Chapter 297

In a secret room, Fang Yuan releases a yin cloud Gu and a yang cloud Gu, one black and one white, and lets them draw together until lightning arcs between them. He summons a boar phantom with the all-out effort Gu, and the lightning swarms it, trapping it like a caged bird while the rest scatters off his white armour. Removing a beast phantom this way normally takes at least nineteen days. To speed it up, Fang Yuan pours his primeval essence into a rank four instant success Gu, a rank he can barely afford at rank three initial stage, draining his primeval sea and letting the heavenly essence treasure lotus refill it in cycles until the Gu is charged. Its light bathes the room, and after more than ten breaths the boar phantom is destroyed. He keeps the yin yang dual cloud Gu rather than using the purple thorn token to return it to the shop for a refund within its three day window. ^{ch. 297}

He is not finished. Using the instant success Gu’s remaining charge, he activates the galloping horse strength Gu, and what would normally take two to three months of aching transformation is compressed into five minutes of agony, costing him three months of lifespan. He forces himself through a second activation for the green bull labor Gu, the pain worse than before, and gains the strength of a bull. A third attempt at the stone turtle strength Gu only runs half its course before the instant success Gu’s light goes dark, so he gains only half a turtle’s strength. The whole exercise costs him half a year of lifespan, but he is young enough to spare it, and his battle strength rises sharply. ^{ch. 297}

A day later, Fang Yuan wins his thirtieth straight match on the fifth inner city battle stage when his opponent surrenders at the opening bell, and he advances to the fourth inner city. No one there is surprised. ^{ch. 297}

Elsewhere, Tie Dao Ku vows to repay a debt he owes a friend, then declares that Gu Yue Fang Zheng is his target and that he means to enter the Shang clan battle stage to hunt him down. He learns his quarry has already climbed to the fourth inner city and vows to follow, whatever it takes. Bai Ning Bing, walking to her own match, reviews her Gu set: ice crystal Gu as her vital Gu backed by a vitality Gu against its backlash, ice edge Gu for close range, and a choice still undecided between snowball Gu and icicle Gu for long range. On the stage, Tie Dao Ku sees her as his first opponent and cheers that heaven has given him this chance. Bai Ning Bing only raises her jewel-like blue eyes and asks, in her usual cold tone, who he is. ^{ch. 297}