Chapter 1281 - 94 RI

It had been so long since Fang Yuan had come to Imperial Court blessed land, and he had entered Eighty-Eight True Yang Building so many times, but he had never forgotten his original intention in coming to northern plains.

That was to save Dang Hun mountain.

He needed landscape as before Gu to save Dang Hun mountain.

There were many difficulties and challenges to obtain this Gu, the main thing was it was with a person. This person was Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

Ever since Tai Bai Yun Sheng joined Hei tribe army, Fang Yuan had been placing his attention on him.

Several months ago, Fang Yuan uncovered some information:

When Hei Lou Lan obtained the one-edge owner token, he was able to explore the rewards of every round; Tai Bai Yun Sheng had gone to visit him and inquired about the existence of lifespan Gu.

But at that time, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building did not yet have lifespan Gu.

When the fifty-fifth floor had condensed, Hei Lou Lan informed Tai Bai Yun Sheng he had discovered a fifteen year lifespan Gu.

After the fifty-fifth floor completely formed into shape, Hei Lou Lan investigated the location of the lifespan Gu and could precisely tell it was the reward for clearing the eighty-fifth round.

From then on, Tai Bai Yun Sheng had put all his energy in the fifty-fifth floor. He called up many Gu Masters, forming an enormous group and forcibly crashed through the rounds. Relying on his might, prestige and enormous rewards, along with repeatedly requesting Hei Lou Lan and other experts, he was actually making fast progress.

Hard work paid off, Tai Bai Yun Sheng spent all his wealth and finally was able to reach the eighty-fifth round.

Fang Yuan naturally did not wish to see Tai Bai Yun Sheng obtaining what he desired.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng was old, and did not have much lifespan left; it was natural behavior for him to increase his lifespan with lifespan Gu.

But if he really obtained this lifespan Gu, he was definitely not going to risk advancing into an immortal. If he did not risk advancing to an immortal, there would not be the inspiration from heaven and earth that would form the Immortal Gu Landscape As Before.

If there was no landscape as before Gu, how would Fang Yuan save Dang Hun mountain which was about to completely wither away?

Especially the past few days, he had learned more information: Tai Bai Yun Sheng had attempted many times to pass the round and he had already found hope. He did not stint on borrowing from Hei Lou Lan and even agreed to Hei Lou Lan's condition of becoming an external elder of Hei tribe.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng was then able to use Hei tribe's resources to recruit large numbers of experts and form a powerful lineup, charging into the fifty-fifth floor to make the final attack.

Despite Tai Bai Yun Sheng taking the risk to advance to an immortal in the memories of his previous life, Fang Yuan was cautious and did not dare to take the risk, deciding to personally intervene.

Time waits for no man.

Fang Yuan had intended to get rid of Mo Yao's will first, dealing with the internal problem before attacking the external problems. But this matter had not made any progress, so now, he used his owner token to secretly infiltrate into the fifty-fifth floor.

The situation of the fifty-fifth floor had already been probed out by Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

There was a majestic and grand blood river flowing here, and in the depths of the river, there was a legendary and mythical blood palace erected.

The blood palace had three great halls and sixty-nine auxiliary halls.

Every hall contained large numbers of blood path Gu worms as well as blood beast guards.

The large groups of blood path Gu worms were of huge strength, but as long as they were killed one by one over a period of time, there would be a point when they are all slaughtered.

The problem was the blood beasts.

Even after these blood beasts were killed, they would absorb blood and resurrect within a short moment. One could say that they could be killed but not killed, there was no way of reducing their numbers.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng's several attempts at passing the round had all been thwarted by these blood beasts.

But at the last attempt, he had unintentionally discovered a pleasant surprise: as long as they keep on charging forward to the depths of the great hall and take out the command token hanging on the main beam, they could make the blood beasts dissipate.

This discovery birthed a strong confidence in Tai Bai Yun Sheng. He was thoroughly poor now, and did not hesitate to sell himself to Hei tribe, borrowing funds and forming a Gu Master group to charge through this round.

When Fang Yuan secretly entered this floor, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's group had already charged through thirty-three side halls and were presently in a fierce battle to reach a towering main hall.

Fang Yuan took out the six-edge owner token, and with a thought, immediately had complete control over this floor.

The six-edge owner token could let Fang Yuan control up to six floors of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

Fang Yuan had already used it once to control the seventh floor. Now, he was using it a second time to control this fifty-fifth floor.

Hei Lou Lan had a one-edge owner token and the floor he controlled was the fifth floor.

With a shift of thought, Fang Yuan's figure disappeared on the spot and appeared on the main beam of the great hall.

He leisurely sat on the main beam, and not far from him was that crucial command token.

With a bit of concentration, the battle scene of Tai Bai Yun Sheng and his group appeared in Fang Yuan's mind.

The deeper they went towards the great hall, the more blood beast guards there were, and the battles that occurred were extremely intense. This group of Tai Bai Yun Sheng did not even have fifty people now.

They had been charging forward the whole way, suffering disastrous casualties which left behind a trail of corpses along the way.

Two great rank five Gu Master experts Zhu Zai and Gao Yang took turns as the front vanguard of the group.

Meanwhile Tai Bai Yun Sheng, as the number one healing Gu Master of northern plains of this generation, was protected in the center of the formation. He continually used man as before Gu; rays of light shooting forward and shining upon the corpses, resurrecting the Gu Masters, or shone upon live Gu Masters, healing their injuries and recovering their primeval essence in an instant.

But even Tai Bai Yun Sheng, a rank five peak stage Gu Master, was in a very sorry state.

Gu Masters were falling down time and again, and although he used all his strength, he truly could not save everyone.

The countless blood beasts surged out of every corridor near the great hall and every room, blocking the group's way with very dense numbers.

The closer they got to the main command token, the stronger the blood beasts became.

And blood beasts could absorb blood to quickly recover and resurrect.

By the time Tai Bai Yun Sheng and the group charged to this place, the blood beasts they had killed on their way had once again resurrected and chased them, blocking their way back. The situation was getting very dangerous.

"No wonder Tai Bai Yun Sheng risked advancing to immortal in my previous life. This round's difficulty is rather high, unless a blood path Gu Master works with them." Fang Yuan was in control of this place and could see the actions that Tai Bai Yun Sheng took as easily as reading the lines of his palm.

To a blood path Gu Master, this round was no less than a paradise. With so many blood path wild Gu to subdue and blood beasts to devour, their blood path cultivation would strengthen rapidly.

It was a pity blood path could not be easily revealed. Because of Blood Sea Ancestor, a blood path Gu Master would be hunted persistently by the righteous path the moment they appeared.

And because blood path Gu Masters could quickly increase their battle strength, even demonic Gu Masters widely feared it.

Often, when a blood path Gu Master was discovered, not only would they be hunted down by the righteous path, they would also suffer sneak attacks from demonic path Gu Masters.

There was not even one blood path Gu Master among Hei tribe army. Even if they existed, they were hidden deeply and would not appear for Tai Bai Yun Sheng's use.

Fang Yuan ascertained for a moment and knew clearly that the chance of Tai Bai Yun Sheng succeeding was extremely minute.

The worry in his heart immediately dissipated by more than half.

Fang Yuan laid back on the beam and took out <>, passing the time while paying attention to Tai Bai Yun Sheng's progress.

Death was possible when advancing through Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

Fang Yuan was scheming for landscape as before Gu, and could not allow Tai Bai Yun Sheng to die at the moment.

"Kill, we must break through this siege! Otherwise, we are all going to die!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's face was filled with blood stains, roaring loudly to raise the morale.

Waves of blood beasts roared and snarled, before pouncing on the group like a blood colored giant wave.

...

The great hall was a scene of tranquility.

Fang Yuan leisurely flipped through the pages while adjusting his posture to make himself more comfortable.

...

Grrr!

A blood beast with the head of a tiger and body of a horse madly snarled while rampaging in the group of Gu Masters.

Two Gu Masters met its attack; one died while the other was heavily injured.

"Man As Before!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng shouted and raised his palm; a white light immediately shot out and shone upon that injured Gu Master.

The Gu Master immediately recovered his previous uninjured state. The terrifying injuries from the blood beast's attacks disappeared without a trace.

The Gu Master panted roughly, he was still frightened, retreating back behind the frontlines. The defensive gap he left behind was immediately filled up by another Gu Master.

But that dead Gu Master's corpse was swarmed by the blood beasts and roughly dragged away.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng did not make a move.

Without advancing to an immortal, even a rank five Gu Master would have limited primeval essence and have to use it cautiously.

Moreover, that dead Gu Master's Gu worms were severely damaged, his defensive Gu worm was even pierced and destroyed. Even if he was resurrected, he would be killed again.

The remaining Gu Masters grieved and cursed, but they could only look as their companion's corpse was madly torn apart by over ten blood beasts.

Blood beasts were extremely sensitive to blood and even a bit of bloody odor could make them go crazy. By swallowing stronger organism's blood, they could strengthen themselves.

Soon, the dead Gu Master's blood was completely absorbed by the blood beasts. The whole corpse became a dried up mummy, creating a wretched spectacle.

The beasts that had absorbed his blood started to grow human like forms. Some grew human like eyes; some grew several human ears; and some grew agile human arms.

