The first floor was cleared.
When the final round ended, Eighty-Eight True Yang Building trembled softly. Light gathered from every direction, flowing toward Hei Lou Lan like golden rivers.
Hei Lou Lan stood at the center, breathing heavily.
His robe was torn, and blood stained his sleeves, but his eyes were bright.
Around him, the Hei tribe elders looked exhausted. Some leaned on their Gu worms for support, some were pale, and some had barely survived the last round.
But they had succeeded.
The first floor was complete.
Hei Lou Lan's owner token floated from his hand.
Golden light wrapped around it.
A sharp edge slowly formed on one side of the token.
One-edge owner token.
The official authority of one floor.
Hei Lou Lan grabbed the token and laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! Good! We finally cleared one floor!"
The Hei tribe elders hurriedly congratulated him.
"Lord tribe leader is mighty!"
"Lord tribe leader's fortune is vast!"
"With this, our Hei tribe will surely rise further!"
Fang Ming stood nearby, smiling faintly with the others.
His expression showed calm respect, but his gaze briefly passed over the changed owner token.
That was the harvest.
He had spent one month helping Hei Lou Lan.
One month controlling the rhythm.
One month delaying Fang Yuan.
Now Hei Lou Lan's token had finally gained first-floor authority.
And Counterfeit Copy had already recovered.
This was the perfect opportunity.
Hei Lou Lan was happy.
The elders were celebrating.
No one was guarded.
Fang Ming stood beside Hei Lou Lan calmly.
Counterfeit Copy activated silently.
No aura leaked.
No Gu worm appeared.
No one noticed.
A breath later, Fang Ming had already obtained what he wanted.
A copy of the one-edge authority.
He did not need to touch the token.
He did not need to ask to inspect it.
He did not even need to stare for long.
The matter was done.
Counterfeit Copy entered cooldown again.
Fang Ming lowered his eyes, hiding the faint satisfaction within them.
Hei Lou Lan turned and patted Fang Ming's shoulder heavily.
"Brother Fang Ming, you contributed greatly this time. Without your eagle army, we would have lost many more people."
Fang Ming cupped his hands.
"Lord Hei Lou Lan overpraises me. I only did what I should."
Hei Lou Lan laughed again.
Tonight, there was a banquet.
This time, Fang Ming did not refuse.
He drank one cup with Hei Lou Lan, accepted the praise of the Hei tribe elders, and remained modest from beginning to end.
No greed.
No arrogance.
No impatience.
To everyone else, Fang Ming looked like a capable ally who understood his place.
Only Fang Ming knew that the most valuable reward had already entered his hand.
Late that night, he returned to his courtyard.
Ma Hong Yun had already fallen asleep after training. Zhao Lian Yun was awake, but when she saw Fang Ming return, she lowered her head and did not ask anything.
Fang Ming entered his room and sealed the surroundings.
Only then did he take out his copied glass owner token.
The translucent token rested quietly in his palm.
Then Fang Ming drew out the copied one-edge authority.
It was not a true owner token.
It had no official recognition by itself.
It was only a copied authority pattern.
But that was enough.
Fang Ming pressed the copied authority into the glass token.
The token trembled.
For a moment, a faint pressure spread out.
Fang Ming's expression did not change.
He controlled the fusion carefully.
Not replacing the glass token.
Not forcing official bloodline authority.
Only layering the copied structure onto it.
The trembling gradually stopped.
A pale edge appeared on the side of the glass token.
It was faint.
Much weaker than Hei Lou Lan's true one-edge owner token.
But it existed.
Fang Ming held it up.
The copied glass owner token had become stronger.
It was not equal to a true one-edge token, but it now carried partial first-floor authority. His movement inside the treasure room would become smoother. His observation range would expand. His ability to bend certain rules would also improve.
This was the route he had chosen.
Not Mo Yao.
Not reckless loophole creation.
Not confronting Fang Yuan.
Hei Lou Lan cleared floors.
Fang Ming copied authority.
Then he fused it into his own token.
For now, one pale edge was enough.
Later, when Counterfeit Copy recovered again, he could copy his own improved token and fuse it once more.
One became two.
Two became four.
Four became eight.
The path was slow because of cooldown.
But it was stable.
And more importantly, it was his.
Fang Ming stored the strengthened token.
The first step had succeeded.
Hei Lou Lan's owner token had gained one-edge authority.
Fang Ming had copied it, fused it, and strengthened his own glass owner token.
But this was only the beginning.
Fang Yuan had still not entered Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
That was good.
The longer Fang Yuan remained outside, the later Di Qiu's chain would begin.
But Fang Ming knew this delay would not last much longer.
At their current pace, they would reach the difficult enslavement test around stage one hundred and fifty within ten days.
When that happened, inviting Wolf King Chang Shan Yin would become inevitable.
Fang Ming looked toward Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
Ten days.
That was the time he had left before Fang Yuan stepped onto the board.