104 Chapter 2439 Hope Of Humanity; Rank 9 Hope Gu!

Red Lotus nodded: "Mhmm, it's the culmination of Millions of years of research, Rank 9 Hope Gu!"

Hope Gu!

"H-how is this possible?" Ma Hong Yun was shocked: "No one has ever made a Rank 5, 4 or even Rank 2 Hope Gu."

Red Lotus nodded: "Indeed, do you know why? It's because Hope Gu can only be refined when there are times of immense peril and danger when the feelings of the people culminate together to defy the odds. It is only by harnessing that emotion can Hope Gu be refined to higher Ranks."

Ma Hong Yun's new talent made him a genius, so he quickly picked up on something: "If you're saying that Hope Gu requires a situation where the world is in despair and that, only by harnessing the will and defiance of the situation, can one advance Hope Gu, then I must ask what kind of scenario is needed to refine a Rank 9 Hope Gu?"

Red Lotus sighed: "You're indeed right, even in our current time, Hope Gu can at most be refined to Rank 2, so then the obvious answer is this, Rank 9 Hope Gu comes from the future!"

!!!

"T-then," Ma Hong Yun put 2 and 2 together: "That means there is some catastrophe that happens in the future, and since you brought me back and are presenting Hope Gu to me, it means,"

Red Lotus nodded: "Fang Yuan will cause a calamity that destroys the entire Gu World!"

Ma Hong Yun's legs went slightly numb, and he sat at the table, Zhao Lian Yun comforted him.

"Do I even have a choice then?" Ma Hong Yun smiled wryly: "There is a saying that is popular amongst Northern Plainsmen, 'When the World is ending, every man has to do their part to save it.'"

Ma Hong Yun turned to Zhao Lian Yun: "I'm sorry, I-"

But Zhao Lian Yun stopped him with a kiss, after the soft embrace she looked at him: "I knew you would make this choice, and I knew it would hurt, but this is the person I love, so I'll go through it with you, whether we laugh or cry, die or live, I won't let you go this time. You are my Hope."

Having gained the resolve, Ma Hong Yun turned to Red Lotus: "So what does Rank 9 Hope Gu do?"

"Hehe, if Rank 1 Hope Gu allows a Gu Master to open a Rank 1 aperture, what do you think a Rank 9 Hope Gu would do?" Red Lotus smirked.

"You don't mean?"

Red Lotus nodded: "It will allow you to directly open a Rank 9 Aperture!"

!!!

Ma Hong Yun's blood was now boiling in excitement, he finally saw a chance at catching up or even surpassing Fang Yuan.

But Red Lotus immediately quelled his excitement: "Now hang on, I said Rank 9 Aperture not Venerable, you still need to grow your Attainment levels to become a Venerable, and, if we have time, find a Dao to become a Quasi-Dao Emperor."

"This…" Ma Hong Yun's original overzealous fervour died down: "But at least there seems to be a fighting chance."

But then he couldn't help but ask the question on his heart: "Red Lotus, how exactly did you get a Gu from the future?"

Red Lotus responded: "The last Venerable of that Timeline sent it to me, using the Hopes of even the Venerables that fell, to refine Rank 9 Hope Gu, sending it across Time and Space to reach me."

Ma Hong Yun was again shocked: "The last Venerable? That means…"

Red Lotus nodded: "All the other Venerables and, Dao Emperors were killed,"

"T-then do you know who the last Venerable standing was?" Ma Hong Yun asked.

"Great Dream Immortal Venerable."

Outside the Secret Chamber,

The battlefield was intense,

The Dao of Slaughter was not an exceptionally high-ranking Dao, but it was extremely focused; on killing!

Making it one of the strongest combat Dao in existence.

Luckily, Heaven was also plagued by the problem of Immortal Essence, he was inheriting a Human body after all.

"Damnit! This Fang Yuan has a nearly unending stream of Immortal Essence, who knows how long he has been stockpiling them. Plus, he has already skipped one Chaotic Tribulation, meaning he can speed up the time in his aperture to produce more with no worries."

Indeed, Heaven had accurately read Fang Yuan's situation.

After Fang Yuan skipped his Chaotic Tribulation, he rapidly sped up the time in his aperture so that he has an abundance of Immortal Essence.

This wasn't even mentioning the fact that his Aperture already produced the most Immortal Essence of any Aperture in the world!

"With the Immortal Sovereign Aperture at nearly 90% stabilized and developed, I can go on another looting spree soon." Fang Yuan thought to himself.

Fang Yuan began throwing around Killer Moves like they were nothing: "I need to display a greater might for the world to see, increasing my Reputation."

Immortal Killer Move -------- Seven Colored Rainbow Swords

Immortal Killer Move -------- Daybreak Torrent

Immortal Killer Move -------- Heavenly Collapsing Thunder

One after another Fang Yuan bombarded Heaven.

Giant Sun, who was providing support on the side, though: "Indeed. Fang Yuan had already obtained the Rank 9 Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu."

His spine shivered slightly: "How many hidden cards does Fang Yuan possess? Just this one card combined with Strong Gu already makes him unbeatable amongst Venerables, coupled with his Quasi-Dao Emperor status…"

Giant Sun was worried that Fang Yuan not only displayed great strength but that he still showed so much potential!

