Giant Sun's will barely survived.
The chaotic branching teeth tore through the sky like pale fangs of heaven, striking Eighty-Eight True Yang Building again and again. Each impact carved deep scars into the Immortal Gu House, ripping through layers of defenses that had stood for hundreds of thousands of years.
The golden will wrapped around the building had been thick and majestic at first, like armor forged from sunlight.
Now, it was thin.
Torn.
Dim.
Giant Sun's will had endured Fang Yuan's calamity, but the price was terrifying. Large portions of his will had been destroyed, and even Eighty-Eight True Yang Building had been pierced in several places.
But before Giant Sun's will could even recover a breath, the sky changed again.
Not the sky of Northern Plains.
Not the sky of Imperial Court blessed land.
The sky above Eighty-Eight True Yang Building itself seemed to burn.
A red glow spread across the heavens.
At first, it looked like sunset.
Then it deepened.
Crimson clouds rolled together, thick and heavy, as if molten iron had been poured into the firmament. Heat spread rapidly. Snow melted. Trees blackened. The air twisted.
Then the first drop fell.
It was not rain.
It was lava.
A blazing drop of molten fire struck the surface of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building and exploded into a pool of burning liquid. The ancient structure trembled, and the Gu worms inside screamed without sound as formations began to collapse.
Then came the second drop.
The third.
The hundredth.
The sky opened.
Fire rained down.
Molten lava fell like a storm, burning through trees, earth, walls, Gu formations, and human bodies alike. Gu Masters who had survived Fang Yuan's chaos screamed as the fire rain descended. Some activated defensive Gu, only for the heaven and earth qi in the surroundings to backlash. Some tried to flee, but the ground beneath them split apart.
Then came the earthquake.
Imperial Court blessed land groaned.
The earth buckled like a wounded beast. Cracks tore across the ground, swallowing courtyards, treemen, Gu Masters, and entire sections of broken palace structures. Lava surged from some of the cracks, joining the rain of fire from above.
Giant Sun's will roared.
"You dare! Another one! Another ascension!"
His voice shook with fury, but beneath the fury was something else.
Exhaustion.
Fang Yuan's ascension had already forced him to bear calamity. Now another immortal ascension had appeared inside the chaos, and this one carried the aura of the Great Strength True Martial Physique.
A ten extreme physique ascension.
Even under normal circumstances, such an ascension would be terrifying.
But now it was overlapping with Fang Yuan's disaster, the shattered state of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, the loosened seal of Frost Jade Peacock, the luck path supreme inheritance, and the heavenly tribulations already mutating outside.
Giant Sun's will had protected the building once.
He had protected it twice.
But heaven and earth did not care about his anger.
The calamity continued.
A roar came from the burning horizon.
Then another.
Then another.
Five enormous figures appeared inside Imperial Court blessed land.
Desolate beasts.
They were not true living creatures born naturally in this moment, but calamity forms shaped by heaven and earth, drawn out by Fang Ming's ascension. Each one carried a terrifying aura, and each one charged toward Eighty-Eight True Yang Building as if the Immortal Gu House itself were their prey.
One had a body like a black bull, but its horns burned with white flames.
One crawled like a giant lizard, leaving molten footprints behind.
One was a winged beast made of smoke and ember, its wings scattering fire rain with every flap.
One resembled a stone ape, its body covered in cracks glowing with lava.
The last was a long serpent with armor-like scales, moving through earth and flame as if both belonged to it.
The five desolate beasts attacked together.
Giant Sun's will howled, gathering what remained of his golden will into a massive hand. The hand descended, crushing the winged ember beast before it could fully spread its wings. Fire exploded outward, blasting apart a section of the broken Sacred Palace.
One desolate beast died.
Four remained.
And they continued forward.
Inside the true inheritance secluded domain, Fang Ming heard none of the screams clearly.
Everything outside was distant.
Blurred.
Like thunder heard underwater.
His world had narrowed to three qi.
Heaven qi descended.
Earth qi rose.
Human qi burned.
The Great Strength True Martial Physique made his human qi violent beyond expectation. His body was like a furnace, and the three qi were the hammer striking it again and again. His flesh split. His bones cracked. Blood leaked from his skin, only to be burned away by the qi surrounding him.
The first balance had been difficult.
The next stage was worse.
His shattered aperture pulled the three qi inward. A new space began forming where his mortal aperture had once existed. It was not gentle. It did not unfold like a peaceful world. It expanded with force, as if a mountain were being driven into existence inside his body.
Fang Ming gritted his teeth.
His consciousness trembled.
The immortal aperture was forming.
Sky.
Earth.
Time.
