Chapter 838

Fang Yuan walks out of Hearing Wave Pavilion. The crowd opens a path for him. Even righteous path Gu Masters, who feel distaste for his demonic path, admire his refinement attainment, since the convention’s mood has shifted slightly toward refinement champions. Outside the gate, sect merchants tout convention results for sale in a booming trade. ^{ch. 838}

Fang Yuan buys a seventh round report from Lightning Information Sect’s Gu Master; Mi Lan Guang founded that sect after Wind Cloud Manor crippled and expelled him for breaking its rules. The seller recognizes Fang Yuan and tries to return his stones as a gift, but Fang Yuan declines the offered interview, tells him to keep the stones as a reward, and walks on. The report comes as a rank one information path Gu, cheap to refine. ^{ch. 838}

The report shows that of the hundreds of thousands who signed up, mostly from Central Continent, only eight thousand passed all seven rounds, essentially quasi-masters at least apart from some lucky ones of lower attainment. About four hundred took a top three placing every round, at least masters, and only around eighty took first place every round. Fang Yuan is among that eighty. Experts place him around thirtieth, since the rounds could not test his limits and his mysterious background leaves them guessing, even though he hid nothing, a sign of how fierce the competition is. ^{ch. 838}

Familiar names fill the list, Firesmith Dragon Chief, Fang Huai, Tian Min Mie, Feng Jin Huang, Yu Mu Chun, Lui Pin Tian, Dou Ping Tan and Qu Wen among them, all high status figures from Fang Yuan’s previous life. Some become superstars of the five regions chaotic war, some become immortals, and some are refinement path grandmasters in their lifetimes, whatever their rank on this list. Fang Yuan feels the pressure of standing among them. ^{ch. 838}

He is only a quasi-grandmaster, one step from grandmaster but a very distant step needing great accumulation to close. He wonders bitterly whether five hundred years of cultivation for only this rank makes him truly useless, next to the young Zheng Shan Chuan, already a master. Talent matters, but the gap is deeper. Zheng Shan Chuan cultivates refinement path as his main path, while Fang Yuan has only ever cultivated it on the side, a choice that likely kept him alive where Zheng Shan Chuan instead had a master’s protection to lean on. ^{ch. 838}

Fang Yuan judges that even the convention’s top ten will be difficult. Only a top six placing unlocks the Infallible inheritance’s benefits. The Infallible inheritance is a refinement path inheritance the ten great ancient sects once fought over directly. Heavenly Court later took control instead, since its benefits can even aid the recovery of fate Gu, and the sects had no real choice but to accept the takeover. ^{ch. 838}

Under Heavenly Court the convention grew famous across the world and now draws entrants from every region. Records show the top three finishers are usually grandmasters. A quasi-grandmaster can still reach the top six where few grandmasters compete, but rarely the top ten where many do, and this round has drawn five, a middling field. ^{ch. 838}

He is most skilled in blood path refinement. But he holds few blood path Gu worms now, and using them openly would hand Immortal Crane Sect an excuse to attack Hu Immortal blessed land, so he resolves to scheme his way to a top six placing instead. ^{ch. 838}

Sixteen days later, the eighth round’s venue opens at An Zu Earth Trench. It is the headquarters of Demon Expelling Sect, which commands three Gu Immortals and influence spanning dozens of large forces and countless small ones. Tens of thousands converge on the site, though the venue itself holds only a thousand, so Demon Expelling Sect arranges an aerial broadcast for those who cannot fit inside. ^{ch. 838}