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"You want to get back Immortal Gu? Impossible!" Fang Yuan laughed coldly.
Immortal Gu were unique!
They were the only one of their kind in the world. Fang Yuan possessing them meant others could not have them, thus their value was inestimable.
Even though Fang Yuan had once sold Immortal Gu to purchase a huge amount of eagle beasts, he was in fatal danger at that time and had no choice but to do so.
Fang Yuan possessed countless killer moves and Immortal Gu recipes, he could make use of almost all Immortal Gu.
The problem was the feeding burden.
Fang Yuan had basically solved this issue for his Immortal Gu. But now, there was an addition of a large number of Immortal Gu, however, the feeding resources for these Immortal Gu were almost all in the bodies of their respective Gu Immortals.
These Gu Immortal experts were trump cards of their respective clans and had deep foundation, how could they not be able to feed their own Gu worms? It was because they could provide the food for their Immortal Gu by themselves that their battle strength was stable, they enjoyed unlimited glory.
Currently, Fang Yuan indeed could not use a lot of the Immortal Gu, but what about the future?
The future was uncertain!
In the Battle of Yi Tian Mountain, Fang Yuan could turn around the situation not only because of the guidance of Star Constellation heaven's will, the crucial key was that he possessed change soul Immortal Gu.
Without this unassuming rank seven Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan would have already died. Shadow Sect would have succeeded in defying heaven.
The difference in having the Immortal Gu and not having it was as different as heaven and earth.
Who could say if, in the future, one of these Immortal Gu might be able to help Fang Yuan turn around the situation like change soul Immortal Gu.
Not to mention that if Fang Yuan sold these Immortal Gu, someone might make an unimaginable comeback like Fang Yuan back in the Battle of Yi Tian Mountain!
Fang Yuan refused the proposal of transacting Immortal Gu without hesitation.
Shang clan's Gu Immortal was not angry: "Then how about exchanging Gu?"
This new proposal interested Fang Yuan.
Southern Border's righteous path wanted to recover their losses as much as possible. Everyone knew Fang Yuan's viciousness and that he could very easily kill the hostages, so they were prepared for the worst.
Those Immortal Gu on the captives had enormous value to the respective clans. This was because they knew the usage methods, a lot of the Immortal Gu had even been taken away from the clan's storage, the clan also had respective killer moves. Many killer moves were even their trump card methods which would be difficult to use without the corresponding Immortal Gu.
As such, Southern Border's righteous path forces were willing to give up some Immortal Gu in their storage, as these Immortal Gu did not have too high of a value to them. It was more worthwhile for them to use these Immortal Gu to exchange for the Immortal Gu in Fang Yuan's hands.
Fang Yuan pondered for a moment, this deal was profitable to both sides, and was also very beneficial to him.
The Immortal Gu that the Southern Border clans could not use and were of less value to them could be of great importance to Fang Yuan.
"You have my interest. But what Gu worms can your clans bring out?" Fang Yuan asked.
Shang clan's Gu Immortal had already prepared for this, immediately sending a list to Fang Yuan through treasure yellow heaven.
Who knew that after Fang Yuan received the list, he said: "I need to look at this list properly. I also have lists here that I will send to your respective clans."
"Fang Yuan, I have already said it, unless you display your sincerity, our Southern Border righteous path won't be extorted by you any more!" The Shang clan Gu Immortal's tone immediately changed.
Fang Yuan smiled: "Your Southern Border righteous path wants to exchange Immortal Gu, sure. But my condition is that you will have to first send the immortal materials in my list to me. Only then will you have the qualifications to make an exchange."
"Fang Yuan, don't go too overboard. If you act like this, we won't continue our discussion."
"Hehehe." Fang Yuan laughed, "The Shang clan Gu Immortal that I currently have captured is Shang Hu Zhang, right? What do you think will happen if I sell him to Fu Sheng Xian?"
Shang clan Gu Immortal was immediately stumped.
Fu Sheng Xian was a rank seven demonic path Gu Immortal of Southern Border who had a deep-seated hatred with Shang Hu Zhang. More than once, he had proclaimed that were Shang Hu Zhang to end up in his hands, he was going to flay the latter's skin and tear the tendons before crushing his bones into ash.
"I believe Fu Sheng Xian will definitely be very interested in buying Shang Hu Zhang." Fang Yuan said in a leisurely tone.
"Fang Yuan, you dare!" Shang clan's Gu Immortal erupted in anger.
"Haha, what would I not dare to do?" Fang Yuan retorted: "I even dared to offend Heavenly Court, why would I fear your mere Shang clan?"
"You, You!" Shang clan's Gu Immortal could not restrain his anger at Fang Yuan's response.
Fang Yuan continued: "Don't overestimate yourself, you are only someone who was chosen to negotiate with me. Did you really think you could represent the whole of Southern Border's righteous path? Let me give another example, Luo clan's Luo Fei is also among the captives. What if I tear all her clothes and throw her into a cesspit? Or what if I throw her into a group of giant apes in heat, and use information path Gu to record every scene, then put them for sale in treasure yellow heaven?"
Shang clan's Gu Immortal gritted his teeth, a deep disgust flashing past his eyes: "Fang Yuan, you are an infamous demon, the Reverse Flow River Lord, inheritor of Red Lotus, Spectral Soul, and many other inheritances, your name is renowned throughout the world, how could you be so shameless and despicable?"
"No, no, no, you are wrong." Fang Yuan shook his head: "I am not despicable, but your attitude is not correct. You have been trying to provoke me, even trying to drive a wedge between me and other clans by saying bad words about them, like how Luo clan is cursing me and wants to plot against me. I believed your words, so I took revenge against Luo clan."
Shang clan's Gu Immortal was unable to say a word, his whole body trembled, his face paled and cold sweat started dripping from his forehead.
Fang Yuan laughed heartily: "Now, you still think you can represent the whole of Southern Border's righteous path?"
After a good while, the Shang clan Gu Immortal said with a tired expression: "Alright, you win, Fang Yuan. I will bring back your list, but I can't guarantee their response."
Fang Yuan laughed: "I don't need your guarantee, you also don't have the qualifications to give me a guarantee. Even if you could, I would not believe you. Go back, you can twist my words and add fuel to the fire when you relay the message to them. Oh, that's right, I need a satisfying answer within three days. If not, I will first sell Shang Hu Zhang to Fu Sheng Xian."
Shang clan's Gu Immortal immediately panicked: "Fang Yuan, you can't do this! I can represent Shang clan to discuss with you right now in private..."
"I refuse!"
"Fang Yuan? Fang Yuan! Damn it!!!" Shang clan Gu Immortal lost contact with Fang Yuan, veins popped out his forehead and pulsed like lightning.
Before the three days limit was reached, Southern Border's righteous path handed over all the materials in Fang Yuan's list.
With hostages in hand, Fang Yuan held too great of an initiative.
He did not need to use any methods and just needed to play some despicable tricks to destroy the tens of thousands of years of reputation that Southern Border's righteous path had, making them the greatest laughingstocks in the eyes of every Gu Immortal.
For the countless years that had passed, there were naturally cases where righteous path Gu Immortals had fallen into the hands of the demonic path.
But some of these demonic path Gu Immortals were not as crazy as Fang Yuan, while most of them did not have Fang Yuan's wisdom path methods.
Wisdom path Gu Immortals were rare, even if Southern Border's righteous path forces did not have a wisdom path Gu Immortal in their own clan, they could rely on relations to get help from a wisdom path great expert.
But when it came to Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan himself cultivated wisdom path and his emperor yama killer move could even defend against Fairy Zi Wei's deductions, when he hid himself, Southern Border's righteous path simply could not find his location. More importantly, Fang Yuan had the battle strength to fight rank eight, his nature was cruel and he was extremely cunning. What other options did Southern Border's righteous path have other than to accept Fang Yuan's conditions?
Naturally, this was because Fang Yuan's extortions had not yet reached the bottom line of Southern Border's righteous path.
If it truly reached their bottom line, Southern Border's righteous path would absolutely not be so nice.
"Fang Yuan, we can talk properly now, right?" The previous Shang clan Gu Immortal found Fang Yuan once again.
Fang Yuan smiled: "Are you truly so unpopular that you are still doing this troublesome job?"
The Shang clan Gu Immortal's face was gloomy, just like Fang Yuan said, this task was harming his reputation, but what could he do? He had no choice but to show up, Shang clan's first supreme elder had personally mentioned his name.
"Let's cut to the chase. We have already satisfied your condition, now..." Before he finished speaking, Fang Yuan interrupted.
"It is my turn to show sincerity. Here."
"What is this?"
Fang Yuan smiled: "This is an information path mortal Gu for Yi clan. I have used some blood path methods to create it, so only Yi clan's Gu Immortals can refine it. Even if others try to refine it, it will end up in failure. Even if they use some methods to refine it, they will not receive my exact message."
"This..."
"No more questions, take it back and you will know."
"Fang Yuan? Fang Yuan! Damn it, he left again!" Shang clan Gu Immortal was stifled, he could only hand over this Gu worm like Fang Yuan said.
Yi clan refined it, obtaining an address.
They were worried this was another of Fang Yuan's traps, so they gathered the other clans and moved together.
In the location, they saw Gu Immortal Yi Yang.
"Yi Yang! This is my clan's Yi Yang!"
"Oh my goodness, this scum Fang Yuan actually released a hostage."
