Chapter 710

Most Gu Immortals feed Immortal Gu from resources tied to their own path, as Tai Bai Yun Sheng and Hei Lou Lan both do. Fang Yuan’s Immortal Gu came mostly from scheming instead. They are extremely disordered besides, spanning time, space, water, and wisdom paths. Worse, his blessed land is dead: his immortal aperture kills whatever is placed inside it, so it cannot be managed, ease feeding, or produce immortal essence. That burden nearly bankrupted him fighting Hei Cheng. ^{ch. 710}

His vital Gu, Spring Autumn Cicada, brings him no time path inheritance, and what he practices is strength path. His stagnant cultivation is the second problem. Shedding the zombie body would let him begin true cultivation, though it would also cost him entry into the wisdom light halo. ^{ch. 710}

The final problem is battle strength. Cleanse soul Immortal Gu is weak from hunger and too risky to use, and his trump card, myriad self, cannot be used either. He must still face the ten great ancient sects and evade Northern Plains’ pursuers. He also wants Dong Fang Chang Fan’s wisdom path inheritance, the Thieving Heaven inheritance at Luo Po Valley, dark limit Immortal Gu from Fairy Jiang Yu, and a desolate beast for Lang Ya land spirit. Four things shape battle strength: attainment, Immortal Gu, killer moves, and essence. Essence he has, thanks to guts Gu, and attainment cannot rise quickly. The Blood Deity remnant recipe could deduce the complete recipe, but his wealth falls short of refining it, and he does not want to anyway, since blood path is tied to the demonic path and watched by Heavenly Court’s Demon Judgment Board. ^{ch. 710}

The only way left to raise battle strength quickly is killer moves. His essence stones now let him buy good mortal moves and keep experimenting to reproduce powerful ones from his past life. He starts on the task at once. ^{ch. 710}

In Central Continent, Feng Jiu Ge leads a group of Gu Immortals before the saint regional wall. Old Lord Can Yang asks Old Oracle for his calculation. Clearing his cloud-and-mist eyes, he names a weak spot, the most stable in days, enough to cut an entrance into Northern Plains. Feng Jiu Ge asks who goes first, and Fairy Ao Xue and Fairy Ling Mei step forward together, answering that Heaven’s Envy Manor will lead. ^{ch. 710}

The two fairies activate peerless crescent moon slash together, its core a rank seven crescent moon Immortal Gu backed by two rank six Immortal Gu. The essence cost and the mental burden are extremely high, and one Gu Immortal alone cannot display its might. Released, it slashes the wall open along seventy-six steps, praised by Chen Zhen Chi as the manor’s well-known move. The group enters. At once their bodies grow heavier, their thoughts slow, and their immortal apertures begin to tremor. ^{ch. 710}

The wall keeps healing behind them, and several Gu Immortals take turns opening the passage deeper with Immortal Gu and killer moves. The deeper they go, the greater the pressure, as if the world resists their leaving. Old Oracle works constantly to keep the others’ minds clear. Ao Xue and Ling Mei can no longer cast their move, and tremors worsen in every immortal aperture, cracking blessed land earth and killing the life inside. Most of these famous experts turn pale within several hundred steps, Ao Xue and Ling Mei soon walking only by leaning on each other. Only Feng Jiu Ge still walks upright, cutting passages longer than a hundred steps at a time. ^{ch. 710}

After thousands of steps the wall thins. A trace of green shows, and someone praises Old Oracle’s deduction. Old Lord Can Yang, gasping, says only the licorice wall remains, though Old Oracle worries his gift let him deduce only the saint wall. Minutes later they cross into the licorice wall, where an enormous formless force pushes back constantly and the tremors worsen still. Old Man Tian Long hopes to subdue an Immortal Gu or two, or the losses will be too huge. Hong Chi Ming sighs deeply that he crossed this same wall very easily once; he was rank four then, and higher cultivation only makes it harder. ^{ch. 710}

After a long time they must stop: green fog and wild, twisting grass block every path. Feng Jiu Ge, sweating and pale, says this stretch is extremely firm and they must change direction, and everyone approves. Old Oracle deduces again as the wall keeps healing, until he finds a new direction; after a day and night of suffering they pass into Northern Plains. Feng Jiu Ge, exhausted, tells the group to rest for three days. Only he can barely stand; the rest fall like piles of mud. ^{ch. 710}