But when they were spending time in absorbing the corpse, the pressure on Tai Bai Yun Sheng and the group greatly reduced and they took this valuable opportunity to break through and moved forward tens of steps.

...

Fang Yuan flipped through <> to chapter three, section fourteen.

Northern Dark Ice Soul awakened his elder sister Desolate Ancient Moon, and the two again asked for advice from cognition Gu on how to save their father.

Cognition Gu said: "Humans, Cheng Bai mountain has disappeared, who knows when it will form again. I am also not clear on other ways to bring your father back to life. But no need to be dejected, you can try asking wisdom Gu. I am its mother, wisdom is the crystallization of cognition."

The student surpasses the master; the things cognition Gu did not know, wisdom Gu might not necessarily be unknowing of. @@novelbin@@

Under cognition Gu's directions, Northern Dark Ice Soul and Desolate Ancient Moon found wisdom Gu.

Wisdom Gu had somewhat of a connection with Ren Zu, back then Ren Zu had used rules and regulations Gu to capture it. But it was able to escape in the end.

At first, wisdom Gu was not willing to help Northern Dark Ice Soul and Desolate Ancient Moon.

But seeing that they were introduced by its mother cognition Gu, it reluctantly said: "Oh humans, I can show you the right path. But I need remuneration, one of you need to hand over your middle age to me."

"I will give my middle age to you." Desolate Ancient Moon immediately replied with no hesitation.

She was awakened by her little brother Northern Dark Ice Soul and had been bestowed with the meaning of her life which was to bring her father, Ren Zu, back to life. Thus, she replied immediately without the intention of passing it to others.

Northern Dark Ice Soul was not able to argue with his sister and could only let her offer her middle age.

This meant, once Desolate Ancient Moon's youth had passed, she would directly skip middle age to reach old age.

But to save her father, she did not have many misgivings.

Wisdom Gu obtained Desolate Ancient Moon's middle age and gave her directions: "In the center of the golden desert in the west, there is a still blue sea with no ripples, as flat as a mirror. That is the source of all living beings, all lives in the world originates from there. And in the depths of the blue sea lie many life Gu shining upon all living beings. You need to infiltrate the sea, catch a human shaped life Gu and bring it to shore. This human shaped life Gu can bestow your father a new life. But remember, you cannot spend over fifteen minutes in the sea, otherwise you will be assimilated by the sea.

Wisdom Gu added another sentence in the end: "It is extremely difficult to find human shaped life Gu. Only a person who has truly comprehended the truth of life can do it. If you are not able to do it, don't blame my solution for not being easy to use."

Desolate Ancient Moon wanted to ask something, but Wisdom Gu quickly flew away and did not give the siblings any chance to make inquiries.

...

The clamorous shouts and cries resounded everywhere.

The blood beasts surged forward like sea tides. Tai Bai Yun Sheng and the group were like a reef, resisting the attacks of the blood beasts time and again, while also moving forward step by step with difficulty.

"Almost there, we are only three hundred steps away from the great hall door!" Someone shouted, boosting the morale.

"Careful!" Suddenly, a Gu Master at the side warned.

That Gu Master who had tried to boost morale was dazed and the very next moment, a blood beast with the head of a dragon and body of a bear fiercely smashed into him.

Crack.

The Gu Master's ribs instantly shattered from the crash, and the blood he puffed out contained pieces of internal organs.

His body was sent flying from the smash, the Gu Masters behind tried to stop him with all their strength; in an instant, the formation turned chaotic and there was a crisis of it collapsing apart!

"Hold on, continue to hold on!!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng, his face stained with blood, shouted furiously with extreme anxiety.

In such a battle situation, if the Gu Masters scattered, they would immediately be torn to pieces by the surrounding countless blood beasts. Only with the Gu Masters working in a tight formation, could they have a chance at survival!

But the Gu Masters were retreating step by step, large numbers of blood beasts broke the defense line and fiercely pounced upon them.

Miserable screams started rising continuously.

Many Gu Masters were still recovering their primeval essence as much as possible. Being caught unawares, they were immediately torn to pieces by the blood beasts.

A mantis-like blood beast brandished its sickle arms and charged in the very front.

Swish!

A Gu Master's head was slashed apart; blood started spurting out of the Gu Master's neck and the head flew high, but before it fell down, it was grabbed by a blood beast flying in the air and with a 'gulp, was swallowed down.

But the red hot blood fell down, splashing right at Tai Bai Yun Sheng's face.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng quickly wiped away the blood and was barely able to open his eyes; the dense bloody stench assailed his nose, and agitated a group of blood beasts.

"Finished!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's heart sank to the bottom, but right at this time, a figure pounced down like a tiger getting off the mountain.

BOOM BOOM BOOM.

After several rounds, the figure killed the mantis blood beast and finally stabilized the formation at this final juncture.

It was Zhu Zai!

A rank five Gu Master, a famous expert of the demonic path!!

Everyone was saved, feeling like they were dragged back from the cliff.

But Zhu Zai also paid a price, there were three new wounds on his body, all of them so deep one could see his bones.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng quickly activated man as before Gu to heal him.

Zhu Zai recovered his previous state and the new injuries completely vanished. At the same time, his intensely depleted primeval essence recovered back.

It was only that the several expendable Gu he had used to gain a burst in his battle strength earlier could not be restored.

Man As Before could only target human bodies and had no effect on Gu worms.

...

"This Man As Before has marvellous effect, but unfortunately, it cannot be used on one's own body." Fang Yuan sighed before gazing back to the book in his hand once again.

Desolate Ancient Moon and Northern Dark Ice Soul travelled an arduous journey through the golden desert and arrived at the center of the desert where they saw the blue sea.

The blue sea was so beautiful that nothing more beautiful than it could be imagined.

Just like wisdom Gu said, even strong winds could not cause the slightest of a ripple on the blue sea.

With the soft golden sand surrounding it, it looked like a deep blue gemstone embedded on this golden cloth.

The siblings infiltrated into the depths of the sea and sure enough found large numbers of life Gu packed together in the sea depths.

These life Gu were like blue gems. But they were of different sizes and shapes.

Some looked like a colt; some like a tiger or leopard; some like an eagle or dove; while some like a snake or flood dragon.

The siblings were dazzled from the sight. They saw all kinds of life Gu from flowers, birds, fishes, insects, beasts, snowmen, hairy men and all other shapes, except the human shaped life Gu.

Helplessly, the siblings could only get out of the sea and back to the shore.

The moment they had left the blue sea, a deer shaped life Gu Northern Dark Ice Soul had been holding, let out a soft light before jumping on the sand and turning into a fawn.

This was the birth of a life!

The siblings looked at this sight in wonder, with their eyes wide open.

Only when the fawn had hopped far away, the elder sister Desolate Ancient Moon suddenly comprehended: "No wonder wisdom Gu flew away immediately after speaking and did not let us question it. I have understood the truth of life."

"The truth of life, what exactly is it?" Northern Dark Ice Soul quickly asked.

Desolate Ancient Moon pointed at this blue sea in front of them and asked in return: "Tell me, if we were to really find a life Gu, a human shaped blue gem, and we bring it back, what will it transform into?"

Northern Dark Ice Soul thought for a moment and replied: "It should be like that fawn and turn into a real active life form, right?"

He suddenly looked distracted.

Desolate Ancient Moon looked at him with a smile: "It seems you have also understood. We are these life forms. We were formed from life Gu! We, ourselves, are human shaped blue gems!"

Northern Dark Ice Soul completely understood, where did humans come from?

Wisdom Gu had already made it clear before: This blue sea is the source of all living beings, all lives in the world originate from here.

Humans, naturally also originated from here.

Their father Ren Zu was once a blue gem in the depths of this sea. By some opportunity and coincidence, it was able to come out from the sea and form a zestful life form that roamed the world, surviving with difficulty and reaching this stage.

But humans were the spirit of all living beings, so how many human shaped gems could there be in such a large sea?

It was definitely extremely few, and it was very possible Ren Zu was the only one.

Searching for a small blue gem in such a vast sea, how big of a project was this!

This was innumerable times more difficult than Desolate Ancient Moon looking for the only success Gu in Cheng Bai mountain.

"I know a method which can get us a human shaped life Gu quickly." Desolate Ancient Moon suddenly said.

"What method?" Northern Dark Ice Soul had a bad feeling.

Desolate Ancient Moon smiled: "That is... I will go into the bottom of the sea and assimilate with this blue sea, returning back to a life Gu."

Although Desolate Ancient Moon had transformed into a monster, she was intrinsically a human.

The essence of her life had not changed.

Since she was a human, once she was assimilated, she would form a human shaped blue gem like life Gu.

This speculation was not wrong.

No wonder wisdom Gu said: But remember, you cannot spend over fifteen minutes in the sea, otherwise you will be assimilated by the sea.

Wisdom Gu's words did not have any superfluous words.

Wisdom Gu had also said: If you are not able to do it, don't blame my solution for not being easy to use.

One could analyze from this sentence — it was extremely likely there were no human shaped blue gems in the blue sea. If the siblings were not willing to sacrifice themselves, they would not be able to obtain human shaped life Gu. As such, don't blame me, the wisdom Gu, if you are not able to do it.