In an instant, Southern Border's immortals were surprised and joyous, while also being unable to believe this.
"Wait a moment, don't get happy so soon. There might be an issue with this Yi Yang!" Without needing the reminder of other clans, Yi clan had already begun carrying out a comprehensive inspection.
The final result was this was indeed Yi Yang and not Fang Yuan's disguise. It was just that this was not the complete Yi Yang, but just his body.
Yi Yang's soul was still in Fang Yuan's hands.
Fang Yuan's action made Southern Border's Gu Immortals see hope of redeeming the captives. In the next meeting, Fang Yuan directly admitted: "I released Yi Yang's body so I can obtain even more benefits. Who is to say that I can't imprison the rest of you in the future, so I can't damage my reputation, right? Don't worry, as long as you can pay the price, I will release all the captives."
"This scum Fang Yuan..." Southern Border's righteous path did not know how they should respond.
The immortals felt mixed feelings, they were happy at seeing hopes of redeeming the hostages, but felt disgust, anger, hatred, and helplessness towards Fang Yuan, including a trace of unease and fear.
Fang Yuan could appear and disappear unpredictably, he had the ability to imprison lone righteous path Gu Immortals. As long as he succeeded, he could escape to an enormous distance once and Southern Border's righteous path would have no way to find his location.
The whole of Southern Border's righteous path was threatened by Fang Yuan, even rank eight Gu Immortals were feeling vigilant. Even they did not feel safe against Fang Yuan, Xia Cha was the best example after all!
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Fang Yuan's words made Southern Border's righteous path furious and wary, but he had reached his objective of persuading them.
Although this frankness caused Southern Border's righteous path to feel even more hatred towards Fang Yuan, they chose to believe in Fang Yuan's 'sincerity'.
In fact, they were willing to believe in this sincerity.
Because losing a Gu Immortal would be an even greater loss to them!
It would not matter much if it were rank six Gu Immortals with ordinary abilities. The thing was, the captives were rank seven experts, trump cards of their respective clans. Xia clan's Xia Cha was even its first supreme elder.
Losing such experts would greatly affect the whole clan.
Spirit Affinity House had once lost Feng Jiu Ge; its resource points had immediately been coveted by the surrounding ancient sects, and they were under huge pressure.
The ten great ancient sects had the same superior — Heavenly Court, their relations were much closer than Southern Border's righteous path, but this situation occurred even then. Were the Southern Border righteous path forces to end up in such a situation, their state would no doubt be worse.
So be it if every Southern Border righteous path clan lost these Gu Immortals. What made them secretly worried was Fang Yuan killing some and releasing some.
Earth veins were stirring, all kinds of immortal materials and wild Immortal Gu appeared endlessly, it had already caused every Southern Border force to fight each other, they were almost at the point of killing for these resources.
There were many, many individual forces in Southern Border's righteous path, they were already filled with enough conflicts, and the movement of these earth veins had further intensified these conflicts.
If Fang Yuan killed some and released some, there was no doubt that the original balance between the righteous path forces would be broken, the whole of Southern Border's situation would once again be unstable.
The Southern Border righteous path forces were allowing themselves to be extorted by Fang Yuan, was it just because they were afraid of him or because they were worried about the captives?
It was not as simple as that.
They were also worried about themselves.
Whoever Fang Yuan released or killed could change the whole of Southern Border's situation.
They were indeed afraid of Fang Yuan despite them not admitting it. But they were even more wary of each other!
Fang Yuan could clearly see this political tension, and thus was able to unscrupulously extort Southern Border's righteous path.
"The righteous path assumes dignified airs, but is absolutely not ambiguous when taking action. Northern Plains' Hei tribe was an excellent example, Hei tribe weakened, and with the excuse of harboring a culprit of the destruction of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, it was immediately besieged by all the Huang Jin tribes."
"Compared to lone, wandering immortals like me, no matter how much we extort, we can't take away territories and we also cannot quickly build a super force to occupy these territories. On the other hand, righteous path forces have a lot of manpower and have the instinct to expand, so the threat is even higher."
"Speaking of which, this is also because there are many Southern Border forces while lacking a powerful leader. If I were to do this in Central Continent, none of the ten great ancient sects would give any attention to me!"
"Southern Border, Western Desert, and Eastern Sea are filled with many individual forces, it is just that the conflicts are the deepest in Southern Border because of the movement in earth veins in this period of time. As for Northern Plains..."
A trace of a smile appeared on Fang Yuan's face.
Compared to his previous life, Northern Plains' Longevity Heaven had already appeared to the world ahead of time, and was now actively uniting the whole of Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world.
Previously, this plan was obstructed by Heavenly Court, who knew which pawn of Heavenly Court disguised as Fang Yuan to kill Cloud Gentleman, thwarting Longevity Heaven's plan to recruit Northern Plains' lone immortals.
But not long ago, Longevity Heaven had a turning point.
That was Lang Ya Sect seeking refuge.
Longevity Heaven absorbed the whole of Lang Ya Sect, moreover doing it with full publicity, letting the whole world know that they had taken in Lang Ya blessed land, giving Lang Ya blessed land an equal status according to the former agreement between Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Long Hair Ancestor, also ensuring their safety.
This action of promoting their recruitment of a powerful force was truly spectacular!
All the Gu Immortals of five regions were shaken.
Lang Ya blessed land's Gu Immortals were all variant humans, but Longevity Heaven could actually be so generous. That meant their treatment of human Gu Immortals would definitely be even better.
Longevity Heaven thus successfully turned around people's hearts, changing the mindset of the Gu Immortals in the whole of Northern Plains. Their plan of recruiting lone immortals progressed rapidly, completely different from before.
"Speaking of which, Lang Ya land spirit was able to get help from Longevity Heaven, they were truly fortunate."
Longevity Heaven was actively taking action, Northern Plains would definitely bring even more trouble to Central Continent in the five regions chaotic war.
While Western Desert's Xiao clan and Southern Border's Chi clan were secretly receiving Fang Yuan's support.
This was not all, in this period of time, Fang Yuan was constantly mentioning the threat possessed by Heavenly Court in treasure yellow heaven; repeatedly mentioning the problem of the killer move star cast and fate Immortal Gu. Videos of the battle of Reverse Flow River, battle of the dream realm, the battle of Lang Ya Sect, were all displayed in treasure yellow heaven by Fang Yuan, constantly playing on loop, silently recounting Heavenly Court's ambitious and tyrannical way of meddling with the other four regions.
Such actions seemingly had no response. But Fang Yuan believed that there was no super force in the other four regions that did not detest Heavenly Court's actions! They were just temporarily restraining themselves.
Central Continent's ten great ancient sects accepted Heavenly Court because they were sub-sects of Heavenly Court, founded by the members of Heavenly Court.
Northern Plains' righteous path forces could accept Longevity Heaven because they descended from the same bloodline, and Longevity Heaven was Ancestor Giant Sun's grotto-heaven that represented the righteous path.
While Southern Border, Western Desert, and Eastern Sea were controlled by various super forces. They were used to abusing their powers, and none of them wanted a force to boss them around.
Days later, in the sovereign immortal aperture.
Immortal killer move — Soul Search!
Fang Yuan had already designed a killer move with the rank seven soul search Immortal Gu, taken from Yang Ku, as the core. Its efficiency was a dozen times higher than just activating the soul search Immortal Gu.
Under the effect of this killer move, all kinds of information was extracted out of every Gu Immortal's soul and sent to Fang Yuan's mind.
Fang Yuan saw the lifestyle of each Gu Immortal clearly, their cultivation secrets and techniques, factional disputes in their respective forces, secret storages, and so on.
Fang Yuan already had a good understanding of Southern Border. On one hand, there were records of it among Shadow Sect's true inheritances, while he had also learned a lot through Wu clan's information when he had infiltrated them as Wu Yi Hai.
With such a foundation, this first-hand information of many Gu Immortals was added, further deepening Fang Yuan's understanding of Southern Border's situation.
Even rank eight Gu Immortals like Wu Yong and Chi Qu You would not have such detailed understanding of Southern Border's situation.
"Looks like the Immortal Gu list they gave me is correct, except they have concealed some information."
Southern Border's righteous path forces wanted to exchange Gu, and gave Fang Yuan their list of Immortal Gu. Right now, Fang Yuan immediately understood each force's foundation by soul searching these Gu Immortals. Rank six or ordinary rank seven Gu Immortals probably would not have such information, but these rank seven Gu Immortals were experts of their forces. Strength meant authority, so every one of them was a core of their clan's higher-ups.
Fang Yuan was not surprised at the clans hiding information.
Because he knew that the Immortal Gu which were not mentioned were those that the clans were not willing to exchange with and that were very valuable to the respective clan. If Fang Yuan wanted to exchange for the Immortal Gu on the list, it could be done more easily.
In fact, he also wanted to exchange Gu.
"I need to construct an Immortal Gu House to be a base for me to rest and recuperate in River of Time. And, with an Immortal Gu House, Shadow Sect's immortals can also participate in the battle and lend me a hand."
Fang Yuan could exchange the Immortal Gu which he did not need. After all, if Southern Border's righteous path was strengthened, they would be able to resist Heavenly Court much more efficiently.
Naturally, Fang Yuan would not exchange those Immortal Gu which he had great use for.
Immortal Gu were unique, they were priceless, but even more important was the overall situation!
