Eighty-Eight True Yang Building shook.
Then, just as suddenly, it became still.
The change was too abrupt.
A moment earlier, the giant structure had trembled as if some ancient beast were awakening inside it. Sacred Palace had cracked, dust had fallen, and countless Gu Masters had looked up in terror.
Then everything stopped.
The silence was heavier than the shaking.
Fang Ming stood at his observation point, eyes narrowed slightly.
He had already discarded the copied owner token.
That key had served its purpose.
Once Giant Sun's will awakened, keeping it would have been like tying a rope around his own neck and handing the other end to an Immortal Venerable.
But discarding the token did not mean the danger had passed.
Quite the opposite.
The easy harvesting phase was over.
Inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, Fang Yuan had clearly suffered Giant Sun's first attack through the owner token. Yet the building had not immediately crushed him.
That meant Fang Yuan had prepared a countermeasure.
Special will Gu.
Central Continent's hidden arrangements.
The thousand-year scheme buried inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had started showing its effect.
Fang Ming did not need to see the details to understand the result.
Giant Sun's will had awakened, but it was not fully free.
It had been temporarily restrained.
Even the yellow apricot immortal essence left behind by Giant Sun was likely sealed or obstructed.
Otherwise, Fang Yuan would already be dead.
Fang Ming's gaze became colder.
This stillness was not safety.
It was a short window.
A dangerous pause before the next collapse.
Chaos had increased, but movement was still possible.
That was both opportunity and warning.
Then Fang Ming turned his attention back to Tai Bai Yun Sheng.
The old man still floated between heaven and earth.
His aperture had already shattered.
The three qi had gathered.
Now, the qi was pouring into the space where his aperture once existed.
Heaven qi, earth qi, and human qi merged and flowed inward, tempering his body and soul. His mortal foundation was being lifted toward another level.
Fang Ming watched carefully.
This was the next stage.
The earlier lesson had been about balance.
This lesson was about transformation.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's body trembled within the three qi. His white beard whipped wildly in the wind, and his face carried both madness and focus.
He had not succeeded.
Not yet.
But he had endured the first gate.
The three qi continued to merge.
The more Fang Ming watched, the more serious his expression became.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's accumulation was too deep.
His human qi had been vast, and because of that, he had drawn in a terrifying amount of heaven qi and earth qi.
But not all of it could be absorbed peacefully.
The excess remained.
It gathered.
It condensed.
Above Tai Bai Yun Sheng, the dark clouds twisted. Green wind gathered inside them, forming countless willow leaves, each one large enough to resemble a small boat.
Below him, the earth qi thickened. Dust, smoke, and golden-brown power rolled together, gradually forming the outline of a massive beast.
A one-horned tiger.
Lofty tiger.
Willow wind.
Earthly calamity.
Heavenly tribulation.
The surrounding Gu Masters fell silent when they saw the forms taking shape. Even those who did not fully understand immortal ascension could feel the terror contained within them.
Fang Ming's eyes did not move.
So this was how calamity and tribulation formed.
The deeper the foundation, the more heaven qi and earth qi one could draw.
The more one drew, the greater the potential after ascension.
But the excess became disaster.
Risk and reward were one.
There was no free path to immortality.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng was undergoing a normal immortal ascension, yet his calamity and tribulation were already terrifying.
Fang Ming's own future ascension would be worse.
Far worse.
He carried the Great Strength True Martial Physique. His aperture was already full to the limit. His strength path dao marks were dense, his body was stronger than ordinary mortals, and his foundation had been pushed beyond normal boundaries.
When he broke his aperture, the reaction of heaven and earth would not be gentle.
Fang Ming thought of Counterfeit Human Qi Gu.
Its value was real.
It could add human qi when needed.
It could help him adjust one part of the balance.
But only one part.
It could not stop willow wind.
It could not stop lofty tiger.
It could not disperse heavenly tribulation.
It could not crush earthly calamity.
Human qi was only one danger.
Heaven and earth striking back was another.
Fang Ming's gaze lowered slightly.
This confirmed the importance of Steel Body Gu.
And the Steel Body inheritance.
Defense.
Survival.
Body foundation.
Without those, even if he balanced the three qi, he might still die beneath calamity and tribulation.
In the distance, Hei Lou Lan also watched Tai Bai Yun Sheng's ascension with heavy eyes.
He needed this experience too.
But unlike Fang Ming, Hei Lou Lan was still missing the strength path Immortal Gu he required. His Great Strength True Martial Physique was still a sealed danger, and every failure inside Eighty-Eight True Yang Building made that danger heavier.
Fang Ming only glanced at him briefly.
Hei Lou Lan was not the focus now.
Above, the willow wind stirred.
Below, the lofty tiger lowered its body.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng became the center of heaven and earth's hostility.
At the same time, deep within Imperial Court blessed land, Frost Jade Peacock was also moving.
The land spirit had not fully broken free.
But this chaos gave it a chance.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's ascension drained the blessed land.
Giant Sun's will had awakened but was restrained.
Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had fallen into a strange stillness.
For the land spirit, this was opportunity.
For everyone else, it was danger.
Three forces were now active at once.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's immortal ascension.
Frost Jade Peacock's struggle to break free.
Giant Sun's will awakening and resisting restraint.
Fang Ming looked at the sky, then at the earth.
Before, chaos had been something he used.
A cover.
A tool.
A screen behind which he could move.
Now, the chaos had grown teeth.
It could devour everyone.
The willow leaves above began to tremble, releasing thin green arcs of wind.
The lofty tiger below opened its eyes.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's expression finally turned grave.
Fang Ming silently watched.
This was the part he had to study most carefully.
His own ascension would not fail only because of human qi.
It could fail when heaven and earth struck back.