Chapter 500: Trapped inside and outside, slashing thorns and vines
Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral
Twelve days later.
In the secret room, Fang Yuan was seated above a cushion with both eyes closed, his whole body was tense, and his mind was in placid tranquility. His attention was solely focused on the turtle jade wolf skin Gu that was within his aperture.
Currently, the Gu floated atop his primeval sea within his first aperture; primeval essence was continuously poured onto it, which caused the Gu to emit a jade colored light.
The light radiated from his aperture, and illuminated Fang Yuan's entire body.
Gradually, the rays of light dimmed. The entire turtle jade wolf skin Gu dissipated into tiny fluorescent particles, thoroughly destroyed.
Fang Yuan was already mentally prepared. Turtle jade wolf skin Gu needed to be consumed, and would leave imprints on the Gu Master's body, similar to the bronze skin Gu and iron bone Gu.
"These past few days I've been in constant seclusion, my body has finally been refined to turtle jade wolf skin."
Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes, and pulled back the cuffs of his sleeves to examine the skin on his arms.
His skin still retained the natural color of flesh, but when Fang Yuan took out a dagger and ruthlessly slashed at his arm, immediately, the effects of the turtle jade wolf skin Gu activated.
When the dagger made contact with his skin, the skin immediately turned to a jadish-green, while the faint lines of turtle shells pulsated outwards.
Cutting the skin was similar to a collision with iron, or possibly jade, but the skin still retained a degree of flexibility.
Fang Yuan gave a satisfied nod: "The turtle jade wolf skin Gu is rank five, its defensive power is truly remarkable. Most importantly, it does not require active use; as long as one is attacked, the defensive properties would activate, it is extremely practical as no primeval essence is expended in the process."
It wasn't difficult for a Gu Immortal to acquire rank five Gu, though for mortal Gu Masters, they were quite rare.
For a large number of rank five Gu Masters, they only possess one rank five Gu. Some do not even possess rank five Gu, but instead resorted to rank four Gu as substitute.
Upon meeting Fang Yuan, Hei Lou Lan immediately used turtle jade wolf skin Gu to entice him, which, in the eyes of bystanders, was a huge investment.
In the eyes of Fang Yuan, a rank five Gu wasn't much, but it allowed him to sense the sincerity from Hei Lou Lan.
"Turtle jade wolf skin's modification is done. The next step is to improve my strength." Fang Yuan sat still upon his cushion, seizing the most of every minute, diligently improving his strength.
He sent out a strength of ten jun Gu.
This Gu was like an iron weight. After being infused with primeval essence, it suspended itself above Fang Yuan's head, and afterwards blossomed with a glorifying radiance, covering his entire body while engraving a particular strength path Dao mark onto his body.
As time passed, the strength of Fang Yuan slowly and steadily grew.
For quite some time, he cultivated his strength non-stop.
He had already used up the five strength of ten jun Gu he purchased earlier. Now, he would have to use Hei tribe's inventory to acquire more strength of ten jun Gu.
By now, Fang Yuan's body contained the strength of sixty jun, stored in the very depths of his body.
Ten jun was the strength of three hundred jin, sixty jun was equal to one thousand eight hundred jin of strength.
On Earth, Green Dragon Crescent Blade 1 weighed merely eighty-two jin.
"I have already refined this body with turtle jade wolf skin, thus, it can hold about a hundred jun of strength. One hundred jun of strength or more would be the within the range of rank five realm."
Jin strength Gu and jun strength Gu's recipes were the invention of a rank seven Gu Immortal. Compared to traditional beast strength Gu, they were easier to refine, while simultaneously costing less, and thus were widespread in the north.
Fang Yuan abandoned his beast phantom Gu, and picked up the jun strength Gu, not only to keep up with current developments, but also to make his path more convenient, allowing him to disguise his own identity.
However, jun strength Gu could not solve the fundamental problem of strength path.
Fang Yuan had sixty jun of strength within him, but in practice could only exert a small portion of it.
To solve the problem, he would have to rely on all-out effort Gu.
All-out effort Gu could allow a Gu Master to make use of their whole body's strength, allowing them complete liberty to exert strength, it was truly the core Gu of strength path.
Therefore, Fang Yuan decided it would be his second aperture's vital Gu.
But this all-out effort Gu was a mere rank three Gu, and being in a foreign land resulted in it being suppressed to rank two.
Fang Yuan had the recipe for rank four all-out effort Gu, thus, so long as he is in northern plains when he refines the Gu to rank four, it will not be affected by the suppression.
"But… it would be hard to continue accumulating. Turtle jade wolf skin helps in bearing the weight of my strength, but does not benefit enslavement path. Although I have two apertures, I merely have one body."
In this world, there were few things that could satisfy all of one's needs.
While advancing strength path, he could not simultaneously advance enslavement path.
If he wanted to advance enslavement path, Fang Yuan should not have employed turtle jade wolf skin Gu, but rather a different rank five Gu, known as wolf totem Gu.
This Gu could be used to store wolf packs. They would be stored in his skin, and for every wild wolf he keeps, a wolf tattoo would also form on Fang Yuan's skin.
Many enslavement path Gu Masters would choose their corresponding totem Gu, and keep their elite troops in their own bodies.
In critical moments, Gu Masters would reveal the power of their elites, summoning them and making them fight.
Like before, Fang Yuan used rank four impermanence bone Gu, which allowed him to further strengthen his soul.
