233 RI

Previously, in green ghost desert, Fang Yuan had used great thief ghost hand to steal rank eight Immortal Gu Soul Beast Token.

Great thief ghost hand was only a rank seven move, and its core was rank seven great thief Immortal Gu. But with the help of the killer move yama, its power rose to the point where it could steal a rank eight Immortal Gu from the legendary immemorial soul beast Qing Chou's body.

Back then, great thief ghost hand's effective range was extremely short, which required Fang Yuan to get near the target.

After returning, Fang Yuan modified yama, adding in great thief ghost hand to form the completely new emperor yama killer move. Right now, great thief ghost hand not only had a long range of effectiveness, it also had the ability to conceal itself.

It was not strange for Meng Tu to be struck by it, instead it would be unusual if he was not struck.

"This is your blade path Immortal Gu? Oh, a white butterfly's appearance and the size of a fist, is it bladewing Immortal Gu?" Fang Yuan recalled the great thief ghost hand, he was holding a rank seven Immortal Gu in his hand, which looked like a butterfly with layers of exquisite cloud patterns on its wings.

Cold sweat dripped from Meng Tu's forehead, he was lying weakly on the ground, he looked at Fang Yuan with narrowed eyes and spoke in a hoarse voice: "You... you actually seized an Immortal Gu from my immortal aperture? Did you obtain a true inheritance of Thieving Heaven?"

"True inheritance of Thieving Heaven... hehe, your guess is correct, I obtained one indeed." Fang Yuan sneered as he stored bladewing Immortal Gu into his immortal aperture right in front of Meng Tu, sealing it in Heaven Sealing Mountain.

Meng Tu's eyelids twitched violently.

Bladewing Immortal Gu was not his vital Gu, but he had raised it from its rank five mortal Gu stage. He had failed dozens of times and expended a huge amount of resources, as well as time and energy to raise it. He had never expected there would be a day where it would be forcibly seized.

Anger surged in Meng Tu's heart. But even more than anger was fear.

Why did Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable become a calamity of the world in the past? Wasn't it because of his Immortal Gu stealing methods? Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable could even steal things that were hidden in immortal apertures. And now, Fang Yuan had reproduced Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's method, the nightmare that he had casted upon an entire era was like a thick layer of dark clouds that shrouded Meng Tu's heart.

Meng Tu healed his injuries to the best of his abilities while speaking with a tensed expression: "Since you are a theft path Gu Immortal and have also inherited Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's true inheritance, then you should be aware of the rule set by your ancestor Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable back then. Thieves have their own honor, always leave room for appeasement and never act too overbearingly! Since you have taken my bladewing Immortal Gu, what else do you want? If you want anything else, I can lend them to you."

Back then, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had rampaged throughout the world, with no one able to stop him.

But Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was not evil by nature, he was good natured at his core, he advocated honor and glory. All he wanted was to return home, his cultivation journey and resources stolen were meant for this purpose.

After the five regions' Gu Immortals knew of his goal, as well as being aware that they could not defend against Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's methods, whenever they ran into Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, they would lend anything Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable wanted as long as it did not endanger their lives.

Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable did not have insatiable greed, after he obtained the things he wanted, he spared the lives of the Gu Immortals and let them off. In most cases, he only took what he wanted, he did not care about other Immortal Gu or immortal materials no matter how high their value was.

Since Fang Yuan inherited Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's true inheritance and was Thieving Heaven's inheritor, Meng Tu knew he could not win, and since the situation was extremely bad, he directly asked for mercy.

Fang Yuan frowned, mumbling: "If you truly want to do this, it is also not impossible..."

Just as he was speaking, Fang Yuan's eyes suddenly glinted, pushing his hands forward as he activated immortal killer move soul explosion!

A vast wave of darkness immediately surged towards Meng Tu.

Meng Tu did not dodge, instead laughing: "You really thought that I, Meng Tu, am a person who begs for mercy?!"

Just as he ended his words, he was submerged by the soul explosion's dark waves. But shortly afterwards, his body let out bright blade lights as he boldly self-detonated!

Boom!!

A loud explosion with terrifying might threw chaos into the whole of autumn blade plain!

After the explosion, not even the corpse of Meng Tu remained, while Fang Yuan's emperor yama was mostly destroyed.

The quasi-immortal battlefield that covered the entirety of autumn blade plain also completely disintegrated, and autumn blade plain's surface sank by five to six feet.

Fang Yuan quickly used his investigative methods to scan the battlefield, and after several scans, he finally confirmed Meng Tu was truly dead.

"Meng Tu actually self-detonated!" Fang Yuan was surprised and had a strange expression, he had not expected Meng Tu would be so bold and direct.

This was clearly somewhat different from the memories in Fang Yuan's first life.

If Meng Tu was someone who disregarded life and death, why would he have sided with Heavenly Court?

It was because of this, Fang Yuan had felt Meng Tu was not strong-willed, so when Meng Tu asked for mercy, Fang Yuan subconsciously chose to believe him.

Naturally, Fang Yuan never intended to let go of Meng Tu, but when he was about to make a move, Meng Tu had self-detonated one step ahead of him!

Such determination and will was truly too straightforward.

"Maybe Meng Tu's nature was gradually changed by all kinds of events. After all, humans do change. Also, in my first life, it was Heavenly Court who made a move, they definitely used some exquisite methods and plans to instigate Meng Tu."

Fang Yuan shook his head as he gave one final glance at autumn blade plain before flying away quickly.

Almost all the edge Gu in autumn blade plain were destroyed after this battle. But their growth potential had become bigger, because with Meng Tu's self-detonation, all his blade path dao marks were engraved in this land.

Fang Yuan had obtained little benefit in this battle.

Besides testing out emperor yama and obtaining the rank seven bladewing Immortal Gu, he did not achieve his original intention, which was Meng Tu's soul and immortal aperture.

Meng Tu's firm resolution had decreased Fang Yuan's benefits, his goal was achieved — even in death, he did not let the enemy obtain the maximum benefits.

After Fang Yuan displayed great thief ghost hand, Meng Tu knew that his Immortal Gu could be stolen one after the other by Fang Yuan, with his serious injuries and the fact he was trapped at this place, he had no hope of escaping so he resolutely chose to self-detonate. From his point of view, it was a rather sensible action.

"It has always been difficult to prepare oneself for death, this Meng Tu has true courage! In my first life, he sided with Heavenly Court, he was cast aside by his tribe and Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world, sullying his reputation as a shameless person. This life, although he died, he will definitely have the glory of a fallen hero." Fang Yuan sighed inwardly.

Regardless, his goal was still achieved after the battle.

Before stealing bladewing Immortal Gu, he had secretly taken out the drinking blade wine from deep underground. In the process, he had casually stolen hundreds of edge Gu which was better than nothing.

Fang Yuan retreated extremely quickly.

Autumn blade plain was in the territory of Meng tribe, when Meng Tu saw Fang Yuan intruding, he would have definitely sent a message to the tribe.

So not long later, Meng tribe will sense Meng Tu's death and many Gu Immortals would come to inspect autumn blade plain.

The items were already obtained, Fang Yuan was looking towards the future when Northern Plains obstructed Heavenly Court's expansion, so it was not worthwhile to kill these Northern Plains Gu Immortals, as it would weaken Northern Plains and be basically helping Heavenly Court.

As he was not in a fight, emperor yama's robe gradually shrunk to a silk-like clothing, while the thin bronze armor on Fang Yuan's chest and back stuck to his muscles.

"Oh? Someone is deducing me." After a while of flying, Fang Yuan's expression suddenly changed.

Meng tribe was a super force and had specially nurtured a wisdom path Gu Immortal. They were definitely shaken by Meng Tu's death and were sure to look for the culprit.

Fang Yuan held his breath, carefully looking at his emperor yama killer move.

Emperor yama's robe gradually expanded and continued to expand along with the increase in intensity of the deduction of Meng tribe's wisdom path Gu Immortal.

Fang Yuan was defending against the other side's deduction while also calculating his soul foundation expenditure.

Meng tribe's wisdom path Gu Immortal deduced for a while before stopping, gaining no results.

Fang Yuan nodded, greatly pleased: "Emperor yama's defense against wisdom path deductions has become stronger and is at rank eight level. Even if Fairy Zi Wei deduces about me, I can block her!"

