By channeling the vast spirit energy in the Fire Essence Ore vein into his body, pushing his flesh to the brink of collapse and producing pain close to being slowly dismembered, Gu Fangchen successfully used the Demon Refinement Method to break the barrier between the lower three ranks and the middle three ranks, ascending to Martial Courage Realm, Rank Six.
"It's a pity. With my current bodily toughness I cannot withstand all the annihilating energy the Fire Essence Ore produces; most of that surplus spirit energy was wasted."
"Otherwise, if I had absorbed so much spirit energy completely, I could have soared to the peak of Rank Four."
The spirit energy stored in the Fire Essence Ore vein, although mostly used to sustain the Mine Protection Array and the White Dragon Army array, still left a considerable remainder.
"Still, not a loss for me."
Gu Fangchen's eyes glittered. He clenched his fist and casually threw a punch.
Boom!
Dark-red cracklike veins spread across his forearm as spirit energy concentrated and erupted, pushing the surrounding air aside and instantly detonating a ring of scorching, ember-red shockwave.
If one looked closely, the color of this red shockwave matched the enormous fire dragon high above exactly.
A great deal of the annihilating energy from the Fire Essence Ore vein had suffused his puppet body, and the Demon Refinement Method had refined part of it into him.
His current spirit energy was, effectively, a weakened form of annihilating energy.
Know that this substance can shatter the defenses of the beastfolk; it is violent and extremely powerful.
There was no target present now, so the effect was not obvious.
In fact, that punch moments ago would have already turned a Rank Seven martial artist on the other side into fireworks.
The terrifying thing about annihilating energy is not only that it explodes, but that it adheres.
Once released, it spreads rapidly outward; anything it touches triggers a chain detonation.
Of course, annihilating energy is a seven-injury fist: it wounds others and wounds oneself.
Under normal circumstances it should be used sparingly.
Otherwise one may blow oneself apart...
"Poison and fire together, truly a standard debuff build; the persistent output power is not to be underestimated."
As a transmigrator, he could not possibly learn the local martial arts methodically for years like the natives and then steadily raise his level.
So from the start he set his own development path.
He did not need to master conventional martial arts.
Dual cultivation of spirit and martial was pure numbers for him.
When he landed a punch, three unresolved lethal poisons plus annihilating energy would likely leave the opponent in raptures of agony.
Gu Fangchen nodded, satisfied.
"Hmm... once I link up with the mobile healing pack, I can use it at will."
...
Qingqian, driving the carriage, suddenly felt an icy chill on her back.
She jumped, turned, and saw only the rustling trees; alert, she probed with spirit sense and frowned.
Qingqian was puzzled.
By all rights, Gu Lianqian should have caught up by now...
But so far everything was calm.
Could Gu Lianqian have gotten lost?
She withdrew her spirit sense and suddenly felt a pair of soft, cold hands rest on her shoulders.
Qingqian turned and met the Princess's Tara-mother dharma-form, that compassionate face.
Her heart sank; she assumed Princess Prajna had come to tell her to intercept the carriage. She pressed her lips and sent a voice to the Princess with spirit sense.
"Your Highness..."
Princess Prajna's voice sounded in her mind, grave.
"Sky-Eye Division has transmitted news: the sacred artifact is on Gu Lianqian."
Qingqian closed her eyes and thought, as expected.
If so, Tara Sect would be on the same side as Gu Yuye...
She was making up her mind when Princess Prajna continued.
"But now the whole jianghu knows this; Gu Lianqian is being hunted by all sorts of groups."
She said coldly, "The Lotus-Born Temple has been slaughtered by the cult; Gu Yuye has no firm control over this matter. I fear he may already be under the cult's sway."
"Wait a bit longer; the cult would not let news of the sacred artifact leak out so easily. What Gu Yuye says may be a ruse."
She paused, then said, "Wait for that fellow to show himself."
The dharma-form faded.
Qingqian stood stunned.
That fellow... obviously meant Gu Fangchen.
But whether he could get back in time remained unknown...
...
Gu Fangchen adjusted to the new strength of his body and heard the cracking sounds around him.
More nodes of the Mine Protection Array were shattering one after another.
In less than half an hour, the entire great array would collapse completely.
He drew a deep breath, looked down at the now-settled battlefield, and willed the White Dragon Army array to withdraw, letting Shile and Yao Jin each lead troops to mop up the remnants.
...What would happen next, he did not dare let those two deputy generals see. Otherwise they might immediately drag him off to be executed.
Gu Fangchen himself went into the camp's prisoner dungeon and found the enemy leader, Agaro.
He saw the tooth-bone ornament hanging at Agaro's neck and his eyes lit up.
This was the true objective of his journey.
Helping the White Dragon Army turn the tide was merely incidental.
Agaro lay dying and unconscious. Gu Fangchen reached out, plucked the tooth from his neck, and stored it in his spatial ring.
This tooth from the beastfolk "heavenly god" relic was worth, naturally, on par with the Ruler turtle of "Regulation."
Making another Lotus Concealed in the Womb would thus not be a problem!
Gu Fangchen patted his seat, and without waiting for Shile and Yao Jin to return, he departed to find the tooth-smith.
"You'd never imagine the princess actually has a consort!"
Yao Jin returned to camp and could not help remarking.
Shile grinned broadly.
"A princess is still a woman. I do not know who this consort is, but he can perform such marvels."
He referred, of course, to the sudden surge in White Dragon Army strength.
Yao Jin suggested,
"Why not ask our consort himself?"
The two walked to the center of the Mine Protection Array, but found Gu Fangchen already gone.
Shile was stunned, then expressed admiration.
"Our consort truly finished his affairs, brushed off his sleeves and left, hiding both name and form."
Crack! Rumble!
The Mine Protection Array emitted one last intolerable crashing sound and collapsed entirely, leaving an empty chasm below.
The Fire Essence Ore previously used to supply spirit energy for the array had been utterly shattered.
Shile: "..."
Yao Jin: "..."
...
At this moment.
In a hidden stronghold of the cult, a central communication array lit up and several figures floated within it.
Among them were the Dao leaders of Life, Death, Reveal, Measurement, and Causality.
One shadow wore a cloak of iron swords and an iron hat that hid his face; his aura was like abyssal stillness and mountain calm, bound by endless infernal death qi. A single glance at him was like seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and it chilled the heart.
He was the Death Dao leader, Lord Decay.
Before coming here, he had already met with Wu Hui and was fully aware of Gu Fangchen's actions.
Daring to impersonate him, such audacity!