Chapter 1177

Days into the defense of Hei Fan grotto-heaven, Fang Yuan guards a rear trench holding Chu Du’s multicolored guts, too newly placed to survive a move. Chu Du has pulled many of the grotto-heaven’s other resources into his immortal aperture, and promises Fang Yuan half of whatever guts remain once the siege ends. Dao marks run thick at the rear and beasts reach it only with difficulty, so Heavenly Lord Bai Zu rarely sends them here. A desolate beast horse charges him regardless. Fang Yuan casts flying bear transformation, becomes a huge white bear, and blocks the charge with his chest before pinning the horse and beating it unconscious. He credits the flying bear strength Gu he added to the killer move for an actual flying bear’s strength, without which he could not have suppressed the horse. He stores it away, the third to reach him here. ^{ch. 1177}

Joining the Crazed Demon Cave search has deepened his tie with Chu Du, who posted him here to defend the resources left behind. Though the fighting nearby is intense, Fang Yuan himself has had an easy time of it. Three desolate beasts have broken through in these last days, two horses and a shark fin wolf. He kills the first two and captures only this last horse. ^{ch. 1177}

He identifies it as a shadowless horse, rare in treasure yellow heaven. Inspecting it, he finds dark and light path dao marks layered with enslavement marks he cannot strip free. The horse is Heavenly Lord Bai Zu’s enslaved property, so keeping it would only damage his aperture. He cannot sell it alive either, since an open sale would draw a rank eight’s notice and hand the horse back to his enemy. He kills it instead and sells its flesh and bone. ^{ch. 1177}

Two other corpses from Crazed Demon Cave, a monkey king and a tree python, have drawn no buyers. Each carries dao marks of many paths at once, an effect of the cave’s demonic sounds. Fang Yuan pulls both back to stop paying storage fees. Since obtaining Hei Fan’s true inheritance he has bought day, month and year Gu in bulk for his time path killer moves. He also pays Lang Ya Sect’s Gu Masters in sect contribution points to refine the very rare self will Gu. He has found only two heavenly crystals for sale, one blocked by materials he lacks and the other bought out from under him at triple price. With the fifth earthly calamity approaching, he lets the search go. ^{ch. 1177}

Chu Du messages him. Li Si Chun is in grave danger and needs reinforcement. Fang Yuan finds Li Si Chun and Immortal Wang fighting a hundred desolate beast wolves, clones of Heavenly Lord Bai Zu’s cloning killer move that keep replenishing until the real one is found. Fang Yuan answers with myriad self, sending phantoms into the wolves, and Li Si Chun cries out in joy recognizing him as Liu Guan Yi. Immortal Wang, resentful over being used as bait before, stays ungrateful even as Fang Yuan helps. Within two breaths the phantom army is nearly wiped out; myriad self has quantity but not quality against Heavenly Lord Bai Zu’s clones and now serves mainly to hide Fang Yuan’s true body. Fang Yuan shifts to myriad self giant hand, and only then can the wolves barely hold on against it. ^{ch. 1177}

At Snowy Mountain blessed land, Lady Wan Shou closes on Ma Hong Yun for a third lightning refinement attempt as he begs her to let him off. The lightning enters his chest and he coughs blood and faints. Certain she has failed again, she nearly collapses from dizziness before forcing herself to heal him instead; he must survive for the refinement to work. While healing him she notices his cultivation has risen by one rank, and reasons the relic Gu used in the lightning refinement can raise a Gu Master’s level. Old Ancestor Xue Hu arrives and asks if she is well, and she tells him only that she needs to rest. ^{ch. 1177}