314 RI
The three of them charged towards the Predicament, this was truly a battle of life and death!
The three had insufficient strength left, while this Predicament was strong beyond their expectations.
Calamities and tribulations befell endlessly, the three immortals did their best and used their trump cards, they squeezed out every ounce of potential in them.
Hei Lou Lan's dark capital strength tiger totem was crippled, Yellow Bell Tribe Leader's golden bell totem was greatly damaged, the cost of repairing it would be huge. As for the rank seven Gu Immortal, he had rain eagle totem and thunder fish totem, they both lost their ability to fight, but thankfully, this rank seven Gu Immortal had a method to fuse the two damaged totems into the thunder rain fish eagle totem.
They avoided death narrowly!
After fifteen minutes of stalemate, the three immortals risked their lives and finally killed the Predicament.
Yellow Bell Tribe Leader was lying on the ground, he did not even have the strength to laugh, he could only cough: "Ability Gu is mine! You two are very skilled, regardless of whether you join my Yellow Bell Tribe, I will owe you both a favor. What are you doing!!!"
Suddenly, Yellow Bell Tribe Leader stared with wide eyes as he shouted in anger.
Because he saw that the rank seven Gu Immortal had secretly moved away and took the ability Gu on the ground.
"What else? I am snatching the Gu." The rank seven Gu Immortal placed ability Gu into his immortal aperture right in front of Yellow Bell Tribe Leader.
Cough!
Yellow Bell Tribe Leader coughed out a mouthful of blood and fell unconscious, falling from the heavenly road.
Hei Lou Lan gritted her teeth in anger: "I was just a step away, damn it!"
She wanted to snatch ability Gu too, but it was a pity that her location after leaving the Predicament's body was bad, she was the furthest person from the Immortal Gu.
Thus, that rank seven Gu Immortal succeeded.
The rank seven Gu Immortal smiled at Hei Lou Lan before falling from the sky.
"I do not have the strength to continue." Hei Lou Lan sighed deeply, even though she had great gains in this trip, she did not obtain any top tier Immortal Gu.
Right when she was about to leave the place, she suddenly froze as her palm seemed to have touched something.
"It feels like... an invisible Gu worm?"
Hei Lou Lan looked at it with deep focus, because she had touched the Immortal Gu, she could sense this Gu worm's strength path aura.
"An invisible rank eight Immortal Gu? What can it be? Don't tell me..." Hei Lou Lan was extremely happy, she grabbed the mysterious Immortal Gu and left the heavenly road.
<
Legend says that Ren Zu encountered the greatest Predicament in his life, he ended up creating his seventh child, Great Strength True Martial, and was saved as a result.
Ren Zu and Great Strength True Martial started to travel together.
Great Strength True Martial asked: "Father, where are we going now?"
Ren Zu replied: "My son, you still do not know the situation, I will explain it to you. I originally wanted to save your brothers and sisters, but fate Gu arranged everything, not allowing us to have a reunion. Right now, we need to break free from fate's control in order to be with our family again."
After hearing the story, Great Strength True Martial could not help but shout in anger: "This fate Gu is too wicked."
At the same time, strong Gu also shouted in his heart: "Experts hate restraints, especially fate."
Ren Zu patted Great Strength True Martial's head and consoled: "Don't worry, I have already thought of a way. I will use self Gu to gain strength and wisdom, after, I will obtain freedom Gu and break free from fate Gu's control. Now, let us go to a place called Qian Kun Crystal Wall, we will search for wisdom Gu there."
Great Strength True Martial nodded: "Let us go there then."
Ren Zu and Great Strength True Martial walked and walked, the road was uneven, there were many upslope and downslope roads.
Strong Gu encouraged Great Strength True Martial: "Oh human, walk on the Upslope Road, even though it is a harder journey, there are often good things there!"
Great Strength True Martial nodded: "Experts like to walk on the Upslope Road."
Great Strength True Martial took great effort to walk up the Upslope Road, he looked around and called out: "There's nothing here at all."
"No, it is right by your feet, pick it up now." Strong Gu instructed.
Great Strength True Martial squatted down, searching the ground with his hands, as expected, he found something hard, it was an invisible Gu.
"I found something good." Great Strength True Martial laughed: "So it is effort Gu."
Ren Zu found it strange: "My son, how did you find out its name? We can't see what it looks like."
Great Strength True Martial scratched his head: "The moment I obtained it, I saw effort Gu's appearance. As for why I know this is effort Gu, well, every expert should know what effort is. This is natural, there is nothing strange about it."
After all, you cannot see the effort of other people.
The pair of father and son set off again.
"This is great, now that I have effort Gu, it will help me greatly." Great Strength True Martial walked as he looked at effort Gu, feeling very happy.
He continued to choose the Upslope Road.
Ren Zu asked curiously: "Is effort Gu really that amazing? Can it allow you to achieve success?"
Great Strength True Martial shook his head: "Effort might not necessarily lead to success, but effort will give you a result. Regardless of the result, whether you put in effort or not will show a difference."
Ren Zu was very worried: "Oh son, you have just been born, don't be deceived by the Gu. I had once been deceived by wisdom Gu. I see that you are covered in sweat and pant heavily each time you walk on the Upslope Road, I do not see effort Gu helping you at all. I've heard of such rumors too, effort Gu can sometimes lie to you."
Great Strength True Martial shook his head as he wiped the sweat off his forehead: "Father, because you cannot see the effort I put in, you misunderstood things. You cannot understand the amount of effort I put in to walk this Upslope Road. Actually, the result of my effort is below my feet, every step, I move higher and further. There are many good things on the Upslope Road, humans cannot obtain them without effort."
"Is that really the case?" Ren Zu was half convinced and suspicious.
Ren Zu and Great Strength True Martial continued on their journey.
Great Strength True Martial kept walking on the Upslope Road, he continued to move up higher, he obtained authority Gu and fortitude Gu.
In the later part of the road, he found humility Gu and forgiveness Gu as well.
These two Gu worms took the initiative to follow Great Strength True Martial.
Great Strength True Martial asked for the reason while they replied matter-of-factly: "Because humility (forgiveness) is the authority of an expert to begin with."
Because Great Strength True Martial walked on the Upslope Road, an ability Gu suddenly appeared within him.
Great Strength True Martial held ability Gu as he said to Ren Zu: "Look father, this is the result of effort Gu. It awakened my potential, I have my own ability now!"
Ren Zu asked: "Then what is the use of this ability Gu?"
Great Strength True Martial shook his head: "I am not sure. People will only know their abilities and their strength after they use them. But it is definitely useful, it can last my entire lifetime."
Ren Zu shook his head, he still felt that his son was deceived by the Gu.
Ren Zu and Great Strength True Martial continued walking, the situation on the road was getting worse.
Downslope Road was easier to walk on, but it was getting rarer, there were more and more segments of Upslope Road.
Not only so, more and more Predicaments appeared on the road.
"Isn't there an easier road to walk on?" Ren Zu was helpless.
Cognition Gu flew towards Ren Zu: "Oh human, there is no other way. The more valuable thing you try to pursue, the more segments of the Upslope Road you need to walk on, and the more Predicaments you need to overcome."
Ren Zu and Great Strength True Martial had to continue on their way.
Indeed, as cognition Gu had said, they encountered more and more Predicaments, their road was completely blocked.
Ren Zu said: "Don't be afraid of the Predicaments, we still have our hope."
"But hope alone cannot defeat the Predicament, at this time, you will need me." Great Strength True Martial's ability Gu spoke.
Great Strength True Martial used his ability, defeating many Predicaments.
Ren Zu sighed at long last: "My son, your ability Gu is too amazing, it can actually do this. It seems I have underestimated your effort and ability."
Great Strength True Martial smiled: "Often, we humans do not lack abilities, we lack the opportunities to display them."
Strong Gu shouted in his heart with great ambition: "Kill them all, let's eat them all! That way, we can become even stronger."
Great Strength True Martial killed many Predicaments, he started to eat the Predicaments' head.
"So this is a bitter head? It is really bitter. But I can feel myself getting stronger."
He started to eat the Predicament's loss.
Great Strength True Martial immediately spat it out: "Experts do not like to swallow losses."
He also ate the Predicament's flesh.
Strong Gu got bigger, Great Strength True Martial also became more muscular than before.