The conclusion was, emperor yama's defense and offense were at peak rank seven level. The yama children were extremely difficult to deal with, not only could they act flexibly, they could also rapidly recover, and even if there were losses, they could easily be replenished with soul beast modification.

Even more amazing was great thief ghost hand, this method could steal rank eight Immortal Gu. In this battle, with just one attack, it had determined his victory, forcing Meng Tu, a peak rank seven expert, to self-detonate.

At a similar level to great thief ghost hand was emperor yama's defense against wisdom path deductions. This was also what Fang Yuan needed the most.

"However, emperor yama still has room for improvement."

"I should design an immortal battlefield killer move with emperor yama as the core."

"This time, Meng Tu sealed the area, isolating himself from the outside world. If he had not shot himself in the foot, he could have freely escaped, and it would have been much more difficult for me to kill him."

"Also, if I had an immortal battlefield killer move, when Meng Tu wanted to self-detonate, I would have sensed it one step earlier."

Fang Yuan was always striving for improvements, he believed emperor yama could still be elevated further.

-x-X-x-

Two Gu Immortals were flying rapidly in the sky, they had rough appearances and were tall and well-built. They were Meng tribe Gu Immortals Meng Zi Zai and Meng Zhao.

Like Fang Yuan had expected, the moment he showed himself, Meng Tu sent the message of an attack to the tribe.

But later, Meng Tu had used the blade path dao marks to cover autumn blade plain with an environment similar to an immortal battlefield, he was no longer able to send messages.

With such an important message like an invading enemy, Meng tribe naturally would not ignore it. They immediately sent a rank seven Gu Immortal, Meng Zi Zai, and a young rank six Gu Immortal, Meng Zhao, to deal with the enemy.

"Uncle, who do you think this ignorant guy who dared to intrude on our Meng tribe is? Hehe, I think it is probably a demonic Gu Immortal who cultivates alone without any contact with the outside world." Meng Zhao said with a smile towards Meng Zi Zai.

Meng Zi Zai was stone-faced, but his eyes revealed a relaxed gaze as he agreed: "Your guess is logical, but you need to plan for the worst in everything. Currently, Longevity Heaven has appeared in front of everyone to unite every Huang Jin tribe, Old Ancestor Xue Hu has disappeared somewhere, Heavenly Lord Bai Zu has turned to the righteous path, the righteous path is at its peak. But there is actually someone who dared to go against the general trend and came to find trouble with my Huang Jin tribe, this fellow is either a lunatic or has some background. This is why the tribe sent us as reinforcements to prevent against any accident."

"Uncle, you are right. But..." Meng Zhao paused before laughing: "That person is truly unlucky, they went into autumn blade plain which is guarded by Lord Meng Tu. Lord Meng Tu cultivates blade path and has quasi-great grandmaster blade path attainment, he is ranked among the top three rank seven experts in the tribe!"

"He might not just be a quasi-great grandmaster anymore." Meng Zi Zai sighed.

Meng Zhao's eyes brightened: "Uncle, you mean that...?"

Meng Zi Zai smiled: "He is the senior brother whom I admire the most in my life, no one in the tribe can match his talent in blade path. He has been cultivating in autumn blade plain for the past years, with his talent, he should have reached great grandmaster realm."

"Blade path great grandmaster! He is indeed worthy of being Lord Meng Tu!" Meng Zhao said excitedly.

"Hahaha, that's right." Meng Zi Zai laughed, he had received a lot of care from Meng Tu in his cultivation, he held Meng Tu in the highest regard. So when Meng Tu messaged the tribe about the enemy, Meng Zi Zai requested to be sent to aid Meng Tu. In fact, he had utmost confidence in Meng Tu, and he only came to catch up on old times with Meng Tu and introduce Meng Zhao to him.

Meng Zhao had been carefully picked by Meng Zi Zai as a Gu Immortal junior to be nurtured by the tribe. Meng tribe also had various factions representing their respective political benefits.

Meng Tu and Meng Zi Zai were of the same faction, Meng Zhao was selected by Meng Zi Zai to draw in new blood to this faction.

Meng Zhao also knew the significance of this trip, so he was very excited.

"Autumn blade plain is not far away from here, we can see senior brother after a short while. Sigh, I have not seen him for a few years, if he could become a blade path great grandmaster, it will be a huge help to our faction." Meng Zi Zai inwardly thought.

But right at this time, his body suddenly shook violently, then his expression paled, and his eyes widened in extreme shock.

"Uncle? What's wrong?" Meng Zhao noticed the change in Meng Zi Zai's expression and was doubtful. Since meeting Meng Zi Zai, he had never seen this calm uncle show such an appearance.

But Meng Zhao saw Meng Zi Zai becoming even more abnormal.

Meng Zi Zai had unknowingly lowered his speed, before finally floating in the air without moving like a statue.

His expression was deathly pale, his eyes were red and tears actually dripped down.

Meng Zhao's heart shook even more, something huge had definitely happened, but he did not dare to continue asking. He could only accompany Meng Zi Zai as they faced the chilling wind.

Meng Zi Zai was dazed for a good while before his expression changed once again. He looked terrifying, his eyes filled with raging fury.

Meng Zi Zai gave a loud shout, the shout was like thunder, resonating over all the surroundings. He then shot forward at an extremely fast speed.

Meng Zhao was caught off-guard, but quickly followed after coming back to his senses.

But how could his speed compare to the rank seven Gu Immortal Meng Zi Zai?

Soon, he was thrown far behind.

Meng Zhao was very puzzled: "What's going on?"

He had a bad feeling in his heart: "Wait a moment! Uncle's direction is towards autumn blade plain. Has Lord Meng Tu met with danger?"

Meng Zhao's whole body shivered at this thought.

If it were really like this, then this was no doubt like a nightmare to him, and was very bad news for Meng tribe as well.

If Meng Tu, who had peak rank seven battle strength, died, then it was an extremely great loss for Meng tribe!

Meng Zhao hurried to autumn blade plain with all his strength.

"This... what happened here?!" Meng Zhao was shocked, before even reaching autumn blade plain, he could sense the surging blade path dao marks in the air.

Autumn blade plain's original layout was already completely destroyed, replaced by countless blade marks which crazily cut across the land, forming pits and trenches all over the area.

Meng Zhao soon saw Meng Zi Zai kneeling on the ground, still like a statue.

He carefully descended to the ground, the dense blade path dao marks here stabbed into his skin, causing him to feel bursts of pain.

He walked to Meng Zi Zai's side and shockingly discovered streams of tears on the latter's cheeks!

Meng Zhao only saw Meng Zi Zai in autumn blade plain, he did not see Meng Tu. That guess in his mind immediately became more distinct by countless times, causing his expression to involuntarily turn into that of fright.

Meng Zi Zai slowly opened his eyes and looked at Meng Zhao, saying in a deep and hoarse voice that let anyone that heard it know the intense pain and anger he was restraining in his heart.

"Brother Meng Tu... has died in battle!"

Meng Zhao's whole body shivered, despite already guessing it, when he heard Meng Zi Zai verifying it, he still could not endure the extreme shock.

Meng Tu had actually died in battle?!

With his battle strength, who could kill him?

Meng Zhao opened his mouth, and after a long while, said: "Uncle, Lord Meng Tu is so powerful, how could he be so easily killed? Maybe he is still alive and has only shifted the battle elsewhere."

But Meng Zi Zai slowly shook his head: "When we were on the way just before, the tribe sent me a message saying Meng Tu's soul lantern was extinguished. But I still held hope... until I arrived here..."

His voice choked as tears flowed out of his eyes once again.

A man does not easily shed tears, unless it is truly a heart wrenching matter!

Meng Zi Zai continued in a weak voice: "I know he has a killer move called blade sacrifice which is a self-destruction method, it destroys his immortal aperture, Immortal Gu and other resources to let out an unprecedentedly terrifying might. Using this move means he is definitely dead."

"If so..." Meng Zhao quickly looked at the whole battlefield, feeling even more shocked.

Meng Tu was dead!

Such a powerful Gu Immortal had actually died, forced to self-detonate within such a short period of time.

Who in the world was the enemy?!

All kinds of past events and memories surfaced in Meng Zi Zai's mind.

He had never expected a situation where Meng Tu died.

Meng Zi Zai cried for a while before slowly standing up.

