Strength Qi Gu

In Shang clan city, after Bai Ning Bing’s loss, Ju Kai Bei shows Hard Qi Gu beside Yan Tu and names a two or three times battle strength surge if it were Strength Qi Gu. Yan Tu answers that ancient qi path has already disappeared and that strength qi Gu is extinct. ^{ch. 315}

Effect and rank

It is only a rank three Gu. When activated it creates formless qi of strength. Beast phantoms leave the user’s body, attach to that qi, and gain the ability to attack directly. When the qi vanishes, the phantoms lose their host, dissipate, and return to the user’s body. That long range method is what present age strength path Gu Masters commonly lack. ^{ch. 320 ch. 321}

Its primeval cost is high. Containing one beast phantom needs five percent of snow silver primeval essence, so eight phantoms cost forty percent. Even at peak essence the eight phantom burst can be used only about twice in theory, and fewer times once movement, defense, and All-out Effort Gu also spend essence. ^{ch. 320}

Refinement

Fang Yuan reverse refines it from rank four atmosphere Gu in closed door work after buying that Gu at auction. Atmosphere Gu and Strength Qi Gu are both qi path Gu with similar laws, so refinement can convert one into the other. The conversion uses more than twenty ingredients across more than thirty precise steps. Success rate sits above eighty percent. In his previous life that recipe became publicly known among recipe masters only after two hundred years. ^{ch. 320}

Early use

He first shows it against Ju Kai Bei on the Shang clan city battle stage. Eight solid beast phantoms attack together, Ju Kai Bei names the Gu, and then surrenders. ^{ch. 320} Onlookers treat Strength Qi Gu as the piece that removes Fang Yuan’s long range weakness beside All-out Effort Gu, Bitter Strength Gu, and self-reliance Gu. ^{ch. 321} Against Xue San Si he again pours yellow gold primeval essence into Strength Qi Gu, attaches strength qi to eight beast phantoms, and sends them into the crater. ^{ch. 343}

Northern Plains scarcity