Strong Gu was very satisfied about this change: "In this world, only by becoming stronger can one avoid getting bullied."
Great Strength True Martial gave some of the meat to Ren Zu: "Oh father, eat something, you are too skinny."
Ren Zu was so thin he looked like a rack of bones.
Eventually, Great Strength True Martial tossed ability Gu into the tribulation.
Ability Gu went through great hurdles and difficulties, but it got larger and stronger as well.
All sorts of tribulations and difficulties were prime opportunities to train one's ability, to develop one's ability, and to increase one's ability.
...
Several days later, in Eastern Sea.
Fang Yuan looked at the two rank eight Immortal Gu in his hands, they were fortitude Gu and ability Gu!
"This time, my clone Zhan Bu Du did a great job, this is a great gain for us." Fang Yuan was very happy internally.
It turned out that after the fate war, Fang Yuan sent Zhan Bu Du into Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven immediately.
Fang Yuan knew about Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven long ago, there was information about it in the five hundred years of his previous life. Ma Hong Yun had once entered and walked on the heavenly road, obtaining fortitude Gu in the end.
Even though Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven was secluded, there were ways to sneak in. Otherwise, there would not be so many outsiders sacrificed during the Myriad Tribes Ceremony.
Before annexing Lang Ya Sect, Fang Yuan knew about Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven but did not have ways to enter.
But Lang Ya Sect could.
Lang Ya land spirit had once tried to recruit Chu Du, he even asked Fang Yuan to help in this matter. It was because Lang Ya land spirit had this method, he wanted to send Chu Du inside to explore and gain benefits.
The most popular paths in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven were food path, strength path, and transformation path, among which, pure strength path cultivators were the most successful.
After annexing Lang Ya Sect, Fang Yuan gained control of this method.
He used it to send Zhan Bu Du inside.
And his gains were much larger than expected.
"Fortitude Gu is useful to me, ability Gu also has great prospects in the future. As for Hei Lou Lan, she went to Longevity Heaven and is receiving a lot of attention and help, it seems. It is a pity that Zhan Bu Du did not have the strength to kill her at that point in time." Fang Yuan did not feel much pity about this.
Hei Lou Lan was not important, the key was Crazed Demon Cave and the impending conflict between venerables!
-x-X-x-
Inside the sovereign immortal aperture.
Meng Qiu Zhen was exploring another dream realm.
Deep in the mountains, Meng Qiu Zhen sat cross-legged on a cliff with a torrential waterfall below him.
"Immortal, immortal!" A young man was covered in injuries, he crawled towards Fang Yuan and begged him to take him in as a disciple.
"You want me to be your master?" Meng Qiu Zhen smiled while feeling surprised internally, he tried to decipher the rules of this dream realm.
In the past, Fang Yuan would need to test it himself, but now, Meng Qiu Zhen had the dream path Immortal Gu, Dream Butterfly!
He activated dream butterfly Immortal Gu secretly to investigate while stalling for time as he spoke: "You are a mere mortal, but since you are able to find me after so many hurdles, this means we are fated. I have three cultivation paths, I will impart you one of them."
The young man was overjoyed, he kowtowed continuously on the hard ground, a dull sound was heard each time.
Meng Qiu Zhen said: "The first path is formation path, it emphasizes on..."
Meng Qiu Zhen continued to explain, he said the truth without any lies in his words.
The young man nodded in hesitation: "Lord immortal, even though formation path is very complex, I am willing to work hard!"
Meng Qiu Zhen shook his head, saying: "No hurry, my second path is strength path, it is powerful and direct, the advantage lies in..."
After Meng Qiu Zhen finished his words, the young man became very excited: "I want to learn strength path!"
Meng Qiu Zhen smiled again: "I have a third path, wisdom path. Strength path is very common but wisdom path is rare, it can benefit you immensely. Among which..."
After a lengthy description, the young man was overwhelmed with excitement: "Lord immortal, lord immortal! I am most willing to learn wisdom path, please teach me."
At this time, dream butterfly Immortal Gu finished investigating the dream realm.
The dream realm was not small, it had eight scenes.
It turned out that the immortal had once unknowingly destroyed a mortal village, causing the death of the young man's parents.
The young man became all alone, he suffered greatly in the mortal world, not knowing who his enemy was.
After much effort, he finally became the disciple of this immortal. He had great aptitude and had the Ten Extreme Physique, he was very suited for wisdom path cultivation.
When the young man found out that his enemy was his master, he started to exact revenge.
In the final scene, the master and disciple turned on each other, this was a difficult dream.
"No matter what I impart, this disciple will learn it completely and even innovate to surpass the master. Furthermore, he will cultivate wisdom path secondarily and have incredible wisdom path methods."
"Thus, this first scene is the most important chance to weaken this disciple!" Meng Qiu Zhen realized internally.
Without dream butterfly Immortal Gu, he had to test it himself, he definitely could not pass with his first try, his soul would get injured.
Meng Qiu Zhen would need to recuperate, wasting time and resources. After that, he would need to restart and explore the dream realm again.
But with dream butterfly Immortal Gu, he had the initiative, he was not in such a passive spot.
Even though dream butterfly Immortal Gu could only investigate the situation, the value of information was simply priceless.
Looking at the young man, Meng Qiu Zhen thought about it and smiled: "Then I will impart you my wisdom path cultivation. This method was not created by me, but I modified it personally, I named it — Nine-nine Multiplication Table."
"Nine-nine multiplication table?" The young man's eyes shined, just from the name, he felt that it was grand and impressive, it had an immortal flair.
Meng Qiu Zhen continued to spout nonsense: "Nine is the perfect number, nine times nine represents the concept of countless and boundless, the multiplication method is the rule of all beings, the extreme profundity of the natural order, those who lack aptitude cannot comprehend it. Come, let me teach you the first killer move — One Times One is One!"
The young man held his breath, he listened attentively and muttered to himself: "One times one is one, one times one is one, one times one is one."
Not long after, at the final scene.
"Master, this is my final..."
"Shut up! Don't call me master, you traitorous disciple, I am not your master."
"No, even so, I will call you my..."
"Shut up! I worked so hard to nurture you, I imparted my strongest method, the nine-nine multiplication table to you, but yet you repaid my kindness with enmity!"
"No, master. No matter how angry you are, it is a fact you killed my parents, there is no resolving that grudge. For the last time, I will call you my..."
Meng Qiu Zhen did not care, he directly used his killer move on his disciple.
The disciple was constantly interrupted, he could not call him 'master' for the last time.
Meng Qiu Zhen wanted to see this. Because he understood this disciple, who had created his own raging emotion killer move, it was incredible, it could use wisdom path to allow all sorts of emotions to surge in power. If he managed to say it, he would feel a sense of freedom, he would be able to use the killer move freely.
Once he activated the killer move raging emotion, he would gain a huge advantage in this dream realm, Meng Qiu Zhen would face great difficulty in trying to pass it.
The battle progressed like how Meng Qiu Zhen predicted, he kept attacking and did not give his disciple a chance to talk.
His disciple was constantly suppressed, without a choice, he had to give up on his strongest raging emotion killer move and use the nine-nine multiplication table method instead.
Immortal killer move — Eight Times Eight Is Eighty-Eight!
After a long time of fighting, his disciple finally used his killer move.
Cough!
He had just activated the killer move when it failed immediately, he suffered a backlash and became gravely injured.
"This killer move is wrong! Master, don't tell me you..." The disciple looked at Meng Qiu Zhen in disbelief.
"Oh my foolish little disciple, I'll tell you the real name of this killer move — Eight Times Eight Is Sixty-Six!" Meng Qiu Zhen snickered coldly as he attacked viciously[1].
The disciple lasted only a few rounds before his head was taken, he died with grievance.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan's main body was comprehending killer moves now.
Using Gu worms alone often had all sorts of demerits or side effects. To fix this or to reduce the side effects, Gu cultivators started to use multiple Gu worms together in cooperation.
Killer moves were naturally developed on this basis.
Killer moves involved the use of multiple Gu worms, among the three aspects of nurture, use, and refinement, they came under 'use'.
When cultivators developed killer moves, they were surprised to find that natural killer moves existed in nature all along. From the bodies of desolate beasts or desolate plants, these cultivators found that they had many innate abilities, these abilities were all profound and mystical, like the upper extreme heavenly eagle's ability to enter and exit blessed lands and grotto-heavens.