His face turned expressionless as he said to Meng Zhao: "You should return, our Meng tribe definitely won't let the matter of Meng Tu's death go. But this enemy is unimaginably powerful! Meng Tu had immediately sent a message when the enemy appeared, we also moved out at once, moving here without resting the whole journey. But in such a short period of time, Meng Tu was unable to protect himself and was forced to self-detonate by the enemy."

"I know his temperament, he probably wanted to use this move to drag the enemy with him. But from the looks of it, there is no traces of the enemy's death. This is a powerful enemy which even blade sacrifice could not kill!"

"I must give chase, I will catch the culprit even if I have to spend my whole life! This is beyond your ability, you should return to the tribe and cultivate, don't let this news be exposed."

Meng Zhao nodded with a heavy heart: "I understand, you must be careful, uncle."

With Meng Tu's death, Meng tribe had lost a capable expert and this was not a light loss to them. At the same time, they had got in trouble with a powerful enemy with a mysterious origin and unknown goal, Meng tribe would seal this news for the moment to maintain stability.

As for Meng Zhao, his cultivation was too low and his status was not high, which could be seen from how the tribe had still not informed him of Meng Tu's death.

"Don't worry. Second supreme elder is personally coming with the Immortal Gu House Investigation Courtyard." Meng Zi Zai patted Meng Zhao's shoulder.

Meng Zhao nodded his head, putting his heart at rest as he left.

With Immortal Gu House Investigation Courtyard, they did not have to fear even if they encountered a rank eight existence.

Meng Zhao did not have to wait for long as he saw Investigation Courtyard appear in the horizon.

Not long later, Investigation Courtyard came to a stop, Meng tribe's second supreme elder walked out of the courtyard, nodding at Meng Zi Zai solemnly before immediately starting to inspect the battlefield.

But why would Fang Yuan leave behind any clues?

After Meng tribe's second supreme elder finished inspecting, his expression turned even heavier.

Meng Zi Zai said: "This mysterious enemy is very clean with their methods, I have already inspected the battlefield earlier, they have dealt with the traces with extreme proficiency."

Meng tribe's second supreme elder nodded his head: "No worries, we have Investigation Courtyard here!"

Investigation Courtyard was an information path Immortal Gu House, its specialty was to gather information. Meng tribe's second supreme elder immediately activated one of its killer moves.

They actually managed to find some clues.

"He went in that direction, chase!" Meng tribe's two Gu Immortals entered the Immortal Gu House and chased after Fang Yuan with fury and hatred.

-x-X-x-

"The clues end here!" Meng tribe's Immortal Gu House Investigation Courtyard slowly stopped in the air.

Meng tribe's two Gu Immortals looked at each other.

Meng Zi Zai looked ahead at a lush valley that was starkly different from the surrounding grassland.

Such a valley would not form naturally, but the two Meng tribe immortals were not surprised. Meng tribe's second supreme elder said in a heavy voice: "This is Sleeping Lady's Divine Needle Valley."

Meng Zi Zai frowned: "Is it her?"

Meng tribe's second supreme elder was silent.

Sleeping Lady was a rank seven lone immortal who cultivated sound path, she did not have outstanding battle strength but she controlled an immemorial desolate beast divine hedgehog. This divine hedgehog was a sword path immemorial desolate beast, and had an ability to shoot out all the spines on its body, which was extremely fast and had terrifying power.

Sleeping Lady created Divine Needle Valley, being in control of the area between Meng tribe and Murong tribe.

She not only had the powerful method to control an immemorial desolate beast, her political wisdom was also excellent. She lived right between the two super forces, so no side dared to truly go against her. Because if one side did that, Sleeping Lady could easily side with the other super force.

The two Meng tribe Gu Immortals were silent.

The situation could become messy.

They followed the clues here, but they had not actually obtained any specific information regarding Fang Yuan.

Sleeping Lady's own strength was not Meng Tu's match, but if she sent the divine hedgehog, she might be able to kill Meng Tu.

This indeed made her a suspect. But...

This matter was troublesome to handle.

Meng tribe and Murong tribe had quite a good relationship with Sleeping Lady, they had expressed goodwill to her since long ago, trying to win her over and preventing her from siding with the other party.

The relationship between Meng tribe and Murong tribe was obviously not good.

Every super force had an instinct to expand their territories. Meng tribe and Murong tribe were so close to each other, how could their relationship be good?

If Sleeping Lady was the culprit, how could she have such guts by herself? So it was very likely she had already sided with Murong tribe. As a super force and a righteous Huang Jin tribe, Murong tribe could not attack another righteous path super force for no reason, so it was entirely possible for them to have used Sleeping Lady as the front.

If Sleeping Lady was not the culprit, then how should the two Meng tribe Gu Immortals investigate? Slight carelessness might make Sleeping Lady develop thoughts of siding with Murong tribe, then Meng tribe's losses would undoubtedly be even bigger.

The two Gu Immortals pondered for a long while before second supreme elder finally said: "Let's go, we will make a visit to Sleeping Lady and inform her of Meng Tu's death. Only by being open and direct will Sleeping Lady realize our Meng tribe's intention. After all, the clues stop at her Divine Needle Valley."

Meng Tu nodded his head.

Investigation Courtyard had not concealed its traces, so the two Meng tribe Gu Immortals' arrival had already startled Sleeping Lady.

However, Sleeping Lady maintained her composure, she had the qualifications and the confidence to cope with all situations, patiently waiting for the two Meng tribe Gu Immortals to come to her.

When Meng tribe's two immortals reached her residence, they immediately narrated the situation to her. She then understood the situation and also realized how serious this matter was!

First, she declared her innocence which was immediately verified by the Meng tribe Gu Immortals. Secondly, she herself was worried when she heard that the clues disappeared in Divine Needle Valley.

"This mysterious culprit could kill Meng Tu, he definitely has powerful methods and terrifying battle strength. Friends, please do me a favor by coming with me to inspect the whole Divine Needle Valley."

Sleeping Lady took the initiative to ask for help.

Meng tribe's two immortals were joyous, this was what they wanted so they immediately agreed.

The three immortals moved in a group, carefully searching Divine Needle Valley.

Sleeping Lady was afraid too.

She had some knowledge of Investigation Courtyard's power, since the clues disappeared in Divine Needle Valley, it was very likely the culprit was still hiding in her valley. Since this mysterious culprit could so viciously kill Meng Tu, why would he not be able to deal with her?

The three immortals searched for a long while but gained no results.

Meng tribe's two immortals glanced at each other, the second supreme elder intentionally saying: "We have searched almost the whole Divine Needle Valley, is the killer really not here?"

Meng Zi Zai pretended to unintentionally reply: "Isn't there still an area which we have not searched?"

Sleeping Lady knew these two were putting on a show, but she was not the culprit and sincerely wanted to search this place, so she nodded: "I specially designed this Divine Needle Valley for the divine hedgehog, only the deepest area of the valley is left now, please follow me."

Meng tribe's Gu Immortals followed Sleeping Lady to the depths of the valley.

An enormous pure-white hedgehog was resting at the dark valley floor. It was sleeping in a curled up position, its breaths were long and slow. It was covered with extremely sharp spines which were full of sword path dao marks.

The divine hedgehog was as large as a hill, Meng tribe's two Gu Immortals slowly flew to its side, they were like ants in front of a carriage wheel.

"Such an amazing immemorial desolate beast!" Meng tribe's second supreme elder softly praised.

Sleeping Lady's expression somewhat softened, this was her most important capital that allowed her to survive in between two super forces.

Meng tribe's second supreme elder carefully inspected before saying: "This batch of front-back divine obstruction needles seems to have very high quality. Sleeping Lady, when are you picking them?"

The sharp spines on the divine hedgehog's body were rank eight immortal materials that could be plucked. Every sharp spine was a front-back divine obstruction needle.

Every time the divine hedgehog encounters a dangerous situation, it would shoot out all its sharp spines to kill the enemy. These released spines naturally could not be put back. When the divine hedgehog goes to sleep, new spines would once again grow on its body.

Sleeping Lady had unique methods which could make the divine hedgehog fall into deep sleep constantly. Doing that after feeding it till its full, Sleeping Lady gained an economic pillar which was the business of front-back divine obstruction needles.

These front-back divine obstruction needles were mostly sold to Meng tribe and Murong tribe, while the remaining small portion was put on sale in treasure yellow heaven.

