Fang Yuan could hardly believe his eyes. Nothing of the earthly calamity remained - not even the slightest amount. It had been completely and utterly resolved using this killer move.
The three earthly calamities he had encountered had escalating difficulties, though they were roughly of maximum strength in terms of what Heaven's Will could send into his aperture.
The Rank 5 killer move, Ambition Triumphing Over Heaven, was able to destroy and delay most of the first tribulation, although Heaven's Will had ended up wasting a good portion of it trying to attack the Integration Formation before it realized any better and then released the Golden Shower upon the land.
The Rank 6 version was an Immortal killer move, dealing with the second tribulation much more thoroughly; the Ten Plagues had still descended, but they were cleared within a few hours, which was a massive step up from the Rank 5 version.
This Rank 0 killer move, however, that combined the Human and Otherworlder Path was overwhelmingly powerful. The entire Earthly Calamity had simply ended. There was none of it left - not even the slightest wisp of a calamity cloud descending into his aperture.
Just how powerful were Rank 0 moves?
Fang Yuan glanced down at the southern isle. He knew now that he had to encourage them to create even more Rank 0 gu worms. He had not consumed the entire supply they had made up until now, but he would need many more in the future.
With that, his third Earthly Calamity had passed by with scarcely a thought. Earthly calamities were extraordinarily dangerous - even someone like Fang Yuan would not treat them carelessly - and yet he had dealt with this one as easily as he would a mild stomachache.
***
The Three Kings Inheritance on San Cha Mountain was still being controlled by Fang Zheng and Wu Jie. Only the righteous path was allowed to enter.
That was until one day, two figures approached San Cha Mountain.
One of them was a young man with long black hair that reached down to his waist. He had a pair of deep, dark purple eyes and thick eyebrows that gave him a crazed look. Simply glancing at him, one could tell that he was a demonic path Gu Master. Even the other demonic path Gu Masters on San Cha Mountain gave him a wide berth, though many of them cheered at his arrival.
This was none other than Mo Wu Tian, a rising star among the demonic path. Moreover, he was a Rank 5 Gu Master.
His arrival instantly changed the balance of power.
Mo Wu Tian wasn't the only expert who had just arrived at San Cha Mountain.
Five minutes later, Wang Xiao arrived as well. He was the overlord of Wu Mountain. Wu Mountain was a special mountain, even among the thousands of mountains that lined the Southern Border; it was covered in a thick fog and had numerous complex paths in and out. One could easily get lost in there for decades if one didn't know the right path. Wang Xiao had discovered the right path, allowing him to monopolize the resources of the entire mountain for himself. Indeed, all of Wu Mountain - a mountain that could sustain two or three medium-sized clans like the Gu Yue Clan was entirely under his control. Given this, despite being a demonic path Gu Master, he had access to a massive hoard of resources.
"Righteous path fools," Wang Xiao said. "Do you truly think that you can monopolize this inheritance for yourselves?"
"Hmph," Mo Wu Tian sneered. "This is a demonic path inheritance and belongs to the demonic path!"
Fang Zheng and Wu Ji both stood up and nodded at each other, agreeing to each take on one opponent. Mo Wu Tian was Rank 5 Initial Stage, so Fang Zheng stepped forward to challenge him. Wang Xiao, on the other hand, was Rank 5 Upper Stage, so Wu Ji went to challenge him instead.
"Fang Zheng," Mo Wu Tian sneered. "You've spent much time decrying the fighting skills of women. Why don't you challenge the two of us on your own then, instead of relying upon a woman's strength?"
Fang Zheng replied simply, "I am relying upon a woman as that is part of my skill and power. If you're that bothered with this, find a woman to stand beside you as well. Or is it that you're simply so ugly you can't?"
Several bystanders muttered - "This Fang Zheng is truly shameless! Saying one thing and then acting the other way when it benefits him!"
Mo Wu Tian didn't reply but instead activated a gu worm within his aperture. Fang Zheng felt as if someone were whispering in his ear; telling him sweet and gentle things.
It sounded almost like the voice of that bitch Shen Cui back when he had been enamored with her!
Fang Zheng's eyes flashed, and the feeling vanished.
Mo Wu Tian analyzed Fang Zheng closely. 'That was my Gentle Feelings Gu, an Emotion Path gu worm. It looks like Hu Mei Er was right about him - he has some sort of Emotion Path method or counterattack,' Mo Wu Tian thought. 'No matter. I will just have to rely upon other methods.'
Wang Xiao, on the other hand, was a Poison Path Gu Master. His effectiveness depended on Wu Ji's ability to counteract his venom.
The four Rank 5 Gu Masters fought around the top of San Cha Mountain.
Those who had come to watch the fight quickly fled. Earlier, Fang Zheng and Wu Ji were simply sparring as a bit of practice; this, however, was four Rank 5 Gu Masters going all out.
Simply being in their vicinity without being at least Rank 4 was a death sentence.
The mountain peak was almost completely deserted as they struck at each other. Strong shockwaves radiated all around from the blows of the two Strength Path experts - some being enough enough to topple modern skyscrapers.
Fang Zheng continuously attempted to break Mo Wu Tian with his fists, but the latter was extremely agile. Mo Wu Tian activated a few Soul Path methods, attempting to attack Fang Zheng's soul directly, but found that they all failed against a defensive measure Fang Zheng possessed which he couldn't entirely understand.
'Interesting,' Mo Wu Tian thought to himself.
Twenty minutes later, their fighting had reached a stalemate.
It wasn't that the two sides couldn't go all out, but rather that there was no point in doing so given the immensity of the treasure that lay within the Three Kings Inheritance.
The upper two-thirds of the mountain had been devastated by their fight, but now things had calmed down.
The righteous path, as well as the demonic path, reached a concord.
The inheritance would now be open to both the righteous and the demonic path!
***
'It is finally time,' Fang Yuan thought for a moment and sent a message to Fang Zheng.
Fang Zheng glanced at the letter, and for the first time since he had arrived at the Three Kings Inheritance, he felt a deep wave of apprehension. Up until now, he had simply followed Fang Yuan's instructions, and everything had gone remarkably well. This next step, however, involved placing his total faith in his brother - if Fang Yuan was wrong, Fang Zheng would be nothing better than roadkill.
So the question arose: Did he truly trust Fang Yuan that much?
Fang Zheng swallowed hard. 'Of course I can trust him,' he thought to himself. 'If my brother wanted to kill me, he would have done so long ago.'
With his mind made up, Fang Zheng entered the next round of the inheritance, surprising many onlookers given that he usually stayed on the sidelines. He chose to enter the King Bao Inheritance.
King Bao's trial involved fighting swarms of Eggmen using Fire Path Gu worms. However, to the Eggmen's absolute shock, once Fang Zheng arrived at the village, he made no move to attack them.
"Why isn't this human attacking?"
"Who cares? Take advantage of this and kill him!"
The Eggmen struck at Fang Zheng repeatedly. Fang Zheng could not activate a single one of his normal gu worms inside the blessed land and was forced to endure the brutal blows with his physical body alone.
He possessed immense faith in Fang Yuan, but anyone would hesitate when ordered to stand still and accept a lethal beating.
'I can only hope Big Brother was correct...' he prayed mentally as he blacked out.