Chapter 836

After the Refinement Path Convention’s second round ends, Fang Yuan returns to Hu Immortal blessed land and searches Mo Yao’s recovered will again. He gains many Gu refinement techniques from her memory, including a killer move. She was a refinement path grandmaster and a fairy of Spirit Affinity House who teaches him without reserve. ^{ch. 836}

He intends to show his full skill in the Convention, since this concerns the Infallible inheritance, though hiding his role in True Yang Building’s fall grows harder with time. Northern Plains has steadied since Old Ancestor Xue Hu fought Heavenly Lord Bai Zu and Yao Huang, and Central Continent stays orderly, so no regional chaos will cover him. His duel with Feng Jin Huang is already known, so he cannot hide. Once his role in the fall surfaces, Central Continent and Northern Plains will issue warrants and the other three regions may hunt him for Giant Sun’s true inheritance, and Hu Immortal blessed land will be attacked at once, so he must grow stronger first. He resolves to gather essence stones and materials, push his battle strength to its limit, and above all shed his immortal zombie body, since zombies produce no immortal essence and even routine upkeep strains them; remaining one while a fugitive could prove fatal. In the days that follow he both competes and spends star thought Gu deducing the immortal killer move vaguely familiar face, ranking it above all else. ^{ch. 836}

Fang Yuan clears rounds three through five, taking first place in all five rounds. His reputation as a demonic cultivator of unusual refinement skill surges. The day before round six he reaches preliminary success on vaguely familiar face and walks out of his cave so excited he is nearly in tears. By round four he had used all his star thought Gu from Dong Fang Chang Fan, resupplied by his stone nests and hairy men. ^{ch. 836}

He holds none of the killer move’s three original core Gu, all in Feng Jiu Ge’s hands. He can only change the core, ideally to a Gu he owns. His greatly simplified version runs on eat strength Immortal Gu alone, since his other Immortal Gu do not suit his current attainment, and it works mostly through his rich foundation as a strength path grandmaster. The effect stays very limited: it cannot alter his appearance, only his aura, letting him pass as another region’s native instead of Northern Plains, unless the observer is a Gu Immortal skilled in investigation. Unlike Old Lord Can Yang’s method, which held through intense battle, his cannot survive full exertion. The price is very high too: eat strength Immortal Gu normally draws dao marks out of immortal materials, but each use spends several of his own strength path dao marks. ^{ch. 836}

After many failed deductions he turns the target on himself. As a strength path immortal zombie his body is pure strength path dao marks, like Hu Immortal, whose body held only enslavement path marks in life and passed them into her blessed land at her death. He decides to consume his own body, supplementing the move with mortal Gu to disguise his aura. ^{ch. 836}

The result is weak and costly but usable. The greatest credit goes to wisdom Gu, whose inspiration let Fang Yuan force a strength path Immortal Gu into the core. Buoyed, he takes first place again in round six, then rests briefly at Hu Immortal blessed land before using Fixed Immortal Travel to reach Western Desert. ^{ch. 836}

In the impassable dunes, Xiao clan’s Gu Masters fight hidden sand spiders intensely, with the fight tilted in Xiao clan’s favor by its skill and experience. Fang Yuan watches from the sky and estimates at least thirty thousand spiders. He then looks past them to a huge stretch of dunes where fierce winds churn and beasts growl; looking closely, the dunes themselves are moving. ^{ch. 836}