"No, you can't sacrifice yourself like this, elder sister." Northern Dark Ice Soul immediately dissuaded.

Although he wanted to bring his father back to life, he did not want to sacrifice his own sister.

"I need to do it, the meaning of my life is to bring father back to life." Desolate Ancient Moon replied tranquilly.

Northern Dark Ice Soul suddenly could not say anything.

It was him who gave this meaning to Desolate Ancient Moon's life, and Desolate Ancient Moon was living for this. In other words, if her father could not be brought back to life, there would be no meaning in her life. Then what would be the use in continuing to live?

As long as she sacrificed herself, she could bring her father back to life; this was the greatest meaning of Desolate Ancient Moon's life!

"Humans originally were gems of the world. It is only that whether the gems are bright or not require us to polish them. Every effort we make, every choice we take, are all polishing each of our gems."

"And humans can only obtain life by sacrificing life."

Desolate Ancient Moon leisurely spoke before sinking into the blue sea.

Northern Dark Ice Soul tried his best to stop her, but he was not able to. Desolate Ancient Moon had become a monster with incomparable strength, and he was not her match.

After fifteen minutes of time, Desolate Ancient Moon was assimilated by the blue sea and turned into a human shaped blue gem.

But this blue gem was not of a healthy human shape but a badly damaged, less than half a proper human shape.

This was because Desolate Ancient Moon had given her 'middle age' to wisdom Gu.

Humans, in the process of understanding what life was, would often have already used up half of their lives.

Northern Dark Ice Soul held this blue gem with tears in his eyes, and left the golden desert.

He did not have any of the happiness of success, but instead sank down into extreme remorse.

From a certain perspective, it was him who had killed his elder sister.

...

"There are still fifty steps left!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng shouted with all his strength.

They pushed forward with difficulty with a companion falling down every short moment, the intense and bitter battle had left them with only five people now!

But success was right in front of their eyes!

"Just a little more of a push..."

"I will tear these blood beasts into pieces!!"

Zhu Zai and Gao Yang protected Tai Bai Yun Sheng from left and right; they also shouted to raise the morale.

Thirty steps!

Two more fell down, leaving behind Tai Bai Yun Sheng, Zhu and Gao.

The surrounding blood beasts brandished their claws and fangs, looking extremely malevolent. They advanced wave upon wave in their endless numbers.

Ten steps!

Zhu Zai and Gao Yang used all their strength, suffering disastrous losses to their Gu worms because of excessive use, and their primeval essence was also almost depleted.

"This old man owes both of you a favor, I swear I will definitely reward you heavily sometime in the future!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's eyes shone brightly, his tone extremely earnest and sincere.

"Old sir, what are you saying! We were saved by you back then, without old sir, we would not be alive today!"

"Old sir's life saving favor is as heavy as a mountain! Even if we die today, it can be considered repaying your favor."

Gao Yang and Zhu Zai replied, full of emotions.

There existed two-faced hypocrites in the righteous path, and demonic path likewise was not without true heroes!

Five steps!

"Save me!" Zhu Zai shouted and without caring for defense, pounced on the blood beasts blocking the way forward, perishing together with them.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng stretched out his palm but the white light did not come out.

He shouted out involuntarily: "Not good, my primeval essence is finished!"

This bad news immediately made Gao Yang's expression turn pale white.

All along, Tai Bai Yun Sheng had served as the core of the group. Only with man as before Gu's continuous support, everyone was able to push forward this deep.

"It doesn't matter, no blood beasts will enter the great hall. As long as I can enter the great hall, I can recover my primeval essence quickly and save Zhu Zai!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng shouted.

Gao Yang's spirits rose.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng was right, blood beasts might tear apart the corpse, but their main priority was absorbing the blood. As long as most of the corpse was intact, there was hope of saving Zhu Zai.

Snarl!

Next moment, a strong blood beast that looked like a giant python suddenly moved in from behind and swallowed Gao Yang in one bite!

Two steps!

The great hall's door was very close; with a body filled with injuries, Tai Bai Yun Sheng staggered forward through a small gap among the blood beasts.

At the crucial moment, he used up his final precious bit of primeval essence to summon a golden armor which resisted the blood beasts' attacks.

He reached!

"Humans can only obtain life by sacrificing life. Gao Yang, Zhu Zai, I will remember your sacrifices!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng exerted all his remaining strength to push open the door.

He fell down inside the great hall, the blood beasts behind him roared, snarled and brandished their claws, but did not dare to enter the great hall.

It was just like what Tai Bai Yun Sheng had investigated before.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng lay down on the ground with no strength left in his body. The injuries all over his body were continually transmitting intense pain.

He took a few strong gasps of breath, and suddenly started laughing heartily, but his laughter contained a sobbing tone.

Tears were overflowing on his face.

"This round has three great halls and sixty-nine side halls! If one crosses the round completely within a certain time period, they can obtain high grade evaluation. Passing two great halls and forty-six side halls will be considered middle grade evaluation. I surpassed twenty-three side halls and one great hall, I can only obtain low grade evaluation. But regardless, I have obtained lifespan Gu!"

"Fifteen year lifespan Gu can increase my lifespan by fifteen years. A whole fifteen years..."

Tai Bai Yun Sheng was exclaiming with deep and boundless emotion, when suddenly, his eyes blacked out and he fainted.

-x-X-x-

Fang Yuan lowered his head, observing Tai Bai Yun Sheng who had already fainted and lost consciousness.

He was the culprit who caused Tai Bai Yun Sheng to fall unconscious.

At this moment, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's body was bathed in blood, he was lying on the ground and within his deep eye sockets, his eyes were tightly shut.

There were lots of injuries on him, his snow white hair had stuck together because of dried blood, he no longer had the demeanour and appearance of the number one healing Gu Master in northern plains.

Merely a few steps away, outside the main hall's doors, a sea of blood beasts were growling, the messy overlapping noises were sent over with great force.

Fang Yuan raised his head, staring at them as he opened his mouth and said lightly: "Shut up."

Almost immediately, there was silence outside the hall.

The blood beasts all became quiet, lying prostrate on the ground like obedient cats or dogs, staying motionless.

Fang Yuan made use of the six-edge owner token to control this floor, he was the master of this floor, these beasts were all his to control, they listened to his commands and moved according to his will.

Fang Yuan shut his eyes, his mind entering this floor's control system as he let his senses observe the area.

At the moment, in this particular round, there were many Gu Masters remaining.

Among these Gu Masters, some were Gu Masters recruited by Tai Bai Yun Sheng, but during the earlier fighting they had been separated from the main party. Another portion were the information gatherers of all the different forces, they were all investigative Gu Masters. They came from Hei tribe, Ma Tribe, Ye Lui tribe, and all the other large forces, with the intention of observing whether Tai Bai Yun Sheng failed or succeeded.

As for this hall and its surroundings, within them, other than those rotten and dried corpses, only Fang Yuan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng were left now.

Fang Yuan closed the great hall's door, half squatting on the ground as he stretched out his right palm, grabbing onto Tai Bai Yun Sheng's skull.

His Gu worms had been prepared long ago, he activated them one by one.

Very soon, above Tai Bai Yun Sheng's head, a weak shining white light was formed, becoming the only source of light in this dark and dim great hall.

As the light got more and more intense, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's face gradually showed a painful expression, and his brows were frowning more intensely.

After a moment of stillness, Fang Yuan suddenly opened his eyes!

His eyes had no pupils, it was pure white in color.

The whites of his eyes gave off a weak light as at the same time, a large number of images flashed across in Fang Yuan's mind.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng's life, from his old age all the way until he was young, all the memories had been extracted by Fang Yuan.

...

An old man was walking in northern plains, the sky was vast and the wilderness was boundless, the winds blew as the grass was drooping in response, wolf groups were howling freely.

...

"Old sir, we brothers will never forget the kindness you have displayed by saving our lives!" Gao Yang and Zhu Zai kneeled down together before Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

...

A purple haired old beggar opened his mouth, showing his remaining few teeth, laughing in a weird manner: "What kind of Gu Master do you want to become? Hehehe, I happen to have three complete sets of inheritances with me here!"

...

"Mm, this lad has a passable appearance, we will choose him." In the inkmen city, an inkman was pointing at Tai Bai Yun Sheng who was in his youth as he laughed loudly and said.

Even further back, during the time when he was even younger...

"Why, why did you betray me?!" On the night of their joyous wedding, Tai Bai Yun Sheng fell weakly on the ground as extremely loud shouting and fighting noises resounded outside the tent.

As for his wife, she had an expression full of coldness and hatred, she slowly got close to him as her eyes shone with a ruthless light, she gritted her teeth as she said: "Tai Bai Yun Sheng, if you want to blame someone, blame your parents. They were the ones who devoured my tribe, they killed my parents, I want to exact revenge for them!"

During the time of his childhood...

"My son, you are the next generation tribe leader of our Tai Bai tribe! You are not allowed to cry, do not have the heart of needless sympathy! To survive in northern plains, we need to have a tougher heart, a tougher stance! After all in the future, you have to lead our Tai Bai tribe." His father was scolding him in a very strict manner.

... @@novelbin@@

"Ahhh..." Fang Yuan was screaming from the intense pain.

