160 RI

The sky was grand and vast.

White clouds rumbled, moving below one's feet.

A huge lion growled lowly as its four limbs stepped on the air, flying towards the cloud layer.

This lion's body was like snow, it was completely white.

Its thick mane swayed in the wind, strong air currents were created below its feet.

On the lion's back, there was a huge chair, two Gu Immortals, one male and one female, were sitting together.

The female was old and looked like she was in her sixties, but her eyes were shining brightly, she was excited and could not sit still, looking around.

And the male had the appearance of a young man, he had a sharp nose and long thin eyes, his body was emitting a cool and experienced aura.

"Great-uncle, your steed is really amazing, it can travel on the clouds, in just half a day, we have already flown tens of thousands of li." The female Gu Immortal praised.

"This is a desolate beast qi grand lion, it is not flying on the clouds, but it has the ability to control air currents, thus it can fly." The young looking man explained patiently.

"A lion that can control air currents and fly in the air, I have never seen such a thing. Desolate beast... what does that mean?" The female Gu Immortal asked.

The young-looking male Gu Immortal smiled silently: "Qi He, you just ascended to become a Gu Immortal, it is normal that you do not know about common knowledge of the Gu Immortal world. This qi grand lion has qi path dao marks on its body, once it matures, it can soar through the skies. But this type of lion is very rare now, it is almost extinct in the five regions, it can only be seen in white heaven and black heaven now."

"As for desolate beasts, they are a certain rank of beasts. Like how Gu Masters have rank one, rank two and rank three, other than desolate beasts, there are ancient desolate beasts and immemorial desolate beasts. Desolate beasts are equivalent to rank six Gu Immortals, because one desolate beast can fight evenly against a rank six Gu Immortal. And ancient desolate beasts are equivalent to rank seven Gu Immortals, while immemorial desolate beasts are equivalent to rank eight Gu Immortals."

The female Gu Immortal, Qi He, heard this and her eyes shined, she assessed the qi grand lion again, thinking: "No wonder I felt such danger from this lion. Thanks to great-uncle, I survived the tribulation from ascension and became a Gu Immortal. If I had to fight this lion, I might get torn to shreds."

The young-looking Gu Immortal, Qi Zai, was hundreds of years old, he had rank seven cultivation level, he only looked so young because of lifespan Gu.

He was old and experienced, seeing Qi He's face, he could guess what she was thinking.

Stretching out his arm to pat this junior's shoulder, Qi Zai consoled: "Little He, don't worry, most people are like this after becoming immortal. When the matter I have to deal with is settled, we can return to Qi Sea grotto-heaven, your seniors are there, if the seniors know that our Qi clan has another Gu Immortal, they will be very happy. You will live in the grotto-heaven for some time and learn from your elders. Remember to observe carefully and ask questions."

"Thank you for your advice, great-uncle." Qi He had a serious expression, standing up and bowing to Qi Zai solemnly.

"Mm... let's sit down and talk." Qi Zai nodded, showing a proud expression on his face.

Qi He sat down, showing a confused expression, she hesitated for a while before saying: "Our Qi clan has a lot of Gu Immortal elders, why are we not imitating Southern Border super forces like Wu clan and Shang clan?"

Qi Zai smiled as he said: "You want to ask, why is it that we elders who have become Gu Immortals are not acting like Wu clan and Shang clan, looking after our descendants. Instead, we allow our juniors to get bullied and suppressed, is that right?"

"I wouldn't dare to." Qi He said anxiously.

"In the past, when I had just become an immortal, I had the same question as you." Qi Zai sighed, he showed a look of reminiscence: "The reason is quite complex, it will take some time to explain."

"The underlying cause of this relates to our Qi clan's ancestor, he was one of the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs thousands of years ago."

"Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs?" Qi He asked.

"The Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs were five publicly recognized Gu Immortal experts in Southern Border during that time. The five of them had rank eight cultivation level, at the peak of the Gu Immortal world. They often collaborated and explored white heaven and black heaven together, they had a close relationship, thus they were known as the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs. Our Qi clan ancestor was one of the Five Xiangs, Qi Xiang. And our Qi clan cultivates qi path primarily."

"Rank eight Gu Immortals!" Qi He was lost for words.

Qi Zai sighed: "In the absence of rank nine, rank eights dominate! Every rank eight Gu Immortal is a legend, their actions have huge impact. And back then, the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs were extremely famous, even in the other four regions. And because these five people had similar interests and a close relationship, they often fought enemies together. In most situations, rank eight Gu Immortals work alone. Thus, in white heaven and black heaven, other rank eight Gu Immortals would avoid the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs if they encountered them."

"During that time, Southern Border's Gu Immortal world had the edge over the other four regions because of the Five Xiangs, they had incredible fame. But dozens of years later, the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs disbanded.

As he said that, Qi Zai's tone became deeper.

"Why?" Qi He asked.

Qi Zai sighed, continuing: "I am not sure about the exact details. Supposedly, back then the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs found a huge secret while exploring white heaven. This secret represented an unimaginable achievement, but only one person could obtain it. All of the five Xiangs wanted to get it, but they did not relent. Because their strength was similar, and because of their relationship, they created a bet."

"Bet?"

"That's right, this bet had a thousand year duration. The rules of the bet were: The five Xiang could only watch as their descendants developed on their own. A thousand years later, whichever clan had the most Gu Immortals would be the winner."

Qi He considered the time, a thousand years had already passed, she quickly asked: "Then who won?"

Qi Zai smiled bitterly: "A thousand years later, two clans had the same number of Gu Immortals, the victor could not be decided. The other three clans were unwilling to give up, thus, with two clans against three, another round of betting was decided upon. Thus, a thousand years, two thousand years, three thousand years... until now, the five ancestors already died long ago, but the bet is still ongoing."

"So that's it!" Qi He heard this old secret and was tongue-tied.

After a while, she accepted this fact and sighed: "That means without this agreement, Southern Border would have five more super forces?"

But Qi Zai shook his head: "Among the five Xiangs, there were lone immortals and demonic path members, developing clans is something only righteous path members generally have the patience to do."

"Our Qi clan had Qi Xiang, who are the other four Xiangs?" Qi He asked again.

Qi Zai responded: "Qi Xiang, Ni Xiang, Bai Xiang, Xue Xiang, Chi Xiang, they were known as the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs. The following place I am going is where the current generation Ni Xiang is."

"Why does great-uncle want to go to Ni Xiang?"

Qi Zai hesitated for a moment before smiling: "Alright, it is not an issue to tell you. Recently, a huge matter happened in Southern Border's Gu Immortal world, large numbers of Gu Immortals died around Yi Tian Mountain. One of our elders from Qi clan died there. Thus, we are here to find the current generation Ni Xiang, so that they can help us deduce the truth."

"Ah! Yi Tian Mountain..." Qi He cried out.

Regardless of what had occurred in Fang Yuan's previous life, this time around, the battle of Yi Tian Mountain involved both mortals and immortals. Thus, Qi He had heard about it long ago.

But she only knew that Southern Border's forces sent their mortal experts to attack Yi Tian Mountain and exterminate the demonic path in order to defend the righteous path. In Southern Border, there had been no demonic path power that was so brazen to create a force. Thus, the righteous path was trying to take them down.

Qi Zai thus told Qi He the gambling contest of Yi Tian Mountain.

