The moment he stepped into the King Court Blessed Land, Fang Yuan quickly set about constructing a star gate to connect with the Fox Immortal Blessed Land.
Once the star gate was functioning normally, he brought Fang Zheng through, and together they ventured deep into this ancient world.
Fang Yuan was so confident because he had his own reliance:
The Earth Spirit of the King Court Blessed Land, Frost Jade Peacock, had long been imprisoned by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable; meanwhile, Giant Sun's Will, which presided over the eighty-eight true yang building, was currently in a deep slumber.
In this way, no one could detect their movements.
If Lang Ya Blessed Land was the number one in the world, King Court Blessed Land firmly held the second spot, while the Gu Clan Blessed Land ranked third.
Not only were the resources here unimaginably abundant, but it was also filled with complete Gu Master legacies from Rank One to Rank Five, making it a paradise for cultivators. As the eighty-eight true yang building had not yet opened, it was the perfect time for exploration.
Deep within the King Court Blessed Land, Fang Yuan unexpectedly discovered Azure Wolves and Lava Pythons. He unceremoniously took all these rare resources and brought them back to the Fox Immortal Blessed Land to be properly raised.
Just as he returned to the Fox Immortal Blessed Land, Little Fox Immortal hurried over with unexpected good news. It turned out that while browsing Treasure Yellow Heaven, she discovered a Gu Immortal selling variant human slaves, which remarkably included the long-extinct Beastmen race.
The Gu Immortal selling these slaves was named Eastern Orc, who was himself a Beastman Gu Immortal. He specialized in Food Path and minored in Strength Path; born with green skin, a long pointed nose, and large ears, his short, dwarf-like stature made him indistinguishable from a goblin.
(Note: This is an original character, not from the original work, and is also a classmate and reader of the author.)
Fang Yuan spent three immortal essence stones to purchase over a thousand Beastman slaves and settled them in the Fox Immortal Blessed Land for domestication.
However, the joy did not last long, as a piece of bad news followed:
The ten great ancient clans exerted pressure once again, and the two major Sects, Immortal Crane Sect and Primal Lotus Sect, were the first to terminate their Stone Man trade with him.
Fang Yuan knew well that his current strength was still too weak. Since the star gate to the King Court Blessed Land was already built, he decided to undergo tribulation and achieve Immortal Ascension ahead of schedule, choosing the Northern Ice Plain once again. However, before that, there were still many preparations to be completed.
First were the earth qi gu and stingy gu needed for the tribulation. Since Fang Zheng's Immortal Ascension, these two Gu had been mostly depleted and urgently needed to be refined again.
Second was his currently dire economic situation. He only had eighty-one immortal essence stones left in his hand. This should have been a larger amount, but since Fang Zheng had just become an immortal, he had invested over a hundred immortal essence stones—excluding profits—to develop his own blessed land during the months of the Horde Contest.
However, this expenditure had brought unprecedented prosperity to Fang Zheng's blessed land, giving it a foundation that far surpassed those of newly ascended Gu Immortals, such as the previously mentioned Star Luo Little Immortal.
Now, Fang Zheng's blessed land could stably produce fifteen immortal essence stones per month, housing over ten thousand Hairy People and Stone Man slaves, with large groups of Lava Pythons living within it.
Deep within the blessed land, there were also numerous blood pools where Blood Path creatures such as Blood Droplets, Blade Wing Blood Bats, Blood River Pythons, and blood frenzy gu thrived and multiplied.
In the caves beneath the blood pools, Blood Path mortal plants like Blood Lingzhi Forests were grown as precious Materials for refining Gu.
All in all, the future of Fang Zheng's blessed land was undoubtedly full of potential.
But managing a blessed land was extremely costly, and coupled with the timing of his need for funds, Fang Yuan couldn't help but sigh, "One only regrets having too little money when the time comes to use it."
Speaking of making money, Fang Yuan's core source of income had always been the refinement of great light gu. Those who could truly participate in refining great light gu had to be at the level of a Refinement Path Great Master.
Currently, there were only about two hundred elderly Hairy People who had reached this level, and only about two hundred Gu Yue Clan Members, totaling no more than four or five hundred people.
Thus, Fang Yuan spent another ten immortal essence stones to purchase over ten thousand Hairy People slaves in Treasure Yellow Heaven. However, among these ten thousand, only about sixty possessed the level of a Refinement Path Great Master.
Hairy People, as variant humans, were extremely delicate and difficult to raise, dying easily if not cared for properly. In the Fox Immortal Blessed Land alone, over a thousand Hairy People slaves died of illness every month, and a plague had even broken out at one point.
