131 RI

Time passed, Zheng Shan Chuan was finally at the last few steps of the refinement, the incomplete Gu worm in the fire was becoming more clear.

To play safe, he looked at Fang Yuan again, he saw that Fang Yuan had just finished the previous step, he had fused the six materials together.

By this point, Zheng Shan Chuan has to admire Fang Yuan's calmness: "It is a pity, I am the victor of this duel. I will definitely get this green shine Gu!!"

Zheng Shan Chuan was oozing with confidence, but when he retracted his gaze, Fang Yuan suddenly laughed loudly: "Hahaha, Zheng Shan Chuan, you lost, look at my refinement path killer move!"

"What?" Zheng Shan Chuan's heart shuddered, he immediately turned to look at Fang Yuan.

Only to see that Fang Yuan took out a Gu worm and squashed it.

Instantly, Zheng Shan Chuan's pupils shrunk to the size of pins, as he was about to jump.

He screamed at Fang Yuan angrily: "You! You actually destroyed green shine Gu!!"

As he said this, the fire in his hands became unstable, it went out of control and exploded.

The explosion was not intense, but after it occurred, Zheng Shan Chuan's clean face was covered in soot, he was like charcoal, it was a sad sight.

Zheng Shan Chuan was stunned on the spot, he froze like a statue.

Such a huge change had occurred in mere moments!

Everyone outside was silent for a few breaths before reacting, they were all shocked, their voices overlapped and caused a huge wave of chattering.

"What a ruthless demonic path Gu Master!!"

"He directly destroyed green shine Gu, causing Zheng Shan Chuan to lose control and fail the Gu refinement, all his hard work was wasted!"

"This Fang Yuan is too good at scheming, he flipped the situation around instantly. Zheng Shan Chuan failed and has to restart the refinement now. Fang Yuan's advantage is too great now, even if Zheng Shan Chuan repeats the process, he cannot catch up to Fang Yuan."

"Most importantly, he only destroyed his own Gu, this cannot be determined as him maliciously interfering with his opponent!"

"Oh no, oh no! He actually did this, this actually happened!" Old Man Qi Shan was flustered.

Zheng Shan Chuan suffered a huge blow, he took a long while before recovering.

When he regained control of his mental state and restarted the Gu refinement, Fang Yuan was at the last step already.

This duel no longer had any surprises, Fang Yuan was the eventual winner.

"Exciting, this was too exciting." The spectators were commenting with much enthusiasm.

"Zheng Shan Chuan was too young and naive, he lost his bright future now. Sigh..." Some people felt pity.

Of course, some people were happy, for example, An Han, but he was the first elder of a righteous sect, he could only be happy in secret, he had to express his sympathy towards Zheng Shan Chuan's fate on the outside.

The duel was over, Fang Yuan stood up as Zheng Shan Chuan stared at the flame in his hands blankly.

He lost!

He lost his life, his bright future to a mysterious demonic path Gu Master in a duel.

How could this be? What should he do?

Zheng Shan Chuan felt that his future was bleak, there was no hope.

"Senior, please spare him! Both of us had eyes but failed to recognize Mount Tai, we offended senior. Please be magnanimous, my disciple is still young and innocent, please let him go. I am willing to replace him and contribute all of my savings in exchange for his freedom. Please have mercy on us, please spare us!"

Old Man Qi Shan knelt on the ground, kowtowing to Fang Yuan non stop.

The old man's head hit the floor, causing a wave of loud thudding sounds, his face was covered in blood.

"Master, master!" Zheng Shan Chuan was jolted to awareness, he hurried over and tried to help Old Man Qi Shan get up.

But Old Man Qi Shan was insistent, he pushed his disciple away as he continued to kowtow, begging for mercy.

"Master..." Zheng Shan Chuan's face was full of tears, with a splat, he knelt down facing Old Man Qi Shan.

Everyone looked at this with varying expressions.

Flying Frost Sect's leader showed a look of regret and sympathy.

An Han was coldly sneering internally.

But the duel was over, how could the terms be changed under everyone's watchful gazes? Unless Fang Yuan was willing to let them go, but he was a ruthless demonic cultivator, Zheng Shan Chuan was a refinement path master at such a young age, how could Fang Yuan let him go?

Even if it were the righteous path Gu Masters in his position, they would not let Zheng Shan Chuan go.

The cruel and harsh side of the Refinement Path Convention was displayed in front of everyone.

But at the next moment, Fang Yuan said to Old Man Qi Shan: "It is not impossible to let him go."

An Han's mental sneer froze, the place went silent.

"What?" Zheng Shan Chuan was stunned.

Old Man Qi Shan was the first to react, he was overjoyed: "Thank you senior for your magnanimity, thank you senior for your kindness!"

Fang Yuan smiled, his tone was warm and kind: "People should be kind to one another, that is also being kind to oneself."

Everyone heard this and showed looks of disbelief.

Weren't his words too fake? Who was it who destroyed the green shine Gu earlier and made a young lad lose?

An Han's expression changed, he screamed inwardly: "Hey, are you still a demonic path Gu Master? Quickly act ruthless! What are you saying, are you not cold at all, are you trying to make the entire demonic path lose face?!"

Fang Yuan's words changed: "But, since you offended me, you need to be punished."

Everyone immediately restored their composure.

An Han calmed down, he was overjoyed: "Oh, so this is it, he is trying to toy with their relationship. Hahaha, that is right, this is the demeanor of the demonic path!"

Zheng Shan Chuan's expression tightened.

Old Man Qi Shan started to kowtow again, he shouted: "Lord, please have mercy!"

"Forget it, I will not make you my slave for life, I want you to do three things. But now, you are not qualified yet, to do things for me. As for what these three matters are, hehe, I have not decided yet. Maybe I will not make you do any in your entire life. Maybe in the next moment, I will ask you to do three matters, it will all depend on my mood." Fang Yuan said slowly.

His voice was not loud, but the people were quiet, listening to him.

Old Man Qi Shan sighed out in relief, he shouted while holding back his tears: "Thank you, lord, for your mercy!"

Zheng Shan Chuan lowered his head: "Junior thanks senior."

Three matters compared to being a slave for life, the former was much easier to accept. Central Continent was dominated by the righteous path, if Zheng Shan Chuan had the identity of a demonic path Gu Master's slave, even if he had refinement path talent, he would be unable to be successful and make a name for himself.

But handling these three matters was just an agreement. Having an agreement between righteous path and demonic path Gu Masters was nothing much. Zheng Shan Chuan's future was still very bright.

Looking at the master and disciple who were extremely grateful to him, Fang Yuan laughed, ordering: "Both of you, bite your tongues and give me a drop of blood from the tips of your tongues."

Old Man Qi Shan and Zheng Shan Chuan looked at each other, they bit their tongues and gave the blood to Fang Yuan with much fear.

Fang Yuan stretched out his right arm and his five fingers closed up, grasping the two drops of blood in his hand.

Next, he moved his hand, grinding with his fingers as black smoke emerged from the spaces between his fingertips.

When the black smoke faded, Fang Yuan opened his hand, showing two Gu worms.

Old Man Qi Shan and Zheng Shan Chuan were staring with wide opened eyes, these two Gu were a pair of rank four Gu.

Everyone gasped.

Fang Yuan was actually so formidable, he refined a pair of rank four Gu in a few breaths' time.

"This is the technique of blood path! He actually has such astounding blood path Gu refinement techniques!" Flying Frost Sect's higher-ups were showing dark expressions.

Even the demonic path Gu Masters outside showed looks of wariness.

Blood path was notorious, it was even more vile than using soul path techniques to burn human souls! Righteous path members would hunt it down, even the demonic path often excluded it.

"This pair of rank four Gu can sense each other. You two will take one, I will take the other. If I have anything to request of you, I will send someone over carrying this blood path Gu worm as the symbol. These two blood path Gu worms can sense each other and tell if they are real. Even if you die in the future, these three matters will extend to your children, descendants, disciples and other later generations. Are you willing? If not, be my slave." Fang Yuan said.

"Willing, we are willing." Old Man Qi Shan replied hurriedly.

Fang Yuan's hand moved, and one of the blood path Gu worms was tossed to Old Man Qi Shan.

He tossed Zheng Shan Chuan another Gu.

When Zheng Shan Chuan received this Gu, he was stunned, he stammered: "This... this is green shine Gu?"

Fang Yuan stored the other blood path Gu worm away as he said slowly, laughing: "Did you really think I destroyed green shine Gu?"

As he laughed, he left the dumbfounded Gu Masters behind, turning around and leaving.

Zheng Shan Chuan looked blankly at Fang Yuan leaving, as Old Man Qi Shan stored the blood path Gu worm carefully. He did not dare to violate this agreement, their witnesses were not just Flying Frost Sect, but the entire Refinement Path Convention itself.

All of the competitions, including this duel, were recorded. Central Continent's ten great ancient sects and all of the forces that joined the Refinement Path Convention had the evidence, he could not deny it.

