One month passed.
During this month, Fang Ming rarely appeared in public.
No one knew what he had gained.
They only knew that after entering Eighty-Eight True Yang Building several times, Fang Ming had withdrawn to digest his gains. As for what those gains were, where he had obtained them, or how valuable they might be, no one knew.
And no one dared ask.
Fang Ming's movements had always been unpredictable. Sometimes he joined Hei Lou Lan in clearing rounds, sometimes he trained Ma Hong Yun, sometimes he disappeared into seclusion without explanation.
By now, most people had grown used to it.
Even those who were curious could only suppress their thoughts.
After all, who in their right mind would walk up to the strongest Rank five expert in Sacred Palace and question why he wanted to enter seclusion?
Thus, Fang Ming's closed cultivation passed without disturbance.
To outsiders, he was simply digesting some unknown fortune he had stumbled upon inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
But behind the sealed doors, Fang Ming's focus was entirely different.
He was studying immortal ascension.
Breaking the aperture.
Drawing in heaven qi and earth qi.
Balancing heaven, earth, and human qi.
Enduring calamity.
Condensing the immortal aperture.
Every step was life and death.
Normal immortal ascension was already dangerous.
Ascending with one of the ten extreme physiques would be even more terrifying.
Fang Ming sat cross-legged, a pale misty Gu floating before him.
Counterfeit Human Qi Gu.
It looked like a cloudy bead, with faint human silhouettes swimming within. It was only a counterfeit version of the real Human Qi Immortal Gu, but its value was still enormous.
The original Human Qi Immortal Gu could add and remove human qi during immortal ascension.
This counterfeit version could only add.
That meant it could save him if his human qi was insufficient.
But if he added too much, there would be no way to take it back.
No correction.
No retreat.
No mercy.
Fang Ming stared at it quietly.
"So it can help me ascend, but it can also kill me faster."
He was not disappointed.
A tool did not need to be perfect.
It only needed to be understood.
Beside him, Steel Body Gu rested silently.
The Rank six Immortal Gu gave off a dense metallic aura. Even without activating it, Fang Ming could feel the strength contained within it.
During this month, he studied the Steel Body inheritance deeply.
Body tempering.
Defense.
Strength path resource cultivation.
Mortal killer moves.
Immortal killer moves.
Methods to combine Steel Body Gu with other Gu.
Most importantly, the inheritance gave him a clearer understanding of how a body should be prepared before carrying overwhelming strength path dao marks.
This confirmed his decision.
He could proceed with the plan.
Copy Hei Lou Lan's Great Strength True Martial Physique.
Before obtaining Steel Body Gu, this would have been reckless.
Now, it was still dangerous.
But no longer blind suicide.
Fang Ming slowly opened his eyes.
"The time has come."
Not long after, Fang Ming once again joined Hei Lou Lan inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
Hei Lou Lan's mood had worsened during this period.
Fang Yuan's movements had become increasingly strange. The situation inside True Yang Building had become unstable, and Hei Lou Lan's control over events was slipping.
But he still needed to advance.
He still needed his strength path Immortal Gu.
Thus, when Fang Ming offered help, Hei Lou Lan accepted without hesitation.
The fourth floor became their target.
The fighting was intense.
Fang Ming used his eagles carefully, not wasting them as freely as before. His focus was no longer merely on helping Hei Lou Lan clear rounds.
His real target was Hei Lou Lan himself.
The Great Strength True Martial Physique.
One of the ten extreme physiques.
The closer Fang Ming stood to Hei Lou Lan, the clearer the feeling became.
Hei Lou Lan's body was like a sealed volcano. Strength path power surged beneath his flesh and bones, violent and restrained at the same time.
A body born for strength.
A body also destined to explode if it failed to ascend.
Fang Ming waited patiently.
The chance came during chaos.
Fang Yuan acted.
The process was hidden from almost everyone. Hei Lou Lan's owner token vanished during a critical moment, causing the method they had placed hope in to fail violently. The refinement path Gu Masters suffered backlash, blood sprayed, and the formation collapsed.
Hei Lou Lan roared in shock and fury.
"My owner token!"
The scene fell into disorder.
Gu Masters panicked.
Some cursed.
Some fled.
Some tried to understand what had happened, but no one could see the truth.
Fang Ming stood among the chaos, his expression changing like everyone else's.
But inwardly, he was calm.
Fang Yuan had made his move.
Fixed Immortal Travel.
Gruel Mud.
Hei Lou Lan's owner token.
Fang Yuan had gathered the important pieces needed to push the next stage forward.
The board was shaking again.
