Chapter 998

Fang Yuan arrives at Yi Tian Mountain in a crude, hairy-blooded disguise, an immortal killer move called Familiar Face cored on attitude Gu, surer than the vaguely familiar face of his previous life. He comes several months before the righteous and demonic battle even begins. In his previous life Huang Sha came at this same time and Fang Yuan joined only later, once the mountain was deep in battle; after rebirth Fang Yuan secretly kills Huang Sha and takes his place. Xiao Shan has just been forced from his own clan and, with Zhou Xing Xing and Sun Pang Hu, has only begun building Yi Tian Village. Partway up the mountain, Fang Yuan glimpses it through crevices in the dense trees. Watching him pass, distant Southern Border Gu Immortals dismiss him as a half-breed no one would choose as a pawn. ^{ch. 998}

A rank three demonic path Gu Master stops him before he reaches the village. Fang Yuan gives his name as Huang Sha and says he came to join Hero Xiao’s cause, and the two settle into the local pecking order of whoever arrived first. Xiao Shan’s welcome turns to private disappointment at Huang Sha’s crude look and manner, though he hides it, praises him and assigns him a task. He then asks Zhou Xing Xing about the newcomer. ^{ch. 998}

Zhou Xing Xing recalls him: a slave of mixed human and hairy man blood who won a chance inheritance on sand mountain, then occupied a territory with a water path partner under the name Bai Sha Twin Generals. Tie clan’s Gu Masters defeated them, Bai Jiang died, and Huang Sha escaped with his whereabouts unknown until now. Xiao Shan’s expectations of him fall to rock bottom, both for the old raid on Tie clan’s merchant ships and for his hairy man blood, and rank three draws no special notice in the village. Very soon Xiao Shan forgets about him. ^{ch. 998}

Fang Yuan judges the outcome exactly as he wants: a higher rank would win him missions he could not skip without exposure, a lower one would make him cannon fodder, but rank three lets him lead a small group unnoticed. Yi Tian Mountain’s forbidden zone targets only immortal apertures and not Immortal Gu, and having deduced a sealing method in his previous life, Fang Yuan has it ready and joins months early. His aperture is sealed, but his body is still an immortal zombie body. By day he labors at the worksite. By night, once everyone else sleeps, he secretly refines the Immortal Gu House Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage. ^{ch. 998}

Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage suppresses a rank eight Great Strength True Martial immortal zombie inside it, its soul seemingly completely dissipated. Fang Yuan’s memories of his previous life keep him from probing it further. He focuses instead on converting the House’s battle will directly, at many times the speed of the Southern Border Gu Immortals who must instead drive mortal pawns into battle to generate it. Whoever converts all of the pure battle will becomes the House’s true owner, completing the rank eight immortal zombie’s unfinished last step, but the converted battle wills must then fight each other until only one remains. As a wisdom path grandmaster, Fang Yuan judges his advantage in such a contest huge, and it widens the faster he converts. ^{ch. 998}

While Fang Yuan plans, the other Southern Border Gu Immortals harbor their own intentions. Xiao clan’s supreme elder had barely survived his last tribulation and had lost all hope for the one approaching, until Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage appeared and showed him light in the darkness. He stakes almost all his wealth on this unprecedented gambling contest, the highest stake among the immortals. That makes his pawn Xiao Shan the first Gu Master to ascend Yi Tian Mountain, and makes him the first Gu Immortal in Southern Border to begin refining the House’s battle will. Without the Immortal Gu House, he tells himself, he will definitely die in the tribulation ahead. ^{ch. 998}