A single gray bead of energy entered the starlight dragon from Spectral Souls new killing path Gu worm. The dragon instantly stopped moving and just hovered in the air. Spectral soul continued to bombard it with attacks but despite the minimal defences was still unable to penetrate them.
While the dragon had the potential for an immense offensive Star Constellation specifically designed it to resist and delay one of the venerables, so she designed it with the best defense possible, even immobile, Spectral Soul was having little success destroying it.
In the lull of the battle where the other venerables used all kinds of investigation killer moves to determine the effects of this new Gu worm Giant Sun responded.
"It is not that I do not want to destroy the qi fruit but the fact that I do not believe it is possible. Heavenly Court's luck has stayed strong and oppressive since before the explosion and it has only grown since.
According to my deductions this should be another one of Star Constellations schemes and her desperate defense should only be part of it. According to heavenly Court's luck It is possible that Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable or even Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable has already revived yet has stayed hidden. If that is the case our offensive today was predicted and is a scheme to weaken us before they retaliate."
Fang Yuan felt the stomach of the Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu growl as he thought to himself. Heavenly court are on their last leg and desperate but for some reason Giant Sun believes their luck is powerful. Fang Yuan took a moment to use his own killer move to inspect the luck of the other two and found them much weaker then his own.
While defending against another attack by Star Constellation and attacking the qi fruit Fang Yuan inspected the heaven path Dao marks from Obscured Heavenly Secret. There was now a constant drain that its natural regeneration could not keep up with, if this were to continue for at least a month Obscured Heavenly Secret would be destroyed.
At this point Fang Yuan understood that in order to keep his true luck hidden Obscured Heavenly Secret replaced his own luck with Heavenly Courts as the dominant one whenever Giant Sun inspected his own luck.
Fang Yuan himself wasn't even aware of this switch or Obscured Heavenly Secret ability to do such a thing. A killer move completely unknown by Heavens Will truly has amazing effects.
"Even if that is the case and another venerable has revived our only choice is to continue to attack. When we are exposed, and our enemy is hidden we are at a disadvantage. At the very least we need to confirm if another venerable has revived and if we can we need to destroy the qi fruit. No matter what our only option is to attack."
"Hmm, that may be the case for you Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, but I was once offered the chance to lead Heavenly Court and our relationship is still salvageable. I cannot say the same for you. If we continue I will act as support and defense while you attack."
Before Fang Yuan could respond an incredible roar came from the previous unmoving dragon. Like the one before this roar unleashed a wave of negative emotions that swept heavenly court but this time they extended down to Central Continent affecting the mortals below. Terror swept through Central Continent leading to chaos unseen since Spectral Soul reigned as Venerable.
Trusting its natural defense or perhaps ignoring any active defense the dragon began to wildly attack Spectral Soul as if it went crazy. Tearing at limbs and ignoring attacks as it tried desperately to advance towards Spectral Souls main body.
It was clear that this rampage was the effect of the new killing path Gu worm but the effect was completely unexpected. The dragon appeared to be as crazy as Spectral Soul, fighting him hit for hit, forgetting about its effective breath attack or any use of Gu worms.
Fang Yuan Ignored the battle between venerable and dragon and focused again on the qi fruit. Another layer of protection was wrapped around it making its eventual destruction that much more difficult to achieve.
Fang Yuan rushed forward while again activating Shocking Departure of Year Dream Wave and Dang Hun Sound to cripple most of Star constellations attempts to stop him.
Giant Sun burped loudly before activating a killer move that shot towards the qi fruit. This forced Star Constellation to defend and allowed Fang Yuan to continue moving forward.
Star Constellation took out a black book from a storage Gu and opened it.
Immortal killer move - Thundering Hammer line!
A small ethereal image of a brain appeared between the open pages, and it shot two strings faster than light into both Fang Yuan and Giant Sun's foreheads. Before either could react a feeling of someone driving a sledgehammer into his mind appeared. Any thoughts he tried to make were shattered forcing his mind to a standstill.
