"Hateful old turtle, hiding in his shell like this." Black Rabbit gnashed her teeth.
The small tortoiseshell thoughts numbered in the hundreds of thousands, staggering in scale, wrapping around the Divination Turtle layer upon layer. Black Rabbit had no way to get close at all, and as more and more small tortoiseshell thoughts accumulated, she was forced further and further away from Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's defense was as steady as Mount Tai, but he didn't relax in the slightest.
Because the Purple Mountain True Monarch still hadn't shown himself.
Fang Yuan deployed his scouting methods, surveying the entire battlefield.
Qiao Siliu and Miaoyin Fairy were two of the three great fairies of the current Southern Border era. Their clash could be described as a meeting of worthy rivals, a battle between evenly matched opponents — still locked in a stalemate.
Heilouan and Bai Ningbing's combat power astonished Fang Yuan considerably.
The last time Fang Yuan had hunted them down, their Immortal Killer Moves were still quite unpolished. Now, however, they wielded them with supreme proficiency, as naturally as moving their own arms.
This made Fang Yuan lament once again just how deep the Shadow Sect's foundations truly were. Even after being ravaged to such an extent, under the Shadow Sect's guidance, Bai Ningbing and Heilouan's combat power had surged so rapidly and so visibly.
If not for Fang Yuan's massive gains from the Reverse Flow River battle, and his subsequent realm leap through dreams upon his return, the speed of his strength increase would have been no match for the two black-and-white Immortals.
But though Heilouan and Bai Ningbing were powerful, the Righteous Path had no shortage of strong fighters either.
Tie Xinjian and Yi Heiting were both first-rate powerhouses among the Seventh Transformation, and though they couldn't compare to the likes of Wu Yubo, dealing with Heilouan and Bai Ningbing was well within their capabilities.
The two pairs of Gu Immortals launched into fierce battle, and for a time the sky thundered, lightning flashed in every direction, ice and snow swirled together, and blinding lights clashed brilliantly.
"But it seems like Zuo Yehui is almost recovered." Fang Yuan surveyed the whole battlefield, and naturally hadn't forgotten the most powerful existence currently on it.
"Wu Yihai, come back immediately." Just then, Ba De's voice transmission reached Fang Yuan's ear.
"What's wrong?" From Ba De's tone, Fang Yuan immediately sensed something was off. He hesitated. "I'm holding the breach here."
"Hurry, we need you here." Chi Gui's weak voice also came through.
Fang Yuan's heart sank. He immediately squeezed through the breach and entered the rear.
When he saw Ba Quanfeng and Chi Gui on the verge of death, his eyes contracted sharply.
A message Gu flew over, and Fang Yuan seized it in one hand. Instantly, he learned the full sequence of events.
"Ba Quanfeng was actually a Shadow Sect mole?! The Shadow Sect's infiltration truly knows no bounds." Fang Yuan's mind shook violently, his eyelids twitching uncontrollably.
The situation was dire.
The Earth Path Immortal Gu had been destroyed too.
Just moments ago, when the Righteous Path had been pushed to the brink of desperation and Ba De had nearly lost all hope, Chi Gui had suddenly said: "We have one last sliver of hope. I'm too weak to continue fighting, but we still have Wu Yihai. Wu Yihai's attainment in Formation Path is something even my clan's Chi Shang couldn't help but praise — his Formation Path realm is on par with mine, a Formation Path quasi-grandmaster. Let him in, and we might have one final gamble at the last moment."
Ba De had long known that Fang Yuan and Chi Shang were on close terms, but this was the first time a Chi family Gu Immortal confirmed that Fang Yuan's Formation Path attainment had reached such an impressive height.
In normal times, Ba De would have felt wary and jealous, but right now he felt nothing but relief, and hastily sent a voice transmission to Fang Yuan.
That was how Fang Yuan had been summoned back. His empty position was naturally filled by other Righteous Path Gu Immortals.
"This news is still limited to the few of us. Wu Yihai, can you do it?" Ba De's face was taut with tension.
At this critical moment, he absolutely didn't dare spread this intelligence widely. If morale collapsed and the hearts of the crowd scattered, the Righteous Path would suffer a catastrophic defeat.
"Do the hell with 'can I do it'." Fang Yuan cursed viciously.
He glared at Ba Quanfeng, his eyes filled with fury.
Zuo Yehui's recovery time was limited. Previously, Chi Gui had already burned through more than half of it to deduce the Gu formation, which meant the time left for Fang Yuan wasn't even thirty percent.
Within such a short window, using a brand-new Immortal Gu, deducing a workable plan, and integrating that Immortal Gu along with who knew how many auxiliary mortal Gu into the Gu formation to erect a second-layer formation — the difficulty was immense, extraordinarily so.
Chi Gui understood this difficulty too, which was why he'd said they could only gamble, with just one sliver of hope.
"Even if you have no confidence, we have no one else to rely on. This time you need to give it everything you've got. If the Gu formation isn't completed, one Yehui Killer Move and we're all dead. Don't think you can escape — Zuo Yehui's cruelty is documented in bloody history. Our only hope is to use the super Gu formation to hold our ground and await reinforcements." Ba De urged urgently.
Fang Yuan held his breath, his mind racing.
Ba De and Chi Gui didn't know Fang Yuan's true identity. In reality, his situation was far better than theirs.
"I have the Reverse Flow Protective Seal. As long as I activate it, I can leave unscathed."
"Even if Zuo Yehui pursues me relentlessly, I can shake him off using the Five Regions' World Walls."
"But doing so would completely expose my true identity. Not only would I lose my ability to fish in troubled waters here, I'd become the target of Southern Border's Gu Immortal community. Never mind others — Wu Yong would definitely become my mortal enemy."
"Let me try first."
"Hmm, there's still a small window left. The final moment of decision hasn't arrived yet."
With this thought, Fang Yuan immediately strode quickly to Chi Gui's side: "Tell me the secret of the second-layer Gu formation."
Chi Gui's vision was fading to black, his face pale as death. His injuries were far too severe, and he was barely maintaining consciousness through his Gu worms: "First of all, we're missing an Earth Path Immortal Gu here. This information Gu contains all the details of this super Gu formation."
The moment those words left his lips, his eyes closed and he lost consciousness entirely.
"Are you kidding me?!" Fang Yuan's heart plummeted.
Chi Gui passing out was like adding frost to snow. Ba De hurriedly tried various methods, but none had any effect.
Fang Yuan nearly activated the Reverse Flow Protective Seal right then and there and made a public run for it. In his eyes, without Chi Gui's on-the-spot guidance, needing to procure an Earth Path Immortal Gu, and still requiring time to deduce a plan — there was essentially no hope.
But even so, he still allocated a sliver of mental focus to examine the contents within the information Gu.
The next instant, Fang Yuan's eyes bulged wide, and he felt enormously grateful for this small act of diligence.
Four-Origin Gu Formation!
To his surprise, the conceptual framework for this second-layer Gu formation was none other than the Four-Origin Thought Stream from back then.