued to toss in Gu refinement materials, the ghost fire was turning between big and small from time to time, interchangeably between strong and weak. When he got to a crucial step in the middle, he tossed in a fire pellet Gu at lightning speed, as well as a soul ball Gu.

The two Gu worms fused in the fire, they combined into one and created an incomplete ghost fire Gu.

Some knowledgeable Gu Masters saw this and gasped loudly.

"Tossing in two Gu worms consecutively, this is the refinement path technique — consecutive toss."

"Even though consecutive toss is one of the basic refinement path techniques, this person is using it so well with much experience, it is almost like this is as easy as breathing to him. This is not something that talent alone can achieve, countless sessions of practice and hard work are needed to reach such a stage."

"Does this person cultivate refinement path as his main path?"

"Hard to say! When he signed up, he kept his sect and path a secret. He is a true demonic cultivator, he should not have a sect, his path is quite possibly refinement path."

Everyone made guesses.

Of course, they were completely off.

Fang Yuan's main path was strength path, it had nothing to do with refinement path. He also had a proper status in a sect, being in a subsidiary force of Immortal Crane Sect, one of the ten great ancient sects.

If everyone knew that the ruthless demon in front of them was a member of Immortal Crane Sect, who knew what expressions they would show.

A short while later, Fang Yuan succeeded in saving his refinement attempt, the two lumps of ghost fires fused into one.

The last few steps were done smoothly without any additional mishaps.

Eventually, the ghost fire burst out and scattered, ten ghost fire Gu flew out together.

Outside the stage, not a person spoke.

The expression of the elder of Flying Frost Sect was dark, he announced helplessly: "Refinement succeeded, using less than fifteen minutes, the first place of this round of the competition goes to — Fang Yuan."

-x-X-x-

Fang Yuan quietly stood up under everyone's gazes, slowly walking out of the stage.

"Such deep foundation in refinement path! He can actually do two tasks at once, he slowed down the refinement speed of the nine incomplete ghost fire Gu while restarting the refinement of the final ghost fire Gu with extremely high speed. Refining ghost fire Gu consumes a lot of mental energy, but he still seems energetic even now, could it be that he has cultivated soul path or wisdom path as well?" An Han was shocked and uncertain.

"First elder, first elder?" A disciple beside An Han reminded him in a soft voice.

"What is it?" An Han came back to his senses, he could not help but feel embarrassed. Unknowingly, he had stood up from his seat, such a loss of composure was really damaging to his reputation.

At this moment, Flying Frost Sect's leader looked at An Han.

This was the Refinement Path Convention, they naturally had to use refinement path to restore their reputation.

An Han's heart skipped a beat as he realized the sect leader's intention, he had no choice but to comply.

Seeing their first elder taking action, the spectating Flying Frost Sect disciples applauded loudly, they no longer had the earlier listless expressions.

Even outsiders could not help but cast optimistic gazes when they saw the famous An Han exiting the stage.

Among the crowd, however, were some people with discerning eyes.

An old Gu Master sighed softly: "This An Han's situation doesn't look good."

"Why is that the case, master?" A youth, standing beside the old Gu Master, asked with confusion.

This master and disciple pair was the same pair of lone cultivators who had been walking beside Fang Yuan during the registration at Five Virtues Sect, and had been pushed to the side by the burly men making way for An Han.

"That demonic path Gu Master, Fang Yuan, is extremely terrifying. He has a high refinement path attainment level, his method just now involved far more than just doing two tasks at once. To do what he did, even I could only accomplish it back when I was in my peak condition. Outsiders cannot see the difficulty in this, the more proficient the refinement path Gu Master is, the more they would be aware of it. This An Han also has extraordinary skills, but because of this, he understands even more that he cannot win against this demonic cultivator, Fang Yuan. Did you see how unsettled he looked when he stood up, it was because in his mind, he has already been intimidated by Fang Yuan."

The old Gu Master spoke with assurance, but with a soft voice: "In this state, if he tries to refine Gu, he might not be able to even show half of his true skills. Most crucially, Fang Yuan has already taken the first spot, even if An Han tries harder, this won't change. That is, unless he can use a new method to finish the task in far less time than Fang Yuan, then he can earn back the reputation that Flying Frost Sect lost. But if he had such talent, he would not have remained in Flying Frost Sect for so many years."