"Wait! If the Fang Yuan already possessed Rank 9 Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu, then what Gu was he refining when we found him?!" Giant Sun list of worries grew.

He could confirm that not only could Fang Yuan make Rank 9 Gu with relative ease, but that he also had at least, Four Rank 9 Gu!

But Giant Sun suspected that Fang Yuan had more hidden!

Heaven had to occasionally use Dao Killer Moves to ward off the onslaught of Killer Moves!

"Damnit! This Fang Yuan has already grown to this point…that damn Star Constellation was right!"

Indeed, part of Star Constellation's plan was to show Heaven that even though Heavenly Court could take down Fang Yuan alone, neither could Heaven!

They needed to work together, which allowed her to renegotiate terms not quite equals, but Heavenly Court was at least acknowledged by Heaven as needed.

"After I wrap up this mess, I must ensure there will never be another 'Fang Yuan' or 'Spectral Soul' or even another 'Limitless'."

Heaven was getting slightly hard-pressed when he got a message:

"We're done."

It was Red Lotus, informing Heaven that they had completed the project and Ma Hong Yun was official revived.

"Finally," Heaven sighed.

He turned to Fang Yuan: "We will continue this another time."

A spatial tunnel appeared behind Heaven.

Fang Yuan could sense that it was Red Lotus who opened it and thus did not bother to try and seal space again.

"It would be pointless, I'm still not at the level where I can force a Pseudo-Dao Emperor to stay," Fang Yuan shook his head helplessly.

Even though he could bombard people to death with near-unlimited Immortal Essence, not only was it not cost-effective, but he had no way to make them stay if they excelled in Space Path methods.

"Fang Yuan." Giant Sun turned to him after the battle was over, he was slightly nervous that Fang Yuan would backstab him immediately:

"I will return to Longevity Heaven now," he turned around to leave but before he left he imparted some words to Fang Yuan: "You should consider who's side you're going to support in this coming war. I've already made my stance, and your only choice is to either be alone or join me and Reckless."

Giant Sun then left.

Fang Yuan was left alone, he rubbed his chin: "Interesting. It seems the Great War is about to begin, this war may be my chance to obtain Eternity…"

Upon, returning to the Eastern Sea,

Fang Yuan decided to not hold back and began rapidly refining Natural Dao Marks!

Nobody came forward to stop him.

"I can maintain this rate for quite some time, but I have about a week before Heavenly Court comes to pester me." Fang Yuan took this time to finish refining Rank 9 Wisdom Gu as well.

He didn't even try to hide that he was completing the refinement.

Across the 5 Regions, everyone felt the creation of the Rank 9 Wisdom Gu.

"Damnit," Genesis Lotus slammed his hand on the table: "Are we really going to allow him to refine Natural Dao Marks and a Rank 9 Gu?"

The room was silent.

Star Constellation shook her head and spoke up: "Right now with just the 3 of us plus Heaven we would be able to put up a fight with Fang Yuan, with the winner undeterminable, but that is only if we were outside our HQs."

"What we need to do is focus on helping Ma Hong Yun reach his full potential, he will be our trump card against Fang Yuan."

Star Constellation turned to Red Lotus: "How's his training going?"

"He's adjusted well to the Rank 9 Aperture, now he only needs to increase his attainment in Human Path." Red Lotus looked at Genesis Lotus: "Is the Derivation Array working?"

Genesis Lotus nodded: "Things are going well, since quite a bit of Human Path research was already done using the array, he managed to acquire Master Attainment in Human Path already, my estimate says he can easily acquire Grandmaster, but beyond that will require time and work."

Genesis Lotus asked Star Constellation: "Did you manage to find Human Path inheritances?"

"Unfortunately, most of them are not exceptional but Human Path is extremely rare, I have given him the best that we have but I doubt it's enough."

Red Lotus chimed in: "We'll worry about that later, the more pressing issue is that we have no way to elevate him to Supreme Grandmaster since there is no longer any Primordial Domain left."

This was one of the biggest problems that the Venerables were facing.

"It seems we'll have to rely on the natural talent and luck you imbued in him," Star Constellation asked Red Lotus: "How are the other backups coming along?"

"Well..." Red Lotus responded: "Bai Ning Bing and Tie Ruo Nan, are developing steadily, whereas Peng Da has been sent to retrieve Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's True Inheritances."

"Hmm," Star Constellation rubbed her chin: "If I recall, there should be 10 True Inhertiances in total, 5 pairs,"

Red Lotus nodded.

"And Zhao Lian Yun possesses, Divine Concealment, while Fang Yuan possess Ghostly Concealment, you mentioned that Peng Da has 2 of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's Metal Path inheritance."

"The Otherworldly Artificial Adaptive Suit Gu," Red Lotus clarified: "Not to mention that Fang Yuan did possess Thieving Heaven's Steal Life Gu, which leaves us with the other half of the Steal Life inheritance, which Fang Yuan possesses and Four other Inheritances."

Star Constellation thought about it: "Assuming Peng Da acquires this next Inheritance as well, that would leave us with 1 pair of Inheritance that is completely unaccounted for."

"Should we leave that Inheritance for Peng Da or Ma Hong Yun, now that he can be considered a quarter-otherworldy demon, it should meet Thieving Heaven's criteria." Star Constellation suggested.

Red Lotus shrugged his shoulders: "I'm not sure we'll have to wait and see.