Chapter 196: Eve of Yi Tian Mountain
Time passed quickly, and the eve of Yi Tian Mountain's battle arrived.
Over the past couple of months, Fang Ming had done everything he could to prepare. Even so, when he looked back, he still felt that time had been insufficient. If he had a few more months, his arrangements would have been more thorough, his methods more polished, and his hidden cards more layered. Unfortunately, time waited for no one, and unexpected events never stopped appearing.
During this period, Fang Ming once again took Luo Po Valley and obtained Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's Unknown to Ghost killer move. The process was not smooth, but compared to the storm that was about to arrive at Yi Tian Mountain, it could only be counted as one of many necessary preparations. Unknown to Ghost was too valuable against soul path and investigation methods connected to Spectral Soul. Fang Ming could not leave such a method outside his grasp.
He also recreated Tyrannical Barbarian battle formation and made the Eagle Sect Gu Immortals train inside it repeatedly. In the past, Eagle Sect had mainly been a shell built around Fang Ming's strength and resources. Its Gu Immortals could carry out missions, escort operations, gather information, and act as useful hands, but in a true high-level battlefield, scattered Gu Immortals were easily suppressed or killed. Tyrannical Barbarian changed that. It gave them a way to act as one body, one blade, and one shield under Fang Ming's command.
This was not only training. It was discipline, coordination, and habit. Fang Ming did not need subordinates who could only rely on borrowed Immortal Gu and panic when rank seven pressure descended. If they wanted to follow him into larger plans, they had to become useful in larger battles.
Dream path exploration had also been bountiful.
Dream Feather Gu did not reliably catch the dreams of top experts with great grandmaster attainment. Such dreams were rare, and Fang Ming could not force them to appear by desire alone. However, Dream Feather Gu had a much higher chance of catching rank six Gu Immortal dreams. Over these months, Fang Ming explored many such dreams and raised his attainment in numerous paths to master level.
His greatest gain was fire path.
By chance, Dream Feather Gu caught the dream of a rank seven fire path Gu Immortal. Fang Ming entered it, explored it successfully, and raised his fire path attainment to grandmaster. This single gain changed the direction of his later preparations. Originally, strength path was still his most mature battle system, but after this, fire path became a real option rather than a side method.
Because of this, Fang Ming invested heavily in copying fire path Immortal Gu from Lang Ya land spirit. He copied Fire Cloak Gu, Fire Explosion Gu, and Infernal Hands Gu, then built several killer moves around them. Fire Cloak strengthened defense and movement through layers of burning protection. Fire Explosion gave him burst damage and detonation methods. Infernal Hands allowed fire path methods to merge with close combat and grabbing techniques.
Among the killer moves he developed, fire clones were the most practical. They were similar in structure to his strength clones, but their purpose was different. Strength clones endured, pressured, and overwhelmed enemies through numbers and direct attacks. Fire clones were less durable and easier to destroy, but once they were shattered at close range, they exploded violently.
When mixed among strength clones, the effect was excellent. Enemies could not easily tell which clones were meant to fight and which were meant to detonate. If they ignored them, the clones attacked. If they destroyed them carelessly, flames erupted in their faces. Fang Ming also created Tyrannical Explosions, a stronger offensive fire path method built to combine sudden destructive force with his existing strength path rhythm.
By now, Fang Ming's battle style had two mature variations. Strength path gave him direct pressure, durability, and clone-based combat. Fire path gave him sudden bursts, explosive damage, and self-detonating clone tactics. Once he switched to the sovereign immortal aperture in the future, dao mark conflict would no longer restrict him, and his fire path system might become even stronger.
Knowing that Blazing Heaven Demoness would most likely die at Yi Tian Mountain, Fang Ming took the opportunity to borrow her rank seven Nirvana Fire Gu. He promised an exorbitant price and delayed repayment, speaking with complete sincerity when making the deal.
Blazing Heaven Demoness was confused by his urgency, but she still agreed. In her eyes, Fang Ming was bold, greedy, and increasingly hard to understand, but he was still only a rank six Gu Immortal. She did not believe he would dare to default on payment or flee from a rank eight expert like herself.
Fang Ming did not care.
He was preparing to offend heaven's will and the world itself. Compared to that, offending Blazing Heaven Demoness was nothing. Even if she somehow survived Yi Tian Mountain, he had no intention of returning what had already entered his hands.