Heavenly Court.
Immortal formation rumbled loudly, Fairy Zi Wei looked at Spectral Soul while holding an iron dragonfish.
Scenes of relevant memories were surging out of Spectral Soul and playing in front of Fairy Zi Wei's eyes.
Fairy Zi Wei smiled: "With this portion of the food path true inheritance, Heavenly Court can also produce, iron, copper, silver, and gold dragonfish, we can change the situation in treasure yellow heaven. Spectral Soul, you are already done for. Dang Hun Mountain's detonation gave you some time to prolong your dying breath, but now, what can you rely on?"
Spectral Soul was condensed into a lump, silent like a dead object.
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Inside the sovereign immortal aperture.
Immortal killer move — Soul Search!
A vast force shot at Xia Cha's soul fiercely, but Xia Cha's soul suddenly shined with time path dao marks that completely blocked Fang Yuan's soul search killer move.
But Fang Yuan did not give up, continuing to instill immortal essence without stopping.
A good while later, like a pair of hands lifting a corner of a stuck steel board, a gap appeared in the time path dao marks protecting Xia Cha's soul, allowing Fang Yuan's soul search killer move to finally take effect.
At the next moment, a huge amount of information was greedily absorbed by Fang Yuan. But the time path dao marks had not admitted defeat, the surrounding dao marks moved in to fill the gap.
As time passed, this gap which Fang Yuan had made after so much effort was once again filled in with time path dao marks. Furthermore, the defensive power of this area was even stronger than before!
Fang Yuan's soul search killer move thus stopped here.
"This Xia Cha is indeed worthy of being a rank eight Gu Immortal, she has such a robust foundation that even her soul is protected by a time path defensive method that can resist a rank seven soul search killer move."
"This defensive method also has self recovery and counterattacking abilities, it is truly wonderful."
After Fang Yuan stole all the Immortal Gu from the Southern Border immortal captives, he extracted their souls, separating them from their bodies.
At this state, the threat of these Southern Border captives had already fallen to a negligible level. It was then the process of searching their souls that no longer had the protection of a physical body.
The souls of Tie Qu Zhong, Shang Hu Zhang and others did not give much trouble to Fang Yuan, so all their memories and information were extracted by Fang Yuan.
But he encountered some trouble with Yang Ku. Yang Ku was a rank seven expert who primarily cultivated soul path, so he naturally had strong resistance towards soul search methods.
Yang Ku still could not be considered troublesome, even more troublesome was Liu Hao.
Liu Hao's fixed space Immortal Gu and other Gu were tampered by Heavenly Court, so Fang Yuan was not able to obtain them. Heavenly Court naturally did not forget about his soul, putting in layers of strong defensive methods on it.
But these two were still soul searched by Fang Yuan in the end.
If Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley were sacred lands of soul cultivation, Fang Yuan's Spectral Soul true inheritance was no doubt the number one soul path sacred scripture!
Fang Yuan had thus learned of Liu Hao's true identity, a spy of Heavenly Court.
However, Xia Cha's soul was still the most troublesome one.
Her soul was filled with time path dao marks which had formed into a tight defense that blocked any external attacks. Fang Yuan's soul search was naturally a kind of attack and was harmful to Xia Cha.
Fang Yuan tried all his methods, using Immortal formations to suppress the soul, modifying the soul search killer move, finally reaching the limit of the soul search killer move's power so that he could search Xia Cha's soul.
But this soul search was extremely difficult and did not progress smoothly.
Fang Yuan often had to use a herculean effort before he could open a tiny gap. But this gap would be covered again by time path dao marks, not long later.
Fang Yuan could only soul search in the limited duration of the gap. After this duration passed, the gap would be closed by even more time path dao marks than before, its defense increasing further.
Fortunately, the time path dao marks on Xia Cha's soul did not increase, an increase in time path dao marks in the gap meant there were few dao marks in other areas. This gave Fang Yuan even better chances for his next attack.
The others' souls were already searched completely, only Xia Cha's soul remained.
Fang Yuan continued to target Xia Cha's soul, while using the time path clone to go into each Gu Immortal's immortal aperture by using Fixed Immortal Travel.
Because he had obtained first-hand information from soul searching, Fang Yuan was fully aware of the landscape inside these Gu Immortals' immortal apertures. He could easily enter the immortal apertures by using Fixed Immortal Travel.
Furthermore, Fang Yuan was also aware of what resources these immortal apertures were hiding.
In a Gu Immortal's cultivation, the immortal aperture was an extremely important factor. All of these Southern Border immortals were experts with deep foundation, their immortal aperture management was naturally at a superior level with all kinds of good stuff inside.
But these Gu Immortals would be released by Fang Yuan.Read comics on our ReadReadRead.live
Because the benefits from annexing their immortal apertures and absorbing their dao marks were far inferior to the benefits from extorting those super forces.
An increase in dao marks brought in an increase in foundation as well as a brighter future.
But no matter how beautiful the future was, it was nothing if he could not cross the present obstacle.
The present obstacle was naturally fate Gu, more accurately, he had to stop Heavenly Court from restoring fate Gu.
But Fang Yuan had made no progress in this, he was currently able to avoid Heavenly Court's pursuit, but fate Gu was protected in the depths of Heavenly Court, stopping Heavenly Court from restoring it was far beyond Fang Yuan's capability.
So Fang Yuan was thinking of every way possible to enter the River of Time and inherit Red Lotus' true inheritance.
In the history of humans, three great Demon Venerables had successively attacked Heavenly Court, but only Red Lotus Demon Venerable was able to break fate Gu, although he could not completely destroy it, he had indeed broken fate Gu. In the true inheritances left behind by Red Lotus Demon Venerable, there were likely to be plans targeted at destroying fate Gu.
To smoothly inherit Red Lotus' true inheritance and not be destroyed by Heavenly Court in the process, Fang Yuan needed to raise his time path strength. Other paths' methods were greatly weakened and not useful when fighting in the River of Time.
Year essence pool, time path Immortal Gu House, as well as many other things required Fang Yuan to transact with the Southern Border righteous path, his chips were naturally these Gu Immortal captives.
Several days later in the sovereign immortal aperture's time.
Roar—!
In the sky of Mini Southern Border, a dark green 'rock dragon' roared, its enormous and slender body twisting around.
Then, under the effect of Fang Yuan's killer move, the 'rock dragon' pierced into Mini Southern Border's ground. Loud rumbling noises resounded over the surroundings as this 'rock dragon' pierced into the depths of the ground until even its tail disappeared underground.
Fang Yuan let out a breath: "The matter of drawing in the mineral vein is finally finished."
This 'rock dragon' was not the rock dragon of the rockman tribe, but was the manifestation of a mineral vein. This mineral vein was constructed by using rank seven immortal material dark inkstone. Fang Yuan had moved it over from an earth path Southern Border captive's immortal aperture.
As for the method to move such a large mineral vein, Spectral Soul's true inheritance naturally had it, but the Immortal Gu and the killer move Fang Yuan used came from that captive.
The captive used to relocate outside world's dark inkstone mines into their immortal aperture. Fang Yuan was only imitating them.
"With this dark inkstone mineral vein, I can extract a batch every year and sell them in treasure yellow heaven."
This profit was not much, but it was a steady income.
Because the dark inkstone mineral vein would expand itself by absorbing the surrounding earth qi. As long as Fang Yuan extracted limited amounts, he would have a continuous flow of dark inkstones.
Although dark inkstone did not have a high price among rank seven immortal materials, it was still a rank seven immortal material, its price could not be neglected.
"Maybe... I can move in a batch of rockmen and breed them near the dark inkstone vein." Fang Yuan suddenly had a thought.
This was extremely beneficial to the rockmen.
The higher the quality of the mineral veins, the more helpful it would be for a rockman tribe's procreation, survival, and strengthening. What was even more amazing was that the rockmen could also nurture these mineral veins and increase their purity.
This was a win-win situation for both sides.
But this dark inkstone mineral vein was not suitable for mining yet, and moving in rockmen would only make it their new home.
Fang Yuan thought for a moment before deciding to bring in some rockmen.
The profits from mining the dark inkstone mineral vein was of no importance to him, what he was more interested in was the future benefits brought by the rockmen and the mineral vein.
Fang Yuan had not just obtained this one dark inkstone mineral vein from the Southern Border captives.
There were dozens of mountains in Mini Southern Border now.
Most of them were ordinary mountains, but were filled with dense earth path dao marks, they were treasure troves.
There were also some mountain ranges that reached the level of famous mountains!
For instance, Interior Rain mountain.
This mountain's peak was always shrouded by a layer of dark clouds from where light rain continued to fall.
The drizzling rain was not ordinary rainwater, but rank six immortal material interior rain!
Another example was Copper Seal mountain.
This mountain was red and had a squarish shape, it was like a large seal was standing upright in Mini Southern Border.
Copper Seal mountain did not have even a trace of soil, it was completely formed from all kinds of copper, mortal level copper like chaotic sky copper, pragna copper, snow flower copper, and so on, and immortal copper like profound gray copper and ascending dragon copper.
Naturally, the mortal level copper were of the highest amount and occupied the most space, while immortal coppers only occupied a small portion and were mostly rank six immortal materials. The highest level of the copper was a unique rank seven copper, the famous domination copper! With this copper present, it essentially could not support another rank seven copper.
