The Icefall Divine Ape's body collapsed into the shattered icefield.
Its enormous frame lay motionless beneath the falling snow, skull crushed, limbs broken, frost-white fur stained with blood. The aura of the ancient desolate beast faded rapidly, and the battlefield became quiet for a brief moment.
Fang Ming stood above it, breathing evenly.
He had used many immortal killer moves.
Tyrannical Crash, Tyrannical Push, Tyrannical Grab, Tyrannical Lift, Tyrannical Repulse.
Again and again.
Each move consumed immortal essence. Each move placed pressure on mortal Gu. Each move would have made an ordinary Rank 6 Gu Immortal's heart ache.
But Fang Ming's expression did not change.
His aperture was alive.
It was vast, fast, and already beginning to prosper. Five junglefowl formations produced constantly. Sixty thousand mortals had begun settling into villages. Forests, beasts, buildings, mortal Gu, and resource points were gradually taking shape.
His immortal essence could recover.
So when strength was needed, he dared to spend it.
Below him, the Icefall Divine Ape's corpse suddenly changed.
Its flesh did not remain.
Its bones did not remain.
Its blood did not sink into the ice.
The enormous body began to dissolve, turning into faint formless traces that rose like mist. There was no smell of blood, no beast soul cry, no material harvest. Instead, something profound and invisible surged upward.
Fang Ming's eyes narrowed.
The formless traces rushed into him.
For one breath, the entire battlefield vanished from his senses.
He was no longer standing above the absolute ice battlefield.
He was running.
A huge body charged across frozen land, each step shaking mountains. Muscles pulled like iron chains. Bones bore weight like pillars. Frost wind cut across fur, but the body did not slow. Strength was not merely force. It was weight, direction, support, balance, resistance, eruption.
Then the scene changed.
A beast body twisted.
Limbs shifted.
Bones rearranged.
Power moved differently through different forms. A fist, a claw, a hoof, a wing, a tail—each carried strength in another way. Transformation was not merely changing shape. It was changing how power flowed.
Fang Ming's thoughts trembled.
This was not ordinary information.
It was not a written inheritance.
It was not someone explaining a killer move.
It was a fragment of understanding from heaven and earth itself, carrying traces of the Great Dao.
Reckless Savage true meaning.
The founder of strength path and transformation path.
Fang Ming froze in the air.
The true meaning did not need words. It entered his mind and aperture like a brand, leaving behind comprehension that could be slowly digested later.
Strength path.
Transformation path.
Body structure.
Force control.
The way dao marks moved through flesh.
The way power gathered before impact.
The way brute force could be subtle.
Several flaws in his Tyrannical killer moves seemed to flash before him. The gap between Tyrannical Lift and Tyrannical Crash. The instability in Tyrannical Repulse. The waste in Tyrannical Push. The roughness in using Tyrannical Strength Gu and Strong Lift Gu together.
A path to improvement appeared faintly.
Fang Ming wanted to stop and comprehend.
But only for an instant.
Hei Lou Lan was still inside the three qi cocoon.
The battlefield was not over.
More importantly, the true meaning that had entered him would not vanish. It had already become his gain. He could comprehend it later inside his aperture, slowly and safely.
But the opportunity outside would not wait.
Fang Ming raised his head.
Across the icefield, faint beast shadows began to form from the scattered remnants of the earthly calamity. They were much smaller than the Icefall Divine Ape. Some resembled frost wolves. Some looked like white bears. Some were ape-like shadows no taller than mortal beasts. A few took the form of strange hooved creatures, their bodies half-real and half-illusory.
They were not true beasts.
They were remaining external forms of true meaning.
Each contained far less than the Icefall Divine Ape.
But there were many.
Fang Ming's gaze sharpened.
Comprehension could wait.
Collection could not.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng, who had been staring from afar, finally reacted. "What happened to him just now?"
Fairy Li Shan's expression was deeply moved.
"So the rumor was true."
Tai Bai Yun Sheng turned toward her. "What rumor?"