Sleeping Lady thus was quite well off. Northern Plains was poor in resources, but Sleeping Lady relied on this divine hedgehog to live a far better life than most of the Northern Plains' Gu Immortals.

"I will pick them up soon, there will be four hundred and thirty-six needles this time." Sleeping Lady replied seriously.

There were over a thousand spines on the divine hedgehog, but Sleeping Lady needed to leave behind those short spines to continue growing. What she plucked were the longest spines. Also, she could not sell all the spines, because without these spines, the divine hedgehog's battle strength would fall severely.

"Let's start." Meng Zi Zai suggested.

"Please examine carefully, I will make the divine hedgehog remain asleep." Sleeping Lady said.

Meng tribe's two Gu Immortals began to search for clues with Investigation Courtyard, the commotion was huge but Sleeping Lady's sound path killer move made the divine hedgehog remain deep asleep.

If the divine hedgehog was startled awake, it would definitely become furious and vent its anger on them, attacking randomly. Sleeping Lady had not completely subdued this beast, after all, she was not an enslavement path Gu Immortal.

"We have a new clue!" After a long while of searching, Meng Zi Zai suddenly said with a spirited expression.

Sleeping Lady was terrified: "This person actually infiltrated this deep into the valley and I did not sense it?"

The three immortals followed the trails found that it continued deeper down.

The three immortals followed the trail all the way, unknowingly reaching deep underground where the clues increased further.

Not long later, the trail changed direction, winding up towards the surface.

The three immortals followed the trail cautiously, arriving at the surface after a while.

"This is the territory of Murong tribe, it is hundreds of li away from Divine Needle Valley." Meng tribe's second supreme elder frowned.

The clues completely disappeared here.

Meng Zi Zai's gaze flickered, Sleeping Lady fell silent, she would not make any statements in such a delicate juncture.

The three immortals inspected the surroundings for a long while, but did not find any other clues.

Sleeping Lady proposed to return to her valley to rest, Meng tribe's two immortals had not found any clues, so after thinking for a moment, they agreed.

But how could they have known when they returned to the valley, there was a shocking discovery waiting for them.

The extraordinary divine hedgehog was still in a deep sleep, but its whole body was bare, all the front-back divine obstruction needles were gone!

"What's going on? My divine obstruction needles! I had stayed guard in Divine Needle Valley without going out for a hundred years, spending a large amount of food to feed the divine hedgehog and not stinting on repeatedly using my killer move to make it sleep before I was able to get it to this scale!" Sleeping Lady was pale with shock as she shouted in an anguished voice.

Meng tribe's two immortals looked at each other, cold sweat dripping from their forehead, because they suddenly realized they were used by someone!

-x-X-x-

"I want Meng tribe to give me an explanation, now! Otherwise, although I might be a lone cultivator, I won't let this matter drop!" Sleeping Lady fiercely stared at the two Meng tribe immortals.

Her losses were truly disastrous. This caused her to be so anxious and furious that she directly demanded for an explanation even though the other side was Meng tribe.

She was not like Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan lost his guts Gu business but still had many income sources like dragonfish business, spirit snake transactions, regretful spiders, eerie fire dragon python and so on.

To Sleeping Lady, losing these front-back divine obstruction needles was the same as losing her main financial pillar. Although she still had the divine hedgehog, to regrow the front-back divine obstruction needles would require time as well as an enormous investment!

Sleeping Lady had a long-term plan, every time she harvested some front-back divine obstruction needles, she did not pick all of them, instead leaving behind most of them to continue growing.

But the person who stole the front-back divine obstruction needles was too vicious, they did not leave behind even one tiny spine for Sleeping Lady.

Sleeping Lady's losses were not only those spines which had grown to the limit, her future prospects were also affected.

"A pity that I don't have methods to move this immemorial desolate beast into my immortal aperture! Putting it outside is truly not safe!" Sleeping Lady's fists trembled, she even had a passing thought of suiciding.

But actually, even if she could move it, it would be troublesome.

First of all, she did not have full control over the divine hedgehog, if this immemorial desolate beast acted up inside her immortal aperture, she would suffer severe losses.

Secondly, if Sleeping Lady was about to undergo tribulation, heaven's will would send much more powerful calamities and tribulations that would specifically target the divine hedgehog.

Finally, the divine hedgehog was Sleeping Lady's trump card to survive between Meng tribe and Murong tribe. If she placed it in her immortal aperture, and there was a fight in the future, she might not be able to release it in time to face the enemies.

"Sleeping Lady, calm down, please calm down for a second." Meng tribe's second supreme elder repeatedly persuaded.

"Calm down? How can I calm down? You said a murder happened, Meng Tu died in battle, alright, I believed your Meng tribe and without verifying the truth, I let you guys in and even warmly welcomed you. You said you found evidence, but I did not find anything and only relied on your Investigation Courtyard. Later, there were indeed obvious clues, but were they truly left behind by the culprit? Does Investigation Courtyard not have an ability to tamper with clues?"

As she said this, cold sweat dripped down Sleeping Lady's forehead.

She calmed down and looked vigilantly at the two Meng tribe immortals, a large amount of Gu worm auras started spreading from her body.

Sleeping Lady fixed her gaze at the two Meng tribe immortals while slowly retreating.

Meng tribe's two immortals could only smile bitterly, but also understood Sleeping Lady's mentality.

Right now, the divine hedgehog had lost all its spines, its battle strength had fallen to an all-time low, which was like Sleeping Lady's own battle strength falling down sharply. The trump card which she had used to have dealings with the two super forces was now mostly gone, how could Sleeping Lady not be vigilant?

Meng tribe's second supreme elder sighed bitterly: "Sleeping Lady, if this was really planned out by my tribe to plot against you to secretly steal this divine hedgehog's spines, why would we bother returning with you? If we were plotting against you, we should have already deceived you into a trap like an immortal battlefield using the excuse of finding the trails of the culprit, don't you think so?"

Sleeping Lady was silent for a moment before moving her eyes upward: "That is probably because your Meng tribe belongs to the righteous path and has to abide by rules, so you can't directly make a move against me. On the other hand, I have already set an agreement with your Meng tribe, so you made this plan of lowering my battle strength first and then using eloquent speech to deceive me!"

Meng tribe's two immortals could not help but glance at each other.

Sleeping Lady's words were not unreasonable, her quick thinking made Meng tribe's two immortals not know of what to say.

"Hmph!" Sleeping Lady continued, "You thought I am not aware of your righteous path's tricks? You started this, if your Meng tribe won't give me an explanation... then alright, I will let the world be the judge of it!"

"Stop!" Meng tribe's second supreme elder quickly shouted, his and Meng Zi Zai's expressions were ashen.

But it was too late!

Sleeping Lady directly revealed this matter in treasure yellow heaven, she quickly informed Murong tribe through her contacts.

In an instant, the matter Meng tribe had tried hard to hide about Meng Tu being killed, them being unable to find the culprit, and even implicating Sleeping Lady in losing her front-back divine obstruction needles, were completely revealed.

"You, you, you!" Meng Zi Zai pointed towards Sleeping Lady, his eyes were almost spouting fire of anger.

Meng tribe's second supreme elder was also ashen-faced as he gazed at Sleeping Lady with narrowed eyes and killing intent.

Sleeping Lady's expression was impassive, but was inwardly smiling bitterly.

She of course knew her action had greatly harmed her and Meng tribe's relationship. But she had no other options!

She had to do this.

Any alliance agreement had the chance of being broken by one side. Today's matter was also too severe, Sleeping Lady had to protect herself.

How could she, whose battle strength had fallen to rock bottom, protect herself?

Even if Meng Tu died, the super force Meng tribe was still not something a rank seven lone immortal like Sleeping Lady could go against.

Sleeping Lady believed the best method was to borrow the strength of others, to attract the attention of other Gu Immortals and Meng tribe's competitor, Murong tribe, to this matter and support her to some extent. Even if Meng tribe had some harmful intentions, they would have to restrain themselves, after all, they were a righteous path force!

"Sleeping Lady, at this point, any more words have no meaning. But I will tell you not to be so suspecting, we were likely used by that person!" Meng tribe's second supreme elder said in a deep voice.

The situation was obvious now.

