The Central Continent Gu Refinement Convention, twelfth round.
The competition had reached its critical juncture, and the eyes of the entire arena were fixed on only two figures.
One wore a black robe, his frame tall and powerful, a mask covering his face as he manipulated the blazing flames before him — Fang Yuan.
The other wore a plain white robe, his temples streaked with snow, a vertical crease between his brows — Fang Huai.
"It's a battle of the two Fangs!"
"Fang Huai is incredible — he's used three Refinement Path killer moves in succession and actually closed the gap by a huge margin!"
"Even so, Fang Yuan still has the advantage. Sigh, he's far too formidable. His sharpness of mind is unmatched among everyone at this convention. From the very start of this refinement, he was leagues ahead."
"There's still room for a twist. Whether it's Fang Yuan or Fang Huai, each still holds one use of their right. Once invoked, it can strip away one piece of immortal materials from the other's hands!"
Onlookers both on and off the field were buzzing with discussion.
At this point in the competition, every other Gu Master had already been eliminated. Only Fang Yuan and Fang Huai remained.
Fang Yuan's gaze was calm and steady as he poured his full concentration into controlling the flames before him.
"Fang Huai…" He even had the leisure to glance toward his right, observing his opponent.
Fang Huai was also a Gu Immortal — in the previous life, he had placed third in this very convention. He was a Wood Path Gu Immortal, and looking at the entire competition, this particular round's challenge was the most disadvantageous for him of all.
Fang Yuan had seized this golden opportunity to challenge him, hoping to eliminate him early.
But he hadn't expected that Fang Huai would suddenly surge with power in the mid-to-late stages, unleashing three Refinement Path killer moves in rapid succession — one of which was even an Immortal-level combined killer move. In an instant, the gap between them narrowed dramatically, and the outcome of this refinement became uncertain once more.
"As expected of the man who placed third in the previous life — truly a handful… Hmph!" Suddenly, Fang Yuan's expression shifted.
The flames before him flickered twice. The Blue Peacock head inside had only half-melted before it abruptly crumbled into ash, scattering across the floor tiles.
"What?!" Fang Yuan's face betrayed no change, but his heart sank like a stone.
"Damn it — I've hit the probability of failure!" He reacted in an instant, his hand snapping toward his right side where the last Blue Peacock remained.
But the very moment he killed the Blue Peacock and moved to cast its head into the flames, a voice carried over from Fang Huai's side: "I invoke my right to strip the refinement material Blue Peacock from Fang Yuan's hands!"
The presiding elder reacted immediately. "Granted."
Before the words had even faded, the Blue Peacock beside Fang Yuan was pulled away, vanishing from his side.
The entire arena erupted!
"Each competitor was only allowed two live Blue Peacocks. Fang Yuan needed to use the peacock heads for his refinement, but he'd already failed once. He had the second peacock left — and now that material has been stripped away!"
"What a brilliant move. Fang Huai's timing was absolutely perfect. Fang Yuan is in real trouble now."
"Exactly — Fang Yuan was already on the final steps, but without the crucial material, he'll have to alter his Gu recipe, take a massive detour just to approach the finish line. Meanwhile, Fang Huai was never far behind him. If he can overtake Fang Yuan now, he might actually manage to eliminate him!"
"Is Fang Yuan going to be eliminated?!"
The realization hit the crowd, and the arena exploded into uproar.
Recently, Fang Yuan had been on the offensive, elimination after elimination of top refinement experts, and his dominance had seared itself into everyone's minds.
Outside estimates of his strength had been climbing ever higher, with the prevailing view being that Fang Yuan had already reached the level of a Grandmaster of Refinement Path.
A small minority even believed that the strength Fang Yuan had displayed went beyond the Grandmaster level, entering the realm of Quasi-Grandmaster of Refinement Path.
Grandmaster was one thing — but Quasi-Grandmaster? That was absurdly high praise!
The four tiers of path mastery were: ordinary, master, grandmaster, and great grandmaster. In the entire history of the Refinement Path, only three individuals had ever achieved the rank of Great Grandmaster — the Three Elders of Refinement: Ancestor Long Hair, Old Freak Tian Nan, and Old Immortal Kong Jue. The Quasi-Grandmaster rank stood just below the Three Elders, and in the Northern Plains, only four people were universally acknowledged to have reached it: Medicine Emperor, Murong Xuexiang, Lady Wanshou, and Lady Miaoli. These four were collectively known as the current Four Luminaries of Refinement in the Northern Plains.
For Fang Yuan to be considered on par with Medicine Emperor, Murong Xuexiang, Lady Wanshou, and Lady Miaoli in refinement attainment — that was obviously impossible.
But it was no wonder people speculated as much.
The strength Fang Yuan had displayed was simply too overwhelming. His thorough understanding of each challenge's requirements meant he left the second-place competitor in the dust every single round.
"You walk along the riverbank long enough, and your shoes are bound to get wet. This time Fang Yuan went on the offensive trying to eliminate Fang Huai, and he's finally kicked an iron plate. Ha ha ha!" Quite a few people were gloating.
"Exactly — he's been far too arrogant. I've been sick of his attitude for ages. Well done, Fang Huai!"
"This Fang Huai is too despicable! Lord Fang Yuan, you have to hang in there!" A number of Immortal Crane Sect disciples in the crowd were cheering Fang Yuan on.
Fang Yuan had captured Fang Zheng and brought him back, and the Immortal Crane Sect had not reacted with any particular hostility — as though they had tacitly accepted the matter.
"Fang Yuan, this round is mine." Fang Huai laughed out loud three times, brimming with confidence, as though victory were already in his grasp.
"Is that so?" Fang Yuan sneered. His palm seized at empty air, pulling the headless peacock corpse from beside him into his grasp.
The refinement materials had originally included two live Blue Peacocks. Fang Yuan had killed one and taken its head, only to suffer a failure. The second live peacock had then been stripped away.
The headless peacock corpse now in his hand was what remained from the first one.
Fang Yuan spread his five fingers wide. A thick, crimson mist surged from his palm. In just a few breaths' time, the mist had completely enveloped the headless peacock corpse, hiding its interior from outside view.