The match had reached a critical juncture, and all eyes in the arena focused on just two people.
One wore a black robe, his build broad and imposing, a mask covering his face as he manipulated the roaring flames before him — none other than Fang Yuan.
The other was clad in a plain white robe, his temples streaked with snow, a vertical crease marked between his brows — this was Fang Huai.
"A battle between the two Fangs!"
"Fang Huai is incredibly powerful — he's used three Refinement Path killing moves in succession and actually narrowed the gap by a huge margin."
"Even so, Fang Yuan still holds the advantage. Sigh, he's far too formidable — his quickness of mind is arguably the best in this entire tournament. From the very start of this Gu refining contest, he's been leading by a wide margin."
"There's still room for surprises. Both Fang Yuan and Fang Huai each have one power they can exercise. The moment they use it, they can strip one immortal material from their opponent's hands!"
Whether on the field or off it, the spectators buzzed with excited discussion.
By this point in the match, every other Gu Master had been eliminated. Only Fang Yuan and Fang Huai remained.
Fang Yuan's gaze was calm, his concentration entirely devoted to manipulating the flames before him.
"Fang Huai..." He even had a moment's leisure to glance toward Fang Huai on his right, sizing up his opponent.
Fang Huai was also a Gu Immortal — in the previous life, he had placed third in this tournament. A Wood Path Gu Immortal, and looking at the entire competition, this particular round's subject matter was the most disadvantageous for him.
Fang Yuan had come forward to challenge, intending to eliminate him early.
But he hadn't expected Fang Huai to suddenly unleash his full power in the mid-to-late stage, deploying three Refinement Path killing moves in rapid succession — including one Immortal-level consecutive Path killing move — slashing the gap between himself and Fang Yuan in an instant. The outcome of this Gu refining contest was once again thrown into suspense.
"As expected of the third-place finisher from my previous life. Truly difficult to deal with — hmph!" Suddenly, Fang Yuan's expression shifted.
The flames before him flickered twice, and the Blue Peacock's head inside had barely begun to dissolve when it abruptly crumbled to ash, scattering across the floor tiles.
"This?!" Fang Yuan's face betrayed no change, but his heart plummeted.
"This is bad — I've hit the failure probability!" He immediately realized what had happened, and his hand shot toward the right, where the last Blue Peacock remained.
But just as he was about to kill the Blue Peacock and cast its head into the flames, a voice carried over from Fang Huai's side: "I wish to exercise my power and strip the Blue Peacock — a Gu refining material — from Fang Yuan's possession!"
The presiding Elder responded at once: "Granted."
The words had barely fallen when the Blue Peacock beside Fang Yuan was seized and pulled away from his side.
The entire arena erupted!
"There are only two Blue Peacocks per person. Fang Yuan needed a peacock head to refine his Gu, but he already failed once. He should still have the second Blue Peacock left — and now it's been stripped from him!"
"Brilliant, a truly brilliant move. Fang Huai's timing was impeccable. 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 before he can approach the finish line. Meanwhile, Fang Huai was never far behind — if he can close the gap now, he might actually eliminate Fang Yuan!"
"Fang Yuan is going to be eliminated?!"
As the realization spread, the arena exploded with noise.
Recently, Fang Yuan had taken the initiative time and again, eliminating Gu refiners one after another. His dominance had seared itself into everyone's minds.
Outside assessments of his strength had been revised upward repeatedly. The prevailing view was that Fang Yuan had already reached the realm of Refinement Path Grandmaster.
A small minority even believed that the strength Fang Yuan had displayed exceeded the Grandmaster level entirely, reaching the realm of Refinement Path Quasi-Supreme Grandmaster.
Refinement Path Grandmaster was one thing, but the evaluation of Quasi-Supreme Grandmaster was outrageously high!
The path's realm was divided into four tiers: Ordinary, Master, Grandmaster, and Supreme Grandmaster. In all of history, there had been only three Refinement Path Supreme Grandmasters — the Three Elders of the Refinement Path: Ancestor Longmao, Old Freak Tiannan, and Immortal Kongjue. The Refinement Path Quasi-Supreme Grandmaster was the realm just below the Three Elders. In the Northern Plains, only four people were recognized to have attained it: Medicine Emperor, Murong Xuexiang, Lady Wanshou, and Lady Miaoli. Together, these four were known as the Four Talents of the Northern Plains Refinement Path.
For Fang Yuan's refinement attainments to be on the same level as Medicine Emperor, Murong Xuexiang, Lady Wanshou, and Lady Miaoli — that, of course, was impossible.
Still, it was hardly surprising that people speculated this way.
The strength Fang Yuan had displayed was simply too overwhelming. His thorough familiarity with each subject let him leave the second-place contender far behind in every round.
"Walk by the river long enough and your shoes are bound to get wet. This time Fang Yuan struck out to eliminate Fang Huai and finally hit a steel plate. Ha ha ha." Quite a few people gloated.
"That's right, he's far too arrogant. I couldn't stand him from the start. Well done, Fang Huai!"
"This Fang Huai is such a schemer! Lord Fang Yuan, you must hang in there!" Among the crowd, not a few disciples of the Immortal Crane Sect raised their voices in support of Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan had captured Fang Zheng and brought him back, and the Immortal Crane Sect had offered no strong reaction — they seemed to have tacitly accepted the matter.
"Fang Yuan, I'm going to win this round for certain." Fang Huai laughed out loud three times, brimming with confidence, as though the fruits of victory were already in his grasp.
"Is that so?" Fang Yuan sneered, his palm seizing empty air and drawing the headless peacock carcass beside him into his grip.
The Gu refining 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 carcass now in his hands was the remains of the first one.
Fang Yuan spread his five fingers, and a thick, crimson mist of blood gushed forth from his palm. In the span of a few breaths, the mist had completely enveloped the headless peacock carcass, obscuring everything inside from outside view.
"That's the evil Blood Refinement technique again!"