Qi He finally realized that the truth was like this.

She muttered: "The difference between immortal and mortal is as far apart as clouds and mud. Those rank four and five experts are just pawns of the immortals."

This truth had great impact towards Qi He, who had just become a Gu Immortal.

Qi Zai heard this and smiled internally.

When Gu Masters become immortals, not only would their strength and cultivation change, their mentality also had to change.

At this moment, Qi Zai could use the matter of Yi Tian Mountain to stimulate Qi He's growth, so that she could adapt to her new identity.

Soon, there was silence.

Only the qi grand lion was still running in the air, Qi Zai and Qi He had turned silent.

Clouds moved around them, the world seemed vast.

Because there were Gu formations on the chairs, they did not feel any wind or noise.

Could any mortal see such a sight?

Qi He saw this and felt how huge the world was, mortals were like insects, her complex feelings faded gradually, she thought: "That's right, I am a Gu Immortal, I am not a mortal anymore. Mortals and immortals are different, I need to remember this."

After telling herself that, Qi He's mood returned to normal, even her mind had undergone a change.

Qi Zai nodded internally at this, saying: "Actually, during these last few thousand years, among the descendants of the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs, our Qi clan is the most prosperous. Xue Xiang's descendants cultivate blood path, they are almost wiped out. Chi Xiang's descendants are staying inside their immortal aperture and live like livestock, they do not have any urge to improve themselves, they are lazy and only want to eat, they are nothing significant. Bai Xiang's final traces of bloodline have all died recently. As for Ni Xiang, even though they have several branches in Southern Border, there are no longer any Ni clan Gu Immortals."

Qi He understood why, she nodded: "Becoming an immortal is really difficult, if not for great-uncle's help, I would have died in the calamity and tribulation already."

Qi Zai smiled, shaking his head as he said to Qi He with deep meaning: "Actually, Ni clan had the most hope in producing Gu Immortals. But because of that, the other clans obstructed them, resulting in their pitiful state now."

"Three thousand years after the bet was created, Ni clan had a greatly talented refinement path Gu Immortal, Ni Ren, he was the final Gu Immortal in Ni clan's history. Before dying, he planned for his clan's future. He broke the rules of the agreement, helping Ni clan and selecting Immortal Gu to refine into his future descendants' bloodline."

-x-X-x-

"Ah? What does that mean?"

"Once in a while, a Gu Master in Ni clan would awaken their bloodline. If they survive, an Immortal Gu would grow inside their body."

Qi Zai looked at the clouds in front of them as he continued saying: "Ni Ren did that to help Ni clan produce Gu Immortals. He was talented indeed, by refining Immortal Gu into his descendants' bloodline, others could not take them away. Even if they tried to reverse refine it, it would fail. And these Immortal Gu were specially chosen and could be used by mortals, although the price would be high."

Qi He blinked as she felt admiration towards Ni Ren: "If I could have the help of Immortal Gu, I might have been able to survive my calamity and tribulation alone."

Qi Zai suddenly laughed sinisterly, a cold aura emanating from his body: "Ni Ren worked hard, but in the last few thousand years, there has not been a Gu Immortal from Ni clan. The Immortal Gu that he chose had too high of a cost, even if the mortal controlled an Immortal Gu, and even if it could not be snatched away by others, this was still like a baby holding onto a treasure, how could they be safe?"

"Once someone creates an Immortal Gu in their body among Ni clan, we call them the current generation Ni Xiang. The first Immortal Gu created is an information path Immortal Gu, called 'Yes or No'. This Gu can get the information from heaven and earth, and be expressed by the Gu Master, but they can only say either yes or no. Every time they answer a question, the Gu Master would expend fifty years of lifespan."

Qi He's brows rose: "Fifty years of lifespan? This price is so huge! How can this current generation Ni Xiang do it willingly?"

Qi Zai smiled and did not answer.

Qi He's body slightly shook.

She had over sixty years of life experience, she had gone through many things, she finally realized what Qi Zai meant when he said this.

"Each answer costs the current generation Ni Xiang fifty years of lifespan, how can they be willing? But great-uncle is a Gu Immortal, while the current generation Ni Xiang is only a mortal, does it matter if they are unwilling?"

"Ni clan is in such a pathetic state now, most likely, they were schemed by Qi clan's ancestors."

"And my Qi clan is in a bad state, do the senior Gu Immortals really have no way to help?"

At once, Qi He felt a chill.

In their following journey, Qi He became quiet, no longer speaking.

Qi Zai kept his mouth shut, he was someone who did not speak much to begin with.

Just now, he spoke so much in order to educate the junior, Qi He. Now that she was an immortal, she was one of Qi clan's Gu Immortals.

This action by Qi clan was by no means righteous. If newly included Gu Immortals had beliefs that did not fit with it, there would inevitably be conflict among the members.

Qi Zai did not speak explicitly, but Qi He had already understood his words.

"Rotten Mud Mountain is not far away. This time, I should let Qi He handle this particular Ni clan. Even if the whole of the Ni clan here is sacrificed, there is no issue." Thinking of this, Qi Zai's eyes shined with cold light.

At Qi Zai's will, the qi grand lion descended.

The scene was filled with white clouds.

Soon, the qi grand lion went below the cloud layer and Qi He's field of vision expanded, she could see mountains, rivers, and forests below her. She had never seen such a grand sight when she was a mortal, she was quite amazed.

And among these mountains, there was a tall black mountain that was very eye-catching, it stood out among the other mountains.

Even the trees on this mountain were brown-black in color.

"Eh?" As they got closer, Qi Zai's eyes focused.

Soon, Qi He also found something wrong.

On the east side of the mountain, towards the sun, there was a village.

But now, this village had already turned into ruins. Rivers of blood were everywhere, corpses were piled up on the ground.

Not only were there human corpses, there were also beast corpses.

"What happened?" Qi He cried out.

The qi grand lion slowly landed on this bloody land, as the two Qi clan immortals looked at the battlefield.

The intense smell of blood assaulted their noses. Qi He was unable to bear watching this terrible sight.

Qi Zai had a cold and indifferent expression, he muttered: "Rotten Mud Mountain has a special property in the soil, the blood has not dried yet, evidently, Ni clan was slaughtered less than one or two days ago."

"Something's strange. There are many types of wild beasts here, it is not a normal beast tide. Ni clan was really unlucky to have encountered such a beast tide." Qi He said.

Qi Zai looked on with a cold gaze: "Hmph, what beast tide, this is a man-made disaster! There is only one type of beast tide in Rotten Mud Mountain, that is the mud monster beast tide."

Qi He was shocked: "What? Who is it, they are so cruel, doing something so immoral!"

But she then thought over it briefly and said: "This person can control a huge number and different types of beasts, they have an amazing method, since when did Southern Border have such an amazing enslavement path Gu Master?"

"Hmph! This person is not a Gu Master, it is a Gu Immortal." Qi Zai walked to the middle of the village.

At the center of the village ruins, there was a layer of black mud, it was a clear contrast to the surrounding blood.

"This Ni clan has control of a desolate beast mud monster. Although this mud monster is already close to dying, no matter how strong an enslavement path Gu Master they are, the beast tide would not be able to do anything to this desolate beast mud monster. This is the work of a Gu Immortal!" Qi Zai said grimly.

"Gu Immortal?" Qi He did not expect that it was a Gu Immortal.

