Chapter 182: Star Constellation
Time passed quickly on Yi Tian Mountain.
One month went by.
The unfinished Yi Tian Village from before was no longer the same. Wooden walls had been broken and rebuilt. Earth trenches had been dug, filled with blood, then deepened again. Watchtowers stood crookedly along several slopes, some newly made and some repaired after battle. The smell of smoke, medicine, sweat, and blood had become part of the mountain air.
The righteous and demonic battles had already erupted several times.
At first, Yi Tian Village only faced probes and small clashes. Later, the righteous path began sending stronger forces, and the demonic path responded with more ruthless reinforcements. Every few days, new names appeared. Some came with fame, some came with hatred, some came because they had nowhere else to go, and some came because they saw profit in chaos. The battlefield grew like a wound that refused to close.
Chen Luo survived through all of it.
He fought when ordered. He retreated when his group retreated. He carried stones when the village needed repairs. He carried wounded Gu Masters when the medical ward overflowed. He took injuries that were neither too light nor too severe, spoke only when spoken to, and kept the same cautious, ordinary manner that he had shown when first joining Yi Tian Village.
Some people knew his face by now.
Few cared about his name.
That was exactly what Fang Ming wanted.
After the latest righteous-demonic battle, Yi Tian Village's medical ward was filled again. The so-called ward was only a group of connected wooden rooms and temporary shelters. Straw mats covered the ground, bloodstained cloth hung from beams, and the smell inside was so thick that even veteran demonic Gu Masters avoided staying there unless they had no choice.
Wounded people groaned on beds and mats. Some cursed the righteous path. Some cursed their own luck. Some stared silently at the ceiling, knowing they would not live until morning. Healing Gu Masters moved from one patient to another, their expressions numb from exhaustion. Servants brought hot water, took away bloody bandages, and dragged dead bodies outside before the smell became worse.
Chen Luo lay on a narrow bed near the inner wall.
His left shoulder was wrapped in bandages. His face was pale, his breathing was slightly weak, and dried blood marked the side of his sleeve. To the healers, he was only another injured rank three Gu Master who had survived the last battle by luck. His injury was unpleasant, but not urgent. People like him could wait while those with crushed organs, poison, or torn limbs were treated first.
Fang Ming did not mind.
The medical ward was noisy, bloody, and miserable, but it was also useful.
Here, Chen Luo could lie still without drawing suspicion. Here, no one expected him to patrol or build walls. Here, if his breathing slowed or his eyes lost focus for a moment, others would only think his wound was acting up. The place that demonic Gu Masters avoided had become one of the best covers in Yi Tian Village.
Beneath the mountain, Fang Ming's will moved through Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage.
After a month of hidden work, the first stage was complete.
Most of the battle will inside Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage had already been converted by him. The pure battle will that once belonged to no one had been drawn, guided, divided, and refined until it responded to Fang Ming's control. The Southern Border Gu Immortals outside had fought through their pawns for weeks, wagering, calculating, and struggling against one another, but they were still outside the board.
Fang Ming was inside.
He had used Chen Luo's body as a mask and Yi Tian Mountain's battles as cover. Refinement path understanding let him handle the transformation of ownership. Formation path understanding let him read the structure of the Immortal Gu House and avoid damaging the process. His preparations let him move faster than the Southern Border immortals believed possible.
Now, another step had succeeded.
A faint joy rose in Fang Ming's heart.
It was not wild excitement. It was not relief. It was the satisfaction of seeing a long arrangement land where it should. In the medical ward, Chen Luo's fingers paused slightly against the edge of the blanket. His breathing changed for half a breath, then returned to its previous rhythm.
No one noticed.
A healer walked past his bed without stopping. Two wounded Gu Masters nearby were arguing about who had retreated first in the last battle. A dying man at the far side gave one last rasping breath, and a servant covered his face with a torn cloth.
Chen Luo remained an injured mortal among injured mortals.
Fang Ming, hidden beneath that shell, looked at the remaining foreign battle wills inside Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage.
He could wipe them out now.
But before that, he had one more thing to do.
A thin thread of will moved through the hidden depths of Yi Tian Mountain, avoiding the attention of the Southern Border Gu Immortals and slipping toward another concealed presence.
Fang Ming's message was simple.
"Fang Yuan, you are in Yi Tian Mountain."
There was no response.
Fang Ming was not surprised. Fang Yuan was cautious by nature. A sudden message exposing his position would not make him answer carelessly. Silence was the correct reaction.
Fang Ming continued, "You do not need to reply if you still want to pretend you are not here. I have already taken control of most of the battle will inside Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage. Very soon, I will wipe out the remaining wills fighting for it."
Still no response.