The upper extreme heavenly eagle had dense space path dao marks on its body, these dao marks were distributed in a certain pattern, following the rules of space path to grant it the 'innate ability' to enter and leave blessed lands and grotto-heavens.
Thus, the essence of killer moves was dao marks.
"In this aspect, totem killer moves are the closest to the original form of killer moves." Fang Yuan praised internally.
Totem killer moves were developed in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven, they did not exist elsewhere.
Totem killer moves had very high status, they could complement ordinary killer moves and battlefield killer moves, being on the same level as them.
With regard to using Gu, other than using single Gu worms, there were ordinary killer moves, battlefield killer moves, ancient battle formations, current generation Gu formations, as well as mortal and Immortal Gu Houses. But now, on this foundation, there was a new type — totem killer moves!
Compared to other ways of using Gu, totem killer moves had a clear advantage.
The most obvious one was that activating them was easy and quick, even a fool could control them. Totem killer moves needed very few thoughts, they were reliant on primeval essence or immortal essence instead. Unlike ordinary killer moves which needed to activate every single Gu worm, the processes were very different.
Secondly, totem killer moves were easy to assemble, the maintenance cost was also low. The Gu worms of ordinary killer moves needed constant feeding. The cultivator would also need a lot of time to find appropriate Gu worms. As for totem killer moves, they only needed the corresponding food ingredients. Gu materials were much easier to find than Gu worms!
The cost of feeding Gu worms was very high, but once totem killer moves were created, they would exist on the user's body, not requiring further food. Of course, if they were damaged, they would need to be repaired. By then, the cultivator would need to eat the respective food ingredients.
Thirdly, totem killer moves were very easy to publicize, many people could use them at the same time. Also, totem killer moves were suited for all paths!
Of course, there were disadvantages as well.
For example, the cost of creating a totem was not low. Also, with the creation of a totem, it would greatly affect the Gu cultivator's future cultivation, after all, it contained dao marks. And finally, totems were powerful but they had fixed methods, they were easy to counter. This was quite similar to Gu Houses.
Fang Yuan thought about it, he felt that the totem killer moves had some similarity to beast strength phantoms.
"These Demon Venerables and Immortal Venerables have unimaginable talent. Even though Reckless Savage Demon Venerable's personality was quite unexpected, his scheming abilities are top notch."
Originally, Reckless Savage Demon Venerable's grotto-heaven only had strength path and transformation path dao marks.
But from what Fang Yuan learned from Old Eccentric Tian Nan's true inheritance, he used the beastman's method against them, fusing his own immortal aperture into the gluttonous demon frog's body.
This was simply akin to the action of a deity, it could not be described in plain words!
The gluttonous demon frog was a food path legendary immemorial beast, with it encompassing the immortal aperture, and along with Reckless Savage Demon Venerable's method, Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven started to develop a food path environment.
This food path environment was crucial!
It was because of the food path dao marks that Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven's cultivators could use refinement path methods to cook while having low food path attainment, creating the food that could allow them to cultivate totem killer moves.
In the outside world, without the help of a food path environment, Gu cultivators could not create such food so easily.
"This is actually food path cultivation!"
Fang Yuan thought about Southern Border's Paradise Earth true inheritance.
In this true inheritance, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable developed food path, allowing tea recipes to become food path recipes. Using Gu materials to create tea, the cultivator could drink it to gain dao marks.
The essence of the totem killer moves in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven was the same.
Gu cultivators could absorb the dao marks of Gu materials into their own bodies and create totem killer moves gradually. Totem killer moves were very suitable for their own cultivator, because during the process, their bodies would choose to absorb whatever it could absorb as nutrients.
"Hmm?" Fang Yuan's expression changed slightly, his thoughts were interrupted for a moment.
"My wisdom path reached great grandmaster attainment level." He could feel this change immediately, but his expression remained tranquil and peaceful.
-x-X-x-
Soon, Fang Yuan placed the matter of his wisdom path attainment level aside as he continued his comprehension.
"Be they Reckless Savage Demon Venerable or Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, they have a deep understanding of food path. In this aspect, Reckless Savage Demon Venerable is inferior to Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, he only made use of the gluttonous demon frog. But the way he used the food path environment to create the totem killer move archetype is truly too amazing." Even Fang Yuan could not stint on the praise towards such a move.
If one truly cultivated totem killer moves purely, they would need to undergo continuous deductions.
But in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven, Gu cultivators only had to devour food ingredients and use the food path environment to naturally select the most suitable nutrition by their bodies themselves, those dao marks would develop into all sorts of totems on their own.
This was like using food path to make up for any deficiency in wisdom path, allowing countless totem killer moves to be born.
As for the Gu materials that the Gu cultivators devoured, where did those come from?
They were naturally produced by Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven itself.
Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven had bountiful transformation path dao marks, there were many mutated beasts and plants here, they had mutated and developed forms that far surpassed the five regions in diversity.
The wild beasts or plants living in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven were all unique existences in the grotto-heaven, they could not be found elsewhere.
When Gu cultivators devour the mutated Gu materials, their totems would also continue to change and elevate. From this perspective, the Gu cultivator was making use of Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven's natural development to allow the totem killer moves to develop as well. Eventually, they would produce stunning results.
Just what Zhan Bu Du heard when he lurked in there was that there were over nine thousand basic totems in Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven.
Dark capital strength tiger, rain eagle totem, thunder fish totem, and golden bell totem were just part of them. Not to mention that aside from these basic totems, there were also unique totems that belonged to certain individuals.
"These totem killer moves are not very helpful to me, but there is high reference value in all the recipes that exist here!"
Fang Yuan originally had a food path true inheritance, it came from Shadow Sect and was the original food path inheritance in the world. Not long ago, Fang Yuan also obtained Southern Border's Paradise Earth true inheritance, obtaining all sorts of food path killer moves, there were tea recipes that could increase the number of dao marks on a Gu cultivator's body. And now, Fang Yuan obtained all sorts of recipes to create totem killer moves.
Combining all of his accumulations, food path had developed to a certain degree, Fang Yuan was starting to see its true profundity and depth.
"All along, I thought that food path most excelled in feeding Gu and reducing the burden on the Gu cultivator. But the truth is, this is only one advantage of food path, the true power of food path is to help the Gu cultivator gain extra dao marks and raise their foundation!"
The advantage of food path was to sustain the livelihood of the Gu cultivator and Gu worms, while also using specific methods to make the target even stronger than before.
Fang Yuan had wisdom path great grandmaster attainment level, his wisdom path deductions were elevated to a new level. Thus, Fang Yuan could deduce all sorts of food path killer moves from just these recipes alone.
Food path had a huge difference compared to other paths, most food path killer moves were used on the user themselves.
Fang Yuan had a lot of immortal materials, if he expended them to form food path killer moves that were used on the sovereign immortal body, he would gain a vast number of dao marks!
Fang Yuan estimated: "If I compare the benefits, annexing grotto-heavens gives me the most dao marks, each time, I will gain millions of them. But now that the sovereign immortal aperture is reaching its peak capacity, the balance of the habitat is already close to toppling, if I continue with that, I will start to experience unfavorable losses instead."
"Using these food path killer moves to increase my dao marks might have small gains each time but with enough attempts, I can also accumulate a huge amount of dao marks."
"Additionally, to prepare for Crazed Demon Cave, I need to create some defensive food path methods against Spectral Soul Demon Venerable."
Spectral Soul's killer moves, bitter taste and swallow loss, left a huge impression on Fang Yuan.
He could not ignore them!
At the same time, because food path was not popularized, ordinary Gu Immortals could not effectively defend against it. Thus, if Fang Yuan developed some food path offensive methods, there might be great results too.
Fang Yuan held expectations towards food path, but the extent was not big.
Because his enemies in Crazed Demon Cave were either Star Constellation Immortal Venerable or Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. The latter's proficiency at food path was definitely higher than Fang Yuan, while the former had wisdom path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment, the former leader of Heavenly Court, how could she falter so easily against food path?
"The enemies are too strong, food path is only a minor method, it cannot be used on that stage. But development is still necessary, I need to have defense against it at least. When I fight against Spectral Soul again, I will not be disadvantaged in food path anymore."
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan gave his time path clone new missions to refine another batch of Immortal Gu.
