Having stripped the Tao Zhu True Inheritance bare, Fang Yuan immediately withdrew from the Five Continents Mountain Range.
Just like in his previous life, this mountain range could not escape its fate of destruction. But for Fang Yuan, the outcome was entirely different.
In his previous life, he had set an ambush and single-handedly provoked the great battle at the Five Continents Mountain Range. The Tao Zhu True Inheritance had appeared unexpectedly, but he had no chance to claim it and was forced to retreat from the battlefield.
In this life, Fang Yuan had been wary of the ink effect and remained patient throughout. It was only after he ambushed the Southern Border pursuit squad and achieved a resounding victory that he judged the timing ripe, coming ahead of schedule to claim the inheritance.
Before long, the Southern Border's Righteous Path would agree to support the Tie family in building beacon towers everywhere.
Once that happened, it would be far more troublesome for Fang Yuan to make his move.
The beacon towers spread across the land would cause both the speed and strength of Southern Border Gu Immortal reinforcements to skyrocket.
In the previous life's final battle, Fang Yuan had obtained the crucial contents of the Tao Zhu True Inheritance from Wu Yong and Chi Quyou, and even built a super immortal formation together with them. Thus he knew a great deal about the Tao Zhu True Inheritance, and combined with his extensive calculations and thorough preparations, he received the inheritance without a hitch.
"The Tao Zhu True Inheritance!" Fang Yuan marveled inwardly.
The methods contained in this inheritance would prove tremendously helpful to him — no small matter!
Though Tao Zhu had been only an Eighth Transformation cultivator, the importance of this True Inheritance even surpassed that of a Venerable's own inheritance.
His previous life was the best proof.
Fang Yuan had used Tao Zhu's methods to counter the Ninety-Nine Linked Rings Endless Formation, leaving Chen Yi and the others completely stifled and at a loss — unable to advance or retreat. The effect had been extraordinary!
Tao Zhu's methods could likewise counter the Heroes Among Men killer move.
Empowered by the Heroes Among Men, every Gu Immortal from Heavenly Court and the Central Continent experienced a dramatic surge in strength.
But within the five-colored miasma, the stronger these Gu Immortals became, the greater the backlash they suffered.
It was a brilliant move with a perfect effect!
Even Fang Yuan would have given it two thumbs up — no amount of praise could do it justice.
The Ninety-Nine Linked Rings Endless Formation and the Heroes Among Men were both Venerable-level techniques, yet the Tao Zhu True Inheritance could actually suppress them both. It had shaken countless Gu Immortals to their core at the time.
"In this life, even if I haven't found a way to break Heroes Among Men, I can still use the five-colored miasma to suppress it. It'll give that lot in the Central Continent a massive headache!"
"The only issue is that the methods in the Tao Zhu True Inheritance aren't particularly flexible. When they were used before, an immortal formation had to be constructed. I already know this formation, but a fixed formation isn't what I want — it still needs considerable modification."
As Fang Yuan pondered, he began his initial review of the Tao Zhu True Inheritance.
Just as he had expected, the grand formation he had built together with Southern Border and Northern Plains Gu Immortals in his previous life was indeed the most essential content of the Tao Zhu True Inheritance.
Within this inheritance, Tao Zhu had named the formation — the Five Continents Great Limit Formation.
To his pleasant surprise, besides this formation, there was also an immortal killer move whose value was on par with the Five Continents Great Limit Formation.
This move was called the Five Restrictions Mysterious Light Qi. Once activated, it released a wave of five-colored luminous qi.
The luminous qi functioned similarly to the realm wall. Within it, Gu Immortals from all five regions would suffer backlash, and the more vigorously they acted, the more severe the backlash became.
Of course, owing to his unique nature, Fang Yuan himself was not restricted within the luminous qi.
The Five Continents Great Limit Formation and the Five Restrictions Mysterious Light Qi — these were the essence of the Tao Zhu True Inheritance.
Beyond these, there were the two preserved Immortal Gu.
Both Immortal Gu were Law Path insects — one at the Eighth Transformation named "Boundary," and one at the Seventh Transformation named "Limit."
The Eighth Transformation Boundary Gu was clearly Tao Zhu's Life Gu, having advanced alongside him all the way to the Eighth Transformation.
Tao Zhu's Immortal Aperture had not been preserved.
According to the records within the True Inheritance, Tao Zhu had been very poor. The vast majority of his resources had been devoted to research, and his Immortal Aperture held little of value.
More importantly, he had deliberately abandoned his Immortal Aperture before his lifespan ran out, leaving it for the Southern Border's Righteous Path to conceal the location of his True Inheritance.
As Fang Yuan browsed through the True Inheritance, his sighs of admiration grew ever more frequent.
Tao Zhu had clearly been an eccentric genius who devoted his entire life's time and energy to research, pouring in untold amounts of manpower and resources.
The True Inheritance recorded his countless experimental trials, many of which involved deliberately courting death at mortal risk.
Even after advancing to the Eighth Transformation, he frequently burrowed into the realm wall to experience its mysteries.
This was absolutely something no normal person would do.
As a result, his Immortal Aperture was extremely impoverished, barely sustaining the feeding of his Immortal Gu and never able to develop properly. The backlash suffered by an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal traversing the realm wall was simply too intense.
"Next, I need to develop my Immortal Aperture and gain the ability to feed these two great Immortal Gu."
"And then..."
Fang Yuan faced a choice.
Should he choose the Five Continents Great Limit Formation, or the Five Restrictions Mysterious Light Qi?
Both relied on the Boundary and Limit Gu as their core, supported by a massive number of mortal Gu. If he set up the formation, he could not use the Five Restrictions Mysterious Light Qi. By the same token, if he chose the Five Restrictions Mysterious Light Qi, he would likely not have sufficient time in battle to construct the Five Continents Great Limit Formation.
Setting up the formation had significant drawbacks, for it was a fixed structure that required drawing upon the power of earth veins.
The Tao Zhu True Inheritance stated this explicitly: the Five Continents Great Limit Formation not only needed to be laid upon the earth's surface, but had to be rooted in the earth veins.
That was why, in his previous life, Chi Quyou had added earth vein Immortal Gu to the formation.
At this point in time, the earth vein Immortal Gu had not yet appeared.
Once the formation was set up, it would become impractical. At critical moments, Fang Yuan would be unable to produce it. Unless he used formation flag Gu and formation spirits to transfer the formation, but that would require yet another round of major modifications, with unknown results.