Mountains, mineral veins, forests... as these Gu Immortal captives were from Southern Border, nearly half of the stolen resources were moved to Mini Southern Border. Because these resources were extremely suited to this environment.
The other half of the resources were split into the other four mini regions as well as the mini nine heavens.
For instance, in Mini Central Continent, there was now a phantom shadow flower garden and a large fertile land filled with an enormous amount of immortal farmer soil.
In Mini Northern Plains, there was now a heaven pillar wind. This wind's appearance was like a tall pillar, extremely tall and long. When it blows, it will not cause movement, only blowing on the spot, from outside, it resembled a giant pillar that extended into the sky.
In Mini Eastern Sea, there was a brand new sea area, wave flower sea area. The sea area was filled with turbulent waves, where countless magical flowers were formed during the moments where waves appeared and vanished. Because they had a short lifespan, they were hard to gather. Fang Yuan had been rather surprised when he obtained the method to nurture this resource from Yi Yang.
In Mini Western Desert, a dozen hibiscus trees were planted, every branch of this tree was an immortal material!
"The sovereign immortal aperture is too large, in terms of specific value, previously, the sovereign immortal aperture's development was only at three to four percent. Now, because of these resources, it has reached eight to nine percent. There are still many resources left in these Southern Border Gu Immortals' immortal apertures, and also Xia Cha's grotto-heaven! With all of them added, the development will definitely pass ten percent." Fang Yuan heaved a sigh.
These resources were either on large or small scale, and a lot were large scale resource points and economic pillars of each Southern Border Gu Immortal!
Heavenly Court had already made a move in treasure yellow heaven, selling copper dragonfish, iron dragonfish and silver dragonfish at heavily reduced price, causing a great impact to Fang Yuan's dragonfish business.
But so what?
These dozen newly added economic pillars would support his continued progress!
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Sovereign immortal aperture, Mini Southern Border.
Rumble!
The ground shook violently for a moment, before the dense radiance of an earth path killer move covered the surrounding one hundred li.
Like a large formless hand molding soft mud, the surrounding terrain began to sink in while the land in the periphery began to protrude out, forming a circular valley.
This sunken land was surrounded by mountains, forming an environment that was isolated from the outside.
There was no vegetation in this sunken land, soil was also scarce, it was instead covered by a large amount of steel.
This was white steel bowl valley.
Fang Yuan extorted the production method of the white steel extract resource point as well as corresponding construction materials from Shang clan.
White steel bowl valley was a medium sized resource point, after its construction, it would coagulate rank seven immortal material white steel extract at the center of the valley.
With this immortal material, Fang Yuan could feed rank seven edge Gu by himself.
Previously, when he had plundered Tie Qu Zhong's immortal aperture, he did not find resources to feed edge Gu, but after soul searching him, Fang Yuan realized he had intended to construct this resource point and had already discussed the price with Shang Hu Zhang.
Fang Yuan directly extorted Shang clan, constructing white steel bowl valley without paying any price.
After this task was done, Fang Yuan's time path clone immediately moved towards Dang Hun Mountain.
A lofty and large crystal mountain, pink throughout, was emitting illusory radiance.
Fang Yuan threw soul cores into Dang Hun Mountain, not long later, a large amount of guts Gu was produced on the surface of the mountain.
Dang Hun Mountain had finally recovered, looking close to its complete state!
Ninety-nine percent restoration was already enough. Fang Yuan could not restore it completely, as Heavenly Court already knew Dang Hun Mountain's appearance in its complete state. Although Fixed Immortal Travel was in Fang Yuan's hand, who could say Heavenly Court did not have an immortal killer move that could produce the effect of Fixed Immortal Travel.
"From now on, I can produce a large amount of guts Gu and restart my guts Gu business once again." Fang Yuan let out a breath of air.
It had not been easy to reach this state, Fang Yuan had expended a massive amount of immortal essence!
Dang Hun Mountain had been destroyed before as well, but it had been destroyed by gruel mud Immortal Gu, it had turned into mud but still retained soul path dao marks.
And this time, Fang Yuan only had a small piece of Dang Hun Mountain, most of the soul path dao marks had been destroyed with the destruction of Dang Hun Mountain.
Through this process of restoring Dang Hun Mountain, Fang Yuan deeply experienced the power of the killer move orderly well.
Spectral Soul Demon Venerable had used this rank nine immortal killer move himself, its effect was magical and peerless. Fang Yuan could not have restored Dang Hun Mountain without its help.
"With my guts Gu business, Heavenly Court is unable to limit my income any further."
"But with so many resource points taken from the Southern Border immortals, I can continue to cultivate without relying on guts Gu business."
"It is better to use these guts Gu for my own soul path cultivation."
Fang Yuan's soul foundation had previously broken into one hundred million man soul level, but had greatly fallen now.
Cultivating and raising his soul foundation once again meant Fang Yuan could enslave even more immemorial year beasts!
"Such a pity that my development plan for green ghost desert did not succeed. Qing Chou has escaped, Suan Bu Jin's identity was also exposed, I can no longer continue the plan of hunting soul beasts."
"However, I might be able to borrow Fang clan's help..."
Fang Yuan considered it.
He wanted to cultivate his soul so he naturally needed more guts Gu, which also meant expending a lot of souls. The souls of the Southern Border Gu Immortals could not be used here, it would be a waste of their value. Soul cores were most suitable.
Where could he get a large amount of soul cores?
The price of soul cores had already gone up in treasure yellow heaven, it was especially high during this recent time.
Fang Yuan knew this was Heavenly Court's doing.
Fang clan.
Discussion hall, all the supreme elders had gathered.
"Everyone, have a look at this letter." At the main seat was an old man, he was tall and sturdy, with long white hair spreading around his head like a lion's mane, he was Fang clan's first supreme elder, Fang Gong.
Fang clan's second supreme elder, wisdom path great grandmaster Fang Di Chang, third supreme elder Fang Hua Sheng, as well as Fang Zhi, Fang Chen, Fang Leng, and Fang Yun were all present.
Everyone glanced through the letter and had different expressions.
Fang Chen gritted his teeth: "I had already sensed that Suan Bu Jin was not a good person, but had not expected him to be Fang Yuan in disguise. Heavenly Court has exposed his identity, and is even blaming us Fang clan for colluding with a demonic person. Right now, our clan is being ostracized by other righteous path forces, it is all because of this demon Fang Yuan! And he wants us to supply him with soul cores? Hehe, he is truly dreaming!"
Fang Chen had married into Fang clan, he once had a verbal dispute with Fang Yuan. He immediately showed his stance right now, not willing to associate with the demon Fang Yuan.
Rank seven poison path Gu Immortal Fang Zhi glanced at Fang Chen, saying coldly: "So Fang Chen, you want to reject Fang Yuan's request?"
Fang Chen was stunned: "Is our Fang clan afraid of Fang Yuan? Right now, every large righteous path force is pressuring our Fang clan, their reason being that we colluded with a demonic path member. If we now make a deal with Fang Yuan, they will have an even bigger excuse to isolate us."
Fang Zhi was silent.
In the trip to green ghost desert, Fang clan had beaten back Heavenly Court's rank eight Gu Immortal Chen Yi, succeeded in capturing Divine Bean Palace, and also forcibly subdued two rank seven lone immortals, Old Ghost Bai Jun and Eagle Concubine, to be Fang clan's slaves. Their harvests were huge.
But while they had made gains, Fang clan had also paid a considerable price. Their three Immortal Gu Houses had suffered serious damage, and they still had no ways to refine Divine Bean Palace.
Fang clan's strength had thus fallen greatly, Heavenly Court exposed this matter, causing Fang clan to be immediately met with difficulties from other Western Desert righteous path forces.
But were they truly going to reject Fang Yuan?
This question had already been lingering in the minds of Fang clan Gu Immortals.
Could Fang clan afford to reject him?
Fang clan was being troubled by every clan, they were in a precarious situation from the enormous pressure. And, they were going to offend Fang Yuan at such a crucial time?
At present, who in the world did not know how vicious and crafty Fang Yuan was. He also had powerful battle strength to boot, even Heavenly Court was without options against him.
And such a person happened to be all alone in the world with no fetters of relatives and loved ones, no territories or organization, Fang clan simply had no way to bargain against him!
Fang clan's Gu Immortals started recalling past information, how Fang Yuan had used Fixed Immortal Travel to move around and continuously wreck the resource points of Southern Border's Chi clan.
If Fang clan truly refused Fang Yuan, and Fang Yuan troubled them like he dealt with Chi clan, what should they do?
Chi clan was a righteous path force of Southern Border, when they had been attacked by Fang Yuan, they did not receive support from any other clan. Fang clan's situation would be much worse than Chi clan's.
Not only would Fang clan fail to receive reinforcements, they might even be pincer-attacked by other righteous path forces! If they were not careful, Fang clan would become the next Hei tribe from Northern Plains, their headquarters captured and their clan exterminated.
"Fang Leng, Fang Yun, what are your opinions?" Fang Di Chang suddenly broke the silence.
Fang Yun was stunned, they were only rank six, they normally could only listen from the side and had no qualifications to speak on this kind of occasion. Now, he was suddenly being asked, and was caught off-guard: "This... I also don't know what we should do. After all, Fang Yuan saved my life, he is my benefactor. Moreover... haven't we made an agreement with him? It should be alright to give him soul cores as the compensation. Ah, of course, I will listen to lord father, you can just deduce it."