During this period of time, the time path clone had been using Four Elements Square Regret Blood Refinement Pool to refine rank eight Immortal Gu without pausing.
A large number of Immortal Gu that Fang Yuan possessed had already been elevated to rank eight!
Four Elements Square Regret Blood Refinement Pool had a terrifying success rate for refining rank eight Immortal Gu. Together with his huge stock of immortal materials and rank eight Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus' immortal essence, there was nothing that could stop Fang Yuan from refining rank eight Gu in bulk.
Most of his Immortal Gu were rank eight already.
The time path clone started to have free time, he refined some rank six or seven Immortal Gu as well.
Fang Yuan had a vast number of Immortal Gu recipes. These Immortal Gu recipes mostly came from Lang Ya Sect, while a portion came from his various inheritances. Even without Immortal Gu recipe, with Fang Yuan's increasingly powerful wisdom path methods and quasi-supreme grandmaster refinement path attainment level, he could also create his own with some casual deductions.
Earlier, the time path clone had already refined a batch of theft path Immortal Gu.
Most of these Immortal Gu were rank six, a few were elevated to rank seven.
Four Elements Square Regret Blood Refinement Pool could refine rank eight Immortal Gu in bulk, those rank six and seven Immortal Gu were simply too easy in comparison.
The only thing stopping Fang Yuan was the fact that Immortal Gu were unique.
In this world, Gu Immortals had to make immense preparations until they reached their limit to refine Immortal Gu, after all that hardship and difficulty, they might not even succeed. The success rate was just too low! If anyone found out that Fang Yuan was refining Gu like this,they would be in disbelief and shock.
The truth was, Four Elements Square Regret Blood Refinement Pool was something that surpassed the limits of any Gu Immortal's imagination!
As for the theft path Immortal Gu that he refined, Fang Yuan used them to reconstruct Thieves Den.
The previous Thieves Den Immortal Gu House had been used too many times, it was the original version made by Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, it was no longer suited for Fang Yuan. Thus, Fang Yuan used it as the foundation to modify and make adjustments.
Even so, he was mainly focusing on repairing and replenishing lacking Gu worms, he made few modifications, after all, this Immortal Gu House came from Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, be it structure or killer moves, it was close to being perfect. Fang Yuan could modify it because the eras had changed, new Gu worms were developed that suited Thieves Den even more.
Cooking Luck Pot, Thieves Den, and Peaceful Soil Heavy Mountain Fortress, these were the three main Immortal Gu Houses that Fang Yuan focused on.
With Fang Yuan's current refinement ability, he could definitely reconstruct Dragon Palace and Myriad Year Flying Warship.
But thinking about it, Fang Yuan wisely chose to give up on them.
These two Immortal Gu Houses had been used too many times, everyone knew about their information, they were also peak creations that had little room for modification.
If Fang Yuan rebuilt them and used them in battle, they would definitely be countered.
Ordinary enemies were still fine, but Crazed Demon Cave had Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, there could even be Limitless Demon Venerable!
If Di Zang Sheng were still enslaved under Fang Yuan, there was still a bit of value in Dragon Palace. Unfortunately, Di Zang Sheng was sealed by Heavenly Court, if Fang Yuan attacked Heavenly Court for it, he would waste a lot of effort and time, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable would have more opportunities to make her moves.
"Rather than rebuilding Immortal Gu Houses, I should design new ones. And the new Immortal Gu Houses that I conceptualize should revolve around my combat system as well."
Qi Sea Ancestor had already been preparing his own combat system, Fang Yuan was also facing the same difficult question.
"Against venerables, I need to have an outstanding combat system. It is a pity that Duke Long is dead while Demon Immortal Qi Jue is sealed, without them as my grindstones, I will have a lack of experience in creating my combat system."
Fang Yuan had always been considering his own combat systems.
He actually wanted some people with equivalent battle strength to show up so that he could have the inspiration to make a mature combat system.
Currently, Fang Yuan's most mature combat systems were sword path and time path, he used them during the fate war. Now that he gained rank eight fortitude Gu and ability Gu, he might be able to create a combat system around strength path as well.
Bzzz bzzz bzzz....
Cooking Luck Pot started to vibrate.
"Oh?" Fang Yuan raised his head and observed his own luck as well as those of his clones.
Soon, his expression became quite peculiar.
On the surface of his silver-white pillar of light, many small grey clouds formed.
Fang Yuan observed them carefully, he soon found that these external clouds came from Li Xiao Bai.
The luck of other clones was tranquil, but Li Xiao Bai's luck was changing intensely.
Fang Yuan deduced internally: "So Li Xiao Bai is undergoing immortal ascension. Looking at how his luck is changing, he is going to have a small problem. But why does this problem involve my main body? And looking at this, it has a huge relationship with me!"
Profound Literature grotto-heaven.
Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed, the sky was covered in dark tribulation clouds.
Li Xiao Bai was dressed in white and he floated in the air, a thick cocoon of triple qi layers covered his entire body.
Li Xiao Bai was at the crucial moment of his immortal ascension!
"Xiao Bai, you must persevere." Su Qi Han was very worried, she stared at him with a fixed gaze, at the person whom she loved dearly.
Boom.
A pale green lightning ball shot down from the dark clouds with a trail behind it, approaching Li Xiao Bai.
Su Qi Han shouted in shock, at the crucial moment, Li Xiao Bai used his killer move and created a poem wall that blocked the lightning ball.
"This Li Xiao Bai is actually able to balance the three qi while blocking the tribulation with relative ease!" Far away, a young-looking man stared with eerie eyes, gritting his teeth.
"If you really become an immortal, then I, Du Zhi Xiao, will never be able to make it big. Oh Li Xiao Bai, blame yourself for being too outstanding. Being born in the same era as you is truly the misfortune of everyone who is forced to be a side character."
The young man Du Zhi Xiao said while shooting out a wave of grey smoke.
The grey smoke floated up and entered the tribulation cloud, causing it to become turbulent as the clouds rumbled intensely, shooting out three pale green lightning balls in response.
"What is happening? Someone made a move!" Su Qi Han watched as her eyes turned red: "Xiao Bai is in danger!!"
-x-X-x-
Seeing that the tribulation lightning was about to hit Li Xiao Bai, Su Qi Han flew into the sky.
She charged up relentlessly, wanting to sacrifice herself to block the lightning.
"Sigh, this foolish daughter." A figure suddenly appeared, stopping Su Qi Han.
Su Qi Han saw the person who came and became joyful and surprised, shouting: "Father!"
He was the current dynasty's Imperial Minister Su, a rank seven Gu Immortal of Profound Literature grotto-heaven.
"Li Xiao Bai is my son-in-law, why would I let him die on his own? Just be patient and watch, don't create trouble." Imperial Minister Su consoled Su Qi Han while sighing internally.
Truly, daughters would leave the parents to be with their husbands eventually.
Even though Imperial Minister Su appreciated Li Xiao Bai's aptitude, he was against Li Xiao Bai's actions.
Originally, Imperial Minister Su wanted Li Xiao Bai to marry into his family and to impart him Su clan's inheritance, so that Li Xiao Bai could undergo immortal ascension and become an official in the Imperial Court, he would progress smoothly and become a support pillar of Su clan.
But Li Xiao Bai continued to wander outside and gather more knowledge, he did not want to become an official, this action made Imperial Minister Su very unhappy.
Minister Su had made his attempts to recruit him in the past, but Li Xiao Bai's vision was too broad, why would he care about the small Imperial Court within Profound Literature grotto-heaven? He was Gu Yue Fang Yuan's clone, he had grand ambitions, this Profound Literature grotto-heaven could not hold him down.
"Even though this lad does not know what's good for him, he is still a Su clan member, the man that my daughter loves. Even though he is too rash in undergoing tribulation this time and does not know fear, I need to protect him!" Imperial Minister Su sighed deeply, waving his robe, a bright rainbow shot out, blocking the three pale green lightning balls.
"Damn it, damn it! Imperial Minister Su came after all!" Du Zhi Xiao watched with and shuddered in anger, he screamed internally with indignance: "Li Xiao Bai, you are simply too lucky, such a great person actually defended you. I hate it, I hate everything about you!"
Du Zhi Xiao watched as his plans were about to fail, right at this moment, a figure appeared on his left.
This figure appeared from the sky, it was clearly a Gu Immortal.
The masked Gu Immortal charged towards Imperial Minister Su.