Space.
Dao marks.
Everything had to take shape while the three qi continued tearing at him.
The strength path dao marks in his body surged toward the forming aperture. His Great Strength True Martial Physique pushed them forward like a flood. Steel Body Gu trembled violently, resonating with the new world being born inside him.
Fang Ming's muscles tore open.
His skin split.
His arms bent at unnatural angles before slowly straightening again under the force of Steel Body's foundation.
He was not unharmed.
Not even close.
He had prepared for this ascension from the start. He had Steel Body Gu. He had the Steel Body inheritance. He had observed Tai Bai Yun Sheng. He had copied human qi support. He had borrowed fortune from Ma Hong Yun. He had gained food path inheritance.
But preparation was not immunity.
It only gave him the right to struggle.
The immortal aperture expanded.
Fang Ming felt its grade rising.
The Great Strength True Martial Physique did not create a mild blessed land. Strength path dao marks poured into the aperture like molten metal, shaping mountains, heavy earth, dense force, and a sky that seemed to press downward with terrifying weight.
The aperture stabilized violently.
Fang Ming coughed blood.
But he smiled.
He had become a Gu Immortal.
Strength path.
Rank six.
But the ascension did not end.
Unlike Fang Yuan, who had been forced into ascension under desperate circumstances, Fang Ming's breakthrough had been planned. His foundation had been prepared. His body had enough accumulation. His strength path dao marks were dense. His ten extreme physique was real. His path was clear.
So when heaven and earth still resonated with him, Fang Ming did not let the chance pass.
Two mortal Gu flew out.
The first was dark gold, shaped like a heavy beetle with a horned back.
Tyrannical Strength Gu.
The second was pale gray, faint and quiet, like a closed eye made from mist.
Unfathomable Will Gu.
Both came from the strength inheritance.
Both had been mortal Gu.
Now, Fang Ming threw them into the remaining heaven and earth qi.
The qi surged around them instantly, forming two cocoons.
Pain struck Fang Ming again.
The immortal aperture had just formed. His body had just survived the first transformation. Now he was forcing heaven and earth to refine two Gu at the edge of his limit.
Outside, fire rain intensified.
The earth split further.
The four remaining desolate beasts attacked Eighty-Eight True Yang Building from different sides. The black bull smashed into a broken wall and sent fragments flying. The stone ape tore apart a formation pillar. The serpent burrowed through the foundation. The molten lizard spat burning earth onto a collapsing floor.
Giant Sun's will tried to hold the building together.
Then the formless hands arrived.
Blue hands descended from the sky, silent and terrifying.
Some had one finger.
Some had five.
Some had six.
A few had seven.
And in the distance, an eight-fingered formless hand drifted like a nightmare.
They ignored flesh.
They ignored blood.
They reached for Gu.
Gu Masters screamed as their Gu worms were snatched away. Some lost movement Gu and fell into lava. Some lost defensive Gu and were burned alive. Some lost vital Gu and collapsed instantly, their apertures shaking from the damage.
Formless hands.
Fire rain.
Earthquake.
Desolate beasts.
Chaotic branching teeth aftermath.
Fang Yuan's ascension.
Fang Ming's ascension.
Two Immortal Gu refinements.
Too much.
It was simply too much.
Giant Sun's will stared at the disaster swallowing Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
For the first time, the ancient will went silent.
He had endured Fang Yuan.
He had endured Tai Bai Yun Sheng.
He had endured Frost Jade Peacock.
He had endured Central Continent's arrangements.
He had endured calamity after calamity.
But now, heaven and earth had stacked disaster upon disaster until even the inheritance treasure of Giant Sun Immortal Venerable could no longer breathe.
A formless hand passed through a damaged section of the building and seized a Gu worm from the structure itself.
A desolate beast tore open another floor.
Lava rain poured through the gaps.
The remaining Giant Sun's will trembled.
Then it loosened.
Not completely.
Not willingly.
But the will that had been forcing itself to defend every layer, every Gu worm, every structure, finally lost its fighting spirit.
The golden armor around Eighty-Eight True Yang Building thinned.
Then broke.
The tribulations struck directly.
The first impact shattered a tower section.
The second tore open the inner halls.
The third caused an entire floor to collapse inward.
Gu worms died in countless numbers. Formations broke. True inheritances flew wildly. The carefully arranged structure of the Immortal Gu House, built across countless years and generations, began to crumble like a mountain eaten hollow from within.
Eighty-Eight True Yang Building shattered.
The sound was not one explosion.
It was thousands.
Walls collapsing.
Floors tearing.
Gu formations bursting.
Inheritance lights scattering.
People screaming.