Fair Market had also been sold.
The buyer was Song clan.
The price was heavily cut, far lower than what Fang Ming would have accepted under normal circumstances. But this was no longer a normal period. He was running out of time, and Fair Market had to be sold regardless. It was better to recover something now than leave it standing until Heavenly Court came after Yi Tian Mountain and robbed or closed it for him.
His economy had also changed because of Flowing Essence Gu.
Fang Ming now had 10 Flowing Essence Gu variants of Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus. Each Flowing Essence Gu produced 3 immortal essence beads per outside-world day. That was around 90 immortal essence beads per month for 1 variant.
With all 10 variants together, Fang Ming gained around 900 immortal essence beads per outside-world month.
These were not immortal essence stones. He could not directly use them to buy materials from treasure yellow heaven or pay other Gu Immortals. But to Fang Ming, their value was nearly the same because most of his largest expenses came from the copy system, and the copy system accepted immortal essence. This greatly reduced the pressure on his foundation.
There was another difference from the previous timeline.
Back then, Fang Ming had been forced to liquidate much more of his foundation. He had needed over two hundred thousand immortal essence stones to activate and drive the rank eight Immortal Gu House Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage's battlefield. Later, after using Giant Sun immortal essence borrowed from Fang Yuan to sustain and drive the Gu House, he used the remaining immortal essence stones to seal Fang Yuan inside Tyrannical Barbarian battle formation.
This time, Fang Ming no longer needed to prepare that same expenditure. He still exchanged Leave Dream with Tang Fang Ming in Western Desert, but he did not sell his production Immortal Gu or formations afterward. There was no reason to destroy his long-term foundation when the same trap did not need to be prepared again.
Another large portion of Fang Ming's time had been spent on blessed lands.
Previously, he had killed many rank six Gu Immortals in Eastern Sea, but killing the owner and obtaining the blessed land were two separate matters. Many blessed lands had ownership conditions left behind by land spirits, and those conditions could be rigid, absurd, or troublesome. Over these months, Fang Ming searched for the blessed lands he had clues for, checked their requirements, and fulfilled what he could.
Among twelve blessed lands in his hand or within his clues, only some could be obtained.
Three required settling feuds or killing certain experts. Fang Ming killed two rank six Gu Immortals and obtained two blessed lands, but the third target was a demonic path Gu Immortal who had gone into hiding. Fang Ming searched for clues and found nothing useful, so that blessed land could only be left aside.
Five blessed lands had a more amusing condition. They required him to kill "Fang Ming" himself.
For this, Fang Ming spent some time creating and modifying a killer move that allowed him to apply Familiar Face onto other people. Afterward, he selected criminal Gu Masters from his immortal aperture, disguised them as Fang Ming, brought them into those blessed lands, and executed them there. Blessed lands were rigid in their rules. With a rank eight immortal killer move like Familiar Face deceiving their recognition, satisfying the condition was not difficult.
Another blessed land required him to repair damage left by a previous calamity. That was solved with Fix Terrain Gu and Fix Mountain Gu.
One blessed land required him to own a Jungleflow desolate beast. Fang Ming bought one in treasure yellow heaven for two hundred immortal essence stones. It was one of the worst purchases he had ever made. The desolate beast had almost no combat strength and was bottom-tier among desolate beasts, while the blessed land it unlocked was badly managed and heavily damaged by its last tribulation.
The remaining blessed lands had requirements that were either too hard or not worth the effort. One required refining an Immortal Gu using an outdated recipe with materials that had gone extinct ten thousand years ago. Another required him to become the owner of a merchant alliance, which was absurd because the alliance had no owner position in the first place.
After obtaining the blessed lands he could obtain, Fang Ming spent a great deal of effort moving and hiding them separately, far from each other. These blessed lands were future annexation targets once he used the sovereign immortal aperture. They were also future hiding points against Heavenly Court.
Fang Ming also used the final period before Yi Tian Mountain to assassinate two Southern Border Gu Immortals heading toward the battlefield. However, he stopped shortly afterward. Both related blessed lands required him to own Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, a rank eight Immortal Gu House, before they would recognize him. Fang Ming felt helpless toward such conditions. Some opportunities simply could not be taken before the battle.
Finally, Fang Ming bought a large amount of information from Blazing Heaven Demoness about Eastern Sea Zombie Alliance and the resource points of its members.