Even if the two Meng tribe immortals did not cultivate wisdom path, they could deduce that the culprit was extremely vicious, not to mention how they had inexplicably forced Meng Tu to self-detonate, they intentionally left behind clues to lead Meng tribe's pursuers to Divine Needle Valley. They then used them to lead Sleeping Lady away, which allowed them to conveniently take away all the spines of the divine hedgehog!

"Our Meng tribe will give you an explanation!" Before leaving, Meng tribe's second supreme elder left behind this sentence.

Meng tribe's two immortals left, Sleeping Lady immediately began to arrange a Gu formation around the immemorial desolate beast divine hedgehog.

Meng tribe had lost their clues so they could only head back.

Even if they obtained any clues now, they would be doubtful if this was another trap by the enemy.

Inside Investigation Courtyard, Meng Zi Zai suddenly said with a fierce glint in his eyes: "This culprit is really crafty, the matter has been exposed now and the whole world knows of it, how about we just sentence Sleeping Lady as the culprit?"

Whether Sleeping Lady was the culprit or not, if Meng tribe attacked and killed her, they could regain their prestige, resolving this crisis to their reputation. And who is to say they won't be able to get the immemorial desolate beast divine hedgehog.

Meng tribe's second supreme elder sighed: "I also thought of this. But, firstly, Investigation Courtyard is not able to deal with Sleeping Lady and the divine hedgehog in a short period of time. This place is also close to Murong tribe, there is no guarantee of them not interfering. Secondly, we have an alliance agreement with her, and will suffer a heavy backlash if we rashly attack her. Finally, the current Northern Plains' situation is not the same as before."

At present, Longevity Heaven had appeared in front of the world, Yao Huang had taken the position of South Desolation Immortal, and Longevity Heaven was uniting all the Huang Jin tribes. In this period of time, they were dedicating themselves to integrate the strength of Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world.

Righteous path forces were basically all Huang Jin tribes, there was almost no need to integrate them. Longevity Heaven's first plan was thus to merge lone cultivators with the righteous path.

This plan was, however, slightly obstructed when Heavenly Court sent someone disguised as Fang Yuan.

But Longevity Heaven still had not given up, they continued to make effort in this plan.

Thus, as a Huang Jin tribe, if Meng tribe rashly attacked the lone immortal Sleeping Lady and did not handle it properly, they would be investigated and blamed by Longevity Heaven.

This was what Meng tribe's second supreme elder had the most worries about.

As the two Meng tribe immortals were heading back, Fang Yuan was also rushing back.

A pile of front-back divine obstruction needles was quietly lying inside his sovereign immortal aperture. Indeed, he was the culprit behind the entire matter.

Fang Yuan knew a lot about Meng tribe, and with his wisdom path attainment, he arranged a simple but effective trap.

And with his powerful luck, Sleeping Lady was indeed drawn away, letting him immediately succeed in this plan.

Ordinary Gu Immortals might not be able to get near the divine hedgehog, after all, their auras were distinct.

But Fang Yuan had familiar face and could completely disguise as Sleeping Lady. Even when the divine hedgehog slowly opened its eyes, he did not panic.

The divine hedgehog went to sleep once again, Fang Yuan was able to pluck all its spines. After obtaining them, Fang Yuan did not do anything to the sleeping divine hedgehog, he directly left.

In his first life's memories, Sleeping Lady was also one of the experts who resisted Heavenly Court. As for the divine hedgehog, why would he take it?

It was of little value to Fang Yuan, instead it was better to let it continue to remain in Sleeping Lady's hands. When Sleeping Lady nurtures a new batch of spines again, Fang Yuan could then come again to steal it!

Fang Yuan had no guilt even when killing others, let alone just stealing things.

"Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was indeed amazing to be able to create a path like theft path." Fang Yuan had tasted its sweet benefits and now had a whole new view of theft path.

In the battle with Meng Tu, it was great thief ghost hand which determined the victory at once. If it had gone normally, Fang Yuan could not have so easily taken Meng Tu's life.

"Before theft path's appearance, Gu Immortals could fight each other to death but still might not be able to obtain much battle spoils. But with theft path's appearance, they could obtain resources without the need to fight a life or death battle. The costs are reduced while the efficiency is raised, this is simply too amazing!"

"Unfortunately, right now is not a good time for me to go around stealing. On one hand, I lack theft path Immortal Gu, and only have the rank seven Immortal Gu Great Thief to support my theft path moves. On the other hand, I have already exposed great thief ghost hand back in Western Desert, if I go around robbing all over the place, someone will probably connect the clues and deduce my true identity."

"There is still a crucial immortal material lacking from the myriad self Immortal Gu recipe. After this, I will hurry back to Lang Ya blessed land and refine myriad self Immortal Gu."

Although Fang Yuan had some theft path methods, he could not overdo it.

Because his soul cultivation was the more urgent matter.

Increasing his soul foundation meant he could make more use of emperor yama, his battle strength as well as plans would be guaranteed. But cultivating soul required guts Gu, required soul cores, and also required the goods from green ghost desert, Suan Bu Jin's identity needed to be kept a secret. This was a chain of requirements.

"Oh right, I also cannot let this matter be easily revealed." Fang Yuan snickered, immediately spreading rumors in treasure yellow heaven, saying Sleeping Lady was lying and scheming against Meng tribe, the front-back divine obstruction needles were kept by herself in preparation to undergo tribulation and advance to a higher level!

The truth was even more obscured now, which was even more helpful in concealing Fang Yuan.

As for Sleeping Lady, when she learned of these rumors, she immediately spat out blood from anxiety and anger!

Naturally, this was of no concern to Fang Yuan.

-x-X-x-

Treasure yellow heaven.

A large lump of transparent fire was silently burning while letting out vast treasure light.

The fire immediately attracted the attention of many Gu Immortals the moment it appeared.

Many wills and a few divine senses were attracted towards the scene.

Black Heaven Temple's Gu Immortal Zhang Ji smiled, he was the owner of this transparent fire.

"I never expected this expedition to give me a batch of a rare rank seven immortal material. Its profits should be enough to replenish my immortal essence reserves."

While thinking, he responded to everyone's questions about the price.

His price was only a slight bit higher than the norm, so many had the thoughts of purchasing.

"I want all of this." One divine sense directly contacted Zhang Ji, offering a high price.

Zhang Ji's heart thumped in excitement, somewhat disbelieving: "You want all of this? The price..."

"Make the deal." The other side was extremely straightforward, directly giving a large amount of immortal essence stones.

"Okay!" Seeing such a huge amount of immortal essence stones, Zhang Ji's eyes immediately brightened, agreeing immediately.

The transaction was completed quickly, the Gu Immortals who were observing the fire were somewhat caught off-guard.

"No need to worry, I still have stock left!" Zhang Ji's divine sense was constantly fluctuating, he quickly proclaimed and took out another lump of transparent fire.

It was just that this transparent fire's amount was much smaller than the previously sold lump.

The first transaction had stimulated other Gu Immortals' desire to purchase, after all, this transparent fire was indeed rare in the market. Usually, they could only accumulate it over continuous purchase, and every purchase was normally only a fist sized or a basin sized lump of fire. They were different from now where the transparent fire was the size of a carriage! They could not lose this rare opportunity.

"But this time, I am going to raise the price." Zhang Ji's smile became brighter. He did not have much knowledge of the transparent fire. This was also his first time selling it and he did not have a proper understanding of the market situation, so the enthusiasm of other Gu Immortals was beyond his expectations.

He continued to raise the price, but few buyers gave up, so the starting price continued to become higher.

"Darn it, looks like I made a mistake in selling earlier!" Zhang Ji looked at this scene with some regret, while also admiring that buyer's decisiveness.

Zhang Ji was not foolish, he had divided his stock of transparent fire into three portions. The first portion was to test the waters, while the one he was selling now was the second portion.

As the transactions continued to increase, he got a clearer grasp over the market situation.

"Floating life fire!" Fang Yuan looked at this lump of transparent fire in his sovereign immortal aperture with a delighted expression.

It was him who took the lead and purchased Zhang Ji's goods.

This floating life fire was transparent and burned silently without any heat. But when it burns a living being, all kinds of past scenes of this living being would turn into images that would constantly replay in the floating life fire. At that time, the floating life fire would emit a multi-colored radiance, and would no longer be transparent.

Floating life fire needed to be preserved with special methods.

Zhang Ji had coincidentally obtained a large amount of floating life fire, he did not have such methods.