She felt strange. She had lived for decades without seeing a single Gu Immortal. To think that during her tribulation, she would meet her great-uncle, and now there were traces of another Gu Immortal.

"I am a rank six Gu Immortal now, things are different, the people I can encounter are completely different as well." Qi He thought to herself.

Qi Zai's expression was turning grimmer.

He came here to find the current generation Ni Xiang. But now, Ni clan village was completely wiped out, there was little hope of his plan succeeding.

"Hmph! Killing the whole of Ni clan and leaving, I want to see who you really are."

Qi Zai snorted, deep killing intent appeared: "You think that by doing this, I can't find you? How can the methods left by Ancestor Qi Xiang be ordinary methods?"

Qi Zai said this as he stretched out his right hand.

Two of the fingers on his right hand curled inwards, only his thumb, index finger, and middle finger were pointed out.

The three fingers tapped at the air, Qi He did not think much of the small movements, but soon, the disturbance caused by this move was huge.

Boom.

The entirety of Rotten Mud Mountain shook, air currents moved and shook intensely, the rubble of the village, like snapped wood and bricks, were blown away by the strong wind.

Qi He took a step back, she was shocked by the huge force created.

Howl howl howl...

Pale green aura rose up in all areas of the battlefield.

At first, there were only a couple dozen of them, but soon, the number of traces of pale green aura rose to hundreds, then thousands, flying in the air. At once, the entire battlefield was covered in green light, it was a grand sight.

"Come." Qi Zai shouted, three fingers were hooked, resembling a strong eagle claw.

He grabbed at the pale green aura dancing in the air.

The aura was affected by a strong suction force, gathering towards the eagle claw that Qi Zai's hand resembled.

In a few tens of breaths, the pale green aura in the air was completely gone, having fused into Qi Zai's hand.

Qi Zai's hand was no longer of normal color, it had turned into a peculiar jade green.

"Great-uncle, your hand!" Qi He only took a look and felt her body and mind tremble, an intense feeling of grudge assaulted her.

"You have just passed your immortal ascension, you are still very much like a mortal, don't get close." Qi Zai instructed, but his voice was still as low and calm as always.

Qi He nodded, taking a few steps back, turning her gaze around.

Next, she heard Qi Zai say: "The pale green aura is the grudge qi that is scattered all over this battlefield. That Gu Immortal killed Ni clan's entire village, not even letting the children and elderly live, he was truly ruthless. Ni clan did not have a single survivor, they are naturally feeling grudge towards their fate and the person who killed them. The aura is not only left in the battlefield, they are still entangled around the murderer."

"Go!" Qi Zai shouted.

At the same time, he opened his hand, slamming the pale green hand towards the black mud below him.

In an instant, all of the grudge qi was sent into the mud by Qi Zai's action.

This was not ordinary mud, it was filled with earth path dao marks from the corpse of the desolate beast mud monster.

"Qi path has a long history, Little He, watch closely, this is one of the signature methods of our Qi clan." Qi Zai could not conceal his pride.

With a whooshing sound.

The mud rumbled under Qi Zai's method, forming into a giant mud ball.

The thick mud ball floated in the air, rotating on its own.

On the surface of this mud ball, there were countless faces.

These faces showed anger and hatred.

"Puff!" Qi Zai breathed out, blowing out a breath of mystical aura.

The aura entered the mud ball, as the latter quickly transformed into a monster made from mud.

The mudman shouted: "Kill! I want to kill you!"

Qi He gasped: "A member of Ni clan revived?"

Qi Zai's method was simply unfathomable in her eyes.

"Ever since fate Gu was broken, the world began to have many revival methods." Qi Zai explained, turning towards the frenzied mudman monster, asking: "What is your name?"

"Ahhhhh..." The mudman monster was still shouting, its limbs were still moving around, expressing its rage.

Qi Zai frowned, he asked again.

The mudman monster did not listen, it continued cursing: "Murderer! You forced my grandpa to die! I will tear your into shreds!"

Qi Zai snorted as he shifted his thoughts.

The mudman monster was created by him, he could naturally control it.

"Who are you? You are a murderer too! I will also..." The mudman monster's body shook as if it was hit by lightning, mud was falling off of its body.

The cursing ended, the mudman monster calmed down, looking at Qi Zai and Qi He with its hollow eyes.

Qi Zai let out a breath of air, he knew that this mudman monster had very low intelligence, it was made from grudge qi. Questions could not be asked too rapidly, he had to ask slowly and progressively.

"What is your name?"

"Ni Jian!" The mudman monster shouted.

Qi Zai misinterpreted his words as 'you bastard 1 ', his eyes shined with cold light as he waved his sleeves while snorting.

With a splat, the mudman monster broke apart, turning into a pile of mud on the ground.

-x-X-x-

Qi Zai snorted, pointing his finger as the mud gathered into a mud ball again.

On the surface of the mud ball, there were countless faces filled with hatred. Even though it was silent, this scene made Qi He feel a cold chill internally.

Qi Zai waved his sleeve as the mud ball turned back into a mud monster again.

Qi Zai gasped lightly, thinking: "This is the grudge qi from earlier. I had already dispelled this grudge qi once, but it could show up again by suppressing the other grudge qi and regaining form. It seems its owner had felt an immense grudge before dying."

Qi Zai asked again: "What is your name?"

"Ni Jian."

This time, Qi Zai heard him clearly.

Thus, he continued asking: "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

Qi Zai asked as the mud monster answered.

Qi Zai's questions gradually became more in depth and more difficult.

As time passed, after a while, Qi Zai finally learned what had happened in Ni clan.

A mysterious Gu Immortal had controlled the beasts and attacked Ni clan village. His motive was like that of Qi Zai, it was to find the current generation Ni Xiang.

But unlike Qi Zai, he did not know who the current generation Ni Xiang was.

Thus, he used the lives of the entire village to threaten and force the current generation Ni Xiang out.

Without a choice, the Ni clan leader had to step up.

As it turned out, he was the current generation Ni Xiang who had yes or no Immortal Gu in his body.

The Gu Immortal was overjoyed, forcing the Ni clan leader to use yes or no Immortal Gu and answer his question. He promised that as long as he received a satisfactory answer, he would spare Ni clan village.

In order to protect the entire clan, the Ni clan leader chose to believe the Gu Immortal and sacrificed himself.

After the mysterious Gu Immortal obtained the answer he wanted, he went back on his words and ordered the beasts to attack the village.

Ni clan village felt furious and bore deep hatred, they resisted but fell back rapidly, suffering great losses due to the huge beast group.

At the moment of life and death, the desolate beast mud monster that Qi Zai subdued came to save them.

It turned out that the Ni clan villages that were scattered all over Southern Border were purposely preserved by Qi clan's Gu Immortals. Qi Zai was in charge of Rotten Mud Mountain, once in a while, he would do a check, thus, he knew that the current generation Ni Xiang was Ni clan leader.

He had subdued a desolate beast mud monster in a swamp of the mountain, leaving his will in it. This will manipulated the mud monster to protect Ni clan from mishaps.

As the incident occurred, the mud monster rushed to the scene and protected Ni clan.

But the mysterious Gu Immortal was very strong, he attacked personally and killed the mud monster after many attacks.

Once the mud monster died, Ni clan's remaining clansmen were submerged by the beast group, not a single person survived.