"Master, you need to heal the injury on your head." Zheng Shan Chuan quickly got up, helping Old Man Qi Shan up.

"Go, quickly leave, we cannot stay here anymore!" Old Man Qi Shan was intimidated by Fang Yuan's methods, he was truly shell-shocked now, he urged his disciple to leave this terrifying place.

With this, Zheng Shan Chuan backed out of the competition, no longer joining the rest of the rounds.

But he had obtained green shine Gu, his original goal.

After this matter, Old Man Qi Shan gave Zheng Shan Chuan a good lesson using this as an example, telling him how vicious Fang Yuan's methods were, he truly had a grasp on the nature of people, he next told Zheng Shan Chuan about the jealousy of Flying Frost Sect's first elder, An Han, towards the talents of others, he was the person surreptitiously encouraging this duel.

Zheng Shan Chuan matured greatly from this matter, he finally understood his own shortfalls, as well as the vicious nature of the world. For most of his life, he tried all sorts of ways to treat Old Man Qi Shan while raising his refinement path attainment, keeping a low profile. When he was fifty-three years old, he healed Old Man Qi Shan's poison, when he was eighty-eight years old, he became a refinement path grandmaster without causing much of a disturbance. In his final years, he returned to Central Continent's east coast, creating a sect that he named after himself, it was called Shan Chuan Hall.

His life ended at a hundred and fifty years old, he did not join the Refinement Path Convention ever again.

As for the agreement of those three matters, that was another story.

-x-X-x-

After the second round of the Refinement Path Convention ended, Fang Yuan returned to Hu Immortal blessed land.

Some time had passed in the blessed land already, Mo Yao's will had recovered from Fang Yuan's arrangements, he could search again.

Fang Yuan had no pity for her, he conducted will searching on Mo Yao's will.

This time, he obtained quite a few Gu refinement techniques that Mo Yao knew, including a refinement path killer move.

In these memories of Mo Yao's fake will, many were related to details of Gu refinement.

In this aspect, Mo Yao was a refinement path grandmaster, while Fang Yuan was only a quasi-grandmaster, Mo Yao was also a certain generation's fairy of Spirit Affinity House, the refinement path techniques that she had expanded his vision quite a bit.

After Fang Yuan learned them, he felt that he benefited greatly.

Usually, when masters teach their disciples, they might keep some secrets to themselves or hide their trump cards, as the saying goes: a teacher dies of starvation after teaching his student.

Mo Yao's will was now Fang Yuan's 'master', but she was teaching him without reserving anything.

Fang Yuan had many benefits, on one hand, he learned all sorts of new Gu refinement techniques from Mo Yao's fake will, on the other hand, he was revising the things he had learned.

He intended to show his skills in the Refinement Path Convention, using all his ability to get the best result he could obtain.

Because this concerned the Infallible inheritance.

Looking over the current situation, Fang Yuan estimated that it was still safe for him to join the Refinement Path Convention. But as time passes, the risk of undertaking such actions would be uncertain.

The toppling of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was too huge of a matter, Fang Yuan was a lone force, he could only stall them, it was impossible to completely hide the truth from the investigative forces of Northern Plains and Central Continent.

If the five regions chaotic war was soon to occur, the five regions would be busy fending for themselves, Fang Yuan would be able to conceal the truth.

But unfortunately, the five regions chaotic war was still hundreds of years away.

Central Continent did not have much chaos under the control of the ten great ancient sects. Northern Plains' situation had improved in stability after the battle between Old Ancestor Xue Hu against Heavenly Lord Bai Zu and Yao Huang.

"One day, the truth that I caused True Yang Building's collapse will be exposed. By then, I will have arrest warrants from Central Continent and Northern Plains, the other three regions might also come after me due to Giant Sun's true inheritance. Hu Immortal blessed land would no longer be unaffected by the outside world, it would be attacked immediately. Thus, before the truth is exposed, I have to develop myself during this period of time."

Fang Yuan could clearly discern his future circumstances.

Once the truth was exposed, Fang Yuan would have to start a life as a fugitive.

Thus, he has to increase his strength as much as he could, using all opportunities that came, or even create them if they didn't come.

Right now, the Refinement Path Convention was a huge opportunity.

This was only the second round of the Refinement Path Convention, towards the middle and late stages, the first place rewards would be immortal essence stones, immortal materials, Immortal Gu recipes, or immortal killer moves.

If one obtained a good position during the final competition, they would be qualified to obtain the reward from the Infallible inheritance.

Thus, even if he attracted the attentions of people and was high profile, Fang Yuan could not care less.

Also, his duel with Feng Jin Huang was well known by everyone already, almost all of the higher-ups in the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent knew about it. Fang Yuan could not lay low even if he wanted to.

One day, when news that he was the culprit behind True Yang Building's collapse gets exposed, his name would spread over the five regions, he would be extremely famous!

By then, he would face a difficult and dangerous challenge.

The entire world would be his enemy, countless Gu Immortals would chase down Fang Yuan, in their opinions, Fang Yuan certainly would have obtained countless benefits from Giant Sun's true inheritance.

"I have to use this last stretch of time to develop, accumulating immortal essence stones, immortal materials, and raising my battle strength to the limit, most importantly, I need to get rid of my immortal zombie body, and regain a living body!"

Immortal zombies could not produce immortal essence, even his usual cultivation expenses were dragging Fang Yuan down. Looking at most of the immortal zombies in Zombie Alliance, they had to be careful and calculative in every battle.

If Fang Yuan was still an immortal zombie when he was a fugitive, he would face immense danger, it might even be the cause of his demise.

Thus, in the following days, Fang Yuan had to join the Refinement Path Convention and practice his Gu refinement techniques, but he also had to deduce and use large numbers of star thought Gu to modify the immortal killer move, vaguely familiar face.

This killer move was an urgent matter, it was his best way to change the situation for the better. Other matters could not compare to it, they were put aside by Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan got through the third, fourth, and fifth rounds.

He had outstanding capability, his quasi-grandmaster refinement path attainment was uncommon even among Gu Immortals. He got first place in all five competitions, with such a record, his reputation was surging.

Fang Yuan's name started to circulate everywhere. Everyone who heard of it knew that he was a demonic path Gu cultivator, he was skilled in refinement path and had many Gu refinement techniques, he had a deep foundation.

The day before the sixth round, Fang Yuan finally reached preliminary success in the deduction of the immortal killer move vaguely familiar face.

"It was not easy at all!" Fang Yuan walked out of the underground cave, he was really excited, almost to the point of tears.

The process of deducing and modifying this immortal killer move was very difficult. Fang Yuan's wisdom path and transformation path attainment levels were entirely too low, he was like a child pushing a stone mill, going one step at a time.

To get his current results, Fang Yuan had expended all of the star thought Gu he had obtained from Dong Fang Chang Fan by the fourth round of the competition. Thankfully, he had the stone nests and large numbers of hairy men, he had been continuously refining and accumulating star thought Gu.

That gave Fang Yuan enough resources in order to obtain a 'vaguely familiar face' that he could utilize.

As has been mentioned previously, Immortal Gu were unique, Fang Yuan did not have a single one of vaguely familiar face's three core Immortal Gu (They were in Feng Jiu Ge's hands).

If Fang Yuan wanted to use vaguely familiar face, he could only change the core Gu and modify the killer move. Furthermore, it would be best if this Immortal Gu was one that Fang Yuan currently had.

Right now, Fang Yuan achieved this aim.

The modified vaguely familiar face that he deduced was greatly simplified in comparison to the original, it only had one core Immortal Gu — eat strength Immortal Gu.

His other Immortal Gu, like Fixed Immortal Travel, Self Strength, iron crown eagle strength Immortal Gu and so on were incompatible. Or rather, Fang Yuan's attainment level was too low, he could not make use of these Gu in this regard.

Fang Yuan could use eat strength Immortal Gu as the core to activate vaguely familiar face, this was mostly due to his rich foundation as a strength path grandmaster.

Using 'eat strength' Immortal Gu as the core to use vaguely familiar face, the effect was very limited.

Once the killer move was used, it could not change Fang Yuan's appearance, but it could change his aura.

Fang Yuan was a Northern Plains Gu Immortal, once he had to exert himself seriously, his aura would leak out and be exposed, along with his identity. But if he used this version of vaguely familiar face activated by eat strength Immortal Gu, he could change his aura and turn his Northern Plains Gu Immortal aura into that of Central Continent, Southern Border, Eastern Sea, or Western Desert. If the other party was not a Gu Immortal skilled in investigation, they would not be able to expose him.

In fact, Old Lord Can Yang had such a method.

When Old Lord Can Yang helped Dong Fang Chang Fan, he fought with the band of demonic path immortals in an intense battle. But from start to finish, he was showing a Northern Plains aura, he did not display any relationship with Central Continent. This was evidently an immortal killer move, this was an indication of Immortal Crane Sect's plentiful foundation.

But Fang Yuan created vaguely familiar face in a rush, the effect was weaker than Old Lord Can Yang's move.

