Fang Yuan, clad in white robes, with black hair whipping behind him, landed in the small Northern Plains of his Supreme Immortal aperture.
This time, he still intended to conduct his tribulation here.
The other locations all had various resources scattered about. The small Northern Plains, however, held nothing but ice and snow — and most crucially, the snow demons and Heavenly Will had already been thoroughly eliminated.
The Supreme Immortal aperture was vast in space, but the only target of the tribulation was Fang Yuan himself.
Wherever he stood, that was where the tribulation would unfold.
The Immortal aperture had already settled, planted within the Northern Plains. The tributary of the River of Time within the aperture had merged with the main flow, drastically slowing the passage of time.
First came the inspection of his arrangements.
Numerous Gu Insects had already been deployed inside the Supreme Immortal aperture.
The majority of them were related to the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture killer move.
In addition, a Soul Scouring Mountain sat nearby, right beside Fang Yuan.
The Soul Scouring Mountain looked nothing like it used to. Fang Yuan had deliberately altered it to prevent others from using the Fixed Immortal Travel to suddenly teleport in during his tribulation, eliminating this threat in advance.
During his first tribulation, Fang Yuan had neither the Mountain Pulling Immortal Gu nor the As-It-Was Mountains and Rivers, so he couldn't have brought the Soul Scouring Mountain inside even if he'd wanted to.
But now things were different.
With Mountain Pulling, Fang Yuan could single-handedly stuff the Soul Scouring Mountain into his own Immortal aperture. Otherwise, if he relied on other hairman Gu Masters to help, he would not only have to spend a considerable amount of sect contributions but also expose his great secret by letting them enter the Supreme Immortal aperture.
And with As-It-Was Mountains and Rivers, he no longer needed to fear the Soul Scouring Mountain being destroyed during the tribulation. The more severely it was damaged, the lower the production of Courage Gu would be.
After a thorough inspection, Fang Yuan confirmed that everything was in perfect order. Without delay, he focused his will and the gates of the Supreme Immortal aperture swung wide open.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…
Massive amounts of Heaven and Earth qi surged through the portal and poured into the Supreme Immortal aperture.
For a moment, the spectacle was magnificent — like a torrential tide crashing inward.
"This time, I've brought the Soul Scouring Mountain along, adding extra burden to the Supreme Immortal aperture. So the amount of Heaven and Earth qi required is far greater than last time."
As the Heaven and Earth qi swarmed in, Fang Yuan simultaneously began deploying various Gu Insects outside the aperture.
He had done this during the last earthly tribulation as well, and this time he was far more practiced.
Naturally, Fang Yuan needed to employ the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture killer move during his tribulation.
First, the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture could indirectly weaken the power of the earthly tribulation.
Second, it could extract the Wild Berserker True Meaning, helping Fang Yuan in his cultivation of the Transformation Path.
Unlike the first tribulation, this time many of the mortal Gu that composed the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture killer move belonged to Fang Yuan himself. Moreover, he had made a few minor adjustments to the killer move's configuration.
Improving the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture was one of the preparations Fang Yuan had made for his tribulation!
Although his Refinement Path attainment was not high, his Wisdom Path had reached the level of Grandmaster. The modifications he had made so far were merely icing on the cake — nice to have but not essential. However, as long as he continued to delve deeper, Fang Yuan believed that one day he would reshape this killer move into the version most suited to him.
After all, Fang Yuan couldn't keep relying on the Langya sect forever. Having to borrow so many Gu Insects from the Langya Earth Spirit every time he tribulated was an enormous price to pay. His efforts to improve the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture were also driven by the desire to break free from the Langya Earth Spirit's control over him.
Moments later, everything was in place. Fang Yuan began channeling his Immortal Essence, activating the Gu Insects one by one.
Green light surged upward, flooding the Immortal aperture while simultaneously reaching out beyond it. Gradually, the green radiance inside and outside the aperture merged into a massive field of light, covering an area of over a thousand li.
Tens of thousands of Green Grape Immortal Essence units were consumed before Fang Yuan successfully unleashed the Immortal Tribulation Refining Aperture killer move.
The second earthly tribulation arrived.
Heaven and earth shuddered. Winds rose and clouds churned.
At first it was just a gentle breeze caressing his face, but in no time the gale's intensity skyrocketed.
In the blink of an eye, a sky-full of howling winds had formed, carrying a savage momentum as if ready to scour the entire world and blow away every living thing.
"What tribulation is this?" Fang Yuan stood atop the Soul Scouring Mountain, braced and alert.
Though he hadn't yet identified the origin of this earthly tribulation, judging by its overture, this one was just as explosively powerful as the last — absolutely defying all reason.
The gale howled fiercely, whipping up the ice and snow on the ground and blanketing everything in a blinding white haze.
The Supreme Immortal aperture itself had very few Light Path Dao Marks, producing only a faint glow. Now, with wind and snow filling the air and blocking out the sky and earth, Fang Yuan's field of vision was suddenly and severely limited.
Ting-ling-ling… ting-ling-ling…
"What's that sound?" Fang Yuan had already activated various means of detection and was monitoring constantly. Now he suddenly caught a crisp, wind-chime-like tinkling faintly threading through the howling gale.
This bizarre scene made Fang Yuan's brows furrow slightly.
"Could it be that this is…" A flash of insight struck his mind.
Right at that moment, the wind-chime sound grew deafening, and a massive pale-blue flower spun out from the wind, slamming straight into the Soul Scouring Mountain.
The speed of this flower was extraordinary.
It struck before anyone could even blink, crashing into the Soul Scouring Mountain and instantly carving a long gash across its surface. The rocks along its path were pulverized into fine powder, then swept away by the gale.
Ting-ling-ling! Ting-ling-ling!!
The wind-chime sound erupted in full force. In the next instant, eighteen pale-blue flowers spun out in rapid succession, smashing into the Soul Scouring Mountain one after another, shattering themselves and tearing eighteen fresh, deep gashes into its surface.
"Wind Blossoms!" Fang Yuan's eyes blazed with sharp light as he confirmed the answer in his heart.
Wind Blossoms were an essence born of the wind — a special type of flora that could only germinate within the most violent of gales.
They had no roots and no tendrils, spinning and dancing through the air. As large as a carriage or horse, pale blue in color, and razor-sharp beyond measure.
Ting-ling-ling-ling!
Fang Yuan had only just identified the Wind Blossoms when the next wave struck with even greater ferocity.
This time there were far more — forty to fifty blossoms — and they attacked from every direction, smashing into the Soul Scouring Mountain one after another.