Chapter 1200

Twelfth Hair resolves to lean on his strengths. His mood lifts as he checks the top of Lang Ya Sect’s contribution list. Fang Yuan’s name still leads it, though his recent flood of Gu refinement orders has drained the thousand points he earned from the four races alliance, narrowing the gap with second place. ^{ch. 1200}

Twelfth Hair sees the number behind Fang Yuan’s name. He goes still as a stone statue. It reads over fifteen thousand, past Fang Yuan’s own former peak of above two thousand, climbing past ninety thousand before dropping by over seventy thousand and leaving just past ten thousand behind. ^{ch. 1200}

Twelfth Hair checks a second Gu worm: Fang Yuan spent the sum on a rank seven Immortal Gu, not the beast enslavement Gu that Twelfth Hair uses. He is weak from an earlier injury. Relief overwhelms him, and he faints on the spot. ^{ch. 1200}

Fang Yuan returns to his cloud city and takes out a completely new Immortal Gu: a shapeless, light purple fog shaped like a dragon, rank seven Dragon Breath. He chose sword dragon transformation because Lang Ya Sect’s treasury held this exact Gu. To win it he sold every Gu Immortal soul he owned plus large amounts of soul-searched cultivation information, withholding such things as Dong Fang Chang Fan’s wisdom path methods and Hei Fan’s true inheritance details. ^{ch. 1200}

The sale leaves Fang Yuan just past ten thousand points, still first, with the gap to second place widened enormously. Fang Yuan does not care about his standing. He does not know Twelfth Hair fainted over the swing, and would think it an overreaction. ^{ch. 1200}

Beast enslavement Immortal Gu sits on the list. The land spirit has set it aside for Twelfth Hair, so Fang Yuan could not take it. Rank seven Immortal Gu Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus is not for sale, fallen from rank eight after Shadow Sect destroyed Refinement Cauldron and seized many core Immortal Gu. Winning it would cost more than Fang Yuan judges worth paying, since red date immortal essence, once he reaches rank seven, should suffice. ^{ch. 1200}

Fang Yuan integrates the rank seven dragon breath Gu into sword dragon transformation, needing no mortal dragon breath Gu now. Hei Fan had similarly wanted immortal day and month Gu, so days pass like years and similar moves would cost less mortal Gu. Fang Yuan tests the form again. Silver light bursts brighter, and the sword dragon that emerges is more than double its size, over forty feet long, with four claws instead of two, thicker scales, and a horn piercing further upward. He judges it ancient desolate beast level now, fit to face rank seven Gu Immortals, where the earlier form could only bully ordinary rank sixes. ^{ch. 1200}

A little nervous before the decisive test, he breathes on a fresh dark inkstone, and the sword light cuts clean through it. The light still carries force enough to destroy the secret room, killing the Gu worms that formed it and shaking his cloud city. The city is exquisitely built but only a mortal Gu house, and cannot endure what remains of the breath. Fang Yuan had suppressed most of his strength, and the inkstone bore most of the breath. Intense joy flashes past the ancient sword dragon’s eyes. ^{ch. 1200}

The dragon breath reaches rank seven battle strength at a small expenditure, and Fang Yuan wonders how sword marks targeting death, dark assassination and triple layered sword wave will fare in this ancient form. Maintaining it, though, costs green grape immortal essence at many times the earlier rate. ^{ch. 1200}

Unable to test safely under Lang Ya blessed land’s many watching eyes, and unwilling to draw heaven’s will by leaving it, Fang Yuan needs his own sovereign aperture to find the form’s true limits. He flies out through the cloud city’s super Gu formation. Sixth Hair, watching from a distance, tracks him until his presence vanishes. The huge swing on the contribution list deepens Sixth Hair’s unease, since Fang Yuan’s growth keeps outrunning his expectations. Certain that Fang Yuan would not exchange for a useless Gu, Sixth Hair means to report the matter to Lord Ying Wu Xie at once. ^{ch. 1200}