Old Lord Can Yang could fight intensely against a large number of Northern Plains Gu Immortals without exposing his true Central Continent aura. Fang Yuan knew clearly that his version of vaguely familiar face could not do that.

Furthermore, the use of this killer had a huge weakness, the price was very high.

Each time he used it, he would need to consume several strength path dao marks!

Eat strength Immortal Gu's effect was to allow the Gu Immortal to eat immortal materials that were full of pure strength path dao marks, and extract the natural strength path dao marks from them, adding them to the Gu Immortal's body.

Fang Yuan faced many failures in his deductions, he eventually racked his brains and placed his target on himself.

As a strength path immortal zombie, his body purely consisted of strength path dao marks. As for the time path and space path dao marks in his immortal aperture, they were not related to his body. Looking at another example, Hu Immortal blessed land had earth path, space path, time path, and enslavement path dao marks, but Hu Immortal's body when she was alive only had enslavement path dao marks. After she died, the enslavement path dao marks on her body were all transferred into her blessed land.

Thus, Fang Yuan decided to 'eat' his own body. He used eat strength Immortal Gu as the core, by supplementing large numbers of mortal Gu, he expended strength path dao marks in order to disguise his aura.

Even though this immortal killer move effect was not great, it could not meet Fang Yuan's requirements, and also had a huge drawback, but it was at least usable.

It was already very fortunate that he obtained such a result. He had thought that his deduction would end in utter failure. Having a preliminary success was already very satisfactory to him.

The highest credit had to go to wisdom Gu, under the light of wisdom, Fang Yuan had unlimited inspiration, he could forcefully make the strength path Immortal Gu into the core of vaguely familiar face.

With the joy of success, Fang Yuan entered the sixth round of the competition and got first place.

Returning to Hu Immortal blessed land, he rested for a short while before using Fixed Immortal Travel to go to Western Desert.

Western Desert, impassable dunes.

Winds were blowing as sand was scattered in the air.

The Gu Masters of Xiao clan were all in a battle formation, they were fighting intensely with the hidden sand spiders.

These hidden sand spiders were all the size of elephants, their bodies were covered in a layer of glazed exoskeleton, they were skilled at moving in the sand.

Hidden sand spiders emerged from the sand, their mouths were sharp and dangerous, they attacked the Xiao clan Gu Masters. Fang Yuan watched them from the sky, he estimated that there were at least thirty thousand of these hidden sand spiders!

But Xiao clan was a super force of Western Desert, the Xiao clan Gu Masters had exemplary skill in battle, they also had rich experience in dealing with hidden sand spiders. Thus, the situation was tilted in favor of the humans.

Fang Yuan only took a look before moving his gaze to behind the hidden sand spider group.

This was a huge area of sand dunes.

Within this area, fierce winds were moving about as the sky turned dark, countless beasts were growling.

If one looked closely, they would realize that these sand dunes were moving slowly!

-x-X-x-

This was one of the seven most famous natural wonders of Western Desert – the movement of hundreds of thousands of sand dunes. It was like heaven was using a brush to sweep past most of the Western Desert, drawing a curved line. In this fixed curved path of moving sand dunes, there were no oases, no beasts and no rocks, there was only yellow sand. No one could stop it, even rank eight Gu Immortals were powerless.

For these enormous moving sand dunes, Western Desert's people named them impassable dunes, revealing their helplessness and confusion towards nature's might.

"Impassable dunes..." Fang Yuan, however, narrowed his eyes, and flew straight towards the sand dunes.

He had concealed his figure, and flew right above the battlefield on the ground, but no one detected him.

Several of Xiao clan's Gu Immortals were fighting on the impassable dunes, but they were at the periphery, even these Gu Immortals could not explore the inner areas.

Their opponents were three enormous hidden sand spider queens, each was a desolate beast.

These hidden sand spider queens were like fish in water amidst the sandstorm, their hill-like colossal bodies were constantly letting out hidden sand spider groups.

However, Xiao clan's Gu Immortals were well arranged and in good order.

Xiao Hu Chi led the charge as the leader, shouting and roaring as he immersed himself in the thrill of battle.

The deputy leader, Xiao Shi Rang, sighed, transmitting: "Leader, it is almost time, we have already achieved our objective of training them, we should order our Gu Masters to retreat now."

"If you had not said this, I would have forgotten it! Handle this by yourself, hahaha, these three hidden sand spider queens have weakened greatly, it is time to capture them." Xiao Hu Chi laughed wildly and was just about to attack, when his gaze suddenly focused in front of him and towards his left. He shouted: "Who's there?!"

Boom!

The reply was a giant hand that passed through the sandstorm with an imposing air, directly grabbing a hidden sand spider queen.

Xiao Hu Chi stared with a furious expression, but this giant hand's timing was perfect, that hidden sand spider queen had just been forced back by Xiao clan's Gu Immortals when the giant hand smoothly grabbed it from behind, as if this hidden sand spider queen had gone straight into a trap.

"Such guts! You dare to challenge Xiao clan in our territory!!"

"Thief, you want to reap the fruits of our labor, you are unforgivable!"

"Everyone, attack and capture this person, I, Xiao Hu Chi, must see who is so daring!"

Xiao clan's Gu Immortals were furiously about to attack when suddenly, seven strength path giant hands emerged from the sandstorm.

Bam bam bam!

Intense banging sounded out, five rank six Gu Immortals of Xiao clan were routed in panic.

Only Xiao Hu Chi and Xiao Shi Rang, the two rank sevens, were able to fight equally with two giant hands.

"This is rank seven battle strength!"

"The enemy is extremely powerful, the two leaders have used their signature killer moves, but they actually haven't made progress!!"

"The other party still doesn't seem to have used all their strength. This is the first time I have seen this strength path killer move, who in the world is this person?"

Immediately, Xiao clan's Gu Immortals revealed heavy expressions.

"No need to be nervous, I have no malicious intentions. Look." Fang Yuan slowly flew out and revealed his appearance, his expression having a slight smile.

Everyone's gazes turned towards that hidden sand spider queen, which was already clenched firmly in the grasp of the strength path giant hand, screeching in pain and struggling desperately.

"Captured just like that..."

"This immortal killer move is really strong!"

Xiao Hu Chi and Xiao Shi Rang glanced at each other, seeing the vigilance in each other's eyes.

If it were them, they could not accomplish this so easily. Otherwise, Xiao clan would not have sent so many Gu Immortals to capture the hidden sand spider queens.

Fang Yuan was able to accomplish this easily, one reason was because he had grasped the correct timing, when the hidden sand spider queen was greatly weakened, another reason was that after the merging of a second Immortal Gu, Pulling Mountain, into myriad self giant hand, its might had greatly increased and had even more power against earth path desolate beasts like hidden sand spider queens.

After grabbing the hidden sand spider queen, Fang Yuan appeared in front of Xiao clan's Gu Immortals of his own accord.

"Sir, who might you be? What is your intention?" Sensing Fang Yuan's good intention, Xiao Hu Chi asked in a low voice.

Fang Yuan chuckled: "I am nothing more than a nameless lone cultivator of Western Desert, living in seclusion over my life. Not long ago, I had no choice but to become an immortal zombie, only then did I come out into the open. I am here because I want to do a long term trade with your esteemed clan. I wonder if you are interested in regretful spider groups?"

"Oh? Regretful spiders?" Xiao clan's Gu Immortals felt joyous.

Xiao clan possessed an Immortal Gu House, Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor, 'ten thousand li' was only a general name, the entire Immortal Gu House was far longer than ten thousand li.

This Immortal Gu House had a very special function, as long as there were enough mortal spider Gu, it could be spread out and built everywhere. If looked on from a bird's eye point of view, it would resemble a giant spider web spread over Western Desert.

And the surface of the floor of this Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor was smooth like silk. Anything placed on it could be transported at an extremely fast speed.

Xiao clan was one of the richest among Western Desert's super forces. The most important reason was because Xiao clan possessed this Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor.

Any Immortal Gu House was a unified construct involving defense, attack, movement, healing, investigative and other aspects.

Be it Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, Water Pavilion, Heaven Overseeing Tower, Red Fiend Divine Boat, Profound Ice House or any other Immortal Gu House, they all were like this, they could be considered war fortresses.

Xiao clan spread Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor everywhere, transporting goods and earning a fortune. However, Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor's usage consumed large numbers of mortal spider Gu.

Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor was Xiao clan's economic lifeline, thus Xiao clan had to gather a very large quantity of mortal spider Gu every year to maintain Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor.

This time, Xiao Hu Chi and Xiao Shi Rang led the group to capture hidden sand spider queens, it was to raise them in the clan's headquarters. Every set interval of time, the blood of the hidden sand spider queen would be drawn and their flesh would be cut, then the clan's Gu Masters would gather to refine large amounts of mortal spider Gu.

Despite Xiao clan's own management fulfilling a portion of the requirement, there was still a shortfall left, which would have to be filled by purchasing large numbers of mortal spider Gu from the market.