Fang Di Chang's expression was slightly dark, he took a glance at his adopted son before looking towards Fang Leng.
Compared to the flippant Fang Yun, Fang Leng had a steady nature and was well thought of by many Gu Immortals of Fang clan, believing him to be the future hope of Fang clan.
Fang Leng thought deeply before speaking: "I wonder if everyone has noticed that Fang Yuan did not use the name of Suan Bu Jin in this letter, but directly used his own name?"
Fang Chen snorted: "It is because Heavenly Court already exposed it, it is useless for Fang Yuan to use Suan Bu Jin's identity. He might also be thinking of threatening our clan. By using his name, he is trying to say: I am Fang Yuan, if your Fang clan does not follow my request, you shall face my, Fang Yuan's, anger and vengeance!"
Fang Leng smiled: "There is indeed this meaning. Fang Yuan is confident he can create trouble for our Fang clan. I also believe he can do this, so I think we should agree to Fang Yuan's request."
"What?!" Fang Chen's voice rose, his eyes widened as he tried to rebuke.
But, Fang Di Chang waved his hand: "Let him continue."
Fang Chen did not dare to speak any more.
Fang Leng took a deep breath before continuing: "Everyone, our clan has landed in a precarious situation and is being troubled from all around. Is it truly because we collaborated with the demon Fang Yuan?"
"That is not the case! The true reason is that our clan obtained Divine Bean Palace, once we absorb our gains properly, the top spot among Western Desert's righteous path forces will probably belong to our Fang clan. Strength represents power and authority, and even more importantly, benefits. Our clan's rise will naturally be through stepping on other clans. This is why the other great clans are not tolerating us and are jointly pressuring us."
"If our clan does not satisfy Fang Yuan's request and makes a clean break with him, will the other righteous path forces let us go? That is impossible! On the contrary, we will have made enemies with Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan has rank eight battle strength, if such a demonic overlord takes revenge, it will probably cause endless headache to any super force."
"And by satisfying Fang Yuan's request, not only can we fulfil the previously set agreement, we can also improve our relationship, and even might be able to use his strength to deal with other super forces."
"Of course, we will send the soul cores secretly to him, and after discussing with him, we can act like we have completely broken off our relationship with him. What does it matter if we lose those rank six and rank seven soul cores? They are only immortal materials, as long as our Fang clan can get past this difficulty, what immortal material would we lack in the future?"
The immortals fell into silence.
Fang Di Chang chuckled.
Fang Gong laughed heartily: "Good, we will do it like this then. Fang Yun, you get in touch with Fang Yuan."
"What? Huh!" Fang Yun was dazed, it was clearly Fang Leng who had analyzed and made the proposal, why was he the one to execute it? But first supreme elder's command had to be obeyed, Fang Yun could only accept it.
"This Fang Leng has sound judgment, he sees the overall situation clearly. First and second elder are painstakingly nurturing him into the future successor of Fang clan. How could such a person have a stain of colluding with a demon? So Fang Yun was ordered to take the task." Fang Chen glanced at the ignorant Fang Yun with a pitying look.
This pity also had sympathy.
Why was Fang Yun made to do this task?
That was because Fang Yun was Fang Di Chang's adopted son.
The two biggest factions in Fang clan belonged to first supreme elder Fang Gong and second supreme elder Fang Di Chang.
As for Fang Chen himself, he was extremely aware of the situation. Unfortunately, he was an outsider married into Fang clan, his talents were useless because of his status, he could only be a superficial stepping stone for Fang Leng!
-x-X-x-
Soul cores with the size of a chicken egg, dark blue to the point of being black, rained down on Dang Hun Mountain.
The soul core contained all of the essence of a soul beast, after the soul beast died, its corpse would turn into smoke and scatter, leaving behind only its soul core.
Soul cores condensed a large amount of soul path dao marks, they were a top tier Gu material.
Soul cores could be found in all sizes, an ordinary soul beast's soul core was the size of a rice grain, and would only be the size of a chicken egg when they reached rank six. Those of rank seven were slightly larger, while a rank eight immemorial soul beast's soul core was as large as a horse carriage.
After a round of discussion, Fang clan finally agreed to Fang Yuan's request, secretly sending him a large amount of soul cores. These soul cores were almost all rank six Gu level, with few being rank seven soul cores, and as for rank eight soul core, there was not even one.
Fang Yuan had two rank eight soul cores but he was storing them, not wanting to use them for producing guts Gu on Dang Hun Mountain.
Rank eight immortal materials were normally used to refine rank eight Immortal Gu or to construct a large formation. Using them for producing guts Gu would be somewhat of a waste of their value.
The radiance of Dang Hun Mountain shook as the soul cores scattered into powder, sprinkling their essence into Dang Hun Mountain. Within moments, guts Gu started condensing with rapid speed.
Fang Yuan nodded inwardly at this scene: "My soul path cultivation can get back on track again and progress swiftly."
Soul path foundation was extremely important to Fang Yuan.
Enslaving immemorial year beasts required it, moreover the deeper the soul foundation, the more immemorial year beasts Fang Yuan could enslave.
Emperor yama expended soul foundation, whenever a wisdom path Gu Immortal made deductions about Fang Yuan, emperor yama would activate to conceal Fang Yuan while expending a portion of Fang Yuan's soul foundation.
Burning soul bursting luck also depended on soul foundation. There was also lead soul into dream, Fang Yuan had already studied this killer move completely, it had a chance of failure. But if Fang Yuan's soul foundation was higher than the target, the killer move's success rate would be much higher.
Fang Yuan had directly used his name in the letter, abandoning Suan Bu Jin's name, Fang clan's response was not beyond his expectations.
To a super force, a lone force like Fang Yuan could not seize their territories, at most he could steal some resources. But other super forces were different, they could forcibly occupy territories and seize entire resource points by sending in their manpower.
The greatest threat to Fang clan were the other righteous path forces that were glaring at it covetously.
"Moreover, Western Desert is somewhat special. Western Desert Gu Immortals compromise a little more easily than those of the other four regions."
This was not because Western Desert Gu Immortals were soft, it was because of the environment.
Different from other regions, Western Desert was filled with boundless deserts and oases. If an oasis was destroyed in a battle between Gu Masters, they would have no foundation for survival and could easily perish together. On the other hand, different oases produced different resources, Gu Masters would need each other's help to make up for what they lack in their cultivation. So Gu Masters often formed caravans and moved a long distance which was usually quite dangerous and exhausting. Thus, there were many collaborative relationships between Gu Masters as well as different forces.
So, since long ago, Western Desert's Gu Masters were molded to compromise and make concessions for the survival of both sides.
Any Gu Immortal had cultivated step by step from Gu Master stage. This habit had sunk deep into their bones and was already a part of the nature of Western Desert Gu Immortals.
In his first life, Fang Yuan had roamed around Western Desert for some time and was well aware of the nature of Western Desert's people.
Had Fang Yuan captured Western Desert Gu Immortals, the Western Desert righteous path forces would have compromised quicker than Southern Border, their attitude would also be more realistic and proper.
Had Fang Yuan captured Northern Plains Gu Immortals, it would be a different situation. Northern Plains Gu Immortals were often valiant and unafraid of death, they might even think it was a disgrace for them to be saved. Fang Yuan would suffer a headache with those captives.
In the following days, Fang Yuan resumed his soul path cultivation while continuing to extort Southern Border's righteous path forces and soul searching the captives.
Fang Yuan's soul search target was Xia Cha.
Although it was rather difficult to search her soul, he was not without any progress. Fang Yuan's immortal aperture's time was very fast, under continuous effort over time, he had made many gains.
Soon, Xia Cha's immortal killer moves were plundered by Fang Yuan.
Xia Cha was worthy of being Xia clan's first supreme elder, she had developed two sets of killer moves involving Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter, these four Immortal Gu, each set had four moves.
The first set of killer moves was mainly used for battle, spring scissors, summer fan, autumn perception, and winter coat.
Among them, Fang Yuan had already seen spring scissors and summer fan. These two killer moves were extremely ferocious, fully displaying rank eight might.
Autumn perception was an investigative killer move which greatly made up for Fang Yuan's shortcoming in the investigative aspect.
Winter coat was a defensive killer move with extraordinary effect.
The second set of killer moves was used for managing the immortal aperture, spring ploughing, summer hoeing, autumn harvest, and winter storage.
Every move was ingenious and profound, the more terrifying part was when these four moves were used in unison, their might would be amplified and have extraordinary effect in managing the immortal aperture.
Besides these, there were of course other moves as well, used for healing, movement, or evasive maneuvers, they were all exquisite but could not compare to these two sets of killer moves.
In fact, conceptualizing immortal killer moves was a difficult process, there was a high requirement for the ability and talents of Gu Immortals.
Central Continent's Vicious Lightning Fiend spent a few years in closed cultivation before he was able to deduce the killer move lightning deity. And this was when he had blood deity's Immortal Gu recipe as reference.
Under a normal situation, without any help of wisdom path methods, a Gu Immortal would on average need five to six years of time to deduce and conceptualize a killer move.
Choosing suitable Gu worms out of myriads of Gu worms was not easy. There were even countless choices in combining Gu worms. Even if a killer move was conceptualized, it was useless if it did not have practical value, and also could not be used if the side effect was too severe. After completing a killer move, it still had to be tested and improved which was even more difficult.
