Central Continent, Fox Immortal's Blessed Land.
In the Soul-Swaying Palace, Fang Yuan revealed his true form — a rigid eight-armed corpse, sitting cross-legged on the bed with eyes shut.
Meanwhile, inside his Immortal Orifice, a clash of wills was taking place.
"Fang Yuan, you won't die a good death!" Mo Yao's will screamed in fury, but the next instant, Fang Yuan's Star Will pounced on it viciously.
The two streams of will immediately tangled together, plunging into a perilous battle of wills.
Before long, Fang Yuan's Star Will was visibly dissipating. Mo Yao's False Will had suffered losses too, but they were far smaller than Fang Yuan's.
Fang Yuan, however, remained unconcerned — merely watching the battle unfold. Unlike the first time, he no longer deployed numerous Wisdom Path killer moves to bolster his Star Will in combat.
When the Star Will he had committed was on the verge of complete collapse, Fang Yuan smiled faintly and sent another wave of Star Will crashing into the fray.
Before long, that Star Will was heavily depleted as well, so Fang Yuan reinforced it with a third wave.
Mo Yao's will was water without a spring, while Fang Yuan's was a tree with roots. After sending wave after wave of Star Will in succession, he finally wore Mo Yao's False Will down to the brink of extinction.
Fang Yuan withdrew his Star Will from the battle, then simultaneously activated several killer moves — once again sealing Mo Yao's False Will, while simultaneously nourishing it to slowly recover its state, making it convenient for his next round of harvesting.
Mo Yao's False Will had been toyed with to the point of dissolving into a formless mass, unable even to muster the strength to curse, let alone maintain a basic shape.
The greatest value of this Mo Yao False Will — the inheritance clue to Red Lotus Demon Venerable — had already been squeezed out by Fang Yuan. What remained were mostly memories related to Gu refinement.
During the period he participated in the Central Continent Gu Refinement Conference, Fang Yuan did not forget to harvest these Gu refinement memories from Mo Yao's False Will. At the same time, he deliberately trained his own methods for battles of will.
In the beginning, without resorting to Wisdom Path means, Fang Yuan's Star Will retreated wave after wave — it was simply no match for Mo Yao's False Will.
Mo Yao truly deserved her reputation as one of the immortal fairies across the generations of Spirit Affinity Hall. Though she was a Mo person woman, she had won the favor of Sword Immortal Bo Qing, becoming his sole companion. Among all the immortal fairies of Spirit Affinity Hall throughout history, Mo Yao would surely rank among the very top.
This old hag — even though her primary path was the Refinement Path, her attainment in the Wisdom Path far surpassed Fang Yuan's.
To hone himself, Fang Yuan deliberately engaged Mo Yao's False Will in pure battles of will. At the start, the casualty ratio was almost a staggering one hundred to one. Fang Yuan lost a hundred for every one of Mo Yao's False Will.
But as the number of battles increased, Fang Yuan's experience accumulated rapidly. More critically, the contents of Dongfang Changfan's Wisdom Path inheritance provided guidance, causing Fang Yuan to improve swiftly in the arena of will battles.
From an almost blank slate, he had progressed to fighting Mo Yao's False Will with vigor and skill — an enormous leap forward.
The original one-hundred-to-one casualty ratio had now shrunk to four to one.
In other words, four waves of Fang Yuan's Star Will could defeat Mo Yao's False Will.
As for the fact that Fang Yuan was stealing her cultivation experience and using her as a free sparring partner, kneading and thrashing her at will — Mo Yao's False Will was naturally furious, but being under someone else's control, there was nothing she could do no matter how enraged she was.
Star Will returned to his mind. Fang Yuan carefully examined the Mo Yao memories he had seized within the Star Will.
Then, he slowly opened his eyes, a hint of a smile at the corner of his lips: "Interesting."
This time, the memories were not the usual Gu refinement experience. Instead, they were from when Mo Yao, during her lifetime, had explored with Sword Immortal Bo Qing. In the True Yang Mountain Range of the Central Continent, they had slain a group of Wild Beasts, and while searching through the spoils, discovered a Furong Stone Stalactite inside a cave.
The Furong Stone Stalactite was a rare Seventh Transformation Immortal Material. Each year, the stone stalactite dripped a single drop of Stone Heart Liquid — and this Stone Heart Liquid was even more precious, an Eighth Transformation Immortal Material!
Bo Qing had wanted to cleave the stone stalactite with his sword, but Mo Yao stopped him.
Cutting down the stalactite would yield only a single Seventh Transformation Immortal Material. But if left alone, after many years, a considerable amount of Stone Heart Liquid would accumulate. The value of Eighth Transformation Immortal Materials was far greater than Seventh Transformation ones.
Bo Qing adopted Mo Yao's suggestion and set up many exquisite Gu formations to perfectly conceal this cave.
"So many years have passed — if this cave hasn't been discovered, then the accumulated Eighth Transformation Immortal Material in the form of Stone Heart Liquid would be enormous. Even if I can't use it myself, it's good to keep in reserve. In the future, I can place it in the Treasure Yellow Heaven and barter it for whatever Gu refinement immortal materials I desire! Eighth Transformation Immortal Materials — any Gu Immortal would covet them dearly."
While rejoicing secretly, Fang Yuan's understanding of Mo Yao's False Will deepened another layer.
"This Mo Yao False Will has quite a few tricks. She deliberately hid such precious memories. It wasn't until now, when I've harvested most of her memories, that I discovered this. Even Dongfang Changfan's Wisdom Path inheritance contains no record of such methods. I need to squeeze it out of her!"
Fang Yuan quietly resolved to himself.
But for the moment, he could not continue pressuring Mo Yao.