Star Constellation rained attacks down on Fang Yuan but did little to disrupt his path. Unraveling such an intricate killer move was not something even a Wisdom path Supreme Grandmaster could do easily.
If she had high enough attainment in each of the those paths and the perfect Gu worms she may have been able to destroy the golden/green path killer move but that wasn't the case.
Traveling through the golden tunnel at peak rank 8 speeds took Fang Yuan four seconds to reach the qi fruit core.
At this point Giant Sun had already retreated far from heavenly court and Star Constellation had unleashed a barrage of attacks, doing anything she could to breach the golden tunnel with no success.
If Fang Yuan had the time or even the thoughts to spare he would have been suspicious of everything going so smoothly but with his entire focus on the moment and his hunger distracting him he focused on the qi fruit and just ran.
Both Giant Sun and Star Constellation expected Fang Yuan to launch an attack in order to destroy the qi fruit. It was fairly obvious that this was Primordial Origin Immortal Venerables revival method and destroying the qi fruit would most likely set Primordial Origins revival scheme back quite a bit or potentially even ruin it completely.
Fang Yuan stood over the qi fruit, it was wrapped protectively in hundreds of layers of wisdom path Dao marks. From a distance it would have looked like a twinkling star to anybody else but for any top rank immortal not to mention venerables seeing past it was a simple matter.
By this point the world was frozen. Star Constellation stood there stunned with a desperate look on her face. Ever since before Giant Sun unleashed his attack she was sending messages to both other venerables to find some sort of resolution, even offering the rank 9 derivation Gu. Giant Sun already had what he wanted, and Fang Yuan simply ignored her.
"Fang Yuan, Leave the qi fruit core as it is, and I promise you I will pass you the rank nine Derivation Gu. Not only that but I will leave Heavenly Court for you to consume, I know that this would be a major boost to your cultivation. On top of that I will pass you all the research results heavenly court had made in painting and pill path. Both of these paths have the same potential as dream paths and each of them would allow you another source of strength. The only thing you must do is leave the qi fruit core to me and allow me to escape with it."
Fang Yuan ignored her as he inspected the qi fruit. He would have responded if there was any point to it but ultimately it was his decision that would affect the future, not his words.
The layers of Dao marks protecting the Qi Fruit were thick. Even with supreme grandmaster attainment in refinement path and peak rank eight capabilities Fang Yuan estimated it would take him at least thirty seconds to refine them.
If he was a venerable of any other path then it would have potentially taken hours to destroy these protective dao marks but Fang Yuan was able to refine them into his own and consume them.
As he was inspecting the Qi fruit core a small crack appeared in the golden tunnel directly under Star Constellation's continuous onslaught of attacks.
Star Constellation has finally begun to discover the killer moves weakness and was about to break through.
I don't have nearly enough time to refine these dao marks with rank eight capabilities. I only have one choice if I am to refine them, it seems I won't be able to hide any longer.
Fang Yuan immediately activated the rank nine Advanced refinement Gu and suddenly the world stopped. Both Star Constellation and Giant Sun could sense the rank nine refinement path aura.
Both of them immediately sent messages to Fang Yuan and each other.
"Fang Yuan, how do you have a rank nine Gu worm!"
"Fang Yuan has a rank nine Gu worm!"
Instantly both venerables understood that they had been deceived and that Fang Yuan was able to refine rank 9 Gu worms without revealing their aura.
"Fang Yuan almost definitely has the rank nine Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus! He is producing far more essence than both of us combined!"
Fang Yuan refined all the Dao marks surrounding the Qi fruit core instantly then picked it up with his hands.
Star Constellation was distraught as her master Primordial Origin's revival plan had been ruined and she was too late to stop it.
Giant Sun was surprised by Fang Yuan's rank nine Gu worm and while inspecting his own luck was reevaluating everything that has happened and looked suspicious of his own luck.
Both venerables expected Fang Yuan to crush the core and be done with it.
After a split-second Fang Yuan opened his mouth and swallowed the core.
Fang Yuan instantly felt Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu's hunger recede. Similar to when he ate Paradise Earth Fang Yuan felt that it didn't completely rid him of the feeling of hunger but pushed the hunger farther into the future.
Additionally, he felt the addition of millions of qi path Dao marks and their effect on his aperture. Despite having many different Dao mark chains in his aperture, the addition of these qi path Dao marks had a huge effect that he did not have time to monitor. The immortals in his aperture
The golden path that Giant Sun made only lasted about 5 seconds before it began to disintegrate into nothing.