The young Gu Master nodded his head repeatedly in praise: "Master, you are right. The sect leader of Flying Frost Sect is not an expert in Gu refinement, the move he is making now is a mistake due to his thirst for success. It is like what master taught me, one cannot rush for quick results and be anxious when refining Gu. It seems that managing a sect also has the same logic."

The old Gu Master's eyes brightened and looked at his only disciple with satisfaction: "Not bad, disciple, you are truly talented, you have great ability in comprehension. The fact is, all paths lead to the Great Dao. You were able to use the logic of Gu refinement and look at other aspects, it looks like your refinement path attainment has already reached a certain mastery level, you can definitely achieve success in this second competition."

The young Gu Master smiled: "This is all because of master teaching me unreservedly. If I was not picked out by master, I would have already starved to death. My accomplishments today are all because of master nurturing me. Disciple had a well-thought out plan and could have captured first place by using just thirteen Gu refinement techniques. But now, first place is already taken by that demonic path Gu Master. Master, let disciple seize that green shine Gu for you."

"What?" The old master was greatly startled, quickly blocking him: "Disciple, don't!"

But it was already too late.

Youth knows no fear, the young Gu Master shouted loudly: "Senior Fang Yuan, may I be so bold as to request a duel with you!"

The entire conversation between the master and disciple seemed to have taken a long time, but only a few moments had passed.

Fang Yuan had just left the stage and had not gone far because he still needed to receive the first place reward from Flying Frost Sect. At the other end, An Han had stood up and was about to step onto the stage.

The young Gu Master's words caused a huge commotion that immediately attracted everyone's attention.

"There's a duel, they're going to duel!"

"Who is that young man, he actually dares to duel with that rank five demon?"

"I know him, he was second place at Five Virtues Sect, he is a genuine refinement path genius."

"A young tiger does not fear an old lion's might, this will be a good show to watch!"

The old master had a pale expression, he could no longer stop this and could do nothing, he was feeling extremely worried and regretful deep inside: 'I only made efforts to impart refinement path knowledge to my disciple and forgot to teach him the dangers of worldly affairs. This is my mistake, I should not have neglected it!"

Meanwhile, the young Gu Master, under everyone's gazes, walked slowly with his head held high, leaving the crowd and appearing in front of Fang Yuan with a shining gaze and firm expression.

The first elder, An Han, had just stepped into the spotlight, when such a situation occurred. All of the determination that he had just built up left him like a leaking balloon.

He normally was a famous person, his every move would attract attention. But today was really difficult for him, he had made a fool of himself and was now ignored by the crowd, he was furious and hateful.

"Duel? Who wants to duel me?" Fang Yuan smiled slightly and turned around to look at the challenger.

Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention was held once every hundred years, it was a grand event in all the five regions. Competitions were divided into large-scale and small-scale.

Fang Yuan was currently participating in the large-scale competition of the five regions, which was the competition of the largest scale. First, the registration spots everywhere in Central Continent would eliminate large numbers of Gu Master through various rounds, finally, only a handful of participants could participate in the final contest.

Small-scale competitions were often held in each region, according to past conventions, they were divided into Central Continent small-scale competitions, Southern Border small-scale competitions, Northern Plains, Eastern Sea, and Western Desert. These competitions were divided according to the geographical origins, and were rather official.

There were also many other small-scale competitions, for instance at the east coast which would be jointly held by Flying Frost Sect, Five Virtues Sect and others. The eliminated Gu Masters from the large-scale competition could participate in these small-scale competitions of east coast.

The largest number of small-scale competitions were held by small circles of people. For instance, three to five friends would set a time, put out wagers or simply have a friendly contest with no rewards.

The competitions could be further divided into open and private. Open battles could naturally be observed by others. But most of them sent invitations in advance, inviting limited number of distinguished guests to enjoy or evaluate. Private battles did not allow spectators and the results were also not publicized.

