pjbooks Chapter 486 - 486: A Hero Emerges: Part Two
Chapter 486 - 486: A Hero Emerges: Part Two
"You! To think you dare use Blood Path methods!" An Rui shouted out. Truth be told, both she and her brother had secretly considered constructing a Blood Chariot themselves, but they had neither the time nor the resources to do so at the moment.It was clear this demonic cultivator had been keeping this trump card hidden away in case of an emergency. After all, those of the demonic path walked a thin line between life and death; one wrong step and they would fall into the abyss.
What was wrong with keeping a Blood Chariot in order to make it easier to pass their tribulations? Demonic cultivators did not have many resources, and a Blood Chariot was relatively cheap to construct while boosting their combat strength by a large amount.
Although Dai Ruo had passed two Heavenly Tribulations, he did not have enough water path dao marks to make his own killer moves significantly stronger than what this Gu House could achieve. Its offensive power was superior to any of his personal killer moves, which was why he chose to expose it now to deal with these two problems as efficiently as possible.
Quite frankly, the crime of using Blood Path methods would mean that he would be hunted down far more ferociously if he had just stuck to assaulting hapless woman.
But the Eastern Sea had no real strong righteous path forces. Not to mention that now the Blood Path was not being as badly suppressed as before - simply because too many of them had emerged in such short a time to be dealt with quickly enough. And many righteous path forces had tacit agreements with some of them.
"Watch out!" An Rui yelled.
Fang Yuan did not move. He was simply standing still, not budging an inch as the Blood Chariot gathered momentum and shot toward him, the blades attached to its front whirling fiercely.
'Oh no, is he so frozen with fear that he can't even move?' An Rui thought, growing incredibly worried. It wasn't so much that she cared for Fang Yuan's well-being, but she knew he was her best chance of surviving until reinforcements arrived. If the two of them had huddled up in his or her blessed land, there was a chance they could repel Dai Ruo. But it seems that this Fang Yuan did not possess an ounce of battlefield wisdom. 'If he dies, I'm doomed!'
"Hahaha! You really are nothing special!" Dai Ruo mocked from within the Blood Chariot. He possessed soul-searching methods and fully intended to soul-search Fang Yuan to uncover the secret of his arrival once he was dead. Even if Fang Yuan's soul self-detonated and he couldn't grab the secret, he knew the general area where Fang Yuan had emerged and could simply inspect the space later at his leisure for any clues he could find. "Time to send you to the void!"
However, just as the Blood Chariot was about to make contact and ruthlessly behead Fang Yuan - or at least, that is what An Rui and Dai Ruo fully expected to happen - Fang Yuan simply waved his hand and activated a killer move; targeting several key weaknesses in the Blood Chariot's structure all at once.
In the very next instant, the Blood Chariot shattered like glass, breaking into a thousand pieces.
Most of the gu worms within it suffered severe backlash and died instantly. The fragments rained down toward the ocean below.
A shocked expression froze on Dai Ruo's face even as he departed from this life; the overwhelming backlash from the sudden destruction of the Gu House had killed him on the spot.
'Idiot,' Fang Yuan thought to himself. 'That's why you don't go around using Gu Houses or killer moves whose recipes are openly available on Treasure Yellow Heaven.'
An Rui stood frozen in shock.
She had expected Fang Yuan to be on the back foot or at most put up a pitiful fight, but she had never imagined he would kill Dai Ruo with a single blow.
How had he done it? He was clearly not as meek or gentle as she had initially assumed.
With Dai Ruo dead, his body began disintegrating as his immortal aperture descended toward the waves, quickly forming a Blessed Land as his obsession took shape into a land spirit.
Fang Yuan was delighted.
Dai Ruo did not have the time to self-detonate his aperture - or perhaps he simply lacked the willpower in his final moments. Since a blessed land was forming, it meant there was a massive bounty of resources that Fang Yuan could potentially pocket before heading on his way.
The great irony of the entire matter was that had Dai Ruo not used the Blood Chariot and instead relied on normal Water Path offensive methods, he actually would have put Fang Yuan at a severe disadvantage.
Fang Yuan did not have many good combat options available. Emotions Cut Like a Sword was merely a pale imitation of a proper Sword Path killer move, and while better than nothing, it was his only offensive option.
He lacked viable methods for defense or running away other than some Space Path methods which were not easy to use.
