Chapter 562

Fang Yuan marvels at how the central continent Gu Immortal spotted Eighty-Eight True Yang Building’s flaw and built an Immortal Gu inheritance around it, hiding the clue inside fake grey-white stone slabs. He wonders who the intended successor is. Whatever the open questions left, he resolves to attempt the inheritance with all his effort, expecting the needed Gu worms to take at least half a month to prepare. ^{ch. 562}

Drawing on his refinement path mastery to work through the four-phrase cipher, Fang Yuan calculates he needs over two hundred Gu worms to borrow Eighty-Eight True Yang Building’s force and refine the mysterious Immortal Gu. Twenty-eight of them must be rank four and rank five. This quantity is enough for only one attempt. To guard against failure during the refinement, he plans to prepare at least three times the needed materials, along with spare Gu worms. ^{ch. 562}

Sixteen days later, in the hall, Hei Lou Lan shows the demeanor of the “Black Tyrant” to the fullest, shouting fiercely at his elders. The scolded elders stay silent out of fear, some already beaten. Since entering Imperial Court blessed land, Hei Lou Lan’s temper has grown steadily more violent, and it worsened further once Eighty-Eight True Yang Building opened. Three Hei tribe elders are already bedridden from his beatings. ^{ch. 562}

Hei Pei, head of the elders, explains that the seventy-eighth round’s golden-white tiger phantom guardian, carrying thirty percent of a desolate beast’s power, is too strong for their mortal bodies to harm, only to harass. Hei Lou Lan snaps back that if everyone united and accepted losses, they could still defeat it before the time limit, and accuses the elders of cowardice that tarnishes Hei tribe’s reputation for bravery. The elders shrink their heads and say nothing more. ^{ch. 562}

Hei Lou Lan’s words are not without reason: if enough fighters were willing to serve as cannon fodder under the phantom’s claws, Hei tribe’s attacks would accumulate like ants biting an elephant and eventually bring it down. But everyone fears for their life instead. That fear has stalled Hei Lou Lan’s own advance through Eighty-Eight True Yang Building at this round. Hei Lou Lan understands why: during the Imperial Court contest, rewards and punishments were open, and everyone fought hardest for their own survival and fortune. Inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, the reward for passing a round goes to the tribe leader instead, and with the contest already won and their futures secured outside the sacred palace, almost no one has reason to risk death for someone else’s benefit. The chapter describes Hei tribe’s elders as crafty, valuing their own safety above any beating Hei Lou Lan gives them. ^{ch. 562}

Aware he cannot force unity even as a rank five expert, Hei Lou Lan decides to open Eighty-Eight True Yang Building and gather everyone’s strength to push through the rounds. Outside help requires guest tokens. Other Huang Jin tribes such as Ye Lui tribe and Ma tribe are also present in Imperial Court blessed land, and Hei Lou Lan expects them to charge forward eagerly once invited, serving as cannon fodder. ^{ch. 562}

The elders exchange veiled glances, wanting to avoid the vanguard themselves yet reluctant to agree. Hei Pei warns that these other tribes share the old ancestor’s bloodline but are not Hei tribe, and may keep whatever benefits they win rather than hand them over. Hei Qi Sheng objects that Hei tribe won the contest through its own hardship. A third elder argues that only weak tribes who won by fluke ever needed such outside help, while Hei tribe is strong enough on its own. ^{ch. 562}

Hei Lou Lan angrily retorts that if their troops are so strong, they should already have beaten one phantom, and calls the elders cowards for begrudging outsiders a share. Privately, his urgency runs deeper. He carries a Great Strength True Martial physique and must obtain a strength path Immortal Gu to advance to Gu Immortal, the only way to ease the threat to his own life. Whether Eighty-Eight True Yang Building even holds a strength path Immortal Gu, or on which floor, remains unknown to him. So he wants to break convention and bring in the other Huang Jin tribes, since each round he personally clears advances his own owner token further. He treats the repeated defeats at this round as an opportunity, and presses his demand once more with furious shouting that leaves everyone’s ears ringing. ^{ch. 562}

Cowed by his fury and reputation, the elders compromise. Hei Pei warns that opening Eighty-Eight True Yang Building to outsiders is like letting in a torrent, and suggests placing limits, pointing to Wolf King Chang Shan Yin as a lesson already before them. Other elders call Wolf King a hoodlum who hogged the benefits of the round he cleared for himself, an ungrateful thief rather than the hero he is called in northern plains, and argue he should not be admitted this time. Hei Lou Lan is privately dissatisfied with Fang Yuan’s conduct, but remembers his bearing in the Imperial Court contest’s decisive battle, and admits to himself he would be lying to say he feels no wariness. Excluding him outright is not appropriate either. It would look narrow-minded, and even if Chang Shan Yin himself did nothing, offending Wolf King risks the azure wolf group he still commands. ^{ch. 562}

Hei Lou Lan asks Hei Pei to lay out his idea in full. Hei Pei proposes opening Eighty-Eight True Yang Building from the next day, with a quota of eight hundred entrants daily and an entrance fee that rises with each entrant’s order. Every entrant must swear a poison vow Gu to give fifty percent of their gains to Hei tribe, and outsiders wanting entry must also pay a high price for a guest token. The elders praise the plan at once. Hei Lou Lan approves it, and Hei Pei, exulted, thanks him for the trust. ^{ch. 562}

News that Eighty-Eight True Yang Building is opening to outsiders spreads at once and causes a sensation across the sacred palace. Crowds rush to register, some cursing Hei tribe’s steep fee while others pay it gladly and fight for a quota. Fang Yuan watches indifferently, but is secretly pleased. With everyone’s attention fixed on Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, he judges it the perfect moment to move on the Di Qiu inheritance, now his utmost priority, and he would not have been very willing even if Hei Lou Lan had invited him along. ^{ch. 562}