But impermanence bone Gu did not benefit strength path.
Fang Yuan may be a Gu Master of both the strength and enslavement path, but it was not simple. It was easy to cause a disaster for both paths.
Fang Yuan's problems were far from just this.
Spring Autumn Cicada was gradually recovering, once again putting him under the pressure of death.
His frequent entering and exiting of Hu Immortal blessed land caused his supply of starlight firefly Gu to dwindle.
Immortal Crane Sect's great desire towards Hu Immortal blessed land, the mysterious force's attention due to the fixed immortal travel Gu, the problem of recovering fixed immortal travel and gruel mud Immortal Gu, Hu Immortal blessed land's earthly calamity, the crisis concerning the death of Dang Hun mountain, and constantly pretending to be Chang Shan Yin, and the mental pressure of making sure I do not show any weakness or flaws...
His situation was terrible, it could even be said that he was beset on all sides.
"But because of the crisis , I can look forward to the moment when I cut through the thistles and thorns and break free of worries."
Fang Yuan let out a cold laugh, organizing his state of mind, and left his secret room.
Outside the secret room stood two rank three Gu Masters, standing like guardians.
The Wolf King's identity was the main reason for this situation; after arriving at Hei tribe camp, they immediately decided to strictly protect him.
"Greetings, Lord Wolf King." When the two Gu Masters saw Fang Yuan come out, they immediately saluted and reported to him, "Lord Hei Lou Lan invited the other lords to attend the banquet to conduct important business."
After returning to Hei tribe's compound, Hei Lou Lan one large feast for almost three days, and spent five days at a smaller feast. Several invitations were sent to Fang Yuan, but he was busy cultivating; every sent invitation was completely rejected by him.
Fang Yuan was in a race against time to increase his strength, which was also in accordance with Chang Shan Yin's haught and lofty disposition.
Though this time, the banquet was extraordinary.
"There are important matters to discuss?" Fang Yuan's footsteps halted, and he changed his usual attitude towards banquets: "Let's go".
The secret room was built underground.
Fang Yuan exited his secret room and arrived above the ground, the curtain of night already enveloped the sky, stars scattered about.
Rushing to the banquet, as he had expected, it was the matter of the blood oath.
These days, the banquet did not have Hei Lou Lan's usual decadence, rather it focused on talks between leaders negotiating the contracts of an alliance.
This heroes assembly was only the preliminary stage to establishing the genuine union, which would unite the forces of all parties into one alliance.
The contract of the alliance already agreed on various things, and the leaders were now working on their individual tribes' interests. Fang Yuan looked at the contents and saw no issues, so along with everyone else, he used the poison vow Gu.
poison vow Gu had the power to restriction, and was also the foundation of building mutual trust.
But Fang Yuan was the exception.
He possessed eating one's words Gu. In two hundred years, this Gu would be developed by a western desert chief. When he was in Shang clan city, he used it to break his poison vow with Bai Ning Bing.
And now that he could link with treasure yellow heaven, if he wanted to remove the poison vow, he would merely have to refine it again.
The main tent was brightly lit, with each tribe having their own seat.
Hei Lou Lan held the central seat, and the first to his left was Fang Yuan, with Ge Guang standing behind him.
It was difficult for the young tribe leader to hide his happy expression, holding second seat in the alliance was a result of clinging to Fang Yuan, their benefits surpassed that of any ordinary medium-sized tribe.
Sitting after Fang Yuan were the leaders of the large tribes: Wang tribe, Fang tribe, and Ye tribe.
While down the line were the leaders of the medium-sized tribes, and finally the small scale tribe leaders, as well as the rank four demonic path experts.
Now, the alliance began its preliminary aggregation, before they were merely like loose sand.
"Hahaha, now everyone is family. According to conventional tradition, after having established our alliance, we need to hold a large feast. But these traditions and conventions are total bullshit! I've already thought of something better, rather than annexing those weaker powers, we should instead collect wild wolves." Hei Lou Lan began his speech.
Soon, all eyes concentrated on Fang Yuan's face.
Fang Yuan's complexion was indifferent, his eyes darted across the room, within his heart he understood that by joining in, he had already altered history.
He vaguely remembered, five hundred years ago in his previous life, after Hei Lou Lan's alliance was formed, he immediately assaulted the east, launching a bloody war with the Dong Fang tribe.
"But this is good, although Hei Lou Lan prevailed over Dong Fang tribe, he suffered huge losses in the process. Hei Lou Lan is obviously taking consideration of my night wolf emperor, which was expected. With the night wolf emperor, he could incorporate myriad beast groups into his army. The expansion of the wolf group will be a great thing for me.
Fang Yuan thought about it for a moment, and gave everyone a nod: "Since this is the case, I will do my part."
No one in the camp gave an objection.
The larger the number of wolves, the more they would benefit, while suffering fewer casualties, preserving the strength of their tribes as much as possible.
Hei Lou Lan was relying heavily on Chang Shan Yin, everyone understood and agreed.
It would be a shame to have such a great master of the enslavement path and not put him to use!
As for the sharp rise in strength of the Wolf King, they did not have to be too concerned.
They were not aware of the eating one's words Gu, and had complete trust in the poison vow Gu. Since the covenant had already been formed, they did not have to worry that the Wolf King would take advantage of their interests.
Soon after their discussion, the entire Hei tribe alliance began to work actively. Gu Masters from tribes both large and small dedicated themselves to expanding Fang Yuan's wolf pack.