Everywhere he went, the crowds of people opened up a path for him.
Even though Fang Yuan was a demonic path Gu cultivator, those of the righteous path felt distaste and repulsion regarding it, but they had no choice but to admire his refinement path attainment. Especially in such a special environment like the Refinement Path Convention, this was a special time where demonic cultivators could enter the righteous path forces openly, the mentality of Gu Masters was slightly different now, they were focusing on champions of refinement path.
At the outer gate of Hearing Wave Pavilion, several Gu Masters from their respective forces were shouting loudly and selling information, it was a booming business.
"Attention, attention, the newest information has been updated, there is the most comprehensive results list in this Refinement Path Convention, we even have the results of the seventh round."
"Do you want to know the top one hundred Gu refinement geniuses most favored in this competition? Then come take a look! One shadow image Gu for a minimum price of fifty primeval stones. We will sell it for the highest prices offered, until we run out of stock!"
"A famous wisdom path Gu Master's conjecture towards the ranking of the participants in this small competition of Central Continent sects, there are also the grudges of the ten great ancient sects! A set of information for only ten primeval stones! It is a steal!"
"To think that the results of the seventh round are already out." Fang Yuan heard this and he was inwardly moved.
But when he saw the attire of the Gu Master selling the information, he understood why.
This Gu Master selling the information of the seventh round was wearing the clothes of 'Lightning Information Sect'.
Lightning Information Sect was a super force created by a Gu Immortal, it was obviously far inferior to the ten great ancient sects. Lightning Information Sect's creator, Mi Lan Guang, was originally a lightning path Gu Immortal from Wind Cloud Manor. Because he broke the sect rules, he was crippled in his cultivation and expelled from the sect.
In order to sustain a living, he was forced to cultivate information path, combined with his lightning path cultivation experience, he created a set of unique information path Gu worms. In the end, he developed at a much faster pace than before.
He created Lightning Information Sect, after more than a hundred years of development, it was already a first-rate sect that was skilled in information path among the forces of Central Continent. Even the ten great ancient sects bought information from them at times.
Fang Yuan walked to this Gu Master and threw him ten primeval stones: "Give me a copy."
The Lightning Information Sect Gu Master received the primeval stones in a hurry, he took a look at Fang Yuan and was shocked: "Oh, sir, is sir Lord Fang Yuan?! It is my greatest honor to be able to provide this information to you, how could I accept any primeval stones? Sir, please take it back, this information will be given to you for free."
Saying so, he passed the ten primeval stones back to Fang Yuan with both hands.
Fang Yuan smiled lightly: "It is your reward."
The Gu Master smiled in a fawning manner: "Then I will thank lord for the reward! Lord, this is the information you want, I thank you for purchasing this on behalf of Lightning Information Sect. If you could spare us a moment of your time and accept the interview of our sect, we will give you immortal materials as compensation!"
Fang Yuan waved his hand, receiving the Gu Master's information path Gu worm as he walked away.
"Lord, take care." The Gu Master saw that Fang Yuan rejected him and did not say anything else, after all, Fang Yuan was a rank five demonic cultivator, he stood on the spot and sent Fang Yuan off, gazing after him, only until Fang Yuan was gone did he continue to shout loudly and promote his information.
Fang Yuan walked as he diverted a portion of his thoughts into the new information path Gu worm..
This information path Gu was only rank one, it was simple to refine, it was not worth mentioning.
But the point was the information inside, that was the thing that was valued at ten primeval stones.
Fang Yuan inspected it and found out that there were over eight thousand people that got through all seven rounds of the Refinement Path Convention.
These people were able to get through the seven rounds, they would essentially be quasi-masters at least, of course, among them, there were some lucky ones with lower attainment levels.
But here, speaking of those with lower capability was only relative to the experts, they were not at Hong Yi's level. People like him were already completely eliminated by the third round.
Initially, there were hundreds of thousands of people who signed up. Most of these people were Central Continent Gu Masters, there were also people from Southern Border and the other regions. After seven rounds, only eight thousand were left, it was not even ten thousand, one could see how intense the elimination rate was.
And among them, only four hundred or so were people who had gotten the top three places in all seven rounds of the competition.
These were talented people who were at least refinement path masters.
This number of four hundred might appear high, but in a huge region like Central Continent, they were truly a small fraction, these people were at the top of the pyramid.
In any path, people of master level were rare. Compared to other paths, refinement path could be considered much deeper and harder, the proportion of masters was even lower.
Among these four hundred, only eighty or so had gotten first place in all seven rounds.
Undeniably, these eighty were the focal group of the focal group, they were the pivotal characters.
Fang Yuan was among them.
According to the experts' evaluation, his name was only at the middle-upper position.
This was the result when Fang Yuan did not bother concealing his ability, one could see how intense the Central Continent Refinement Path Convention was, talented people were emerging everywhere, it was not easy to defeat these refinement path geniuses and stand at the top.
Of course, this ranking was only an estimate, it did not represent their true level.
