Chapter 604

Half a month later at Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, dense flocks of wind scythe birds, fast fliers with scythe-sharp wings, charge the alliance army on the twenty-fifth round of the sixty-eighth floor. The fight runs an hour with heavy losses on both sides. ^{ch. 604}

Hei Lou Lan casts his signature killer move, Dark Vortex. Black tentacles gather thousands of dark streams into a light ball that swells to the size of a mountain, killing tens of thousands of birds over six breaths before the swarm floods back in to fill the hole. There is likely an easier way to clear this round, but Hei Lou Lan charges straight in with full force, drawing the frenzied birds’ retaliation onto the whole army. ^{ch. 604}

Ye Lui Sang, tribe leader of Ye Lui tribe and Hei Lou Lan’s equal in status among the super tribes, answers with a new killer move: Flame Demon, a ten metre bronze ape built entirely of fire. It burns a path through the birds. He raises six of them before the flames on his own body finally go out. Fang Yuan and Hei Lou Lan both react with relief that the number stops at six, judging the move’s total strength roughly equal to Dark Vortex’s. ^{ch. 604}

Fang Yuan, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, Xi Xue, Pei Yan Fei, Tao You and Gu Guo Long then throw in their own killer moves, and the alliance army pushes into the twenty-sixth round. Hei Lou Lan’s attendant Hei Shu soon reports that thirteen tribe leaders have jointly asked for a halt to rest and recover from casualties. Hei Lou Lan tears the letter apart. He orders the advance to continue, threatening to execute any tribe, and any tribe tied to it, that tries to flee. ^{ch. 604}

Hei Lou Lan is anxious. Eighty-Eight True Yang Building has been shaking every few days, and with the owner token still missing, his instincts warn him something is coming. He wants the strength path Immortal Gu quickly so that, as a Gu Immortal, he can control whatever is about to happen. The army fights on to the twenty-eighth round before casualties finally force Hei Lou Lan to retreat and recover. ^{ch. 604}

In his room, Tai Bai Yun Sheng holds several east window Gu earned as round rewards, most carrying time path attainment experience from earlier generations of Gu Masters. He wonders if fate is arranging his advancement to Gu Immortal. ^{ch. 604}

Years ago he failed to find a lifespan Gu, spent his savings, and became Hei tribe’s external elder, and as a rank five peak stage time path master he has long sensed he has little life left. Advancing to Gu Immortal improves the quality of a Gu Master’s life without adding years, but his own case is a little special. His inheritance’s core holds three Gu. They are river as before Gu, mountain as before Gu and man as before Gu. Its theory holds that advancing to immortal would let him refine man as before into an Immortal Gu through the resonance of heaven and earth. The mortal man as before Gu can only be used on someone else, but Immortal Gu Man As Before could be used on himself, extending his own life. He notes it still could not have saved Gao Yang and Zhu Zai the way Spring Autumn Cicada might. ^{ch. 604}

Atop a tall tower overlooking Hei tribe, Fang Yuan uses luck inspection Gu, a rank five mortal Gu and the sole unexpected gain from his time in the true inheritance secluded domain. It lets him see luck as smoke-like strands. Two stand out above the rest. Hei Lou Lan’s luck is a thick azure pillar with a lasting feel; Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s is red and bright like sunset flames, gathering over the roof of his house. Fang Yuan reads that red luck as a pile of old firewood burning at its last moment. Fang Yuan has been secretly steering the round rewards to give Tai Bai Yun Sheng extra time path attainment experiences, and each one brightens that fiery luck and raises his chance of becoming an immortal a little further. ^{ch. 604}

He turns luck inspection Gu on himself and sees black, ink-like luck forming a huge coffin around his body, giving off a dense sense of death and great misfortune. The sight always makes his heart sink, however many times he has seen it. His talks with the Imperial Court land spirit have made no progress, since it is too arrogant and wants only to break its seal. True Yang Building has now shaken thirty-eight times, and he expects Giant Sun’s will to wake eventually. ^{ch. 604}

He spots a group of Gu Masters shrouded in the same black coffin luck. They move toward Hei tribe, and a moment later into Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s residence. Fang Yuan judges this a chance to learn what the black coffin luck means, and turns a deep gaze toward Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s quarters. ^{ch. 604}