Chapter 1818

Fang Zheng reasons that blood qi is very easy to obtain, since killing mortal beasts yields it and desolate beasts raised in an immortal aperture would supply it endlessly. That ease is why the righteous path of the five regions prohibits blood path as incredibly threatening. He needs only a little, and getting it costs him only some time. His identity bars him from leaving Fei He Mountain casually, so he tells Fan Xi Liu his plan. ^{ch. 1818}

Fan Xi Liu answers with a mission against a golden mountain ox wreaking havoc in the northwest. Fang Zheng may kill or enslave it, and capturing it alive earns double sect contribution points. The ox is a desolate beast, and Fang Zheng has never fought one. He feels a little excitement and agrees. ^{ch. 1818}

Before going, Fang Zheng flies on a crane to White Crane Information Tower, a nine-floor Immortal Gu House on the mountainside of Fei He Mountain. Heavenly Court nurtured him into an immortal after Feng Jiu Ge saved him, and he is now a supreme elder of Immortal Crane Sect. Two desolate beast cranes guard the tower. As a supreme elder he enters without question and puts his crane into his immortal aperture. Each floor holds information path mortal Gu, and reading them costs sect contribution points. The tower manages only information path, so a complete house with offense and defense would not need two desolate beast cranes. True secrets stay with the higher-ups, and his special identity keeps him out of their number. ^{ch. 1818}

He smiles bitterly, for he now understands the politics that Fang Yuan faced at Qing Mao Mountain. He thinks many sect resource points were once held by demonic path or lone immortals, and all of Heavenly Court’s territory was taken from variant humans. Heavenly Court therefore represents only the righteousness of humanity. Other Central Continent righteous path Gu Immortals would call this idea heretical, but his time among the hairy men gave him that view. Since position decides views, he still prefers Heavenly Court’s righteousness. ^{ch. 1818}

In the tower he learns that the golden mountain ox is a female-only desolate beast that eats metal essence and then sleeps in a cave. Its prized horn grows until it slits the womb to birth golden calves, most of which watch their mother die rather than heal her, and may drink her blood to grow strong. Seeing its habits, he plans to bait it with metal essence and win by wisdom rather than spend his strength. Days later, he stealthily leaves a large amount of metal essence in the valley where the ox roams. The ox digs it up and devours it, then sleeps in its cave. Three days later its cries wake him, and he cheers that the poison has finally spread. ^{ch. 1818}

The poison drives the ox berserk, shaking the mountain and scattering the forest’s creatures. After the cave calms, Fang Zheng fights the half crippled ox there, then leaves once it is completely agitated. A cave-in would endanger even a rank six Gu Immortal, and he came to take the ox alive without wrecking the creatures’ homes. The ox follows him out, and in the valley he uses blood turns cold to freeze it and capture it alive. ^{ch. 1818}

As he is about to send the ox into his immortal aperture, a strong aura surges from its body. A bronze-gold cauldron forces its way out, and a rank eight Gu Immortal flies from it. Deeply shocked, Fang Zheng watches her land. She sings that spirituality hid in the metal essence and divine light slumbered for three hundred thousand years, and she thanks the martyr of righteous blood. Smiling, she asks whether he awakened her, and Fang Zheng is dumbfounded. ^{ch. 1818}