He Feng Yang's scheme
Fang Zheng steps into the scalding blood pool and begins the drill with iron blood Gu, which darkens and thickens his blood and turns pain to pleasure, an effect of Immortal Crane Sect’s blood path research. He next activates blood blade Gu, opening over a hundred wounds that fire pitch black blood blades. Lord Sky Crane calls blood merge Gu the crucial step. It floods his wounds with absorbed blood, swelling his body to over three times its size until the pain turns to an overwhelming pleasure. ch. 669
Ordered to resist the pleasure, Fang Zheng activates failed blood demon flower Gu and grows corrupted vines that bloom into blue flowers. The pain outruns even iron blood Gu, and the flowers greatly raise his blood path Gu worms’ power. Warned his blood will boil his organs, he manages cold blood Gu with difficulty, and the crisis passes. He then activates blood sense Gu and reports sensing something underground to the southeast, five to six thousand steps away. For the final step, blood scar Gu, he is delirious and feeds it only a trickle of primeval essence, though it demands far more. He holds on for eight breaths, two short of the ten needed. He collapses unconscious into the pool. ch. 669
Elsewhere, He Feng Yang hears Lord Sky Crane’s report on the training. He is dissatisfied: after eight years housing Fang Zheng in Fu Hu blessed land and pouring relic Gu into him to reach rank five, the boy cannot activate six or seven Gu worms at once. Lord Sky Crane defends him as young but hardworking, recalling only one breath at the first attempt, while He Feng Yang cuts in that his own addition of iron blood Gu left the boy fainting at three breaths. ch. 669
He Feng Yang explodes: years have passed with no improvement, Dang Hun Mountain is not theirs, and disciples are pressing the sect to open the exchange of guts Gu. Lord Sky Crane begs forgiveness, calling his failure a grave sin. He Feng Yang gives him one month, until the sect convention, to show results. Lord Sky Crane protests that a month is too short, since training risks shattering Fang Zheng’s soul. He Feng Yang laughs that a shattered soul is what Lord Sky Crane wants, so he can seize the body and be reborn in it. ch. 669
His tone gentling, He Feng Yang notes that Fang Zheng crash coursed to rank five and remains too childish to compare to Lord Sky Crane. He adds that once Fang Zheng has served to seize Hu Immortal blessed land, Lord Sky Crane can return. He laments having fewer capable subordinates like him. Su San and Zhou Wu were killed by the demon Song Zi Xing. The gentler his tone grows, the colder Lord Sky Crane feels, though he vows repayment with his life, before being dismissed. ch. 669
Alone, He Feng Yang’s smile fades to a grave, tense expression. A year has passed since Fang Yuan seized Hu Immortal blessed land, and the sect’s pressure on He Feng Yang grows heavier. His rival Lei Tan, a Gu Immortal, has publicly mocked his incompetence, and the coming sect convention is a barrier he must clear. ch. 669
He resolves that success will silence Lei Tan and mark his greatest contribution, joining the attack on Hu Immortal blessed land himself. He has invited Fairy Cang Yu, whose battle strength matches his own and who holds at least three mortal killer moves, and Old Lord Can Yang, a rank seven Gu Immortal with an offensive Immortal Gu. Since the land spirit can forbid mortal Gu and he holds no Immortal Gu, his only weapon is green grape immortal essence, which he doubts the barren Hu Immortal blessed land holds much of. Once its immortal essence runs out, he expects, the land spirit will be powerless to restrict mortal Gu. At the same time, in Hu Immortal blessed land, Fang Yuan steps from the wisdom light halo with a satisfied smile. He has just deduced the killer move icy stardust. ch. 669
