Chapter 720

Hei Lou Lan’s training under Fairy Li Shan makes her investigative skill rival most Gu Immortals. She cannot yet invent new Gu, which takes resources, foundation, inspiration and luck. Her own killer move came from her mother. She is still young, not a refinement path master. ^{ch. 720}

Fang Yuan returns, saying the clues now mostly tell him who the other two are. One is a rank six star path Gu Immortal who has made no move. The other, powerful, cultivates earth path and transformation path, and is likely Shi Lei from Combat Immortal Sect in Central Continent. Hei Lou Lan already knows of Shi Lei. She frowns. ^{ch. 720}

Shi Lei, rank seven, wields earth path Immortal Gu, his own killer moves, and transformation path mastery, a rare combination. Hei Lou Lan’s Self Strength Immortal Gu only turns her old killer move into a giant phantom, barely an immortal one. She suggests he use myriad self and fight Shi Lei with her, but Fang Yuan admits its core Immortal Gu is starving, leaving him only mortal moves. They resolve to avoid a direct fight. ^{ch. 720}

A roar sounds high above. Fang Yuan judges a clash between the strangers will injure them, so the two should watch and wait, without ruling out killing them if the chance comes. In the worst case he still holds Fixed Immortal Travel. Hei Lou Lan agrees. ^{ch. 720}

They decide to claim the loot before them first. Fang Yuan’s methods, half an era ahead, seal and deceive the investigative Gu, and the two take the vanishing shadow leopard’s corpse without alerting Wan Xiang. Hei Lou Lan notes its fur for defensive Gu, its bones for shadow attachment and shadow tracing Gu, and its eyes for dark vision and dark fog Gu, though its drained blood costs it value. Fang Yuan reasons the draining is deliberate, showing how much the star hall matters to them. His aperture, thick with death energy, cannot keep it fresh, so he leaves it with Hei Lou Lan. ^{ch. 720}

A hill-sized corpse in a nearby valley is the blazing divine stallion, bright red, its blood scalding enough to wilt nearby plants and prized as a top tier fire path material rare even in treasure yellow heaven. Hei Lou Lan’s heart aches at the blood lost. They claim it regardless, unnoticed by Wan Xiang. ^{ch. 720}

A cluster of investigative Gu leads them to a yellow jade lion, barely alive but still growling in defiance. Hei Lou Lan credits the wound to Shi Lei’s transformation path strength. Fang Yuan steals it past the Gu and heals it instead of letting it die, easier than capturing a live beast elsewhere. He asks Hei Lou Lan to keep it as his share, to complete a mission he owes Lang Ya land spirit. ^{ch. 720}

Hei Lou Lan notes all three beasts were drained of blood. She guesses Shi Lei’s group needs it for some procedure, maybe why the star hall appeared. He reasons many more corpses must lie nearby, each worth some forty immortal essence stones at best, profit worth securing now. ^{ch. 720}

The two switch tactics. They trail the enemy’s own investigative Gu, since using their own would draw notice. They keep a chestnut yak and a golden pangolin with tattered armor, and take a flying bear corpse and the star demon bat, its wings needing repair. The bat lies in a rotten poisonous swamp Fang Yuan finds familiar. Wan Xiang had meant to leave every corpse until the eighth hall fell, trusting each beast’s lingering aura to scare off scavengers while marking them with investigative Gu. He never guesses that clustering so many Gu together is itself the clue that leads Fang Yuan and Hei Lou Lan to every body. ^{ch. 720}

By the end the two have claimed nearly ten desolate beast corpses, a genuine windfall. They hurry toward the base of the eighth star hall. As they arrive, a figure the size of a small hill crashes down, shattering rock. It is the ancient desolate beast astral wind flying heavenly boar, already dead. Fang Yuan and Hei Lou Lan exchange a look, both visibly moved. ^{ch. 720}