"Hoo hoo hoo…"
Fang Yuan hovered in midair, gasping for breath, his gaze sweeping across the entire battlefield.
The brutal fighting had finally ended.
The battlefield bore no resemblance to its former state. The shattered remains of Ice Spike Divine Apes lay scattered in various craters. Flames from Fire Path Killer Moves still clung to the ground, burning quietly. But frost was far more prevalent — mixed with blood, shattered bone and flesh, and the broken roots and withered leaves of the Snow Willow wasteproducts.
The Immortal Gu Masters had inevitably suffered casualties as well.
Everyone bore injuries. The one who had died was the female Gu Master who cultivated the Theft Path.
She had not been killed by the Heavenly Dragon, but during the fighting that followed as reinforcements arrived, she had been ambushed and killed by several of the Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch's clones working in concert.
Fang Yuan himself was wounded.
His left lung had been pierced by an ice spike. An icicle the size of a throwing javelin still jutted from his chest.
His entire lower body was covered by a thick layer of frost, and much of the muscle tissue had already been frozen necrotic.
The Supreme Immortal Body possessed an enormous advantage — there were no mutual restraints between its dao marks. But this was also a tremendous disadvantage. Once Fang Yuan was hit, once his defensive measures were breached and the attack landed on his body, the damage he took was completely unmitigated, without the natural dampening that ordinary dao marks would provide.
This battle once again drove home to Fang Yuan the fragile nature of the Supreme Immortal Body.
"My defensive Killer Moves are still too weak."
"The Blood Origin Immortal Gu is still undergoing repair — Blood-Stained Battle Robe cannot be used. My Time Path defensive measures are also nothing exceptional."
Although Fang Yuan had obtained the Black Fan True Inheritance, the true core Immortal Gu, Years Flow Like Water, remained sealed. This Immortal Gu carried a massive drawback — if its aura leaked, it could attract Primordial Era Year Beasts.
If an Eighth Transformation powerhouse suddenly entered Fang Yuan's Supreme Immortal aperture, defeat would be certain. He would have no choice but to separate his soul from his body and abandon the entire Supreme Immortal Body.
The defensive methods within the Black Fan True Inheritance were actually quite excellent. But they required Years Flow Like Water as their core.
The defensive Killer Move Fang Yuan currently employed used Year Gu as its nucleus. Its effectiveness was considerably weaker. It was a method Black Fan had used in his early years. After reaching the Seventh Transformation, he had never employed it again.
"Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch truly lives up to his reputation as an Eighth Transformation Slave Path powerhouse — genuinely formidable!"
"Even though his true body remains outside the Grotto-Heaven. To achieve such results by commanding the battle solely through clones — I am absolutely no match."
"And this method of warping space to transport wasteproducts and Ancient Wasteproducts into the Grotto-Heaven is extraordinarily practical!"
In this battle, the Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch's side had fielded over a hundred Ice Spike Divine Apes. Plus an even greater number of Snow Willow wasteproducts. And during the fighting, spatial distortions had appeared as well. Despite the Immortal Gu Masters' desperate efforts to intercept them, two Ice Waterfall Divine Apes had still managed to slip through.
Ice Spike Divine Apes.
Ice Waterfall Divine Apes.
The two were closely related, intimately connected.
The former were wasteproducts — their eye whites were jade-green, their pupils frost-blue, and their entire bodies were covered in fur that resembled rows upon rows of ice spikes bristling across the surface. The latter were Ancient Wasteproducts — their bodies were white as snow, their eyes crimson as blood. Every strand of monkey fur stood like a piercing ice thorn, stabbing straight toward the sky.
Fang Yuan was already fairly familiar with the Ice Spike Divine Apes. In earlier days, Langya Blessed Land had contained Ice Spike Divine Apes.
Later, Fang Yuan had borrowed them to defend Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, repelling an assault from the Cranes' Gate.
After that, the Ice Spike Divine Apes had perished in the Battle of Langya's Defense.
As for the Ice Waterfall Divine Apes, Fang Yuan had fought one before as well.
That time had been to help Hei Loulan ascend to immortality and endure her tribulation. The calamity on the northern ice plains, influenced by the Wild Force True Essence, had transformed into the image of a divine ape.
"Looking back now. The Ice Waterfall Divine Ape formed through the transformation of a calamity was far inferior in combat strength to a genuine one."
"Actually, if it were merely these wasteproducts and wasteproduct vegetation, they would be troublesome but not difficult to deal with. The critical factor was the Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch's clones providing support and command — that made it a completely different matter."
"Especially when the wasteproducts and wasteproduct vegetation actually formed battle formations, moved in unison, and unleashed the tremendous combat power that Slave Path Killer Moves could produce — it was truly alarming."
Fang Yuan reviewed the entire battle. He had thoroughly experienced the might of an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Master.
Even without his true body present on the battlefield, commanding from beyond the Grotto-Heaven, Fang Yuan had been utterly outmatched.
The only reason they had managed to prevail was by combining the strength of all the Immortal Gu Masters present.
"If another few battles of this intensity take place, my Green Grape Immortal Essence will be completely depleted."
"My Year Gu's age has also dropped significantly — I need to refine them back up as quickly as possible."
"Treating the injuries on my body will also consume considerable time and Immortal Essence."
This rate of consumption was something even Fang Yuan felt he could barely sustain.
The Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch's losses, however, were even greater than Fang Yuan's.
At this stage, Chu Du's side, relying on the Black Fan Grotto-Heaven, had dragged the battle into a stalemate. Both sides were locked in a pure war of attrition.
The Immortal Gu Masters expended Immortal Essence, while the Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch lost the Grotto-Heaven's accumulated reserves. Neither side could afford to back down — it was simply a question of who would crack first.
The battles that followed grew ever more intense.
Although the Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch's attempts had failed, they had shown promise.
He repeatedly tried to establish temporary camps at various locations within the Black Fan Grotto-Heaven. Once he stabilized his foothold, he would continuously send in Ancient Wasteproducts, making Chu Du's defending Immortal Gu Masters' lives utterly miserable.
Looking at the overall offensive and defensive battle for the Black Fan Grotto-Heaven:
The Hundred Legs Heavenly Monarch had initially commanded his clones to directly assault the various resource points, striking at Chu Du's foundation. And he had succeeded.