Moreover, the larger the number of mortal spider Gu and the greater the variety of them, the more beneficial it would be in the operation of Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor.

Xiao clan's Gu Immortal group was naturally excited, Xiao Hu Chi asked immediately: "How many regretful spiders do you have, sir, and how will we make the transaction?"

Fang Yuan laughed, reporting a number, the joyous light in Xiao Hu Chi's eyes faded in an instant.

Fang Yuan then spoke: "I can supply your esteemed clan with this number of mortal spider Gu every month."

Xiao Hu Chi beamed with delight.

"As for how to trade them..." Fang Yuan said slowly: "Isn't your Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor the best way? Give me a token for a nearby node of Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor, every month on the thirtieth, I will arrive at this node, place the goods and take the payment."

"Then what is the price of sir's goods?" Xiao Shi Rang chipped in.

"No rush." Fang Yuan waved his hand, "Let's discuss the price after you look at the quality of the goods."

Fang Yuan took out a sample, Xiao clan's Gu Immortals were greatly pleased at the quality.

These regretful spiders came from a super force of Northern Plains, Dong Fang tribe, it would be strange if Xiao clan's Gu Immortals were not satisfied.

Fang Yuan quoted a price.

After a round of bargaining, the two sides settled on a price and completed the first transaction on the spot. Xiao Hu Chi made the payment on behalf of Xiao clan, and Fang Yuan also obtained a node token.

After the completion of the transaction, he turned around and left.

Xiao Hu Chi and the rest of the group returned to Xiao clan's headquarters, and immediately reported this to Xiao clan's first supreme elder.

The first supreme elder slowly nodded his head after learning of the details: "Little Hu, you did well, the contribution points for this task will be doubled."

Xiao Hu Chi said in a heavy voice: "Lord, it is just that this person appeared too suddenly. A rank six immortal zombie with rank seven battle strength! Does lord know of his origins?"

The first supreme elder smiled indifferently: "Western Desert is vast, there are naturally many Gu Immortals who remain in seclusion, this is not something I can know completely. Immortal zombies cannot produce immortal essence by themselves, it is not strange for them to be forced to come out of seclusion. Since this person wants to do business sincerely, we will cooperate with them for now. Our clan has an unceasing demand for mortal spider Gu. If the cooperation is pleasant, there is no problem with handing out one of Xiao clan's transaction tokens to him."

"Lord, are we not going to investigate him?"

The first supreme elder thought for a moment before saying: "I know what you mean, since the other party can supply goods for a long time, he must have other blessed lands. Okay... investigate him a little for a while, we cannot treat him like a normal immortal zombie. The most important thing right now is the contest with Dong clan to occupy the market in the northwest side. We need to spread Ten Thousand Li Silk Corridor as fast as possible."

"I understand, lord first supreme elder." Xiao Hu Chi saw the first supreme elder shutting his eyes to rest, he understood the message and gave a respectful bow before quietly leaving.

A few days later.

Central Continent, Floating Flower Riverbank, Hearing Wave Pavilion.

The large force, Hearing Wave Pavilion, was generally a secluded sect, but it was now bustling like a market.

This was the one of the test locations for the seventh round of the Refinement Path Convention.

A round of the competition had just ended.

Everyone in the audience was discussing and exclaiming, with countless gazes gathered on Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan was clothed in a black robe, he wore a mask on his face, just like previously. Silently and unhurriedly, he walked out of the stage.

Many gazes moved followed his slow movement, while another portion of people stared at the rankings on the wall with shock.

Right now, Fang Yuan's name was imprinted on first place!

"Demonic cultivator Fang Yuan has seized first place seven times in a row! Amazing, truly amazing, this performance means he has master level attainment at least!"

"With such talents and ability, there is a high chance that he can pass the famous nightmarish eighth round of the Refinement Path Convention."

"When can I have such ability?" Among the crowd, Hong Yi gazed at Fang Yuan's receding figure, his heart filled with yearning. For some reason, while others disliked Fang Yuan's style as a demonic cultivator, Hong Yi, as a disciple of the righteous path's Universal Life Academy, did not feel any dislike towards Fang Yuan.

Hong Yi had great luck and huge potential, but his skills were too thinly spread out and he was eliminated pitifully at the second round.

"Do you guys think Fang Yuan can fight his way into the finals just like this?"

"Youngster, you are thinking about the finals now? Hehehe, it is too early, too early!"

"That's right, who knows how many dragons and snakes are in Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention, the water here is too deep. The previous seven rounds were no more than the initial portion of the competition. The true essence and brilliance of the Refinement Path Convention lies in the later parts of the competition."

-x-X-x-

Under everyone's discussions, Fang Yuan slowly started walking out of Hearing Wave Pavilion.

Everywhere he went, the crowds of people opened up a path for him.

Even though Fang Yuan was a demonic path Gu cultivator, those of the righteous path felt distaste and repulsion regarding it, but they had no choice but to admire his refinement path attainment. Especially in such a special environment like the Refinement Path Convention, this was a special time where demonic cultivators could enter the righteous path forces openly, the mentality of Gu Masters was slightly different now, they were focusing on champions of refinement path.

At the outer gate of Hearing Wave Pavilion, several Gu Masters from their respective forces were shouting loudly and selling information, it was a booming business.

"Attention, attention, the newest information has been updated, there is the most comprehensive results list in this Refinement Path Convention, we even have the results of the seventh round."

"Do you want to know the top one hundred Gu refinement geniuses most favored in this competition? Then come take a look! One shadow image Gu for a minimum price of fifty primeval stones. We will sell it for the highest prices offered, until we run out of stock!"

"A famous wisdom path Gu Master's conjecture towards the ranking of the participants in this small competition of Central Continent sects, there are also the grudges of the ten great ancient sects! A set of information for only ten primeval stones! It is a steal!"

"To think that the results of the seventh round are already out." Fang Yuan heard this and he was inwardly moved.

But when he saw the attire of the Gu Master selling the information, he understood why.

This Gu Master selling the information of the seventh round was wearing the clothes of 'Lightning Information Sect'.

Lightning Information Sect was a super force created by a Gu Immortal, it was obviously far inferior to the ten great ancient sects. Lightning Information Sect's creator, Mi Lan Guang, was originally a lightning path Gu Immortal from Wind Cloud Manor. Because he broke the sect rules, he was crippled in his cultivation and expelled from the sect.

In order to sustain a living, he was forced to cultivate information path, combined with his lightning path cultivation experience, he created a set of unique information path Gu worms. In the end, he developed at a much faster pace than before.

He created Lightning Information Sect, after more than a hundred years of development, it was already a first-rate sect that was skilled in information path among the forces of Central Continent. Even the ten great ancient sects bought information from them at times.

Fang Yuan walked to this Gu Master and threw him ten primeval stones: "Give me a copy."

The Lightning Information Sect Gu Master received the primeval stones in a hurry, he took a look at Fang Yuan and was shocked: "Oh, sir, is sir Lord Fang Yuan?! It is my greatest honor to be able to provide this information to you, how could I accept any primeval stones? Sir, please take it back, this information will be given to you for free."

Saying so, he passed the ten primeval stones back to Fang Yuan with both hands.

Fang Yuan smiled lightly: "It is your reward."

The Gu Master smiled in a fawning manner: "Then I will thank lord for the reward! Lord, this is the information you want, I thank you for purchasing this on behalf of Lightning Information Sect. If you could spare us a moment of your time and accept the interview of our sect, we will give you immortal materials as compensation!"

Fang Yuan waved his hand, receiving the Gu Master's information path Gu worm as he walked away.

"Lord, take care." The Gu Master saw that Fang Yuan rejected him and did not say anything else, after all, Fang Yuan was a rank five demonic cultivator, he stood on the spot and sent Fang Yuan off, gazing after him, only until Fang Yuan was gone did he continue to shout loudly and promote his information.

Fang Yuan walked as he diverted a portion of his thoughts into the new information path Gu worm..

This information path Gu was only rank one, it was simple to refine, it was not worth mentioning.

But the point was the information inside, that was the thing that was valued at ten primeval stones.

Fang Yuan inspected it and found out that there were over eight thousand people that got through all seven rounds of the Refinement Path Convention.

These people were able to get through the seven rounds, they would essentially be quasi-masters at least, of course, among them, there were some lucky ones with lower attainment levels.

But here, speaking of those with lower capability was only relative to the experts, they were not at Hong Yi's level. People like him were already completely eliminated by the third round.

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

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

These were talented people who were at least refinement path masters.

This number of four hundred might appear high, but in a huge region like Central Continent, they were truly a small fraction, these people were at the top of the pyramid.

In any path, people of master level were rare. Compared to other paths, refinement path could be considered much deeper and harder, the proportion of masters was even lower.

Among these four hundred, only eighty or so had gotten first place in all seven rounds.

Undeniably, these eighty were the focal group of the focal group, they were the pivotal characters.

Fang Yuan was among them.

According to the experts' evaluation, his name was only at the middle-upper position.