Naturally, five to six years was not referring to a Gu Immortal whole-heartedly concentrating on deducing the killer move without doing anything else.
If the Gu Immortal had reference materials like Immortal Gu recipes or inheritances of predecessors, they could further shorten this time.
But the time taken was normally measured in years.
Fang Yuan seemed to be easily deducing and modifying killer moves, the main reason was the light of wisdom, after all, rank nine wisdom Gu was nothing to scoff at. There was also another important reason, that was his deep attainment level in all kinds of paths.
The Immortal Gu and immortal killer moves obtained from Xia Cha greatly supplemented Fang Yuan's strength in terms of time path, he could be said to have made huge progress, like the eruption of a volcano.
But Fang Yuan was facing a rather awkward issue.
"Spring and Summer are both rank eight Immortal Gu, they can only be activated with rank eight immortal essence. I am only a rank seven Gu Immortal, I don't even have the qualifications to refine them without using other methods."
"So I still need to advance my cultivation to rank eight!"
"Then, not only can I use Spring and Summer, there is also wisdom sword Immortal Gu."
Fang Yuan started deducing matters regarding his advancement to rank eight.
Several days later, his deduction was finished.
Putting aside heavenly tribulations and earthly calamities, rank seven needed to pass through three grand tribulations to advance to rank eight, and these three grand tribulations would get increasingly powerful.
Fang Yuan was currently very close to the third and final grand tribulation.
The threat of the grand tribulation was not high to him.
Even if heaven's will strengthened it to the greatest limits, Fang Yuan already held firm initiative with his exposing heavenly secret killer move.
What Fang Yuan was worried about was not the grand tribulation, but a possible human calamity.
To face the grand tribulation, he must place his immortal aperture and connect to the outside world to absorb heaven and earth qi.
At that time, Fang Yuan's location would be directly exposed to heaven's will, while also sharply increasing the difficulty in defending against others' deductions.
Heavenly Court absolutely would not let go of this opportunity, they should already have some estimations of Fang Yuan's cultivation level.
If Fang Yuan underwent the tribulation in Southern Border, when Southern Border's Gu Immortals learn of the information, they would rush to kill Fang Yuan even if the captives were with him!
Because if they got rid of Fang Yuan, they would have no more future trouble, and looking at the long term, the benefits they could gain would be even larger.
Fang Yuan's dragonfish business was already obstructed by Heavenly Court, his income falling massively. This showed Spectral Soul was unable to hold on and Heavenly Court was making a lot of progress in soul searching him. As time passed, Heavenly Court would gain more information while Fang Yuan would be put into an increasingly passive situation as all kinds of methods in Spectral Soul's true inheritance continued to lower in value.
"At present, Heavenly Court is my main enemy. The crucial key in the fight against Heavenly Court is fate Gu."
"If Heavenly Court completely restores fate Gu, I will have no more chance at victory. If I can destroy it, I will be able to continue to fight with them."
"And the crucial key to destroying fate Gu lies in Red Lotus' true inheritance." Fang Yuan had already deduced that it was very likely for Red Lotus' true inheritance to hold the method to destroy fate Gu.
"And to inherit Red Lotus' true inheritance, I will have to fight in the River of Time, whether I can break through Heavenly Court's defense line will depend on this third grand tribulation."
"If I can pass it, I will become rank eight, and will be able to use Spring, Summer, and wisdom sword Immortal Gu. My battle strength will soar rapidly, I will have a chance at the battle in the River of Time."
"If I can't pass it, it will be my death. Even if I survive by chance, the opportunity and timing will be lost. After I fall by one step, I will continue to fall behind continuously, unless Heavenly Court makes a serious slip up, they won't give me another chance to make a comeback."
Fang Yuan's mind was cool as ice, well aware of his situation.
The important thing now was to plan on how to pass the third grand tribulation and become a rank eight.
In the following days, besides cultivating his soul, soul searching Xia Cha, and managing his immortal aperture, Fang Yuan focused on exploring dream realms, practising the new immortal killer moves as well as modifying the old killer moves.
It was necessary to modify the old killer moves, especially his soul path killer moves which needed to be greatly improved. Otherwise, if the soul path killer moves were countered or restrained by Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals, Fang Yuan would be in an extremely passive situation.
As for practising new killer moves, Fang Yuan was mainly practising Xia Cha's methods. He was only rank seven currently, but autumn Gu and winter Gu were also only rank seven, he could practise their corresponding immortal killer moves.
Normally, there were two main difficulties in practising killer moves.
One was the high chance of getting injured. But Fang Yuan had the sovereign immortal body which had non-conflicting dao marks and also had Man as Before, so this was not difficult to overcome.
Second was the expenditure of immortal essence. If immortal essence was expended quickly, immortal essence stones had to be refined into immortal essence. Fang Yuan was low on funds before, but he had a lot of businesses now, so he did not lack the capital!
-x-X-x-
Sovereign immortal aperture, an illusory dream realm.
Fang Yuan entered the dream realm.
Under the setting sun.
"Do you believe in fate?"
A human female immortal with skin as fair as snow, wearing a yellow robe, with arched eyebrows and a pair of beautiful eyes shrouded in mist, was looking sadly at the beautiful afterglow of the sun.
Fang Yuan was a rockman Gu Immortal in this dream realm, but it was not under his control.
The dream realm played by itself, the rockman Gu Immortal spoke in a low, muffled voice: "I, Tu Ji, cultivate rule path and naturally believe in fate. Fairy Ruo Li, ever since I saw you, I knew you were my fated partner, you are the person that I will pursue for love over my entire life!"
Fairy Ruo Li smiled slightly, her brows, however, furrowed a little. She looked at the rockman Gu Immortal standing beside her: "You are right, we are fated to be an immortal couple."
"Ah... wha, what? I, I, I..." The rockman Gu Immortal was astonished before becoming exulted, as he shouted in disbelief: "Fairy Ruo Li, have you accepted me?!"
Fairy Ruo Li nodded her head gently.
"Oh heavens, oh heavens! Hahaha! I am not dreaming right? Oh my heavens!" Tu Ji waved around his arms towards the sky and shouted: "I finally succeeded after failing over three thousand times! Hahaha! Fairy Ruo Li, from today onwards, you are my wife."
"Yes, you are my husband."
Tu Ji's body trembled with excitement, the trembling was so intense that rock fragments began to fall from his body.
Second scene.
Ruo Li was gently lying in Tu Ji's arms, soft like a white feather.
She looked at the sky where the clouds were moving across quickly, her eyes were clear as water.
Tu Ji's eyes however were dazed, he had not shifted his gaze at all from Ruo Li's face.
He mumbled: "It has already been twelve years, but I still feel like everything is a dream! Oh Ruo Li, my wife, I swear I will love you and protect you, if you have any wish, tell me, I will do everything to satisfy you."
"Is that so?" Ruo Li asked softly.
"Of course!" Tu Ji replied without any hesitation.
Ruo Li's face showed a rare look of hesitation, after a long while, she said with some difficulty: "Then kill someone for me."
"Kill who? Even if it is a rank eight existence, trust me, I will stake my life to kill them." Tu Ji agreed readily and seriously.
"An infant who was just born." Ruo Li smiled, her smile containing bitterness.
Tu Ji was stunned: "An infant?"
Ruo Li took a deep breath: "Do you believe in fate?"
"I cultivate rule path, I have to believe in the rules of this world. All things have their own ordained path of which is fate." Tu Ji replied.
Ruo Li continued: "Then I will tell you, this baby will become a future Gu Venerable, called Reckless Savage. And in the future, I will definitely die at his hands."
"What?!" Tu Ji was shocked: "Ruo Li, how many times have you checked this prophecy?"
Ruo Li gave a bitter smile: "Only once is enough, but I checked it many times indeed, every result was the same. Do you know why a wisdom path Gu Immortal's prophecy is so accurate? That is because fate is always fixed. I will die at Reckless Savage's hands, that is my fate."
Tu Ji's mouth became dry as waves surged and ebbed in his heart.
But shortly, soaring killing intent suddenly surged out of his body as he stood up: "Then I shall kill him! Although this is fate... I don't believe that I, the grand Tu Ji, a rank eight Gu Immortal, can't kill an infant!!"
Fang Yuan's soul foundation continued to fall as the third scene started.
Tu Ji was heavily injured when he appeared in front of Fairy Ruo Li. His lips shook and his expression was ashamed as well as shocked: "I..."
Fairy Ruo Li smiled: "I know, you encountered your fated enemy on the way there, and he just happened to have made a breakthrough."
Tu Ji was surprised: "You deduced it?"
Fairy Ruo Li nodded: "The moment you got attacked, I deduced it."
Tu Ji was dazed, he hesitated for a moment but still asked: "Then, Ruo Li, since you already deduced it, why didn't you come to help me? If we, husband and wife, joined hands, we could have definitely killed that scumbag!"
Ruo Li shook her head: "You still don't understand? This is fate's arrangement. If I didn't tell you my deductions, you would not have gone to kill that infant. If you didn't go to kill that infant, you would not have encountered your old enemy. Anyone who tries to change fate will be met with fate's punishment. Your injuries are the punishment now. If I had gone to help you, another obstruction would have appeared."