Large-scale competitions were the most open battles, they did not restrict anyone from viewing but forbid the spectators from using any Gu worms.

Every time Central Continent held the Refinement Path Convention, it would create a trend of Gu refinement flourishing everywhere in Central Continent. It was similar to the Earth's world cup, the grand event of football that was held every four years. Often, at this time, even those who did not play football would try to play a bit of it. Those who did not pay attention to football, would also give some attention to the matches.

In this world, Gu refinement was one of the three great aspects of Gu Master cultivation, it was much more significant than the sport for entertainment, football. Thus, the Gu refinement trend it created was even larger and lasted longer. In this time, experiences and insights related to Gu refinement were greatly interchanged, largely pushing forward the growth of refinement path, thus, almost every participating Gu Master would reap some benefits.

According to the different formats, the Refinement Path Convention could be divided into sect contests, duels, task contests, arena contests and so on.

Sect contests were contests where two or more sects sent similar numbers of refinement path Gu Masters to compete in Gu refinement. Generally speaking, sect contests were used to solve conflicts of interests.

In task contests, one side would give a difficult problem while the other side had to solve it.

In arena contests, the Gu Masters who were very skilled at certain areas of Gu refinement would set the arena and invite refinement path experts from all parties to compete. The arena organizer would put forward a wager, and each challenger also had to put up a wager. These arena contests often had plentiful amounts of rewards.

As for duels? They were what Fang Yuan was encountering right now.

"It is this junior who wants to duel." The young Gu Master walked towards Fang Yuan, his expression was neither haughty nor humble.

Fang Yuan sized him up, and felt some interest when he saw the youth in high spirits: "Lad, since you want to duel, then bet something that can interest me. Otherwise, I won't duel."

Fang Yuan naturally had the right to refuse the duel, the Refinement Path Convention allowed duels but did not have an unreasonable rule that said one had to accept duels no matter what.

The young Gu Master gave a serious nod: "I have a rank five Gu worm's recipe with me. Senior, you are a rank five expert, this Gu recipe will suit you. This junior wants to bet against the rank four green shine Gu you won."

Fang Yuan nodded: "Green shine Gu is a rare rank four Gu, its value is equal to normal rank five Gu. But lad, do you know what my path is? Are you certain the Gu recipe you are betting suits my path?"

The young Gu Master was stunned: "Senior, aren't you in refinement path?" Judging from his words, the Gu recipe he was betting was a refinement path Gu recipe.

Fang Yuan chuckled: "My main cultivation path is naturally not refinement path. Lad, you are actually using only one Gu recipe to bet against my rare rank four Gu. Do you not know that if the refinement of a rank five Gu fails, even people at my level can be injured. You are trying to harm me like this but still think I am stupid enough to agree to your conditions?"

The young Gu Master gulped a few times, but he could not say anything. For a while, he stood motionless on the spot.

His master quickly hurried over and gave a deep bow to Fang Yuan: "Since sir is refusing the duel, then we won't duel."

"What, no duel?" The spectators jeered, as they were going to miss a good show.

"The first place position holder of Five Virtues Sect competition, the mysterious demonic cultivator, Fang Yuan, and the second place position holder, the young Gu Master Zheng Shan Chuan, the battle between dragon and tiger is not going to be held because of insufficient betting capital? Come, come, let us all lend a hand, a pile of rocks can build a mountain." A nosy individual suggested.

"There is no need, it was my disciple's rashness. Thank you everyone, thank you." The old master was frightened and quickly bowed to everyone, cupping his hands to salvage this situation.

An Han's eyes flashed ominously, he immediately sent out his instructions in a quiet voice. Soon, someone among the crowd put forward some resources, many others responded and started to contribute one after another, urging this duel to continue.

-x-X-x-

The atmosphere on the stage was getting more intense, Fang Yuan and the young Gu Master, Zheng Shan Chuan, could no longer avoid this issue.

The elderly master also noticed that most of the Gu Masters encouraging this came from Flying Frost Sect, his wrinkles became deeper, as he showed a bitter expression.

Fang Yuan thought about the name 'Zheng Shan Chuan', he felt that it was familiar. But as an immortal zombie, his mind was not as sharp as if he was a living person, he could not remember it instantly.

