Chapter 582

After everyone retreats from Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, Hei Lou Lan gives an order that night to recruit more experts. As the alliance leader who won the contest, the rules make the entire army his to mobilize, and having opened the building to everyone at no cost leaves people deeply grateful to him. With both authority and gratitude behind him, his influence reaches its peak. Everyone he summons answers without fail. ^{ch. 582}

That night, Hei Lou Lan summons Wolf King Chang Shan Yin, Water Demon Hao Ji Liu, the Twin Demons Gao Yang and Zhu Zai, Little Ma Zun Ma Ying Jie, Fox Commander Tang Miao Ming and White Fairy Xi Xue. Also summoned are Shadow Sword Expert Bian Si Xuan, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, Lu Shuang, Tao You, Gu Guo Long, Dou E, Nie Ya Qing and Ye Lui Sang. The alliance hall fills with heroes and conquerors on the day of the meeting. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan sits grandly at the main seat and tells Tai Bai Yun Sheng that his presence alone keeps morale from sinking. The chapter names Tai Bai Yun Sheng as carrying the greatest reputation of those present, since he has healed people across the land and left countless people in his debt, surpassing even Hei Lou Lan and Chang Shan Yin. Reputation is not battle strength. The seat beside Hei Lou Lan goes instead to Wolf King Chang Shan Yin, not to Tai Bai Yun Sheng. Since the Imperial Court contest, everyone agrees that Fang Yuan’s battle strength is the greatest, combining a dual path cultivator, a flying master and an enslavement master’s auras in one person. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan turns to Fang Yuan and offers him half of the final round’s rewards if the group succeeds, calling him “Brother Shan Yin” and asking him to lead the battle. He understands that Fang Yuan will not act without benefit, so he makes this tempting offer. Half of the rewards therefore goes to Fang Yuan alone, and Hei Lou Lan and everyone else must divide only the remaining half. Many in the hall are indignant about this split, but no one has the courage to openly oppose the Black Tyrant’s arrangement or offend the Wolf King. Fang Yuan agrees, and his arrogant gaze silences the hall. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan asks why elder Pan Ping has not arrived. Pan Ping was born in the demonic path and has since become an external elder of Hei tribe, and as the current Hei tribe leader Hei Lou Lan is displeased that his summons failed to reach him. Chang tribe’s first elder Chang Biao is also absent, but Hei Lou Lan overlooks this because of Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan shows no reaction, since word of Pan Ping and Chang Biao’s deaths has not yet spread. ^{ch. 582}

Challenging Eighty-Eight True Yang Building normally takes several days or as long as half a month, and someone like Pan Ping, who lacks the Giant Sun bloodline, pays a steep cost to enter on a guest token. Such outsiders treasure the opportunity and will not leave unless forced to. Hei Lou Lan’s attendant Hei Shu reports that elder Pan Ping and Lord Chang Biao entered the seventh floor not long ago, and that search parties sent after them found the floor a confusing maze that blocks letter Gu and holds wild wolf groups. After many days the servants have found only battle traces, not the two elders themselves. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan waves this off, deciding not to wait for them, and orders that the guest tokens are ready for departure the next morning. By the second day, everyone charges grandly into the fifth floor. This is the largest force ever gathered to enter Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, drawing countless gazes across the sacred palace. ^{ch. 582}

The fifth floor’s final round is a barren, desolate mountain of brown soil as hard as steel, with no grass or plants. The moment everyone enters, the flying bear phantom is alerted and tears through the air with a thunderous growl. A white whirlwind crashes down, and the experts retreat at once. The flying bear phantom crashes to the ground with a loud bang, shaking the earth and blowing many off balance. ^{ch. 582}