Imperial Minister Su had to fight against him, he showed anger on his face: "Come! I have many political enemies, which one of them are you? You have such methods!"
The masked Gu Immortal spoke in a hoarse voice: "Imperial Minister Su, you understand it as well. Your son-in-law is exceptional but he is simply too dazzling. It is better if your Su clan is not so strong! Don't even think of helping him now."
"Someone is helping me?! Hahaha, great, wonderful!" Du Zhi Xiao was slightly stunned before becoming extremely happy, he started to jump around in joy.
"Father!" Su Qi Han shouted from the ground: "Help Xiao Bai."
Boom.
The tribulation lightning struck again, Li Xiao Bai had to use his killer move and create a poem wall.
Du Zhi Xiao screamed wildly: "Don't even think of blocking it!"
Grey smoke appeared from his body again, raising the power of the tribulation.
The poem wall was broken by the tribulation lightning, but most of its might was blocked, only the pale green fire was left on Li Xiao Bai's body, burning him.
"Xiao Bai!" Su Qi Han was deeply shocked, she charged towards him without second thoughts.
Since she could not resolve this problem, she would rather die together with Li Xiao Bai!
But at the crucial moment, Li Xiao Bai's hand pushed out of the cocoon, he waved at Su Qi Han: "Don't be rash, in this situation, in this danger, I gained a surge of inspiration, I have a feeling, I have the urge to recite a poem."
"What?" Su Qi Han was stunned.
Imperial Minister Su and the masked Gu Immortal also froze halfway through their fight.
Imperial Minister Su could not help but turn to look, the reason was that in the current dynasty and mortal world, there were many rumors of Li Xiao Bai surviving fatal danger by creating and reciting poems spontaneously.
"Again? I want to see if you have the ability to surpass the might of heaven itself!" Du Zhi Xiao had an extremely grim and dark expression.
In the past, he had an overwhelming advantage with victory in sight. In the end, because of Li Xiao Bai's poem, he turned the situation around and won.
This experience became the great psychological trauma of Du Zhi Xiao's life!
Everyone listened attentively as Li Xiao Bai recited:
Under the pine trees I ask of a disciple,
He replies, his master had gone to gather herbs.
Somewhere in the mountain he was for certain,
Within the dense clouds, his figure is hidden.
A chain of black characters flew out of Li Xiao Bai's mouth, becoming four segments that revolved around him.
A few breaths later, the poem turned into dense smoke that moved turbulently around him.
The pale green fire on Li Xiao Bai's body got completely absorbed into the smoke.
With a soft sound, the white clouds vanished while the pale green fire was extinguished, no longer able to obstruct Li Xiao Bai.
Du Zhi Xiao was dumbfounded.
Imperial Minister Su praised immediately: "Good poem, good poem. The diction is concise and straightforward, the words used can stir deep emotions, there is profundity in its plainness. To describe complex feelings with simple words, yet the sentiments are sincere and exciting!"
Su Qi Han raised her hands to her chest and looked up at Li Xiao Bai, her eyes shining with adoration: "Xiao Bai is truly a genius! The poem is free of flashy descriptions and feels very natural, but has vivid descriptions and appropriate intensity. Green pines and white clouds. The green and lush pines contain unparalleled vitality, the vast white clouds are thick and dense, remote and elusive, it makes one think of the autumn waters and beautiful women that remain as figures within the fog. It's so beautiful, this poem and its meaning is really too beautiful!"
The masked Gu Immortal laughed: "I understand, I understand now. Li Xiao Bai, you are a true secluded genius, the white clouds in the poem show your high purity, the pines represent your upright attitude. You want to get away from the mundane mortal realm and go to the world of pines and clouds that is beyond. I was simply worrying for nothing, how can a person like you lower yourself to the Imperial Court? Forget it, forget it, I'm leaving, I'm leaving. With talent like yours, if you die, it is the loss of the entire world in terms of poetry development! I don't want to be a sinner whose rotten reputation goes down in history."
As the masked Gu Immortal said that, he turned around and left.
Imperial Minister Su, who had a complex expression, was left behind.
"He left? He let him go just like that?!" Du Zhi Xiao spat out a mouthful of blood, he stumbled backwards for a few steps, barely controlling himself and not falling over.
"This happened again, another person was convinced by Li Xiao Bai's literary talent once again. I am indignant, I am not convinced, this is the treatment that I should receive instead!"
"Ahhhh!" Du Zhi Xiao screamed madly as grey smoke appeared from his body again.
At the same time, Du Zhi Xiao's appearance turned old, he went from a young man to a middle aged man.
The grey smoke floated to the air and was discovered by Imperial Minister Su: "You are the one causing trouble? Du Zhi Xiao, the former number one scholar in the world, to think you would act so despicably!"
Du Zhi Xiao smiled bitterly: "Number one scholar in the world? I am no longer number one, I will reclaim this title personally!"
Imperial Minister Su called out: "It seems that I am forced to kill you today."
"Wishful thinking!" Another person flew over from the right of Du Zhi Xiao.
This Gu Immortal was also masked.
"Another person is helping me?" Du Zhi Xiao was overjoyed.
The masked Gu Immortal fought against Imperial Minister Su, who was helpless to intervene anymore, watching as the grey smoke flew into the tribulation cloud.
The tribulation's power rose again, three pale lightning balls shot towards Li Xiao Bai.
Imperial Minister Su was very angry: "I have many political enemies, which one of them are you?"
The masked Gu Immortal smiled coldly: "So what if you manage to guess it? Your son-in-law cannot block this tribulation cloud, he is dead meat!"
"Xiao Bai!" Su Qi Han shouted again, her voice was filled with agony, her expression was of despair.
But Li Xiao Bai waved his hand again: "In this situation, in this danger, I gained a surge of inspiration, I have a feeling, I have the urge to recite a poem again."
"What?? Again? I don't believe it, I don't believe it!" Du Zhi Xiao shook his head in madness.
Imperial Minister Su was still worried: "Stimulation from danger can allow a Gu cultivator to gain a burst of inspiration and create a work that is divine and change his situation for the better. This has happened many times in the history of the current dynasty, but such situations often use up the Gu cultivator's potential, it cannot be forced. Li Xiao Bai is in danger!"
"Xiao Bai, I believe you, quickly recite it." Su Qi Han was filled with confidence.
Li Xiao Bai coughed once, sighing internally.
He did not want to keep a high profile, but there was no helping it.
His methods could not resist the tribulation alone, he had to rely on Profound Literature grotto-heaven's killer move, assisting literary talents.
This killer move was used by Profound Literature grotto-heaven's original owner, as long as the grotto-heaven existed, it would be effective.
As long as a purebred human created or recited outstanding poems or writings of any kind, they would obtain recognition and reward from this grotto-heaven.
Earlier, because of Li Xiao Bai's poem, he was rewarded and the pale green fire was extinguished.
Thus, Li Xiao Bai recited again:
Over a thousand hills with no birds in flight,
The myriad paths had not one footprint in sight.
A straw hat man sits in a small lone boat,
Fishing alone in the cold frozen moat.
Once the poem was recited, the tribulation lightning dispersed, the effect was simply too good!
"Good poem, this is a divine poem! Fishing alone in the frozen water, it is eerily quiet and chilly cold. Comparing a thousand hills and a lone fishing boat, the absolute contrast produces absolutely breathtaking effects. In this backdrop, the intense yin produces yang instead, a reverse reaction occurs and the fishing action becomes full of vitality and vivid movement, everything becomes crystal clear, showing the poet's clean inner heart, surpassing the mortal realm and having pride that is transcendent to all. I get it now, i really understand now. Li Xiao Bai, you never wanted to be an official from the start! You have such incredible talent, I really cannot bring myself to kill you, I am leaving!" The second masked Gu Immortal sighed with deep emotions, he praised intensely before leaving.
Cough!
Du Zhi Xiao coughed out another mouthful of blood, falling to the ground.
"This again, this again! I know his poems are good, really good, but that makes my heart hurt even more. I am really sick of such praises, it is disgustingly sickening, I want you to die, I want you to die!"
Du Zhi Xiao summoned the grey smoke again, turning from a middle aged man to an old man.
Li Xiao Bai was faced with a crisis again.
"Is there really a point in this?" Li Xiao Bai was really troubled: "I need to recite another poem now?"
He did not want to do that, it was too flashy and outstanding.