This was the result when Fang Yuan did not bother concealing his ability, one could see how intense the Central Continent Refinement Path Convention was, talented people were emerging everywhere, it was not easy to defeat these refinement path geniuses and stand at the top.

Of course, this ranking was only an estimate, it did not represent their true level.

The tests in the seven rounds could not evaluate Fang Yuan's limits, at the same time, he had a mysterious background, even if they wanted to make a guess, they had no way to do so. These reasons caused his ranking to be at the thirtieth position or so.

Fang Yuan looked at this ranking and found many familiar names.

Firesmith Dragon Chief, Fang Huai, Tian Min Mie, Feng Jin Huang, Yu Mu Chun, Lui Pin Tian, Dou Ping Tan, Qu Wen... all these people had high statuses in Fang Yuan's previous life.

Undeniably, they were all outstanding people, shining stars lined up one after another, Fang Yuan felt a strong, piercing light coming from them.

"Among these people, some were superstars during the five regions chaotic war. Even though some of their rankings might be low now, they were immortals in the future. Some even were refinement path grandmasters during their lifetimes."

Fang Yuan felt pressure inwardly.

Fang Yuan was a refinement path quasi-grandmaster, he was one step away from grandmaster level. But this one step was very far away, it required great accumulation to make the breakthrough.

Actually, in terms of refinement path talent, Fang Yuan was very ordinary.

If his talent was insufficient, he could only make up for it with hard work.

Fang Yuan's accumulations from his previous life, along with his current life, forcefully elevated his refinement path attainment from master level to quasi-grandmaster level.

Five hundred years of cultivation but only becoming a quasi-grandmaster, wasn't he really useless?

Look at Zheng Shan Chuan, he is so young but already a refinement path master!

Talent was undeniably important.

But there was another factor.

Zheng Shan Chuan was a Gu Master that cultivated refinement path mainly, all of his efforts were placed in it. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan in both lives only cultivated refinement path on the side, during his previous life, he lived three hundred years at first, only cultivating blood path for the last two hundred years, and in this life he cultivated strength path.

Being one's main cultivation as opposed to being cultivated on the side, the amount of effort put into them was vastly different.

If Fang Yuan did not cultivate blood path and strength path mainly, he might not have lived up to now. He was not fortunate like Zheng Shan Chuan, having a master to protect and nurture him along the way.

Furthermore, attainment levels of paths were hard to raise, the higher one went, the more difficult it was. Before dream realms changed the five regions, to raise one's attainment level, one could only work hard and accumulate their foundation while having ample talent.

One could say that it was not easy for Fang Yuan to reach his current quasi-grandmaster attainment level!

"With my ability, it will be difficult to even reach the top ten of the Refinement Path Convention. Meanwhile, to benefit from the Infallible inheritance, I need to be at least top six!"

The Infallible inheritance was a refinement path inheritance. Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention had expanded over the years, initially, it was only a way for the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent to fight over the Infallible inheritance and split its benefits — using refinement path to hold a competition and determine the winner, to gain the most benefits for one's own sect.

But later, because the Infallible inheritance's benefits were too great, it could even help in the recovery of fate Gu, therefore Heavenly Court took over it.

Strictly speaking, the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent were representatives under Heavenly Court to manage affairs. Heavenly Court was the boss behind the scenes of the ten great ancient sects, since the boss wanted to take over, the ten great ancient sects could only accept it and cooperate to the best of their efforts.

With Heavenly Court controlling it, Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention became famous throughout the region, and even expanded its influence over the world. Right now, each Refinement Path Convention would attract many people from the other four regions to participate.

"Based on records from previous competitions, those who can reach the top three are refinement path grandmasters, or even quasi-great grandmaster level occasionally!"

The quality of each competition's Gu Masters vary, but the top ten were usually mostly refinement path grandmasters, sometimes, the seventh to tenth positions were refinement path quasi-grandmasters.

When there were few people joining, and there were only three to four refinement path grandmasters, there would be refinement path quasi-grandmasters in the top six. But when there were many people, there would be seven to eight refinement path grandmasters in the top ten, then there would be few quasi-grandmasters who could reach a top ten position.

This time, the standard was neither high nor low, there were five refinement path grandmasters.

"I am best at blood path Gu refinement techniques. But right now, I do not have many blood path Gu worms, and if I use those blood path refinement techniques openly, I would be giving Immortal Crane Sect an excuse to attack Hu Immortal blessed land. To get top six, I need to scheme!" Fang Yuan thought about it and made up his mind.

Sixteen days later, Central Continent.

An Zu Earth Trench, Demon Expelling Sect.

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

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

Tens of thousands of Gu Masters rushed in on this day, to watch the exciting competitions of Gu refinement. Of course, the actual location was limited in space and could only hold a thousand people, but these one thousand people were not ordinary Gu Masters.

Demon Expelling Sect had already made appropriate arrangements for the huge squares that could hold many ordinary spectators, once the eighth round started, the real-time broadcast of the competition would play in the air.

-x-X-x-

Fang Zheng and another Immortal Crane Sect elder led over ten disciples into the competition venue.

It was a hubbub of sound outside the stage. Over a thousand Gu Masters were sitting in the surroundings, discussing in murmurs while waiting for the eighth round to start.

However, because there were too many people, even the softest whispers converged together to become an extremely clamorous scene.

"Immortal Crane Sect's elders and disciples." Once they saw Fang Zheng's group, the surrounding Gu Masters could not help but stare at them, the sounds of their discussions became softer.

Compared to large and small forces, members of Central Continent's ten great ancient sect members gave the feeling of royalty walking among common people.

"That young man is actually wearing the attire of an Immortal Crane Sect elder, I am not hallucinating, right?"

"Quiet down, can't you sense his aura, he is a genuine rank five Gu Master!"

"Making a fuss over nothing, it's not like there aren't Gu worms to maintain a youthful appearance..."

"Look over there, they are Myriad Dragon Dock's disciples and elders."

At the next moment, everyone's gazes were attracted towards another group of people.

The number of this group of Gu Masters was twice that of Immortal Crane Sect's, with four elders leading the way and many elite disciples among the disciples.

"Myriad Dragon Dock..." An elder of Immortal Crane Sect couldn't help but focus his gaze.

Of the ten great ancient sects, Myriad Dragon Dock could be said to have been in the limelight recently. And the reason was because of Vicious Lightning Fiend.

Vicious Lightning Fiend was only a rank six Gu Immortal, but his battle strength was extremely outstanding.

During his two years of closed cultivation, he created the immortal killer move lightning deity. After coming out of seclusion, he roamed around Central Continent, challenging countless Gu Immortals in his journey, most ended in his victory, there were few draws and very rarely did he lose.

The more Vicious Lightning Fiend won, the greater his reputation soared, because he gained a lot of resources from the spars and duels, the amount of lightning deities that he owned increased instead of decreasing, there were a total of three now!

Even before he had lightning deity, Vicious Lightning Fiend already had an impressive achievement of battling a rank seven Gu Immortal to a draw.

Now with three lightning deities, his battle strength had increased explosively, even surpassing normal rank seven Gu Immortals. In his challenges, he had achievements of defeating many rank seven Gu Immortals.

With rank six cultivation, winning against rank seven Gu Immortal was extremely rare. Especially praiseworthy was that Vicious Lightning Fiend had repeatedly challenged and won against rank seven Gu Immortals, he was at the peak of fame now, and the reputation of Myriad Dragon Dock, his affiliated sect, was also soaring with him.

This was to the extent that the whole of Central Continent's Gu Immortal world was starting to recognize Vicious Lightning Fiend as the strongest among rank six Gu Immortals of the current generation in Central Continent. Some battle hungry elders of Myriad Dragon Dock were so encouraged that they even proclaimed that Vicious Lightning Fiend was the next Shi Lei, the next Feng Jiu Ge.

Vicious Lightning Fiend had immediately reprimanded them when he heard news of it: "Leave Shi Lei aside, but Lord Feng Jiu Ge is not someone I am qualified to compare with. Speak less of such things from now on!"

The implication of his words was that he was able to match Shi Lei.

Immortal Monkey King Shi Lei was a rank seven Gu Immortal of Combat Immortal Sect with outstanding battle strength, but he had firmly been pushed down by Feng Jiu Ge, unable to turn the situation around.

It was rare to see a monster like Feng Jiu Ge even once in thousands of years, Central Continent's ten great ancient sects had been forced to accept it, respecting and fearing him.

A series of victory fostered Vicious Lightning Fiend's swagger, till he began to publicly challenge Shi Lei.

Combat Immortal Sect's people were naturally extremely indignant, but strangely, the violent natured Shi Lei was maintaining silence.

This instead boosted Myriad Dragon Dock's confidence, as they felt Shi Lei did not have certainty in dealing with Vicious Lightning Fiend, and was hiding like a coward.

