Chapter 617

Three treemen roughly ten meters tall pound a light barrier with hammer fists while Frost Jade Peacock cries out, its wings sealed in gold with only its head free. The land spirit says it cannot hold on. Imperial Court blessed land is already battered, the land spirit sealed, and Fang Yuan is closing in with nothing left to stop him. Ma Hong Yun and Zhao Lian Yun cannot sense him, yet a thick aura of death suffocates them, and Zhao Lian Yun, an ordinary woman, hides silently in his arms with her eyes shut while he comforts her though he feels no hope himself. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan shoots in like lightning and reaches the innermost ring of treemen, ready to strike the finishing blow. Mo Yao shouts inside his head to stop, and he halts on a high branch in confusion. She has never shown such intense emotion before, and now she appears in his mind in tears, insisting there is no mistake: this is the aura of fortune rivalling heaven Gu. Fang Yuan’s heart jumps. ^{ch. 617}

Mo Yao once researched Eighty-Eight True Yang Building deeply and took a huge risk entering the true inheritance secluded domain for her lover Bo Qing, aiming to obtain the supreme true inheritance of luck path and steal the fortune rivalling heaven Gu inside it. She only partly succeeded. After spending great effort she cracked the luck path true inheritance, but fortune rivalling heaven Gu flew into the crack and vanished, leaving her with only a portion of the inheritance’s details. Combined with her grandmaster level refinement path foundation, she used that portion to refine calamity beckoning Gu, a Gu inferior to fortune rivalling heaven Gu that she used to help Bo Qing through his tribulation, and both of them died anyway. Fang Yuan later found her inheritance, refined calamity beckoning Gu again, and honored her request to return the rank seven Gu House Water Pavilion to Spirit Affinity House. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan asks whether the Gu is now on Ma Hong Yun, and Mo Yao confirms it at once. She explains it as a one-time expenditure rank eight Gu, formless and ethereal, a lump of luck too hard to capture by ordinary means. Even True Yang Building could not trap it when it escaped her main body, and it must have drifted through northern plains until it landed on him. Fang Yuan is disappointed. ^{ch. 617}

Fortune rivalling heaven Gu is the greatest treasure in Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s luck path inheritance, though it can only be spent once before it vanishes. Fang Yuan gained nothing in the true inheritance secluded domain. So he judges taking it from Ma Hong Yun would serve him best. Mo Yao warns him to be careful: Giant Sun Immortal Venerable relied heavily on this Gu for endless fortuitous encounters, and Ma Hong Yun, as a true child of luck, may rank first in luck among the five regions and could replicate that fortune. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan holds in his killing intent and stops on the branch rather than attacking, looking down at Ma Hong Yun and the others while letting the treemen strike instead. The two are not far from him, yet even Frost Jade Peacock fails to notice him, which shows how weak the land spirit has become. Victory looks certain, and killing Ma Hong Yun looks easy. But Fang Yuan, once a Gu Immortal, sees further than a mortal would. He reasons that paths such as wisdom, refinement, metal and time only look like tangled combinations of Gu worms, when in truth each decodes a piece of the mystery of heaven and earth. Luck path is no different, and by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s example it can explain that mystery even more deeply than other paths in some respects. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan has never looked down on Ma Hong Yun, staying wary of him because memories of his previous life show how great Ma Hong Yun’s future achievements will be. In that previous life Ma Hong Yun became the pillar of northern plains, the leader who resisted the attacking central continent Gu Immortals, and was still growing when Fang Yuan himself was killed by a barrage of Gu Immortals. Fang Yuan now understands the source of that heaven-defying luck: Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s greatest achievement in luck path, fortune rivalling heaven Gu, a discovery he owes entirely to Mo Yao residing in his mind. Luck has no physical form, yet Fang Yuan knows its power. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan concludes that Giant Sun’s will purposely chose Hei Lou Lan and Ma Hong Yun to become the land spirit’s masters, since Hei Lou Lan is the strongest of his bloodline descendants and Ma Hong Yun carries fortune rivalling heaven Gu. He finds the situation troublesome. Ma Hong Yun is only a tiny rank three Gu Master, yet he is protected by the power of a rank eight Immortal Gu, inferior only to the rank nine wisdom Gu and strength Gu, which the chapter calls Gu of legend. Fang Yuan is only a mortal, and back in the true inheritance secluded domain he could not even get close to a rank seven human qi Gu, let alone the rank eight fortune rivalling heaven Gu. ^{ch. 617}

Ma Hong Yun has never suffered a true loss: every time trouble finds him, he benefits instead, and everyone who wishes him harm meets a terrible end. He never personally strikes back; an external force, an accident, or a chain of small coincidences always does the work for him. Fang Yuan recalls that Giant Sun’s will meant to kill Zhao Lian Yun until Ma Hong Yun shielded her with his own life, and that his own arrival with True Yang Building then brought the heavenly tribulation down on that will instead. Even Giant Sun’s will, in other words, fell prey to an intervention. Fang Yuan wonders whether attacking Ma Hong Yun now might trigger the same kind of outside force or accident. ^{ch. 617}

Fang Yuan doubts that Mo Yao’s account alone is enough. He asks why his rank five luck inspection Gu, used earlier to survey everyone’s luck in the sacred palace, never revealed the Gu on Ma Hong Yun and showed only Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng as highest in luck. Mo Yao answers that a rank five investigative Gu simply cannot detect luck made by a rank eight Immortal Gu. Unsatisfied, Fang Yuan presses her, so she tells him to check his own luck instead, since acting against a child of luck turns one’s own luck worse through their mutual influence. Fang Yuan uses the luck inspection Gu on himself at once and finds Ma Hong Yun and Zhao Lian Yun’s luck ordinary and small, while a separate, massive black luck, almost three hundred meters tall, is enough to pierce heaven and earth. ^{ch. 617}