It would cause suspicions!
Thus, before he became renowned in the world, Li Xiao Bai controlled himself and only recited two poems. During the tribulation now, he recited another two new poems, it seemed that he was about to recite yet another 'new' poem now.
"I really can't do anything about you, fine, I'll recite it!" Li Xiao Bai looked at Du Zhi Xiao who was lying on the ground, he felt very helpless about this situation too.
Li Xiao Bai recited loudly:
The sun beyond the mountain glows,
The Yellow River seawards flows.
One can enjoy a grander sight,
By climbing to a greater height.
Li Xiao Bai's crisis was alleviated, the tribulation clouds dispersed, his three qi exploded into a new immortal aperture, he became an information path Gu Immortal!
"Oh heaven, since I was born, why did you create Li Xiao Bai?" Du Zhi Xiao shouted loudly in incomparable grief, he had a look of sadness, anger, helplessness, and hatred as he took his last breath.
"From today onwards, you are Poet Immortal Li Xiao Bai!" Imperial Minister Su flew to Li Xiao Bai with a complex expression.
He sighed: "The younger generations will surpass us in time, I had underestimated you all along. I wanted to make you an official of the Imperial Court, but your aspirations are too grand, compared to you, I am a mere commoner. It is truly laughable, from today onwards, go ahead and roam the world as you please, just don't let down my daughter."
"What?" Li Xiao Bai opened his mouth, he wanted to say that being an official was a good idea, he could have resources and a larger network. But his poem had already been recited, his 'aspirations' were shown.
Thus, Li Xiao Bai had to say: "Father-in-law, don't worry, I will protect Han Er."
Li Xiao Bai and Imperial Minister Su descended to the ground.
"My husband, you are too amazing! Your talent is vast as the sea, it cannot be estimated through logic anymore." Su Qi Han sprinted towards Li Xiao Bai.
Imperial Minister Su heard his daughter's words and felt a little uncomfortable internally, but he could not refute these words, after all, he had just witnessed the situation earlier with his own eyes.
Li Xiao Bai rubbed his nose, thinking that he had created too big of a commotion this time, he had to go along with the flow: "To speak the truth, ever since I was born, I had always felt that I was different from the rest..."
-x-X-x-
From Du Zhi Xiao's corpse, an Immortal Gu floated up and appeared on his chest.
This Immortal Gu seemed like it was made of crystals, it looked like a flea and was as large as a fist, curling up into a ball and staying completely silent.
"This Immortal Gu allowed a mortal like Du Zhi Xiao to exert influence on the tribulation?" Li Xiao Bai cleaned the battlefield of loot, he naturally found this Immortal Gu.
To activate Immortal Gu, immortal essence was normally needed. But there were exceptions that did not face such a limitation.
"It seems that this peculiar Immortal Gu can be activated by a mortal." Su Qi Han said.
"This Immortal Gu is very uncommon, let me check." Imperial Minister Su looked at this Immortal Gu with a peculiar expression and used his information path methods.
Profound Literature grotto-heaven was an information path grotto-heaven, it focused on collecting and accumulating information. Even though Profound Literature grotto-heaven was physically secluded, it had not dared to isolate itself from the world, it still maintained contact with the outside world.
And Imperial Minister Su was an important person of the Imperial Court, with his authority, he could gain access to much of the Imperial Court's secret information.
Soon, he got the answer: "This is heaven's envy Immortal Gu!"
"Heaven's envy Immortal Gu?" This was the first time that Su Qi Han had heard of this.
Imperial Minister Su explained: "Heaven's envy Immortal Gu is a heaven path Immortal Gu, there are other similar Gu like heaven's rage Immortal Gu, heaven's sorrow Immortal Gu, and others. This type of heaven path Immortal Gu cannot be activated even by a rank nine venerable."
"Father, you must be wrong? We saw Du Zhi Xiao activate this Immortal Gu with our own eyes to create trouble for husband." Su Qi Han retorted.
Imperial Minister Su shook his head: "I'm not done yet. Immortal Gu like Heaven's Envy is quite special, it can resonate with emotions of envy and jealousy to activate itself. But the price to use it is huge, often requiring lifespan. Thus, Du Zhi Xiao turned from a young man to a middle aged man, before becoming an old man."
Su Qi Han was dazed, she could not help but think of <
Imperial Minister Su smiled faintly: "I am not sure about that either, even though <
Su Qi Han pouted unhappily, thinking: "I thought that this Immortal Gu would be useful to Xiao Bai, but to think that it is a heaven path Immortal Gu. This Immortal Gu requires envy and jealousy to activate on its own, but my husband is someone with great personality, a noble and special individual in this world, how can he have such emotions? And the price of using it is too high as well, the lifespan needed is too much!"
Imperial Minister Su saw his daughter's disappointment, he smiled and said: "Xiao Bai, this heaven's envy Immortal Gu is yours. As for how to deal with it, that is your matter. If you offer this Gu to the Imperial Court, according to the rules, you will be compensated."
Su Qi Han's eyes shined with bright light.
Li Xiao Bai pondered: "Can I exchange for an information path Immortal Gu?"
Imperial Minister Su had a difficult expression: "That..."
Su Qi Han coyly grabbed Imperial Minister Su's sleeves: "Father! Our heaven's envy Immortal Gu is rank seven, we will take the loss and just exchange for some rank six information path Immortal Gu."
Imperial Minister Su flicked his daughter's forehead as he said jokingly: "You silly lass, you're looking down on the Imperial Court. Do you think Gu Immortals are so stupid? Even if a heaven path Immortal Gu is rank eight, it has little actual value, it is far inferior to a rank six information path Immortal Gu."
For her lover's sake, Su Qi Han did not give up: "Father! You are the current Imperial Minister."
Imperial Minister Su sighed, what else could he do, this was his beloved daughter.
"I'll think of a way and find a chance for Xiao Bai." He answered.
Su Qi Han smiled brightly, pressuring: "Father, I am sure that you can succeed!"
Imperial Minister Su smiled bitterly: "Little girl, I've never seen you so confident in your father before."
Li Xiao Bai was calm all along, he thought: "Father-in-law has many political rivals and enemies, if I ask him to get an Immortal Gu exchanged from the Imperial Court, he would face many obstructions, the chance of success is low. Even if he succeeds, he will lose a lot of his political power and bargaining chips, that is not a wise act."
Thinking of this, Li Xiao Bai said: "Father-in-law, Han Er, no hurry in giving it up. I'll try to put this heaven's envy Immortal Gu up in treasure yellow heaven and see if anyone wants to buy it."
Imperial Minister Su nodded: "That is a good idea, but Xiao Bai, don't be too optimistic about it Even though heaven path Immortal Gu are rare, nobody can directly use them, this is a well known fact. Who would use their own useful Immortal Gu to exchange for an unusable heaven path Immortal Gu?"
Su Qi Han sighed: "That is true."
Li Xiao Bai nodded: "I'll just give it a try."
Imperial Minister Su advised: "Don't dwell on it, putting an Immortal Gu up on treasure yellow heaven requires a continuous fee."
Li Xiao Bai's expression suddenly changed: "Someone bought heaven's envy Immortal Gu!"
"What?" Imperial Minister Su was stunned.
Su Qi Han called out in joy: "What price did they pay?"
Li Xiao Bai said with uncontainable excitement: "I... I already made the transaction. They are offering me rank seven poem wall Immortal Gu, this is an offer I cannot reject."
Li Xiao Bai's immortal ascension did not have excess heaven and earth qi to refine his vital Gu into an Immortal Gu. A large part of the reason was due to heaven's envy Immortal Gu.
Li Xiao Bai did not have the ten extreme physiques, he only obtained a high grade blessed land.
But in this transaction, Li Xiao Bai obtained his first Immortal Gu, and it was rank seven at that.
Imperial Minister Su looked at the poem wall Immortal Gu in Li Xiao Bai's hands, he stared in disbelief: "Someone actually bought this heaven path Immortal Gu? They even offered an information path Immortal Gu of the same rank? Which fool is this?"
The 'fool' that Imperial Minister Su spoke of was none other than Gu Yue Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan had always been paying attention to Li Xiao Bai's situation. Even though Du Zhi Xiao and heaven's envy Immortal Gu were out of his expectations, Fang Yuan had also not thought of interfering with Li Xiao Bai's development, but having an Immortal Gu was simply too important to Li Xiao Bai.
