The bronze hall sat upon a gentle hill.
Around the hill, dog beasts filled the slopes like a living tide. Their numbers were vast, nearly covering the surrounding land. Some lay low, some paced restlessly, and some growled toward the fog that had begun to thicken in the distance.
Bai Ning Bing stood among them, her expression cold.
But her eyes showed fatigue.
Controlling so many dog beasts was not easy. She was not an enslavement path Gu Master. Even with dog enslavement Gu and Fang Yuan's instructions, this army was still rough.
It had numbers, but not finesse.
It could defend, but not adapt.
Fang Yuan stood beside her and pointed to several positions.
"Keep the outer dogs spread wide. The steel armor dogs form the second layer. Mutated dogs stay near the center. If enemies provoke you, ignore them. If they retreat, do not chase. If they split apart, do not divide the formation."
Bai Ning Bing snorted. "You are treating me like an idiot."
"You are not an idiot." Fang Yuan said plainly. "But you are not an enslavement path Gu Master either."
Bai Ning Bing's gaze became colder.
Fang Yuan ignored it.
"At the final stage, I cannot be distracted. Ba Gui will also be weakened. If the formation opens a gap, the refinement may fail."
Fang Ming stood a short distance away, looking at the dog army.
The formation was crude.
If Zhang San San had remained alive, he would only need to probe several times before finding a weakness. An enslavement path expert did not need to defeat the dog army directly. He only needed to lure, scatter, and tear open one path.
Then the main hall would be exposed.
Fang Ming's earlier choice had been correct.
Zhang San San was not strong, but his path was troublesome.
A sharp knife did not need to be large.
It only needed to cut the right place.
Fang Ming said: "Do not chase."
Bai Ning Bing glanced at him.
Fang Ming continued: "A dog wall that moves becomes a gap. You do not need victory outside. You only need the main hall to remain untouched."
Bai Ning Bing's eyes narrowed slightly.
She disliked taking instructions from either Fang Yuan or Fang Ming.
But she understood the logic.
The dog army was not here to kill all enemies.
It was here to delay them.
Fang Yuan gave her one final look.
"Remember this. No matter what happens, hold the formation."
Bai Ning Bing folded her arms. "If you fail after all this, I will make sure your corpse looks worse than the Gu refinement."
Fang Yuan laughed.
"That depends on whether I leave a corpse."
Before Bai Ning Bing could reply, the entire blessed land shook.
Boom!
The hill trembled.
Dust fell from the bronze hall.
The dog beasts became restless, barking and howling as the world around them quaked.
Ba Gui's voice resounded in Fang Yuan and Fang Ming's minds.
"Not good. Xiao Mang used Extreme Light Gu to pierce through the blessed land. A passage has opened. Large numbers of Gu Masters are rushing in."
The fog in the distance churned.
The blessed land's sky seemed to crack. A faint, violent pressure spread outward, as if the hidden world had been struck open by an invisible fist.
Fang Yuan did not panic.
His dark eyes flashed.
"Chaos is good."
Ba Gui was anxious. "Good?"
"Before this, they were outside, watching and waiting. Once the passage opens, they will rush in, fight, plunder, and suspect each other. A unified enemy is dangerous. A chaotic crowd buys us time."
Fang Ming nodded slightly.
Disorder was better than unity.
If all the Gu Masters calmly gathered and searched for the blessed land's core, the main hall would be in danger. But greed would not allow that. Once the passage opened, everyone would fight for inheritance, Gu, corpses, and opportunity.
The Gu world did not lack brave people.
It lacked people who could ignore immediate profit.
Ba Gui's voice came again, more urgent this time.
"There is another problem."
A scene appeared before them.
Amid the chaos, a young man in black moved through the blessed land. His long hair fell to his waist, and his eyes were deep purple. His brows were raised sharply, giving him a crazed and tyrannical air.
He walked as if the world itself should make way.
His demonic aura was thick, unrestrained, and dangerous.
Ba Gui said: "This person deceived my senses at first. I only noticed him after he acted."
Fang Yuan's gaze concentrated.
"Mo Wu Tian."
Fang Ming also looked at the image.
Mo Wu Tian.
A future demonic path expert.
A soul path Gu Master with terrifying potential.
His appearance here meant the timeline had already shifted further than before.
Fang Ming's expression remained calm, but his thoughts moved.
Was this caused by Fang Yuan's rebirth?
Or by his own interference?
Maybe both.
In the image, Mo Wu Tian suddenly stopped.
He turned his head slightly.
His purple eyes seemed to look through the scene itself.
The corner of his mouth rose.
"So it was like this…"
Ba Gui's voice sank. "He sensed us. He is moving in this direction."
Bai Ning Bing could not see the image, but she noticed the change in Fang Yuan and Fang Ming's expressions.
"Trouble?"
"Rank five trouble." Fang Yuan replied.
Bai Ning Bing's lips curved coldly. "There are many of those today."
Fang Yuan turned toward the bronze hall.
"No more waiting. Begin the final refinement."
Ba Gui immediately raised the fog.
Thick mist spread around the hill. It covered the bronze hall, swallowed the dog beasts, and turned the surroundings into a dim white sea. Within the fog, the dog army's growls became muffled and indistinct.
The main hall vanished from ordinary sight.
Fang Yuan walked inside.
Fang Ming followed.
Bai Ning Bing remained outside, standing among the dog beasts.
Her blue eyes watched the two disappear into the bronze hall.
One was refining an Immortal Gu.
One had somehow inserted himself beside that Immortal Gu refinement.
Both were dangerous.
Both were shameless in different ways.
