Fang Yuan was helpless.
He couldn't force the Lang Ya Earth Spirit to do anything.
Now, stuck here — even if he wanted to continue deducing the Cleansing Immortal Formation, without the key Immortal Gu, it was naturally impossible.
"The crux of the matter is that I still need to leverage the Lang Ya Sect's strength to help me refine Gu."
Having obtained Purple Mountain True Monarch's legacy, Fang Yuan was missing a great many Immortal Gu. In the future, he had a whole host of plans involving Gu refinement.
What if the Lang Ya Earth Spirit deliberated at length and still refused Fang Yuan?
This question was something Fang Yuan had already considered long ago.
He had always operated by preparing for defeat before contemplating victory.
"If the Lang Ya Earth Spirit won't agree to lend the Formation Plate Immortal Gu, then I'll simply have to borrow someone else's immortal aperture."
Fang Yuan carried an enormous number of Dao Marks on his person. Entering another Shadow Sect Gu Immortal's immortal aperture would be extraordinarily difficult.
Unless they established their aperture and formed a blessed land — only with a firmly established foundation would such a thing be possible.
Once inside another's immortal aperture, Fang Yuan could employ Time Path methods to expand the time flow tributaries within several fold, causing the speed of time inside to surge dramatically.
In this way, a single day on the outside could easily correspond to ten days or even half a month within the time flow tributary.
By leveraging this time, he could gain a great deal of precious breathing room.
Then, within the blessed land, he could arrange a Gu formation of the Immortal tier — the Cleansing formation — placing himself inside it to target and eliminate the disadvantageous Dao Marks on his body.
This method was something Fang Yuan would only resort to as a last resort.
Because its drawbacks were equally enormous.
Once an aperture was established, its position became fixed. At that point, if Feng Jiuge and the others came hunting, the danger would be immense. Did Feng Jiuge possess any means of penetrating into an immortal aperture blessed land?
He very likely did.
Even if Feng Jiuge himself didn't, neither the Ling Yuan Zhai behind him, nor the Heavenly Court, would allow such a gap in his arsenal.
There was another point even more critical: once the Time Path method was implemented, the time flow tributaries inside the immortal aperture would undergo changes. These changes could not be modified again within a short period.
For example, if Fang Yuan caused Hei Loulan's immortal aperture time flow to surge, then for at least the next several months, the time flow tributary could not be adjusted again.
In Black Fan's true Time Path inheritances, whether it was "a day feels like a year" or "a year feels like a month" — any killing move that slowed or accelerated the time flow tributary within an immortal aperture carried this same drawback.
Because all these killing moves were single-use activations with lasting effects. Repeatedly influencing the time flow tributary within a given time frame would cause Time Path Dao Marks to become disordered, triggering a catastrophic time flow overflow.
Fang Yuan already knew each Gu Immortal's tribulation schedule. After calculating, he found that if he employed this method, at least one person would have to endure the trial of their immortal aperture tribulation.
That was the real difficulty.
Heavenly Will had always been finding every possible way to exterminate Fang Yuan.
Although Fang Yuan would choose someone else's aperture, Heavenly Will perceived all things. No matter whose aperture it was, the connection to Fang Yuan was intimate. During the tribulation, Heavenly Will would certainly unleash its maximum power to slaughter the tribulation-crossing Gu Immortal.
Fang Yuan and the others could join forces to weather the tribulation together.
But don't forget there were also the Heavenly Court's pursuers.
Working out the timing and speed carefully, the method of establishing an aperture and setting up the formation could not, in a single pass, eliminate all the tracking killing moves from Fang Yuan's body. That meant Fang Yuan would inevitably have to endure at least one immortal aperture tribulation in the process — and there was a very high chance he'd also face encirclement by Heavenly Court Gu Immortals.
That was far too risky.
The stakes were too high!
As for letting Fang Yuan use his own Supreme Immortal Aperture, that would be even more dangerous.
A further worry gnawed at Fang Yuan: "Last time, only Feng Jiuge came. Who knows how many Heavenly Court Gu Immortals will show up next time?"
This was why, during this period, Fang Yuan had been constantly on the move, denying the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals any opportunity to encircle him.
The Western Desert was vast, its terrain immense. The Heavenly Court was fighting on foreign soil, and Fang Yuan's group possessed means of traveling through multiple paths — finding an opportunity to corner and kill Fang Yuan was no easy task.
When the appointed time arrived, several figures flew in from the distant sky.
It was Bai Ningbing, Hei Loulan, and the others.
Whenever Fang Yuan was cultivating or conducting deductions, these few would scatter and stand guard, keeping watch against any surveillance.
"Fang Yuan, when exactly will that Immortal-tier Gu formation of yours be completed? How long is this flight going to last?" This time, Bai Ningbing flew down, brow furrowed, and asked with undisguised impatience.
Without even glancing around, Fang Yuan could sense that the gazes of every other Gu Immortal had turned toward him at her words.
"Wait a little longer," Fang Yuan said, his tone flat.
Bai Ningbing snorted coldly, her expression unhappy.
She was the most impatient of them all. Days spent on the run were utterly uninteresting — she found the whole affair deeply boring.
"Can't you set up that Immortal-tier Gu formation again? Arrange another one, draw the Heavenly Court pursuers in, and wipe them out," Bai Ningbing suggested.
Fang Yuan shook his head. "You think that kind of Immortal-tier Gu formation is so easy to set up? It requires a time flow tributary."