But this time, the silence changed slightly.
Far away in another corner of Yi Tian Mountain, Fang Yuan's expression did not move, but his thoughts sharpened. He had hidden himself well. He had also been working toward Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, yet Fang Ming had contacted him directly and spoken with certainty. More importantly, Fang Ming claimed to have already taken the lead.
Fang Yuan did not believe it immediately.
Fang Ming seemed to understand his doubt and laughed softly through the message. "Fellow Gu Immortal Fang Yuan, I have a proposal. Let us collaborate. I control Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, but activating it will consume many resources, and escaping with it from Southern Border's Gu Immortals will also carry a heavy cost. You still have Giant Sun immortal essence. Work with me. We take Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage out of Yi Tian Mountain first, then split it between us."
This time, Fang Yuan answered.
"How do we split it?"
His voice was calm, but his heart was far from calm.
Fang Ming had not asked whether he had Giant Sun immortal essence. He had stated it directly. This meant Fang Ming's knowledge was deeper than expected. Fang Yuan did not like cooperating under unclear circumstances, but he also understood value. If Fang Ming truly controlled most of Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage's battle will, then ignoring him would be foolish.
Fang Ming replied, "You refine half of the Immortal Gu, and I refine the other half. We do not dismantle the Immortal Gu House. That would waste its value. For use, we rotate monthly. I use it for one month, then you use it for one month. If damage happens while one side is using it, that side pays for the repair. If they refuse or cannot pay, they lose the right to use it permanently."
Fang Yuan considered quickly.
The split was simple, harsh, and practical. It did not rely on trust more than necessary. If both sides refined part of the Immortal Gu, neither could easily monopolize the whole Gu House. Rotating use gave both sides access without destroying the prize. Repair responsibility also prevented one party from using it recklessly and handing the damage to the other.
Most importantly, Fang Ming needed his Giant Sun immortal essence.
That gave Fang Yuan weight in the cooperation.
"This is fair," Fang Yuan replied.
Fang Ming laughed, and this time his joy was not hidden in the message. "Then prepare yourself. Once I wipe out the Southern Border Gu Immortals' wills, their backlash will come immediately."
The communication ended.
Fang Ming did not hesitate.
Inside Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, his battle will surged like a dark tide. The remaining battle wills of the Southern Border Gu Immortals were scattered in different areas, each connected to their pawns, each still competing with others according to the gambling contest. They were prepared to fight one another, not prepared for a hidden will that had already swallowed most of the battlefield.
Fang Ming struck.
One will collapsed before it could react. Another tried to resist but was swallowed by a larger wave. Several battle wills gathered instinctively, but Fang Ming's control of the Immortal Gu House's inner structure had already surpassed theirs. He cut their connection, surrounded them, and crushed them one after another.
In only a short span of time, the Southern Border Gu Immortals' efforts over the past month were erased.
Inside the medical ward, Chen Luo's eyes opened slightly.
Outside Yi Tian Mountain, fury exploded.
Immortal auras erupted one after another, pressing down like mountains. The sky above Yi Tian Mountain changed color as powerful wills swept across the area. Gu Immortal voices crashed down like thunder, shaking wooden beams and causing dust to fall from the medical ward ceiling.
"Who is it?"
"Who dared to steal from us?"
"Come out!"
"You secretly entered the board and toyed with all of Southern Border's Gu Immortals. I will tear out your soul and burn it for a thousand years!"
The entire Yi Tian Mountain fell into chaos.
Mortal Gu Masters did not understand what had happened. They only felt immortal auras descending from the sky, vast and suffocating. Some fell to the ground directly. Some gripped their weapons with trembling hands. Some thought the righteous path had invited immortals to destroy Yi Tian Village. Some thought the demonic side had angered the heavens.
Inside the medical ward, panic spread faster than fire.
A wounded Gu Master tried to stand and fell from his bed. Another dragged himself toward the door, leaving a trail of blood behind him. The healers froze for a moment before shouting for everyone to remain calm, but their own faces were pale.
Chen Luo's face also turned pale. His body tensed, and his eyes showed fear and confusion like the injured people around him. He did not overact. A wounded rank three Gu Master facing immortal wrath did not need to scream to look terrified.
At the same time, Fang Ming continued his work.
The Southern Border Gu Immortals were furious, but they were not foolish. They did not destroy Yi Tian Mountain blindly. The forbidden zone still existed. Their pawns were inside. Some had left Immortal Gu with their mortal representatives. The righteous path immortals cared about reputation, while demonic and lone immortals cared about their own investments. More importantly, the prize they wanted was still beneath Yi Tian Mountain. If they attacked without restraint, they might ruin what they were trying to seize.
