Chapter 508

Soul cultivators name Dang Hun Mountain the peak for soul strengthening and Luo Po Valley the peak for soul refinement. Fang Yuan already owns one of the two. An ordinary Gu Master needs about twenty years to raise a soul to thousand man soul level, a gifted one perhaps half that with a clan’s help. But guts Gu on the slowly dying Dang Hun Mountain carries Fang Yuan there in under half a year. Tempering that soul is the slow half of the work: his best wolf soul Gu is only rank four, too weak to purify a soul this large, and rank five wolf soul Gu has eluded his search so far. Other cultivators could speed the process with second watch Gu, third watch Gu, or a blessed land’s timeflow, but these methods are closed to him. Spring Autumn Cicada, his first vital Gu, hangs over him like an executioner’s blade already raised, until he becomes a Gu Immortal. ^{ch. 508}

For a moment he is tempted to pivot to soul path outright. With both Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley, he thinks, its prospects would outreach even the blood path he cultivated in his previous life. He calms down, since Luo Po Valley lies too far off by the space thought’s own directions, saving Dang Hun Mountain comes first, and the coming battle leaves no room to set aside his strength and enslavement path foundations. He rates his own position bluntly: rank five peak stage cultivation and a second aperture still leave him insignificant against a war that could kill even a rank five Gu Master through one careless moment. His offense is strong but his defense weak, and a single shadow sword expert is already enough to pin him down. In the days that follow he nurtures his second aperture, tries to refine nauseous crying baby Gu, and is glad enough that Cunning Gentleman’s maneuvering keeps him out of the fighting a while longer. ^{ch. 508}

He also manages Hu Immortal blessed land through Little Hu Immortal, and Dang Hun Mountain keeps shrinking as she clears away Immortal Gu Gruel Mud from it daily to stretch out what remains. In the east, starlight firefly Gu has tripled in number and run fifty to sixty past her own estimate, recovering at last from the drain of his stargate travel, thanks to the air bubble fish. In the west, pink rabbits multiply so fast that transferring water wolves in to prey on them barely slows the growth, and she sells off a large batch in treasure yellow heaven to head off a rabbit calamity. In the south, newly arrived hairy men clash with the native rockmen. On Fang Yuan’s orders Little Hu Immortal secretly helps them beat a stoneman tribe and sells the stoneman captives to Immortal Crane Sect, which keeps trying and failing to trade for guts Gu. Fang Zheng asks to see Fang Yuan several times as its negotiator and is refused every time. ^{ch. 508}

Another batch of Gruel Mud sold in treasure yellow heaven earns a further remnant recipe of Immortal Gu Gruel Mud, and reselling an older Immortal Gu recipe after a gap brings in eleven immortal essence stones. Each resale dims a recipe’s treasure light. So the income cannot be relied on for long. ^{ch. 508}

Three more days pass in standoff. Then Dong Fang Yu Liang sends a formal war challenge. Hei Lou Lan, told by Cunning Gentleman Sun Shi Han that the enemy’s rear army is still five thousand li off building a fifth defensive line, mocks Dong Fang tribe for splitting a force already weaker than his own. He carries a private grudge from his own youth, when he was caught admiring Dong Fang Qing Yu and taught a hard lesson for it by Dong Fang Yu Liang. But he keeps the impulse in check and, with his own reinforcements about three days out, writes back to push the battle four days later under a show of false magnanimity. Dong Fang Yu Liang’s furious officers clamor for immediate war, but he tells them the taunting letter fits a plan he has already worked out. ^{ch. 508}

Four days later, on a clear day over knee-length grass, both armies form up in ranks stretching over a hundred li, banners raised. Fang Yuan takes the topmost left seat on the back of a twin-headed hill-sized rhino that carries the main tent. Cunning Gentleman Sun Shi Han stands behind Hei Lou Lan as his trusted aide, facing Dong Fang Yu Liang’s tent floating on a white cloud. Hei Lou Lan calls for the first challenger and picks Pan Ping. Pan Ping is tall and reddish-yellow-haired with a gold-edged, silver-handled scimitar. Before Pan Ping can step out, Tang Miao Ming, a rank four middle stage Gu Master called the little fox commander, challenges Wolf King Chang Shan Yin directly from the enemy line, and every gaze turns to Fang Yuan. ^{ch. 508}