Striking a fortune
The six fingered hand’s grab is so sudden that Fang Yuan barely has time to raise his head before its light blue glow fills his sight and closes over his body. Tai Bai Yun Sheng shouts in fright. The next moment the fist loosens and opens on nothing: Fang Yuan has already appeared five hundred steps away, carried off by Flash Bug Gu, a rare rank five space path movement Gu he spent great effort to buy in treasure yellow heaven. Tai Bai Yun Sheng lets out a breath of relief, knowing privately that Fang Yuan only reacted slowly because he had just emerged, since evading these hands is otherwise nothing difficult for a flying master. ch. 631
Cold sweat breaks over Fang Yuan’s body from the fright, since he understands formless hands better than most. Formless Hand is Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable’s killer move, ranging from one finger to nine, each able to seize a Gu worm of that same rank, vital Gu included. Had that six fingered hand caught him, he would certainly have lost Spring Autumn Cicada or Fixed Immortal Travel. His luck, he thinks, is too bad. ch. 631
True inheritance secluded domain has fallen into complete chaos, meteors and formless hands filling every direction as Gu Masters scatter, some dodging hands, some crying over lost Gu worms, some throwing everything they have at the hands themselves. Fang Yuan recalls that a formless hand can only be struck once it clenches around a captured Gu worm, since an open palm is almost immune and can only be dodged. He already knows all this. In Fang Yuan’s previous life, Ma Hong Yun obtained a portion of both Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s and Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable’s inheritance, gaining a similar method of capturing Gu worms. He used it many times in the great battle of the five regions, routing strong enemies, and Fang Yuan researched the method closely because of it. ch. 631
Fang Yuan keeps dodging, cycling through Flash Bug Gu, Wind Flower Gu and Eagle Rise Gu to pull apart a wide distance and force the six fingered hand to switch targets. He sends part of his awareness to check his immortal aperture. Remnant heaven and earth qi still fills the secluded domain, and ever since he emerged, his aperture has been absorbing it rapidly, expanding to over two thousand square kilometers and still growing. Its internal time flow speeds up as well, from an even match with the outside world to six times as fast. ch. 631
Fang Yuan suddenly frowns and pales: the trouble lies in his first aperture, more precisely in Spring Autumn Cicada, which is recovering so fast that the first aperture is showing signs it cannot bear the pressure. A newborn immortal aperture changes more than space alone. Its altered time flow is what lets it become a small world drawing a tributary of the river of time, and Spring Autumn Cicada, which feeds on that river’s water, is now close enough to the source to drink deeply and recover far faster. Fang Yuan grasps the cause at once. ch. 631
Spring Autumn Cicada has slowly recovered since its last, fortunately successful activation, and the pressure on his first aperture has grown daily across his long stay in Northern Plains. He had judged the first aperture, already at rank five peak stage, could endure a while longer, but this unforeseen event has moved that deadline much earlier. Since his rebirth, this Gu has always been a hidden danger. Now, with his ascension underway, that hidden danger has grown into an open one. He grits his teeth and drops suddenly, dodging a hand that grabs only at his hair, with no way yet to resolve either problem: the aperture must succeed or every effort is wasted, yet Spring Autumn Cicada cannot be ignored. ch. 631
A huge sound like something vital shattering echoes through the domain, and countless cracks race across it like a smashed egg shell, letting the outside world’s light flow in. Many formless hands squeeze in through the cracks, a seven fingered hand among them, and Gu Masters cry out in shock at the sight. Everyone’s situation grows more perilous still. Flying masters are not omnipotent, and with so many hands filling the domain, evading them grows far harder the longer the fight drags on, since a strained mind is more likely to slip. ch. 631
Tai Bai Yun Sheng, gloomy, makes exactly the mistake he had feared when his last escape path is blocked by six formless hands. He grits his teeth and crashes straight into a three fingered hand, which grabs and briefly paralyzes him before flying off with a clenched fist. The window is short, and he escapes through the gap at his greatest speed. Even he struggles this badly, let alone the rest, and any Gu Master caught risks losing every Gu worm he owns, since without them his battle strength collapses and even a great store of primeval essence becomes useless. ch. 631
One Gu Master, already stripped of every Gu worm, cries for help as a true inheritance bears down on him, moving no faster than a snail beside it. Nearby Gu Masters hear him but cannot help. He is crushed into meat paste, and the true inheritance flies on, its wild newborn Gu will sensing the same threat and trying to flee, though a Gu’s will is never as clever as a human’s. It dodges several formless hands before a five fingered one finally grabs it, and though the hand clenches, the meteor’s speed drags it along until more hands pile on, ten in all, until it finally stops. The hands then scatter, fists clenched, leaving nothing behind. ch. 631
Fang Yuan, snickering, strikes at a target he has had his eye on and breaks a formless fist open, grabbing the rank five mortal Gu it held and storing it away refined. Using Flash Bug Gu, he reappears beside another formless fist and breaks it with three punches, this one holding an Immortal Gu. He dodges another hand that grabs at nothing. Striking and dodging by turns, he breaks three formless fists from that one true inheritance’s haul before the rest fly out of his reach, netting two mortal Gu and one Immortal Gu. He can only suppress them with his will, with no time to refine them or study what they do. ch. 631
Eight formless hands, drawn by his conspicuous fighting, converge on him at once, and he spends tremendous effort changing direction wildly, nearly dizzying himself, before finally shaking them off. Just as his breathing steadies, another hand flies at him, already a clenched fist, and he punches it open to claim a rank five Gu that struggles hard in his grip. He cannot suppress it with his will. He realizes it is not a wild Gu worm but one already carrying another Gu Master’s will, several times harder to refine or even hold down. A familiar voice shouts for him to let go of the Gu. Fang Yuan turns to see Hei Lou Lan flying at him furiously, his gaze fixed on the worm in his hand. ch. 631
