Chapter 805

Unable to determine the fake, Fang Yuan can only guess. By night Chang Fan’s body fades into a lump of Gu worms, which Fang Yuan collects, finding no split shadow Immortal Gu inside, only rank five worms and a heavy Immortal Gu aura. He concludes he has lost him: only Pi Shui Han’s chase remains, with low odds, and Chang Fan likely escaped. He decides to return and plunder Jade Pool blessed land’s last resources. ^{ch. 805}

On the way he contacts Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan. Still chasing Miniscule Mountain, they offer him a reward for help. He weighs Jade Pool, which the demons may already have looted entirely, against the mountain, moved by the thought of obtaining it. ^{ch. 805}

As night falls, intense winds bring rain, thunder and lightning. Chang Fan sits on the ground, extremely pale, his possessed body heavily injured, bones showing through torn flesh. He reflects that the possession caused an unexpectedly huge accident, thankful he gave up Miniscule Mountain and the split shadow Immortal Gu to escape. ^{ch. 805}

He judges his injuries a small matter. With his essence consumed entirely, the battle of wills is his only chance against the nine wills inside him, so he converts his remaining foundation into will. A battle of wills turns on the wills themselves, not on cultivation level. ^{ch. 805}

Chang Fan’s will pours down with immense force against every other will in the body. The eight Gu Immortals’ wills and Yu Liang’s join forces. They warn that only cooperation gives them a chance. Ten wills fight chaotically, unable to retreat, since this is a battle to the death. ^{ch. 805}

Chang Fan’s will soon falls behind. He had only suppressed these wills by force, never overcome them. Fighting them directly, he finds them tough as iron, accusing him of betraying and killing them for selfish desire, treating them only as pawns. ^{ch. 805}

They vow he will not survive either. They insist he harmed Dong Fang tribe. They form a tide, forcing his will back into the mind, his final base, where a breakthrough means certain defeat. ^{ch. 805}

Their resolve is strengthened by the heavenly tribulation itself. Chang Fan feels heaven and earth’s animosity for the path he walks in defiance of heaven. But the more dangerous the crisis, the more his fighting spirit stirs, and his will is never going to submit. ^{ch. 805}

Growing more determined, he counterattacks. He pushes his will from the mind down through Yu Liang’s body. The Gu Immortals’ wills defend the chest, and the battle settles into a stalemate. ^{ch. 805}

Of the ten wills, only Chang Fan’s and Yu Liang’s can recover and grow. Chang Fan’s soul occupies the mind; Yu Liang is the body’s original owner. The eight, with no way to replenish themselves, choose to sacrifice themselves to strengthen Yu Liang’s will. ^{ch. 805}

Chang Fan realizes that his unhealed injuries, meant to slow Yu Liang, now drain his own will while Yu Liang’s keeps growing. Knowing that at this rate he will certainly die, he gambles on the fiercest method left. He lets his gathered will break apart and swallow the other nine at once. ^{ch. 805}

Yu Liang rages that Chang Fan destroyed his tribe by his hand. Chang Fan answers that while he lives he can restore its glory, invoking Ren Zu, who abandoned even his daughter to escape ordinary abyss. Yu Liang’s will rebukes that self Gu, not Ren Zu, caused the harm. ^{ch. 805}

Chang Fan sneers that self Gu carried Ren Zu’s deepest thoughts, so sacrificing a mere tribe was no true fault beside sacrificing wives or children. The wills retort that he is dirty and despicable. He answers that without him Dong Fang tribe would have perished, and that the wills only sat in the shade of his tree. Such words overwhelm the nine wills, sweeping away their resistance. ^{ch. 805}

Scenes from his whole life flash backward through his mind. He recalls the Jade Pool battle, the tribulation of his possession, and the day he deduced Immortal Gu locations for the righteous path and set the alliance agreement. Alone in a dark hall, he resolves that if heaven denies him lifespan Gu and wants him dead, he will defy heaven. ^{ch. 805}