This was an unavoidable situation, and he could only slowly study the living habits of the Hairy People. Fortunately, a month later, Fang Yuan earned another one hundred and thirty-six immortal essence stones, bringing his savings to two hundred and seventeen.
He then used seventeen immortal essence stones to repair the mortal gu house white bone war chariot and created a portable mortal gu house—shaped like a Talisman and named the "Giant Sword Talisman." With the Giant Sword Technique Killer Move at its core, it allowed the holder to quickly activate the move. Fang Yuan made twenty Giant Sword Talismans in one go.
Additionally, Fang Yuan refined twenty "Ice Drill Star Talismans." This was a mortal gu house built around the Ice Drill Stardust Killer Move. Like the Giant Sword Talisman, it was a low-cost mortal gu house that required very few Gu, allowing for mass production.
Perhaps to commemorate the Gu Yue First Generation, Fang Zheng also built a Blood Path mortal gu house in his blessed land called the "First Generation Statue." It was a ten-meter-tall statue in the likeness of the Gu Yue First Generation.
To deal with the Immortal Ascension tribulation, Fang Yuan specially invited Hei Lou Lan to assist him and brought all the high-level combatants of the Gu Yue Clan to the Northern Ice Plain together.
The ice plain was still covered in ice and snow, but due to the impact of Fang Zheng's previous tribulation, the terrain had long since become devastated.
Hei Lou Lan was particularly attentive to this matter. As a possessor of the Great Strength True Martial Body, the Immortal Ascension tribulation he would face in the future would only be stronger than Fang Yuan's.
Observing and experiencing it in advance would give him some mental preparation—if things went south, he could just use a star gate gu to escape.
The high-level members of the Gu Yue Clan quickly set up layers of defense around the tribulation site. In the center of the defenses, Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on the cold ice, activating the purple crystal primeval essence in his second aperture to fiercely strike the aperture walls.
The next moment, the second aperture shattered!
Fang Yuan's path to Immortal Ascension officially began.
Heaven and earth qi poured in like a reversing river, frantically surging into his shattered second aperture. Fang Yuan's own human qi was already incredibly dense, making the heaven and earth qi pale in comparison for a moment.
But relying on five hundred years of experience, he quickly stabilized the situation, exquisitely harmonizing the three qis to bring them into balance.
This process of balancing the three qis seemed brief, but it was actually extremely perilous.
Everyone around held their breath, not daring to make a sound. Over ten thousand earth qi gu died in the blink of an eye, and it wasn't until only about eight thousand earth qi gu remained that Fang Yuan finally fully harmonized the three qis.
Fang Zheng and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly activated the stingy gu to absorb all the remaining earth qi.
Just then, the calamity clouds churned and gathered; the Heavenly Tribulation had officially arrived!
"Immortal Path Killer Move — Myriad Star Fireflies!"
Seeing this, Fang Yuan's pupils suddenly contracted. This Myriad Star Fireflies was the signature Killer Move of the Northern Plains Wisdom Path Rank Seven Gu Immortal, Eternal Ordinary. Its power was terrifyingly peerless, and even Heaven's Will had recorded it, turning it into a part of this calamity.
In an instant, within a thousand-mile radius, countless stars appeared out of thin air. They were as small as fireflies but flew and collided with lightning speed, dyeing the sky a deep ink-black.
The dazzling starlight illuminated the entire Northern Ice Plain, like a rushing river of mercury in an underground palace, or the brilliant aurora in the polar night sky, and even more like the eternal Milky Way spanning the Universe.
Every star was a Star Thought. The Star Thoughts constantly collided and split, giving rise to more Star Thoughts. The more people present, the more complex the thoughts generated; the more complex the thoughts, the more Star Thoughts there were; and the more Star Thoughts, the more terrifying the power of this Killer Move.
Star Thoughts swirled in the night sky as people fled across the ice plain; in an instant, the defense line set up by the Gu Yue Clan was smashed to pieces by the Star Thoughts. Fang Yuan made a prompt decision and ordered Fang Zheng to take the Gu Yue Clan Members back into the blessed land—with fewer people, the situation came slightly under control.
Countless Star Thoughts surged toward Fang Yuan like a tide. He immediately activated the "Six-Armed Heavenly Corpse King" Killer Move, supplemented by the "Eagle Wing Gu," to flexibly weave through and dodge the swarm of Star Thoughts.
Fang Zheng also simultaneously activated the "Desolate Beast Flying Bear Transformation," using his massive body to shield Fang Yuan.
Seeing the critical situation, Hei Lou Lan immediately activated his backup plan: he set up thirty layers of solid defense around himself and then opened a star gate gu, preparing to evacuate.
Fang Yuan dodged left and right among the Star Thoughts, but their numbers were so vast that it was impossible to defend against them all.
