Chapter 180

At night, Fang Yuan changes into a black gown, grows out the long hair some of his Gu require, and slips out using the Stealth Scales Gu. He has already collected the Pig Iron Gu and forty thousand primeval stones from Gu Yue Mo Chen, and gives up on the healing grass Gu he had also hoped for. The Tie father and daughter are closing in, his plan to leave as an envoy to Xiong village has been blocked, and Bai Ning Bing is growing stronger as his death nears, leaving Fang Yuan cornered despite his rank three cultivation. He decides to gamble on the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus. Taking it would ruin the spirit spring that holds it beyond recovery, and with only three spirit springs on Qing Mao Mountain, one per clan, the loss would force Gu Yue clan to war with Bai or Xiong village to seize a new one. ^{ch. 180}

In the hall, Tie Xue Leng agrees to Gu Yue Bo’s request, promising to leave Fang Yuan free to compete if he turns out to be the killer, an answer that strikes Tie Ruo Nan as unlike her father. Gu Yue Bo already knows Yao Ji smuggled the Tie father and daughter into the archive, but swallows his anger for the sake of the coming tournament, privately relieved that what they saw was only the clan’s official record. The Gu Yue clan keeps two histories: an official version in the archive, written to shape the young, and a true secret version, including rites such as the summoning of the Blood Guillotine Gu, held only by the clan leaders themselves. ^{ch. 180}

Gu Yue Bo breaks the Photo-audio Gu into a colored smoke that paints the awakening ceremony onto the wall. Gu Yue Chi Cheng again draws suspicion: Tie Ruo Nan notices his stiffness and odd skin color and reads it as something applied to his body to draw the Hope Gu’s light. Fang Yuan’s own turn comes next: the Hope Gu’s light stays dim, marking him C grade, while sighs run through the watching youths and elders, and his face stays calm throughout, none of the disappointment the room expects. Only afterward does the recording reach Fang Zheng’s turn, and he relives it beside her: he stumbles into the river, Fang Yuan pulls him up, and he goes on to draw the Hope Gu’s full light and an A grade result that remade his life. Tie Ruo Nan asks him to recall the words Fang Yuan said while pulling him up. He remembers them: the road ahead will be interesting. Tie Ruo Nan tells him it was never about his A grade after all. ^{ch. 180}