After Fang Yuan obtained it, he immediately used a method to preserve the floating life fire. This method was not from Spectral Soul's true inheritance, but was obtained from Lang Ya true inheritance which he had exchanged Spectral Soul's true inheritance for.

"I had thought I needed to travel far and find trouble with other people to seize this floating life fire. Who would have thought that someone was selling it in treasure yellow heaven in such a large quantity now. This luck is truly amazing!"

Fang Yuan smiled.

There were bound to be many Gu Immortals who wanted to purchase floating life fire.

But Gu Immortal wills were usually unable to make the decision, they could only follow the commands left by the Gu Immortal.

And to be able to take out so many immortal essence stones at once was also not something ordinary Gu Immortals could do.

Even if they had the capital, those observing Gu Immortals would want to bargain as the amount they required was usually not that big.

Because of many reasons, Fang Yuan was able to make the first move and gain it for a cheap price!

As for the risk?

This Zhang Ji was a Gu Immortal of Black Heaven Temple, a person of Heavenly Court, but he did not know the buyer was Fang Yuan, neither did Fang Yuan know of his identity.

Transactions in treasure yellow heaven were very secure. If Heavenly Court was able to use this to scheme against Fang Yuan, to have a such a deep influence even in treasure yellow heaven, then it was better for Fang Yuan to just surrender.

All in all, the chance of this was rather low.

Drinking blade wine, edge Gu, front-back divine obstruction needles, and floating life fire, these four main immortal materials were all gathered. Fang Yuan still had to purchase some more edge Gu, which could be completely satisfied by treasure yellow heaven, if not, he still had a channel left in Western Desert's Xiao clan.

Since there was no meaning in staying outside, Fang Yuan hurried back to Lang Ya blessed land.

Passing through the immortal formation, Fang Yuan returned to Lang Ya blessed land. The process was smooth with no danger.

Fang Yuan's return was much earlier than expected, this made Lang Ya land spirit extremely happy.

"Since you have returned, I will prepare for the refinement." Lang Ya land spirit was extremely active, the pressure from Heavenly Court was really too huge.

"I still need to thank first supreme elder and the Gu Immortals of the other three races for lending me so many immortal essence stones." Fang Yuan thanked.

Without their assistance, how could Fang Yuan take out such a huge sum?

"Don't stand on ceremony. We are all on the same side, you getting stronger means Lang Ya blessed land will be even more safe. If Lang Ya blessed land is in danger, they also won't be able to escape due to the alliance agreement!" Lang Ya land spirit's reply was direct and frank.

Indeed, the present situation made it such that Lang Ya Sect as well as the snowmen, rockmen, and inkmen were in the same boat. If anyone encountered danger, the rest would not be able to escape.

Fang Yuan handed the four immortal materials to Lang Ya Sect to process.

These immortal materials required at least fifteen days of processing, the steps were extremely tedious, repetitive and complicated. This was the case when all the hairy man Gu Immortals of Lang Ya Sect put in their full effort.

The superiority of myriad self Immortal Gu's recipe could be seen from this!

With his refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment, Fang Yuan's myriad self Immortal Gu recipe was so outstanding that it could be said to have reached the limits of the world with no room left for improvements.

The crucial procedures of the Gu refinement were shortened to the limit, there were three in total. While the other procedures had over ten thousand steps, most of them were the processing of the immortal materials.

Fang Yuan processed the immortal materials to their best state, spending most of his effort in this. Even if the expenditure of the immortal materials increased because of this, he did not hesitate.

Because these procedures were the ones which Gu Immortals could control. While those crucial steps of the Gu refinement could only rely on the collision and interweaving of the dao marks, Gu Immortals could not control these changes.

Through this method and with the help of Lang Ya Sect's Gu refinement abilities, the success rate of Fang Yuan's myriad self Immortal Gu recipe was at an incredibly high fifty percent!

That meant Fang Yuan had an equal chance to succeed or fail in refining it.

Fifty percent success rate was truly too terrifying.

The absolute majority of Gu Immortals would be happy if they had even one percent success rate when refining Gu.

However, this was also mainly because Fang Yuan was a refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster!

How many refinement path quasi-supreme grandmasters were there in the world? Since ancient times until now, an expert at Fang Yuan's level could be counted with one's fingers. Those who surpassed his level only amounted to three people in the whole of history.

Moreover, there were extremely few Gu Immortals who cultivated multiple paths, and how many of them would cultivate refinement path?

From another angle, most Gu Immortals were actually amateurs in refining Immortal Gu. It would be preposterous if they could raise the success rate of the Gu refinement!

In fact, even Fang Yuan, who had deduced it, was in slight disbelief over the fifty percent success rate.

But then he thought of Long Hair Ancestor.

Long Hair Ancestor had refined many Immortal Gu in his life, including rank seven and rank eight Immortal Gu. He was a refinement path supreme grandmaster, if he did not have such a success rate, would Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable find him for help?

"Furthermore, I am making use of the whole of Lang Ya Sect's strength to refine this Gu. In the present age, when comparing refinement path attainment, Lang Ya Sect should no doubt be the number one force."

"Besides these, the third main reason is my powerful luck."

First was his refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment level, second was the number one refinement force's all-out help, and third was the powerful luck obtained from Giant Sun's true inheritance.

Three big reasons combined to form this fifty percent success rate of myriad self Immortal Gu's refinement!

"I am finally free from the curse of refining Immortal Gu." Fang Yuan was extremely moved to the point of having the urge to tear up.

He knew the most important reason was him becoming a refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster!

The other two reasons were helpful, but they were more or less present in all the previous Gu refinements. His fifty percent success rate was mainly still brought by the refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment.

"And this is when I am only deducing and modifying the Immortal Gu recipe. In the future, when I make up for my lack of foundational skills in Gu refinement, I can personally take charge of the refinement process, the success rate will increase even more!"

"It is a pity that I don't have enough time..."

-x-X-x-

Lang Ya blessed land, Cloud Cover Continent.

Lang Ya land spirit breathed in deeply, shouting: "Formation, activate—!"

Like millions of bees dancing and buzzing, the refinement path super formation activated. Soon, a huge stream of white-gold light burst out and filled the surroundings.

"Enter the formation!" Lang Ya land spirit ordered as he entered the immortal formation at the same time.

Next, Sixth Hair, Third Hair, Fourth Hair, Seventh Hair, and the other hairy man Gu Immortals entered the formation.

Fang Yuan stood at the periphery of the immortal formation as an observer.

He was not personally involved in this Gu refinement, he had handed it to Lang Ya land spirit and the other hairy man Gu Immortals.

Even though Fang Yuan had quasi-supreme refinement path attainment level, he could not compare to Lang Ya Sect's Gu Immortals in terms of practice of refinement fundamentals.

"During normal times, I can still participate in the Gu refinement. But this time, Lang Ya land spirit is using the refinement path immortal formation that Long Hair Ancestor had created personally back then, this immortal formation can only be used by hairy man Gu Immortals. As a human Gu Immortal, if I enter, I will be killed by the immortal Gu formation."

Lang Ya blessed land had deep foundations, this time, they took out one of Long Hair's refinement path formations.

Of course, with Fang Yuan's methods, he could use his transformation path attainment to turn into a hairy man Gu Immortal. But most likely, Lang Ya Sect wanted to keep this formation a secret and did not want to expose it to Fang Yuan.

"I used Spectral Soul's true inheritance to exchange for Lang Ya true inheritance back then. Evidently, this Long Hair refinement path formation is something Lang Ya land spirit is keeping as a trump card, he will not trade it away. Like the lead soul into dream killer move within Spectral Soul's true inheritance, I am also keeping it for myself."

Fang Yuan watched from the side as bright light shone in his eyes.

Even though Lang Ya Sect pushed Fang Yuan to the side, he was quite satisfied with it.

Facing the huge pressure from Heavenly Court, Lang Ya Sect was very anxious, they even activated this Long Hair refinement path formation to quickly refine myriad self Immortal Gu for Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan was one of them after joining Lang Ya Sect, increasing his battle strength was very beneficial for relocating Lang Ya blessed land!

The Long Hair refinement path formation activated slowly, the light continued to change colors, it was originally white-gold, before turning orange-gold, and dark-gold.

The dark-gold light started to flicker with starlight specks, it was very bright.

