Chapter 1027

Fang Yuan fails to catch Ying Wu Xie. He does not know the plan had succeeded once, only for heaven’s will and Spring Autumn Cicada to pull it apart. He stops over Southern Border and accepts the failure without denial, reasoning that no one, however powerful, is exempt from failure. Even Shadow Sect and Spectral Soul’s plan failed after tens of thousands of years, and even the former Demon Venerable before them failed in turn. He judges the most likely case is that Southern Border Gu Immortals still block Ying Wu Xie from Yi Tian Mountain, leaving his arrangements undiscovered and perhaps recoverable if he resumes the chase. The worst case is that Ying Wu Xie has found those arrangements and uses them to deceive Tai Bai Yun Sheng and Hei Lou Lan, reaching Star Form blessed land or Hu Immortal blessed land and stripping every asset there. He judges the dream realm now covering Yi Tian Mountain the greatest obstacle to Ying Wu Xie’s return, with Spectral Soul’s main body deep inside and too few dream path Gu worms left him for a rescue. ^{ch. 1027}

Unwilling to gamble, Fang Yuan stops chasing and lands on a Southern Border mountain. He means to use connecting heaven Gu, one of four rank five mortal Gu borrowed from Huo Kong Dong with flying smoke Gu, fire cape Gu and divine sense Gu. Before using it he looks into his new immortal aperture and reacts with unprecedented shock, greater than when he first learned Spectral Soul was Shadow Sect’s mastermind, even though his mental fortitude usually lets him conceal his emotions completely. He recognizes the aperture as the product of sovereign immortal fetus Gu, the rank nine Immortal Gu that Spectral Soul spent tens of thousands of years and nearly all of Shadow Sect’s fortune refining. The steps were unimaginable even for rank eight Gu Immortals. The refinement first raised ten extreme immortal zombies into the ten extreme immortal zombie lifeless formation, then consumed as material the corpses and immortal apertures of countless Southern Border Gu Immortals who had died. It then sent over a hundred Zombie Alliance immortal zombies into the formation, and finally the Demon Venerable did not stint on sacrificing himself to complete it through countless tribulations. ^{ch. 1027}

Rank nine Immortal Gu hold the same status among Gu worms that rank nine venerables hold among Gu Immortals, extremely rare, extremely precious and extremely powerful. Fang Yuan already knows the new Gu carries extraordinary power. It is his second rank nine Immortal Gu after wisdom Gu, which he could only sense through its light without ever refining it, though that light alone brought him immense benefit. This time he absorbs the Gu whole. He holds it certain that Spectral Soul’s refinement of sovereign immortal fetus Gu hides profound mysteries, ones he has had no time to explore, his new body itself formed from the same Gu. ^{ch. 1027}

Rank six blessed lands normally run low grade under 2000 km2, medium from 2700 to 4000 km2, or high from 4700 to 6000 km2. Only rare ten extreme physique immortals like Hei Lou Lan reach the super grade instead, which starts above 6700 km2 and does not exceed 13000 km2 at ascension. Great Strength True Martial Physique, Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique, Verdant Great Sun Physique and Desolate Ancient Moon Physique are among those ten. Size matters because space path dao marks scale with it. Many Gu Immortals meet this limit directly, forced to sell off beast groups, slaves and plants whenever their aperture cannot hold them, despite the growth this costs them. A larger aperture carries more space path dao marks, raising resource production and growth limits, so many Gu Immortals seek methods such as expand space Immortal Gu to enlarge their own. ^{ch. 1027}