Pei Yan Fei’s expression turns solemn. A direct hit would have left him gravely injured if not dead. Gu Guo Long credits Hei Lou Lan’s earlier warning for saving them from an ambush the moment they entered. Hei Xiu Yi recalls that the last time they came here, a sneak attack by the flying bear killed five experts on the spot. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan urges Fang Yuan, still addressed as “Brother Shan Yin,” to begin. Their plan calls for the enslavement path Gu Masters to attack first and wear down the flying bear phantom. Fang Yuan sends the azure wolf group through the sky while white-eyes wolves, frenzy wolves and blood forest wolves attack from the ground, with ordinary wolves numbering over four hundred thousand. The wolves engulf the area like huge waves, submerging the island-like flying bear phantom as both sides roar and howl. ^{ch. 582}

The flying bear phantom’s paws kill dozens of wild wolves with each strike, and only the mutated beast groups can truly threaten or injure it. Enslavement path fights by overwhelming quality with quantity. It wears the enemy’s energy down to its limit. Fang Yuan manipulates the wolves as freely as wind and as crushingly as snow, and the phantom cannot break the encirclement despite its frenzied attacks. Onlookers admire his mastery, and the enslavement Gu Masters Tang Miao Ming and Hei Qi Sheng feel strong admiration for him. ^{ch. 582}

The flying bear phantom then exhales, and starlight forms into a river that pours down like a dragon or python: rank five star river Gu. It sweeps away any wolf without a defensive Gu, turning them to stardust, while wolves with defensive Gu hold their ground only with difficulty. The wolf group suffers huge losses, but Fang Yuan’s gaze stays unmoved and he does not stop. He orders a retreat only once half the wolves remain. ^{ch. 582}

Tang Miao Ming and Hei Qi Sheng send in fresh beast groups. The chapter names Tang Miao Ming, called Little Fox Commander, as quasi-master level and second only to Fang Yuan in enslavement attainment within the sacred palace. Hei Qi Sheng, nurtured by the super force Hei tribe, has deep foundations and great strength despite not reaching master level himself. Tang Miao Ming controls the fox groups in the sky while Hei Qi Sheng controls the eagle groups on the ground. ^{ch. 582}

After the star river loops fully around in a ring, the flying bear phantom claps its paws and roars again, conjuring wind and cloud into thousands of wind-tiger and cloud-dragon shapes: rank five wind tiger cloud dragon Gu. These thousands of wind tigers and cloud dragons charge the foxes and eagles head on, turning the battlefield to chaos, blood and stench. Tang Miao Ming, sweating and gritting her teeth, wears her soul out trying to preserve her fox group as she nears her limit. Hei Qi Sheng’s situation is even worse than hers. Much of his eagle group is already dead and in disorder, leaving him unable to manage it. ^{ch. 582}

The other Gu Masters retreat again and again without surprise, since star river Gu and wind tiger cloud dragon Gu were already exposed during an earlier probe and everyone came prepared. Hei Lou Lan asks a nearby investigative Gu Master whether the search is complete. The nervous Gu Master, trembling, reports that star river Gu’s location has been found on the largest tooth on the left side inside the flying bear’s mouth, while the other Gu worms are still being searched. ^{ch. 582}

Dealing with beasts differs from dealing with Gu Masters, since a wild beast’s Gu can be captured while a Gu Master’s Gu is usually already refined. Wild beasts have no aperture, so their wild Gu live directly in their bodies, which the chapter calls a huge weakness. Hei Lou Lan orders his men to find the wild Gu’s location. Capturing the wild Gu on the flying bear’s body would make it much easier to destroy the phantom, and even destroying the Gu without capturing it would be enough. Gu worms are fragile on their own, and Fang Yuan could squish even the rank six Spring Autumn Cicada with a light squeeze. ^{ch. 582}

Hei Lou Lan is displeased that star river Gu sits inside the flying bear’s mouth, since that makes it too difficult to capture, and he orders the search to continue. As they talk, the battlefield situation keeps getting worse. Pei Yan Fei says Tang Miao Ming and Hei Qi Sheng are slowly losing the ability to resist. Sun Shi Han strokes his beard and judges that although the flying bear’s attacks are ferocious, the wild beasts are luckily drawing its attention. Since foxes and eagles can be replenished even if they die, he judges their goal of wearing the enemy down already achieved. ^{ch. 582}