Northern Plains, Langya Blessed Land, Gu Refining Hall.
The Refinement Path Gu Formation slowly operated, and the originally deep blue ice flames had completely transformed into a glacier.
Fang Yuan stood at the edge of the Immortal Formation, raising both hands and pressing his palms flat against the glacier's surface.
His eyes blazed bright with focus as he devoted himself entirely to the gu refining, pouring nearly all of his mental energy into the task.
Around him, the aura of various gu rose and fell—some from mortal gu, some from Immortal Gu. He was employing a vast array of refinement techniques and even killer moves.
Under Fang Yuan's efforts, blue ice flames still burned quietly within the glacier.
The gu materials were continuously refined within the flames, their impurities burned away until only the purest essence remained.
The embryo of an Immortal Gu was gradually taking shape, bit by bit.
Standing to the side, Mao Liu's eyes flickered with joy.
This progress had already surpassed his previous records.
This was not, of course, because Fang Yuan's refinement path attainment exceeded Mao Liu's, but rather because of luck.
The more important reason, though, was the refinement method.
"I never expected our sect to have also collected the inheritance of Bei Luo, the great ancient-era refinement path master," Mao Liu thought with deep emotion.
Bei Luo was an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Master of the refinement path, a figure whose name would go down in history. He had been most skilled in the ice refining method. To this day, his ice refining attainment remained a peak that all refinement path juniors could only gaze up at.
What Fang Yuan was using now was none other than Bei Luo's ice refining killer move from ages past. With it, he had instantly surpassed Mao Liu's previous record, standing just one step away from successfully refining the Pure Soul Immortal Gu.
Although Mao Liu was also a soul clone and a member of the Shadow Sect…
When the Shadow Sect had used the Soul Travel killer move to place him within the Langya Blessed Land, they hadn't given him too many cultivation memories.
Because with too many memories, it would be far too easy to slip up during the cultivation process.
Within the Langya Blessed Land, the Langya Earth Spirit knew almost everything and could detect every minute change in every corner of the blessed land.
Now that Fang Yuan had become the Shadow Sect Master, inheriting the entirety of the Shadow Sect's legacy, his cultivation foundation had undergone an explosive growth.
The magnitude of this growth could only be described as earth-shattering. Even Fang Yuan himself had grown somewhat numb to it.
To use an analogy: if before, Fang Yuan's foundation could be considered a lake, then the Shadow Sect's inheritance was like a vast ocean.
Even the Langya Sect's foundation was inferior to the Shadow Sect's. Never mind that the Langya Blessed Land had been established for an incredibly long time—its origin was merely Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Master Ancestor Long Hair. But the founder of the Shadow Sect was Ghostly Soul Demon Venerable, the being who had slaughtered his way across the world!
Therefore, once Fang Yuan had gained a deep understanding of the steps for refining the Pure Soul Immortal Gu, he selected from the ocean of inheritance within his mind the method best suited to his gu refining—the Bei Luo Ice Refining Method.
"Good! The Immortal Gu embryo has already taken more than half shape. Success is within arm's reach!"
As time continued to pass, Mao Liu grew ever more excited.
He shifted his gaze back to Fang Yuan.
"This man…" A complex light flickered through the depths of Mao Liu's eyes.
"His foundation in the refinement path is solid, and he has great talent. Most importantly, the ice refining method seems to suit him particularly well!" Mao Liu evaluated in his heart.
The refinement path encompassed countless techniques—fire refining, ice refining, multi-person joint refining, time refining, and more. Some people were suited to fire refining methods, while others naturally resonated extremely well with water-based methods.
Fang Yuan also discovered that the ice refining method suited him quite well.
"Seems like in my spare time, I could practice ice refining techniques more. It seems to fit my temperament even better than blood refining."
While thinking this, Fang Yuan mobilized his gu and prepared an Immortal killer move.
Within his immortal aperture, he had long stored a massive number of Myriad Self strength path phantom clones.
These clones helped him construct killer moves during gu refining—they were extremely practical and convenient.
Once this Immortal killer move was unleashed, Fang Yuan immediately felt a warm current circulating throughout his body, warding off the bone-piercing cold that assailed him from outside.
Intense cold constantly emanated from the glacier. This was the drawback of the ice refining method—the Immortal Gu Master had to simultaneously resist the freezing cold while refining gu.
If his Myriad Self hadn't been upgraded, Fang Yuan would have been hard-pressed at this moment, unable to manage all fronts at once.
But with the new Myriad Self, he crossed this hurdle with ease.
Just as Fang Yuan continued his gu refining, far away in the Central Continent, Feng Jinhuang climbed to the summit of a mountain peak.
At dawn, the sky still appeared dark, with only a handful of morning stars scattered across it.
Feng Jinhuang's breath misted in the cold air as she gazed into the distance, her small face filled with worry.
In the past, she had been a youth who knew nothing of sorrow, sheltered by her Immortal Gu Master parents. Now, however, she had tasted failure and experienced the hardships of life.
Especially recently, when Zhao Lianyun had successfully ascended to immortality.
This greatly bolstered the prestige of the opposing faction within Spirit Affinity Hall. With Feng Jiuge far away in the Western Desert and Fairy Bai Qing struggling to hold things alone, Xu Hao and his people had managed to win back quite a bit of face.
Through it all, Feng Jinhuang experienced a kind of difficulty and bitterness she had never known before. The sect, in her eyes, now held an entirely new image.
"Sigh!" She sat cross-legged upon a boulder and heaved a sigh.
She thought of Zhao Lianyun once more.
This person had overtaken her from behind, snatching away the very thing Feng Jinhuang had always used as her goal—the position of Fairy of Spirit Affinity Hall. And now Zhao Lianyun had successfully ascended, and from this point on, the gulf between immortal and mortal was absolute.