He stopped the star thoughts in his mind and activated memory thoughts to excavate his memories.

He finally remembered.

As it turns out, in Central Continent's east coast, hundreds of years later, there was a super force called Shan Chuan Hall. Its creator was named Zheng Shan Chuan. Shan Chuan Hall was skilled in refinement path, when dream realms manifested and dream path was flourishing, Shan Chuan Hall's leader benefited alongside the trends of that age and became a Gu Immortal.

But during that great era, mortals becoming Gu Immortals was nothing special. Especially after dream realms appeared, there were countless opportunities given to ordinary Gu Masters. Dragons and snakes were hiding in bushes, most of them only lacked an opportunity.

The manifestation of dream realms gave people their fortuitous encounters. During the five regions chaotic war, large numbers of Gu Masters at the bottom of the hierarchy were given a chance to rise up.

In the midst of the five regions chaotic war, all sorts of people emerged, they were numerous like the stars in the sky, they all had their stories. The ten great ancient sects gradually lost control, with the rise of many forces, including ten outstanding ones who called themselves the ten new great sects, they opposed the ten ancient sects openly, it was quite the spectacle.

Unlike now, where the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent had control over the situation in Central Continent, even if super forces which had Gu Immortals wanted to separate from the ten ancient sects, and free themselves from the status of a subsidiary, it was difficult.

"In accordance with this time period, don't tell me that this Zheng Shan Chuan in front of me is the creator of Shan Chuan Hall? Since he could reach second place in Five Virtues Sect, he definitely has master level attainment in refinement path. Being a refinement path master at such a young age, he truly is a genius. This fits the description of Zheng Shan Chuan as well, a great teacher produces great students, this old man must be Old Man Qi Shan."

"Old Man Qi Shan was secretly poisoned by someone, it had been causing him great torment, Zheng Shan Chuan was filial, he tried all ways to heal his master. That's right, green shine Gu is among the best healing Gu for treating heat toxins. Unfortunately even Old Man Qi Shan did not know that the poison in him was a transforming poison. On the surface, it was a heat toxin, but after using green shine Gu, it would become a cold poison, the toxicity would intensify, becoming at least twice as severe. But eventually, Zheng Shan Chuan succeeded in treating his master's poison, he gathered green shine Gu, blue shine Gu, red shine Gu, and others up to a total of nine types of shine Gu, forming the killer move nine shine, it could subdue all sorts of poisons. Later, his bloodline descendant became a Gu Immortal, being Shan Chuan Hall's leader, promoting this killer move and changing it into the immortal killer move profound light nine shine, he became a light path healing expert, becoming quite famous during the five regions chaotic war."

Fang Yuan used memory thoughts to excavate his memories, he quickly remembered these minute details that were deep in his memories.

He understood everything going on around him, including An Han's schemes, after observing for a while, he felt that these two people were Old Man Qi Shan and Zheng Shan Chuan.

He used luck inspection Gu on the two of them.

Flying Frost Sect was a test location for the Refinement Path Convention, there were Gu worms set up to prevent Gu Masters from using their Gu worms casually.

But Fang Yuan had an immortal zombie body, he had strength path dao marks on his body, and his immortal aperture was part of his body, when he used luck inspection Gu, these mortals were defenseless.

Immediately, Fang Yuan saw the luck of these two. Above his head, Zheng Shan Chuan's luck was like a seven colored rainbow, bright and imposing, it was out of the norm. Meanwhile, Old Man Qi Shan's luck was like a broken jade bowl, traces of grey luck were leaking out of the bowl.

Old Man Qi Shan's luck was terrible, but Zheng Shan Chuan was intimately linked with him, the luck of the two were joined together.

The seven colored rainbow luck split out a portion of itself into Old Man Qi Shan's jade bowl luck, causing his grey luck to be moderated to a large extent.

Fang Yuan felt interested, musing: "To think that I would encounter the creator of Shan Chuan Hall here, if I kill him, in several hundred years, the east coast would not have a super force called Shan Chuan Hall."

