Chapter 199: Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable
Over the past month, Lin Yan had also devoted much of his time to deducing new killer moves.
His attempts to develop methods for controlling the time flow of Flame Sovereign Blessed Land and increasing dao marks during tribulations both ended in failure.
The first was simply beyond his current abilities. Even among Time Path Gu Immortals, methods capable of altering the time flow of a blessed land were extremely rare. Trying to imitate Time Path with Flame Path was even more difficult. Without at least Great Grandmaster attainment in Flame Path, such a deduction was impossible.
The second was also no easier. Throughout history, only a handful of methods could increase the dao marks gained from tribulations. The most famous was Turning Calamity into Fortune, a luck path killer move created by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable that converted part of a tribulation’s destructive power into fortune, allowing the immortal to obtain greater benefits after surviving it. The other originated from Limitless Demon Venerable. His Rule Path killer move, One Step Back, temporarily lowered the grade of an immortal aperture, greatly easing the pressure of calamities and tribulations while still allowing dao marks to accumulate. Later, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable inherited the method, transformed it into a Space Path killer move, and renamed it Sea and Sky Expands. Such heaven-defying methods were all creations of the Venerables, standing at the absolute peak of their respective paths. They were mysteries far beyond Lin Yan’s current foundation.
Even so, the month was far from wasted. His Dream Path talent, combined with his deep understanding of Flame Path, allowed him to make steady progress in other areas. Even seemingly ordinary Immortal Gu such as Flame Eye Immortal Gu and Firelike Immortal Gu gradually revealed their true potential.
Besides Flame Sight, Lin Yan also created another support type killer move centered around Flame Eye Immortal Gu called Flame Horizon.
Although both were support type killer moves, they served completely different purposes. Flame Sight excelled in close combat, allowing him to see through many killer moves and observe the distribution of dao marks within them. Flame Horizon, on the other hand, used a large number of Space Path Gu worms to greatly extend its range. By detecting subtle changes in temperature, it formed a vast thermal image that accurately reflected everything within its area of observation.
Together, the two killer moves complemented each other perfectly. Whether for close-range investigation or long-distance scouting, they ranked among the finest reconnaissance methods available to Rank Six and Rank Seven Gu Immortals.
Next, Lin Yan devoted most of his efforts to developing killer moves centered around Firelike Immortal Gu. After all, it was the most expensive Immortal Gu to feed. If the killer moves he created around it could not surpass Feed the Flame, the investment would hardly be worthwhile.
The ability of Firelike Immortal Gu was also extremely unusual. It could disguise different dao marks as Flame Path dao marks. That immediately gave Lin Yan an idea. If every dao mark appeared to be part of Flame Path, could they deceive one another and stop repelling each other?
Unfortunately, the deduction ended in failure. A disguise was still only a disguise. It could conceal appearances, but it could never change essence. No matter how perfectly other dao marks imitated Flame Path dao marks, they remained fundamentally different.
That was unless he possessed the legendary Attitude Immortal Gu.
According to The Legends of Ren Zu, Attitude Immortal Gu was a Rank Eight Wisdom Path Immortal Gu. Ren Zu once asked it, "What is attitude?" Attitude Gu replied, "People wear one face before their family, another before their friends, and yet another before their enemies. Every person wears countless invisible masks throughout their life. Those masks are attitude."
Attitude Immortal Gu later fell into the hands of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable. Using it, he created a famous series of disguise killer moves: Unfamiliar Face, Vaguely Familiar Face, and Familiar Face.
Among them, Familiar Face was a Rank Eight killer move. Its effects were unfathomable. It could subtly influence the perceptions of Rank Eight Gu Immortals, causing them to overlook obvious flaws. If it could deceive even the minds of Gu Immortals, deceiving dao marks was naturally within its capabilities.
Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had always been the coolest Venerable in Lin Yan’s eyes. His killer moves were legendary throughout the Gu World, each one reaching the pinnacle of its path. Some could even deceive Heaven’s Will itself. It almost felt as though there was nothing he could not accomplish.
Unfortunately, Attitude Immortal Gu is in Northern Plains right now and Lin Yan could only set the idea aside for the time being.
The three killer moves he wanted to create the most had all ended in failure: increasing the time flow of Flame Sovereign Blessed Land, increasing the dao marks gained from tribulations, and preventing different dao marks from repelling one another.
Even so, the failed deductions were not without value. Attitude Immortal Gu had pointed him toward another possibility. Since Flame Path alone could not achieve his goal, perhaps the answer lay in Human Path instead.