And she had to protect them.
"Hmph."
Bai Ning Bing looked at the fog ahead and gripped the dog enslavement Gu.
"Come then."
Inside the bronze hall, the atmosphere had changed.
The relief sculptures on the bronze tiles had already disappeared by more than half. Most of the materials and Gu worms stored here had been consumed in the previous refinement stages. The once treasure-filled hall now looked emptier, colder, and more solemn.
At the center stood the bronze cauldron.
Only a thin amount of immortal essence remained.
Fang Yuan sat cross-legged before it.
Fang Ming sat to his side, slightly behind him.
Ba Gui's huge body appeared nearby, its old eyes fixed on the cauldron.
"This is the final step." Fang Yuan said.
His voice was calm, but his face was pale. The previous failures and backlash had left his body weak and his spirit strained. His eyes were red, but the light inside them had not dimmed.
Fang Ming's condition was better, but not relaxed.
He had assisted throughout the refinement, studied the recipe, and stabilized several dangerous moments. But this last step was different.
This was where false became true.
This was where mortal methods touched an Immortal Gu result.
This was also where Divine Travel Gu would appear again.
Fang Ming lowered his eyes.
His Counterfeit Copy remained unused.
He had ignored Rank five Gu. He had ignored stored treasures. He had even suppressed his desire when Divine Travel Gu first appeared.
The time had not come.
The final refinement began.
Fang Yuan took out the false Second Aperture Gu.
Its form was plain and lifeless, like a crude beetle carved from dull stone. Yet this false Gu represented countless steps, failures, materials, apertures, and immortal essence.
Fang Yuan threw it into the bronze cauldron.
The cauldron burned without flame.
The remaining immortal essence began to combust rapidly, turning into blue smoke that rose gracefully and wrapped around the false Gu.
The false Second Aperture Gu floated above the cauldron.
Under the blue smoke, it emitted dazzling yellow light.
Fang Yuan's eyes fixed on it.
Fang Ming also focused.
The yellow light and blue smoke began to blend.
This process seemed quiet, but every breath contained danger. Too much force, and the structure would collapse. Too little force, and the false Gu would not transform.
Fang Yuan controlled the core.
Fang Ming stabilized the outer rhythm.
Ba Gui watched, ready to supply what was needed.
Time passed strangely.
Outside, Xiao Mang's breach had thrown the blessed land into chaos. Gu Masters fought, shouted, killed, and charged through the exposed passage.
Inside the bronze hall, there was only silence.
At a certain point, the blue smoke condensed into floating blades of grass.
The yellow light turned into flowers, drifting down among them.
Fang Yuan's gaze sharpened.
"It is time."
He took out a dagger and cut his artery.
Blood surged out.
This was not ordinary blood, but essence blood.
The Gu had to belong to him. If this step was missed, even if Second Aperture Gu succeeded, it would become ownerless and fly away.
Fang Yuan's essence blood poured into the refinement.
The blue smoke and yellow light hissed violently. Their colors shifted, turning into a red cloud like a surging blood sea.
The blood cloud rolled and gathered.
Gradually, the sea calmed.
A red field appeared inside the cloud, with scarlet paddy growing from it like blood-colored grass.
Fang Yuan's face became even paler.
He healed the wound quickly, but the loss was already done.
Fang Ming did not speak.
This was Fang Yuan's step.
No one else could replace it.
Ba Gui moved.
Two lifespan Gu appeared.
One looked like a blue snake curled into a ring. It was the three hundred years lifespan Gu.
The other was larger, shaped like a young dragon wanting to rise into the sky. It was the five hundred years lifespan Gu.
Fang Ming's gaze paused on them briefly.
Lifespan Gu.
Even Gu Immortals desired these.
But again, he did not move.
Some treasures could be taken.
Some treasures could only be watched.
Fang Yuan first threw the three hundred years lifespan Gu into the blood cloud.
The cloud swallowed it.
At once, the entire refinement changed.
The red cloud boiled violently. Its shape stretched, twisted, and transformed into a blue-scaled long snake.
The snake struggled fiercely.
It tried to escape Fang Yuan's control.
Fang Yuan's expression changed.
The blue snake shot outward, slipping away before he fully reacted. In an instant, most of its body had already escaped his grasp, leaving only its tail still caught in his control.
If it escaped completely, all previous effort would vanish.
Fang Yuan's eyes turned bloodshot.
He gritted his teeth and poured all his focus into holding it.
The blue snake thrashed.
The bronze cauldron shook.
The remaining immortal essence burned faster.
Ba Gui's eyes showed panic, but it did not dare interfere recklessly.
Fang Ming's gaze became sharp.
He raised both hands, but did not touch the core.
Instead, he pressed against the outer rhythm of the refinement, stabilizing the scattered blue smoke and yellow light around the snake.
"Do not pull harder." Fang Ming said quickly. "Lock its path. Let it coil back."
Fang Yuan did not answer.
His entire mind was on the blue snake.
Fang Ming's Steady Refiner talent pushed his senses to the limit. He could feel the rhythm of the escape. The snake was not merely fleeing randomly; it was following the gap created by the sudden lifespan force.
Fang Ming could not control it.
But he could narrow the gap.
The bronze hall trembled.
Outside, the fog thickened.
Far away, Mo Wu Tian moved closer.
The blessed land had been breached.
The final refinement had begun.
And in the bronze hall, Fang Yuan held the tail of the blue-scaled snake with bloodshot eyes, while Fang Ming forced the surrounding refinement flow to close around it inch by inch.
If the snake escaped, everything ended here.
The Second Aperture Gu would fail before becoming real.