In his previous life, when Fang Yuan first turned his attention to the Bone Refinement Grand Assembly, only a little over a decade had passed since the last Gu Refinement Grand Assembly.
To participate in the Gu Refinement Grand Assembly, the previous-life Fang Yuan had begun preparing more than eighty years in advance.
Every day he carved out time to practice diligently, ceaselessly day and night.
During this period of practice, Fang Yuan drew upon the spirit of pre-rebirth, Earth's college entrance examination students facing mountains of problem sets and oceans of test banks. He collected every single exam question from past assemblies, then worked through them with single-minded intensity while simultaneously attempting to divine the intentions of the question-setters.
He easily obtained all the questions. In Central Continent, there were actually people who specialized in selling this kind of information, and such merchandise had always sold quite well. It was clear that clever people were everywhere.
Looking back on those lightless, grinding days of practice, it was almost too painful to dwell on. However, it had to be said that the true foundation of Fang Yuan's refinement path had been laid during precisely that period. Without that time, his current near-grandmaster level in the refinement path would have been impossible.
So Fang Yuan not only remembered the content of this assembly's questions, but also those of many previous ones, and even the ones from the future!
With such a tremendous advantage, so what if his refinement path attainment wasn't as high as Fireworks Master's?
Of course, this method had its own drawback.
That was the butterfly effect.
Fang Yuan's rebirth had altered the original trajectory of countless things. Light a single tree on fire, and the blaze might consume an entire forest.
The expert swimmer drowns; the expert rider falls. Could the advantage Fang Yuan relied upon become the cause of his own failure, if the questions changed in this life?
That was entirely possible.
But it was only possible.
According to Fang Yuan's calculations, the likelihood was slim.
Fang Yuan decided to take the risk.
He gambled and won — the questions had not changed!
Time flowed forward at a steady pace, neither rushing nor dragging.
The intense Gu refinement scene gradually became clearer.
Fang Yuan surged ahead, maintaining a substantial lead over the second-place Fireworks Master. His entire being radiated an aura of supreme confidence. He refined his Gu with methodical precision, sustaining his enormous advantage and steadily driving the competitors chasing desperately behind him toward despair.
Among the Gu Masters watching from the sidelines, some had already discerned the pattern and couldn't help but voice their praise: "Fang Yuan's mind is truly remarkably agile. He barely had to think before designing this Gu refinement scheme. Remarkable — this scheme not only guarantees refinement speed with fewer steps, but also has a superior margin for error. Even if he fails a few times, the surplus materials let him try again."
Of course.
The scheme Fang Yuan had adopted was the one that countless refinement-path Gu Masters had spent the entire period after this assembly's previous-life iteration ruminating over and attempting, ultimately distilling into the most optimal Gu refinement approach.
Even more people marveled at Fang Yuan's refinement technique: "Fang Yuan's refinement skills are truly outstanding. For this quantity of hand movements, it's almost like an innate gift. This absolutely must have been honed through thousands of refinements! This Silent Gu refinement involves many techniques rarely used in ordinary practice, yet he handles them all with such ease. It's almost unimaginable how fluid his command of common techniques must be."
This, too, was to be expected.
For this eighth round of competition, Fang Yuan had prepared for a long time.
Inside the Fox Immortal's blessed land, he had undergone a special training regimen, focusing exclusively on refining Silent Gu. The entire procedure had been practiced back and forth at least two hundred times!
"More crucial still is the aura of confidence he radiates from within, from head to toe. He believes absolutely in his own success, as if the possibility of refinement failure simply doesn't exist in his mind. This is the bearing of a true refinement-path master. The three legendary refinement-path elders of history — they were exactly like this."
"Yes! Watching him refine Gu is like watching a dazzling performance!"
"How incredibly strong his will must be, as if victory is already tucked safely in his pocket!"
"His advantage is so overwhelming that even if Fang Yuan fails once or twice, he can still contest the final victory with the second-place Fireworks Master."
Under the witness of countless gazes from both on and off the stage, Fang Yuan secured the victory in this round without any scare, commanding a massive lead.
Throughout the entire process, Fang Yuan had completely overshadowed every other competitor. Even the Fireworks Master had been left far behind.
"The Fireworks Master... did he fail...?"
"Eliminated already...?"
The members of Ten Thousand Dragon Dock all stared blankly at the result before them, murmuring in disbelief.
"Fang Yuan! Fang Yuan!" The members of the Celestial Crane Sect rose to their feet, calling out and cheering unrestrainedly!
Only Fang Zheng remained seated. Gazing at his brother on the stage, the black-robed figure had come to engulf his entire body and mind.
"I'm afraid that for the rest of my life, my hope of vengeance is lost!" In this moment, Fang Zheng's despondency reached its absolute nadir. He could not stir even a shred of fighting spirit.
Though burning with a deep and abiding hatred, Fang Zheng looked upon Fang Yuan now and felt only utter exhaustion, powerless to change anything.
Fireworks Master stared with eyes bulging like a bull's, fixed unblinkingly upon Fang Yuan.
He refused to accept this! He could not resign himself to it!
He hadn't even unleashed his strongest killing move yet. These damnable questions had left him completely hamstrung.