Supreme Immortal Gu aperture.
The Gu refinement had reached its most critical stage.
The enormous cicada pupa floated silently in midair, no more than half a zhang above the ground.
The surface of the pupa was not smooth—it was rough and fibrous, with a metallic texture.
Fang Yuan drew a deep breath and activated the killer move he had prepared.
In an instant, yin winds erupted around the pupa. Dark clouds churned and gathered across the sky, quickly coalescing into a massive mass that dimmed all the surrounding light.
Wooo wooo wooo…
Amid waves of spine-chilling ghostly wailing, the ground rotted to a ashen grey. One by one, pitch-black ghostly hands thrust up from below—thick, grotesque, and reaching for the pupa.
The ghostly hands seized the pupa, but they were insubstantial. Each hand wavered as if it had pulled something out from inside the pupa, then clenched into a fist and retreated back underground.
Hundreds upon hundreds of black ghostly hands extended and retracted from the ground ceaselessly, seizing the pupa again and again, extracting the impurities within.
The cicada pupa was merely a semi-finished product, highly unstable, but with each pull of the ghostly hands it shrank smaller and smaller, its rough surface gradually turning smooth while its metallic sheen grew more pronounced and brilliant.
Fang Yuan observed with undivided attention the entire time. Seeing this, he was quietly quite satisfied.
This method was his own creation. The core Immortal Gu powering it was the Eighth Transformation Soul Beast Command.
"Every time I refined the Spring Autumn Cicada before, flaws appeared at this stage—the immortal materials weren't processed thoroughly enough. Now with this method, the work is absolutely thorough. There are just… some side effects."
The yin winds died down at some point. The number of black ghostly hands dwindled, until finally not a single one remained.
The dark clouds overhead, however, grew heavier and thicker, while the cicada pupa had shrunk to half its former size. Its entire body radiated a faint metallic glow, emanating waves of bone-deep chill.
Fang Yuan's expression unchanged, he produced a massive cluster of flame.
This was the Eighth Transformation immortal material—Phoenix Cry Fire. The flame was tangerine-yellow, split into two layers. The outer layer leaned pale yellow, while the inner layer was a deep orange-red. Within, the flame took the shape of a phoenix, ceaselessly spreading its wings and soaring, raising its voice in song. As it burned, it produced the clear, melodious cry of a phoenix.
"Go!" Fang Yuan called out softly and tossed the palm-sized mass of Phoenix Cry Fire. It landed precisely on the surface of the pupa.
Whoosh.
With a soft sound, the flame spread rapidly, engulfing the entire cicada pupa and blazing fiercely.
In that instant, phoenix cries pierced through the clouds.
Then the sound faded, but the flames grew even more rampant, searing into the pupa with savage intensity.
Fang Yuan held his breath, his gaze fixed and unblinking on the pupa.
Wisps of ghostly qi quickly surfaced on the pupa's exterior, burned away by the flames.
This stage of Gu refinement was exceptionally difficult—its subtlety was extraordinarily hard to gauge.
But Fang Yuan maintained perfect patience throughout. Only when every trace of ghostly qi inside the pupa had been incinerated, and the pupa's surface had even begun to melt, did he calmly and unhurriedly deploy his next method.
A dragon's roar detonated without warning. A colossal dragon of ice and snow howled forth and crashed into the pupa.
The Phoenix Cry Fire on the pupa's surface fought back immediately, but the dragon of ice and snow was vast in scale, bolstered by Fang Yuan's full support. It swiftly gained the upper hand, pinning the pupa at the center of its body.
The Phoenix Cry Fire on the pupa's surface proved remarkably stubborn, holding out for several hours before finally dissipating completely.
The dragon of ice and snow then shifted from its fierce posture, condensing into a block of ice that sealed the pupa within.
The cicada pupa at this point had been reduced to the size of a palm.
Once the wind and snow had fully subsided, Fang Yuan carefully retrieved the block of ice containing the pupa. Then he exhaled a gentle, warm breath. The ice melted rapidly, revealing the cicada pupa within.
The pupa looked like a finely crafted bronze artifact, exquisite in every detail. Fang Yuan extended his index finger and thumb, giving the pupa a light pinch.
Crack crack crack.
Countless fissures instantly spread across the pupa's surface. Then, a Seventh Transformation Spring Autumn Cicada awoke from within and burst free, wings unfurled.