Of course, people who knew some of the inside story were aware that Vicious Lightning Fiend's challenge was nothing more than Myriad Dragon Dock probing at Combat Immortal Sect. Combat Immortal Sect discovered Starry Sky grotto-heaven and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's dream realm within it, they had already covertly started attacking the grotto-heaven. And because they had withdrawn their Gu Immortal level battle strength from everywhere, the other nine sects were already starting to sense something amiss.

However, such secrets were generally only known by Gu Immortal level higher-ups and characters.

Thus, when Myriad Dragon Dock's elders and disciples saw Fang Zheng's group, they were clearly filled with arrogance.

"Ah, it is Immortal Crane Sect's people."

"Hehehe, what are you here for? To see how your elders fail?"

"It's useless, our Myriad Dragon Dock's Lord Dragon Chief will definitely be the final winner, no doubt of it!"

Myriad Dragon Dock's Gu Masters immediately taunted and jeered.

The competition between Central Continent's ten great ancient sects was extremely intense, there was much rivalry between either side.

Especially when Immortal Crane Sect had been showing weakness for a long time now, Myriad Dragon Dock's members, with their increasing reputation, further looked down on Immortal Crane Sect.

Immortal Crane Sect's disciples felt suffocated by anger, but they could not retort to them, maintaining their silence as Myriad Dragon Dock's group brushed past them, before they sat at their arranged seats.

"A bunch of cowards." Someone said in disdain.

Someone else ridiculed: "Hahaha, this is indeed the style of Immortal Crane Sect."

Immortal Crane Sect's group looked even more unsightly.

Some spectators were surprised at this and asked: "Immortal Crane Sect and Myriad Dragon Dock are both of the ten great ancient sects, why is Myriad Dragon Dock being so rampant?"

Someone immediately replied: "There are stronger and weaker sects even among the ten great ancient sects. Immortal Crane Sect is weaker than Myriad Dragon Dock, this is known by everyone. Besides this, the participating Gu Master of Myriad Dragon Dock in this test is truly strong, it is that refinement path Gu Master who is called Firesmith Dragon Chief!"

"What? Firesmith Dragon Chief is actually a Gu Master of Myriad Dragon Dock, isn't he a lone cultivator?"

"Hehe, didn't you read the information from Lightning Information Sect? This Firesmith Dragon Chief had violated sect rules in his early years and was thrown out of Myriad Dragon Dock. He is participating in this Refinement Path Convention to get a good placing and return to Myriad Dragon Dock!"

"So it was like that. It is said this Firesmith Dragon Chief has grandmaster attainment in refinement path! Even a person like this is begging to return to Myriad Dragon Dock, the appeal of Central Continent's ten great ancient sects is really enormous..."

Over at Immortal Crane Sect, Fang Zheng and the other elder were quietly discussing.

Fang Zheng asked: "I wonder, what is the possibility of our sect's Elder Yan Tang succeeding in this round?"

Fang Zheng did not have much skill in Gu refinement, he had trained hard and barely passed the four entry tasks, registering his name. However, he was miserably eliminated in the first round.

Fortunately, large-scale competitions were all open contests and did not prohibit anyone from spectating.

Fang Zheng's status was also high, as an elder of Immortal Crane Sect. Elder Yan Tang, who had invited him to many banquets and drinks, was participating this time, be it privately or publicly, he had to come in support of Elder Yan Tang.

The Immortal Crane Sect elder, sitting beside Fang Zheng, frowned at his question and sighed: "Elder Fang Zheng, you are also aware that Elder Yan Tang's main cultivation is fire path, and he only cultivates refinement path on the side. Meanwhile Firesmith Dragon Chief's main cultivation is refinement path and he cultivates fire path on the side. The gap is too large."

Fang Zheng still did not understand completely: "Even so, with Elder Yan Tang's refinement path attainment, he should be able to place in the top three."

"Sigh!" The Immortal Crane Sect elder shook his head while smiling bitterly, "Elder Fang Zheng, you are not aware, after the seventh round of the Refinement Path Convention, it uses a cruel system of a single winner. In this huge Demon Expelling Sect test venue, only one Gu Master will be able to win and advance."

"What? It is actually like that!" Fang Zheng was shocked and was only able to react after a few breaths. He had experienced many setbacks, as such, the way he thought had changed, "Since the opponent is so strong, then why didn't Elder Yan Tang go to another test venue? The Refinement Path Convention doesn't restrict the participants from choosing the venue."

"Elder Fang Zheng, you are right in thinking of that. After all, retreating to progress forward is also a tactical victory. But unfortunately, other test venues have already been occupied by refinement path experts. Moreover... it was the higher ups' decision to arrange Elder Yan Tang in this venue." The final words were spoken quietly by the Immortal Crane Sect elder.

Fang Zheng was alarmed and startled, if he still did not understand now, he would be an idiot!

"So the higher ups had already made the decision to sacrifice Elder Yan Tang to probe Firesmith Dragon Chief?"

He suddenly recalled his master, Lord Sky Crane's words — Elder Yan Tang was isolated in Immortal Crane Sect, so he is inviting you to drinks to form a political alliance with you.

'Because he is alone, he was chosen to be a sacrifice... Elder Yan Tang is probably filled with discontent. What if I was treated as a sacrifice one day?'

The moment he thought of this, Fang Zheng suddenly remembered the miserable scene of him in the blood pool, with blood vines growing all over him.

Ugh!

The nightmarish memory surfaced again, Fang Zheng shuddered and gasped.

"What's wrong?" The elder beside him asked with concern.

"Nothing." Fang Zheng wiped his forehead, his palm swiping away a layer of cold sweat.

He did not dare to think more, he was filled with panic and hesitation inside.

Right at this time, the elder's voice resounded in his ears: "All the participants have entered the venue, this round of the competition is about to begin."

Fang Zheng quickly raised his head, and saw over a hundred Gu Masters slowly stepping onto the stage.

Fang Zheng saw Immortal Crane Sect's Elder Yan Tang, who was expressionless, but his gaze was filled with discontent and helplessness.

At another side, the red robed Firesmith Dragon Chief, however, had an arrogant expression as he gazed around, not concealing his disdain and contempt towards the surrounding participants.

"A group of weaklings, it is my win for sure. Start already." Firesmith Dragon Chief indifferently laughed loudly, openly urging Demon Expelling Sect's hosting elder.

The surrounding refinement path Gu Masters did not dare to refute this because of Firesmith Dragon Chief's strength. Immortal Crane Sect's Elder Yan Tang clenched his fists tightly and looked furious, but he unexpectedly remained silent.

"Victory to Myriad Dragon Dock! Victory!!"

"Firesmith Dragon Chief will win!"

Myriad Dragon Dock's group was cheering loudly, as if injected with morale. They were rampant, the surrounding spectators, however, could only sit quietly and watch all this happening.

'Repulsive, truly repulsive!' Fang Zheng still had the nature of a young man, he was clenching his teeth and shouting furiously inwardly, 'Damn it, if only I had enough strength. I really hope someone will beat down this Firesmith Dragon Chief right now, and destroy this Myriad Dragon Dock group's arrogance.'

Seemingly responding to his wish, a figure quietly appeared. At first, no one paid attention, but when he stepped on the stage, countless gazes turned towards him.

Black robe.

Mask.

Rank five demonic cultivator...

Fang Yuan!

Why is he here?

The whole venue was silent before being sent into an uproar!

-x-X-x-

Nobody expected that Fang Yuan would show up here. According to the competition rules of Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention, from the eighth round onwards, there can only be one winner from each test venue.

Thus, gradually, the whole of Central Continent's test venues became domains to be dominated by skilled refinement path Gu Masters, like fierce beasts ruling over a territory..

Unless they were forced to have no other choice, no beast would move out of their territory to challenge another beast.

This was not sensible.

The further they advanced, the higher the glory and rewards they could obtain. Having a decisive showdown early on would only let someone else reap the benefits.

Thus, when they saw Fang Yuan, many Gu Masters guessed: "Does Fang Yuan have some enmity with Firesmith Dragon Chief?"

The Demon Expelling Sect elder hosting this round of the competition also felt baffled, but showed no expression on his face.

Fang Yuan's entry was in accordance to the competition's rules. As long as someone entered any test venue within the set time, their results would be recorded.

Thus, even if there were people who wanted to obstruct someone, they could not do so under everyone's gazes.

"This person is Fang Yuan? Is he that famous owner of Hu Immortal blessed land in our sect?" Immortal Crane Sect's disciples also began to guess.

"Truthfully speaking, our sect's Lord Fang Yuan is truly mysterious. I have yet to see his true appearance."

"This is Fang Yuan? Impossible. Central Continent is so large, there are also Gu Masters with the same name."

"Fang Yuan and Feng Jin Huang's agreement has already been widely spread. Our Immortal Crane Sect has many exemption quotas, Fang Yuan could have simply conserved his energy and participated from the tenth round onwards."

Immortal Crane Sect's disciples discussed, many of them stealthily glancing at Fang Zheng's face.

Fang Zheng's lips were pursed tight, his face looked pale-white and his hands were clenched tightly within his large sleeves. They were brothers by blood, the moment Fang Yuan appeared, Fang Zheng could intuitively tell that it was his big brother!