The immortal formation's buzzing got softer, after a few breaths of time, it became completely silent without any sound.

The hairy man Gu Immortals and Lang Ya land spirit were all standing in a big circle.

Lang Ya land spirit first acted as he activated an immortal formation, opening it and taking out a bunch of already prepared immortal materials.

This immortal material resembled chilled and dried sunflowers, the moment it appeared in the immortal formation, it turned into smoke and fused into the dark-gold light.

Fang Yuan watched solemnly, this was the first crucial step, after the smoke completely fuses into the dark-gold light, they would be able to continue.

Fang Yuan did not feel much pressure.

If this step failed, his losses would not be big, he could restart again.

But an hour later, the immortal material completely turned into smoke and fused into the dark-gold light perfectly.

Within the immortal formation, the dark-gold light continued to condense and shrink, it was everywhere earlier, but now it was the size of a house, trapped within the Long Hair refinement path formation.

When the starlight specks within the dark-gold light turned into ice stars, Lang Ya land spirit activated the immortal formation and started the second step.

As time passed, immortal materials were sent into the immortal formation by the hairy man Gu Immortals one by one, they were all fusing together.

Three days and nights later, Third Hair started tossing Gu worms into the immortal formation.

He first threw in self reliance Gu.

This Gu worm was only rank three, it was shaped like a cockroach, a dark brown colored flat body. There were feelers on its head, and wings on its back.

Self reliance Gu was a strength path Gu worm that had healing effects. The greater the Gu Master's strength, the greater the healing effect.

This was a rare Gu worm, mortals could not find one even if they tried, but Sixth Hair tossed in several hundreds of them.

The quantity of self reliance Gu was strictly calculated.

Because this involved the quantity of dao marks, when refining Immortal Gu, the numbers had to be precise!

When all of the self reliance Gu were tossed in, Lang Ya land spirit shouted as he activated Long Hair refinement path formation fully.

At once, within the formation, fire pillars rose, hundreds or thousands of them that were meters tall blazed within the dark-gold light.

Strong air currents were blowing outwards, but the refinement path immortal formation perfectly trapped them. The hairy man Gu Immortals who were standing around the immortal Gu formation could not feel the temperature rising at all.

The Long Hair refinement formation was very exceptional!

The orange-red fire pillar continued burning for forty-eight hours before weakening. The dark-gold light was completely burned up, even the self reliance Gu were burned into an odd rock that was the size of a horse carriage.

After waiting for a while, the rock solidified completely, Fang Yuan let out a sigh of relief. The second step of refining myriad self Immortal Gu was finally over.

Next, Lang Ya land spirit and the rest started to rest and recuperate while Fourth Hair and Sixth Hair worked to sustain the immortal formation, carving this rock.

After some time, the rock was completely ground up and turned into a pile of rock fragments scattered on the ground.

Third Hair stopped resting and took out the drinking blade wine, pouring it over these rock fragments.

This drinking blade wine was obtained by Fang Yuan not long ago when he killed Meng Tu. It had great use now, turning the rock fragments into traces of grey smoke.

The grey smoke floated up and condensed into balls of smoke, resembling miniature lanterns that floated in the air.

Fourth Hair and Sixth Hair started to rest, while Third Hair took out a number of all-out effort Gu.

This Gu worm was shaped like a rhinoceros beetle, it was a mortal Gu. It had the size of an adult's palm, and was very heavy. It was oval in shape, and had a strong armor exoskeleton. There was a strong horn on its head, looking heavy and powerful. It had several pairs of legs, all strong and thick. Its body was dark brown, and glistened with a metallic surface. People only needed one glance to know it was not ordinary.

Fang Yuan had not refined all-out effort Immortal Gu yet for now, these were all mortal Gu, from rank one to five.

The Gu worm entered the smoke and did not mix with it.

At this time, Lang Ya land spirit started to act, opening the inventory and taking out the floating life fire that had already been prepared.

Within the transparent fire, large numbers of all-out effort Gu and grey smoke started to fuse.

This was a long step.

Half a month later, the fusing was completed, be it the floating life fire, all-out effort Gu, or grey smoke, they all vanished, a drizzle was left.

This drizzle was restricted by the refinement path immortal formation, it was trapped at the center of the formation, raining down endlessly.

By now, the third crucial step was completed too.

Time was pressing now, the drizzle was not stable, it was becoming smaller rapidly.

All the hairy man Gu Immortals and Lang Ya land spirit started to act, they all had different methods, they were in charge of different segments of the Gu refinement.

Front-back divine obstruction needles and other immortal materials were all tossed in, as well as large numbers of mortal Gu.

The myriad self Immortal Gu recipe that Fang Yuan deduced did not expend any Immortal Gu, instead, a large number of immortal materials and mortal Gu were used.

This way, he would not lose Immortal Gu, but his immortal materials and mortal Gu expenditure would increase by tens of times, the amount of work needed for the refinement also increased drastically. This was also why Lang Ya Sect was using the Long Hair refinement path formation.

As time passed, all the crucial steps were passed without much danger or accidents.

After two months in Lang Ya blessed land's time, the refinement of myriad self Immortal Gu reached the final crucial step.

Fang Yuan had time path methods of course, but he could not reduce the time needed. The shrinking of time by time path was essentially carving time path dao marks to influence it. During the refinement process, the addition of time path dao marks would disrupt the refinement itself.

Two months was Fang Yuan's current limit already. He had used all of his time path methods that could be used to perfectly refine the Immortal Gu without additional disruption, by turning the dao marks into materials for the refinement.

The immortal formation resonated and shook, bright light burst into the sky.

Lang Ya land spirit let out a deep sigh, the rest of the hairy man Gu Immortals had tired expressions, but joy was on their faces.

The final step succeeded.

The light faded as a rank seven Immortal Gu appeared.

This Gu worm was more than ten meters long, it was like a centipede that shined in a metallic luster, the mouthpiece on its head looked dangerous while there was a pair of long antennas on its forehead, it had five thousand legs on either side of its body, having a total of ten thousand legs.

Rank seven Immortal Gu Myriad Self!

"To think that the first refinement succeeded!"

"Haha, we finally refined it."

The hairy man Gu Immortals cheered, they were extremely happy.

Myriad self Immortal Gu was trapped at the center of the refinement path immortal formation, because Fang Yuan was not the person who refined it, it was currently still ownerless.

But soon, Fang Yuan refined it rapidly using the help of the refinement path immortal formation.

"Using one attempt to refine this rank seven Immortal Gu, haha." Fang Yuan was also very happy, he had never even dared to dream of such a thing happening in the past!

Fifty percent success rate was too high.

Fang Yuan tried to inject immortal essence into myriad self Immortal Gu, it started to shine as countless Fang Yuan strength path phantoms appeared from within the light, it was like using the killer move myriad self.

"The effect is only slightly weaker, after all, the killer move myriad self uses too many Gu worms." Fang Yuan could feel the difference: "The immortal essence expenditure has fallen greatly, the activation is also much easier now, it only needs one thought. The killer move back then needed time to prepare no matter how familiar I was with it, it also used a lot of mental energy!"

Fang Yuan tested it and was extremely satisfied with myriad self Immortal Gu!

-x-X-x-

Lang Ya blessed land, Cloud Cover Continent.

Immortal killer move — Myriad Self Giant Hand!

Fang Yuan floated in the air, his aura exploded with a loud sound as a giant hand appeared out of nowhere, slamming towards the ground.

Instantly, air currents pushed out as the huge palm descended like a toppling mountain, slamming fiercely on the cloud soil ground.

Cloud Cover Continent was designed by Lang Ya land spirit personally, it was made of cloud soil, able to float in the air without ever landing.

The cloud soil was not tough, Fang Yuan's myriad self giant hand had rank seven attacking power, this hand shattered the cloud soil of all the surroundings, falling down towards the vast sea below.

Fang Yuan was testing his killer move, he was not trying to destroy Cloud Cover Continent, thus when his hand landed on Cloud Cover Continent, Lang Ya blessed land's super immortal formation activated, a silver light resembling flowing water appeared on Cloud Cover Continent.

After myriad self giant hand landed on the cloud soil, the silver light was destroyed as cloud soil scattered around, the surrounding terrain was completely altered, there was a huge handprint on the ground that was several meters deep.

Fang Yuan willed as the giant hand quickly vanished.

Seeing the effect, he nodded in satisfaction.