In his mind, countless images were flashing, they were depicting Tai Bai Yun Sheng's entire life, a legendary tale. Such a huge amount of information had a large impact on Fang Yuan's mind and caused great damage to him.

Thankfully, the images were not endless and unceasing, there came a time when they finally ended.

After browsing through Tai Bai Yun Sheng's entire life, Fang Yuan immediately stopped using his Gu worms, sitting down on the ground to rest.

He was breathing roughly and panting, his entire body was coated in sweat. A long time later, his pupils regained their original color.

Soul searching, this was not an easy action. Especially when Fang Yuan was concerned about Tai Bai Yun Sheng's safety and did not want to cause harm to his life, he could only endure most of the pressure of the soul search himself.

After stopping the soul search, Tai Bai Yun Sheng was still sound asleep, but his tightly knitted brows had slowly eased as he relaxed. His breathing was more stable now, and his expression was rather peaceful.

In contrast, Fang Yuan's brows were starting to frown instead.

"I did not find it!" He heaved a long sigh in pity.

"What did you not manage to find?" In his mind, Mo Yao's will could not hold in her curiosity as she asked.

Fang Yuan's actions were very strange, it made her very curious.

Fang Yuan did not answer her, he only frowned even more as time passed. The matter of landscape as before Gu was related to his grand scheme after rebirth, how could he possibly tell this to Mo Yao?

Landscape as before Gu was an Immortal Gu that Tai Bai Yun Sheng obtained only after he became an immortal.

Rumors said: This Gu was created naturally on its own when Tai Bai Yun Sheng became an immortal, and heaven and earth resonated with him, causing it to spontaneously condense.

But there was another possibility, that within Tai Bai Yun Sheng's mind, he had the Immortal Gu recipe for Landscape As Before from the start.

If he really had the Immortal Gu recipe, then Fang Yuan could steal this Gu recipe, along with river as before Gu and mountain as before Gu, bringing to Lang Ya blessed land and asking Lang Ya land spirit to help by refining this Immortal Gu on his behalf.

This way, he did not have to take a risk and seize the food from the tiger's mouth, it would greatly reduce his danger.

But after this soul search, Fang Yuan obtained a horrible result.

Fang Yuan did not manage to find the Immortal Gu recipe for Landscape As Before, this indicated that the rumors were really true. Landscape as before Gu was indeed a product of the resonance of heaven and earth during the moment when Tai Bai Yun Sheng became a Gu Immortal.

That also meant that: If Fang Yuan wanted to obtain this Immortal Gu, he would have to snatch this Gu by force from Tai Bai Yun Sheng who had already become an immortal by then.

Fang Yuan was still not a Gu Immortal, as for battling an immortal as a mortal, Fang Yuan had never heard of any examples of success in his life, it was no doubt tougher than ascending to heaven!

But what other choices did he have?

Back then, among the three options, this was no doubt the easiest way. He had already invested time and effort into this plan, although Fang Yuan did not have absolute confidence of success, he had no choice but to continue making preparations and take a risk to try it anyway!

...

Outside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's image appeared slowly.

"He is back, he is back!"

"How was the result? Someone saw Tai Bai Yun Sheng fighting his way into the main hall."

"Oh no, Lord Tai Bai Yun Sheng is motionless, it seems he has fallen unconscious!"

The surrounding Gu Masters immediately went over as a crowd.

After taking a look, all of their expression changed mildly. Tai Bai Yun Sheng's body was filled with extremely serious injuries, they were all secretly stunned in their hearts.

"He is still breathing!" Someone stretched out his finger and placed it below Tai Bai Yun Sheng's nose, shouting loudly: "Quick, who is a healing Gu Master, quickly stabilize Old Sir's current injuries!"

"I will do it, I will do it!"

"I am also a healing Gu Master!!"

Many healing Gu Masters quickly helped out, Tai Bai Yun Sheng's reputation and extremely kind hearted nature had already been ingrained in everyone's hearts.

There was no doubt that he was much more popular and loved by people compared to Hei Lou Lan and Chang Shan Yin.

"Even Lord Tai Bai Yun Sheng suffered injuries to such a grave extent, sigh, it seems that this time, the round might not have been passed." Someone sighed.

"The time for the challenge has already ended, but most of the Gu Masters did not return safely, we have truly suffered a huge loss this time!"

"Among all of you, has anyone seen Lord Gao Yang and Zhu Zai coming out?" Someone jolted abruptly, suddenly asking.

Everyone started looking around frantically, but they just ended up staring at each other.

No one saw the figures of Gao Yang and Zhu Zai, meanwhile in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, that round was still intact and available for challengers. Except that in this short period, Gu Masters were not allowed to enter again.

Everyone was very clear about what this implied.

Ever since Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had formed, five rank five experts had already been sacrificed.

Such grave casualties and losses, it caused the entire area to go into deep silence.

When Tai Bai Yun Sheng opened his eyes eventually, he found himself lying on a bed, his entire body was feeling weak to the point where he even had difficulties sitting up.

Seeing that he opened his eyes, a servant nearby who was attending to him shouted immediately out of joy: "Old sir, you are finally awake, you have finally woken up! Someone quickly come, someone quickly come, old sir has woken up!"

Very soon, Tai Bai Yun Sheng could hear a large number of footsteps rushing over towards him.

A group of healing Gu Masters came to his side, checking his body's condition for him collectively.

"Lord elder, rest assured, your injuries are no longer a problem. Except that you are of old age, so the injuries this time have affected your physical condition. From now on, you have to recuperate carefully, especially for the next few months, your body is weak and lacking in nourishment, you need to rest and recover slowly." The head of the healing Gu Masters urged him in a gentle tone.

In order to get a team to challenge the round, Tai Bai Yun Sheng had no choice but to agree to Hei Lou Lan's request and had already become an external elder of Hei tribe.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng's gaze was completely unfocused, ever since he woke up, he had been in a daze, after hearing these words, he regained some of his senses as he asked: "Where is this place?"

"Replying to lord elder's question, this is Lord Hei Lou Lan's residence. Ever since lord elder failed in challenging the round, and returned barely alive, our tribe leader has been very concerned, he personally brought you here to receive treatment. The servants have already reported your awakening, I believe that very soon, lord tribe leader will be here to see you." The leader of the Gu Masters once again replied.

"Failed in challenging the round, and returning barely alive?" Tai Bai Yun Sheng frowned slightly, the memories in his mind were slowly surfacing, as he recalled that final scene that had happened —

He expended his final portion of primeval essence, activating his defense Gu as he successfully charged into the great hall amidst the attacks and rampaging of the blood beasts.

But soon after, he fainted and fell unconscious, losing perception of all his senses!

When he woke up, he found that he was lying here.

"Does that mean, I really failed in challenging the round?!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's tone suddenly turned sharp, as his gaze became sharper than ever.

"Lord elder..." The healing Gu Masters around the bed all looked at each other, they wanted to offer words of consolation, but they could not bring themselves to say a thing.

Thus, they could only lower their heads silently.

The room suddenly became completely quiet.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng's gaze was staring into the distance, after being silent for a while, he suddenly raised his head and laughed: "Haha, so I failed after all. All that sacrifice for nothing, all that sacrifice for absolutely nothing!"

He could not get up now, so he could only use his palm to slam the side of the bed with all his strength, laughing maniacally.

"Lord elder, lord elder!" The healing Gu Masters were frantic, they quickly tried to calm him down.

"My pitiful Gao Yang, my pitiful Zhu Zai, they sacrificed their lives in order to protect me!" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's eyes were overflowing with tears, his laughter was filled with pure agony.

"My condolences to lord elder, there is a limit to what a person can do, lord elder had already done his best!"

"Lord elder, the fact that you managed to survive is already the greatest fortune among misfortunes."

"People die when they are killed, the dead cannot be resurrected, old sir, you have to stay strong for all of us..."

Everyone spoke one after another, trying to calm down the unstable Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

But these words felt like utter sarcasm when they entered Tai Bai Yun Sheng's ears. They were like needles stabbing into his heart one by one.

At the final crucial moment, Tai Bai Yun Sheng preserved his primeval essence and did not choose to save Gao Yang and Zhu Zai. It was for himself, to activate the defense Gu and charge into the main hall.

That was him, for his own selfish gains, he had ignored the sacrifices of his comrades.

Was this still Tai Bai Yun Sheng?

Was this still that admirable and publicly recognised figure in northern plains who helped and saved the injured, healing people everywhere, the Tai Bai Yun Sheng who eliminated pain and suffering?

Why did he do that?

But at that crucial moment, he had no time to think about it carefully, he chose to do it in an instant!

Purposely sacrificing Gao Yang and Zhu Zai to obtain a chance for himself to obtain that fifteen year lifespan Gu which was the reward for passing the round! It was for his own purpose of extending his life!

Such a decision made Tai Bai Yun Sheng feel very unfamiliar with himself, he felt extremely ashamed, extremely inferior, and extremely regretful!

Back then, there was no hesitation, he did not think about it, that decision had transformed his morals into a whip, interrogating his soul and lashing at his conscience!

Tai Bai Yun Sheng shut his eyes in great pain, his fists were tightly clenched.

"Lord tribe leader has arrived!"

