After more than half a month in Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, he had successfully transplanted the pair of desolate bat wings onto his back. True to his established practice, he preserved part of the pain sensation in the wings.
That day, Fang Yuan stood atop Dang Hun Mountain and began testing his killer moves.
Hundred Li Eye.
With a flick of his will, the crimson glow of his eyes blazed intensely. He surveyed his surroundings — every blade of grass and speck of stone within a hundred li was visible in vivid detail, as if placed right before his eyes. Beyond a hundred li, his vision grew blurry, yet it was still far clearer than what his naked eye could previously perceive.
Once his line of sight reached four hundred li, it hit its limit. Everything beyond that was a blur of vague colors and shifting light.
"The Hundred Li Eye is the foundation for the Thousand Li Eye — an Immortal Path killer move that requires a corresponding Immortal Gu to activate." Fang Yuan nodded with satisfaction. This killer move had cost him six Immortal Essence Stones, and its effects were truly outstanding.
However, its vision could not pierce through concealment or penetration. Once his line of sight was obstructed by a barrier, he could not see what lay behind it. This was the drawback of the Hundred Li Eye.
Fang Yuan committed the strengths and weaknesses to memory, then gently flapped the wings on his back and rose into the sky.
As he soared and glided through the air, he kept the Hundred Li Eye active, surveying the land above and below, savoring the crisp clarity of his new vision.
Lion Fur Armor.
With another thought, he activated his defensive killer move.
Soon, a layer of brass armor and a lion-headed helm enveloped his body. Even the wings on his back were covered by thick, sturdy plates. His defense was greatly enhanced.
But the trade-off was reduced speed.
"The Lion Fur Armor and the Return Reality Bat Wings cannot complement each other perfectly. Once the Lion Fur Armor is activated, the speed of the Return Reality Bat Wings drops. Without it, speed is fast, but defense suffers." Fang Yuan frowned.
This problem exceeded his current capabilities.
Being able to refine a movement killer move like the Lion Fur Armor and balance the dao marks across three different paths was already the limit of his mastery in the Transformation Path.
Asking him to also optimize the Lion Fur Armor on top of that was asking too much.
If he were a Grandmaster-level expert in the Transformation Path, it might still be possible. But reaching the Grandmaster level typically required an enormous accumulation of knowledge over time — not decades, but centuries. Multiple centuries.
Currently, Fang Yuan's highest level of attainment was in the Blood Path and the Strength Path.
His Grandmaster realm in the Blood Path was built upon two to three hundred years of deep accumulation from his five hundred years of experience in his previous life. From this alone, one could see just how difficult it was to elevate one's realm — how painstaking the accumulation truly was.
As for the Strength Path, he was also at the Grandmaster level. While a small portion came from his previous life's accumulation, the greater part of his fortune came from receiving the true meaning infusion of the Wild Barbarian Demon Venerable. Otherwise, reaching the Grandmaster realm would have demanded another two to three hundred years of patient buildup.
Upon reaching the level of a Gu Immortal, one already had the strength to seek out and seize Life Span Gu, or employ other various means to extend one's lifespan. An ordinary mortal lived to a hundred years. But a Gu Immortal who managed their resources well could live for several hundred years — even over a thousand.
Such vast stretches of lifespan and time gave the concept of "accumulation" even greater significance.
Why were Fang Yuan and Hei Loulan unable to defeat the Immortal Monkey King, Shi Lei?
Because after Shi Lei became an Immortal, he had the backing of the War Immortal Sect and accumulated nearly three hundred years of resources! Fang Yuan and Hei Loulan had only just ascended — how could they compare to someone else's three hundred years of accumulation?
Losing was only natural!
Then why was it that Fang Yuan and Hei Loulan, having just become Immortals, already possessed combat power in the upper-middle range of the Sixth Transformation?
Fang Yuan relied on the support of his predecessors through the Eighty-Eight Angle True Yang Tower, while Hei Loulan depended more on her mother's inheritance and the help of her aunt, Fairy Li Shan.
In other words, the two of them had leveraged the support and accumulation of those who came before!
"To achieve a rapid leap in strength, relying solely on one's own exploration was undoubtedly slow and inefficient. In my previous life, I walked the Blood Path and spent over two hundred years before I personally comprehended more than a dozen mortal-path killer moves and created several hundred new Blood Path Gu worms. This lesson must be learned."
"In this world, capable individuals emerge one after another, and geniuses and prodigies are found everywhere. Throughout the long river of history, shining stars and Peak Stage powerhouses are to be found on every shore. To stand out and advance boldly, the only way is to utilize the legacies and accumulations of those who came before, absorbing all their essence into oneself. As the saying goes: the ocean accepts all rivers because of its vast capacity — only by gathering the strengths of a hundred schools can one lead the crowd, and even stand above all living beings, achieving the supreme feat."
Fang Yuan flew through the air, his eyes flickering with contemplation.
People, especially when young, often consider themselves extraordinary, always believing they are the protagonist on the stage. Only after experiencing certain things do they come to understand and accept that many others are no less outstanding than themselves.
As the saying goes: there is always someone beyond someone, and a sky beyond the sky.
A person's lifespan, after all, is finite — like a lone boat adrift. The mysteries and principles of this world, however, are like a vast and boundless ocean.
From ancient times to the present, those who have reached the Peak Stage on any particular path number only ten. But even they could not be proficient in everything, nor reach the summit in every field. That was why Immortal Venerable Juyang and Demonic Venerable Daotian had to seek the help of Ancestor Changmao in the matter of Gu refinement.
The "Legend of the Human Ancestor" also records the following—
The Human Ancestor set foot on his life's path. All around him was darkness, and beneath his feet lay filthy mud.
The Human Ancestor then asked his own Gu: "What exactly is this place?"