"With myriad self Immortal Gu, giant hand is much easier to use now!"

In the past, in order to use myriad self giant hand, Fang Yuan had to first activate the killer move myriad self and store countless strength path phantoms in his immortal aperture. Next, using these strength path phantoms, he had to use group strength Gu to unleash strength path giant hand.

The process was very tedious, if he did not store strength path phantoms in his immortal aperture, he could not use giant hand in a life-and-death battle. But strength path phantoms could not be stored for a long time, they would disappear after some time and disintegrate on their own.

It was usable for battles he was prepared for, but in unexpected situations, or when he was ambushed, myriad self giant hand could not be used.

Thankfully, Fang Yuan had deep wisdom and a cautious mind, he had always been keeping an eye out for such situations, he did not end up in an awkward spot.

"In the past, using myriad self killer move already needed self strength Immortal Gu, bitter strength Gu, borrow strength Gu, self reliance Gu, refine essence spirit Gu, amplify effect Gu, earth strength Gu, fire, water, wind, lightning strength Gu and countless other mortal Gu, but now I just need to use myriad self Immortal Gu."

"But now, my myriad self giant hand only needs myriad self Immortal Gu as the core with some group strength Gu as the supplementary mortal Gu, it requires less than thirty Gu worms in total, and is very simple compared to the past."

The former myriad self giant hand was evidently unusable now.

After refining myriad self Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan modified myriad self giant hand into a new version using myriad self Immortal Gu as the core, the core self strength Immortal Gu was no longer used.

This meant that self strength Immortal Gu could be used in other aspects.

Of course, he could also add it into the myriad self giant hand killer move to increase its strength.

That would depend on Fang Yuan's further modification.

"Actually, myriad self giant hand has room for improvement. For example, if the speed is insufficient, I can add mortal Gu to fix that flaw. I can also add soul path Immortal Gu to allow giant hand to capture souls as well. Furthermore, the power of giant hand is merely limited by my strength path dao marks, I can continue to strengthen it. The current giant hand has rank seven power, but is not at the peak, it is because my sovereign immortal body's strength path dao marks cannot sustain greater power."

Fang Yuan had only started modifying myriad self giant hand, after changing the core Immortal Gu, there was still huge room for improvement.

In the past, the killer move was too complicated and expended too much thinking and time, adding more Gu worms would lower its usability.

But now, myriad self killer move was condensed into one Gu worm, the process was very simple, he could add more mortal Gu and Immortal Gu to make an even stronger giant hand.

Fang Yuan's practice this time was not just on the strength path giant hand, he was also testing Lang Ya Sect's defensive super immortal formation.

When Feng Jiu Ge invaded earlier, this immortal formation had been very useful, it preserved the lives of many variant human Gu Immortals and also helped Lang Ya Sect get through that tough situation.

Feng Jiu Ge used separation song on the immortal formation multiple times, but Fang Yuan had expected it and split the immortal formation into many layers, Feng Jiu Ge separated many layers but did not get to the core after all.

This time, Fang Yuan did not just modify myriad self giant hand, he also modified the immortal formation and allowed its range to extend throughout Lang Ya Sect.

Earlier, when the strength path giant hand landed on Cloud Cover Continent, this immortal formation was the reason why the destructive effect was reduced.

After testing strength path giant hand, he moved on to the more important matter.

Immortal killer move — Reverse Flow Protection Seal!

This killer move determined Fang Yuan's upper limit, it was only through this he could contest rank eights.

Right now, the core of the killer move was the secluded domain of heaven and earth Reverse Flow River, myriad self Immortal Gu, perseverance Immortal Gu, pulling water Immortal Gu, and over a hundred mortal Gu. Even though it was more complex than myriad self giant hand, this was way simpler than the previous reverse flow protection seal!

After simplifying the killer move, the success rate of activation rose sharply, it was more usable in battle now.

"During the battle in green ghost desert, I was sneak attacked and could not use reverse flow protection seal in time. Now, the activation time has shrunk greatly, I should be able to deal with most assaults."

"However... I can no longer conceal reverse flow protection seal's modifications and set a trap. The trick I used on Thunder Ghost True Monarch only works once."

Fang Yuan felt it was a pity.

Reverse flow protection seal killer move had become much easier to use now due to myriad self Immortal Gu, but this was Fang Yuan's current limit. Adding more Immortal Gu would be difficult.

He could no longer set a trap like earlier and reveal a brand new reverse flow protection seal within a short period of time.

After some deductions, Fang Yuan went into seclusion again, deducing other killer moves.

Even though Fang Yuan was calm, he was filled with pressure.

Against a huge force like Heavenly Court, who would have no pressure?

The refinement of myriad self Immortal Gu, was not only to elevate several killer moves. Fang Yuan's true motive was to create a third variation move — Luo Po Seal!

"I was affected by Lu Wei Yin's immortal killer move and lived through three lifetimes. These dreams were very mystical, especially the third life, it was a huge inspiration for my Luo Po seal."

"But I had a lot of obstructions earlier when deducing Luo Po seal, there was a huge hurdle to cross. This myriad self Immortal Gu is like a bridge that might allow me to cross this hurdle and attain success!"

Fang Yuan felt excitement and anticipation.

Even though he raised his reputation using the battle against Thunder Ghost True Monarch and suppressed Feng Jiu Ge, Fang Yuan knew that he was inferior to Feng Jiu Ge in many aspects.

Feng Jiu Ge could fight rank eight because he had a deep accumulation of sound path dao marks, evenly matching rank eight. Even without rank eight sound path Immortal Gu on him, his killer moves could reach quasi-rank eight because of the amplification of his dao marks.

Meanwhile, Fang Yuan could fight rank eight because he was using the vast number of dao marks inside Reverse Flow River. His own dao marks in several paths reached rank seven, but he was still far from rank eight.

Even if he annexed the blessed lands inside City Well, he would still be far from rank eight.

Fang Yuan was not inferior to Feng Jiu Ge in talent.

Feng Jiu Ge was unprecedented in creating assimilation wind song, he was the first Gu Immortal able to summon the winds of assimilation. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan created myriad self and combined strength and enslavement path, it was also a revolutionary creation. The two of them were equally matched.

Now that Fang Yuan condensed the killer move into myriad self Immortal Gu, his status had risen again. Because he could create an entirely new path along this route of development! Compared to just a killer move, there was much more room for development.

Gu cultivation paths were created like this, some were the fusion of two paths, while others were sub-classification of existing paths.

Fang Yuan and Feng Jiu Ge were only different in terms of age.

How many years had Fang Yuan cultivated since rebirth? Feng Jiu Ge had already lived for hundreds of years.

Fang Yuan made such achievements before the age of fifty, it was very rare that he could match Feng Jiu Ge. Compared to normal people, he was simply a monster, his cultivation level rose at an unbelievable rate, it could not be assessed normally. After all, Fang Yuan's rebirth had huge advantages.

And the truth was, Fang Yuan's own dao mark accumulation was quite high.

But now, heaven's will was against him and made his tribulations weak so he could not get dao marks. Annexing immortal apertures was a way, but the upper extreme heavenly eagle had not returned to him yet, while other methods needed specific Immortal Gu and were troublesome to refine. Food path methods like snack Immortal Gu could be used for the killer move eat strength, but the efficiency of this increase in dao marks was too low.

While the grass grows the horse starves, Fang Yuan naturally placed his attention on the secluded domains of heaven and earth.

Fang Yuan had quite a few secluded domains of heaven and earth!

Luo Po Valley, Dang Hun Mountain, Reverse Flow River, City Well, a total of four secluded domains of heaven and earth.

Among them, Reverse Flow River had already been used for reverse flow protection seal, it allowed Fang Yuan to fight rank eight existences. Dang Hun Mountain had already been destroyed and was still in the middle of reparation. City Well was needed to raise variant humans, and in terms of rule path, Fang Yuan was lacking.

The most suitable target was Luo Po Valley.

Fang Yuan's soul path attainment level was ordinary, but he had Spectral Soul's true inheritance, the number one soul path inheritance in this world, nobody could deny that.

On that foundation, along with the inspiration that Fang Yuan obtained from the trials of the three lifetimes, and also with myriad self Immortal Gu...

"If I add in the light of wisdom, I should succeed in deducing Luo Po seal, right?" Fang Yuan pondered.