"Subordinate pays respects to lord tribe leader."

The entire room kneeled, as Hei Lou Lan carried a smiling expression and walked towards Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

Seeing Tai Bai Yun Sheng's pained expression, Hei Lou Lan frowned lightly, but soon his frown vanished: "Elder Tai Bai, I am very glad that you are awake. I have already heard about the situation, you, Gao Yang, and Zhu Zai had displayed the bravery and courage of us northern plains men, although you failed, it was an admirable attempt! As long as you learn from this attempt, I'm sure you'll be able to pass this round in the future, overwriting failure with success and washing away the humiliation."

Tai Bai Yun Sheng did not open his eyes, he did not speak a word as his expression remained painful.

He had already understood the reason why he failed.

After he charged into the main hall, he had successfully avoided the attacks of the blood beasts as he fell on the main hall. But after succeeding, he laughed wildly in great joy, and because his state of mind had been greatly volatile and fluctuating, together with his grave injuries, he lost consciousness.

To get through this round, there was a time limit as well.

Once the time was up, his unconscious self was sent out forcefully along with the other Gu Masters at the fringe of the battlefield.

He was obviously a single step away from success, but he failed because he had fallen unconscious.

Such an ironic ending, this was not the source of the intense pain in Tai Bai Yun Sheng's heart.

His pain was because he had abandoned his comrades for his own selfish gains.

Was this still Tai Bai Yun Sheng?

His memories flashed in his mind one by one once more.

From youth, he had always believed in the power of love.

Since he was a child, he had been reputed to have a kind heart.

When Tai Bai tribe devoured other tribes, he saw that his childhood friend was going to suffer the horrible fate of becoming a female slave, thus he stepped up and requested to marry her. Because of this, the batch of captives were also spared.

But on the night of their wedding, his wife betrayed him. The captives contacted outside enemies and assaulted his tribe, causing his parents to die from this incident.

His slave life after that was extremely tough and pitiful, and he had always been suffering the intense guilt and regret in his heart.

Finally, one day, he gave an unacquainted old beggar a bowl of water out of kindness, and the old beggar gave him three immortal inheritances to choose from.

The first could allow him to bathe in flames and step on fire, surpassing the mortal realm.

The second could allow him to control wind and fly in the air, roaming the world freely.

The third could allow him to surpass life and death, gaining the ability to assist the world's people.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng chose the third inheritance.

From then on, it was as if he found the light in the darkness, his heart was no longer in turmoil as he had no regrets anymore, he had been completely reborn!

After so many years, the old beggar's laughter was still ringing in his ears.

Surpassing life and death, gaining the ability to help people, this had become his life's goal.

And indeed, he truly achieved this in his life later on.

Countless people felt gratitude towards him, his kind reputation had spread widely, his light was shining over the entire northern plains.

He was a living legend.

But right now!

He had failed!

His failure was not in that he did not receive the lifespan Gu. But because he betrayed his comrades, he betrayed the way of life that he had set for himself!!

But the most ironic thing was, all these were done by his own subconscious.

He spent almost his entire life to establish a way of life for himself that he believed in. But that at moment, he completely destroyed his own ideals.

He had seen the other side of himself, his own selfish nature.

He had once thought, he was the person everyone knew him as — walking on the grassland under the setting sun, helping and saving people throughout the region, the savior of the world.

But now, in his heart, this image was slowly leaving him, it was limping away from him.

In the brilliance of the setting sun, his shadow was stretched out and extended into the horizon.

The shadow was extremely dark...

-x-X-x-

Hei Lou Lan's brows furrowed as he walked out of Tai Bai Yun Sheng's room.

"An expert cannot become conceited by success nor discouraged by failure; who could have thought the grand, renowned Tai Bai Yun Sheng was no more than this." he was very dissatisfied with Tai Bai Yun Sheng's mental state.

"Tai Bai Yun Sheng is the number one healer, if his state is not good, the difficulty for me to cross the rounds will increase by a lot." Hei Lou Lan raised his head and looked above.

On the summit of the sacred palace, the bright aurora was surging majestically.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had already condensed sixty-seven floors and was currently condensing sixty-eighth floor.

Hei Lou Lan gazed at Eighty-Eight True Yang Building with an obsessed look, a cold light of ambition flashing in his eyes.

In the sixty-eighth floor there existed a strength path Immortal Gu!

Hei Lou Lan possessed an one-edge owner token, this strength path Immortal Gu was assimilated into Eighty-Eight True Yang Building just moments ago, and he could immediately perceive it.

This was a rank six strength path Immortal Gu called flying bear strength Gu.

The flying bear was a desolate beast with battle strength that could match Gu Immortals.

Flying bear strength Gu could allow the Gu Immortal to have a definite probability of bursting out with a flying bear phantom during battle and strike with the divine strength of flying bear.

This was the Immortal Gu Hei Lou Lan wanted. With it, he could advance into a strength path Gu Immortal!

"I must get this Immortal Gu in my hands. My plan for revenge only has hope if I have it!" Hei Lou Lan unconsciously clenched his fists, but soon relaxed.

His trusted aide Hei Shu came towards him in short, quick steps, and kneeled before him.

Hei Lou Lan's expression quickly changed back to normal.

Even in front of his trusted aide, he did not reveal even a trace of his true emotions.

Every day, during this time, Hei Shu would come to report on the movements of every great expert in the sacred palace: "Lord Chang Shan Yin is still at the ninetieth round of seventh floor and has still not made any progress. Lord Ye Lui Sang is at the forty-ninth floor, he has crossed the eighty-first round, thirty percent of the Gu Masters with him have perished...."

Hei Lou Lan had completely opened up Eighty-Eight True Yang Building to everyone; it was a generous move that was rarely seen in the history, attracting a craze in everyone to explore Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

Even though every owner token's price was raised to a sky-high amount, there were still countless people scrambling for them madly.

Humans die for wealth and birds die for food; blinded by greed, many had lost their lives.

Adding the casualties from the attempt of Tai Bai Yun Sheng, five rank five experts had died already - Chang Biao, Pan Ping, Hao Ji Liu, Gao Yang and Zhu Zai. This was an enormous loss to Hei Lou Lan.

The smaller the forces he could mobilize became, the harder the difficulty in getting flying bear strength Gu.

Of course, there was also a certain benefit by completely opening up Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. As long as the participating Gu Masters could survive, most would be able to experience rapid increase in strength.

There were also not a small number who were able to successfully advance, creating many new rank four and rank five Gu Masters.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was originally arranged by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable for the benefit of his descendants.

"This sixty-eighth floor is the main focus of our tribe, it even far surpasses winning over the thirty-ninth floor. This is a task specially handed to me by a certain supreme elder of our tribe. Thus, every bit of strength in the sacred palace needs to be treasured. Hei Shu, make this news public: Starting now, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building will be closed and everyone will listen to my arrangements. After breaking through the sixty-eighth floor, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building will be opened again." Hei Lou Lan instructed, his tone containing a will that could not be questioned.

When Hei Shu heard this was actually a task given by the tribe's supreme elder, his body shook and his expression turned extremely solemn.

"Get to work." Hei Lou Lan waved his hand.

Hei Shu accepted the command and retreated.

Every Imperial Court contest was a chess game played by Gu Immortals. Even the stronger Gu Masters were no more than chess pieces.

To seek some kind of Immortal Gu, Gu Immortals would provide support to certain tribes participating in the Imperial Court contest. This was a common set of circumstances.

Hei Lou Lan was sure that everyone would be dissatisfied by his decision to close Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, but under the pressure of a Gu Immortal's reputation, no one would dare to raise an issue.

"Tai Bai Yun Sheng's injuries are too severe, but I can make him participate in the battle after he rests for about half a month. After all, he is a healing Gu Master and will be in the rear of the battlefield. He needs lifespan Gu, I can start from this aspect to mobilize him."

"Chang Shan Yin is fighting the seventh floor. Hehe, his days have not been easy because his son suddenly perished in this round. To get back his reputation, he must pass this round. But he demanded flying bear phantom Immortal Gu from me before, taking loans and owing me a great deal of resources. I can mobilize him."

"There is also Ye Lui Sang, he has a fire path support type Immortal Gu and would be of strong help to me. I can entice him with heavy bait...of course, the crucial point will still be using the strength of the three Gu Immortals, Xue Song Zi, Hei Cheng and Hei Bai. Hehehe, I should send them letters."

...

Hei Bai was extremely excited after reading Hei Lou Lan's letter: "I waited so long and now finally the wooden chicken Gu has appeared, I did not think it would be within the sixty-eighth floor."

He did not doubt the contents of this letter in the least.

After all, Hei Lou Lan was Hei Cheng's son, and was the current Hei tribe leader. If his loyalty was doubted, then was there anyone in the world who was worth trusting?

Hei Cheng smiled brightly: "Virtuous brother, every cloud has a silver lining, hard work will eventually pay off. Did the letter mention anything about strength path Immortal Gu?"

Hei Bai's face flushed red: "I am ashamed, I was only thinking of wooden chicken Gu and forgot about nephew's situation. Nephew has Great Strength True Martial Physique, he must have a strength path Immortal Gu to advance to Gu Immortal. Nephew has mentioned about this in the letter, but unfortunately a strength path Immortal Gu has yet to appear in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building."