Tu Ji blinked his eyes several times before saying in joy: "So it was like that. That's good, your decision was correct. I won't let you get injured, I would rather be torn apart than see even a hair of yours get damaged."
Ruo Li gave a bitter smile as she looked at Tu Ji: "You understand the power of fate now? You don't need to try anymore, stay with me and quietly accompany me in my final moments. I believe I will be blessed with you by my side."
"No!" Tu Ji's body shook as he said resolutely: "Absolutely not! I won't stand by and watch this happen, I won't let you die. I promised to love you and protect you with my life."
"But my death is fate's arrangement. Oh Tu Ji, my husband, you said it yourself, that you believe in fate." Ruo Li said meaningfully.
"Then... then I will stop believing in it!" At first, Tu Ji struggled and hesitated, but when he finally said it, he could not restrain his roar, his anger soared to the skies.
Fourth scene.
Tu Ji went to look for that infant once again, but an earthly calamity suddenly appeared, there was a landslide, villagers ran everywhere, the infant also disappeared. Tu Ji could only kill some mortals, but he ran into several righteous path immortals. After a huge battle, Tu Ji killed a few of them, but he ended up becoming a major wanted criminal by the human Gu Immortals.
Fifth scene.
Several years later, the tribulation was strange and of unsurpassed strength, Tu Ji almost died undergoing the tribulation. When he was lying in the bed, unable to move, he heard that Ruo Li had finally deduced the specific location of that infant.
"I will go kill him!" Tu Ji struggled to stand up, but when he had just walked a few steps, he fell unconscious.
When he woke up, he saw Fairy Ruo Li had lost lifespan, her hair had turned completely white, he sobbed: "It is all my fault, all my fault, Ruo Li, you went through such painstaking efforts and finally deduced it after several years of closed cultivation... if not for my inability..."
Fairy Ruo Li smiled warmly, consoling: "No problem, I can deduce it again."
Sixth scene. They encountered a beast tide.
Seventh scene. Fairy Ruo Li's deduction failed, suffering backlash, her youth was spent and she became an old lady. She rested in Tu Ji's embrace, smiling bitterly: "Look at what I have become, I must look pathetic, right?"
Tu Ji gently stroked her hair, his gaze still containing deep love: "No, no matter what you look like, you will still be my beloved Fairy Ruo Li."
This special dream realm continued, Fang Yuan could only observe from the start.
Regardless of how Tu Ji and Ruo Li chased, all their attempts were met with failure. One time, he captured the infant, but the baby escaped by some unexpected mishap. Three times, he caught up to the infant, but whenever he tried to make the fatal attack, by some strange factors and coincidences, the baby was able to escape.
That infant was gradually growing up, becoming a Gu Immortal.
The situation moved firmly along the path decided by fate, finally nearing the day of Fairy Ruo Li's death.
Tu Ji became increasingly tense, he knew the most crucial time had arrived. He planned every day and cultivated bitterly, using anything that could increase his strength no matter what the risks were.
On the contrary, Fairy Ruo Li had loosened up, she no longer deduced ceaselessly. She persuaded Tu Ji not to risk his life. Tu Ji did not listen, getting more anxious. Sometimes, she would accompany Tu Ji, lying in his arms, then look at him warmly for a long time as if she could not savor it enough.
Finally, the eighth scene.
The fatal attack was blocked by Tu Ji with his body, he even counterattacked, forcing back that great enemy.
Tu Ji was on the verge of death, he fell in Fairy Ruo Li's arms, saying joyfully: "We... we finally won against fate. Ruo Li... my wife... I did it, I really did it, cough cough cough..."
He wanted to shout and cheer in joy, but he was too weak and coughed incessantly.
He knew he was no doubt going to die and did not have much time; using this final period of time, he grabbed Fairy Ruo Li's hand with difficulty, looking at her with incomparably deep love as he said in a solemn tone: "After I die, you must continue to live on, live well..."
Clear crystal-like tears flowed down Fairy Ruo Li's eyes, sliding down her face.
She tightly embraced Tu Ji, whispering in his ear: "Do you know? Although I cultivate wisdom path, I don't believe in fate. I had deduced fate's arrangement for me, but who would want to die? So I looked for you, actually, our marriage was not even part of the arrangements of fate. I did not love you and only wanted to use you."
Tu Ji smiled, responding in an extremely faint voice: "I knew that, but so what? I love you... I am happy and fully willing to be used by you. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to be used by you... I had once believed in fate, but I don't anymore. Look, you are still alive, fate has already been changed, this is wonderful..."
Tu Ji was no longer able to lift his heavy eyelids as they closed slowly, he no longer responded.
Fairy Ruo Li wept loudly, she had never lost her composure like this before in her life, she repeatedly shook her head and sobbed: "I did not used to believe in fate, but now I do!"
Her whole body started to let out a pure-white light that slowly entered the rockman Gu Immortal Tu Ji's body.
Tu Ji's aura gradually began to recover from its weak state, while Fairy Ruo Li's body became increasingly frail and illusory.
The rockman Gu Immortal opened his eyes once again, when he saw what was happening, he shouted in shock and panic: "No, stop, I don't want to be healed. You will die, you will die!!"
Unfortunately, he did not have any strength left and was unable to stop it.
Fairy Ruo Li's figure had already become illusory, she revealed a smile, saying with incomparable warmth and a trace of craftiness: "You are aware of it, my killer move cannot be stopped once it is activated."
"I want to say one final thing to you, the thing you wanted to hear the most."
"You silly rock... I..."
"I love you."
Once she said that, Fairy Ruo Li faded like an illusion, vanishing from the world.
"No! No——!" Tu Ji roared like an injured beast filled with anger and sorrow, he was powerlessness and in pain.
-x-X-x-
Gorgeous lights slowly dissipated from the stone room. Feng Jin Huang took a deep breath, staring forward without blinking, with her sharp eyes flickering with light.
A cocoon-like lump of light, the size of a millstone, was quietly floating in front of her.
"The final step." Feng Jin Huang took another deep breath, suddenly pinching all her fingers.
Her ten fingers then opened like blossoming flowers, endless bright lights flickering from them, shining upon the whole stone room!
Feng Jin Huang's movement was so skilled even refinement path grandmasters would show a solemn expression.
Feng Jin Huang was already a refinement path great grandmaster, it was not strange for her to have such exquisite Gu techniques.
What Feng Jin Huang was using was a dual metal and fire path refinement technique, she had found this method to be the most suitable for her.
Boom!
After a while, a loud sound erupted, the cocoon, however, did not explode and was instead rapidly shrinking.
The pure-white cocoon surface gradually turned into dark blue color, while the cocoon gradually turned firmer with some metallic luster.
"I finally succeeded after failing many times!" Feng Jin Huang's eyes flashed with joy. Her mind was calm the whole time, she was already starting to display the demeanor of a refinement path great expert.
The rank five Gu worm was refined, but it still needed to be processed with proper technique.
Feng Jin Huang opened her mouth, carefully breathing out wisps of cold air.
As the cold air blew on it, the blue cocoon slightly trembled and let out a buzzing noise. Large amounts of hot air rose up from the cocoon, filling the whole stone room with hot fog.
Using dual metal and fire path refinement techniques created such a residual effect, the temperature of the Gu worm would become too high and if it was not cooled down in time, it might not die, but it would be severely injured and difficult to use.
Gu refinement was an extremely deep and broad subject with countless techniques. Any Gu refinement technique had its advantages and disadvantages. If an ice refinement method was used to refine this Gu worm, the residual effect could not be treated with cold air, the Gu had to be nourished in warm water for some time.
Feng Jin Huang stopped her techniques and slowly stood up from the cushion.
The rank five Gu floated to her hand, she tested it carefully, her solemn expression bloomed like flowers as she let out a dazzling smile.
She left the secret room and walked out of the cavern.
The moment she opened the door, the huge rumbling noise of a waterfall, the sounds of birds, and the rustling of tree leaves entered her ears.
Outside of the extremely quiet secret room, the world had once again sprouted to life.
The verdant green mountains, birds singing, fragrance of the flowers, the bright sunlight, everything was tranquil and beautiful.
Feng Jin Huang looked around and saw Duke Long sitting quietly on a giant rock beside a pool.
The lights from the mountain delighted the birds, the shadows on the pool set the heart at ease.
"Master, master, take a look! I refined this dream pillow Gu." Feng Jin Huang ran over to Duke Long while holding the newly refined rank five Gu and spoke with a dazzling smile.
Duke Long slowly opened his eyes and took a glance at dream pillow Gu, he nodded his head slightly and said in a mild voice: "Not bad, not bad."
Feng Jin Huang slightly pouted: "How can it only be not bad? Master, you don't know how many times I failed in refining this Gu worm before succeeding this once. With this dream pillow Gu, mortal Gu Masters can enter dream realms if they sleep while laying their heads on it. It will be an enormous help to my Spirit Affinity House and the whole of Central Continent."
Ever since Feng Jin Huang took Duke Long as her master, she had devoted herself to cultivating. Duke Long did not instruct her in cultivation, but taught her of the situation of the whole world and his experiences, expanding her vision and knowledge.
With Duke Long's meticulous teaching, Feng Jin Huang was no longer the same as before, she now had a strategic vision and considered issues in terms of the overall view.
