Shaped like a spring bamboo shoot—tall, slender, and standing ramrod straight.
The tower's silhouette flickered, shimmering with seven-colored radiance, as though it were a liquid mass of multicolored ink in the shape of a tower, constantly swaying.
"This is merely the initial form of the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower. Only when storms rage for ten thousand li in the outside world and snow blankets the Northern Plains, when the small towers within the Royal Court Blessed Land sink into the ground, will the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower stabilize layer by layer. Only then will it be possible to enter and explore it." Fang Yuan stood at the entrance of his quarters, lifting his head to gaze toward the domed peak in the distance.
At that moment, the Holy Palace was erupting in cheers and exclamations. Gu Masters shouted with joy, and even many mortals knelt on the ground in full prostration, chanting praises of the Great Yang Immortal Venerable's greatness.
"But even once the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower takes form, I still won't be able to enter. I'm not a descendant of the Great Yang Immortal Venerable—I don't carry his bloodline. To gain entry, I'll still need Hei Loulan to obtain a Guest Token. There's no rush. How could the True Yang Tower be so easily breached? Sooner or later, Hei Loulan will need an outside helper like me."
A moment later, Fang Yuan withdrew his gaze and walked back into his quarters.
He shut the doors of the small hall tight, and the cheers outside immediately faded.
Entering his dedicated cultivation chamber, Fang Yuan settled into a cross-legged position on the meditation cushion.
"My two Great Empty Orifices have both already advanced to the peak of the Fifth Transformation. In the Slavery Path, I have the Azure Sky Wolf pack. In the Strength Path, I have my Killer Move: Four Arm Wind King. Combined with my combat experience, I'm already at the pinnacle of mortals. But to deal with a Gu Immortal..."
Fang Yuan's brows gradually furrowed.
He knew all too well the vast gulf between mortals and immortals. Fighting an immortal as a mortal was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
For him right now, the best-case scenario would be if Tai Bai Yun Sheng already had the Immortal Gu recipe for Rivers and Mountains Unchanged in his mind.
Fang Yuan couldn't easily make his move in the outside Northern Plains, but in the future, within the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower, it would be much more convenient. Using Gu insects, he could steal Tai Bai Yun Sheng's River Unchanged and Mountain Unchanged Gu, then pilfer the Immortal Gu recipe from his mind.
With such favorable conditions, Fang Yuan could completely step off the chessboard, directly eliminate the still-mortal Tai Bai Yun Sheng, and use the Langya Earth Spirit's third request to demand the refinement of the Rivers and Mountains Unchanged Gu.
But the chances of Tai Bai Yun Sheng—as a mere mortal—already possessing the Immortal Gu recipe for Rivers and Mountains Unchanged in his mind were infinitesimally small.
Moreover, according to hazy rumors from his previous life, Rivers and Mountains Unchanged had spontaneously merged from two separate Gu when he ascended to become a Gu Immortal, as Heaven and Earth resonated and Dao patterns attracted one another.
Fang Yuan was cautious by nature. He never pinned all his hopes on a hazy future.
"If things go badly, then I'll have to deal with the Gu Immortal Tai Bai Yun Sheng. When that time comes, the only one I can rely on is myself. The Azure Sky Wolf pack and the Four Arm Wind King clearly won't be enough."
Fang Yuan's strength had already reached the absolute peak of mortals. Though he cultivated both the Slavery and Strength Paths simultaneously—a combination that had never solved the greatest problem of dual-path cultivation—even so, among Fifth Transformation powerhouses, he stood at the very first tier.
In the Southern Border, he would be on par with prodigies like the Shang Family's genius patriarch Shang Yanfei or the Wu Family's matriarch Lady Wu Ji.
Drawing upon the experience of his previous life, the advantages of rebirth, plus a series of daring adventures and repeated struggles on the boundary between life and death, Fang Yuan's rapid growth was enough to astound the world.
But such strength, when facing a Gu Immortal—even one who had just ascended—was simply not enough.
"To solve the enormous problem before me, there are probably only three approaches."
"First, search through the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower and find powerful Gu insects or unique methods within."
"Second, make covert preparations, scheme against Tai Bai Yun Sheng as much as possible, and lay thorough groundwork for the moment I truly make my move."
"Third, resolve the problem of simultaneously cultivating the Slavery and Strength Paths, and push my combat power to grow as much as possible."
Fang Yuan quietly calculated.
He knew full well that the Four Arm Wind King had already exhausted all the reserves of knowledge from his previous life. After all, in his past life, his specialty had been the Blood Path, while he had only dabbled superficially in the Slavery and Strength Paths.
So-called schemes and methods for dealing with a Gu Immortal were mostly laughable and unreliable. Fang Yuan had also successfully ascended to become a Gu Immortal in his previous life, and he knew that when a mortal transformed into a Gu Immortal, they underwent a thorough cleansing from head to toe, inside and out—even their appearance would transform.
What he could truly place his hopes on was the Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower!
Days passed one after another, golden light and silver radiance alternating in the sky.
The Eighty-Eight Corner True Yang Tower continued to brew and condense, its multicolored glow gradually intensifying until it bathed more than half the Holy Palace in its light.
Within the Royal Court Blessed Land, birds sang and flowers bloomed, and gentle breezes refreshed the air. But in the outside Northern Plains, it had been snowing continuously for over another month.
The wind and snow were savage, the cold piercing to the bone, thick flakes drifting through the air.
Heaven and earth were a vast expanse of white, the view obscured in mist.
The trees had long since withered, frozen into pillars of ice. The hills were draped in thick blankets of snow, and the mountain passes were buried under deep drifts.
Countless beasts had perished. Even the hardiest weeds had been frost-bitten into ice.
If a person spat, the saliva would freeze into an ice pellet in an instant.
But heaven never seals off all paths. In the unseen depths, a thread of survival is always left behind.