"Still no strength path Immortal Gu?" Hei Cheng frowned.

Previously, when Hei Bai had been worried about wooden chicken Gu, he was consoled by Hei Cheng. This time, it was Hei Bai's turn to console Hei Cheng: "Brother, no need to worry, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building has altogether eighty-eight floors, there are still twenty floors that have not condensed yet."

Hei Cheng nodded, sighing: "Immortal Gu Dark Limit won't be able to mask his physique any longer, this can almost be considered as my son's final chance at life. Sigh... Man proposes and God disposes, we can only leave things to the will of heaven."

Hei Bai's heart was fervent as he changed the topic back to wooden chicken Gu. He reminded: "Brother, time waits for no man, let's quickly prepare to give some help to Hei Lou Lan!"

"Yes. This matter demands immediate actions, which place did the letter mention?" Hei Cheng slowly stood up from his seat.

Hei Bai also followed suit and stood up: "It is near Demon Blood Hill."

"Let's go."

The two Gu Immortals were very straightforward as they immediately set off.

Not long later, they arrived at the sky above Demon Blood Hill.

Demon Blood Hill was a famous area in northern plains where four great tribes of the righteous path had allied to annihilate a gang of demonic path bandits who had been ravaging around northern plains.

The demonic path bandits were extremely fierce because of their deep background, with demonic path Gu Immortals secretly supporting them from the dark.

After the intense battle, the bandit gang was completely annihilated while the righteous path also suffered serious losses. The blood of demonic path Gu Masters dyed the whole hill red, and thus later generations called the hill 'Demon Blood Hill'.

Hei Lou Lan had requested help in the letter.

Hei tribe's two Gu Immortals had already prepared for a long time and were ready to leave at any time; this was to help Hei Lou Lan to clear the floor as fast as possible.

But Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was located in Imperial Court blessed land, why would the two Gu Immortals from Hei tribe come here?

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building's structure needed to be mentioned for this.

The previous ink text had explained: Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was a rank eight Immortal Gu house formed from innumerable small towers, with divert disaster Gu as one of the main cornerstones.

There were gaps of several li between each small tower, covering Imperial Court blessed land in accordance to each region of northern plains. During ordinary times, the small towers would be taking in the wild Gu within Imperial Court blessed land. As every ten year period arrived, these small towers would start to sink one after another, sacrificing the wild Gu inside them while also resonating with the blizzard in the outside world to achieve a miraculous power.

This power would carry out an enormous plundering of the whole of northern plains, taking in the precious Gu resources of northern plains to above the sacred palace in Imperial Court blessed land, and thus condensing floor after floor of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

These floors would form on top of one another, finally forming the complete Eighty-Eight True Yang Building!

Back then, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's plan had been rejected by Long Hair Ancestor. Long Hair Ancestor was a refinement path supreme grandmaster, and thought of an exquisite plan with a different approach, refining the current Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

Every time Eighty-Eight True Yang Building formed was a process of refining Gu once again.

It not only made use of the wild Gu in the small towers but also the Gu worms absorbed into it.

For example, looking at the sixty-eighth floor, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building first absorbed flying bear strength Gu and refined it, using the strength of the Gu to form the hundredth round.

Again, absorbing other strong Gu worms to form the ninety-ninth round. Following was the ninety-eight round, ninety-seventh.....

It was like building a high building, one must first build a strong foundation.

If there were not qualified Gu worms, then Eighty-Eight True Yang Building would replace it with Gu recipe, primeval stones, inheritance secrets and so on.

Everyone knew the harder the rounds in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building were, the more bountiful the rewards would be. Conversely, the more bountiful the rewards or stronger the Gu worms, the more difficult the round would be.

One could say every Gu worm assimilated into Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was a part of its structure.

Countless Imperial Court contests passed by while countless generations of sagely immortals had been probing before the workings of this mechanism of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building were finally discovered.

Originally, there were no flaws in this.

But with the passing of time, changes started to appear which created a loophole, allowing northern plains' Gu Masters to exploit it.

This loophole was in the aspect of 'refinement'.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building plundered northern plains and absorbed Gu worms, 'refining' them and using their strength to form rounds.

What did Gu refinement rely on?

Will!

Back then, how did Fang Yuan refine the liquor worm?

By using primeval essence as a carrier for the Gu Master's will to continually wear down the Gu worm's will, until the Gu worm was filled with the Gu Master's will, thoroughly turning into the Gu Master's tool.

When Fang Yuan refined Gu, he had used Immortal Gu Spring Autumn Cicada to get the desired result at the least expense.

If the Gu worms differ by two ranks or more, there would be suppression. Fang Yuan used Spring Autumn Cicada's aura to force the lower ranked Gu worm's will to curl up at a corner, and then poured in his primeval essence and will straight into the Gu worm, swallowing the withdrawn Gu worm's will.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was not a Gu Master, how could it refine other Gu worms?

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, thus, intentionally left behind his will!

Giant Sun's will!

Fang Yuan had seen Giant Sun's will when he was refining the guest halt stele before. It was genuinely majestic and vast like the sun.

Comparatively speaking, the will Fang Yuan left behind after refining the guest halt stele was as minute as an ant.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building refined Gu worms by using Giant Sun's will.

Immortal Venerable were unrivalled, their wills were also similarly unrivalled and could easily extinguish other wills.

Thus, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had never encountered any problems when refining Gu worms.

However, there was a problem.

Wills were formed from thoughts, if there was not a soul to act as the carrier, continuous thinking would only lead to unceasing consumption.

To resist such astonishing consumption, the will would often choose to hibernate.

When Fang Yuan entered Water Pavilion, Mo Yao's will which was stored inside had awoken from her hibernation.

Giant Sun's will might be vast as the Sun, but Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had passed away for countless years now; the will was gradually unable to resist the power of time and also chose to hibernate!

When Giant Sun's will went into hibernation, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building's Gu refinement speed slowed down.

This reduction in speed caused a loophole to appear in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

-x-X-x-

Strong winds blew and snow wreaked havoc.

Demon Blood Hill which used to have dark red grass growing all over was now a scene of whiteness.

The lofty hill also had surrendered to the power of ten year's blizzard, appearing weak as a baby.

Roar Roar Roar....

Enormous figures that were as tall as thirty feet, appeared and disappeared in the blizzard. These were monsters that only appeared during the blizzard — snow monsters.

These snow monsters were stronger the larger their size.

A thirty feet tall snow monster could battle a rank three Gu Master. Forty feet tall had the strength of a rank four Gu Master. And fifty feet tall had the terrifying power of a rank five Gu Master.

Following the blizzard, the snow monsters began to devastate the whole of Northern Plains.

They slowly converged together and attacked several surviving areas of Northern Plains, bringing destruction to the dying humans and living beings.

But there is a weakness to everything, snow monsters were snowmen's prey.

Snowmen could rapidly propagate by devouring snow monsters' meat and blood, even prolonging their lifespan.

Hei Bai and Hei Cheng stood on the summit of the Demon Blood Hill for a while.

Their black robes were exceptionally conspicuous in the white snowy land.

Beside them were corpses of hundreds of snow monsters. Unless snow monsters that had reached the height of sixty feet appeared, even in great numbers they could only be trash throwing away their lives when fighting Gu Immortals.

Hei Bai and Hei Cheng had already waited for a long time now.

Suddenly, Hei Bai's expression shook as he got a response, his sharp gaze looking at his left.

There, maelstroms of wind and snow started to form in the air.

Within a blink of an eye, they turned one by one into whole giant hands formed from wind and snow — flying snow hand.

After the enormous flying snow hands condensed completely, they grabbed at Hei Bai and Hei Cheng.

"Haha, we have been waiting for you." Hei Bai laughed brightly and flicked his finger repeatedly, sending out large numbers of rank five Gu worms.

Hei Cheng also made his move.

The enormous flying snow hands grabbed Gu worms and soon each of them clenched tightly. The snow hands crumbled apart while the Gu worms inside disappeared without a trace, captured tightly by a power that took them into Imperial Court blessed land.

Hei tribe's two Gu Immortals did not resist in the slightest and let the Gu worms be taken by the flying snow hands.

Such a situation lasted for a whole hour before all the rank five Gu worms were captured away. Hei Bai and Hei Cheng only then stopped, looking at each other with a smile before flying away rapidly, disappearing into the horizon in a blink of an eye.

"Support has arrived!" After some time, Hei Lou Lan got a response, his gaze burned as he gazed above at Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

At the peak of the sacred palace, an aurora was shaking.

The sixty-eighth floor was still condensing with the hundredth round already being formed before. The still not formed sixty-eighth floor was only in its embryonic stage, the aurora around it continually shook like liquid, holding the large numbers of Gu worms captured just before from outside the blessed land.

A part of these Gu worms were wild Gu whereas a portion came from Hei Cheng and Hei Bai, two Gu Immortals.

Eighty-Eight True Yang Building chose the strongest among them to form the ninety-ninth round, ninety-eighth round....

Hei Lou Lan carefully sensed it for a while before slightly frowning: "The two from Hei tribes have already made their move but that Xue Song Zi is still biding his time, hmph!"