Feng Jin Huang's dream pillow Gu seemed ordinary but because it was a mortal Gu, it could be used by most Gu Masters. As long as this Gu was mass-produced, Central Continent's Gu Masters could easily enter their own dream realms and extract dream path Gu materials from them, gaining an early advantage in the great era.
This Gu was able to raise a whole region's strategic dominance, its significance was beyond ordinary!
Duke Long, however, showed no surprise: "It is only natural for you to have such accomplishments. Huang Er, you are the future Great Dream Immortal Venerable..."
Before Duke Long finished speaking, Feng Jin Huang interrupted with a trace of discontent: "Alright, alright, you are saying this again. Are you saying that I obtained all these accomplishments only because I am the future Great Dream Immortal Venerable?"
Duke Long chuckled as he looked at Feng Jin Huang, suddenly changing the topic: "Huang Er, do you believe in fate?"
Feng Jin Huang's brows furrowed: "Master, are you talking about fate Gu?"
Duke Long nodded: "Right, it is the fate Gu recorded in <
<
He brought his son, Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance, and daughter, Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence, to the feathermen's residence.
But strangely, all the feathermen had disappeared with no traces left.
"What's going on?" Ren Zu was puzzled.
"That is because I arrived here, those feathermen are afraid of me, all of them ran away." A black and white spider walked towards Ren Zu leisurely.
"Who are you?" Ren Zu asked.
The spider smiled: "Human, you have walked through the road I created in the Door of Life and Death, you still don't know who I am? I am fate Gu."
Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence added: "Fate Gu, you are not even the size of my palm, why would those feathermen fear you?"
Fate Gu chuckled: "Because they pursue freedom, but I, Fate, bind and restrict them."
Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance grumbled: "So your intention was the same as us. You are really a failure, not capturing even one featherman, while hindering us as well."
Fate Gu laughed loudly: "Who said I failed? The feathermen are pursuing freedom, but what do they know? Their escape is only on the superficial level, I have already bound them. The road towards their freedom was all arranged by me, but they think they succeeded, not knowing anything. You are also the same, look at yourselves."
Ren Zu, Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance, and Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence looked at their bodies.
They discovered that white spider silk had stuck to their limbs and body for some unknown time.
They also discovered that not just themselves, even the surrounding flowers, grass, trees, rocks, water, everything was bound by the spider silk.
These spider silk gathered together to form into a spider web which spread out endlessly in the sight of Ren Zu and his children.
"This is the web that I weaved, it is called all-encompassing web. Everything in the world is bound by this web, to be arranged and controlled by me, Fate. Everyone you encountered and all the things that have happened are all controlled by me." Fate Gu said.
Ren Zu and his children felt a chill in their hearts and began to struggle fiercely.
Fate Gu smiled: "It is useless, you cannot escape. Fate cannot be altered."
Ren Zu glared at fate Gu furiously: "Oh Fate, why do you have to manipulate and toy with us? From what you said, all the hardships and misfortunes I encountered were all your doings. The loss of my children was also due to you!"
Fate Gu said calmly: "Human, I know you want to save your eldest son Verdant Great Sun, but he is already dead. Death is a necessary fate of humans, you simply cannot save him. Moreover, you want to rely on wealth Gu to save your daughter Boundless Forest Samsara, that is also impossible."
As Fate willed, a thread of spider silk bound Ren Zu's wealth Gu and dragged it in front of fate Gu.
"Release it, that is our Gu worm!" Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance shouted.
Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence's eyes reddened, sobbing: "Father sacrificed his own hands to painstakingly refine this wealth Gu. How dare you take it away?"
Ren Zu struggled fiercely, but the spider silk continued to become tighter, firmly binding them.
Fate Gu laughed loudly: "Life and death is decreed by fate, prosperity is up to heaven. Human, you are fated to be poor and menial, tormented and humiliated till you become insane, and in the end, you will also die. Although you refined wealth Gu, you don't have the fate to enjoy it. If you are fated to be poor, even if you dug out gold, it will turn to copper, if you are fated to be rich, even if you pick up paper, it will turn to silk. All these things are under my control."
Ren Zu, Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance, and Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence started cursing fate Gu furiously.
Fate Gu was not the least bit angry, still carefree and at leisure: "Many have cursed me, but so what? Humans, no matter how you curse me, it won't change anything."
Fate Gu suddenly moved the spider silk, throwing Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance and Myriad Gold Wondrous Essence far away, completely out of Ren Zu's sight.
"My children!" Ren Zu howled.
Fate Gu said darkly: "Human, don't blame me, this is your fate. Not just you, loneliness is the fate of every person. Even if they are your own children, they will not accompany you for life and will eventually leave you. Every encounter is temporary, separation is normality."
Ren Zu, however, kept on struggling, but the more he struggled, the tighter the spider silk bound him.
Ren Zu felt an increasingly enormous pressure pushing him down to the point of suffocation.
He panted heavily, he gradually lost the strength to struggle.
Ren Zu started crying, tears rolling down his cheeks: "Why does my fate have to be so pitiful!"
Fate Gu was silent.
But at this time, a voice emerged from the depths of Ren Zu's heart. The voice belonged to self Gu: "Human, believe in your own strength rather than blaming your fate!"
Ren Zu stopped crying as he suddenly realized: "Right, although I don't have strength Gu, self Gu has taken a bite of strength Gu, I have my own strength now. Self Gu, I can only rely on you."
Self Gu then erupted with a dazzling light as it attempted to break the spider silk.
Some spider silk was torn, but even more came to bind Ren Zu.
"My own strength is not enough?" Ren Zu was anxious: "Right, self Gu, you have also taken a bite of love Gu. If strength does not work, let us rely on love instead."
Thereupon, self Gu let out a gentle light as it attempted to break the spider silk, but this also failed.
Fate Gu said: "Oh human, why can't you understand? Love is a type of fate, I arranged it to make Verdant Great Sun fall in love with Desolate Ancient Moon, I also arranged it to make the rockman fall in love with Desolate Ancient Moon. I also arranged success and failure in their lives, so they eventually ended up dead."
"No! No——!" Ren Zu screamed and bawled.
Fate Gu listened quietly.
Ren Zu gradually lost the strength to cry, he mumbled powerlessly: "I understand now, I know why the feathermen pursue freedom."
Fate Gu smiled: "Human, you also want to pursue freedom?"
Ren Zu nodded: "Yes, if I have freedom, I will be no longer be bound by you."
Fate Gu: "But look at those feathermen, even though they pursue freedom, aren't they still under my control?"
Ren Zu shook his head: "My freedom is different from them. I will pursue absolute freedom."
Fate Gu laughed loudly: "A person's absolute freedom is insanity. Oh human, see for yourself, you are seeking freedom but you are actually moving towards insanity. I already said this earlier, you will lose your mind. That is the road I arranged for you, you cannot escape my control."
"No! I don't believe you! I will use my own strength and wisdom to obtain freedom. I don't believe your words, I will escape your control!" Ren Zu retorted.
Fate Gu's laughter became louder: "Oh human, you are truly going crazy, you are already deranged. Did you forget? Your self Gu has only taken a bite of strength Gu and love Gu, so you only have your own strength and love, but not your own wisdom. Oh human, when you think you are intelligent, it will be the sign that you are going crazy."
"Hahaha, hahaha." It was Ren Zu's turn to laugh: "I don't believe you, oh fate Gu, I don't believe you! I don't believe that this world has fate."
Fate Gu was silent for a moment before saying: "Even if you don't believe it, I will still exist."
Ren Zu rebuked: "No, that is not true. When I stop believing in you, you will stop existing. I refuse to believe in fate, fate does not exist! Hahaha!"
Fate Gu shook its head, sighing: "Truly pitiful, oh human, you have already fallen into insanity."
Ren Zu scratched his hair and skin, his tears and mucus mixed together, he struggled, he knelt on the ground as he rolled around.
It was like how Fate declared, he had become insane.
...
Time flew by rapidly as a scene of the past suddenly appeared in Duke Long's mind.
A million years ago.
"Do you believe in fate?" Duke Long was standing and looking at his disciple warmly.
His disciple was only a youngster with a glossy forehead, handsome appearance and bright eyes. He had long black hair that reached his waist, there was a lifelike red lotus birthmark on his forehead.
Duke Long continued: "Red Lotus, you are the future Immortal Venerable, you will definitely lead us humans towards the greatest prosperity and glory. You will certainly succeed, creating your own Gu worms and techniques, you will become the pride of your parents, become invincible in the world, and your name shall be marked in history. You will join Heavenly Court, become the leader of humanity, and bring blessings to all beings, your glory will shine throughout time and space."
Young Red Lotus blinked his eyes before smiling, exposing his dazzling teeth: "There does not seem to be anything bad with this. I believe in fate!"
Duke Long returned to reality after the slight trance.
He looked at Feng Jin Huang and said solemnly: "Huang Er, you need to understand that you are the future Great Dream Immortal Venerable who will surpass all the past venerables! You will create dream path and be invincible in the whole world. Your glory will shine and spread for ages, becoming the eternal symbol and support of humanity. Don't fear, don't hesitate, take each success to press forward indomitably until you reach the supreme peak of this world!"
Feng Jin Huang's eyes got brighter and brighter as she listened. She smiled with unparalleled beauty.
Duke Long also smiled.
Feng Jin Huang said: "If all this is predestined by fate, then... I do not believe in fate!"
"What?" Duke Long's smile froze on his face.