Chapter 2418 Trouble Brewing

Intense winds blew over the River of Time as both sides were prepared to fight to the death.

Almost.

"Fang Yuan!" Giant Sun shouted: "We don't have to fight to the death just let us destroy Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Gu and we'll call a cease-fire,"

He added: "We still need to deal with Red Lotus's revival!"

Giant Sun did not want Fang Yuan dead, he was his best shield.

Although they would be unable to cooperate fully, having 2 opponents meant that Heavenly Court had to tread lightly.

If Giant Sun was left alone, he would have to deal with 2, potentially, 3 Venerables attacking him!

Sure, within his HQ he would not lose but he could not stop the others from expanding their HQ, but they could stop him.

And that was not even mentioning the loose cannon that was Spectral Soul Demon Venerable!

!!!

"How do they know about Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus?!" Fang Yuan was taken aback.

"Is that why they're so eager to fight to the death?" Fang Yuan was still trying to figure out how much the other side knew.

Did they know about his other Rank 9 Gus, Advance Refinement, and Heavenly Secret Gu?

"No. If they knew about those 2, we would really be fighting to the death…there must be a reason they want to destroy Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu, but what?"

Fang Yuan was currently in the midst of refining Rank 9 Wisdom Gu; thus, he did not have many Thoughts left to make deductions.

Currently, he put a pause on its refinement due to the interference from the Painting World earlier but now he could resume but the other Venerables would notice.

"Dammit! At this close, a distance, and the fact that they're suspicious of me, even Obscured Heavenly Secrets wouldn't be able to fool them…wait! Unless…"

Fang Yuan had always kept his Obscured Heavenly Secrets Killer Move, which prevented people from making deductions about him by misleading them causing them to arrive at the wrong result.

"If I stop refining Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu you'll back off?" Fang Yuan decided to test the waters.

"No. You've got to let us destroy it with our own hands!" Giant Sun retorted.

!!!

"Ah I see now," Fang Yuan smirked: "They think I'm currently refining Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu."

He now knew more information than the enemy.

"Hehe, how can I trust your words?" Fang Yuan began to try and regain the tempo: "How do I know you won't just take the Gu and run?"

"In fact, what would stop Genesis Lotus from running with the incomplete Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Gu and finish it at Heavenly Court?"

"This…" Giant Sun was dumbstruck; he hadn't considered that possibility.

"Don't listen to him Giant Sun he's trying to manipulate the situation," Star Constellation said as she approached the three of them.

Reputation Gu flew to Fang Yuan.

The 4 had now entered a stalemate.

All of them had their own thoughts.

"This Fang Yuan is truly good at manipulating the situation, from his conversation with Giant Sun he found out that Giant Sun is not fully on our side and is only doing it for benefit. He has no want to fight or even kill Fang Yuan as it would upset the balance." Star Constellation began deducing how the scenario would play out.

She shared her findings with Genesis Lotus: "Mhm, I agree Fang Yuan is too crafty, from 1 conversation he managed to gleam what Giant Sun's position is, if he wasn't refining Gu, he might have had more thoughts available to arrive at the answer earlier."

Meanwhile, Giant Sun was considering his own position: "I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Unlike Heavenly Court, I have no allies, and the ones that I do have want to stab me in the back!"

But amongst them, all Fang Yuan had a radical thought: "Could I kill them all?"

"If I no longer have to hide the amount Immortal Essence I have, coupled with the other Rank 9 Gus I've kept hidden…"

Fang Yuan was seriously considering killing all 3 Venerables!

"No. It wouldn't be possible, just Genesis Lotus's Painting World would give me trouble, allowing them to flee," Fang Yuan sighed.

It was a near-perfect opportunity to kill all 3 Venerables.

They were in the River of Time, which affected them severely but him greatly.

He had several Rank 9 Gu, which allowed him both offense and defense.

Realistically speaking if it was 1 v 1 none of the Venerables present would pose a threat!

However, there were too many potential variables at play.

Not just Genesis Lotus's Painting Path but the fact that Spectral Soul was still able to come and interrupt the battle at any time and Red Lotus Demon Venerable was still an unknown factor!

"I have to tread carefully, they managed to bypass Obscure Heavenly Secrets and find out about Imperial Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu, who knows what else they might find out."

Fang Yuan wanted to keep his cards close to his chest, if he wasn't certain of obtaining profit and securing his life then he wouldn't act.

While the 4 Venerables were busy scheming and staring at each other.

*Rumble*

The Stone Continent began to shake!

The 4 Venerables turned their attention to it.

"Hmm? Is Red Lotus acting now?"

"Unlikely but something big is definitely happening."