The peaceful Ni clan village had been turned into a ruin, corpses were everywhere, it was a pitiful sight.

Days later, at this moment when Qi Zai and Qi He arrived, they found out about this.

This Ni Jian was the young clan leader of the village, the grandson of the Ni clan leader. he had lost his parents at a young age, he was brought up by his grandfather and was carefully nurtured, they had a close relationship.

His grandfather was forced into death by the enemy, and the enemy even went back on his word and killed the entire village, including himself.

After he died, his soul was taken away, only his deep grudge was remaining and did not dissipate.

Qi Zai asked one question at a time, Ni Jian had a deep impression of Fang Yuan, he said everything he knew.

According to his answer, Qi Zai obtained an idea of Fang Yuan's appearance.

This was a short but muscular old man, he had a black and white beard, he looked tough like steel nails. He was yellow skinned and had small eyes, his teeth were unevenly positioned.

"Who is this?" Qi Zai searched through his memories, but he did not recognize this person.

Of course he did not.

Fang Yuan was a vigilant person, even when facing unthreatening mortal Gu Masters, he still disguised himself and changed his appearance.

Actually, even if Qi Zai had appeared personally and saw Fang Yuan, he would not be able to expose his disguise.

Because not long ago, Fang Yuan had already obtained enough Gu worms via Lang Ya land spirit to use the immortal killer move, familiar face.

"This Gu Immortal is likely a secluded cultivator in Southern Border... sigh, it is a time of unrest!" Qi Zai sighed to himself.

Ever since the gambling contest on Yi Tian Mountain, a large number of Southern Border's Gu Immortals had died for some reason.

And these Southern Border Gu Immortals who died were mostly those who controlled certain areas in Southern Border, they had control of countless cultivation resources.

This way, a power vacuum was created.

Many lurking Gu Immortals who were normally rarely seen started appearing one by one.

"This person had to attack the desolate beast mud monster many times, he does not have outstanding strength, he is likely to be a rank six Gu Immortal. He actually knows about the current generation Ni Xiang, this secret is not known by Wu clan or Shang clan. Is he the descendant of one of the other three Xiangs?"

Qi Zai hesitated for a moment before deciding to pursue him.

Qi clan was already in sight of victory regarding the ancient bet by the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs. But at this final juncture, a mysterious Gu Immortal appeared, this matter was extremely important, even more than investigating the deceased Qi clan Gu Immortal, he, Qi Zai, had to pursue it!

Northern Plains, Lang Ya blessed land.

Guh.

A basin of cold water was poured on Gu Yue Fang Zheng's face.

Fang Zheng, who was unconscious, shuddered, waking up instantly.

"Where... is this?" He opened his eyes, realizing that he was in a cage, as a captive.

And around him, there were two hairy men wearing armor.

One of them was carrying an empty basin, there was still water droplets inside.

The other was holding a leather whip, sneering.

"Who are you? Where is this?" Fang Zheng struggled intensely, but he was tied up and could not move.

"Kid, you are finally awake? You seem pretty lively." A hairy man prison guard said as he raised his leather whip, swinging it.

With a loud cracking sound.

The leather whip landed on Fang Zheng's chest, an intense pain assaulted him.

His thin shirt was torn from the lashing, blood flowed out of his wound, dripping down.

Fang Zheng sucked in a deep breath, his face was distorted as he screamed loudly.

"What are you screaming for?!" The hairy man prison guard had a fierce expression, he whipped again.

This lash hit his face, he was disfigured.

Fang Zheng screamed in pain again.

The hairy man prison guard was even more excited now, he kept whipping as he spat out saliva: "Dog shit human, go ahead and scream, scream!"

Fang Zheng was tortured and felt anguished, he was abused terribly.

With the intense waves of pain assaulting him, he finally remembered: He was originally imprisoned in Hu Immortal blessed land by his brother, Fang Yuan, but one day, a large group of hairy men came and brought him away.

"What happened? What in the world happened?" Fang Zheng was confused.

But he was not confused for long, the pain soon caused him to faint.

"He fainted, this lad is really weak."

"Hehe, pour some more cold water, wake him up!"

The two hairy men laughed sinisterly.

The bone chilling water was poured over Fang Zheng again.

Fang Zheng's body spasmed, he opened his eyes slowly.

His consciousness was returning, but the pain in his body was becoming clearer and more intense.

The hairy man who whipped Fang Zheng took a huge step forward and stood in front of Fang Zheng.

Next, he stretched out his hairy arm, grabbing Fang Zheng's face, gritting his teeth: "Lad, don't think of surviving after ending up in our hands. Nobody will save you! Hu Immortal blessed land has already been taken over by our great hairy man Gu Immortals, your brother died in battle already."

"Cooperate with us and we will let you die peacefully without much torture. Tell us, how much do you know about Hu Immortal blessed land? How much do you know about your brother's secrets?"

Fang Zheng heard this and felt that his mind was quaking.

He was in a daze, looking at the hairy men in shock, he cried out: "What? Fang Yuan is dead?!"

"Hmph, he was attacked by our hairy man Gu Immortals, as a mere immortal zombie, how could he not die? He has already been torn to shreds, hahaha."

"Us hairy men are not to be trifled with. One day, we will attack and trample all humans under our feet!"

The two hairy man prison guards laughed.

Fang Zheng knew little about Gu Immortals, he was convinced by these two.

His gaze was empty, he was dejected.

Central Continent, deep in Earth Abyss.

In a dark room, Hei Lou Lan was sitting with her eyes shut.

The door opened, Ying Wu Xie stood outside.

Hei Lou Lan opened her eyes slowly, she did not speak, only looking at him.

Frankly speaking, the result of the battle of Yi Tian Mountain was out of Hei Lou Lan's expectations. Seeing this familiar 'Fang Yuan', Hei Lou Lan had complex emotions.

"I have decided." Ying Wu Xie said, breaking the silence.

"Oh? I am listening." Hei Lou Lan said.

She knew that the judgment of whether she lived or died had come.

If Ying Wu Xie was unwilling to get rid of the alliance agreement for her, she would definitely be killed. Evidently, since Ying Wu Xie exposed his identity, he would not allow Fang Yuan's ally to stay around him.

If Ying Wu Xie decided to get rid of the alliance agreement and recruit Hei Lou Lan, she would be able to live.

Ying Wu Xie had hesitated for a long time.

He wanted to use Hei Lou Lan to deal with Fang Yuan by getting rid of the alliance agreement only on her end. But Fairy Li Shan had deep information path attainment, and with Fang Yuan's meticulous planning, Ying Wu Xie's plan failed before it even begun.

Hei Lou Lan's value fell greatly.

After all, Hei Lou Lan and Shadow Sect had a deep grudge.

If breaking Hei Lou Lan's information path alliance agreement was the same as releasing Fang Yuan from it, he would have to use a new alliance agreement to restrict Hei Lou Lan.

If he gave up on it, he would kill Hei Lou Lan. Even though he could not obtain her Gu worms, her immortal aperture and the Great Strength True Martial Physique would remain. That way, Fang Yuan would still be bound by the alliance agreement, it could be used against him later.

After considering the costs and benefits, Ying Wu Xie made his decision.

He opened his mouth slowly.

Undoubtedly.

At the next moment, his words would determine Hei Lou Lan's life or death!

-x-X-x-

Green light flickered, red light shined like fire.

The two lights fused, growing and weakening in intervals.

