The absolute ice battlefield was silent.
Snow stretched endlessly in every direction, covering the land like a white burial cloth. The wind was cold enough to cut through flesh, and the air carried almost no vitality. Even the heaven and earth qi here felt thin and distant, as if this place had been abandoned by life itself.
Fang Ming stood on a ridge of frozen stone, looking across the battlefield.
Fairy Li Shan had chosen this place carefully.
Thin heaven and earth qi meant the heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity would be weakened. For ordinary Gu Masters, this might not be worth it. The immortal aperture formed after ascension depended heavily on heaven qi and earth qi. If the qi was insufficient, the foundation would naturally be affected.
But Hei Lou Lan was not ordinary.
She had the Great Strength True Martial Physique.
For one of the ten extreme physiques, survival mattered more than perfection.
A flawless foundation was meaningless if she died before forming it.
Fang Ming understood this better than anyone else here.
He had already crossed this threshold once.
Not far away, Hei Lou Lan stood in the center of the icy field. Her expression was calm, but the aura around her body was unstable, like a volcano about to erupt. Fairy Li Shan stood at a distance, gaze full of concern. Tai Bai Yun Sheng was even farther away, ready to provide support if needed. Fang Yuan stood silently as well, his immortal zombie body unmoving in the snowstorm.
Fairy Li Shan opened her palm.
Several Gu worms appeared, their bodies faint and ancient-looking, carrying a qi path aura.
"Small Family Qi Gu," she said.
Fang Ming's gaze moved toward them.
Ancient qi path Rank 5 Gu.
They could absorb and store heaven and earth qi, reducing the buildup of tribulation power. This was a good method, especially for dangerous ascensions.
But it was not absolute.
A mortal Gu, no matter how ancient or useful, could not truly control Heaven's Will.
It could only influence the process.
Delay it.
Weaken it.
Guide it slightly.
Hei Lou Lan looked around once, then said, "Hei Cheng's tracking method is still on me."
Fairy Li Shan's expression turned heavy.
"I searched many times," she said softly. "I still could not find it."
Fang Ming was not surprised.
Hei Cheng was not a simple Rank 7 Gu Immortal. If his tracking method could be detected casually, he would not have relied on it.
"Then assume he can find this place," Fang Ming said.
Hei Lou Lan nodded.
The first goal was clear.
Protect Hei Lou Lan until the three qi washing stage.
Once her body was washed by heaven qi, earth qi, and human qi, her dao marks would transform. If they were lucky, Hei Cheng's hidden tracking method would be cleansed at that time.
Before that, she was still exposed.
Hei Lou Lan took a breath.
Then she released the seal on her aperture.
There was no hesitation.
There was no trembling.
The moment the restraint vanished, her ten extreme aperture shattered naturally.
Heaven qi descended.
Earth qi rose.
Human qi surged from her body like a roaring tide.
The wind changed.
Dark clouds began gathering in the sky. The frozen ground trembled, cracks spreading through the thick ice. Snow flew upward instead of falling, pulled by the violent movement of qi.
Hei Lou Lan scattered Small Family Qi Gu.
The ancient qi path Gu worms flew into the sky and sank into the ground, absorbing heaven and earth qi. Some grew swollen rapidly, their bodies trembling as they reached their limit.
A few breaths later, several Small Family Qi Gu burst apart.
The qi they had absorbed returned to the world.
Fang Ming watched calmly.
As expected.
Useful, but limited.
The pressure was reduced, but not removed.
The dark clouds thickened. The wind began to howl. Soon, a strange sound came from the tribulation clouds.
At first, it was faint.
Then it grew sharper.
A purple chime formed inside the cloud.
Its sound spread across the battlefield, entering flesh, bones, blood, and thoughts.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's expression changed. Fairy Li Shan's brows tightened. Hei Lou Lan's body trembled slightly as blood began flowing from the corner of her lips.
Eight Layer Enchanting Noise.
Fang Ming raised his head.
Sound-path tribulation.
This was troublesome.
If it had been fire, lightning, beasts, or physical attacks, his strength path methods would have been extremely effective. He could lift, crush, repel, grab, and throw. But sound spread through the air, through space, through the battlefield itself. There was no single body to seize, no simple object to smash.
The sound tried to disturb his will and thoughts.
A faint light flickered inside Fang Ming's body.
Unfathomable Will Immortal Gu activated quietly.
The pressure on his mind weakened at once.
Will attacks, soul interference, thought disruption, and similar methods were not easy to use against him. Personally, Fang Ming was not afraid of this kind of interference.
But protecting others was different.
He could defend himself.
He could not make the entire battlefield silent.
Another chime formed.
Then another.
The sound grew layered, strange and dangerous. One noise stirred blood and heart rhythm. Another weakened the body. A third shook thoughts directly. Invisible sound blades began forming in the storm, slicing through falling snow and leaving thin cracks in the air.
