Chapter 1444

Holding cleanse soul Immortal Gu, a fist-sized grayish white tadpole floating above his palm, Fang Yuan reflects that refining it was a huge gamble: nearly thirty attempts and enormous resources spent. He could not personally supply such resources, but traded Shadow Sect’s inheritances for Lang Ya Sect contribution points, drawing plentiful materials from its warehouse, though those resources did not include the crucial snow lotus essence. The reworked recipe suits his own refinement method much better than the original. His only mild disappointment is that the Gu is rank six rather than rank seven. A rank seven copy could set up the killer move to break the soul path trap in his immortal zombie body directly. The rank six version instead needs at least eight years, or three with time path methods, against at most half a year for a rank seven one. ^{ch. 1444}

Refining directly to rank seven is riskier still, since Immortal Gu are unique and the rank six Cleanse Soul would have to serve as the main material. A failed attempt could destroy the rank six Cleanse Soul itself, and Fang Yuan would still need to research the method. His refinement path attainment is slightly sub-par next to his blood path. Sixth Hair instead offers to change his own vital Gu to cleanse soul Immortal Gu, so that a failed refinement would leave the Gu heavily injured and near death rather than destroyed, as long as he lives. Failing that, he suggests giving the role to Ying Wu Xie, whose high soul path attainment makes him slightly better suited than Hei Lou Lan. ^{ch. 1444}

Fang Yuan refuses both offers. Changing Sixth Hair’s vital Gu is extremely dangerous and would risk exposing them to Lang Ya land spirit. Handing Cleanse Soul to Ying Wu Xie could also backfire: if he and Sixth Hair, as Spectral Soul’s split souls, ever get a chance to save Spectral Soul against Fang Yuan’s plans, their loyalty would absolutely not favor him. He resolves to keep the Gu himself. Sixth Hair’s offer reminds him his control over Shadow Sect is poor: Bai Ning Bing is only an ally, Lady White Rabbit follows him from liking and from the true inheritance, and Hei Lou Lan is bound yet ambitious. Instead, he tells Sixth Hair that unique methods in Shadow Sect’s inheritances can speed the rank six Gu’s growth, at the cost of sacrificing a rank seven Gu Immortal’s soul. Sixth Hair worries this means hunting one despite Fang Yuan being wanted by both Longevity Heaven and every Huang Jin tribe, but Fang Yuan says he has it under control. ^{ch. 1444}

Elsewhere, Murong Qing Si happily awaits her lover Yun Liang’s visit that day to formally propose marriage. The two, a Murong tribe immortal and a Northern Plains lone cultivator nicknamed Cloud Gentleman, met over affinity wood at Hei tribe’s Iron Eagle blessed land, where she waited for him to finish gathering and he offered to spar for it. Though her Huang Jin tribe standing and his status as a lone cultivator once stood against the match, Longevity Heaven approved it on learning of it. Longevity Heaven saw political value in uniting more Gu Immortals across Northern Plains as it prepares for the coming great era, and Yun Liang, a symbolic figure among lone immortals, marrying into Murong tribe carried extremely huge significance. Unaware of these schemes, Murong Qing Si feels only joy and gratitude, though an unease she cannot name keeps nagging at her. Suddenly, the soul lantern Gu and life tablet Gu she and Yun Liang had exchanged as tokens shatter inside her immortal aperture. She bursts out the window and flies frantically toward the sky. ^{ch. 1444}