The light faded gradually, the center of the formation turned into darkness again.

Hei Lou Lan floated in the air in a sitting position, she opened her eyes, admiration flashed across her shocked gaze.

"Ying Wu Xie belongs to Shadow Sect, he is a subordinate of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. I had thought that he would use soul path or dark path methods to get rid of the information path dao marks on me. To think that he used light path, this shows how unfathomable Spectral Soul Demon Venerable and Shadow Sect are, little aunt's information path attainment was already quasi-great grandmaster. But Shadow Sect could actually break it using this light path Gu formation..."

Hei Lou Lan's evaluation of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable and Shadow Sect rose by another level.

The scene she viewed changed, in an instant, Hei Lou Lan had returned to the room she was in previously.

"I have already removed all of the information path dao marks on you." Ying Wu Xie stood at the side, saying calmly.

After careful consideration, Ying Wu Xie decided to preserve Hei Lou Lan's life.

After all, his biggest mission now was not to deal with Fang Yuan, it was to pick up the pieces and rebuild Shadow Sect, he had to save Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's main body.

Fang Yuan was a secondary goal.

Even though Ying Wu Xie hated Fang Yuan to the core, he would not lose his reasoning due to hatred.

Precisely because of this, he knew his primary objective and decided to make Hei Lou Lan a member of his after some hesitation.

She was a talented person.

Great Strength True Martial Physique, with Ying Wu Xie's knowledge, and with some teaching, she would be a capable force in his hands.

Hei Lou Lan inspected her body.

She did not have any methods to observe her own dao marks, after inspecting herself, she saw nothing wrong with her body. Of course, the emphasis was on her soul.

But everyone knew that Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was the founder of soul path!

Ying Wu Xie smiled lightly: "The old agreement is gone, you have a new alliance agreement now. From now on, you are my subordinate, you have to listen to my orders, you are not to defy me or hide anything from me."

Hei Lou Lan snorted coldly, not showing any respect to Ying Wu Xie.

Since Ying Wu Xie could get rid of her alliance agreement, his methods were proven to be superior to Fairy Li Shan.

From now on, Hei Lou Lan no longer had freedom, she had to listen to every order from Ying Wu Xie.

But...

For Hei Lou Lan, this was a helpless choice that she had to accept.

The situation was not in her favor, if she resisted, she would die.

As for the fact that she betrayed her ally Fang Yuan, Hei Lou Lan felt zero remorse. Her relationship with Fang Yuan originally was about scheming against each other for benefits, they were just making use of one another.

In fact, she even felt hatred towards Fang Yuan!

"What do you want me to do next? Lure Fang Yuan here? I have stargate Gu, I can travel the five regions using black heaven." Hei Lou Lan said plainly.

Without the alliance agreement, she exposed Fang Yuan's secrets without mercy.

But Ying Wu Xie shook his head, he said regretfully: "I'm not afraid to tell you that Shadow Sect has a spy in Lang Ya blessed land. We know about stargate Gu, even though this Gu is amazing, it is effective on rank six bottom tier Gu Immortals at best. It cannot even transport a single Immortal Gu, you will be no match for the current Fang Yuan."

Ying Wu Xie obtained Spectral Soul's guidance in the Red Lotus true inheritance, he knew a lot of secrets regarding sovereign immortal fetus Gu.

He understood clearly that Fang Yuan's new body had a larger number of dao marks. Fire path, water path, wind path, all of his paths had at least a hundred dao marks.

That meant that the cumulative number of dao marks that he had exceeded a thousand for sure.

With so many dao marks, Fang Yuan could not use stargate Gu.

"The next step of my plan is to refine Fixed Immortal Travel." Ying Wu Xie said.

Hei Lou Lan's eyes shined with bright light, she nodded.

She knew about Fixed Immortal Travel, this Immortal Gu was very useful, it was very wise of Ying Wu Xie to refine it first.

"Fixed Immortal Travel has just been destroyed, there is a high chance of succeeding the refinement. But to refine Fixed Immortal Travel, you will need divine travel Gu, and to get divine travel Gu, you will need four top tier liquors within the world..."

Before Hei Lou Lan finished, Ying Wu Xie interrupted her: "Divine travel Gu is in Lang Ya land spirit's hands. However, even though Immortal Gu like Fixed Immortal Travel are unique, there isn't only one possible Gu recipe. A city has multiple gates to enter it, the same goes for Immortal Gu."

Hei Lou Lan was curious: "This means you have a new recipe to refine Fixed Immortal Travel?"

"Of course." Ying Wu Xie smiled.

Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was invincible in the world when he was alive, his accumulation and foundation was immense, and after his death he created Shadow Sect.

Spectral Soul's will inside the Red Lotus true inheritance had formulated a series of plans for Ying Wu Xie relating to Fixed Immortal Travel. As the core of the plan, Fixed Immortal Travel naturally could not have issues. Thus, Ying Wu Xie had three Immortal Gu recipes of Fixed Immortal Travel in his mind.

All of them could be used to refine Fixed Immortal Travel!

Southern Border.

Fang Yuan traveled in the mountains.

He had just slaughtered Ni clan village singlehandedly, right now, he was traveling as he assessed his gains and losses from the battle.

Experiences were lessons.

Only by sorting out one's experiences could they learn from those experiences, allowing their foundation to rise and become more stable.

Ni clan's Gu Masters were not a concern, Fang Yuan only used some enslavement path methods to summon the huge number of beasts and trample over the village.

No matter how many mortals there were, Fang Yuan did not need to attack personally.

What made Fang Yuan fight was the desolate beast mud monster.

This mud monster gave Fang Yuan a lot of problems before he killed it.

In this battle, Fang Yuan learned a lot about his weakness.

"Even though I have rank seven sword path Gu, the immortal essence expenditure is too high!"

Gu worms and Gu Masters both had nine ranks, since ancient times, there was a common understanding in the cultivation world, that was, the Gu Master and Gu worm's rank should be equal. When the Gu worm's rank was too low, the Gu Master would not be able to use their full strength. When the Gu worm's rank was too high, the Gu Master would also be unable to use their full strength.

Because, if the Gu worm had a higher rank, the Gu Master would be like a baby holding a hammer, not only would it be difficult to use it to harm foes, the Gu Master themselves may also receive damage when using the hammer.

Like earlier, when Fang Yuan used his rank seven sword path Gu against the desolate beast mud monster, he felt a sense of helplessness.

Every time he used his sword path Gu, the expended green grape immortal essence exceeded a hundred beads.

Fang Yuan's nine-five sovereign immortal aperture could only produce sixteen beads of immortal essence a day, it was not enough for one activation.

Thankfully, he had taken a sum of immortal essence stones from Lang Ya land spirit to replenish his immortal essence. Otherwise, in Ni clan village, he would face much greater problems when dealing with the mud monster.

"I was hesitant earlier, but now it seems I must reverse refine these rank seven sword path Immortal Gu."

Fang Yuan sighed internally.

The higher the rank of the Gu worm, the rarer they were, and the more valuable they were.

But in Fang Yuan's situation, he had no choice but to reverse refine these rank seven Immortal Gu and turn them into rank six.

This way, they would suit Fang Yuan better and he could use them as he wished.

"My refinement path attainment is so-so. I should ask Lang Ya land spirit to do the Immortal Gu reverse refinement for me."