Immortal zombies had dead apertures. They could not properly raise resources inside their own apertures, so many of them occupied outside areas, invested in resource points, and used formations to generate income, protect the location, and send distress signals if enemies attacked. Shark Demon and Su Bai Man were examples. Even though one was rank seven and the other was rank six, they did not own a blessed land. Their foundation was a sea area built through long-term investment.
Blazing Heaven Demoness sold the information to Fang Ming cheaply and without much concern. To her, this information was not truly secret, and it did not look useful. She even sold him information about her own sea area and resource investments, then looked at him condescendingly, as if daring him to rob her.
Fang Ming's mouth twitched when he saw that information. Robbing her sea area after Yi Tian Mountain immediately rose near the top of his list.
He also asked Blazing Heaven Demoness about other regions. She sold him Northern Plains Zombie Alliance information, but she did not have similar information for the other regions. Fang Ming did not mind. This was already more than he could fully use. He did not have the manpower to rob every target before other forces noticed Zombie Alliance's disappearance.
As for Zombie Alliance headquarters' treasury, Fang Ming believed it was probably already emptied by Shadow Sect to refine Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu. If any reserve materials remained, Shadow Sect would most likely hide them through Zombie Alliance channels.
Fang Ming invited Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan to join his Zombie Alliance robbery plan.
Both refused.
They said they had another arrangement.
Fang Ming spent some time trying to convince them, even reassuring them about the safety of the plan. In truth, his motive was not pure concern. He wanted Fairy Li Shan to survive, because if she lived, he could use her as a springboard to spread his Calamity Beckoning business.
But Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan had already received prior information from Blazing Heaven Demoness about Fang Ming buying Zombie Alliance intelligence. They could easily guess his next target. To them, Fang Ming's plan seemed too bold and unreliable. With their prior arrangement with Fang Yuan to try seizing Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, they chose to stick with that agreement.
Fang Ming could only sigh inwardly. If Fairy Li Shan was determined to die, then so be it. One could not save someone who walked toward death so persistently.
Since the robbery plan failed, Fang Ming changed direction and asked to buy Fairy Li Shan's Northern Plains Gu Immortal contacts and introductions. He offered one hundred immortal essence stones.
Fairy Li Shan refused at first. Contacts were the core of her business. Her value in Northern Plains came from connections, information, and trust. Selling such things directly was not a small matter.
Fang Ming then added another condition. He would sell her a formation that smelted and processed heavy metals and refinement materials, a formation Hei Lou Lan had been wanting for her future development.
Fairy Li Shan considered it for a while and finally agreed. In her eyes, this was only contact information and introductions. Even if she took commissions one by one, she might not make one hundred immortal essence stones quickly. Adding the formation made the trade useful for Hei Lou Lan as well.
But when Fang Ming actually made the introductions, Fairy Li Shan's expression changed.
She had originally thought Fang Ming wanted these contacts to sell food beasts. Most Northern Plains Gu Immortals were not rich, and many did not even have Immortal Gu. Buying a few immortal essence stones' worth of food beasts would already be more than they needed to feed their rank five Gu, beast groups, or small-scale resources.
But Fang Ming did not only introduce food beasts.
He introduced three services.
The first was healing injuries with a healing Immortal Gu.
The second was using rank seven Calamity Beckoning Gu to take on powerful calamities for Gu Immortals who did not want to face them or were not prepared to face them.
The third was selling food beasts.
Fairy Li Shan immediately regretted agreeing too quickly. If she had acted as the middleman instead of selling introductions directly, she could have earned far more.
Fang Ming saw her expression and pretended not to notice. If he approached these Gu Immortals on his own, he would waste too much time building connections and establishing trust. With Fairy Li Shan's guarantee and introduction, the process would move much faster. For now, that was what he needed. He would offer the trades and see who accepted, then let reputation spread through their circles.
After Fang Ming finished dealing with Fairy Li Shan, he immediately proposed completing the deal with Hei Lou Lan by setting up the heavy metal and refinement material processing formation inside her immortal aperture.
Hei Lou Lan was surprised, then pleased. She had thought Fang Ming would delay and use the formation for another month, processing and selling one more batch of materials before handing it over. She did not expect him to set it up right away.
Fang Ming opened his immortal aperture, took out the formation directly, and entered Hei Lou Lan's aperture to arrange it. His movements were skilled, and the formation was set up quickly.