He had to help in this aspect.
Treasure yellow heaven was a safe place, nobody would be able to investigate the identities of the people undergoing this transaction.
With Four Elements Square Regret Blood Refinement Pool, Fang Yuan had a high success rate in refining rank eight Immortal Gu, not to mention rank six or seven.
The time path clone directly refined poem wall Immortal Gu and raised it to rank seven.
He wanted to create some opportunity to hand this Immortal Gu to Li Xiao Bai, but to think that he would appear in treasure yellow heaven and sell heaven's envy Immortal Gu.
With such a great opportunity, Fang Yuan immediately grabbed onto it.
The transaction ended quickly.
Li Xiao Bai obtained rank seven poem wall Immortal Gu, even though he was only rank six and had insufficient cultivation level, this rank seven poem wall Immortal Gu was good enough to be his core Immortal Gu.
On the way back, Imperial Minister Su sighed to himself internally: This Li Xiao Bai's luck was simply unrivaled!
"So this heaven's envy Immortal Gu is the thing that caused my luck resonance." Fang Yuan obtained heaven's envy Immortal Gu and found that Cooking Luck Pot was vibrating slightly.
After inspecting it, he realized the truth of the matter.
Looking at his silver light pillar again, the clouds on the surface had gathered into one, giving one a feeling of congruity. The clouds revolved around the pillar as they moved slowly, not only were they clearly defending it, they were rising up too, clashing with the clouds that were at the peak of the pillar of light.
Fang Yuan was deeply shaken: "It seems that this heaven's envy Immortal Gu is the key to dealing with those venerables?"
Fang Yuan started to use wisdom path methods for deductions, sharp light flickered in his eyes for a long time, afterwards, he started to instill immortal essence into heaven's envy Immortal Gu!
Heaven's envy Immortal Gu shook intensely, resisting him stubbornly. But it could not stop Fang Yuan's powerful invasion, it started to falter.
A moment later, heaven's envy Immortal Gu absorbed a portion of the immortal essence and spat out a lump of grey smoke.
Fang Yuan's eyes shined with immense brilliance!
"I actually refined a part of heaven's envy Immortal Gu! Furthermore, I can actually activate a heaven path Immortal Gu!! Is it because of my unrestrained heavenly marks?"
Fang Yuan's unrestrained heavenly marks had already passed ten thousand in number. Every grotto-heaven that he annexed would provide the sovereign immortal aperture with a number of heaven path dao marks, which would be refined by Fang Yuan into unrestrained heavenly marks.
Earlier, he used his rank eight immortal essence to forcefully refine heaven's envy Immortal Gu, he actually succeeded partially.
Afterwards, he successfully activated heaven's envy Immortal Gu!
Fang Yuan did not lose any lifespan.
Fang Yuan calmed down and inspected it carefully, he found out new information: "Even though I can activate heaven's envy Immortal Gu, I cannot fully utilize it. I have only partially refined heaven's envy Immortal Gu, I've only barely managed to gain its recognition. Thus, I cannot exert its full strength yet."
Fang Yuan's thoughts clashed rapidly: "This should be the result of having unrestrained heavenly marks, I am different from everyone else. If I continue gaining unrestrained heavenly marks, will I be able to further refine heaven's envy Immortal Gu, or even completely refine it?"
"Wait!"
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration appeared in Fang Yuan's mind, it was like lightning that pierced the darkness, creating a huge commotion in his mind!
At this moment, Fang Yuan's lips became a bit dry: "Heaven's envy Immortal Gu is a heaven path Immortal Gu, fate Gu is too. Since I can refine heaven's envy Immortal Gu, does that mean that I can refine fate Gu and control fate as well?"
Southern Border.
Tribulations were raging, while Wu clan's Gu Immortal Wu Zhen controlled the situation.
He focused his attention on that qi cocoon.
Suddenly, a person shouted from within the cocoon, breaking out of it and creating an immortal aperture, becoming an immortal.
It was Wu Ji!
In this immortal ascension, not only did she obtain a super grade blessed land, her vital Gu even became an Immortal Gu.
Wu Zhen could feel Wu Ji's aura, he sighed: "Wu Ji, you chose strength path after all."
Wu Ji had no regret, she laughed: "This is precisely the path I seek!"
And on Shang Liang Mountain.
Shang Yan Fei gathered his children in the same hall.
He had died on Yi Tian Mountain, but because of fate Gu's destruction, he was revived by Shang clan's Gu Immortals.
Right now, he sat on the main seat with blood red light surrounding his body.
"Congratulations to father for succeeding in the immortal ascension, you have surpassed the mortal realm and become a blood path immortal!" Shang Qiu Niu was the eldest son, he was the first to speak.
After that, the rest of his children also congratulated him, including Shang Xin Ci.
Shang Yan Fei waved his hand: "Blood path has a poor reputation, keep the fact that I am now a blood path Gu Immortal as a secret. I gathered you here today because I want to distribute the family assets now, before I enter closed cultivation. The great era has arrived, I want you all to become immortals too and lead the new tides of this great era!"
-x-X-x-
In the hall, Shang Yan Fei sat on the main seat.
He wore a black robe, his hair was red like blood, his face was that of a handsome young man. His children were all seated in the hall, gathered together.
Under their gazes, Shang Yan Fei took out a stack of beast skins.
Each beast skin had markings on it, vividly drawing a certain dragon-like beast. At the corner of the skin, there was text written in ink, giving off the dense aura of primitive civilization.
"These are the nine children dragon drawings[1], I had obtained them from a Gu Immortal's corpse in my younger days by chance. It is a pity this immortal opportunity is not suitable for me, even after asking Shang clan's supreme elders, I could not unravel it. Now, I will pass these nine children dragon drawings to all of you, I hope you can unravel the mystery and gain your own immortal opportunities."
Saying this, Shang Yan Fei diverted his gaze from the beast skin, looking at Shang Qiu Niu.
"Qiu Niu, come here." He called.
"Father." Shang Qiu Niu left his seat, walking towards Shang Yan Fei.
Shang Yan Fei passed him the first beast skin: "This is the Qiu Niu drawing, I gave you this name because of it as well. You are the eldest son, you have a dependable nature, I am very assured. This revival is the greatest opportunity in your life, don't let me down."
Shang Qiu Niu stretched out both hands and received the beast skin: "Father, I will do my best and not disappoint you."
"Ya Zi, come over as well." Shang Yan Fei waved his hand and called his son: "From today onwards, broaden your horizon and don't dwell on petty matters, it will benefit you."
"Yes, I will remember father's teachings." Shang Ya Zi took the beast skin and returned to his seat.
Shang Yan Fei called for his children one by one, distributing the nine children dragon drawings while saying words of encouragement.
Shang Xin Ci remained seated, she was not called.
She observed carefully, realizing that the nine children dragon drawings had varying beast drawings. For example, the Chao Feng drawing had a divine beast with a noble aura that could not be sullied. The Pu Lao drawing resembled a coiling dragon. The Bi Xi drawing looked like a giant tortoise that could carry mountains and rivers. There was also the Bi An drawing, it was like a fierce tiger with ferocious aura.
There were only nine beast skin drawings, they were soon distributed, but he had more than nine children.
Shang Yan Fei called for Shang Tuo Hai as well: "You have been managing the merchant caravan well. I will give you this entire caravan then. Other than that, I have a water path inheritance, it is the inheritance of a water path immortal. Even though it is largely incomplete, the contents are still worth a lot, I hope you can still continue to work hard in the future."
After that, he called for Shang Yi Fan: "This is a rank five Gu Master inheritance but it has clues to an immortal inheritance. It will be up to you in the future if you try to find it."
And finally, Shang Yan Fei called for Shang Xin Ci.
"Father." Shang Xin Ci walked towards her father.
Shang Yan Fei sighed: "I've already distributed all my wealth, only this house is left. Oh Xin Ci, among my children, you are the one who most surpassed my expectations. If you do not mind it, take this house."
Once he said that, the hall went into a commotion.
His other children looked at Shang Yan Fei and Shang Xin Ci, they wanted to speak but found that they could not.
It was clearly Shang Yan Fei's doing.
Under everyone's gazes, Shang Xin Ci replied with a calm expression: "I will thank father for this gift."
After the gathering ended, most of Shang Yan Fei's children came together secretly.