"Even though his personality changed, he is still Long Hair Ancestor's obsession, as long as I pay the sect contribution points, he will do it."

Fang Yuan analyzed in his mind.

Reverse refining Immortal Gu, even though the success rate was higher than normal refinement, there was still a possibility of failing, and it was high.

Thus, it was better to ask Lang Ya land spirit to do it instead of Fang Yuan himself.

"I wonder how many of these rank seven sword path Immortal Gu I would have left after all of them are reverse refined?"

"Even if all of them are left, just these sword path Immortal Gu would not be enough."

Fang Yuan thought about the battle against the desolate beast mud monster again.

Even though he used rank seven sword path Immortal Gu, the enemy was a mud monster.

Mud monsters were different from other beasts. Ordinary desolate beasts had flesh and blood, they had bones and skin, they had obvious weaknesses.

But mud monsters were made of mud, but because the mud was filled with earth path dao marks, they became different from normal mud.

Fang Yuan's flying sword Immortal Gu was specialized in dealing fatal blows, once used, a three meter long silver sword would fly out, even though it was sharp and could easily pierce the mud monster, it could not deal much damage.

Thus, in that battle, even though Fang Yuan had the advantage, he was very unhappy.

Eventually, even though he won, the expended green grape immortal essence greatly exceeded Fang Yuan's bottom line.

"Flying sword Immortal Gu was the most commonly used Immortal Gu of Bo Qing, using it as the core, he created many immortal killer moves to deal with many situations. Earlier, if I had a sword path immortal killer move, I would be able to split flying sword Immortal Gu into countless swords, sending down a rain of them, the mud monster would not last one hit!"

Thus, Fang Yuan not only needed to reverse refine the sword path Immortal Gu, he also needed to collect sword path killer moves.

As for creating them himself, he could forget about it.

He could not use wisdom Gu, or at least, he did not find the method yet, and his sword path attainment was almost nonexistent.

If not for these available sword path Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan would have tried to use blood path, strength path, or time path already.

After pondering, Fang Yuan stopped traveling, sitting down on a rock.

He contracted Lang Ya land spirit.

Right now, Lang Ya land spirit was not so interested in refining Gu, his focus was on expanding the hairy men race and trampling over humans, making hairy men the overlords of the five regions.

But when Fang Yuan was willing to use his sect contribution points to ask the land spirit to do it, he agreed.

As for sword path killer moves, Lang Ya blessed land had many in its collection.

The original Lang Ya land spirit spent all his time researching Gu recipes and refining Gu. He had researched sword path Gu as well, these killer moves were things that Lang Ya land spirit used for research.

Looking over them, Fang Yuan could not decide what killer move to get.

He changed the topic: "First supreme elder, I am willing to use the final opportunity to ask you to refine an Immortal Gu."

Even though Lang Ya land spirit had changed, the agreement between Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable and Long Hair Ancestor still had to be fulfilled.

Fang Yuan had already used two chances, asking Lang Ya land spirit to refine stargate Gu and second aperture Gu. Now, he made up his mind, using the final chance.

"Oh? What Immortal Gu?" The land spirit asked.

Fang Yuan's answer was quick and simple —

"Fixed Immortal Travel!"

-x-X-x-

"Fixed Immortal Travel?" Lang Ya land spirit was surprised, asking hesitantly.

Fang Yuan knew what his concern was, it was that Immortal Gu were unique.

He replied to the land spirit calmly: "Don't worry, I am mostly sure that Fixed Immortal Travel no longer exists in the world."

He had approached the current generation Ni Xiang, asking a question about Fixed Immortal Travel and other Immortal Gu.

Fang Yuan asked: Fixed Immortal Travel, Spring Autumn Cicada... and other Immortal Gu, were all of them either destroyed or preserved?

Current generation Ni Xiang answered: No.

Thus, Fang Yuan confirmed two details.

The first was that some of the Immortal Gu including Fixed Immortal Travel were still remaining, while some were destroyed.

The second was that Ying Wu Xie had most likely discovered and broken the arrangements on his original body.

The current generation Ni Xiang was already over fifty years old, after using yes or no Immortal Gu once, he expended fifty years of lifespan. Thus, after answering one question, Ni clan's old clan leader died on the spot.

But this answer had already helped Fang Yuan greatly.

"In the worst case scenario, Ying Wu Xie has already broken my arrangements, he would hide himself and prevent me from finding him. He might not even be in Southern Border anymore."

"I am unable to contact Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng, these two have either turned to his side or been killed by him."

"I wonder which Immortal Gu in my original body have already been destroyed? It is most likely that Fixed Immortal Travel is already destroyed, because the special will that I designed would destroy it first."

Fang Yuan made such an arrangement earlier because he was wary of Fixed Immortal Travel's power, and also because he was afraid that he could not retrieve the special will in time after getting back his body, thus he set them to self-detonate one by one.

"The most likely thing is that after Fixed Immortal Travel was destroyed, Ying Wu Xie found there were problems and used methods to seal the other Immortal Gu temporarily."

"The two of us have swapped souls, his situation is worse than mine, he has no Gu worms to manipulate. But to think he could seal my Immortal Gu, that means he either deceived Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng or used the remaining forces Shadow Sect has."

Since Shadow Sect was created by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable and was in operation for tens of thousands of years, it was natural that they had remaining forces. Fang Yuan had already expected this.

"Shadow Sect exists in all five regions, even Zombie Alliance was a subsidiary force of Shadow Sect. The battle of Yi Tian Mountain happened in Southern Border, most likely, Shadow Sect's forces in Southern Border suffered the greatest loss, while the other four regions are less affected."

"If Fixed Immortal Travel is already destroyed, Ying Wu Xie can't deal with me using just Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng. He would need to gather Shadow Sect's remaining forces and come at me after he is prepared. Thus, he also wants to refine Fixed Immortal Travel."

Fang Yuan's new body was outstanding.

When he thought about things, inspiration flowed with ease, there were no obstacles.

And for him, Fixed Immortal Travel was also something he needed urgently.

Because of the regional walls, and the fact that stargate Gu had no effect on his new body, Fixed Immortal Travel was the best tool for him to travel the five regions.

"As long as I have Fixed Immortal Travel, I can return to Lang Ya blessed land directly and store all of the Immortal Gu with me."

"My earlier cultivation resources can also be placed into the nine-five sovereign immortal aperture."

"I can even go into Earth Abyss and devour Star Form blessed land!"

No matter which one it was, it would greatly increase Fang Yuan's strength.

But not only was treasure yellow heaven too open and would lure many greedy people to Fang Yuan if he used it for transportation, just the processing fee that it charged was too high.

If Fang Yuan used treasure yellow heaven to transport the rank eight wisdom sword Gu, all of his savings would be expended, and it would not be enough.

"Are you sure you want to refine Fixed Immortal Travel?" Lang Ya land spirit asked again.

Fang Yuan sensed something amiss, he frowned: "What, is this out of your capability?"

Lang Ya land spirit shook his head: "I am not going to go back on my agreement with Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable. But even though I have divine travel Gu and the other supplementary Gu materials, I lack the most critical material. Can you guess what it is?"

Fang Yuan thought and frowned: "Is it the light of the immemorial era?"

