Chapter 574

Almost two hundred Gu Masters lie dead in the silent hall after the first experiment with the killer move six arm heavenly zombie king. Fang Yuan grimly asks Mo Yao whether this is the killer move she thought of. She answers with unphased confidence that they were certain to die: this strength path move demands much of the body, too intense even for his strength path foundation. He scoffs that the subjects died in stages until only six or seven were left, so the move has at least seventeen flaws. She replies that a rough first version is bound to have flaws, taking his count as a sign that his strength path attainment has reached the edge of master level. In truth he saw only seven flaws and added ten to probe her. ^{ch. 574}

Fang Yuan is pleased, since so many flaws cannot come from a refinement grandmaster, only from a part of her will left behind. His bought wisdom path knowledge says thoughts gather into will and wills into emotion, and that emotion is the hardest of the three to remove, thoughts the easiest. A will thinks by spending its own thoughts and weakens the more it thinks, and with Mo Yao dead, no living body replenishes her will. That is why her will slept in Water Pavilion and woke only when he entered. The flaws came from her not daring to think too deeply. He cannot contest her will now, but being alive is his greatest advantage, and he will definitely win if he can stall long enough. He stops the train of thought, since her will sits in his mind, and space thought Gu cannot surely hide the thoughts that more thinking creates. ^{ch. 574}

Mo Yao’s will is a huge burden. Fang Yuan must mix random thoughts into his thinking to conceal his intentions. When he sighs, she misreads it and says she has revised the killer move: change six Gu worms and add three. He exchanges for the Gu at treasure yellow heaven, and Ge Guang and Chang Ji You secretly bring in captured Gu Masters. Three days later the next round gives better results but still flaws, and she revises again. Over many rounds he shows no impatience, for each revision she must think out still weakens her. ^{ch. 574}

After half a month, the fifteenth experiment ends. Fang Yuan sums up the move. It uses borrow strength Gu as the core, six flying zombie Gu as the foundation and eighteen Gu as complements, and strictly it is a transformation path killer move turning a person into a flying zombie more than ten times as strong. Even with three life force type Gu among the complements it lasts only seven minutes, since the backlash is very severe. Mo Yao agrees: the longer it lasts, the more zombie energy devours lifeforce, until the user turns into a zombie completely, unable to change back. She chose a zombie body because even a strength path expert at rank five cannot wield borrow strength Gu casually, and zombie flesh surpasses living flesh and regenerates well. Three life force boosting Gu is her limit, since more would disrupt the zombie energy and fewer would make the move impractical. ^{ch. 574}

Fang Yuan nods outwardly but suspects she is changing the topic. He is almost certain she could start over with a brand new killer move, and chose this one because he supplied its base, four arm wind king, which greatly reduces her thinking. He notes that she is an inkman with a different standpoint, who watched coldly as up to a thousand Gu Masters were used. Her lover is Sword Immortal Bo Qing, so he wonders whether her affection includes attraction to the strong, and whether she sees him, a mere mortal, as no better than the dead test subjects. He concludes that one must depend on oneself and says nothing. ^{ch. 574}

He asks whether the move is complete. Mo Yao says not yet, since only low rank Gu Masters were tested and she needs high rank ones, best a rank five strength path Gu Master. Fang Yuan frowns, knowing nobody but himself who meets that. He sets it aside, having obtained the materials for ink transformation, and decides to explore Eighty-Eight True Yang Building again. ^{ch. 574}