Desolate beasts roaring.
Lava falling.
Formless hands drifting silently through the ruin.
The Immortal Gu House that had stood as the pride of Northern Plains broke apart under the combined weight of two ascensions, mutated tribulations, hidden schemes, and heaven's wrath.
Inside the true inheritance secluded domain, the two qi cocoons around Fang Ming cracked.
The first cocoon burst open with a heavy golden light.
Tyrannical Strength Immortal Gu emerged.
Its body was larger now, still beetle-like, but its shell carried countless dark-gold lines resembling dao marks. The moment it appeared, Fang Ming felt his strength path dao marks stir in response.
This Gu did not create strength by itself.
It amplified strength.
A strength path killer move would become more violent through it.
A punch would become heavier.
A strength path attack would multiply according to the dao marks supporting it.
The more strength path dao marks Fang Ming possessed, the greater its effect.
For Fang Ming, this Gu was perfect.
The second cocoon opened more quietly.
Unfathomable Will Immortal Gu emerged like a gray eye opening in fog.
There was no violent aura.
No heavy pressure.
But the moment it appeared, Fang Ming felt a cool barrier form deep within his mind and soul.
Wisdom path probes.
Will attacks.
Soul interference.
Mental invasion.
This Gu existed to resist them.
Fang Ming's smile widened slightly despite the blood covering his lips.
He had gained them.
Two Immortal Gu.
But the price came immediately.
A streak of fire rain pierced through the damaged space of the true inheritance secluded domain, striking near him. The explosion threw Fang Ming backward. Before he stabilized, a formless hand brushed past him, nearly touching Steel Body Gu.
His expression changed.
He pulled Steel Body Gu back into the deepest part of his immortal aperture and shifted his body with all the strength he had left.
The formless hand missed by a hair.
Another shockwave struck him.
His newly formed immortal aperture trembled.
Fang Ming spat out blood.
His right arm was broken.
His chest was burned.
His back was torn open by spatial fragments from the collapsing inheritance domain.
He was a Gu Immortal now, but he was far from safe.
The world was falling apart around him.
A desolate beast roared somewhere outside.
A floor of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building collapsed completely.
Thousands of Gu Masters died without even understanding what had happened. Some were crushed. Some were burned. Some lost Gu to formless hands and fell helplessly into disaster. Some were swallowed by cracks in the earth.
The true inheritance secluded domain itself began to break.
Inheritance lights scattered in every direction, no longer following their original paths. Some flew into the outside world. Some collided and exploded. Some were snatched by formless hands.
Fang Ming forced himself upright.
His body screamed in pain.
His new immortal aperture shook, but it held.
Tyrannical Strength Immortal Gu and Unfathomable Will Immortal Gu were secured.
Steel Body Gu was still safe.
Lesser Human Qi Gu was still safe.
He had survived.
Barely.
Then something deeper changed.
Fang Ming froze for a breath.
The copy ability that had accompanied him until now shifted with his ascension.
Before, he had one copy chance each month.
Genuine Copy or Counterfeit Copy.
He had to choose.
But now, his new strength path immortal aperture formed its own cycle.
One Genuine Copy each month.
His remaining mortal aperture, the one that had not yet ascended, retained the other side.
One Counterfeit Copy each month.
One true.
One false.
Both every month.
And there was more.
A new function opened quietly in his mind.
Killer move compression.
If Fang Ming possessed the required Gu worms and repeatedly performed a killer move, the copy ability could study its structure. It would not happen instantly. It might take days. It might take weeks. But eventually, the effect of that killer move could be condensed into a new Gu.
Not equal to the full killer move.
A single Gu could not perfectly replace the combined force of several Gu worms working together.
The result would be weaker.
Simpler.
Less flexible.
But faster.
Easier.
More stable.
In a battle, that difference could decide life and death.
Fang Ming stood amid collapsing space, blood dripping from his chin, firelight reflecting in his brown eyes.
The price had been terrible.
His body was broken.
His immortal aperture was newly formed and unstable.
The battlefield had become hell.
Eighty-Eight True Yang Building was shattering around him, and four desolate beasts still roamed outside while formless hands searched for Gu like silent thieves.
But Fang Ming had ascended.
He had refined Tyrannical Strength Immortal Gu.
He had refined Unfathomable Will Immortal Gu.
His copy ability had evolved.
One monthly Genuine Copy.
One monthly Counterfeit Copy.
And a new path to turn killer moves into Gu.
Fang Ming wiped blood from his lips.
Then he laughed softly.
Not loudly.
Not madly.
Just once.
A low laugh swallowed by the roar of collapse.
"The harvest was worth it."