Hei Lou Lan watched the process with some amazement. When the formation began to operate, she finally asked, "Did you prepare this formation for the trade from the start?"
Fang Ming looked at her strangely. "You are overthinking it. I created a better formation with higher output and fewer impurities, so I replaced this one. Since I no longer use it, giving it to you is suitable."
Hei Lou Lan was stunned by the blunt answer, but after thinking about it, she found it reasonable and accepted.
After Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan left, space rippled slightly behind Fang Ming. Several Eagle Sect Gu Immortals walked out from the concealing formation and stood at his side.
Bian Si Xuan looked in the direction Hei Lou Lan had left, then said, "Supreme elder, that was handled very poorly. She will see through it."
Fang Ming nodded. "Yes, but by the time she sees through it, we will already have what we need. We are not the only ones running out of time. Hei Lou Lan is not a formation path expert, so she will need a long time to understand that formation."
Fairy Huang Sha frowned slightly. "Supreme elder, do you think she will destroy it?"
Fang Ming chuckled. "This is only a last-second addition and countermeasure. Whether she keeps it or destroys it depends on how the situation develops. Hei Lou Lan is fearless and formidable, but that does not mean she can immediately understand every hidden arrangement."
He turned his gaze away from the empty space where Fairy Li Shan and Hei Lou Lan had disappeared. His expression became calm again as he faced the Eagle Sect Gu Immortals.
"Prepare yourselves. The next plan must be handled perfectly. If we succeed, each of you can choose one Immortal Gu from the inventory."
The Eagle Sect Gu Immortals' eyes immediately lit up.
They had used Immortal Gu before, but those were always borrowed from Fang Ming for missions. No matter how useful those Gu were, they were never theirs. To personally own an Immortal Gu was a completely different matter.
Fang Ming looked at their reactions and did not say anything more. Rewards had to be real to move people's hearts. Fear could make subordinates obey, profit could make them risk their lives, and both together could make them useful.
Outside, Yi Tian Mountain's storm was about to begin. Inside Fang Ming's arrangements, every hidden line was tightening.
The next plan had to succeed.
Fang Ming current Gu Inventory
Supreme / Special Gu
Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu — Rank 9
Attitude Gu — Rank 8
Luck Path Gu
Calamity Beckoning Gu — Rank 7
Blessing and Misfortune Comes in Waves Gu — Rank 6
Fire Path GuNirvana Fire Gu — Rank 7
Fire Cloak Gu — Rank 6Fire Explosion Gu — Rank 6
Infernal Hands Gu — Rank 6
Strength Path Gu
Tyrannical Strength Gu — Rank 6
Strong Lift Gu — Rank 6
Steel Body Strength Gu — Rank 6
Inner Strength Qi Gu — Rank
6Heavy Lifting Gu — Rank 6
Myriad Clones Gu — Rank 6
Golden Specters Gu — Rank 6
Force Field Defense Gu — Rank 6
Life Chasing Gu — Rank 6
Enslavement / Eagle Path Gu
Control Eagle Gu — Rank 6
Eagle Eye Gu — Rank 6
Eagle Gene Enhancement Incubation Gu — Rank 6
Slave Gu — Rank 6
Loyal Servant Gu — Rank 6
Dream Path Gu
Dream Feather Gu — Rank 6
Dream Cloth Gu — Rank 6
Wisdom / Concealment Gu
Unfathomable Will Gu — Rank 6
Unravel Mystery Gu — Rank 6
Heavenly Clone Eyes Gu — Rank 6
Smoke Concealment Gu — Rank 6
Time / Space / Movement Gu
Teleport Gu — Rank 6
Spring Autumn Tag-Along Gu — Rank 6
Restoration / Support Gu
Human as Before Gu — Rank 6
Fix Terrain Gu — Rank 6
Fix Mountain Gu — Rank 6
Life Pledge Gu — Rank 6
Lesser Human Qi Gu — Rank 6
Economy / Production Gu
Junglefowl Incubation Gu — Rank 6 ×10 variants
Junglefowl Raising Gu — Rank 6 ×10 variants
Flowing Essence Gu — Rank 6 ×10 variants
Formation / Battle Formation Gu
Thousand Circuit Formation Gu — Rank 6
Giant Barbarian Spirit Gu — Rank 6
Giant Barbarian Body Gu — Rank 6