Practising the Killer Move
With sufficient attainment, Fang Yuan finishes an immortal killer move on the spot and names it Myriad Self Second Style, still far from usable when newly made. Old Ancestor Xue Hu and Mao Li Qiu keep attacking Reverse Flow River, the water level falling, but the river is a secluded domain of heaven and earth that loses little to two rank eights’ attacks, so Fang Yuan senses he has plenty of time. Xue Hu and Mao Li Qiu hold back from full strength out of mutual wariness, while the Central Continent Gu Immortals wait for their own chance. That restraint lets Fang Yuan test his move without rushing. ch. 1288
On the first activation, Perseverance Immortal Gu is already burning red date immortal essence to keep him free to move in the river, and water path mortal Gu rise to circle it. Faint blue light appears in the rising vapor, then fades to red as the cold vapor warms. Fang Yuan calls it a failure and stops, destroying the mortal Gu involved. He deduces the cause: two water path mortal Gu conflict, so he swaps one out via treasure yellow heaven. On the second activation he passes the vapor stage and brings in rank six Pulling Water as a second core beside Perseverance. Mishandled, the two Immortal Gu could interfere with each other, harm each other, or even be destroyed. Immortal Gu are fragments of the Great Dao, and any backlash on them is severe. ch. 1288
Pulling Water activates, but its power will not integrate into the framework and more mortal Gu are destroyed testing it, until Fang Yuan again deduces the problem: the water path mortal Gu bridging the two Immortal Gu are wrong in quantity and type. He adjusts the mix, and the third activation fuses Pulling Water into the move successfully. Waves run through the river below him, though far from finished. ch. 1288
Fang Yuan keeps testing without rest, his aura flickering as Gu worm signatures leak with each attempt, though the move is too new and complex for onlookers to tell which Gu he uses. He has reached his own limit, with no room to add aura concealment, a rarity shared by his own Dark Assassination. Through a fourth attempt and beyond, he advances and backtracks, persisting without expression. Onlookers mock him as naive, unconvinced even a finished move would help him. ch. 1288
Some onlookers notice mystical changes stirring in the river as, on his twenty-first try, Fang Yuan reaches toward the water and calls it to rise; a huge ball forms and bursts, the activation fails, and blood runs from his nose. Bu Zhen Zi corrects Yu Yi Ye Zi that Fang Yuan is using the river to build the move, and Black Extremity mocks him as arrogant, recalling his own formation once took years from the same river. Fang Yuan tries again: a mound rises and collapses, dousing him, blood running from his ears as well as his nose this time, before Man as Before heals him completely. He takes it for a small problem at the last juncture and thinks hard. ch. 1288