He had bribed Xue Song Zi to reach an agreement. One of the contents of the agreement was Xue Song Zi help him at a designated time period.

However, Xue Song Zi was not showing any signs of movement at present.

Hei Lou Lan was displeased, immediately sending a letter through a Gu worm.

Soon, he received the reply.

In the letter, Xue Song Zi complained about how the two Gu Immortals from Hei tribe were pressuring him these days and how his snowman business had taken a dive, already running at a loss. He also added how he had already supported Hei Lou Lan with many rank five Gu for wooden chicken Gu some time ago. And it was beyond his power to send support now.

"Lies!" Hei Lou Lan was furious, almost pinching this letter Gu to death, "There is indeed no one good in the demonic path, they all are treacherous and sly bastards."

But soon, Hei Lou Lan's anger subsided.

Truthfully, he had predicted this.

After all, he was only a mortal while Xue Song Zi was a lofty Gu Immortal. A mortal dealing with a Gu Immortal was like an ant negotiating with an elephant.

The two were simply not at the same level. If the Gu Immortal refused to acknowledge and reneged back on the promise, the mortal could do nothing about it.

Hei Lou Lan was secretly worried.

The sixty-eighth floor was in the process of condensing and the longer the time went by, the weaker the effect of a Gu Immortal's support would be.

"It seems, I need to first obtain wooden chicken Gu to make Xue Song Zi help me!" Hei Lou Lan sneered, immediately sending an order to convene everyone.

Wooden chicken Gu was on the thirty-ninth floor of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

For months now, Hei Lou Lan's efforts had been concentrated on this floor. He also had Xue Song Zi's help, thus the progress was very smooth, succeeding in pushing to the last round.

Wooden chicken Gu was exactly the reward for this final round.

This last round; it was difficult in a sense, but it was also very simple.

What it tested was patience in putting in effort over a long period of time.

Hei Lou Lan had personally led people and attempted the round for forty to fifty times altogether, now already having grasped its details. Every time, he would progress slightly and the accumulation of such progress gave shocking results. He was only a paper-thin distance away from success.

"This is good too. Grasping this thirty-ninth floor would raise the morale for when we tackle the sixty-eighth floor." Hei Lou Lan thought for a while and immediately took action.

The next day, he mustered large numbers of people, convening all the Gu Masters in the sacred palace, and held a pep rally.

That very evening, he led everyone and successfully broke through the hundredth round, obtaining rank six Immortal Gu Wooden Chicken.

Just like Hei Lou Lan expected, the breakthrough of the round raised morale and fighting spirit greatly, sweeping away the haze of Tai Bai Yun Sheng's defeat.

With Immortal Gu Wooden Chicken, Hei Lou Lan's confidence rose greatly and he used it to lure Xue Song Zi into helping him.

Seven days later, the sixty-eighth floor had completely taken form.

Hei Lou Lan impatiently led everyone to charge into the floor.

However, after arriving at the floor, he did not tackle the rounds anxiously, instead commanding the Gu Masters to spread out.

Over a hundred refinement path Gu Masters were included in the troops.

These people were all carefully selected and their loyalty could be trusted. Although they had not attained master level, they were elites.

The refinement path Gu Masters formed a round formation upon which Hei Lou Lan slowly walked into the center.

He sat down cross-legged and took out the two-edge owner token.

The two-edge owner token slowly flew into the air and at the same time, Hei Lou Lan's body also began to let out grey light.

The light rays were sharp as needles, piercing into the air.

Not only Hei Lou Lan, the remaining refinement path Gu Masters also let out sharp grey radiance.

These needle sharp light rays continued to strengthen, becoming thicker and longer, flooding the whole round formation.

The individual needle sharp rays started to touch each other, instantly linking together. A giant grey radiance slowly stretched out from the round formation, directly piercing into the two-edge owner token which was floating in the air.

Outside the round formation were large numbers of Gu Masters spectating this while guarding against emergencies.

"What are they doing?" A young Gu Master asked in confusion.

An aged senior beside him patted his shoulder: "Hehe, this is the ability of super tribes! Kid, watch properly, the next scene will make your eyes open and jaw fall down."

As he was saying this, the owner token suddenly shook.

The tremor was weak, but following the dissemination of the giant sharp grey radiance, the scope of the tremor quickly increased.

By the time this tremor spread to the round formation, it had already become a heavy tremor.

The grey light rays condensed in the round formation like a light lake. From this heavy tremor, the lake suddenly erupted with dazzling light, forcing everyone to narrow their eyes.

The grey light shone on every corner of the first round's area.

Just like the melting of snow, the world in the round gradually started turning transparent before completely dissipating.

It was like a cover had been lifted, and as if the second layer underneath was revealed, Hei Lou Lan and the group arrived at the second round.

"This is?!"

"We actually passed the round without even making a move?"

After a moment of silence, many young Gu Masters started making a big fuss.

That young Gu Master from just before had eyes wide open and his jaw hanging down: "What in the world is this method?"

The aged Gu Master beside replied with satisfaction: "This is a refinement path killer move that all super tribes have — Grey Meltdown. It can be used to rapidly pass rounds in Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. Kid, the scope of your vision should have expanded, right?"

The young Gu Master whose vision was expanded, nodded his head nonstop and praised: "Amazing! Truly an amazing method! But, what do they need us for with such a method in their disposal?"

The aged Gu Master's smile turned forced: "This method is not effective every time. Some rounds can be crossed with this method, while some cannot."

"Tsk tsk, this trick is quite interesting..." In Fang Yuan's mind, Mo Yao revealed her body.

Her posture was enchanting and her eyes had a hint of seduction. She mumbled to herself in an analytical way: "This should be digging into the hibernating will of Giant Sun's control, attacking with coordination from both outside and inside. The Gu Masters outside the blessed land would release Gu at certain places, and these Gu worms would be absorbed into Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, refined into the rounds. But Giant Sun's will is hibernating, so the speed in refining the Gu worms has become slower. At best, they could only be considered half-refined."

"The so-called killer move grey meltdown uses the owner token to connect with the half-refined Gu worms. As such, the core of the round will be directly refined. The round will naturally not be able to continue anymore and switch to the next round."

"To do this, the crucial key is time. The state of the half-refined Gu won't continue for long. Even if Giant Sun's will is hibernating, as long as there is sufficient time, it will completely refine these Gu worms. In the case that these Gu worms are refined, the Gu Masters tackling the round cannot induce any reaction and the chance to forcibly refine them would be thoroughly lost."

"Hehehe, you are indeed a refinement path grandmaster, being able to analyze so thoroughly with just a glance." Fang Yuan laughed in his mind, not stinting on his praise towards Mo Yao.

To speak bluntly, this method was fighting with Eighty-Eight True Yang Building to refine the Gu worms.

If Giant Sun's will was awake, the Gu worms would be refined instantly, not leaving behind any opportunity.

But it was hibernating now, the refinement had become slow and as such, there was a loophole that could be used.

Fang Yuan was from the future, thus he knew this clearly.

In his previous life, after central continent's Gu Immortals had broken through Imperial Court blessed land, they had shown this method in the image clips they had disseminated everywhere. @@novelbin@@

But this method could only be used as support.

What central continent's Gu Immortals truly relied on was still the glass owner token.

This secondary owner token could be considered a divine treasure! Who knew how much energy and resources central continent's forces had to spend for it, and now it was in Fang Yuan's possession, raised to six edges.

Taking advantage of everyone concentrating on the second round, Fang Yuan secretly took out the six-edge owner token.

He stroked the six edges of the owner token and sighed, muttering inwardly: "Such a long time of planning and now it is finally time for the plan to begin in full. Flying bear strength Gu with my flying bear phantom Gu, isn't that what it should be? Hehe, I also think so."

With that and a thought in his mind, he instantly grasped control over this floor!

-x-X-x-

Hei Lou Lan gazed ahead at the troops making slow progress in the dense jungle.

The intense battle had already lasted for over six hours.

This was the second round; the weather here was hot and damp, and the terrain was a vast ancient rainforest.

To cross this round, Gu Masters needed to traverse through the whole jungle and reach a stone palace at the other side.

However, this jungle could not be taken lightly.

There might not be any beasts in the jungle but it was full of green vines.

These green vines were coiled around tall trees and piled up on the damp ground. Every green vine had the thickness of a king-sized bowl and length of seventy to eighty feet in the minimum.

The common green vines among these were called green snake vines which had snake scales growing all over their surface. And when Gu Masters neared them, the vines would suddenly move and coil around the Gu Masters, constricting them to death.

In every one hundred paces of the rainforest, there were about a thousand green snake vines, filling the whole area.

The difficulty in progressing forward was thus extremely high.

The whole journey was filled with green snake vines attacking from all sides; some shot down from sky, some creeped through the ground and some ambushed from under the ground, causing the group to struggle and not be able to defend properly.

The group's progress was met with attacks from the green vines at all times, seemingly like they were among an ocean of green vines.

The green vine had powerful attacks and quick speed. Even more dangerous were the wood path Gu worms that lived on their bodies. It was precisely because of these Gu worms that the group had suffered huge casualties.

"Reporting, we have discovered a green snake vine king ahead. Currently, Lord Ye Lui Sang is already in a fight with it." After a while of moving forward, an investigative Gu Master returned from the front group to report to Hei Lou Lan.

