Zhi Forest, Earth Horse
Hong Yi means to use Rewind against his opponent’s defensive Gu, planning one solid strike to win if only one defensive Gu stays active, but a drawn out fight if two are active, since two drain primeval essence faster. Rewind gives him a great advantage and most likely the win, which would put his mother’s memorial tablet in the ancestral hall. Mid-thought he frowns, feeling his heart suddenly empty, then shakes it off as nerves. ch. 680
Fang Yuan confirms Connect Luck has succeeded on Hong Yi. Luck inspection Gu shows the once distinctive milky white luck, shaped like a lively scholar, shrunk to under thirty percent, its clean robe now a patched, tattered shirt. Fang Yuan reasons his own luck has improved greatly, since connecting to Han Li had nearly killed him, while Hong Yi’s did not turn deathly. ch. 680
Before leaving, Fang Yuan feels a tug and finds two hidden rank five Gu Masters in the valley, Fan Yi and Yuan Bai, a sect leader and a valley lord. His own Gu worms already cover the whole valley. Overhearing them, he learns Fan Yi found a zhi forest with earth horses beneath the valley, and that Yuan Bai fears discovery by principal Hong Xuan Ji, whom Fan Yi calls strong but weak at investigative methods. Zhi forests grow underground for dozens of li, sheltering lingzhi as large as trees and usually a family of two or three earth horses. Earth horses are mutated beasts whose hooves are the main ingredient of rank five earth escape Gu, their eyes refining x-ray vision Gu and their tail hair smoke dust Gu. None of this appeals to Fang Yuan, since such a family is worth only two or three myriad beast kings, though the buried forest is a major stockpile for the still unaware academy. ch. 680
Fang Yuan trails the two men into the forest, about ten li across, and slips ahead to its center, where the lingzhi king stands six meters tall, spreading like a huge umbrella. Only mortal guardians watch it. His immortal zombie aura meets no resistance, and he tears out the king’s heart, soft, hot, milky white and fragrant. The shaking cave ceiling drops debris while the suppressed earth horses cry helplessly. He means to plant the heart and grow a new forest, purely for fun, with no need for the horses or the rest, which he would rather buy in treasure yellow heaven. Losing its heart will not kill the lingzhi king, but the forest stops growing and needs over a decade to recover. ch. 680
The commotion draws Yuan Bai and Fan Yi to the lingzhi king, but Fang Yuan is already gone, and the earth horses turn their fury on the two intruders instead. Hong Xuan Ji arrives with a band of Gu Masters. In shock and joy, he drives the two off after a hard battle. He then orders the academy’s elders to halt the sect competition, recall every disciple and elder on missions, and defend the zhi forest as their foundation to rise, warning that the two will gather other sects to press them. Hong Yi, asleep through it all, has no idea the competition is halted and his hope of a proper memorial for his mother put off for a long time. ch. 680
Far south, at jade dragon river, southern border’s second great river, Fang Yuan waits, having already erased his trail. Before leaving the academy valley, he had planted Gu worms that self-detonated behind him, wiping out the trace of his Fixed Immortal Travel. He is waiting for another luck-connection target, Ye Fan, a lone cultivator who rises to rank seven Gu Immortal during the five regions chaotic war, ranked alongside Hong Yi and Han Li. Unlike them, Ye Fan stays a lone cultivator, keeping a few close friends and family but joining no force. Fang Yuan recalls his history from the Biography of Ye Fan, banished by his clan and surviving on a rank four Gu Master’s inheritance found by this river. A huge opportunity later brought him the black yellow mother qi Gu, and he came to dominate southern border’s gambling dens. Tonight is where that rise begins, with Ye Fan’s first fortuitous encounter. ch. 680
