A few days later, at the Langya Blessed Land.
Two figures streaked across the sky, then suddenly descended.
"This place is quite desolate—perfect for the two of us to spar," said the first figure, surveying the surroundings with a relaxed air.
"Brother Fang couldn't be more right," replied the second—a Mao Folk Gu Immortal known as Mao Shier, who spoke with an amiable, grinning manner.
Among the other Mao Folk Gu Immortals of the Langya Sect, Mao Shier was somewhat special.
Not only did he primarily cultivate the Refinement Path, but he also dually cultivated the Slave Path.
Dual cultivation among Gu Immortals was no easy feat. Almost all Gu Immortals possessed only a single immortal aperture. When they ascended to immortality, they used a particular Gu to blast open that aperture, and their primary path was crystallized at that moment. The dao marks gained from subsequent tribulations were predominantly of the primary path as well.
However, there were quite a few Gu Immortals who dual-cultivated—mostly at the Sixth or Seventh Transformation. They focused primarily on one path while supplementing with another.
Such Gu Immortals typically had extraordinary encounters and held immortal gu suited for dual cultivation. For example, Fang Yuan's former Strength-Eating Immortal Gu could devour strength-path immortal materials to add strength-path dao marks to its user. Gu Immortals of other paths who obtained it could then dual-cultivate the Strength Path.
Mao Shier was no exception.
In his early years of gu refinement, an accident led him to obtain a new gu prototype from a failed batch. After ascending to immortality, he elevated this gu to a Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu, naming it Slave Immortal. This gu could inscribe slave-path dao marks directly onto his body.
This made him particularly special among all the Mao Folk Gu Immortals.
The previous Langya Earth Spirit had shown him considerable favor. Although the Refinement Path and Slave Path had little direct correlation, the spirit still encouraged Mao Shier to continue dual-cultivating—because possessing slave-path dao marks would prove extremely helpful when refining slave-path immortal gu in the future.
The current Langya Earth Spirit held him in even higher regard—but what it valued was his combat power. Mao Shier's slave-path cultivation provided a solid foundation, so the Langya Earth Spirit had handed him the Slave Beast Immortal Gu, intending to cultivate him into a slave-path fighting force among the Mao Folk Gu Immortals!
A new emperor brings new ministers, yet Mao Shier had only grown more favored—he was now the Langya Earth Spirit's rising star.
Fang Yuan hadn't originally known much about these Mao Folk. But after his secret dealings with Shadow Without Evil, he had gathered a great deal of intelligence about the Langya Blessed Land through their subsequent transactions.
Though this information wasn't especially precious by most standards, it was of immense help to Fang Yuan, giving him a comprehensive understanding of the Langya Sect.
Fang Yuan and Mao Shier landed on the ground together.
The surface of the Cloud Canopy Continent was formed from condensed cloud-soil, a pristine expanse of white. Stepping on it felt somewhat soft, quite different from ordinary dirt.
"Brother Shier, please," Fang Yuan gestured with an open hand.
"Ha ha, Brother Fang, then this little brother won't hold back! Chestnut Yak—come forth!" Mao Shier bellowed with laughter, performed a backflip in place, and then dropped to his knees, slamming both palms against the ground.
The posture looked as though, after putting on an acrobatic show, he had suddenly kowtowed in a grand gesture of submission toward Fang Yuan.
Gu Immortals were particular about maintaining their dignity. A human Gu Immortal would have gone to great lengths to avoid such an embarrassing display. But Mao Folk Gu Immortals were different—these Mao Folk had been raised by the previous Langya Earth Spirit, and every last one of them was utterly guileless, with truly abysmal combat ability!
After days of exposure, Fang Yuan had grown used to it.
Mao Shier knelt toward Fang Yuan, his face brimming with excitement. Then he suddenly froze.
"Uh." He raised his head, looking at Fang Yuan. "Sorry, I failed."
"It's no matter," Fang Yuan said with a mild smile. "Immortal killer moves are bound to misfire now and then. Try again."
"Mm, mm!" Mao Shier nodded rapidly, flipped backward again, and—smack—both knees and palms hit the ground simultaneously.
Nothing happened.
After holding the pose for several breaths, Mao Shier stuck out his tongue and licked his lips. "Oh no, failed again. I'll try one more time!"
Hyah!
Backflip.
Smack.
Kneeling before Fang Yuan.
Several breaths of silence. Nothing.
"I'll try again—I refuse to believe this!" Mao Shier gritted his teeth.
Hyah!
Backflip.
Smack.
Kneeling before Fang Yuan.
Several breaths of silence. Nothing.
"Sorry about this, sorry—just give me another moment," Mao Shier called out to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan smiled gently. "Perfectly understandable, perfectly understandable. Reading books takes—"
Mao Shier nodded gratefully and made another attempt.
Hyah!
Backflip.
Smack.
Kneeling before Fang Yuan.
Several breaths of silence. Nothing.
After more than a dozen attempts, Mao Shier hadn't succeeded even once. Before Fang Yuan had even lifted a finger, Mao Shier had already coughed up several mouthfuls of blood, and blood was seeping ceaselessly from his ear canals, his face growing paler by the moment.
When an immortal killer move failed, the Gu Immortal would suffer a backlash.
Even Fang Yuan couldn't watch any longer and couldn't help but offer, "I've observed several times now, Brother Shier—this backflip of yours doesn't seem to have any connection to the killer move at all. You might as well drop it."
"The backflip?" Mao Shier scratched his head, wearing a look of utter innocence. "But I designed this movement very carefully. Don't you think starting with a backflip makes me look incredibly imposing?"
Black lines nearly appeared across Fang Yuan's face as he thought, This move of proactively kneeling before your enemy is certainly imposing enough.
Still, Mao Shier was the kind of child who corrected his mistakes once he recognized them. "If Brother Fang thinks it's inappropriate, then I'll change it."
And so, Mao Shier stopped doing backflips.
Instead, he dropped straight to his knees with a smack, facing Fang Yuan directly.