Fang Yuan was now in the center of Heavenly Court with an incredibly furious Star Constellation ready to tear him to pieces.
A tense second passed and both venerables noticed an unnatural movement of the qi in heavenly court. Unwilling to linger any longer in heavenly court under threat from Star Constellation, Fang Yuan instantly attempted to escape back to eastern sea.
There was no more Qi Fruit Core nor any heavenly course immortals to protect or distract Star Constellation and as such she could focus her entire attention on destroying the enemy before her.
A constant galaxy worth of stars flew like meteors directly towards Fang Yuan. Each of these stars has enough energy to eradicate the Qinghai province in china.
Fang Yuan had already revealed his rank 9 Gu worms to the other venerables so there was no need to hold back any longer.
Fang Yuan tried dozens of teleportation killer moves to return to eastern sea but all of them failed. While defending against Star Constellations he shot towards the edge of Heavenly Court. Every meter forward he made it required at tens of rank eight immortal essence. With nothing left to defend Star Constellations killer moves beared down on Fang Yuan dangerously.
"Refining Heaven, Earth, and Dao!"
This was a rank nine immortal killer moved based around Advanced Refinement Gu.
All of Fang Yuan's defensive measures instantly disappeared and a thin haze appeared in a five meter radius around him. As foreign attacks or Heavenly Courts dao marks entered this area they were instantly refined by him. This is an incredibly expensive killer move that uses rank nine immortal essence everytime it activates.
Heavenly Court had some of the densest dao marks in the entire Gu world and as such Fang Yuan's killer move expended hundreds of rank nine immortal essence.
Despite the futility Star Constellation raised barriers in his way and rained attacks down on him constantly yet all of them failed spectacularly.
As Fang Yuan ran the flow of qi within Heavenly court became more turbulent. A quick investigation determined that it was pooling high in the sky. This was not something Fang Yuan expected nor a secret he stole from heaven's will. Either way it was a minor distraction that he could investigate later, once he's escaped.
The qi gathering in the sky began to condense into what looked like a massive pearly gate.
None besides Star Constellation had any idea of what the pearly gates meant and as she watched it materialize her heart nearly stopped. She kept a wary face as if she was unsure of what was happening but it was a facade.
I'm getting dangerously low on essence and I don't have the time to analyze and deconstruct another immortal killer move. The cost of maintaining such a killer move has to be enormous. He definitely has the rank nine Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus so it's impossible to determine how long he can maintain this killer move. He's definitely calculated to have enough essence to escape so the only thing my attacks are doing is greatly lowering his primeval essence. If I can't kill him, chasing him out is the next best option.
It only took a matter of minutes before Fang Yuan was able to see a break in Heavenly Courts walls. Instantly hundreds of barriers rose before him and blocked his easiest escape.
"Unhindered Body of a Sovereign!"
It's a rank nine killer move that used Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu as the basis. This was extremely costly in essence, dao marks, and refinement ingredients to use but if Fang Yuan managed to escape now he would have plenty of time to process his benefits and secure himself against both venerables eventual counter attacks.
With the Unhindered Body of a Sovereign Fang Yuan broke through the barriers as if they were bamboo reeds and sped towards the break.
As it looked like everything was clear Fang Yuan immediately felt his inertia jerk to a stop and an invisible force repelled him back towards the center of heavenly court. As Fang Yuan flew back he watched as Giant Sun slowly appeared in front of the opening.
"Giant Sun! What is the meaning of this?!" Fang Yuan asked out loud.
"Do you truly think I showed all my cards in the golden path killer move? Hmm, I wonder if your going to have enough concentration to defend against our attacks and analyze my killer move?"
"Do you see that gate forming in the middle of heavenly Court? Obviously Star Constellation has planned for everything! I am only trying to get away before its too late!" Fang Yuan screamed in what resembled desperation.
Of course, Fang Yuan would have preferred to escape but there was no use thinking about that. All that mattered now was dealing with this situation.
"Throughout the fight I have been monitoring the luck levels of everybody and something extremely interesting happened when you ate that qi fruit core." There was a lull in the fighting and even Star Constellation was listening.
"Once you ate the core, Star Constellation and Heavenly Court's luck rose drastically while yours barely fluctuated. There are only two possibilities to that strange change." There was silence for a second as if he was prompting Fang Yuan to speak but everybody stayed quiet.