Fang Yuan moved first, attacking the chimes in the tribulation clouds with his own methods.
Fang Ming raised his hand.
Tyrannical Push.
A huge invisible force struck upward, slamming into a forming chime. The chime shook violently and cracked, but did not fully break. Fang Ming followed immediately with Tyrannical Crash, condensing force into a heavy blow that smashed the damaged chime apart.
Another wave of flying blade noise rushed toward Hei Lou Lan.
Fang Ming appeared before her through purple smoke.
Tyrannical Repulse.
The incoming sound blades twisted, scattered, and were forced away from the area around Hei Lou Lan. Several slipped through the edges, cutting into the ice behind him, but the main danger was blocked.
Fang Ming frowned slightly.
This was inefficient.
His killer moves were powerful, but against sound calamities, each action only solved part of the problem. The sound itself continued spreading. The tribulation source continued forming. The battlefield could not be fully controlled through strength alone.
Fang Yuan continued attacking the cloud.
Fang Ming guarded the area around Hei Lou Lan and disrupted chimes when possible.
But the Eight Layer Enchanting Noise kept escalating.
More chimes formed.
The sound grew heavier, sharper, more chaotic.
Hei Lou Lan suddenly opened her eyes.
A dazzling light burst out from her gaze.
The light gathered into a pillar, piercing the tribulation cloud and striking two chimes. With a loud sound, the chimes shattered completely and did not regenerate.
Fang Ming's eyes moved slightly.
Divert Disaster Immortal Gu.
No.
Not just ordinary activation.
Hei Lou Lan had combined it with mortal Gu, using her sight to form a concentrated killer move. It was incomplete, rough, and dangerous, but its power was unmistakable.
She opened her eyes again.
Two more light pillars shot out.
Two more chimes shattered.
Blood flowed from the corners of her eyes.
Her hands trembled as she held Divert Disaster Gu. Cracks appeared on the Immortal Gu's body, and its aura became unstable.
Fairy Li Shan's face changed. "Little Lan!"
Hei Lou Lan ignored her.
There were still chimes left.
She forced her eyes open again.
The divert disaster light erupted.
The last chimes shattered.
The sound tribulation collapsed.
At the same moment, Hei Lou Lan's eyes burst.
Blood poured from her empty eye sockets.
The Divert Disaster Immortal Gu in her hand cracked apart and dissolved into countless light particles, slipping through her fingers and vanishing into the snow.
Hei Lou Lan had gone blind.
The battlefield became silent for a breath.
Fang Ming looked at her.
This was not merely talent.
Talent was given by heaven.
Resolve belonged to oneself.
Hei Lou Lan had sacrificed an Immortal Gu and both eyes without hesitation because the situation demanded it. A person who only had Great Strength True Martial Physique was valuable. But a person with Great Strength True Martial Physique and this kind of decisiveness was far more valuable.
Fang Ming's investment in her became firmer.
Hei Lou Lan did not fall.
Heaven qi and earth qi continued to surge.
Her vast human qi erupted fully, gathering with the two qi into a huge cocoon that wrapped around her body. The cocoon pulsed slowly, filled with terrifying pressure.
She had entered the second stage.
Balancing the three qi.
From this moment onward, Hei Lou Lan could no longer fight.
The defenders had to act for her.
The earth suddenly cracked.
A thunderous roar shook the battlefield.
From beneath the shattered ice, a huge white figure leapt out. Its body was hundreds of meters tall, like a snowy mountain coming to life. Its fur was white as frost, its eyes red as blood, and icicle-like spikes covered its body.
Its aura was far beyond ordinary desolate beasts.
Ancient desolate beast.
Icefall Divine Ape.
Rank 7 battle strength.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's expression turned pale.
Fairy Li Shan's eyes sharpened.
Fang Yuan's gaze became serious.
Fang Ming, however, moved immediately.
He did not wait for the ape to charge.
He did not test slowly.
He acted as if this beast was the greatest danger on the battlefield.
Purple smoke flashed.
Fang Ming appeared above the Icefall Divine Ape's shoulder.
Tyrannical Crash.
Invisible strength condensed into a huge crushing force and smashed down on the ape's neck. The Icefall Divine Ape staggered, roaring furiously as its huge arm swept toward Fang Ming.
Fang Ming vanished.
He reappeared near its other side.
Tyrannical Push.
A massive horizontal force struck the ape's ribs, forcing its mountain-like body several steps sideways. The ground cracked beneath its feet.
The ape roared and slammed both fists into the ice.
A shockwave spread toward Hei Lou Lan's cocoon.
Fang Ming landed between the shockwave and the cocoon.
Tyrannical Repulse.
The shockwave hit the repelling field and curved away, splitting into two streams that tore through the ice on both sides of the cocoon without touching it.