And chaos was exactly what Fang Ming needed.
He stood close to Hei Lou Lan.
Counterfeit Copy activated.
No aura leaked.
No Gu worm appeared.
No one noticed.
This time, Fang Ming was not copying a token.
He was copying a physique.
The Great Strength True Martial Physique.
A breath passed.
Then another.
The copy succeeded.
At that instant, Fang Ming's body reacted.
A faint itch spread across his face.
Then his muscles tightened.
His bones trembled.
A deep discomfort crawled through him, as if something inside his body had awakened and begun rewriting him from within.
Fang Ming's expression remained unchanged, but his heart sank.
Too fast.
The copied physique was not waiting quietly in his aperture.
It was changing him immediately.
His disguise began to shake.
The mortal killer move derived from Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's unfamiliar face was still covering him, but the foundation beneath it was transforming too violently.
His face.
His bones.
His flesh.
His entire body structure.
The disguise could not hold for long.
Fang Ming immediately made his decision.
He had to leave.
Fortunately, the surroundings were already in chaos.
Hei Lou Lan was furious over the vanished owner token. The others were panicked by the backlash and the collapsing situation. No one had the mind to pay attention to Fang Ming withdrawing.
He moved away quietly.
Not too fast.
Not too slow.
Just another expert retreating from a failed operation.
By the time anyone thought of him again, Fang Ming was already gone.
Back in his sealed room, Fang Ming barely managed to activate the last defensive arrangements before the disguise collapsed.
His face twisted.
His muscles convulsed.
His bones cracked.
Pain flooded his body.
It was not like being wounded.
It was like being remade.
His skeleton shifted inch by inch. His muscles tore and reformed. His skin tightened, then loosened, then tightened again. His organs burned as if molten iron had been poured through them.
Fang Ming clenched his teeth.
Blood leaked from the corner of his mouth.
He did not scream.
The pain continued.
His facial features changed first.
The black eyes he had used for so long gradually lightened, turning brown. His face reshaped completely, no longer the one he had worn before. The lines became sharper, more balanced, and more striking.
Then his body frame changed.
His shoulders broadened slightly.
His waist narrowed.
His muscles became dense and well-proportioned, not bulky, but filled with terrifying contained power.
Ten extreme physique holders were rarely ordinary in appearance.
Bai Ning Bing was beautiful.
Hei Lou Lan, despite his roughness, had an imposing and powerful presence.
Now Fang Ming was the same.
When the transformation finally slowed, his old appearance had vanished.
A completely different person looked back from the mirror.
Extremely handsome.
Cold.
Powerful.
Dangerous.
But Fang Ming did not care about appearance for long.
He cared about strength.
He looked inward.
His aperture was full.
Completely full.
One hundred percent.
The Great Strength True Martial Physique had taken root.
At the same time, the strength path dao marks he had obtained from the previous consumable strength Immortal Gu became far easier to guide.
Before, those dao marks had existed in his body, but they felt clumsy and stiff. They were powerful, but not fully obedient.
Now, everything was different.
His body, dao marks, and strength path Gu felt as if they belonged to the same system.
A slight movement of thought caused strength to surge through his limbs.
His control over strength path Gu became smoother.
The dao marks responded naturally.
Even Steel Body Gu reacted faintly.
Fang Ming looked toward the Rank six Immortal Gu.
He still could not truly activate it as a mortal.
But now, with the Great Strength True Martial Physique and his strengthened body foundation, he felt something new.
A connection.
A possibility.
He could not use Steel Body Gu completely, but perhaps he could borrow a trace of its power.
Just a trace.
Even that would be terrifying.
Fang Ming slowly clenched his fist.
The air seemed to compress.
His power had risen beyond belief.
For a moment, he even felt that if he faced a newly advanced Rank six Gu Immortal without strong preparation, he might not necessarily lose.
This was the terror of a ten extreme physique.
But the stronger the power, the closer the danger.
Fang Ming's expression gradually became serious.
He could feel it.
The pressure inside his body.
The fullness of his aperture.
The violent strength path power that had no proper outlet.
This physique was not a gift without cost.
It was a countdown.
If he did not ascend, it would destroy him.
Fang Ming silently estimated the time.
Four months.
At most, four months.
Within four months, he had to become a Gu Immortal.
If not, he would explode and die.
The room was silent.
Fang Ming stood before the mirror, looking at his new face and new body.
He had gained the Great Strength True Martial Physique.
He had gained terrifying strength.
He had gained the possibility of walking a path beyond normal mortals.
But from this moment on, retreat no longer existed.
Four months.
That was all he had.