"The first choice is that this was Star Constellation's plan all along and we have been led along by our noses or… You have managed to deceive luck itself and switch your lucks appearance with Heavenly Courts. Revealing your rank nine Gu worm made it obvious which one it was."
Star Constellation spoke up next. "With Fate Gu gone there is nothing controlling lifespan anymore. Extending our lifespan forever isn't a dream anymore. Immortality is within our grasp, but you can't seem to see that."
Despite saying this Star Constellation with confidence internally she was furious at Giant Sun for trapping Fang Yuan and staying in Heavenly Court. If both of them left she would have been able to deal with spectral soul who was still trading attacks with the star dragon and then prepare for the gates opening.
"Hmm, of course I've considered this, but a long lifespan doesn't mean anything will change. Any place where there are people means those same people will fight over the resources." Fang Yuan said in response.
"Giant Sun, do not think that you will be able to join or compete with heavenly court if I am gone. They have too much of an advantage compared to you and your imperial court. You will never…"
"Enough of this, you were the reason for your own downfall Fang Yuan. The only reason I am willing to cooperate with Star Constellation is because you revealed having multiple rank nine Gu worms." Giant Sun said confidently as he began to shine with a deep golden light.
Despite own promises of wealth or benefits, Fang Yuan was unable to convince either of the two venerables to stop attacking.
Fang Yuan had spent more primeval essence than some immortals ever see in their life in the past hour trying to escape. Despite Fang Yuans reveal of his rank nine Gu worms he still struggled to resist the two venerables.
He had not refined any attack type or any other combat focused rank nine Gu worms and instead focused on refinement and cultivation.
Unhindered Body of a Sovereign was the peak of Fang Yuan's refinement attainment capabilities but if he used it to defend against two venerables attacks he would run out of essence rapidly and he would be helpless.
"This is it! You can't escape this!" Star Constellation yelled as she appeared behind Fang Yuan's back. Giant Sun had just swung a massive golden blade that forced Fang Yuan to defend.
Star Constellation's hand shined with concentrated moonlight and began to pierce into Fang Yuan's abdomen.
"Heavenly Web Ensnarement!"
From the point where Fang Yuan was stabbed, thick white spider webs sprang out and covered Star Constellation completely. A cocoon closed around her in an instant, entraping her.
Multiple Golden Swords appeared around Fang Yuan and forced him back, Giant Sun immediately split his focus on attacking Fang Yuan and saving Star Constellation.
Fang Yuan immediately turned and began to escape to the edge of Heavenly Court. As he flew he cast as many investigative killer moves on his body to try and figure out if there were any remaining traps on his body set by Giant Sun.
He looked up to the gate floating in the middle of the sky and saw that it was nearly fully materialized. Ordinarily Fang Yuan would have wanted to investigate and search for any benefits but he had left enough formations in Heavenly Court that he could return at any point.
After a minute of running Fang Yuan felt a force throughout his body and immediately activated his strongest defensive killer moves. A second later he teleported to where he ate the qi fruit core and sensed both venerables unleashing deadly attacks on his defences.
"Giant Stars Retreating Grove Immortal Killer Move!" Yelled Giant Sun as large meteors appeared throughout Heavenly Court and began to chase after Fang Yuan.
"Grey Horizon Black Awakening!" Yelled Star Constellation.
Around Fang Yuan were twelve shields made up of what looked like spider webs.
He watched as hundreds of meteors flew towards him while the area more than a kilometer out turned black.
"Refining Heaven, Earth, and Dao!"
Fang Yuan managed to defend the attack but he was now running extremely low on immortal essence and still had no understanding of how Giant Sun was summoning him.
As he began to counterattack a resonant Gong thundered through Heavenly Court. All of the venerables including the crazed Spectral Soul stopped and watched the gate. The white steel doors opened slowly and an outline of a human man could be seen floating out of the door.
As he floated away from the gate more details could be made out. He had a deep bronze colored skin which was covered with intricate tribal tattoos. He was heavily muscled and stood at least four meters tall,
"Master!" Screamed Star Constellation as she rocketed up towards the floating man.
Evidently this was Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, the first and longest live venerable in history. It was through his tireless efforts that humanity was able to break free from the shackles of slavery and eventually become the masters of the world. He single-handedly killed the variant human powerhouses that held humanity's fate in their hands and forced the rest of the variants into hiding.
The originator of Heavenly Court and perhaps the greatest humans to have ever lived had just been reborn.