End of Battle
An ancient year beast enters the battlefield, hill sized and casting a huge shadow as it unfurls its wings, and the hairy man Gu Immortals cry out in shock. Fang Yuan recognizes it as one of Hei Fan’s twelve recorded year beast forms. He judges himself lucky to summon a chicken, and the beast fixes on him alone because it smells year Gu on him. Year Gu is the food of year beasts, the more enticing the higher its rank, and the immortal killer move year beast summoning is built on that principle. He waves out a large amount of mortal year Gu, and the chicken inhales it in one enormous breath, like a dragon swallowing water. ch. 1138
Fang Yuan promises far more year Gu if it kills the ancient eagle hound, and the chicken charges. The two collide fiercely. The chicken is thrown back but the hound is sent flying outright, and after that loss the hound avoids meeting it head on. Fang Yuan judges the chicken’s constitution far stronger, though it holds no Immortal Gu, and notes year beasts are very rare even within the River of Time. The chicken would still fall behind and in time be defeated if the hound activated its Immortal Gu, which gives a huge boost in battle strength. Hei Fan warns that a summoned beast is no slave and answers to very little control, will not fight too powerful an enemy, and may retreat to demand more year Gu. Able only to barely communicate with it, Fang Yuan knows his time is short and risks no pincer attack. ch. 1138
Fang Yuan’s position is extremely good: his true body, hidden within the myriad self army, uses giant hand to slam eagle hounds unconscious one after another, piling them up. The hairy men are struck speechless. The ancient eagle hound, pinned down by the chicken and unable to reach its brethren, cries out in fury. These hounds are deadly enemies to them, yet to Fang Yuan they are only wealth, and only a truly skilled man, they say, would dare so much. In all, eight hounds end up unconscious, and the rest are struck dead, since giant hand cannot easily serve as a capturing method. ch. 1138
Growing slightly miserable, the chicken shows intent to retreat. Fang Yuan flanks the hound alongside the chicken to no good result, then calls the chicken back to guard the unconscious hounds. He throws it another large batch of year Gu to keep it in place, and it agrees, holding its ground. Fang Yuan reasons that year beast summoning suits a favorable fight rather than a desperate one, and engraves the lesson that only practice teaches an immortal killer move’s true limits. ch. 1138
Fang Yuan and the hound battle again, and this time it fights differently, charging in every direction in its anxiety to rescue its unconscious comrades. Fang Yuan is more relaxed now. He abandons charging in with giant hand as too risky, since bloodstained conqueror’s robe is nothing prominent before this hound, and switches to sword path killer moves from a distance. A transformation path Gu Immortal’s body grows extremely strong once the transformation succeeds, and Fang Yuan guesses the hound deliberately strengthened its defense while still alive. Fang Yuan judges it truly troublesome: giant hand is too slow to land a hit, sword path killer moves land but do little, and poison spit wastes immortal essence, since ancient eagle hounds are extremely resistant to poison. Left without options he settles on a battle of attrition, waiting for the hound’s immortal essence to run dry or a flaw to open. Even Sixth Hair and the hairy men are shocked at how much Fang Yuan’s strength has grown in so short a time. ch. 1138
The hound suddenly breaks upward and Fang Yuan gives chase, its injuries having cut both its offense and flying speed, though its instinct for survival still drives it to abandon its unconscious comrades. Sword escape closes the gap only very slowly. Fang Yuan is forced to activate the immortal killer move luck whirlwind, which succeeds twice and pulls the hound back into the fight each time. On the third attempt luck whirlwind fails: Fang Yuan spits blood and needs several breaths to steady himself, and by then the hound has already flown to the horizon. He has no choice but to stop the chase, while heaven’s will watches all along, Tai Qiu stands perilous, and vague signs of a beast tide gather. ch. 1138