Both watched but were unable to process the information as Star Constellation wrapped the qi fruit in more layers of defense obscuring it behind a thick curtain of wisdom path dao marks while assaulting Fang Yuan with innumerable specks of starlight.
Fang Yuan's killer move Shocking Departure of Year Dream Wave and Dang Hun Sound was still active destroying most attacks against him and rapidly eroding the ethereal brain. The few attacks that did land were greatly weakened doing damage that he could heal without too much difficulty.
"Giant Sun Immortal Venerable! Stop this now and I promise I won't pursue this in the future. I am willing to give you all Heavenly Courts Blood path research results and Gu worms if you return to Northern Plains. I will also assist you in searching for Zou Ye Hui and You Tian Guang in Western Desert."
Fang Yuan knew that Giant Sun already had thoughts of retreat and the news of Zou Ye Hui and You Tian Guang confirmed his suspicion that something happened in Northern Plains that needed his attention.
Before they could make a transaction Fang Yuan immediately went on the offensive, launching many immortal killers moves and rapidly closing in on the qi fruit.
The closer he got the harder it became to make progress as Star Constellation's defense got tighter and was able to counterattack more often. If things continue as they have been, eventually Fang Yuan would be unable to sustain the battle and would have to retreat. At least if Fang Yuan wanted to keep his Rank 9 Gu worms hidden.
It was here where Giant Sun's decision to stay and fight or retreat to Northern Plains was the most critical. His decision would determine quite a lot in the future.
"If you pass me all of Heavenly Courts blood path and luck path research results including all Gu worms right now, announce in Treasure Yellow Heaven that no member of Heavenly Court will enter Northern Plains without my consent for the next one hundred years, and completely forgive and forget my actions here today I will leave right now and not return for the next 24 hours. Once all those conditions are met I will immediately leave but until then Heaven Refining Demon Venerable has my support!" Giant Sun said aloud.
Giant Sun immediately began to apply pressure to Star Constellation but held back enough to force her to defend and allow Fang Yuan even closer but not enough to force her hand and reveal her next trump card.
"Great Love Immortal Venerable, stop this attack now and I'll pass you all of my Primordial Domain. I know that you have the least immortal essence out of the three of us and you won't be able to sustain this fight long enough to destroy the qi fruit. End this now and perhaps we can find peace in our own continents."
Fang Yuan ignored her words and continued to rabidly push against her defenses targeting the qi fruit.
Giant Sun's assistance in the battle was contained and calculated to be enough to keep Star Constellation on the defensive but not enough to allow Fang Yuan to advance too quickly. He was playing a balancing act between the two venerables while he wasted time waiting for Star Constellations response to his offer.
Hearing no response from Fang Yuan, Star Constellation immediately began to make a declaration to the world.
"Here this now! I have passed all of Heavenly Courts blood and luck path research results and related immortal Gu worms to Giant Sun. I further promise that no member of Heavenly Court shall enter northern plains for the next one hundred years and swear that any actions taken today will not be remembered. In return I ask Giant Sun to leave Central Continent immediately and not enter for the next twenty-four hours!"
Giant Sun immediately stopped supporting Fang Yuan's attack and stood frozen looking at something only he could see. Noticing this Fang Yuan sent a message to Giant Sun.
"I have a rank eight blood path Gu called Familial Blood Immortal Gu that I think would suit you perfectly. If you wait a few moments and finish the Golden Path planned attack towards the qi fruit core right as you leave it's yours."
Giant Sun hesitated and took a second to respond.
"Pass me the Gu immediately and I will set up the Golden Path towards the qi fruit before I return to Northern Plains. If you promise publicly for the world to hear that you will not enter Northern Plains for the next ten years I will sacrifice some Gu and attack with this move."
Nobody but Fang Yuan and Giant sun knew what the heavenly path was but with the emphasis placed on it meant that it was something planned beforehand.
