While the world trembled under tribulation clouds, Fang Yuan sat cross-legged atop Dang Hun Mountain—unmoving, unwavering.
His blessed land had been silently relocated to the Central Continent. Now, within its core, two supreme Gu—Calamity Repelling Gu and Fortune Dominating Heaven Gu, both rank nine—were fully activated.
Their auras intertwined, pushing back the Heaven's will from sending tribulation inside his aperture.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan's eyes remained shut.
He focused inward.
Snow and Ice path dao marks surged across his aperture like rivers of flowing ink. Some etched themselves onto his body. Others fused into his soul.
With every breath, his foundation deepened.
With every moment, his dao marks increased.
Outside—
Disaster had come.
The Snow Monster Calamity had erupted across all five regions.
Countless beasts—fanged, howling abominations formed of ice and fury—descended from the heavens.
Though not overwhelmingly powerful, they came in endless waves, their numbers suffocating.
In the four outer regions, Rank 7 and Rank 8 Gu Immortals rallied. Fierce battles unfolded as the immortals burned through their resources to protect their lands.
After an intense hour of bloodshed, the snow beasts were routed, then gradually annihilated.
But in the Central Continent—
It was different.
They had no Immortal Gu.
They had no means to resist.
And so, it was not the snow monsters who fell.
It was the Gu Immortals.
One by one, they were torn apart—unable to attack, unable to defend. The once-mighty continent, rich in heritage and foundation, became a slaughterhouse.
Cries for help echoed through ruined cities and shattered blessed lands.
Fang Yuan remained still.
He heard it all.
And ignored it.
Only after twelve hours of chaos did the Central Continent finally suppress the calamity. Another six hours passed before the last of the snow beasts were hunted down and exterminated.
Silence returned.
But the damage had already been done.
The world had once again been reminded: Heaven does not favor the strong.
Heaven does not protect the righteous.
Only those who seize power with their own hands can survive.
...
Fang Yuan opened his eyes.
Calm. Serene. Unshakable.
His gaze swept across the Gu worms within his aperture.
Rank Six — countless.
Rank Seven — countless.
Rank Eight — countless.
And then—
Rank Nine: Calamity Repelling Gu, Fortune Dominating Heaven Gu, Fear Gu, Wisdom Gu, Strength Gu, Love Gu, Heavenly Web Gu, Liquor Worm.
And finally—
Rank Ten: Destiny Gu. Obscurity Gu.
A faint gleam flickered in his eyes.
'Obscurity Gu.'
From the Rank 5 All-Out Illuminati Gu, he had painstakingly forged a Rank 10 Gu worm.
An impossible feat to most, achieved through countless materials and years of refinement—compressed into mere months within his blessed land's accelerated time.
Rank Ten Gu did not consume immortal essence. They required something far more simple: his will.
The Obscurity Gu lived up to its name.
It veiled him from the gaze of Heaven itself—rendering his presence inconspicuous, untouchable, undetectable.
Not even Heaven's Will could pierce through its shroud.
He checked the dao marks etched into his body and soul.
A trace of satisfaction touched his lips.
"Four million ice and snow path dao marks," he murmured, voice low and steady.
"From a single earthly calamity."
A slight smile broke across his face—not of joy, but of precise calculation.
Under normal laws, an earthly calamity yields no more than 250 dao marks.
But Fang Yuan was not normal.
He deployed the Heaven's Scorn Formation—a Rank 8 killer move born from the fusion of two secret techniques stolen from Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable.
With that, he twisted the calamities to his favor.
While the rest of the world bled beneath the previous calamity, Fang Yuan lured the formless hands that devoured Immortal Gu—redirecting their path, trapping them, harvesting the spoils.
He captured lost Immortal Gu.
And now, he siphoned the Heaven Qi from the fallen snow beasts in every region—transforming it, purifying it, and fusing it into his dao marks through the Heaven's Scorn Formation.
While others resisted Heaven—
Fang Yuan robbed it.
Four million dao marks, condensed from chaos.
This was not surviving Heaven's wrath.
This was cheating Heaven.
This was robbing it.
...
"I… I've done it."
Bai Ning Bing clenched his fists, ice-blue eyes flickering with light as he surveyed his interior world.
No longer an aperture—this was a blessed land now.
He had become a Rank Six Gu Immortal.
When the Snow Monster Calamity swept across the Gu World, others ran, fought, or died. But he felt something different. A resonance. A pull.
He knew instinctively: Now is the time.
Seizing the moment, he risked it all—entering seclusion to undergo his ascension amid the chaos.
He guided the Heaven Qi, balanced it with Earth Qi, and stabilized it with the faintest threads of Human Qi.
The process was unstable. Dangerous. Imperfect.
And yet—he succeeded.
Amidst the swirling snow, in the middle of a battlefield littered with the corpses of frost beasts, Bai Ning Bing emerged anew. The frigid winds howled in recognition of his rebirth.
Nearby, He Feng Yang stood, his robes torn, his breathing ragged—having slaughtered wave after wave of snow monsters to protect this crucial moment.
"You're fortunate," He Feng Yang said, wiping blood from his blade, tone half-worn, half-intrigued. "Your Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique resonates with this path. The calamity enhanced your chances of success."
He looked to the heavens.
"Perhaps we've found a loophole… a shortcut to Immortal ascension."
Bai Ning Bing turned, a smirk curling on his lips, arrogance gleaming in his eyes. "So… should I call you elder now?"
He Feng Yang scoffed, shaking his head.
"There's no need for formality among immortals," he said with a weary smile. "Call me by name."
Bai Ning Bing gave a nod.
Then, without hesitation, he summoned his newly formed blessed land into the outside world. Space rippled as the landscape unfurled—a land of frozen brilliance, veins of cold light running through the terrain, icy peaks exuding an innate immortal pressure.
He Feng Yang stepped inside.
A heartbeat later, his voice echoed back in disbelief.
"Super Grade."