So they searched.
Investigative methods swept across the mountain. Wills, thoughts, probing lights, sound path ripples, blood path traces, and countless other methods moved over the mortal Gu Masters. Fang Ming felt several of them pass across Chen Luo's body. Familiar Face, his other methods, his sealed immortal aperture, and Ghostly Concealment formed layered protection. The probes found only an injured rank three Gu Master with ordinary aura and ordinary fear.
But the Gu Immortals did not rely only on direct investigation.
Their pressure descended through mortal pawns.
Orders spread quickly through both righteous and demonic factions. Suspicious people were to be checked. Those who could not explain themselves were to be killed. Injured people, outsiders, unknown arrivals, people who had acted strangely during recent battles, all became targets.
The medical ward soon became one of the first places to be purged.
The door burst open.
Xiao Shan entered with several Gu Masters behind him, including rank five experts whose expressions were cold and murderous. The injured people inside froze. Some tried to speak, but the killing intent in Xiao Shan's eyes made their voices die in their throats.
Several invisible pressures were clearly forcing his hand. Xiao Shan did not know the full truth, but he knew Gu Immortals were furious. If he did not act, Yi Tian Village might be crushed before the righteous path even attacked again.
He pointed toward one bed. "That one."
A rank four demonic Gu Master stepped forward and slashed down. The injured man on the bed barely had time to scream before his throat was opened.
Xiao Shan pointed again. "That one too."
Another wounded Gu Master tried to crawl away, but a fist smashed into his back and broke his spine. Blood splashed across the floorboards.
The medical ward turned silent in terror.
Then Xiao Shan's gaze moved toward Chen Luo.
For a moment, Fang Ming felt a probing method brush past him again. It was not certain. It was not proof. It was only suspicion cast wide under pressure. In such a purge, suspicion was already a death sentence.
Xiao Shan pointed. "Chen Luo."
A rank five Gu Master walked over.
Chen Luo's eyes widened. He struggled to sit up, his expression filled with fear and confusion. "Leader Xiao, I fought in the last battle. I am not a righteous path spy. There must be a mistake!"
No one cared.
The rank five Gu Master's palm struck Chen Luo's chest.
Bones cracked. Blood burst from Chen Luo's mouth. His body flew backward, hit the wall, and slid down onto the floor. His eyes remained open, but the light inside them faded quickly.
Chen Luo died.
At least, that was what everyone saw.
Xiao Shan did not stay to check closely. Under immortal pressure, he had too many places to purge and too little time. Several more suspicious injured people were killed before he led his group out of the medical ward, leaving behind blood, corpses, and trembling survivors.
Chen Luo's corpse lay among the dead.
Fang Ming continued taking over Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage.
The identity had served its purpose. Living Chen Luo could be investigated again. Dead Chen Luo would soon become one more corpse among many in a chaotic medical ward. If needed, the body could vanish later in the confusion. For now, death was a cleaner mask than survival.
Beneath Yi Tian Mountain, Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage opened itself to Fang Ming layer by layer.
The Immortal Gu House was time path.
The more Fang Ming controlled it, the more he understood its structure. Its central idea was not simple defense. It received attacks, sealed them through time path power, delayed and stored them, then returned them. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A strike sent toward it could become a strike sent back.
As a formation path and refinement path grandmaster, Fang Ming saw more than power. He saw technique. To receive an external force without letting it explode immediately, to preserve its structure, to delay its eruption, and then to return it along a controlled path — this principle could inspire more than combat. Future formations, teleport tattoos, battlefield methods, counterattack systems, even certain defensive arrangements in his aperture could all benefit from studying this Immortal Gu House.
But now was not the time to study slowly.
Fang Yuan's message came again.
"Can you suppress the Great Strength True Martial immortal zombie?"
Fang Ming's answer was immediate. "No."
Fang Yuan did not give up. "It would be of great help to me. I can pay compensation."
"Forget it," Fang Ming replied. "Whether we can leave this place alive is already a question. I will not waste time or immortal essence suppressing the Great Strength True Martial immortal zombie."
Fang Yuan fell silent.
He was stunned.
From his perspective, they now had Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage's battle will under Fang Ming's control. They also had Giant Sun immortal essence in his hands. With an Immortal Gu House and such a power source, even facing Southern Border Gu Immortals should not make Fang Ming so pessimistic.
What could still stop them?
What was Fang Ming afraid of?
In that instant, Fang Yuan understood something more deeply.
Fang Ming had not proposed shared ownership because he was generous. He had not offered half the Immortal Gu House simply because he wanted a fair partner. He wanted Fang Yuan's cooperation. More importantly, he wanted Giant Sun immortal essence available for the coming crisis.