"That's right." Lang Ya land spirit answered: "No matter which Gu recipe you try to use to refine Fixed Immortal Travel, in all of them, the most crucial material is the light of the immemorial era. Light is something hard to capture and store. The Immemorial Antiquity Era... it is earlier than the Olden Antiquity and Remote Antiquity Era, it is the time when Ren Zu was alive. Back then, in the entire world, the only humans were Ren Zu and his ten children."

"Not a single Gu recipe will work?" Fang Yuan knew that Lang Ya land spirit would not lie, but he was unwilling to give up.

"Of course!" Lang Ya land spirit replied firmly: "I have two fixed immortal travel Immortal Gu recipes. I have seen more than ten Fixed Immortal Travel remnant recipes, no matter which one, they cannot avoid the light of the immemorial era. The only difference is the amount of light needed in each recipe."

"Fixed Immortal Travel is a precious Gu, it has great use. If not for this, it would have been refined long ago, how could you have the chance?"

Fang Yuan heard this and realized how lucky he was back then when refining Fixed Immortal Travel.

The light of the immemorial era at that time was formed using the extreme light Gu in Xiao Mang's hands.

But now, Xiao Mang was dead already.

Because Xiao Shan and Xiao Mang were pawns of Xiao clan's supreme elder.

These two were potential Gu Immortals, but yet they were mortals and simply pawns. Even after dying, they did not realize the truth of Yi Tian Mountain.

Once Xiao Mang died, extreme light Gu was destroyed as well.

"Xiao Mang is dead, his soul was not even spared, how can I get the light of the immemorial era? First supreme elder, if you use the light of wisdom, would you be able to deduce a recipe that does not use the light of the immemorial era?" Fang Yuan asked again.

Involving a rank nine Immortal Gu, Lang Ya land spirit was uncertain, he was only a rank eight Gu Immortal even during his life.

Even if he helped two venerables refine Gu, he was not clear about the exact details of wisdom Gu.

"Forget it, even if the light of wisdom can be used to create an Immortal Gu recipe without the light of the immemorial era, I am no longer an immortal zombie, I cannot use it. I should go to Xiao clan and check, Xiao Mang's extreme light Gu was found in a graveyard, I might find some clues there."

Fang Yuan ended the conversation with Lang Ya land spirit.

He changed directions and rushed to Xiao clan.

But before ending their talk, he did not forget to pass the souls from killing Ni clan to Lang Ya land spirit.

Next, he asked for a list from Lang Ya land spirit.

The list was a request for the sword path killer moves in Lang Ya Sect.

Fang Yuan rushed to Xiao clan as he inspected these killer moves.

Even though there were a number of sword path killer moves, most of them were mortal killer moves, there were only three immortal killer moves.

Among them, one was an incomplete immortal killer move, like a remnant Immortal Gu recipe, it had a lot of value in research, but could not be used directly.

Among the other two, one was for movement, another was for attack.

The movement immortal killer move was called 'sword flash thunder sound', it only used two core Immortal Gu, they were flash sword Gu and rumbling thunder Gu.

The offensive immortal killer move was called 'dark assassination', there were also two core Immortal Gu, flying sword Immortal Gu and dark limit Immortal Gu.

Seeing the familiar dark limit Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan sighed internally.

A long time ago, he had once sought this Immortal Gu, but he did not succeed.

After Fairy Jiang Yu died, dark limit Immortal Gu was destroyed as well.

"If I had dark limit Immortal Gu, together with flying sword Immortal Gu, I would be able to use this dark assassination. It is a pity..."

While Fang Yuan was thinking, a voice came from afar: "Friend, please wait."

Fang Yuan turned around and saw a desolate beast qi grand lion running over, there was a huge red chair on the lion's back, two Gu Immortals were seated.

Central Continent, Earth Abyss.

The soul beast howled, emitting a wretched growl.

"Be careful, soul howl Immortal Gu has activated again!" Ying Wu Xie warned.

A formless sound wave created air currents in the air, sweeping towards Ying Wu Xie, Hei Lou Lan, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng.

The three had no choice but to retreat gradually.

This wild soul howl Immortal Gu was rank seven, living inside a soul beast. Ying Wu Xie, Hei Lou Lan, and Tai Bai Yun Sheng forced the soul beast into a dangerous situation, the Immortal Gu reacted and unleashed its power, giving the soul beast enough time and space to retaliate.

"How can this be? This soul beast is only a desolate beast, how can it have a wild rank seven Gu?" Tai Bai Yun Sheng's seven orifices were bleeding as he called out.

The other two were in bad shape as well, their heads were spinning, their souls were heavily injured.

Ying Wu Xie's expression was ugly.

It was truly a crisis out of nowhere.

Earlier, it was still fine, but suddenly, a soul beast charged into Shadow Sect's territory.

"The activation of soul howl Immortal Gu does not require immortal essence, it uses the foundation of the soul. This desolate soul beast must have been at ancient desolate level earlier. It had escaped after going through intense battle and because soul howl Immortal Gu activated, it fell from an ancient desolate beast to a desolate beast."

Ying Wu Xie answered Tai Bai Yun Sheng with a hoarse voice.

At the same time, two words appeared in his mind — heaven's will!

"My Shadow Sect's plan failed, and I defied heaven's will, after rebirth, I did not go to Fang Yuan and perish together with him. Thus, heaven's will is coming after me now."

The way of heaven emphasized on balance between all living beings.

Earlier, Shadow Sect was hidden and tried to evade heaven's will, they operated in secret and faced less obstruction.

But now, Ying Wu Xie was completely exposed, heaven's will prepared and lured the soul beast to them.

"Heaven's will is everywhere!"

"Back then, when Fang Yuan refined Fixed Immortal Travel, it arranged the situation for him nicely, sending the light of the immemorial era to him. Now, it is trying to eliminate me."

"Do I really need to destroy the Spring Autumn Cicada in my body?"

Ying Wu Xie was hesitant.

"We cannot get close to this soul beast! At this point, why are you still concealing your strength? Why aren't you using the Gu formation?" Hei Lou Lan transmitted, urging.

-x-X-x-

"Friend, please wait." From the desolate beast qi grand lion, Qi Zai's voice came over.

Fang Yuan stopped and gazed back.

After he was far away from Rotten Mud Mountain, he had dispelled the immortal killer move familiar face.

Rank eight Immortal Gu attitude Gu consumed mental energy, if it were maintained for a long time, it would wear out Fang Yuan's mind.

Moreover, because Fang Yuan's modified familiar face lacked change form Immortal Gu, it led to an increase in the quantity of the Gu worms, with over a thousand supplementary mortal Gu, and it also required more time and concentration to activate these Gu worms.

So when Qi Zai saw Fang Yuan from afar, he did not feel he was the culprit, he only had some doubts at most.

As they got closer, Qi He also saw Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan wore a white robe and looked like he was not marred by a speck of dust, his skin was white like snow and his eyes twinkled like stars, with long dark hair that reached down to his waist.

Even though Qi He was already old, over fifty years old, when she saw Fang Yuan, her eyes brightened and she thought: "This Gu Immortal senior has such a refined and graceful bearing, and sagely demeanor, I have rarely seen anything like it before in my life!"

"Senior, why did you call me?" Fang Yuan's expression was tranquil as he asked this with his fists cupped in front of him.

He did not use familiar face and his rank six cultivation level was clearly displayed.

While Qi Zai was emitting rank seven aura.

In this world, the strong were respected, Fang Yuan's greeting was natural and graceful. If he had his hands behind his back and showed an arrogant attitude, that would be unusual behavior.

