In the heart of the shattered bronze hall, the air was thick with smoke and spiritual essence. Cracks spiderwebbed across the floors. Craters and Gu residue littered the surroundings. The blessed land was on the verge of crumbling into oblivion.
At the center of the chaos stood Fang Yuan.
Unmoved. Calm. Icy.
"You still think you have a chance?! Impossible!" Tie Rou Nan's voice reverberated with desperation and authority. She was covered in wounds, her once-pristine robe now charred and splattered with blood. Her iron sword trembled slightly in her hand—not from weakness, but from the sheer tension that Fang Yuan's gaze imposed.
"This hall will soon be overrun! Your life is over. Surrender now!" she shouted. "Hand over that half-refined Immortal Gu and the old clan leader's Gu worms! Enter the Demon Suppression Tower for repentance, and perhaps, we might spare your life!"
Fang Yuan slowly turned to her, face expressionless, like a statue of death sculpted by time.
"I am indeed aware of my situation," he said, voice as smooth and cold as still water. "And I am even more aware... of yours."
The air shifted.
From a simple reply, the advantage changed hands.
A thin smile appeared on Fang Yuan's lips—a smile colder than winter wind, sharper than a Gu worm's fang. "The refinement remains incomplete... but that's a blessing. More immortal essence remains."
He extended a single hand, and spiritual light pooled at his palm.
"What should I do with all this heavenly power?"
Those standing before him—Tie Rou Nan, Bai Ning Bing, and others—felt an invisible force crash into them like a tidal wave. Their hearts clenched.
Then—panic.
From thin air, the land spirit Bai Gui materialized, floating with wild, haunted eyes. His spiritual robes were torn and fading, fragments of the blessed land's energy bleeding into nothingness behind him.
"No! We can't kill them now!" Bai Gui's voice cracked like splintering glass. "Too much essence will be lost! There are holes throughout the blessed land. It's collapsing! There won't be enough willpower left to finish the refinement!"
But Fang Yuan's gaze did not shift.
He already knew this.
He had calculated it.
He had prepared for it.
"Bai Gui," Fang Yuan said, voice steady. "Do you still want to refine the Gu?"
Bai Gui blinked. His spiritual tears halted in the air.
"You… you still have a plan?" he asked, trembling, hope flickering in his ancient gaze.
"No. Not now," Fang Yuan said, his voice deep and absolute. "But in the future. I am your last chance to see this Gu come to life."
In those words, Bai Gui saw truth—not a plea, but a declaration. A pact.
"I understand." The tears vanished. What remained was iron resolve. "Then tell me what to do."
"Kill everyone who enters this hall. Take their Gu worms. Store their souls and bodies. Let none escape."
Bai Gui did not hesitate.
The sky cracked.
A heavenly force descended. It was not merely pressure—it was a final verdict. An execution writ carved into the laws of heaven and earth.
Screams erupted. Tie Rou Nan turned to flee. Bai Ning Bing activated her cold flames. Gu Masters tried to scatter.
But the will of heaven—channeled through Bai Gui—was too swift.
Too absolute.
One by one, they fell. Their bodies froze in place, souls pulled out like threads from silk, all drawn into the cauldron of Fang Yuan's ambitions.
A dozen lives. A dozen destinies. Snuffed out like candles in a storm.
Each death was another brick laid on the road to immortality.
Outside, the battlefield roared. Xiao Mang—famed for his might—stood tall in the sky, surrounded by ranks of righteous cultivators. His expression twisted with anger, disbelief, and a hint of fear.
"Fang Yuan, demon spawn! I will erase you from this world!"
Golden light surged behind him as he activated three Gu at once:
Rank Four: Gather Light Gu.
Rank Five: Extreme Light Gu.
Rank Five: River Under the Sun Gu.
The heavens shook.
"Torrential Light Stream!"
A roaring river of divine radiance descended from the skies. The sunlight condensed into a colossal flood of purity and destruction, crashing down like a waterfall upon the bronze hall.
Within the hall, Fang Yuan raised his eyes.
He had been waiting for this.
His hand moved rapidly, fingers forming hand seals. Primeval essence surged from his core and flooded into four Gu:
Bone Wings Gu: A black sheen of skeletal wings unfolded from his back.
Liquid Metal Gu: His body shimmered and solidified like molten gold.
Face Changing Gu and Aura Concealing Gu: His presence flickered and vanished.
His identity evaporated like smoke in wind.
No one would know him. No one would trace his name to this cataclysm.
He had learned from Yin Sinshi's pursuit. From the chaos left behind. He would not be hunted again. Not now.
Chou Jiu had already been given a final task—to seek vengeance upon Yan Shang Fei. Once that thread was severed, Fang Yuan would vanish from all records. This was the art of surviving through death.
Golden light gleamed off his body. The molten shell glowed brilliantly. His wings extended wide like the reaper's scythe, casting shadows across heaven.
With a single beat, he launched upward.
The hall beneath cracked and shattered. The force of his flight sent shockwaves in all directions.
Gasps filled the battlefield.
"What is that thing?!"
"A golden bird?!"
"No—it's a man! A man soaked in molten gold!"
Fang Yuan soared straight into the Torrential Light Stream. The light seared, burned, peeled. His metal armor cracked. His wings began to darken.
But he did not stop.
Each Gu activated was like burning his life.
Liquid Metal Gu—shattered.
Bone Wings Gu—blistered.
Movement Gu—one after another, drained dry.
He had fought hundreds of battles. He had prepared for this moment for lifetimes.
He activated movement Gu harvested from countless fallen enemies. Golden Aurora Gu. Rainbow Streak Gu. Even lesser-known path-specific accelerants.
"Land Spirit," Fang Yuan whispered over the wind, voice nearly torn apart by the storm, "Send me the Divine Travel Gu."
Bai Gui responded, perhaps unaware of what it meant.
A golden Gu flew into Fang Yuan's hand. It shimmered with the authority of spatial laws, a Möbius band of power forged in myth.
Then—he added more.
Jade Sky Gu — a bamboo-green light shot from his aperture, solidifying into a jade-colored tube, smooth and hollow.
Fixed Star Gu — his arm lit up with eerie blue light. The star fragment embedded in his flesh flickered to life, revealing the translucent eight-sided diamond.
The Divine Travel Gu spun wildly. Then—
It plunged into his arm, devouring the Fixed Star Gu, then flying into the bamboo container of Jade Sky Gu.
There, it settled.
A cocoon formed. Glowing. Breathing.
Living.
The battlefield went silent.
Even the righteous cultivators—those who were in the battle —stood motionless.
"What… is he doing?"
"He's refining a Gu…"
"Inside a Rank Five killer move?!"
The myth came alive.
Fang Yuan had become legend.