"Sigh, father actually gave the house to Shang Xin Ci."
"He did not even let us voice our objections!"
"It seems that father really wants Shang Xin Ci to be the clan leader. What should we do?"
"This is too unfair! What did we all get? Some absurd things or broken inheritances. As for that Shang Xin Ci? She is going to become the clan leader, she will definitely be nurtured by the clan and become a Gu Immortal seed!"
Initially, Shang Yan Fei was still a young master, he was suppressed by an alliance of other young masters. He took a step back and abandoned the position of young master of his own accord, becoming an ordinary clansman. During that fallen period, he stayed in this house.
Afterwards, when he became the clan leader, he maintained this place as a reminder to himself and later generations. The clan banquets were always held here as a result.
Afterwards, when Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing left Qing Mao Mountain to roam the world, when they escorted Shang Xin Ci to Shang Liang Mountain, they were also attended to in this house.
Shang Yan Fei gave this house to Shang Xin Ci, there was deep meaning behind it, it meant that he was giving the position of clan leader to her.
Even though Shang Xin Ci was already the clan leader for some time, according to rules and customs, she had to be appointed by the previous clan leader, that would leave no flaws for others to criticize.
"Father is too biased!"
"That's right, he loves Shang Xin Ci the most, what can we do?"
"Everyone, are we going to watch this happen? She is merely an illegitimate daughter!"
"Hmph, after I died, all of you are so useless, you actually let her become the clan leader."
"I did not decide the clan leader, there were instructions from the higher-ups, what can we do?"
"In my opinion, our Shang clan's supreme elders are too muddle-headed."
"Shang Xin Ci and Fang Yuan have a mysterious relationship, I'm afraid the higher-ups are thinking about that too."
Everyone's discussions came to a halt.
After a moment of silence, Shang Yi Fan said: "Fang Yuan lived on Shang Liang Mountain for some time in the past, but what sort of person is he? He is someone who can influence the entire world, why would he care about ants like us? Shang clan's supreme elders are overthinking it, can't they see that even after so many years, Fang Yuan has not helped Shang Xin Ci even once?"
These words injected life into the stale discussion.
The remaining children brightened up again.
They agreed in unison that Fang Yuan had already forgotten about Shang Liang Mountain and everything that happened here, they were simply unwilling to give up on the position of clan leader.
Shang Yi Fan continued to speak: "Shang Xin Ci has a huge force, but it is not impossible to fight her. We need to work together to win, we can go ahead and split her forces."
Shang Ya Zi snickered: "We need to use a multi-pronged approach so Shang Xin Ci cannot deal with everything at once. I met with an expert some time ago, if we can get his help, Shang Xin Ci will definitely face a lot of problems, her reputation will fall."
Days later.
The study room's atmosphere was tense.
Shang Xin Ci frowned as she listened to Shang Bu Li's report, sighing deeply: "To think that the situation is so severe, in just a few days, those budding issues have already swept through the entire market of Shang Liang Mountain."
A few days ago, counterfeit goods started to appear in Shang Liang Mountain's Gu worm market. These fake Gu were identical to the real ones, even if they were used, the effects would be the same. But after some time, they would expose themselves and self-detonate, the buyer would suffer huge losses.
These fake Gu appeared in Shang clan's market, it greatly affected their prestige.
The situation was very severe, Xiao Die stood beside Shang Xin Ci as she said to Shang Bu Li in displeasure: "Lord Shang Bu Li, you are in charge of the market. There has to be some time that passed for the situation to develop like this, why did you hold back the information and not report it?"
Shang Bu Li snorted coldly in anger: "I was too useless, I disappointed you, clan leader. The situation is too severe now, I cannot make any amendments, I will resign now, please don't stop me."
"You!" Xiao Die was dazed from shock, she said: "Who are you trying to scare?"
Shang Bu Li looked at Xiao Die coldly: "You are just a servant, I am magnanimous and will not blame you. But clan leader, I am resigning now, please approve of it."
Shang Xin Ci looked at Shang Bu Li deeply before replying calmly: "In that case, I will approve your resignation."
"Goodbye!" Shang Bu Li chuckled as he left.
"Is he really leaving things as it is?" Xiao Die was stunned.
"Clan leader, Lord Shang Tuo Hai seeks your audience." At this time, Xiao Lan reported.
Shang Xin Ci's gaze flickered for a moment before answering: "Let him in."
Shang Tuo Hai came into the study room and saw Shang Xin Ci's expression, nodding: "So you realized it."
Shang Xin Ci asked: "Because of the clan leader position?"
Shang Tuo Hai: "Precisely. Shang Bu Li had control of the slave market and had great business, but after your rise, because you did not like such cruelty, you banned the slave trade, causing Shang Bu Li to manage Shang Liang Mountain's Gu worm market instead. He has already been convinced by them, he is involved in this fake Gu conspiracy."
"This old fiend!" Xiao Die gritted her teeth in anger.
Shang Tuo Hai added: "This is not everything, Shang Bu Li is just the first to defect, more will appear soon."
Shang Xin Ci nodded: "And what do you want from this?"
Shang Tuo Hai replied plainly: "We are both illegitimate children. Even if you fall, I will not become the clan leader. I will rarely return in the future, I will lead the merchant caravan and explore the world, I want to become immortal too! But I cannot rely on the clan, if you become immortal in the future, I hope my act of kindness now will be repaid."
"I'll remember this."
"Goodbye."
Seeing Shang Tuo Hai leave, Shang Xin Ci had a complex emotion.
After leading Shang clan for so many years, Shang Xin Ci had developed many abilities and broadened her horizons. From her perspective, among Shang Yan Fei's children, Shang Tuo Hai definitely was top three in terms of ability, he was a prime choice in both talent and personality. It was a pity that he lacked opportunities, he did not receive the favor of greater existences.
"Fate has been destroyed, the great era is here. Countless people are competing and fighting for that chance of immortality." Shang Xin Ci sighed to herself internally.
Afterwards, like what Shang Tuo Hai reminded her about.
Zhu Ba and Wan Qian Shan resigned of their own accord. Xiao Yan got the news that some fire path Gu materials he needed were far away, so he went to search for them.
Xiong Tu, Xiong Huo, and Xiong Feng also received some information on how to save their ancestor Xiong Yan Po.
Zhou Quan and Wei De Xin also became 'coincidentally ill', they were bedridden.
At once, Shang Xin Ci was without her capable subordinates, she was alone without external help.
Those Gu Masters who bought fake Gu gathered together and started to create problems.
Shang Xin Ci had to bring Xiao Lan and Xiao Die to the scene and take control of the situation.
"These Gu worms are all fake, is Shang clan selling fake goods now?"
"Since Shang clan's leader is here, tell us, what will you do!"
"I spent most of my assets to buy a rank four Gu worm from you, but it turned out to be a fake Gu!"
"Shang clan's Auspicious Festival is held annually but there are actually fake goods sold to harm us buyers, this is simply unacceptable!"
"And more despicably, even though there are sales going on, the prices were actually adjusted upwards, it ended up being the same price as the market rate."
Facing all of the intense rage, Shang Xin Ci was still calm as ice: "Shang clan will pay all of you back twice the amount of your losses."
Just one sentence made the surroundings silent.
Shang Ya Zi and the rest who were watching from the dark became anxious, they started to give instructions.
From among the people, someone suddenly shouted: "Compensation, we demand compensation on the spot!"
"That's right, you give us open promises but use dirty tricks in the dark, this is all Shang clan's ploy!"
"Shang clan is selling fake goods, can we really trust your words?'
"I don't care, your shop cheated us of our hard earned money, I want to destroy it!"
The lurking experts within the crowd took action and attacked Shang Xin Ci.
Shang Xin Ci stretched out her hand, using a killer move to protect the shop behind her, she managed to block all of the attacks.
Xiao Lan and Xiao Die were ready to strike but Shang Xin Ci stopped them.
Light flickered in her eyes as her aura erupted, she activated a battlefield killer move.
The killer move pushed outwards, trapping all of the people who caused trouble, the noisy street instantly became silent all of a sudden.
"So powerful!"
"To think that Shang Xin Ci has such hidden strength!"
Shang Ya Zi and the rest watched with intense shock.
At that moment, they felt like they were looking at their father Shang Yan Fei, she had the air of a peak rank five expert!
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