This had been a massive problem, especially since Dai Ruo had deduced that Fang Yuan emerged from a spaceless tunnel and could carry that information to the outside world. Fang Yuan had been racking his brains on how to kill the man before Dai Ruo essentially served his own head on a silver platter and asked Fang Yuan to decapitate him.
Naturally, Fang Yuan could understand the dead man's logic and so had subconsciously directed Dai Ruo to choosing this course of action.
Anyone would have thought that using the Blood Chariot was a sound strategy to end the fight quickly, especially with the threat of imminent reinforcements.
But that had also been part of Fang Yuan's plan!
Although Emotions Cut Like a Sword had apparently 'missed' its target, this was far from the case. The 'blade' part was the first part of its effect, but it had a wider secondary effect that successfully connected with its target - that was to alter the target's emotions!
Fang Yuan's main strike had missed, but that was not why he had used the move. In truth, he had intended to make Dai Ruo anxious. It was a subtle effect, but that was also why Dai Ruo had not noticed it. As it was, he was already somewhat anxious. Fang Yuan simply fanned the flames of his anxiety.
And so, being anxious, Dai Ruo had resorted to the 'safest' option available - the Blood Chariot! Fang Yuan had correctly guessed that the man had likely made one.
Under normal circumstances, unleashing one's most powerful offensive method to secure a swift victory was the correct choice. And a gu house would also provide Dai Ruo with a good defensive option as well in case Fang Yuan had some tricks up his sleeve. Naturally against an unknown foe it was quite appealing.
In fact, Dai Ruo's strategy would have been the right decision against anyone other than Fang Yuan - who happened to be the Blood Sea Ancestor Junior, the very person who had placed the recipe for that specific Gu House on Treasure Yellow Heaven in the first place.
Of course, Dai Ruo had no reason to suspect Fang Yuan's true identity. Most people on Treasure Yellow Heaven concluded that the Blood Sea Ancestor Junior must be, at the very least, a Rank 7 Gu Immortal given his talent. The person was possessing at minimum Grandmaster or even Great Grandmaster attainment in Blood Path. Most discussions assumed only a Rank 7 or even a Rank 8 Gu Immortal could possess that level of knowledge. If Fang Yuan had not regressed, for that matter, he would indeed be at around Rank 7 now.
Dai Ruo would never have guessed the truth in a million years. Furthermore, there were over a thousand Gu Immortals in the Eastern Sea alone, let alone the entire world. What were the odds of running directly into the Blood Sea Ancestor Junior?
Practically zero, or so he had assumed.
Fang Yuan naturally knew the inherent flaws of the Blood Chariot and simply exploited them, causing the structure to break apart and kill the user via backlash.
The gu worms used to build it were structurally strong, mimicking the power of a Rank 6, but that meant the resulting backlash was equally devastating. It was clear Dai Ruo had not strengthened his soul sufficiently to handle such a shock.
Against any other foe, his strategy would have worked. Unfortunately for him, he ran into Fang Yuan and this was actually the worst possible tactical decision that he could've made.
'Hmm, his blessed land is forming,' Fang Yuan thought, flying downward.
An Rui glanced at Fang Yuan with a deep degree of apprehension. She still didn't understand how he had killed a seasoned Rank 6 Gu Immortal in a single blow, but that feat alone was more than enough to make her incredibly wary.
"There is no need to worry about me, Fairy," Fang Yuan said, sending her a gentle smile. "I was simply trying to negotiate with that demonic path cultivator. How unfortunate that he wouldn't listen to reason, forcing me to kill him. I mean you no harm."
Fang Yuan's demeanor was gentle, but An Rui wasn't about to be fooled. No one at the Gu Immortal level could be swayed by mere words. She remained apprehensive, but figured it was worth trying to get on his good side. "Uh... well, thank you, Sir, for saving me from that wretched demon."
"It is of no problem whatsoever, Sister," Fang Yuan said, waving his hand.
An Rui blinked, gaining a new impression of him. With his hair blowing in the wind, he actually looked quite heroic. Any thoughts of the bards describing heroes saving maidens and then the two falling in love were just tall tales, she realized! To straight up call her 'Sister' and to have called Dai Ruo 'Brother' - what kind of demeanor was that? "I have to say, your attempt to negotiate with him was rather foolish," she noted.
Fang Yuan shook his head. "The truth of the matter is that I am a great fan of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable. Seeing how his tactics were able to reform countless demonic immortals in the past, I felt I should follow in the footsteps of my hero. And so, I tried to negotiate with him to get him to repent and abandon the demonic path. Unfortunately, he would not listen to reason, and I was forced to kill him."