Chapter 650

Fang Yuan wakes inside Hu Immortal blessed land, the stargate having carried him back from northern plains. The trip and the fight inside the wind veil of assimilation left him exhausted, and he had slept two days and three nights by the blessed land’s own clock. He wakes still worn out, wanting only to lie back down. His zombie body no longer tires, but his soul is still his own and can be hurt, and Myriad Self’s backlash has left it greatly depleted, so even standing feels stiff and heavy. ^{ch. 650}

The land spirit Little Hu Immortal greets him with worry in her voice, her eyes red from crying. She tells him not to be upset over his ugly form, since he will surely return to his original self one day. A land spirit forms from obsession fused with heavenly power and never lies, so she is telling the truth. Fang Yuan touches her head; she hugs his huge leg, sobbing that although his palm is icy cold, she still likes it. His retracting fangs and gentler touch answer her without words. ^{ch. 650}

Turning inward, Fang Yuan finds his first aperture dead and dry. It produces no primeval essence and holds only his first vital Gu. Its walls have turned rock-like and cracked under the pressure of Spring Autumn Cicada, a rank six Immortal Gu glowing at its center. ^{ch. 650}

His second aperture was once a newly born strength path land. Containing wisdom Gu has left it a dead, grey ruin. It holds nearly all his Gu worms, including seven Immortal Gu: worldly wave trace Gu, delight in mountain and water Gu, and calamity beckoning Gu from Water Pavilion, plus four more from the formless fists. Counting Fixed Immortal Travel, lent to Hei Lou Lan, and Spring Autumn Cicada, he holds nine Immortal Gu in total, enough to put most rank seven Gu Immortals to shame. ^{ch. 650}

Among the mortal Gu, the second aperture’s own vital all-out effort Gu stands out, along with bitter strength Gu, borrow strength Gu and self-reliance Gu. Aura concealment Gu, lurking beast coat Gu and the elemental strength Gu of earth, water, wind, lightning and fire round out the set. These Gu formed the foundation of Myriad Self. It is the move that won him the fight inside the wind veil of assimilation. Wind flower Gu still allows easy changes of direction. His most numerous Gu remain beggar moths, nearly a thousand of them, storing primeval essence that helped him through the trip’s final stretch. ^{ch. 650}

Fang Yuan’s body is now six meters tall, green-faced, fanged and rock-muscled. Two of his eight arms are human, and the other six come from six rank five flying zombie Gu: blood wight Gu, plague zombie Gu, nightmare zombie Gu, asura zombie Gu, earth chief zombie Gu and heavenly demon zombie Gu. Fang Yuan does not care about his looks. Little Hu Immortal, formed from the obsession of Fairy Bai Hu, a female Gu Immortal, does. His real concern is the zombie body’s stalled cultivation, a serious obstacle to his ambition for eternal life. ^{ch. 650}

A zombie body cannot age to death, but its soul can still be harmed and its body destroyed by a stronger foe, so this path is only a last resort. Fang Yuan wants a way back to a living body: interrogating Mo Yao’s will, or wisdom Gu. He asks Little Hu Immortal what happened while he slept. She reports two things: his senior brother Tai Bai Yun Sheng has woken and wants to see him, though she kept him out on Fang Yuan’s own orders, and Immortal Crane Sect has stopped their rockmen trade. ^{ch. 650}

Fang Yuan understands why: the sect wants Dang Hun mountain and its guts Gu. Unable to attack directly, it had sent Fang Zheng to negotiate the rockmen trade a year earlier while pressing him to sell the guts Gu, which he always refused. After a year of refusal, the sect lost patience and cut the trade, and what it intends next remains unclear. Hu Immortal blessed land, on the perilous Tian Ti mountain, is no safe haven, and a blessed land of his own would cut his reliance on it and let him swallow this one and flee, which his dead aperture forecloses. He frowns deeply, no answer in mind yet, feeling the drawback of a zombie’s slowed thought. ^{ch. 650}