Woof woof woof!
Fierce barking erupted, one volley after another.
Dozens of wild dogs fought in a melee. One side outnumbered the other, but their formation was loose and scattered. The other side was fewer in number, yet fought in tight formation, covering each other, retreating and charging in coordinated tactics.
Fang Yuan stood on a nearby hill, looking down at the entire battlefield from his elevated vantage, directing the fight with focused intent.
This was already his tenth round in the Dog King's inheritance.
Relying on his vast experience and his understanding of the Dog King's legacy, he had charged through without any scares or mishaps.
The battle continued for the time it took to drink a cup of tea before it finally ended.
On the entire battlefield, eighteen wild dogs still stood. Every one of them had been painstakingly accumulated by Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan let out a light breath of turbid air, feeling a slight trace of mental fatigue.
"Every ten rounds in the Dog King's inheritance is a challenge, and the difficulty spikes severalfold. This time I used twenty-seven wild dogs and sacrificed a full nine of them just to withstand the siege of nearly sixty wild dogs before barely passing this stage."
Honestly speaking, there had been a few heart-pounding moments in the process.
"All three kings were demonic path Gu Masters. Demonic path inheritances have always been harsh and cruel, upholding the cold law of survival of the fittest. This single round was enough to weed out the vast majority of those trying to sneak in by luck."
On Three Ridge Mountain, there were countless righteous path Gu Masters and demonic path Gu Masters. Every time the Three Kings' inheritance opened, waves of Gu Masters poured in, hoping to try their luck.
But the Three Kings' inheritance, regardless of which path, was extremely strict. To select the most suitable successor, the Three Kings had set the difficulty of each trial very high.
Among the three kings, the Dog King was an enslavement path Gu Master, the Faith King was a refinement path Gu Master, and the Explosion King was a flame path Gu Master. The successors they sought naturally also had to belong to these paths.
The difficulty of the first ten rounds alone was enough to ruthlessly eliminate most Gu Masters from side paths.
By the thirtieth round, no side-path Gu Masters would remain.
By the fiftieth, those still standing would be elites and geniuses of their respective paths.
By the seventieth, only powerhouses with deep foundations would survive.
Those who could reach the ninetieth round would be absolutely few and far between — no more than could be counted on one's hands.
Especially from ninety to one hundred, those final ten rounds were staggeringly difficult, hard as a chasm in the heavens. Even a monster like Fang Yuan would never be able to clear them.
In his previous life, the Three Kings' inheritance had lasted nearly ten years. It swept up countless figures — demonic path and righteous path, heroes and villains alike.
Now, less than a year had passed since the Three Kings' inheritance appeared, placing it in the early stage. Most people could only make it to a dozen or so rounds at most, which was already considered impressive.
By the mid-stage, people would push to around fifty rounds before hitting a wall. Unable to advance further, they could only exchange experiences and compile many patterns and strategies.
By the late stage, most people hovered between seventy and eighty rounds. Only a tiny handful fought around the ninetieth round. These individuals were mostly Fifth Transformation Gu Masters, and every move they made drew the gaze of all.
And when it came to the very end, mysterious silhouettes of Sixth Transformation Gu Immortals even appeared.
Fang Yuan remembered most of this quite clearly. Of course, some details were blurry, but those were trivial matters.
He understood the Three Kings' inheritance deeply.
He knew his own strength — regardless of which path's inheritance, there was absolutely no way he could push past the ninetieth round.
Beyond the ninetieth round were trials that only Fifth Transformation Gu Masters had any hope of clearing.
Fang Yuan was well aware that cultivating to the Fifth Transformation would be quite difficult for him. Ten years was nowhere near enough.
This was not only because cultivation grew harder the further a Gu Master progressed. It was also because of the Spring Autumn Cicada.
Within this Gu Immortal's blessed land, the flow of time was accelerated, which further hastened the Spring Autumn Cicada's recovery speed.
To him, this posed an enormous latent threat.
The power of heaven and earth descended once more, and Fang Yuan's vision flashed.
When he steadied his gaze again, he found himself relocated to a strange, unfamiliar place.
Unlike the clear vision of the first ten rounds, his sight was now shrouded in thick gray fog, making it impossible to distinguish north from south or east from west.
Aside from the Sixth Transformation Spring Autumn Cicada, none of his other Gu Insects could be activated.
Nineteen wild dogs surrounded him, but at this point, even the Dog Taming Gu maintained only the faintest, threadbare connection.
Yet Fang Yuan was not flustered. He knew perfectly well that starting from the tenth round, the inheritance gave every challenger a choice.
He stood quietly in place and quickly discerned what was before him.
Deep in the fog to his left, a cluster of orange-yellow light glowed, as if someone were holding a lantern. Along with it came several fairly loud barks.
Directly ahead, a black human silhouette appeared, fading in and out of view, seeming both near and far.
To his right, deep within the gray fog, a cluster of crackling blue lightning sparked and flickered.
"The orange-yellow light represents Chrysanthemum Akita dogs. These dogs are more loyal and united than the ordinary wild dogs in my possession, easier to command, and capable of executing exquisite tactical coordination. The blue lightning should be the Electric Dogs. This breed runs at twice the speed of ordinary wild dogs. And the black silhouette represents the next opponent — another Gu Master." Fang Yuan deliberated.
These were all hints given to him by the Dog King's inheritance.
Someone entering for the first time would be completely blind, able to do nothing but feel their way through trials without the ability to choose what was most advantageous.
But Fang Yuan knew exactly what to do.