Chapter 546

Hei tribe’s column, nearly a million strong, pushes toward the Imperial Court through a worsening blizzard. Blue farm slug Gu begin at the size of three elephants each, and stomachs packed with resources swell them into mound-like hills, while three Gu Masters per slug work constantly to clear frost and keep them warm with fire path Gu. Mortal slaves who collapse in the snow are left to die. Hei Lou Lan could send Gu Masters to save them but does not, since every survivor who reaches Imperial Court blessed land, big enough for five million people, is one more claim on resources he considers his own. Sacrificing useless mortals to the blizzard has been a hidden rule among every past lord of Imperial Court. ^{ch. 546}

Riding inside the large lizard house Gu, warm as spring despite the storm outside, Fang Yuan spends about five to six times his normal primeval essence to keep it running, an expense his rank five peak stage, ninety percent aperture, absorbs easily. His second aperture has recently advanced to rank five upper stage as well. Through the sealed window he watches Ma tribe’s group outside and confirms Ma Hong Yun is there, with Zhao Lian Yun close beside him, and orders Ge tribe to keep watch on both. ^{ch. 546}

In his previous life, Ma Hong Yun also appeared, given the Ma surname after finding a relic Gu he handed to Ma Ying Jie. This time it took Hei Lou Lan’s pressure to produce the same surname grant, by a different road but the same result. Fang Yuan turns the pattern over as a matter of fate. A classical text records that destiny Gu once let the Heavenly Court’s wisdom path founder plot against three future Demon Venerables. Three kings blessed land’s land spirit named Red Lotus Demon Venerable the one who broke the restriction of destiny for all living things, and rumor credits Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s own luck to a luck path Gu. He settles on no answer, only comparing himself to an ant against the size of the world. ^{ch. 546}

Fang Yuan sets the question of Hei Lou Lan’s motives aside too. Forcing Ma tribe to surrender made sense in his previous life, when Ma tribe’s defenses were strong enough to demand it, but this time Ma tribe was already broken, and he finds no evidence of a personal grudge behind the move. With Imperial Court blessed land closed to Gu Immortals, he expects this to be his only chance, as a rank five peak stage Gu Master, to reach Eighty-Eight True Yang Building in person. ^{ch. 546}

He has reworked Four Arm Earth King. He swapped earth overlord Gu for wind overlord Gu so the killer move no longer needs ground contact and grows stronger the harder the wind blows. He is still not satisfied, since a windless fight would bring back the same weakness. What he actually wants is to remove the flaw in strength-enslavement dual cultivation for good, through transformation path body work that his still-missing blood path vital Gu was suited for and his current one is not. He has clues to Luo Po Valley now, and obtaining it might let him convert to the glorious soul path instead, though he refuses to bank his plans on a possibility that far off. ^{ch. 546}

Unable to wait for that Gu to surface from his inheritance, he spends his battle merit instead on killer moves and inheritances. These include Dragon Horse Spirit, Three Hearts Combination Soul, and dozens of small strength path inheritances, along with a recorded journal naming four enslavement masters. Among the four killer moves it holds are Rat Epidemic, Thunder Explosion, Leopard Rush and Horse Barrage. Of all the paths he studied in his past life, enslavement remains his strongest. ^{ch. 546}

Days of study bring no solution, until inspiration strikes while Fang Yuan rereads an early classical text he keeps close at hand. It records that Ren Zu once faced a certain-death crisis. It also records that Desolate Ancient Moon came to Cheng Bai mountain and killed a rockman there. Even Gu Immortals are said to keep a copy of this same text with them at all times. ^{ch. 546}