Fairy Li Shan looked across the absolute ice battlefield. Snow and wind passed around her, but her voice carried clearly.
"Reckless Savage Demon Venerable once fought here. After the battle destroyed this land, he transformed into an immemorial ice phoenix and breathed profound ice to restore it. Because he was the founder of strength path and transformation path, traces of his true meaning remained imprinted in this icy plain."
Tai Bai Yun Sheng's expression changed.
Fairy Li Shan continued, "There has long been a rumor in Northern Plains. If a strength path or transformation path Gu Master undergoes immortal ascension here, the tribulation may resonate with Reckless Savage's dao traces. The calamity forms can become external manifestations of true meaning."
She looked at the place where the Icefall Divine Ape had collapsed.
"Destroying those forms releases the true meaning. Whoever destroys them can receive it."
Tai Bai Yun Sheng inhaled sharply.
True meaning.
Teachings from a Rank 9 venerable.
This was not a normal inheritance. This was not a Gu recipe or a killer move. It was comprehension of the Great Dao itself.
Fairy Li Shan's gaze flickered. "It is said this rumor came from Domination Immortal Chu Du. Three hundred years ago, he became a strength path Gu Immortal here and supposedly benefited from this true meaning."
Tai Bai Yun Sheng looked back at Fang Ming.
His expression was complicated.
Such a thing was an opportunity that even Gu Immortals could dream about their whole lives and never meet.
Fang Yuan's gaze had already changed.
He understood the value faster than Tai Bai Yun Sheng.
Attainment realm was not simple knowledge. It represented one's understanding of heaven and earth, of law fragments, of the essence behind a path. Higher attainment allowed a Gu Immortal to create better killer moves, refine better Gu, adapt faster, and turn the same resources into greater strength.
Fang Ming had just received Reckless Savage true meaning.
And not a small portion.
The Icefall Divine Ape had been the core of the earthly calamity, an ancient desolate beast manifestation with Rank 7 battle strength. The true meaning inside it was certainly the greatest part.
Fang Yuan felt a trace of regret.
He had stepped back to observe Fang Ming's fighting style.
That decision had not been wrong.
Fang Ming's methods were dangerous, especially against Myriad Self. Observing them had value.
But now, the result was obvious.
Fang Ming had obtained the biggest gain.
If Fang Yuan had joined the fight earlier, he might have obtained a share.
Regret flashed only briefly.
Then Fang Yuan moved.
He was not someone who stood still after recognizing profit.
Myriad Self.
Strength path phantoms poured out like a tide.
One thousand.
Ten thousand.
More.
The phantom army spread across the icefield, rushing toward the smaller beast shadows. Fang Yuan did not try to fight Fang Ming for the largest share. That had already been taken. Instead, he moved to collect what remained.
Fang Ming also moved.
Purple smoke flashed.
He appeared above a cluster of frost wolf shadows.
Tyrannical Push.
A wide invisible force smashed forward. Dozens of wolf shadows shattered at once, dissolving into faint true meaning traces. The traces rushed into Fang Ming, much weaker than the Icefall Divine Ape's portion, but still real.
He did not stop.
Tyrannical Crash.
A group of white bear shadows were crushed into the ice.
Tyrannical Repulse.
Surrounding beast phantoms were blasted apart.
Tyrannical Grab.
Several hooved shadows were seized mid-charge and slammed together, breaking into mist-like true meaning.
Fang Yuan's phantom army swept from another direction.
The smaller true meaning forms were not strong individually, but they were numerous and scattered. Myriad Self was well suited to covering such a wide battlefield. Strength path phantoms surged like waves, surrounding, crushing, and tearing apart beast shadows.
Whenever a phantom destroyed a true meaning form, the released true meaning entered Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's eyes grew brighter.
This was not as large as the portion Fang Ming had obtained.
But quantity could make up for some of the difference.
Fang Ming glanced once at Fang Yuan's army.
He did not stop him.
