Chapter 2385 Zhan Bu Du vs Hei Lou Lan (1)

Hei Lou Lan was confused: "Me? Why? How?"

"Well, it's simple for people to climb higher they need a steppingstone, Fang Yuan is going to be so far ahead of all of you that it will be impossible for you to ever catch up or give him any boost, in fact, he may already be ahead of all of you."

This was shocking news to Hei Lou Lan.

She didn't want to believe it, but Reckless Savage had no reason to lie.

"So, you want us to be fodder for him?" Hei Lou Lan was outraged.

Her whole life she had been treated as such even now, her greatest opportunity, was nothing more than to fatten up an even bigger cow.

"Hehe if you see it that way then so be it but while I do hope you will make Fang Yuan stronger, I have also given you the potential to overthrow him. After all, I want to fight the strongest person in the world, it might not necessarily be Fang Yuan, frankly, his personality annoys me, despite having an overwhelming advantage he still chooses to lean back and wait, so I have to force him to act!"

Reckless then smiled at Hei Lou Lan: "It's not that I want you to lose, I just have no faith you'll win but hey surprise me, I'm not stopping you in fact I encourage you to try."

Hei Lou Lan pondered his words.

While it was true that Reckless set this all up for the ludicrous reason of setting someone on the path of becoming the strongest.

It was also true that this was an opportunity for Hei Lou Lan, her body, soul, and attainment had all reached the highest she's ever been.

Yes, her attainment level in strength path has risen to Great Grandmaster!

Reckless spared no expense and left his true meaning of Strength Path in this inheritance.

Hei Lou Lan's body contained at least 300,000 Strength Path Dao Marks and her aperture was already Rank 8 making her a Quasi-Venerable [1]

Now if she were to battle Zhan Bu Du the situation would be greatly reversed.

"Is this what true strength feels like," she said as she felt the power coursing through her: "One last question why are you helping Giant Sun?"

"Because he's the weakest."

This blatant answer left Hei Lou Lan stunned for words.

"In this battle between Venerables he is most assuredly the most behind, sure he has Yi Qi Zi that can continuously produce Immortal Essence but getting rid of the Heaven's Will within loses half of their energy. Not to mention that if you want to talk about a stockpile of Rank 8 Immortal essence look at Primordial Origin. Essentially if I don't help, he'll sooner or later be lost in this race and the balance will shift in Fang Yuan's favor. Trust me you are further behind than you think, even though I want to fight the strongest being I have never once underestimated them."

Reckless gave a stern warning at the end as Hei Lou Lan was whisked back to reality.

After Hei Lou Lan left Reckless sat alone in the Dream space.

He took a sip: "When are you going to make your move Primordial?"

Across from him an old man sat with his back slightly hunched and his body seemingly feeble, but Reckless knew better than to underestimate him.

It was Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable!

Primordial poured himself a drink: "Soon."

Reckless raised his eyebrow: "Your daughter is losing pretty bad," he chuckled.

Primordial frowned: "My disciple can manage," he said.

Back in reality Hei Lou Lan stood before the final chaotic tribulation that stood in her path.

A hundred tales could not be compared to a single encounter.

She had heard from Light Emperor the dreadfulness of a Chaotic Tribulation but to experience it for herself was another thing.

"I have to do this to catch up to him," she clenched her fist tight and walked under the chaos.

Hei Lou Lan began activating the new Supreme King Totem.

The 300,000 Strength Path Dao Marks began circulating rapidly throughout the totem, causing a faint phantom visage to appear around her.

She kept circulating them at increasing speeds to create a natural barrier to resist the tribulation.

"I need it to temper me not kill me!"

She took a deep breath and stepped under the Chaos.

The Ball of Chaos shot a Black Lightning bolt down onto Hei Lou Lan.

Its descent seemed slow compared and unimpressive compared to normal lighting, but the moment it contacted Hei Lou Lan.

*BOOM*

The pain was coursing through her veins.

"ARGHHHHH"

She almost lost consciousness but she held on.

The fiery ambition was burning in her eyes.

The Black Lightning struck again.

"ARGGGGGGH"

Again.

"ARGGGGHHHHH"

And again

"ARGGGGGG"

And again

"AHHGHHGHHHH"

Each time the Black Lightning struck more and more memories would become clear.

All the suffering she went through, all the pain and loss she had to bear, being hunted down, being raised like cattle, not being in control of her life.

The Black Lighting struck again.

"ARGGHH I AM HEI LOU LAN"

*BOOM*

"I WILL BREAK FREE."

*BOOOOOM*

"I WILL….I WILL"

The last bolt was the biggest one of all.

*KABOOOOM*

Hei Lou Lan's face was plastered onto the floor, a crater formed where she stood.

Her aura was weak, a small whisper escaped her: "…I will survive…"

She fainted.

The Black Lightning shredded a melded the parts of Hei Lou Lan and Reckless together while also reshaping the body.

This could be considered a type of natural Refinement, except that the material used was a human itself.

