Chapter 853

Feng Jin Huang’s wager is a method to revive from immortal zombie status. It touches Fang Yuan’s core interest at once, though he confirms it is not Immortal Crane Sect’s possession technique. He says the wager still falls short of Hu Immortal blessed land, and when she asks him to choose between the two, he answers Hu Immortal blessed land, his greatest foundation, though he would inwardly choose revival without hesitation. ^{ch. 853}

Feng Jin Huang proposes a different wager. She knows he will not stake the blessed land. If she loses she reveals the already-proven revival method, and if he loses he must supply guts Gu to Spirit Affinity House long-term, ahead of Immortal Crane Sect’s own transactions. Spirit Affinity House will sell him souls he lacks at thirty percent below market. ^{ch. 853}

Fang Yuan judges her demand lenient, even generous. He sees in it a maturity beyond her years, whether from genius or good counsel. Guts Gu is in fact urgent for her, since exploring dream realms with dream wings Immortal Gu still weakens and can injure her soul, and guts Gu is among the world’s finest soul-strengthening methods, praised even by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. ^{ch. 853}

Her challenge began in juvenile anger, but this negotiation is practical and mature. She would never have proposed Hu Immortal blessed land or Dang Hun mountain, which he would refuse outright, while his well-known relations with Immortal Crane Sect leave him no qualms about staking the sect’s interests. Selling to Spirit Affinity House also profits him, in stone earnings and as a hedge should he ever break with the sect. Fang Yuan accepted her challenge in the first place meaning to cooperate with Spirit Affinity House, and only afterward does he realize her demand is also meant to blunt his will to fight. ^{ch. 853}

Fang Yuan declares he will win. Feng Jin Huang answers that is not certain, and the two settle the duel’s task. She proposes river wave trace Gu, but Fang Yuan refuses, since Spirit Affinity House’s strength in water path Gu shows in its Immortal Gu House, Water Pavilion. He proposes blood steps Gu, which she refuses in turn, knowing his skill in blood path refinement. They settle on five orifices fire pagoda Gu, refined openly as in the Refinement Path Convention itself, with an attack allowed at set stages on each side. ^{ch. 853}

Fang Yuan and Feng Jin Huang take opposite ends of the stage. Roughly two hundred and sixty steps separate them as Fang Yuan spends a full hour inspecting the thousand types of material provided, since organizers sometimes supply tampered materials whose defects a refiner cannot easily detect. He then checks the five linked recipes running from charcoal Gu up to the fire pagoda Gu itself. With wisdom path methods he could skip straight to the final recipe, but chooses to move step by step instead, since he cannot rely on wisdom Gu here and a single disrupted attempt would lose everything at once. Feng Jin Huang checks the recipes first and the materials after, the reverse of his order, but both begin refining at nearly the same moment. ^{ch. 853}

Spectators split into factions over the sects’ rival honor. Immortal Crane Sect’s elders bristle that Fang Yuan staked guts Gu without their approval. At first the two keep pace, but Fang Yuan’s experience from his previous life lets him gradually gain a slight lead, since Feng Jin Huang’s skill from the dream realm still lacks practice. She answers with double action, splitting her fire in two, then a second killer move, small wishful hand, sending two will-formed hands to feed the flames while she regulates both fires herself, and her speed now far outpaces his. ^{ch. 853}