The battlefield still needed to be cleared. These true meaning forms were also part of the calamity. Destroying them helped Hei Lou Lan's ascension.
More importantly, open conflict now was foolish.
The opportunity was fading.
Both understood this.
Neither spoke.
Neither cooperated warmly.
But both moved faster.
Fang Ming's style was wide and direct. Each Tyrannical killer move cleared an area. His invisible force attacks were extremely suitable for breaking clusters of weaker phantoms. He did not need to chase one by one. He only needed to gather, crush, repel, or smash.
Fang Yuan's style was different.
His phantom army covered more ground. Countless strength path phantoms surged forward, fighting like an army of disposable soldiers. They did not care about injury or loss. They swarmed smaller true meaning forms and shattered them by number.
One side was like giant invisible hands crushing the battlefield.
The other was like a sea of fists drowning it.
Tai Bai Yun Sheng watched silently.
Fairy Li Shan's expression was complicated.
She had known about the rumor.
Hei Lou Lan had chosen this place partly because of it.
But even she had not expected Fang Ming to destroy the Icefall Divine Ape alone, seize the greatest portion, and then immediately continue collecting more without pausing to digest it.
This person was decisive.
Greedy.
Controlled.
A dangerous combination.
Inside the three qi cocoon, Hei Lou Lan continued balancing heaven qi, earth qi, and human qi.
The cocoon slowly shrank.
Its aura became denser.
The transformation was proceeding.
But she could not move.
She could not fight.
She could not speak.
Outside, the two strength path Gu Immortals slaughtered the remaining true meaning forms as quickly as possible.
Fang Ming shattered another cluster.
A new true meaning trace entered him.
For an instant, he felt the body of a wolf pouncing through snow, the spine bending, claws gripping, force gathering through the hind legs before exploding forward.
Then he crushed another shadow.
This time, he felt the weight of a bear body, the way shoulders bore impact, the way mass itself became strength.
Another.
A hooved beast.
Force traveling through four limbs.
Another.
An ape-like form.
Arms longer than legs, upper-body strength dominating movement.
Each portion was small.
Each portion added a little.
Fang Ming did not fully comprehend them now. He only accepted and stored them.
Later, inside his aperture, he would sort through everything.
Later, he would refine his Tyrannical system.
Later, he would reduce those activation gaps and make his force flow smoother.
Now, he hunted.
Fang Yuan also moved faster.
He knew Fang Ming was gaining more efficiently in dense areas, so he sent Myriad Self farther outward, targeting scattered groups. His phantoms spread like a net, refusing to leave scraps behind.
The true meaning forms dwindled rapidly.
The icefield became emptier.
The wind grew quieter.
After some time, Fang Ming destroyed the last cluster near the cocoon.
Fang Yuan's phantoms finished sweeping the outer edge.
The final traces of true meaning entered their respective bodies.
The opportunity ended.
Fang Ming stood in the air, looking calm.
He had gained the largest portion from the Icefall Divine Ape and many smaller portions afterward.
Fang Yuan had gained less, but still obtained meaningful true meaning through quantity.
Neither mentioned how much they received.
Neither asked.
Some things did not need words.
Fang Yuan looked at Fang Ming from a distance.
Rich.
Strong.
A living aperture.
A profitable food beast business.
A strange teleportation method.
A strength path combat system that countered Myriad Self.
Now, Reckless Savage true meaning.
This person had become far more troublesome than he first appeared.
Fang Ming also glanced at Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan had reacted quickly after understanding the opportunity. He had not wasted time on regret. Even after missing the largest share, he immediately used Myriad Self to collect smaller benefits.
As expected.
Fang Yuan was still Fang Yuan.
The three qi cocoon pulsed again.
Everyone's attention returned to Hei Lou Lan.
The heavenly tribulation had been destroyed.
The earthly calamity had been cleared.
The Reckless Savage true meaning opportunity had passed.
But the ascension was not finished.
Hei Lou Lan was still balancing the three qi.
Until she succeeded, everything remained uncertain.