Chapter 1356

Black Tigress still cannot break through hundreds of thousands of tortoise shell thoughts, and Fang Yuan pushes her steadily farther back. He keeps his guard up, since Purple Mountain True Monarch has still not shown himself. Watching the wider battlefield, he sees Fairy Miao Yin and Qiao Si Liu, two of Southern Border’s three great fairies of this generation, still locked at a standstill. Hei Lou Lan and Bai Ning Bing now use their killer moves with a proficiency that shocks him, unlike when he first pursued them. Tie Xin Jian and Yi Hei Ting, though weaker than Wu Yu Bo, still hold their own against the two women in a battle of thunder, lightning and blizzard. Fang Yuan keeps the mightiest power on the field in view. He notes that Zuo Ye Hui has almost recovered. ^{ch. 1356}

Ba De and Chi Gui call him back. Fang Yuan returns to find Ba Quan Feng and Chi Gui on the verge of death. An information path Gu reveals that Ba Quan Feng was a Shadow Sect spy and that the earth path Immortal Gu is destroyed. Before Fang Yuan arrived, Chi Gui had named him their last hope and told Ba De that Chi clan’s Chi Shang praised Fang Yuan’s formation path attainment, which stands at quasi grandmaster, the same level Chi Gui holds. Ba De, startled but glad to hear it confirmed, pulls Fang Yuan back with other righteous path Gu Immortals taking over the opening, presses him for confidence, and keeps the news between them because a disheartened righteous path would surely lose. ^{ch. 1356}

Fang Yuan curses at the question, and Chi Gui has already spent most of Zuo Ye Hui’s rest deducing, leaving him less than thirty percent of the original window. He weighs leaving at once, the reverse flow protection seal letting him go freely and the five regional walls covering him if Zuo Ye Hui gives chase, but that would expose his identity and end the opportunity. He decides to try first. Chi Gui, barely conscious, tells him they lack an earth path Immortal Gu and hands over an information path mortal Gu holding all the formation’s details before fainting. ^{ch. 1356}

Studying the details, Fang Yuan sees the second layer follows a four elements concept: earth, water, wind and fire. He admits little familiarity with the rest of formation path, but he researched the four elements concept deeply, marked by the formation path dream realm where Tu Shi Cheng trained his son. Reasoning the concept need not use those exact four elements, he substitutes his only dark path Immortal Gu, dark limit, for the missing earth path piece, building the layer from dark, water, wind and fire instead. Dark limit Immortal Gu is a great help in concealing his identity, so contributing it costs him that cover, and he hesitates before committing. As a formation path grandmaster, he trusts the substitution will work. He judges dark path will also defend better against grey night, which he met in its original wide ranged form inside a realistic dream realm that killed him countless times before unravel dream barely carried him through, and which is only modified now. ^{ch. 1356}

He sends Ba De away with Chi Gui and Ba Quan Feng. No one else may approach while he works. He turns into a divination tortoise and deduces rapidly, his prior knowledge of the formation, the four elements concept and grey night all speeding the work. Zuo Ye Hui roars, signaling that grey night is coming, and Shadow Sect’s members retreat with joy while the righteous path Gu Immortals rush into the formation for shelter, unaware of the truth. Ba De, most afraid of all since he will die if Fang Yuan fails, keeps urging him to hurry. Fang Yuan announces he is done, and dark limit Immortal Gu flies out with many mortal Gu. Told that Fang Yuan has only dark path, Ba De offers to lend an earth path Immortal Gu and is told to shut up, then the second layer activates and leaves him stunned and sweating as Qiao Si Liu and the others arrive. ^{ch. 1356}