Chapter 676

Han Li wakes to find his parents kneeling before an elderly Gu Master, thanking him for saving their son. Doctor Mo says he happened to be patrolling nearby, then leaves quietly. Fang Yuan lingers nearby to watch. The luck connection turns Han Li’s luck deathly black, and its backlash kills the weak child, who chokes on his food. Fang Yuan means to revive him at once, since a dead Han Li would only ease his disastrous luck briefly before it worsened again. Before he can act, a rank two Gu Master bursts from a nearby house, feigns surprise, and saves Han Li at his parents’ pleading. ^{ch. 676}

Fang Yuan places this Gu Master as one stationed to watch the village. He suspects a secret connection between them. That night, Fang Yuan slips in, deepens Han Li’s sleep with a mortal Gu, and finds his body laced with Gu worms that have altered his flesh and blood. His zombie mind works slowly, so he draws on the wills stored in his head to work out the truth. Doctor Mo is refining a rank three human medicine Gu to extend his own lifespan, using a human child as the main material over years, and its single use carries heavy drawbacks. A monitoring Gu on Han Li’s body explains Doctor Mo’s fast arrival, and the refinement’s rising vitality explains why the choking child could still be revived. Fang Yuan does nothing, since a mysterious death would draw investigation, while keeping Doctor Mo alive means years more of care for Han Li. ^{ch. 676}

Checking Han Li’s luck again, Fang Yuan finds the black gone, turned gray-white, the faint smoke of an ordinary mortal. From this, black in a person’s luck marks danger of death, and without it Han Li is safe for now. He reasons that surviving a brush with death can also bring good fortune, and finds Han Li’s luck improving since the crisis. Thinking of his escape from the wind veil of assimilation, where half his black coffin luck has likely dissipated, Fang Yuan notes Han Li still nearly died from what remained. He decides he needs more targets to connect to. Before leaving, he plants more Gu worms on Han Li, hidden well enough that Doctor Mo cannot find them, so that Doctor Mo will definitely suffer severe consequences if he ever tries to harm the boy. ^{ch. 676}

Fang Yuan leaves Sha Jing oasis and uses Fixed Immortal Travel to reach central continent, arriving at a vast fertile plain downstream of a huge heavenly river that empties into eastern sea. He watches from a forest as Universal Life Academy holds a mortal sect competition in its valley. Among the crowd stands the youngster Hong Yi, resolving that a win here will force his father to place his mother’s memorial tablet in the ancestral hall. Fang Yuan spots him and knows him as his target. From memory he places Hong Yi as a rank seven legend of the five regions chaotic war, a strength and soul path cultivator of exemplary talent, extremely skilled at creating his own killer moves. That memory also credits him with the body of an ancient rockman king, an inheritance from Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, and the ancient desolate beast white horn qilin as his mount. ^{ch. 676}

Fang Yuan waits for night to avoid being seen using Connect Luck by day. After dark he arranges over ten thousand Gu worms to conceal himself. His preparations are complete. Before he can act, a moving perspective cup Gu carries a letter, not from Tai Bai Yun Sheng but from Fairy Li Shan. She pleads on Hei Lou Lan’s behalf that her father is hunting her and she is in great danger. ^{ch. 676}

Bound by their oath, Fang Yuan sets his own plans aside, judging that Hong Yi will be easy enough to find again later. He withdraws most of his Gu worms and uses Fixed Immortal Travel to a secret room on Snowy Mountain’s third peak. Fairy Li Shan tells him only two Gu Immortals, Hei Cheng and Xue Song Zi, pursue Hei Lou Lan. An investigative Gu already on Hei Lou Lan can guide him to her. Fang Yuan reviews the scene and uses Fixed Immortal Travel once more, arriving beside Hei Lou Lan. ^{ch. 676}