In an instant, he was covered in wounds, with only one of his eight arms remaining intact. Fang Zheng's situation was equally difficult; his massive body had become the target of the Star Thoughts' concentrated fire, leaving him in agonizing pain.
This "Myriad Star Fireflies" Killer Move not only had physical impact but also concealed an assault of will:
Once hit by a Star Thought, Star Thoughts would sprout within the person's mind, competing with their own will for control; if the Star Thoughts completely occupied the mind, the person would be controlled by them.
This meant that when facing this move, one had to engage in frontal combat with the Star Thoughts while simultaneously fighting a battle of wills against them within the mind.
Fang Yuan had Yuan Fang to help him, making a two-front battle feasible; however, Fang Zheng was isolated and without help, and as the battle progressed, he even began to lose control of his own body.
Fang Yuan dared not release his three blood path clones—this Killer Move happened to counter blood path clones. Once the blood path clones were exposed to the Star Thoughts, they would be completely enslaved within ten minutes and turn against him.
At this critical juncture, Fang Yuan's immortal aperture finally stabilized and took shape, and the blessed land was fully established. He immediately took Fang Zheng into his immortal aperture and faced the overwhelming Star Thoughts alone.
Fang Yuan single-handedly withstood the Myriad Star Fireflies Killer Move.
"As expected of Eternal Ordinary's signature Killer Move... Myriad Star Fireflies truly lives up to its reputation!"
He coughed up blood incessantly, and dozens of bloody holes had been pierced through his body by the Star Thoughts. Just now, he had exhausted all his earth qi to refine an all-out effort gu, barely managing to hold on until now.
On the other side, Yuan Fang fought off a wave of Star Thoughts in his mind and hurriedly transmitted his voice:
"Fang Yuan! These Star Thoughts are endless; there must be a source! Find it quickly and destroy it, or we will surely die!"
Fang Yuan nodded in understanding, his gaze sweeping across the stardust filling the sky, quickly locking onto the part of the calamity cloud where the starlight was most brilliant.
Ignoring his injuries, he charged toward the calamity cloud. Facing the dense rain of Star Thoughts, he activated the Mortal Path Killer Move "Fist Wind Sword Qi" and threw a fierce punch with his only remaining arm!
Boom!
The calamity cloud shattered inch by inch like a mirror.
The stars within a thousand-mile radius suddenly froze, then gathered and transformed, turning into four-winged pegasuses that charged forward with neighs.
These four-winged pegasuses were long-extinct creatures with Beast Emperor level combat power, but Fang Yuan showed no fear, his fist winds sweeping through and blowing them apart one by one.
Every time he blew apart a Four-Winged Heavenly Horse, Kuang Mans True Intent was infused into Fang Yuan's body. By the time the last pegasus dissipated, he had already become a Transformation Path quasi-Grandmaster, while his Strength Path and Flying Path had also reached the threshold of Grandmaster.
But he did not stop; just as he was about to release the remaining earth qi to continue absorbing the true meaning, the Immortal Ascension tribulation abruptly ended. After completing the tribulation, Fang Yuan felt a wave of refreshment throughout his body, and the injuries from the tribulation were instantly restored to their original state.
The calamity clouds dispersed, and the bright sun hung in the sky.
Sunlight pierced through the solid ice, shining down into the ice plain; Fang Yuan, bathed in the golden light, had returned to his human form.
His waist-length black hair was blown by a warm breeze, and the smile on his face was so genuine it was almost blinding—this was a relaxation belonging to Fang Yuan that Yuan Fang had never seen before.
Perhaps he hadn't smiled like this for a very long time.
After years of ups and downs and a thousand hardships, the path of breaking out of the cocoon that no one could understand finally came to a full stop with the words "Immortal Ascension."
But in the next second, a sudden change occurred!
A soul suddenly emerged from Fang Yuan's body, and it was none other than Yuan Fang—it turned out that while the heaven and earth were repairing Fang Yuan's Physical Body during the tribulation, they had actually "kicked" Yuan Fang directly out of the shell.
In an instant, the bright sun vanished, and calamity clouds regrouped, blotting out the sky and sun.
Heaven's Will had long since detected Yuan Fang's existence. To the Gu World, Yuan Fang was the greatest variable, and Heaven's Will wished to eliminate him as quickly as possible.
Before Yuan Fang could react, his soul automatically absorbed heaven and earth qi, and his Physical Body was forcibly reshaped.
This reshaping actually skipped all stages of Gu Master cultivation, allowing him to step into rank six cultivation in one go—Yuan Fang's own Immortal Ascension tribulation descended with a crash amidst the remaining power of the previous tribulation.
This calamity would be a hundred times more terrifying than the Immortal Ascension of a Ten Extremes Physique.