Fang Yuan immediately passed the Gu through Treasure Heaven Yellow and released a message for all to hear. He immediately began to launch constant waves of swords from random angles all focused on the qi fruit.
"Giant Sun! We had a deal!" Star Constellation screamed as she released millions of stars in their direction.
The incredible advantages of wisdom path were shown admirably here. Fang Yuan pushed towards the heart of Heavenly Court in a far more aggressive way than anything he's done previously.
As Fang Yuan aggressively pushed forward Giant Sun drifted backwards towards Northern Plains while focusing on five rank eight luck path Gu worms floating in a ring before himself. Star constellation was forced to focus on Fang Yuan and even though she knew that Giant Sun's final attack wouldn't be anything to treat lightly she had no choice but to ignore it.
Centered between Giant Sun and the Qi Fruit the Gu worms slowly began to rotate in a circle as Giant Sun leisurely floated towards the Northern Plains.
"Blades of Twilight's peer!"
Yelled Star Constellation as black shining blades bisected Fang Yuan's body. This attack is impossible to detect unless using dark or star path investigatory moves and it naturally avoids most defenses. It is a great response against an aggressive enemy who has thrown caution to the wind.
"Earth Turtle's Warding Light!"
"Zone of Starless Night!"
Fang Yuan unleashed two compound killer moves, the first is a defensive and healing move that mixes transformation, earth, light, and dark paths. It creates an ethereal turtle's shell around the user made out of light to protect and heal them. The second projected a zone that looked like the vast expanse of space, whenever Star Constellations star path attacks entered the area they were weakened considerably. Zone of Starless Night permanently uses star path Dao marks to create a hazard zone. Whenever anything related to star path enters its domain the Dao marks would weaken them.
Despite the defenses he had in place he still took many hits while advancing towards the qi fruit. Star Constellation never relented in her attempts to stop him.
Whenever Star Constellation would put up a wall to stop his progression he would destroy it with a barrage of attacks. If her attacks were able to reach him and break his defenses he would heal the minimum possible before using killer moves to speed forward.
During Fang Yuan's advance both Giant Sun and Star Constellation were questioning how much Immortal Essence Fang Yuan could possible have.
How much immortal essence does Fang Yuan have? Each of his attacks consume at the very least twice as much essence as ours does but are objectively multiple times more powerful. He hasn't slowed down in his attacks at all and continues to use costly killer moves to respond to everything.
As Giant Sun analysed Fang Yuan's immortal essence expenditure the Gu worms in front of his were moving faster than the eyes could track and looked like a golden portal in the air before him. He began to release hundreds of thousands of mortal level Gu worms of many different paths and they were incorporated into the swirling mass of a killer move before him.
Eventually Giant Sun released the attack and a golden beam larger than a person shot directly into heavenly court unimpeded and flew directly towards Fang Yuan.
Instead of defending against Giant Suns attack Fang Yuan continued to rush forward and within seconds the golden beam enveloped him.
As the golden beam reaching him Fang Yuan activated another immortal killer move and a bright pink dust exploded out of his aperture. As the Golden beam shot through the mist it turned a metallic green and turned towards the Qi Fruit Core.
In the span of a second Star Constellation put up hundreds of different defensive barriers and blockades including multiple peak rank 8 battlefield killer moves but nothing had any effect, it just continued through as if nothing was in its way.
To Star Constellations dismay It quickly reached the qi fruit core but to her surprise it didn't destroy or damage it but instead created a protective bubble around it. In an instant she conducted thousands of tests from every type of path and possibility.
She discovered that the attack was made up of the pinnacle of phantom, luck, formation, dream and strength path. It is not something that either Giant Sun of Fang Yuan would be able to do on their own and was definitely planned beforehand.
By the time giant sun released the attack to the time Star Constellation finished her tests only about half a second had passed. In a fight against venerables that half second can be the difference between defeat and victory.
Fang Yuan was inside the golden/green path and made a bee line directly into the heart of heavenly court for the Qi fruit core.