Fang Yuan's pure dream clone had already shattered its orifice and ascended to immortality.
Once this process began, there was no turning back. Either one ascended into an immortal, or one failed and perished!
The celestial qi flowed down in pure, luminous streams, while the earthly qi surged upward, heavy and surging.
From within the pure dream clone, a thick tide of human qi poured forth.
The Perfect Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Body was the eleventh supreme body, and the human qi it contained was already extraordinarily dense.
The three qi met in midair, currents swirling and tangling, gradually forming an enormous cocoon that enveloped the pure dream clone entirely — airtight, with not a single gap.
At this juncture, a Gu Master had to constantly monitor and regulate the three qi, merging them with all their strength. The three qi had to remain perfectly balanced. If human qi was even slightly heavier, one would self-detonate. If celestial qi was slightly too much, everything would dissolve into nothingness. If earthly qi was slightly too dense, one would turn to stone and suffocate.
This step was extraordinarily dangerous.
However, Fang Yuan was full of confidence in his pure dream clone.
He had passed on a vast number of ascension memories to the pure dream clone. This included not only his own experiences, but also those he had obtained through soul searching — the knowledge of Northern Plains Gu Immortals he had once captured, such as Hei Cheng, as well as Southern Border Gu Immortals like Xia Cha, and Gu Immortals from the Eastern Sea, Central Continent, and Western Desert, all of whom Fang Yuan had tormented in one way or another.
In the long river of cultivation history, when it came solely to ascension experience, the pure dream clone's accumulation was probably unmatched.
The difficulty of the pure dream clone's ascension did not lie in regulating the three qi, but in weathering the tribulation!
High in the firmament, the celestial and earthly qi churned like a vast sea. Pink clouds blanketed the sky for thousands of li in every direction, their scale grand and majestic, suffused with a rich aura of the Dream Path.
Fang Yuan's true body stood on guard, alert. This ascunciation would undoubtedly enrage the Heavenly Will to a great extent. The tribulation of ascension would likely be far from ordinary.
Boom… boom… boom…
The next moment, muffled peals of thunder rang ceaselessly across the sky.
From the vast pink cloud-sea overhead, ten enormous spheres of light shot downward.
Every sphere was a luminous pink hue, each one as large as a small hill, their surfaces smooth, round, and flawless.
Their speed was not fast — in fact, they gave off a strangely floating, weightless feeling.
The ten pink spheres dove down, all aimed squarely at the pure dream clone suspended in midair.
Fang Yuan immediately acted, moving to intercept.
His mind had already accumulated countless thoughts. In an instant, those thoughts collided, and killer move after killer move flowed out of him like clouds and running water, transforming into a dazzling yet orderly barrage of attacks to block the ten pink spheres.
What followed made Fang Yuan blink in mild astonishment.
One pink sphere shattered into countless bubbles that drifted away into the sky.
One pink sphere absorbed everything it encountered, rapidly swelling to several times its original size.
One pink sphere exploded, revealing a desolate beast — a Nightmare Demon Steed — which shrieked and charged toward the pure dream clone at alarming speed.
One pink sphere simply transformed outright into a mass of dreamscape that descended like a canopy.
One pink sphere turned into a Dream Path Immortal Gu and vanished without a trace.
…
The ten pink spheres each behaved in a completely different manner, chaotic and bewildering!
Any ordinary Gu Immortal would have been thrown into panic long ago. But Fang Yuan possessed profound attainment in the Wisdom Path, and he swiftly formulated the most appropriate response.
First, he released a desolate-level year beast from within his Immortal Orifice to entangle the Nightmare Demon Steed.
Then, with a flick of his sleeve, wisps of thick smoke shot forth, sweeping up the Dream Confusion Butterfly swarm that had already closed to within a hundred paces of the pure dream clone.
Next, he turned to the dreamscape and unleashed the Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Transformation!
But the dreamscape that had been aimed directly at the top of the pure dream clone's head underwent violent surface deformations, resisting Fang Yuan's Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Transformation.
"It seems this dreamscape contains the Heavenly Will." Fang Yuan did not panic.
He had never weathered a Dream Path ascension tribulation before, but prior to this, he had already carried out countless calculations.
This dreamscape was one of the scenarios his calculations had foreseen.
Large numbers of Wisdom Path and Dream Path Gu within his Immortal Orifice were rapidly activated, forming the killer move Heaven Dissolving Intent Dispersal.
This killer move had already been refined by Fang Yuan. In its original form, although it could dissolve the Heavenly Will within a dreamscape, its efficiency was far too low. After refinement — with a Dream Path Immortal Gu integrated into it — its speed had become vastly quicker.
Yet even this newly improved Heaven Dissolving Intent Dispersal proved ineffective against this particular mass of dreamscape.
"What's going on?" Fang Yuan's brow furrowed.
The next instant, thoughts collided in his mind like a bolt of lightning.
"This dreamscape is fake!"
"That's why the Pure Dream Truth-Seeking Transformation failed before. And now, Heaven Dissolving Intent Dispersal is the same."
"But if that's the case…" A dark glint flashed through Fang Yuan's eyes, and he hesitated, which was rare for him. "Which of the sights before me is real, and which is false?"
What appeared to be a chaotic, bewildering tribulation scene was in fact a mixture of real and illusory.
But even with Fang Yuan's power, discerning truth from falsehood was no simple task.
A single technique that conquered all — the might of the Dream Path was plain to see. Even Fang Yuan's true body had fallen under its influence without realizing it.
"That makes sense. The tribulation for a mere pure dream clone's ascension couldn't possibly carry this level of power. Desolate beasts, Dream Path Immortal Gu appearing one after another… Why didn't I realize this sooner?"
Fang Yuan's eyes involuntarily narrowed.
The Dream Path tribulation was truly uncanny. Not only was it difficult to distinguish real from false, but it had also been subtly interfering with Fang Yuan's thinking and consciousness all along.
He had already handed the Dream Armor Immortal Gu to the pure dream clone well in advance. Now, Fang Yuan hastily activated a composite killer move.
With Dream Making Gu at its core, a layer of mysterious luminescence rapidly enveloped his body, granting him some defense against Dream Path phenomena.
Fang Yuan immediately felt his mind clear, shaking off the faint interference that had clouded his thoughts.
But the tribulation landscape before his eyes barely changed.
For the moment, Fang Yuan could only cease his actions!
A mere Sixth Transformation tribulation had directly forced the half-Venerable Fang Yuan to stop fighting.