Chapter 559

In his former five hundred years, when central continent Gu Immortals attacked Imperial Court Blessed Land, they first sent Gu Masters to infiltrate Eighty-Eight True Yang Building’s treasure room, then recorded the whole procedure with Gu worms and released it to the world. The recording spread across the five regions, displaying central continent’s strength and striking at northern plains Gu Masters’ morale, since it also proved that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had snatched Gu worms across northern plains to benefit his descendants. Northern plains fell into turmoil once the recording became public. The Huang Jin tribes suppressed the unrest, but hearts still wavered and undercurrents kept moving beneath the surface. Central continent Gu Immortal Song Qie Xing predicted that the recording would free northern plains’ spirit of freedom from Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s grip. ^{ch. 559}

Fang Yuan kept a vivid memory of the video, and recognized its value immediately after his rebirth: for this trip north, saving Dang Hun Mountain was only one of his goals, and refining Eighty-Eight True Yang Building offered a fallback if it failed. The video alone was not enough. Fang Yuan had also gathered first-hand information from the Lang Ya land spirit, and fusing that account with the video gave him far greater confidence in refining the building. He knew the reality: only a mortal Gu Master, he could not fully refine a rank eight Immortal Gu house, so he planned to refine only a portion of it. Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was worn down with hidden loopholes despite its size, and Fang Yuan likened it to a huge wooden cage that only a termite could gnaw at the edges of. ^{ch. 559}

At the guest halt stele, Fang Yuan stretches out his palms and pours his aperture’s primeval essence into it, sending his will in along with it, since refining a Gu means occupying its body with will, carried by primeval essence. The stele is only a small part of the building. Fang Yuan feels he has entered a sea of darkness, where a weak, sun-like presence sleeps at the center, giving off light that moves like breathing. He recognizes it as Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s remnant will, left behind and weakened though the Immortal Venerable’s body perished long ago. Fang Yuan goes on high alert, careful not to wake it, since he remembers that the two central continent Gu Immortals in the video had their souls dispersed for doing exactly that. His own will is a faint light lurking in the farthest corner, and it slowly expands and gains ground against the darkness as he keeps feeding in primeval essence. Sweat covers his forehead over four hours, since even his two rank five peak apertures at ninety percent capacity, aided by the Heavenly Essence Treasure King Lotus, barely suffice. ^{ch. 559}

After four hours, Fang Yuan pulls his palms back from the stele, worn out from mental strain more than exertion, and succeeds. The relief does not last. Fang Yuan realizes the video he watched in his previous life must have cut scenes, since its rank five middle stage Gu Master refined the stele in under an hour with no rest at all, far faster than his own effort. He judges that central continent Gu Immortals cut the boring stretches to keep the recording watchable, and hid the deeper gains and methods on purpose before releasing it to strike at the Huang Jin tribes. Being misled by an edited video while refining something this dangerous could cost him his life with one mistake. Even so, Fang Yuan’s refinement of the stele comes to less than half a percent of the whole building, against the thirty percent that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s remnant will still holds. ^{ch. 559}

Fang Yuan turns to a nearby crystal wall sealing treasures, which once blocked his hand like an ice wall. Now the stele’s light lets his arm pass through it like water, and he can take any treasure from this section without paying a price. He identifies the treasure he takes as rush thunder stone, a nearly extinct Gu refinement material formed from the clash of thunder and lightning, now rare even inside treasure yellow heaven. Seven of the nine heavens fell in the immemorial era, leaving only white and black heaven, so the thunder that once formed the stones has grown far rarer, and thunder path’s own shift away from needing them has thinned the remaining stock further. Fang Yuan puts the stone back. Taking it would risk exposure, since every item in the crystal walls is recorded by the super forces and large Huang Jin tribes, and a missing treasure would draw suspicion later. ^{ch. 559}

Fang Yuan walks deeper down the crystal path and returns to the guest halt stele, moving slower this time, since the invisible wall that once blocked him is gone but Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, built by Long Hair Ancestor, still has other defenses. He is prepared: five or six of his own Gu worms fly out and wrap him in lumps of colorful smoke, and once he confirms the cover is complete, he walks past the stele. The smoke forms a spreading flash of blood light. Past the stele, the treasures in the crystal wall are a tier better than before. Fang Yuan spots a rank five strength path Gu worm inside the crystal wall and is overjoyed. ^{ch. 559}