Then Fang Ming raised both hands.
Tyrannical Grab.
Invisible force seized the ape's left arm.
The Icefall Divine Ape tried to pull back, but Fang Ming tightened his grip.
Tyrannical Lift.
The enormous arm was forced upward.
The ape's body tilted.
Tyrannical Crash descended again.
This time, the force slammed into the ape's knee.
Crack.
The sound echoed through the battlefield.
The Icefall Divine Ape howled. Its body was terrifyingly strong, but Fang Ming did not give it time to recover. He teleported again and again, purple smoke appearing and disappearing around the ancient desolate beast like ghostly traces.
Crash.
Push.
Grab.
Lift.
Repulse.
Each immortal killer move followed the next.
There was almost no pause.
The battlefield became a display of pure force.
The Icefall Divine Ape tried to fight back. Its fists crushed mountains of ice. Its roar shook the air. Its body carried the might of an ancient desolate beast. But Fang Ming's strength path methods did not rely on standing in front of it and trading blows.
He seized its limbs.
He broke its balance.
He repelled its charges.
He crushed its joints.
He pushed its body away from Hei Lou Lan's cocoon again and again.
It was not elegant.
It was not restrained.
It was brutal.
Continuous.
Extravagant.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng stared blankly.
Fairy Li Shan was shocked.
Even Fang Yuan fell silent.
Immortal killer moves consumed immortal essence.
For normal Rank 6 Gu Immortals, every activation had to be considered. Even Fang Yuan, with multiple Immortal Gu, had to carefully calculate expenditure because his immortal zombie aperture could not produce immortal essence naturally.
But Fang Ming was using immortal killer moves like water.
Again.
Again.
Again.
As if he did not care about cost at all.
Fang Yuan watched closely.
He did not use Myriad Self.
There was no need.
More importantly, he wanted to observe.
Fang Ming's fighting style was different from his.
Myriad Self relied on numbers, encirclement, attrition, and phantom armies. It was a mature killer move system that combined strength path and enslavement path, allowing Fang Yuan to overwhelm enemies through scale.
But against Fang Ming, numbers would be far less useful.
Tyrannical Push could scatter a formation.
Tyrannical Repulse could blow away surrounding attackers.
Tyrannical Grab and Lift could seize large areas of force.
If Myriad Self's phantoms gathered, Fang Ming could wipe out huge groups with a single wide-range strength path blast.
This person was a bad match for Myriad Self.
Fang Yuan's eyes narrowed slightly.
He did not feel jealousy.
He felt caution.
Every method had weakness.
Fang Ming's methods had to have one too.
He only needed to find it.
The Icefall Divine Ape roared again and tried to leap toward Hei Lou Lan's cocoon.
Fang Ming appeared directly before its face.
For the first time, his expression grew colder.
"Tyrannical Repulse."
The ape's entire forward momentum stopped.
Then it was blasted backward.
Before its body landed, Fang Ming raised one hand.
"Tyrannical Lift."
The enormous body was pulled upward.
Then both hands pressed down.
"Tyrannical Crash."
The Icefall Divine Ape slammed into the icefield with enough force to create a crater hundreds of meters wide.
It tried to rise.
Fang Ming did not allow it.
Tyrannical Grab seized its head and neck.
Tyrannical Push twisted its body sideways.
Tyrannical Crash struck its spine.
Tyrannical Repulse shattered the icy spikes across its chest.
Again and again, Fang Ming crushed it.
The ancient desolate beast struggled, roared, and fought back, but its movements became slower. Its bones cracked. Its fur was stained with blood. Ice and flesh scattered across the battlefield.
Finally, Fang Ming appeared above it.
He raised both arms.
All the surrounding force seemed to gather into one invisible weight.
Tyrannical Crash.
The blow descended.
The Icefall Divine Ape's skull shattered.
Its body convulsed once.
Then the ancient desolate beast collapsed completely, no longer moving.
The earthly calamity was destroyed.
Snow fell over the ruined battlefield.
Fang Ming stood in the air above the corpse, breathing steadily.
He had used many immortal killer moves.
Far more than an ordinary Rank 6 Gu Immortal would dare to use in one battle.
But his expression remained calm.
This was the difference between him and Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan had more long-term treasures.
But Fang Ming had a living aperture, an extreme physique foundation, fast time flow, growing resources, mortals, formations, and a world that was beginning to move.
His immortal essence could recover.
His business could earn.
His aperture could produce.
So in battle, when the situation demanded it, he could afford to be wasteful.
Fang Yuan looked at him silently.
Fairy Li Shan slowly let out a breath.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng swallowed.
Inside the three qi cocoon, Hei Lou Lan continued balancing heaven qi, earth qi, and human qi.
The cocoon pulsed steadily.
For now, she was still alive.