The moment Fang Yuan had killing intent, the luck of the both of them wavered, it was like a huge wind was blowing, causing the rainbow light to fade and be on the verge of destruction.

"But what benefit would I get if I do that? Northern Plains is already in chaos thanks to me, but that was not my intention, it was all because of Mo Yao's fake will. But who am I going to explain that to? I will leave Zheng Shan Chuan alive, these people should continue on their original paths so that my rebirth advantage can be maintained." Fang Yuan thought again.

When Fang Yuan was in Northern Plains, he knew about Ma Hong Yun, but he did not kill him.

This was not fear, this was the ambition of a demonic overlord.

In his previous life, he was a rank six Gu Immortal, only a step from rank seven, but it was mostly due to his fortuitous encounters, he had actually wasted a lot of time during his life.

Fang Yuan had self-confidence, even if these people grow up or even achieve greater accomplishments than in his memories, Fang Yuan could still contest with them and gain profits! He could even stomp on these people, carving out a path of blood as he sprints towards eternal life.

As to whether eternal life really existed or not, did that matter?

Even if he died along the way, would there be regret?

This was the life that Fang Yuan wanted to live, it was full of challenge, fun, and bitterness. Other than that, beauty, wealth, and authority were all nothing more than tools that he could make use of.

Fang Yuan thought about this and his killing intent towards this pair of master and disciple dissipated.

Immediately, he saw that the luck of Zheng Shan Chuan and Old Man Qi Shan recovered back to their original points, it was even vaguely greater than before.

"Luck path is truly mystical." Fang Yuan saw this and sighed inwardly.

Recently, he had a greater understanding of luck path — luck was not omnipotent, it largely depended on one's strength and cultivation level.

A thought from Fang Yuan could change the luck of the two of them. This was because he was an immortal zombie, killing the two of them was as easy as killing ants.

Back then, Ma Hong Yun had many people going after him, but he instead turned danger into blessings. But now that he was in Old Ancestor Xue Hu's hands, he could not turn the situation around. The rank eight Fortune Rivaling Heaven could not make up for the huge difference in their strength. Or rather, Old Ancestor Xue Hu, as a rank eight great expert, had the power to suppress it.

There was also Hu Immortal blessed land's calamity, Fang Yuan used time assist luck, in the end, because of Connect Luck, the increase in luck was split into four and Fang Yuan only kept one portion. The three of them had their gains and fortuitous opportunities, while Fang Yuan barely had any. That was because Fang Yuan was too strong, he was already an immortal, he needed much more good luck to obtain the same benefits as them, it was much more difficult to influence him than mortals!

On the stage, more and more clamoring could be heard, the urging of the crowd drew more and more people to join in, those in Flying Frost Sect no longer had to steer this matter.

Fang Yuan waved his hand: "We can duel, but I have no interest in these things. If I lose, I will give you green shine Gu. But if you lose, I want you to be my slave, and be under my command for life."

"Ah! Disciple, you cannot agree." Old Man Qi Shan's face paled as he shouted.

Everyone looked at each other, this was a great plan by Fang Yuan, the other party was a refinement path genius, he had a bright future. If he won, he would obtain a refinement path master level slave!

"Senior, isn't this request too much?" Zheng Shan Chuan was young, but he would not agree so easily. After all, his future was at stake, this would affect his whole life.

"Of course you can reject me, but I will tell you now, if you do not use yourself as the wager, I will not duel." Fang Yuan sneered, saying: "Do you think there are a lots of green shine Gu around? This is the perfect Gu for treating heat toxins. Lad, the tree may wish to be yet the wind continues to blow, the son wants to fulfil his duty but his parents are no longer around. Time waits for no man, often, the opportunity is right in front of you, if you miss it, you will regret it for life."

"Does this person know that my master is afflicted with heat toxins?" Zheng Shan Chuan was shocked, these words from Fang Yuan like 'the son wants to fulfil his duty but his parents are no longer around,' and 'if you miss it, you will regret it for life,' were affecting him greatly.

"Disciple, you must not agree to the duel! We can think of another way!!" Old Man Qi Shan's expression was grim, he was an experienced person, Fang Yuan's words were like bait, he had evil intentions, he was trying to trick a young and inexperienced person like Zheng Shan Chuan.