Fang Zheng was caught unprepared.

The shadow during his childhood years suddenly fell and shrouded over him again at this moment, seemingly like a pair of black hands were tightly clenching his neck.

Fang Zheng felt suffocated.

The nightmare, that he had done his best to evade from since he woke up from his coma, attacked his mind once again!

The arrogant exclamations and cheers of Myriad Dragon Dock group gradually turned quieter.

Fang Yuan had displayed high refinement path attainment, seizing first place in all the past seven rounds, the same as Firesmith Dragon Chief.

Myriad Dragon Dock's elders and disciples had to admit Fang Yuan was a powerful opponent!

"I heard this Fang Yuan's achievement is the same as that of our Firesmith Dragon Chief, seizing first place in all seven rounds."

"Is he that person who is duelling Feng Jin Huang?"

"If it is truly him, then that is the owner of Hu Immortal blessed land, he should be very affluent."

"So what? Hmph, haven't you seen the rankings. Firesmith Dragon Chief is ranked at seventh, but where is Fang Yuan placed at? It is beyond thirtieth place!"

"Right, he is simply looking for humiliation by coming here. I believe Lord Firesmith Dragon Chief will definitely defeat him."

Although Myriad Dragon Dock's group said this, other spectators did not have the same thoughts.

Fang Yuan entered on his own accord, showing an extremely aggressive stance. Fang Yuan was clearly not a fool, he surely had confidence and trump cards to move out of his territory and attack.

Fang Yuan's unorthodox behavior made Firesmith Dragon Chief startled, furious and doubtful.

Thereupon, Firesmith Dragon Chief probed: "Fang Yuan of Immortal Crane Sect! Are you coming to lose in advance?"

What Firesmith Dragon Chief truly wanted to ask was: Why are you coming here to compete? Couldn't you have just stayed in your territory and advanced safely? You must be smoking something!

At the same time as he asked this, he felt gloomy inwardly — We don't have any grudges, what are you trying to do by disturbing me? Don't you still have the duel with Feng Jin Huang? Do I look that easy to bully?

The moment he spoke, the uproar turned even louder.

"What, this Fang Yuan is actually a member of Immortal Crane Sect?"

"Isn't he a demonic cultivator?"

"It should be true, Firesmith Dragon Chief has personally confirmed it, can it still be false?"

"This is big news, who could have thought he was actually a disciple of one of the ten great ancient sects... But why did he come here? Did Immortal Crane Sect have a fight with Myriad Dragon Dock? I haven't heard rumors about any disputes."

Even the hosting elder was looking with eyes wide open, staring at Fang Yuan blankly.

At once, Fang Yuan became the focal point of everyone's gazes.

"Big brother..." Fang Zheng gritted his teeth, his face pale as paper and his body filled with cold sweat unknowingly. He was feeling difficulty in breathing, and also physical weakness, as if he had collapsed after doing intense exercise.

Fortunately, everyone was gazing at Fang Yuan and no one noticed his miserable state.

Lord Sky Crane consoled him from his aperture, but there was almost no effect.

Other Immortal Crane Sect members were excitedly gazing at Fang Yuan, some even stood up unconsciously.

Fang Yuan had never officially appeared in Immortal Crane Sect's headquarters. However, his legends were spread widely in Immortal Crane Sect. Mysterious and powerful, with countless rumors regarding him.

It was said that he had outstanding talents, such that he was taken in as a legacy disciple by a Gu Immortal the moment he stepped into Immortal Crane Sect.

This was of course a rumor, purely speculative and completely unreliable.

However, Immortal Crane Sect's higher ups could not refute them, once they spoke the truth, where would their reputation as one of the ten great ancient sects remain?

Moreover, Immortal Crane Sect's disciples were more willing to believe the proof in front of them.

The greatest proof was Fang Zheng!

Fang Zheng had A grade aptitude and already had rank five cultivation now, becoming a sect elder. They could only imagine, as his big brother, how outstanding Fang Yuan's aptitude must be. Otherwise, how could he have won against Feng Jin Huang and seized Hu Immortal blessed land?

Right now, Immortal Crane Sect's members was stretching their necks, firmly fixing their gazes upon Fang Yuan like glue.

Uncertainty and curiosity was overflowing from within their hearts.

"I really want to see Lord Fang Yuan's true appearance."

"It should be similar to Elder Fang Zheng's."

"Sigh, why did he have to wear a mask. This is a test venue, if we carelessly use investigative Gu, we will be thrown out."

The disciples communicated excitedly.

The other Immortal Crane Sect elder finally discovered Fang Zheng's state and asked with concern: "Elder Fang Zheng, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Nothing, nothing..." Fang Zheng's heart skipped a beat, hurriedly replying.

'Why does Elder Fang Zheng seem to be afraid of Fang Yuan, is the relationship between these brothers not good?' A strange look flashed past the elder's eyes.

Fang Yuan's eyes were hidden behind the mask. He first slowly glanced around, pausing a moment on Fang Zheng before slowly landing on Firesmith Dragon Chief.

He chuckled, breaking the long silence, his voice somewhat hoarse as he proudly proclaimed to everyone present: "Right, I am Immortal Crane Sect's Fang Yuan."

"Haha, it was true!"

"Elder Fang Yuan, best of luck!"

"Elder Fang Yuan and Elder Fang Zheng are our sect's heroes."

The most intense response was from Immortal Crane Sect's group. Some disciples almost jumped in excitement, they felt pride and a strong sense of honor in their sect, after being suppressed by Myriad Dragon Dock, right now, with Fang Yuan's words, they felt really relieved and avenged.

"What are you so happy about?"

"Right! What is there to be pleased about..."

Myriad Dragon Dock's group retorted.

Hatred flashed past Fang Zheng's eyes, as he said with clenched teeth: "Don't compare my brother with me!"

These words, however, had another meaning when heard by others.

"Did you hear it, even Elder Fang Zheng, with his aptitude, admits he is inferior to Lord Fang Yuan!"

"That's right, reportedly Fang Yuan is a Gu Immortal seed and the higher ups are nurturing him with all their strength."

Immortal Crane Sect's disciples talked in a 'soft' volume, but the sound was not soft at all.

"You guys..." Fang Zheng's expression turned ashen and he felt an intense dizziness.

The expressions of Myriad Dragon Dock's group turned even more unsightly.

The atmosphere of conflict intensified.

One elder of Myriad Dragon Dock sneered and cursed in a quiet voice: "Let's see what kind of downcast expressions you guys will have when he loses."

The bustle outside the stage already made the other participants on the stage into props to be ignored. Fang Yuan continued to gaze at Firesmith Dragon Chief, and intentionally raised his voice: "Firesmith Dragon Chief, I came here to defeat you. It is way too boring to defeat those incompetents. You are a slightly decent opponent, you will add some radiance to my path of advancement. So use your true strength, don't hold back, I remember your strongest method is, what was it... mad deity's blazing flames? Use it and fight me, this way when I defeat you, I can feel a little satisfaction."

Hearing such provocative words from Fang Yuan, whether it was on the stage or outside the stage, all the Gu Masters had the same feeling — arrogant, too arrogant!

Everyone had already felt that Firesmith Dragon Chief was arrogant, but now that they saw Fang Yuan, they realized the saying 'no matter how good you are, there is always someone better than you' was completely true. Look at Fang Yuan, this was the true master of arrogance!

Firesmith Dragon Chief was startled: 'He actually knows about my hidden trump card?! This is impossible, I have never exposed this technique. How did he find out?'

After the astonishment, anger rose in him as he countered: "Alright, since you, junior, are boasting so shamelessly, let me teach you a thorough lesson. I will make you understand what true pain is!"

At the same time, he furiously shouted inwardly: 'Will I, a grand rank six Gu Immortal who has undergone two heavenly tribulations and is only one away from rank seven, be afraid of you, a bottom tier immortal zombie? Kid, you think too highly of yourself, I will step on you and make you lose all your face! Blindly challenging me will be the greatest regret of your life!!'

-x-X-x-

Seemingly hearing Firesmith Dragon Chief's inner voice, Fang Yuan continued to ridicule with even more intensity: "Good, this gaze, this mood, this rage, only like this can you bring out all your strength to fight me. Only such an opponent can make me feel some interest. Remember, you must use all your strength, otherwise you will be Myriad Dragon Dock's disgrace! Hahaha."

Fang Yuan spoke with such arrogance while pointing at Firesmith Dragon Chief.

At once, all the Gu Masters were speechless.

Wasn't this way too arrogant?!

Myriad Dragon Dock's members gritted their teeth. They were arrogant, but Fang Yuan was even more arrogant.

Firesmith Dragon Chief trembled in anger, staring at Fang Yuan with such fury that flames seemed to spout out.

Unlike the imagination of outsiders, Fang Yuan had a bold demeanor on the surface, but inwardly, he was extremely vigilant.

