Assassination (Long Chapter)
Fang Yuan sits cross-legged under the light of strength of ten jun Gu until it shrinks to half its size, leaving two more uses. Completely used, this expendable Gu would give him seventy jun of strength, only passable among rank four initial stage strength path Gu Masters. All-out effort Gu is suppressed to rank two. His strength path battle strength is not useful for now. ch. 504
He checks his apertures. In the first, Spring Autumn Cicada stays concealed and recuperating, and the ninety percent purple crystal primeval sea holds wolf smoke Gu, the completely repaired battle bone wheel, wolf enslavement Gu and strength of ten jun Gu. Snow wash Gu floats there too, and rank five hints and clues Gu plays with wolf swallow Gu. Stargate Gu, moving perspective cup Gu, east window Gu, soul burial Gu and instant success Gu matter most to him now. Wolf howl Gu, wolf care Gu, eagle rise Gu and wolf sprint Gu reside on his body. This aperture has recovered to rank five middle stage, but breath concealment Gu keeps his aura at rank four peak stage. ch. 504
The second aperture, with ninety percent true gold primeval sea, has grown from rank three peak stage to rank four peak stage. It holds all-out effort Gu, the healing self-reliance Gu, and strength path Gu such as strength qi Gu, bitter strength Gu and expend strength Gu. Gu he cannot use now, such as vajra stare Gu and bone flesh unity Gu, stay in Hu Immortal blessed land. Because Fang Yuan reached northern plains first from Lang Ya blessed land, the region approves this aperture and does not suppress it. He lacks the immortal essence stones for purple crystal relic Gu. ch. 504
Seeing enough time, he decides to push the second aperture to rank five initial stage that night. Its foundation suffices, Lang Ya land spirit’s refining gave it ninety percent aptitude, and experience is his strength. The two apertures share the same primeval essence, so he sends the purple crystal essence of the first into the second. At dawn it breaks through to rank five initial stage, his easiest attempt. Because he used the first aperture’s essence, the second now receives the region’s suppression, its light purple essence acting only as the earlier true gold did. That fades in just over half a month, and the first aperture will completely blend into northern plains in three months, when the struggle for the Imperial Court reaches its climax. ch. 504
Two rank three Gu Master guards report that a shark fin wolf was caged, and that the tribe leader wants him to subdue it at the supply camp. A wolf with rank four battle strength would keep him much safer. At the camp Tu Bo, a rank three Gu Master, greets him as Lord Wolf King and shows him the elephant-sized wolf under slumber Gu. Tu Bo says the capture cost four rank three Gu Masters and at least over two hundred rank two Gu Masters. It would have escaped without the timely reinforcement of Wang tribe leader and Fang tribe leader. Old injuries let it be held back and captured alive. Everything is reasonable, yet Fang Yuan feels an uneasiness that he trusts after hundreds of years of deadly trials. ch. 504
He hands a rank four wolf enslavement Gu to Tu Bo and orders him to subdue the wolf, over Tu Bo’s protest that he is only rank three. After long pouring of primeval essence the Gu activates and descends on the wolf as flickering light. A woman’s regretful sigh sounds, Fang Yuan retreats at once, and Tu Bo dies on the spot with a miserable cry. The two guards follow Fang Yuan, and one of them loses all life in mid-air. Fang Yuan blurts out that it is soul explosion. ch. 504
A woman’s voice praises Lord Wolf King’s extraordinary insight as surging shadows bind him: rank four multiple sword shadow Gu. Rank five turtle jade wolf skin Gu turns his skin dark green. The last guard rushes to help, but she ignores him, drives the shadows harder and spits out a thin black snake toward Fang Yuan’s ear. He seizes the guard and pulls him between himself and the wolf, and the guard twitches and foams at the mouth. The snake slips into Fang Yuan’s ear. He lets go and pounds the shadows, and she calls back her Gu and retreats twenty steps as a black shadow. ch. 504
She turns back into a woman in black with a black gauze and introduces herself to him as the junior Bian Si Xuan. Fang Yuan asks what Gu she used, and she explains that it pierces the ear into the brain and expands until the brain bursts if the person thinks even a bit faster, so she named it brain explosion Gu. Admiring that he saw through Lord Dong Fang’s meticulously planned trap and avoided most of the soul explosion, she says taking his life would be her greatest honor. She flees through the shadows as the camp names her Shadow Sword Expert. The Gu Masters who rush in cannot catch her and crowd around Fang Yuan, whose skin and hair are slashed. ch. 504
Fang Yuan shouts in anger that they are incompetent trash who failed to notice an infiltrator, though secretly he is joyful. A clue to one of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable’s inheritances has become his. He scorns the inexperienced junior, sure that he could have blocked her brain explosion Gu. In his past life Bian Si Xuan was an important character, one of Ma Hong Yun’s wives and a future rank six Gu Immortal, and her brain explosion Gu let Ma Hong Yun obtain one of those inheritances. Ma Hong Yun always avoided saying what it was, so Fang Yuan knows only how to activate the Gu properly. On the surface he looks extremely furious. ch. 504