"The duel is their matter, outsiders are not to interfere." A Flying Frost Sect elder came over, his face was austere as he spoke to Fang Yuan and Zheng Shan Chuan: "Both of you have disrupted the competition, are you going to duel? If you are duelling, our sect's first elder is magnanimous and is willing to give you an area to compete in. Please decide quickly."

Old Man Qi Shan felt an alarm blaring inside him, he was about to speak but Fang Yuan said: "Lad, I am giving you this opportunity because I am touched by your filial piety. If you miss it, in the future, I will not agree to any duels even if you ask me. I will not bully a kid like you, I will give you a chance, you can propose the duel task."

"What, senior, you are letting me choose?!" Zheng Shan Chuan was moved.

Originally, the duel would be initiated by one party, and both sides would put up a wager. But the content of the duel would need to be agreed upon by both sides. If they refined a Gu that one party was familiar with, while the other has not refined it before, that would not be fair.

Now, Fang Yuan was letting Zheng Shan Chuan choose, that was to say, Zheng Shan Chuan could use his forte and trouble Fang Yuan, he could only accept it with no way to change the task.

Once he said that, the surrounding Gu Masters gasped, they were thinking that Fang Yuan was too arrogant, their money was on the young Gu Master, Zheng Shan Chuan, now.

"Disciple, do not duel, our real business is on the competition..." Old Man Qi Shan continued to urge him. Even though Zheng Shan Chuan had a huge advantage, this old man was still worrying, he did not want any mishaps to happen to his disciple.

But Zheng Shan Chuan was a young man, he was hot-blooded.

"Master's heat toxins are very severe, it will be too late if we do not treat it soon. The other party is so arrogant, he is looking down on my age! The Gu I am most familiar with is careful Gu. This Gu is a specialty of ours, it is rank three and has many complex steps, the techniques needed for it are numerous, I spent three years, putting in so much hard work, only now having an eighty percent chance of success. I will duel him with this!"

Thinking of this, Zheng Shan Chuan made up his mind, saying to Fang Yuan: "I will duel!"

-x-X-x-

"Disciple!!" Old Man Qi Shan was extremely anxious.

Zheng Shan Chuan turned around and faced Old Man Qi Shan, on his young face, his eyes were bright and clear: "Master, I am unfilial, I will have to go against your wishes. Master, he is letting me pose the problem, this is a huge advantage, I have no reason not to duel! If under such conditions, I refuse to duel, this will become a scar in my heart, would I have any courage to progress further in refinement path?"

Old Man Qi Shan heard his words and fell into silence.

He sighed inwardly: 'Oh, disciple, you have little experience of the world, you do not know the deviousness of men. Since the other party is relenting to this extent, he is definitely confident of winning, he has his trump cards. You have been fooled! It is a pity, it is regretful, I am old and weak now, the situation has already been set, I cannot do anything to stop it.'

On the surface, Old Man Qi Shan stretched out his hand, grabbing Zheng Shan Chuan's shoulder: "Disciple, I understand your filial intentions. Alright, you can make your own decision, I will support you on this. Use careful Gu as the duel task, we will not bet on the success of the Gu refinement, but the time! Whoever refines careful Gu first will win!"

"Master!" Zheng Shan Chuan was so touched his eyes turned red.

Careful Gu was the sole secret inheritance of Old Man Qi Shan, it was not circulated to the outside world. To support his disciple, Old Man Qi Shan took out this precious Gu recipe, allowing his opponent, Fang Yuan, to see it.

He even suggested that they competed in terms of time. This was Fang Yuan's first time refining careful Gu, he would not be familiar with it, if they competed using time, he would face more pressure than just needing success. As expected, the old were the wisest.

Fang Yuan allowed his opponent to choose the Gu, he gave a huge advantage to him, he was in a passive situation.

Zheng Shan Chuan hesitated for a moment, he felt that his master's suggestion was taking advantage of his opponent, even if he won, it was not a glorious win.