The predicament covering the 5th Floor was then dispersed revealing Hei Lou Lan to the rest of the world.

Instantly the Venerables noticed her existence.

"She's alive?!"

"How?"

"Hmph, barely"

Giant Sun instantly acted and used his 2 Rooks to heal her, but they only provided mild relief.

Seeing this he knew that whatever she went through made her body much stronger, thus such weak methods wouldn't work.

But Giant Sun was out of moves.

He only had his King piece left and using it now seemed like a waste.

But as he was debating, he felt a strong Luck Path Intuition telling him to save Hei Lou Lan.

"Hmm? To think that my Luck Path intuition is telling me to use my Rank 9 move to save her… she must have gotten something from Reckless."

Not holding back he activated his King piece!

Grand Rank 9 aura converged on the piece as it descended from his hand into the Myriad Beast Fusion Color Heaven.

The other 3 Venerables were shocked!

To think Giant Sun would spend so much resource on 1 Pseudo-venerable.

But it was somewhat understandable, she did have a Great Strength True Martial Physique and that would help a lot in winning Reckless's attention.

So it would make sense that she got a unique encounter related to it.

At this point the other Venerables didn't stop Giant Sun because they all had a shot at winning, they assumed that Giant Sun was just saving whatever Hei Lou Lan had won for herself and leaving that as his gain.

And even Giant Sun thought so: "Maybe he gave her something that will help her become a Venerable one day?"

He never would have guessed that not only was she capable of becoming a Venerable she was just one step away, though that step was big.

The Rank 9 Blood Path move repaired every aspect of her body, mind, and even her soul!

Hei Lou Lan soon regained consciousness and realized that it was due to Giant Sun.

"I must thank ancestor, even if I become a Venerable, I will work with him not just because we are related but because he has nothing to gain from harming me."

Suddenly. The Ordinary Abyss began to swell and surge at a rapid pace!

The group had been comfortable on the 4th floor as without Hei Lou Lan the criteria of 'ordinary' had dropped.

But now that she was back and on the 5th Floor, the Abyss quickly began rising.

Seeing this the Great Love and Anti-Great Love Alliance were startled.

"Why is the Ordinary Abyss rising so fast?"

"Did a large group of them reach the end already?"

"Shit. Its speed will force us back onto the first floor in less than 2 hours!"

The Alliances had no choice but to move up while keeping a 10-step gap between them and Ordinary Abyss in case it sped up.

"I wonder who's winning," everyone thought.

Up above the others still had not realized the return of Hei Lou Lan.

Zhan Bu Du had reached the 7th Floor first and this time he was directly rewarded with Forgiveness Gu.

When Feng Jiu Ge reached the 7th Floor Fang Yuan was already a quarter of the way to the 8th Floor.

By the time Hei Lou Lan reappeared he had also made it to the 8th Floor first, this time he was given Weak Gu!

Weak Gu had only ever been mentioned in the <Legends of Ren Zu> but its effect was never stated.

"Hmm, Weak Gus effects are not known I can only experiment to find out," Zhan Bu Du kept Weak Gu in his aperture.

He continued walking.

The end was near, soon he would reach the top, but little did he know that someone was challenging him for that spot.

Hei Lou Lan got up from the ground and began bolting up the Path of Ascension!

Her burst of speed shocked the Venerables.

"Giant Sun what method did you use? It gave her such a boost in strength?" Star Constellation asked.

But looking at Giant Sun; he was equally surprised!

He thought that Hei Lou Lan had gotten something that would be beneficial latter, but he didn't know it would be that beneficial.

Spectral Soul and Fang Yuan were visibly upset.

"Dammit this Hei Lou Lan's speed is ridiculous; each floor is supposed to be harder and harder to climb but she seems to be picking up speed with each step!" they both thought.

Hei Lou Lan soon surpassed Chu Du, Wu Yong, Wu Shuai, and Hei Chun Qiu.

The 4 of them were shocked to see Hei Lou Lan just breezing through the Path of Ascension.

Wu Shuai instantly contacted Zhan Bu Du: "Zhan Bu Du! Hei Lou Lan is rapidly advancing she's already at the 6th Floor!"

Hearing this Zhan Bu Du had a deep frown.

He had already used a lot of his strength to stay ahead of Feng Jiu Ge and gain both Forgiveness and Weak Gu.

He was planning to rest on the 8th Floor for a bit before stepping onto the path of ascension once more.

"It seems like plans will have to change, damn Hei Lou Lan."

Zhan Bu Du took his first step.

The pressure beat down on him.

His heart rate began to elevate.

"The pressure toward the 9th Floor is much heavier than all the other Floors combined!"

Zhan Bu Du immediately activated both Perseverance Gu and Fortitude Gu as well as the Incomplete Freedom Transformation.

He was giving it his all!

[1] The term Quasi-venerable was introduced for Feng Jiu Ge but I feel it should also have incorporated Fang Yuan when he was still Rank 8 so I'm using it now to mean a Rank 8 who is very close to being a Venerable, in terms of Dao Marks being more than 200k.