"Differing from the information in the outside world, this Firesmith Dragon Chief's main cultivation is actually not refinement path but fire path. Back when he was at Myriad Dragon Dock, he was a refinement path Gu Master. And he was also indeed thrown out of the sect, but because of a fortuitous encounter, he obtained a certain fire path Gu Immortal's inheritance. After he became a fire path Gu Immortal, he tried to enter Myriad Dragon Dock again. Myriad Dragon Dock naturally would not let go of a Gu Immortal and had actually already secretly taken him in. It was just that it happened to be time for the Refinement Path Convention, and seeing his refinement path attainment was grandmaster level, they hurriedly made him join the competition to try to seize the top spot and get more benefits for the sect!"

"This Firesmith Dragon Chief's refinement path attainment level is above mine, in my previous life, he was ranked at second of this convention, a refinement path grandmaster cannot be taken lightly. Especially during the Gu refinement in the tenth round, he impressively suppressed three quasi-grandmasters on the spot. Such an enemy must be beaten down early. If I let go of this chance, according to my previous life's memories, there will be almost no chance of suppressing him."

Firesmith Dragon Chief was a Gu Immortal, but he did not disclose it, instead disguising himself as a mortal.

He naturally could not conceal his Gu Immortal cultivation from other Gu Immortals, but it was okay for them to know it, no one would expose this.

Maintaining their mysteriousness helped Gu Immortals to maintain their dominion.

There was also another reason: By any chance, if they lost to a mortal in the Refinement Path Convention, that would be too disgraceful.

Why would Gu Immortals lose to mortals?

There were actually many cases of mortals defeating Gu Immortals in the Refinement Path Convention.

Gu refinement was not like fighting or killing, it was purely technical. The most important reason was that Immortal Gu were unique and were extremely difficult to successfully refine.

Without Immortal Gu as a benchmark, the competition between Gu Immortals and mortals depended on refining mortal Gu.

Everyone could refine mortal Gu, and to a great extent, it could not embody the gap between immortal and mortal.

Thus, normally speaking, all Gu Immortals would hide their identities when participating in the Refinement Path Convention.

"Start." Fang Yuan urged the Demon Expelling Sect's elder.

"Begin quickly!" Firesmith Dragon Chief shouted, he was already impatient to crush this rampant Fang Yuan.

Demon Expelling Sect's elder endured the pressure from the two, and said firmly with gritted teeth: "It is not yet time, the competition cannot be started. There are still three breaths of time left... three, two, one, okay, activate the isolation Gu formation, close the entrance of the venue, release the task!"

In the previous seven rounds of the Refinement Path Convention, because of too many participants, they could only let the participants take the test in turns.

Now, at the eighth round, the number of participants had greatly reduced. Each test venue only held the competition once, the Gu Masters who missed this chance would be regarded as voluntarily giving up.

The Gu worms that contained the tasks were also very specific. This information path rank five mortal Gu was a method of Heavenly Court, and had extraordinary ability in preserving secrets.

The tasks were not stored inside, but controlled by Heavenly Court. The instant the competition was about to begin, the true tasks would be transmitted.

Everyone, inside and outside the stage, went quiet when the task was released. They were holding their breaths as they fixed their gazes on the task, it was so quiet that even a pin dropping could be heard.

The eighth task: Refine a keep silent Gu, a rank five sound path Gu worm. The participant who successfully refines it first will be the winner and can advance to the next round. The remaining Gu Masters will be eliminated.

The materials provided were: Immortal soul grass, worry stones, a rank four apathy Gu, six rank three muted mouth Gu, two rank four sinking Gu... and the test did not allow the use of other materials.

The Gu recipes provided were: Six different keep silent Gu recipes, three different apathy Gu recipes and one collusion Gu recipe.

Everyone was frowning.

The difficulty of this task could be considered about ten times higher than the seventh round!

Not only were there ten different Gu recipes, it also demanded a discerning eye, so the Gu Master could choose those most suitable for themselves. Moreover, the supplied materials were limited and did not allow the Gu Master to use materials they brought, in addition, these materials could not satisfy the requirements of any one Gu recipe.

This meant that the Gu Masters would need to reverse-refine apathy Gu, muted mouth Gu or sinking Gu to obtain more refinement materials. They would have to make use of these materials to finally refine the rank five sound path keep silent Gu.

Another method was for the participating Gu Masters to use wisdom path methods to sum up these Gu recipes and improve them, deducing a Gu recipe that met the conditions using the supplied materials as the base.

However, between these two methods, the first one was naturally the most worthwhile and effective. The second method required extremely high wisdom path attainment, and by this stage, it was rare to see Gu Masters who also had deep wisdom path attainment.

More importantly, this test took time into consideration.

Only the first one to refine the Gu successfully could be the winner, while the rest were eliminated.

The mental pressure was high. And during the final steps, it was likely for there to be those who could not endure the mental pressure, making a mistake and failing.

Firesmith Dragon Chief almost coughed out blood when he saw the task.

What kind of shitty task was this?

Firesmith Dragon Chief almost cursed out loud!

He was actually a fire path Gu Immortal, and was most proficient in refining fire path Gu worms. This sound path Gu worm clearly did not fall within his proficiency range, moreover, several of the crucial refinement materials could not be handled with fire refinement techniques!

This was awkward.

Fang Yuan had rampantly asked Firesmith Dragon Chief to use his strongest Gu refinement killer move, mad deity's blazing flames.

Firesmith Dragon Chief was furious and had also planned to use this killer move to completely humiliate Fang Yuan.

However with such a task, what would Firesmith Dragon Chief use mad deity's blazing flames for? Using the fire to burn air?

This task was extremely at odds with Firesmith Dragon Chief.

Relatively speaking, out of his entire Gu refinement attainment, he could only display eighty percent. Even if he was a Gu Immortal, they also had areas where they were proficient in and those that they were not.

This task just happened to be an aspect which Firesmith Dragon Chief was most unskilled in.

Naturally, refinement path grandmaster attainment was not just for show, Firesmith Dragon Chief could absolutely succeed in refining the Gu.

However, the key thing was the appearance of Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan's true skills were enough to threaten Firesmith Dragon Chief. Among experts of similar levels, just a slight decrease in capability could determine the winner and the loser, let alone when Firesmith Dragon Chief was weakened by a whole twenty percent!

'This guy chose such great timing, his luck is seriously too good! No, I must defeat him!' Firesmith Dragon Chief swore to himself, and glanced at Fang Yuan.

However, at the next moment, his eyeballs almost popped out!

Fang Yuan had already started refining!

How was it possible?

How could he start so fast?

The supplied Gu recipes and materials could not be matched together. Gu Masters had to reverse-refine Gu worms to create materials, or sum up the Gu recipes and deduce a new one. In short, refining rank five keep silent Gu at the end.

Thus, this required the Gu Master to think deeply, making deductions constantly in their mind, and consider the probabilities of orthodox refining and reverse-refining, from there, combining many ideas to make the most concise Gu refinement plan.

This thought process was extremely important.

The ideas from the thoughts needed to have low risks. If the risks were high, there could be many failures, resulting in materials being wasted and not leaving enough for the Gu refinement, and with the condition of not being able to use one's own materials, they could only admit defeat.

While seeking low risk, they also needed to consume the least amount of time. If you consumed too much time, someone else might have already finished, and even if you succeeded in refining, you would be eliminated.

Demanding low risk and also low time consumption, this was quite difficult.

They would require meticulous thinking, constant comparisons and arrangements, and then choosing the best plan out of them all.

Even though Firesmith Dragon Chief was a grandmaster in refinement path, he estimated he would also need about eight minutes of time.

However, this, this, this Fang Yuan, how could he start refining Gu at the very start?

"Is there a mistake?"

"He really has such confidence?!"

"Foolish, a workman must sharpen his tools if he is to work well. The correct way is to calm down and think."

The participating Gu Masters glanced at Fang Yuan a few times before concentrating on thinking.

Fang Yuan had the lead and was progressing extremely quickly.

Other Gu Masters had not even begun refining, only he had started, this naturally led to most of the spectators gazing at him.

Exclamations of praise sounded out repeatedly.

"Such dazzling methods."

"Skilled, too skilled! It is simply like an instinct that has seeped into his bones!"

"But is this okay? Haste makes waste."

Fang Yuan naturally knew the logic of haste makes waste, but he knew the contents of this task.

In Fang Yuan's previous life, after he became a blood path Gu Immortal, he had once planned to participate in the Refinement Path Convention.

The reason?

Because even the demonic path could participate in the Refinement Path Convention, even wanted criminals could register their names overtly, and the righteous path would not arrest them.

During that time, Fang Yuan did not have a single Immortal Gu and was putting his efforts in gathering immortal materials to refine Immortal Gu, the whole process was extremely arduous.

In comparison, although he was an immortal zombie in this life, his financial circumstances were many times better.

Fang Yuan had considered almost any possible method to gather immortal materials. He realized that the Refinement Path Convention was an opportunity to obtain large amounts of immortal materials.

-x-X-x-