But he immediately thought about the fact that this matter involved his master's safety. Even if he won unfairly, he needed to win the green shine Gu!

Thus, he turned around and gave his decision to the Flying Frost Sect elder.

Flying Frost Sect quickly arranged it, first elder An Han was overjoyed, he took the initiative to leave, giving them the venue in his place.

Fang Yuan and Zheng Shan Chuan went onto the stage, engaging in their duel.

The surroundings went quiet.

Both parties were dozens of steps away from each other, sitting on the ground.

Zheng Shan Chuan first took out the Gu recipe of careful Gu and gave it to Fang Yuan.

Soon, Flying Frost Sect announced the commencement of this duel.

Below the stage, discussions could be heard.

"I've never heard of careful Gu, it is a definitely their specialty Gu recipe. That Fang Yuan only has had a short time to look at it before the duel started, isn't this going overboard?"

"Hehe, this is Fang Yuan's fault for being too arrogant, he allowed the opponent to choose the Gu, he made a really stupid decision!"

"The young Gu Master is not simple, he was second place in the previous round, but his score was good enough to hit first place. Many people are guessing that he is a refinement path master."

Hearing this, many people scoffed: "How is this possible? How old is he, at this age, he is already a refinement path master? In that case, with my age, have I been living like a dog all this time?"

But as the competition progressed, under everyone's watchful gazes, Zheng Shan Chuan used nearly ten Gu refinement techniques with extremely skilful manipulation, it was a dazzling sight.

Among the spectators, those who guessed that Zheng Shan Chuan had master level refinement path attainment soared in numbers.

But Fang Yuan was still researching the Gu recipe, he had not started the Gu refinement.

Looking at this, the crowd did not think well of Fang Yuan.

"Oh no." Old Man Qi Shan frowned: "This person has such a calm nature, he is trying to decipher each step before refining the Gu. This is the demeanor of an expert, calm under any situation! Thankfully, I used time as the factor, whoever refines the Gu first wins. The process of refining careful Gu is complex, he cannot win unless he is familiar with the Gu recipe, and has practiced with it more than Little Chuan."

That was impossible, of course.

This was the first time Fang Yuan had seen this careful Gu recipe.

Careful Gu was, strictly speaking, a wisdom path Gu worm, but it had a huge use in refinement path. Fang Yuan guessed that this was the core Gu in Zheng Shan Chuan's inheritance.

History had recorded that Shan Chuan Hall's Gu Masters were most skilled at refining those Gu worms which had crucial steps that directly affected the success rate of the refinement.

Careful Gu was best in assisting the refinement path Gu Master to settle these problems.

After Fang Yuan looked at the recipe several times, he understood it deeply and could use it properly. He was a refinement path quasi-grandmaster, it was not hard to understand a rank three Gu recipe.

In truth, not only did he read the Gu recipe, he also observed Zheng Shan Chuan's techniques.

Zheng Shan Chuan was already at the middle part of the Gu refinement, Fang Yuan had watched the first part closely.

Even Fang Yuan had to nod his head in acknowledgement, with Zheng Shan Chuan's age, it was very hard to get to his level. But as a refinement path quasi-grandmaster, Fang Yuan could see that his techniques were not skilled enough, there were still flaws when he dealt with the materials.

Fang Yuan stretched out his hands and started to refine the Gu.

"He is finally refining the Gu." Outside the stage, quiet mocking voices could be heard.

"He is not anxious at all." Someone evaluated impartially.

Fang Yuan started to refine the Gu, it attracted Zheng Shan Chuan's gaze. But he only took one look before concentrating on his own task again.

Fang Yuan started Gu refinement, he went through it step by step, all of the bystanders were staring in disdain, these were Zheng Shan Chuan's techniques.

But soon, Fang Yuan made some modifications, he used a different technique, and his Gu refinement speed got faster.

The mocking sounds in the crowd vanished, everyone watching his hands moving at lightning speed in shock.

"He has already used more than ten Gu refinement techniques!"

"Such experienced Gu refinement techniques with deep foundation, he is unfathomable."

"He is getting faster, he is chasing up to Zheng Shan Chuan..."