Fang Ming knew something.
Something beyond the fury of Southern Border Gu Immortals.
That was why he refused to waste even a portion of their time or immortal essence on the Great Strength True Martial immortal zombie. That was why he treated escape as uncertain even after gaining the Immortal Gu House. His caution was not aimed at the visible enemies alone.
Before Fang Yuan could ask more, the sky changed.
Tribulation clouds gathered above Yi Tian Mountain.
The earth trembled.
At first, the Southern Border Gu Immortals were still shouting and searching for the thief. But when the clouds thickened and the aura of calamity descended, their anger faltered. The pressure falling from the sky was not the action of one Gu Immortal. It was a heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity, vast and sudden, descending on the entire area.
"What is happening?"
"Why would a tribulation appear here?"
"Who is undergoing tribulation?"
"No, this scale is wrong!"
The Southern Border Gu Immortals looked upward, expressions changing.
Fang Ming also looked upward through his hidden methods.
His heart sank, but his thoughts became colder.
It had begun.
The true battlefield had finally opened.
The Southern Border Gu Immortals still thought in terms of thieves, pawns, wagers, and Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage. Fang Ming knew this was no longer their gambling contest. Shadow Sect's arrangement was descending. The ten extreme immortal zombie lifeless formation was about to reveal itself.
Fang Yuan sensed Fang Ming's silence through their connection.
His earlier suspicion deepened.
Fang Ming had known. Or at least, Fang Ming had expected something similar. This was the reason he refused to touch the Great Strength True Martial immortal zombie. This was the reason he needed Giant Sun immortal essence. This was the reason he had offered cooperation before wiping out the other wills.
The clouds above grew darker.
Then the hidden formation appeared.
Old Man Yan Shi emerged with the Gu Immortals of the ten extreme physiques. Formation light spread across the battlefield, vast and cold. The Southern Border Gu Immortals who had been roaring with fury moments ago were suddenly surrounded by a larger power. The mountain, the sky, the land, the battlefield, the Gu Immortals, the mortal Gu Masters, Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, everything was being drawn into Shadow Sect's arrangement.
Ying Wu Xie stood beside Old Man Yan Shi.
He looked young, innocent, and strangely empty, like someone powerful but newly born. His Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique gave him terrifying potential, but that body had a short life. Eighteen hours. He had been born not long ago, and his understanding of life, death, and the world was still shallow.
Old Man Yan Shi could not simply pour everything into his mind. Dream path dao marks would erode memory. Too much information would disappear faster. Only what Ying Wu Xie tried to remember himself would remain for a time.
Old Man Yan Shi looked at him with helplessness hidden beneath calm.
"I have already told you what must be done," Old Man Yan Shi said. "Remember it."
Ying Wu Xie blinked. "You can go ahead and die. Do not worry about me."
Old Man Yan Shi sighed softly.
Then he began his final deduction.
His body started turning into ash. His soul, his life, and the lives of many Shadow Sect Gu Immortals flowed into the great formation. The ten extreme immortal zombie lifeless formation advanced toward completion, swallowing sacrifice after sacrifice.
Before Old Man Yan Shi vanished completely, his final words drifted out.
"Be careful… Star Constellation…"
His body scattered into powder.
The formation roared.
The Southern Border Gu Immortals finally understood that they had fallen into something far beyond their original wager. Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage was no longer their main concern. The thief who had stolen their battle wills was no longer their greatest problem.
They had to leave.
One Gu Immortal charged toward the formation boundary. Another used a movement killer move to flee in a different direction. A rank eight expert struck out with terrifying force, trying to tear open a path. For a moment, immortal killer moves lit up the sky like burning stars.
But the formation held.
The ten extreme immortal zombie lifeless formation was too strong. It was not something ordinary rank six or rank seven Gu Immortals could break. Even a rank eight had to be truly mighty to have a chance of surviving such a situation. The Southern Border Gu Immortals had numbers, methods, and desperation, but they had entered too deeply into Shadow Sect's arrangement.
Their attacks shook the formation.
They did not break it.
Above them, the thousand pearl-light tribulation began to descend.
Pearl-like lights filled the sky, beautiful and deadly. Each one carried heavenly might. The Southern Border Gu Immortals were forced to turn back and defend. The formation trapped them below, tribulations pressed them from above, and the path of retreat closed piece by piece.
The expressions on their faces changed.
Anger became shock.
Shock became fear.
Fear slowly became despair.
Inside Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, Fang Ming felt the pressure rising from every direction.
He did not waste words.
"Fang Yuan," he sent, "prepare the Giant Sun immortal essence."
This time, Fang Yuan did not question him.
The real storm had arrived.