"Is he reviving right now?"

The 3 Venerables all gave their 2 cents, but Fang Yuan didn't need to guess:

"Ying Guang Xin, what's happening down there?"

"Ah, you're okay."

"Just answer the question."

"Err how do I put this…"

"Spit it out!"

"Erhm,"

"I haven't got all day" Fang Yuan was getting impatient.

"Well let me get you up to speed then…"

Ying Guang Xin began to explain to Fang Yuan all that she had seen, from the Secluded Domain of Heaven and Earth, Upslope Downslope Road to the Predicaments devouring one of the 10 Children of Human Path.

"…and that's all that happened before I was whisked away by some unknown method." Ying Guang Xin explained.

"Hmm, interesting." Fang Yuan began to deduce: "It's a shame Rank 9 Wisdom Gu is not done *sigh*"

Without Wisdom Gu, his deductions were hampered.

He couldn't use Exposing Heavenly Secrets because the other 3 Venerables were here so he had to rely on very 'basic' Wisdom Path methods.

"My intuition tells me that this is related to both Human and Heaven Path but also Refinement Path!" Fang Yuan asked: "Where are you right now?"

"I'm onboard the Myriad Year Flying Warship, there's some restriction placed on it though, I can't move it."

"Can you see what's happening on top?"

"Nope. There is just a bunch of auras fluctuating and clashing."

At that moment Star Constellation proposed: "A truce?"

They all turned to Fang Yuan who shook his head: "Truce."

Down in the Stone Continent at the very top of Upslope Road.

A wave of Predicaments could be seen barraging one guy.

"You two come over quick we need to help each other or we'll get swamped!"

The 2 he was referring to were, of course, Zhao Lian Yun and Feng Jiu Ge!

Feng Jiu Ge raised his eyebrows, the person who had shouted for him was a Rank 5 Gu Master, wearing a weird-looking red suit of armor that shot energy blasts from its hands.

Who else could it be but Mo Li?

"Hmm? I've experienced a lot of firsts today," he walked over: "First, I've broken a sweat and now some Rank 5 is making demands of me?" and waved his hand.

Instantly, half of all the mortal and some Rank 6 level predicaments were wiped out.

The Gu Master was shocked.

"Who…"

But Feng Jiu Ge stopped him: "Tell me have you seen this girl."

Mo Li shook his head.

Feng Jiu Ge sighed, slightly disappointed but then Mo Li said: "You can try further ahead, there are constant waves of energy coming from there,"

Following his finger, Feng Jiu Ge noticed intense fluctuations of various paths: "Judging by the strength it would appear there are at least a Rank 7 in that group, but Feng Jin Huang is still only Rank 5."

Feng Jiu Ge shook his head: "She can't be there."

"Oh." Mo Li responded.

He was deathly terrified.

"Is this the level of strength of an Immortal?" He thought.

"Don't be ridiculous this is far beyond just a regular Immortal!" an ethereal voice sounded in Mo Li's head

Who else could it be but Peng Da!

"This level of strength far exceeds a Rank 6 or even 7 Gu Immortal! I suspect this guy might be a Rank 8 or even a Pseudo-Venerable!"

Just as the pair were discussing Feng Jiu Ge

Feng Jiu Ge looked directly at the ethereal Peng Da.

"Can he see me?" Peng Da was startled.

Mo Li had killed and captured his Soul, practically enslaving him to help in performing Killer Moves and using Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's true inheritance.

For a long while, nobody had been able to sense Peng Da's existence.

Until now.

"How fascinating," Feng Jiu Ge thought to himself: "Everybody that was gathered here has an immense amount of Destiny lingering around them."

Feng Jiu Ge could see the unique situation of Mo Li and Peng Da, he could feel the strong Destiny the 2 carried.

Feng Jiu Ge looked a bit longer, though for Mo Li and Peng Da it felt like an eternity, and he left the pair to venture further in with Zhao Lian Yun.

"Phew," Mo Li and Peng Da both let out an immense sigh of relief.

"It's a good thing he didn't know we were with a group luckily those Predicaments consumed all traces of them.," Mo Li thought.

"I told you not to kill them!" Peng Da roared.

Indeed, right at the very end of the final floor, Mo Li attacked the 5 Children of Human Path!

Because they were so focused on crossing the threshold, coupled with Mo Li lagging on purpose, they didn't see it coming at all!

Taking a full power blast while they were exhausted was the final straw and they fell to the ground, dead.

But before Mo Li could claim the spoils of his battle, the Predicament swallowed the 5 bodies.

Including the one at the start, that made 6 of the 10 Children of Human Path dead!