Hei Lou Lan nodded, still continuing with his slow movement.

In every group of green snake vines, there was a green snake vine king which had the battle strength of a rank four Gu Master.

However, Ye Lui Sang was a rank five peak stage expert, the current tribe leader of the super force Ye Lui tribe, and the fire path he cultivated subdued wood path Gu worms completely. There was also the fire path support type Immortal Gu on him, taking care of a green snake vine king was a cinch.

Sure enough, after a while, the report of victory came from ahead: "Lord Ye Lui Sang has eliminated the green snake vine king and has now retreated from the front lines. Lord Chang Shan Yin has switched with him and is leading the wolf group to open the path."

"Okay." Hei Lou Lan lightly replied.

Wolves were good at offense and not at defense, and were not a good match for the vines. But Chang Shan Yin had defense specialized wolves like turtleback wolves. He also had vermillion fire wolves upon which lived fire path Gu worms. In this situation, they were a sharp weapon to cut open the path.

'Wolf King is truly powerful, he can even be said to have the number one battle strength. Especially when he also has the flying bear phantom Immortal Gu, a mere minor round cannot obstruct him.' Hei Lou Lan pondered while walking.

'Flying bear phantom Gu and flying bear strength Gu, if the two are paired up, that would be perfect. Hmph, I will first make Chang Shan Yin pour in his utmost effort for me and when the time is ripe, I must make him hand over that flying bear phantom Gu! As long as I become a Gu Immortal, wouldn't a mere Wolf King be mine to toy with?"

'This second round seemingly tests the Gu Master's strength in doing prolonged battles, but more than that, it is actually testing investigative ability. In this jungle, there are not only the green snake vine groups, but also green dragon vine groups. Green dragon vines are dozens of times more terrifying than green snake vines, they are mutated beings among plants! The path we took avoided these green dragon vines as much as possible. There are only one or two territories of green dragon vines in this path, and presumably there will be one or two tough battles, and that will be the greatest difficulty of this round."

Hei Lou Lan felt proud: 'We are getting closer to the finish line, at this speed, we will cross this round in an hour!"

He had just thought of this when suddenly a change occurred.

Swish swish.... @@novelbin@@

The green snake vines around the group suddenly penetrated the air with terrifying speed, even producing sonic booms!

The offense of the vines had suddenly increased by dozens of times.

The previous battles were the ones where the Gu Masters fought with the green snake vines nearby while the vines outside the range stayed still.

But now, the green vines within a hundred li, no, a thousand li, were engaging in the battle, surging out crazily like a tsunami as they pounced towards the Gu Masters.

The Gu Masters were caught unprepared, immediately suffering heavy losses. Countless Gu Masters were killed within a few moments of time.

"How could this happen? The green snake vines are rioting all of a sudden!" The experts shouted in fright.

"Someone, save me quickly!" Surrounding Gu Masters were wantonly constricted and twisted apart by the green vine group.

"I command all troops to attack, hold them off no matter the consumption! If we can't hold them back, it will be our death!!" Hei Lou Lan shouted and rose to the air, attempting to control the situation.

Soon, a hundred or so green dragon vines rose to the sky, charging towards him.

Hei Lou Lan gave a shout of fury and used his dark path abilities, killing twenty to thirty green dragon vines instantly before moving towards the ground.

But the ground was also not safe, countless green snake vines and green dragon vines broke through the soil, trapping the entirety of the troops.

"How can this be? The scouting had been done properly, how could we encounter a green dragon vine group here?" The corners of Hei Lou Lan's eyes were threatening to tear as he could not make sense of this no matter what!

Green vines were strongly territorial. But as long as one does not encroach upon their territory, they would remain still and not take the initiative to attack.

These green vine groups, however, had completely gone crazy, pouncing upon the Gu Masters like they had killed their father.

Green vines possessed strong vitality and even if they were cut into five to six parts, these five to six parts could still attack before dying. Hei Lou Lan even saw many green dragon vines struggling free from their root systems, and flying out to attack.

'This, how is this possible? What the hell is happening?!' Hei Lou Lan could not make sense of it no matter how he thought. By cutting off their own roots, these green dragon vines were looking for their own death.

All living things possessed survival instinct.

How deep a hatred was it for them to erupt in such bitter suicidal attacks?

The large army was broken apart, each fighting for themselves while slowly starting to retreat bit by bit; in a moment, many youths lost their lives.

"Could it be this second round is actually a giant trap?! This is too strange, this is only the second round, how could its difficulty be so high?!" Hei Lou Lan was dumbstruck, a huge doubt rising in his heart.

This was indeed a huge trap.

But the one who laid this trap was not Eighty-Eight True Yang Building but the one in control of this floor - Fang Yuan.

He had been patient, ordering the green vines everywhere in this round to stealthily move here. He then accepted the command to participate in the front line and switched with others from time to time, intentionally lowering the speed of progress to stall for time.

When large numbers of green vines had gathered, Fang Yuan immediately ordered a surprise attack without any hesitation.

The Gu Masters suffered disastrous losses because of the ambush!

Fang Yuan was an enslavement path master; the green vines which had lower intelligence than beasts, coordinated together under his control, and disregarded their own lives to burst out with a hundred times their normal strength!

Especially for the experts like Hei Lou Lan, Ye Lui Sang and Tai Bai Yun Sheng, he had paid even more attention and mobilized green dragon vines which were comparable to mutated beasts, to obstruct them.

"Retreat, retreat quickly."

"There are green vines everywhere around us, if we continue on, the casualties will become even more severe!"

"Lord Hei tribe leader, my tribe leader requests to retreat!"

Several large tribes hurriedly sent their representatives.

Anyone could see they had landed into an ambush by the green vine groups. How could the green vines become so sinister? Right now, no one had the time to tackle this issue.

Hei Lou Lan fiercely gnashed his teeth, his face showed a struggling expression several times before he squeezed out a word: "Retreat!"

He also knew the situation was already out of control, the green vines were charging without fearing death and had already led the formation to turn chaotic. And the experts were not able to fight properly for the fear of hurting their own men.

If they suffered such serious casualties in the second round, then how could Hei Lou Lan have the power to seize the Immortal Gu in the last round?

Retreat was naturally a wise move, but it would depend on whether Fang Yuan would allow it.

He was in control of this floor, sealing the exit and entrance was only a small thing.

Soon, everyone made a terrifying discovery - they could not leave!

This discovery was huge blow on the morale.

The whole army seemed to be about to crumble apart.

At the crucial moment, Hei Lou Lan felt the situation going awry and stood up, his voice spreading everywhere: "All of you, persevere. I will use the killer move grey meltdown to forcibly cross this round. If we persevere, we will win, we will survive!!"

The despairing Gu Masters heard these words and felt like they were drowning men who had found a life saving straw.

The morale that had fallen to the bottom did not crumble in the end and instead stabilized.

Everyone again started fighting, opening a path and forming a tight and connected formation.

Under the heavy protection from all the troops, Hei Lou Lan led a group of refinement path Gu Masters to form a round formation and began to use the killer move grey meltdown.

"Lord, if we forcibly activate it, we will probably lose thirty percent of our men." An old refinement path Gu Master who was familiar with the inside information advised Hei Lou Lan with a pale face.

The killer move grey meltdown naturally had its limitations.

This killer move relied on the coordination of the inside and outside; this required the reward of the round to be Gu worms deliberately provided by either Hei tribe's Gu Immortals or Xue Song Zi.

But Eighty-Eight True Yang Building would not coordinate, it only chose the suitable Gu worms from those absorbed and refined them to form the rounds.

The first round's reward were Gu worms that came from Hei Bai. Thus, Hei Lou Lan could use the killer move grey meltdown to exploit Giant Sun's will still not having fully refined the Gu worms, to forcibly refine them. Like this, he would get the reward and pass the round.

But the second round's Gu worm reward was wild Gu. Hei Lou Lan was unable to connect with these wild Gu and the killer move grey meltdown could not be used.

The second round could only in accordance with this be completed by going through its requirement.

But the current situation was critical, Hei Lou Lan was left without a better option but to forcibly activate killer move grey meltdown to skip through the second round and connect to the Gu worm reward of the third round.

The third round's Gu worm reward came from Xue Song Zi. The Gu worm was only half-refined, thus still contained most of Xue Song Zi's will.

As Hei Lou Lan was working together with Xue Song Zi, Xue Song Zi's will approved him. He could thus use grey meltdown to connect to the third round's reward and refine it.

As such, the third round would be passed. And when the third round is crossed, the second round would have no foundation, collapsing apart. Because when Eighty-Eight True Yang Building condensed each floor, it would first form the hundredth round, then ninety-ninth round, ninety-eighth round....

However, if Hei Lou Lan did so, the killer move grey meltdown's power would increase by several times, far surpassing the amount these refinement path Gu Masters could bear.

Whether it was success or failure, a portion of the refinement path Gu Masters would not be able to bear it and die.

"Tens of refinement path Gu Masters dying is better than the whole army dying!" Hei Lou Lan gritted his teeth, his eyes filled with chilly and cruel light. The situation had forced him to choose the lesser of the two evils.

The old Gu Master did not say any more and retreated back to the formation.