The tests in the seven rounds could not evaluate Fang Yuan's limits, at the same time, he had a mysterious background, even if they wanted to make a guess, they had no way to do so. These reasons caused his ranking to be at the thirtieth position or so.
Fang Yuan looked at this ranking and found many familiar names.
Firesmith Dragon Chief, Fang Huai, Tian Min Mie, Feng Jin Huang, Yu Mu Chun, Lui Pin Tian, Dou Ping Tan, Qu Wen… all these people had high statuses in Fang Yuan's previous life.
Undeniably, they were all outstanding people, shining stars lined up one after another, Fang Yuan felt a strong, piercing light coming from them.
"Among these people, some were superstars during the five regions chaotic war. Even though some of their rankings might be low now, they were immortals in the future. Some even were refinement path grandmasters during their lifetimes."
Fang Yuan felt pressure inwardly.
Fang Yuan was a refinement path quasi-grandmaster, he was one step away from grandmaster level. But this one step was very far away, it required great accumulation to make the breakthrough.
Actually, in terms of refinement path talent, Fang Yuan was very ordinary.
If his talent was insufficient, he could only make up for it with hard work.
Fang Yuan's accumulations from his previous life, along with his current life, forcefully elevated his refinement path attainment from master level to quasi-grandmaster level.
Five hundred years of cultivation but only becoming a quasi-grandmaster, wasn't he really useless?
Look at Zheng Shan Chuan, he is so young but already a refinement path master!
Talent was undeniably important.
But there was another factor.
Zheng Shan Chuan was a Gu Master that cultivated refinement path mainly, all of his efforts were placed in it. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan in both lives only cultivated refinement path on the side, during his previous life, he lived three hundred years at first, only cultivating blood path for the last two hundred years, and in this life he cultivated strength path.
Being one's main cultivation as opposed to being cultivated on the side, the amount of effort put into them was vastly different.
If Fang Yuan did not cultivate blood path and strength path mainly, he might not have lived up to now. He was not fortunate like Zheng Shan Chuan, having a master to protect and nurture him along the way.
Furthermore, attainment levels of paths were hard to raise, the higher one went, the more difficult it was. Before dream realms changed the five regions, to raise one's attainment level, one could only work hard and accumulate their foundation while having ample talent.
One could say that it was not easy for Fang Yuan to reach his current quasi-grandmaster attainment level!
"With my ability, it will be difficult to even reach the top ten of the Refinement Path Convention. Meanwhile, to benefit from the Infallible inheritance, I need to be at least top six!"
The Infallible inheritance was a refinement path inheritance. Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention had expanded over the years, initially, it was only a way for the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent to fight over the Infallible inheritance and split its benefits — using refinement path to hold a competition and determine the winner, to gain the most benefits for one's own sect.
But later, because the Infallible inheritance's benefits were too great, it could even help in the recovery of fate Gu, therefore Heavenly Court took over it.
Strictly speaking, the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent were representatives under Heavenly Court to manage affairs. Heavenly Court was the boss behind the scenes of the ten great ancient sects, since the boss wanted to take over, the ten great ancient sects could only accept it and cooperate to the best of their efforts.
With Heavenly Court controlling it, Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention became famous throughout the region, and even expanded its influence over the world. Right now, each Refinement Path Convention would attract many people from the other four regions to participate.
"Based on records from previous competitions, those who can reach the top three are refinement path grandmasters, or even quasi-great grandmaster level occasionally!"
The quality of each competition's Gu Masters vary, but the top ten were usually mostly refinement path grandmasters, sometimes, the seventh to tenth positions were refinement path quasi-grandmasters.
When there were few people joining, and there were only three to four refinement path grandmasters, there would be refinement path quasi-grandmasters in the top six. But when there were many people, there would be seven to eight refinement path grandmasters in the top ten, then there would be few quasi-grandmasters who could reach a top ten position.
This time, the standard was neither high nor low, there were five refinement path grandmasters.
"I am best at blood path Gu refinement techniques. But right now, I do not have many blood path Gu worms, and if I use those blood path refinement techniques openly, I would be giving Immortal Crane Sect an excuse to attack Hu Immortal blessed land. To get top six, I need to scheme!" Fang Yuan thought about it and made up his mind.
Sixteen days later, Central Continent.
An Zu Earth Trench, Demon Expelling Sect.
Demon Expelling Sect was a super force, there were three Gu Immortals in it. Its sphere of influence spread over an enormous range, it covered dozens of large forces, hundreds of middle sized forces, and countless small forces, including the insignificant Gu Master families.
To be a test location of the eighth round was something Demon Expelling Sect's main headquarters definitely had the qualifications for.
Tens of thousands of Gu Masters rushed in on this day, to watch the exciting competitions of Gu refinement. Of course, the actual location was limited in space and could only hold a thousand people, but these one thousand people were not ordinary Gu Masters.
Demon Expelling Sect had already made appropriate arrangements for the huge squares that could hold many ordinary spectators, once the eighth round started, the real-time broadcast of the competition would play in the air.