Old Man Qi Shan frowned tightly, he was shocked inwardly: "This person's speed is not scary, the problem is, he is fast without any anxiety, his techniques are so calm and collected. Impressive, very impressive, this person's refinement path attainment is probably not just master level! Little Chuan is going to feel pressure, he cannot lose control of himself and become anxious. Careful Gu gets harder as the refinement proceeds, Little Chuan has the advantage, he needs to maintain it. The enemy is strong, if he loses his bearings, he is bound to lose!"

Zheng Shan Chuan's pressure was high indeed.

This was very normal, in running competitions, the person at the very front has the greatest mental pressure. Thus, many strategies revolved around conserving energy, only attempting to go all out at the end.

The greater the mental pressure, the greater the burden on the body. Especially when Zheng Shan Chuan was seeing Fang Yuan refining Gu rapidly and catching up to him, he could not help but be flustered.

"Such ability! He used more than ten refinement techniques, and he is still continuing. His mind is too strong, I cannot compete with him on this. Oh no, he is catching up..." Zheng Shan Chuan was a youngster, Fang Yuan's rapid speed was making his mouth dry, his heart was pounding.

His gaze was firm: "Forget it, I'll use my trump card and leave you in the dust!"

Zheng Shan Chuan made up his mind, his refinement speed slowed, his mind entered his aperture as he activated his Gu worms.

"Is Little Chuan going to..." The master and disciple had great mutual understanding, after seeing his actions, Old Man Qi Shan understood Zheng Shan Chuan's plan, he became nervous.

"Zheng Shan Chuan's Gu refinement speed is slowing." Soon, the spectators noticed this change.

"Are the steps ahead going to be very difficult, he needs to recompose himself?" Many people were making guesses, they did not know the recipe of careful Gu, they were inaccurate in their conjectures.

At this time, Zheng Shan Chuan breathed in deeply, his eyes shined with a golden light as his body was covered in a golden glow.

He stretched out his right hand rapidly, his open palm was facing down and pressing heavily.

In an instant, all of the golden light in his eyes and body gathered on his right hand.

The golden light condensed and formed into a small golden bell.

The golden bell spun slowly, covering all of the fire in which the refinement was occurring, it became faster and faster as it emitted a suction force.

The Gu refinement materials that were gathered on the floor were all sucked into the golden bell.

The golden bell only lasted for six breaths of time before it faded.

But at the next moment, before everyone's eyes, an incomplete careful Gu was formed.

The crowd was in a commotion.

"This is a refinement path killer move!"

"Refinement path killer moves can be considered rarer than killer moves of other paths, Zheng Shan Chuan is still so young, yet he already knows a refinement path killer move."

"What is most precious is that he actually succeeded in using it. This lad's talent is incredible, his future is unpredictable."

"Fang Yuan is in danger, he has the ability, but he was too careless."

"Hmph, Zheng Shan Chuan already had such a huge advantage, but he still used a killer move, it was all for victory, he is really stopping at nothing. In my opinion, even if Fang Yuan loses this, it was not disgraceful."

Zheng Shan Chuan let out a breath of turbid air, his expression was spirited: "I am definitely winning! I used my killer move and instantly grinded six Gu refinement materials, I completed the longest step in this Gu refinement already, I am way ahead of Fang Yuan now!"

Old Man Qi Shan's heart settled: "Even if Fang Yuan has a similar refinement path killer move, this is his first time refining careful Gu, he has zero experience. The usual procedure for this is to refine the six materials one by one while controlling the fire meticulously. If he uses a killer move to rush it, he would be causing his own doom. Even though Little Chuan took a risk, it was a good decision, he is definitely going to win."

The other Gu Masters were not familiar with careful Gu, they did not understand the situation. But Fang Yuan was in dire straits, any person could tell.

By completing this step in advance, he really did solidify his victory. Zheng Shan Chuan stabilized his emotions and continued to refine Gu. His technique was fast and stable, he did not give Fang Yuan a chance.

Fang Yuan was unmoved, he started to slowly refine the six materials, slowly boiling them as he refined the materials.

This step was not hard at all, it was just time consuming.

But Fang Yuan was not anxious in the least.