Chapter 341

Tian Ti mountain, central continent’s foremost mountain, rises over three thousand kilometers, its peak lost in snow and cloud; legend calls its huge stone stairway a bridge to the immortal realm. It stands as the holy land of the region’s Gu Masters, who set up their inheritances and tombs there before death, and every year sees a great flow of people as old inheritances pass on and new ones are founded. This year differs: the opened Hu Immortal blessed land has drawn Gu Immortals, who ally to lock the mountain and stage a contest for the sects’ own disciples instead. ^{ch. 341}

At the mountain’s foot, Fang Zheng’s spar against Wei Wu Shang is nearing its end, ten thousand cranes circling him while Wei Wu Shang stands ragged and panting inside their ring. Unwilling to lose in front of Fairy Bi Xia and the many disciples watching, Wei Wu Shang activates a hidden Gu he has never used before, even at his own sect’s examination, and a colorless wind rises around him. Lord Sky Crane, alarmed, warns that the wind looks gentle but is an injury wind Gu, and Fang Zheng abandons attacking to defend with everything he has; the wind alone sends countless cranes crashing down as if their wings were broken, and forces him to pour primeval essence into his shield without pause. Wei Wu Shang finally lets the wind die, not from any wish to stop but because his own reserves are nearly spent, and every Gu Master from rank one to rank five shares that same limit, since only a Gu Immortal draws on essence without end. ^{ch. 341}

Reading his own exhaustion against Fang Zheng’s lighter cost from fighting mostly through the cranes, Wei Wu Shang concedes defeat to himself. Fang Zheng offers him a way out instead, praising his methods and falsely claiming his own essence is just as spent, so that the match might stand as a draw. Wei Wu Shang sees through the lie at once but accepts the gift publicly, thanking Immortal Crane Sect for training such a rival, then privately vows through secret transmission to repay the kindness while refusing to give up Fairy Bi Xia; he warns Fang Zheng that four more admirers of hers, Heaven River Chen Da Jiang, Rising Purple Lightning Gu Ting, Nine Death Sorrowful Wind Tang Ru Qi, and Tigress Zhao Shu Ye, will come looking for a fight. Fang Zheng’s headache only grows as Lord Sky Crane laughs inside him. ^{ch. 341}

Three days later, Ancient Soul Sect’s Gu Ting arrives, hears of Fang Zheng and Fairy Bi Xia, and challenges him at once; Fang Zheng avoids the fight, so Gu Ting returns to his cave daily for seven days, growing cruder each time, and other Immortal Crane Sect disciples who confront him in Fang Zheng’s place are defeated. On the eighth day, Gu Ting’s group blocks the cave mouth outright, mocking Fang Zheng as a coward and his sect for teaching one. Fang Zheng can bear insults to himself but not to his master, since a disciple who fails to defend that name risks punishment on returning to Fei He mountain, so he steps out to fight while Lord Sky Crane cheers him toward it. ^{ch. 341}

At the same hour, far off at San Cha mountain, another fight has already ended. Fang Yuan stands over Fei Li, a rank four middle stage strength path Gu Master now kneeling in his own blood with a broken arm and shattered legs, kowtowing and begging for mercy from him under his alias, Fang Zheng. Fang Yuan demands his vital Gu, the Expend Strength Gu, which doubles how much stamina an enemy burns with every movement, saying only that he will consider sparing him for it; Fei Li hesitates, then hands it over and coughs blood from the backlash of losing it. Fang Yuan then declares the Gu not worth his life after all and has beast phantoms tear him apart, calling the corpse a pauper before the watching crowd, none of whom meet his eyes. He calls out one more challenge before he leaves: in three days he will visit the strength path Gu Master Sky Tiger Xue San Si to exchange pointers, a promise that leaves the onlookers marvelling at how much ferocity and wickedness one man can hold. ^{ch. 341}