Qi Zai also inwardly praised Fang Yuan's conduct, his expression softening slightly as he said: "It is only to verify some things."

He then shook his sleeve, from where a mud ball shot out.

The mud ball started expanding and soon turned into the size of an elephant. After another transformation, it turned into the shape of Ni Jian.

Fang Yuan's gaze became slightly dark.

Ni Jian gazed towards Fang Yuan, at first he had a puzzled look, it soon turned into incomparably intense hatred.

Fang Yuan's appearance was hugely different, but deep down, a sense of intuition told Ni Jian that the young man in front of him was the culprit!

"It's you, it's you! You demon, you forced my grandpa to die and even slaughtered my whole clan."

As he said this, Ni Jian charged towards Fang Yuan.

"Oh?" Qi Zai's expression changed, his gaze turning cold as he sized up Fang Yuan again.

Fang Yuan felt Qi Zai's gaze piercing his body like a needle.

With a cold snort, Fang Yuan waved his arm and immediately clouds started to surge out, covering the scenery as he quickly made his retreat.

"Sure enough, there are an endless number of methods developed by Gu Immortals, it's virtually impossible to defend against all of them effectively. They could actually find me?"

The enemy was a rank seven Gu Immortal, of a higher rank than Fang Yuan.

There was no doubt that this was a strong enemy.

Fang Yuan immediately had the intention to retreat.

"Stop!" Qi Zai shouted as he noticed this. His right hand took on the shape of an eagle claw and swept ferociously at the clouds and the mist in the sky.

Swoosh!

It was like the sound of a huge wave.

The clouds and the mist that filled the sky instantly dissipated.

Fang Yuan who was still retreating, was exposed.

Qi Zai faced Fang Yuan and opened his mouth, inhaling air.

Fang Yuan immediately felt an enormous suction force over his whole body, causing his speed to rapidly decline.

At this moment, the mudman, Ni Jian, had already flown close to him.

Fang Yuan's gaze flashed, his expression was indifferent.

"Die!" Ni Jian punched his fist, it caused a gust of wind to blow!

The fist's momentum was terrifying, as if it would destroy anything it struck.

Ni Jian was originally only a rank two Gu Master, but after being killed by the beast group, he was revived as a mudman by Qi Zai using a mud monster corpse.

His strength had thus increased rapidly and was at the level of a desolate beast, and could match ordinary rank six Gu Immortals.

Just from this, one could see how strange and terrifying the rank seven Gu Immortal Qi Zai's method was.

Ni Jian's fist ruthlessly charged at Fang Yuan.

But the next moment, Fang Yuan's figure dispersed, turning into clouds and mist.

Qi He exclaimed in surprise as she had not expected such a scene.

Qi Zai, however, showed no surprise on his face, he looked to his right as he flicked his finger.

Mortal killer move — Divine Flick.

A pellet of qi, the size of a thumb, moved towards Fang Yuan so quickly that he actually was not able to dodge it.

This time, his real body was exposed.

Qi Zai let out a breath.

Immediately, a thick and translucent rotating current of qi appeared around Ni Jian's waist. The current of qi constantly revolved around his waist, and Ni Jian's speed was multiplied a few times over.

"Hand over your life!" Ni Jian roared as he once again charged towards Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan frowned.

His whole body was covered in lion fur armor, the divine flick just now did not cause him any harm and only forced him to appear.

"A qi path Gu Immortal...." He thought to himself.

The history of qi path was older than even strength path, and its decline was also much more extreme than strength path.

Fang Yuan had not expected he would actually run into a rare qi path Gu Immortal in Southern Border.

No wonder he was chased and the truth of his massacre of Ni clan was exposed. In qi path, there naturally were secret methods passed down over countless years which Fang Yuan did not understand clearly.

"I only massacred Ni clan, what does it have to do with these two Gu Immortals? In my previous life's memories, there were no Gu Immortal ancestors of Ni clan around." Fang Yuan was puzzled.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Ni Jian charged over once again.

Fang Yuan was starting to feel a slight headache.

He had already fought against a desolate beast mud monster, they did not have any fatal weakness.

Even using the rank seven flying sword Immortal Gu had little effect.

But this did not mean Fang Yuan had no way to deal with it.

He swayed lightly as he pounced forward, he raised his hands, which were covered in a layer of cold white frost.

Fang Yuan lightly struck Ni Jian's body with his palms.

Ni Jian's offensive was crude, while Fang Yuan's movement was like a leaf swaying in the wind, nimble and graceful.

Ni Jian was quite lacking in battle experience, he was not able to even touch Fang Yuan's clothes.

On the contrary, Fang Yuan's moves were nimble and refined, his frosted palms continuously striking Ni Jian's body.

Soon, Ni Jian was covered in a layer of white frost, his speed sharply reduced, moreover the translucent current of qi rotating around his waist had already been dissipated by Fang Yuan's attacks.

Fang Yuan had Immortal Gu but they were all rank seven, he could not use them lightly.

So he used the mortal killer move, lion fur armor, to pass this hurdle.

And the surging clouds before as well as his current hands of frost were both superior mortal killer moves.

The former originated from Tai Bai Yun Sheng, while the latter was obtained from Xue Song Zi.

Tai Bai Yun Sheng primarily cultivated time path while cultivating cloud path as a secondary path, he would often spar with Fang Yuan, and Fang Yuan was thus able to grasp his mortal methods.

And before his rebirth, Fang Yuan had captured and searched Xue Song Zi's soul.

Back then, Xue Song Zi's soul had been tampered by Shadow Sect's side, Fang Yuan could not get information about Shadow Sect (Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was, after all, the founder of soul path), however, Xue Song Zi's own process of growth during life, his cultivation insights and other experiences of his were all probed out by Fang Yuan.

These were all used by Fang Yuan.

As for the Gu worms needed for the mortal killer moves, they were all taken from Lang Ya land spirit.

And when Fang Yuan massacred Ni clan, he had freely practiced with them against the desolate beast mud monster.

Qi Zai's expression sank when he saw Ni Jian, with rank six battle strength, being toyed around by Fang Yuan, he again used his mortal killer move, divine flick, to send out countless pellets of qi.

These pellets of wi were extremely fast, Fang Yuan was only able to dodge a few before he could not dodge anymore, and had to use his lion fur armor to block them head on.

Lion fur armor had extremely strong defense, somewhat surpassing Qi Zai's expectations.

He snorted as he changed his method, from afar, he made a cutting motion with his hand towards Fang Yuan's direction.

Every time he made this movement, a blade of qi would instantly be formed.

Lion fur armor could only endure two slashes before Fang Yuan had to use other methods, a layer of black, oil-like sticky liquid appeared on the lion fur armor's surface.

The power of the blades of qi immediately lowered when they struck the black oil, the sharpness was greatly reduced and when they impacted on the lion fur armor, the effect was reduced by sixty percent.

This black, oil-like defensive killer move was from Hei Cheng.

Fang Yuan had obtained this killer move when he searched Hei Cheng's soul and was using it now.

Most of the killer moves he had obtained by soul searching had been trained countless times by their respective Gu Masters. Although they could not raise Fang Yuan's attainment level, these cultivation insights could allow Fang Yuan to have shortcuts to their results.

Fang Yuan only needed to train with these mortal killer moves a little to use them with ease.

As Qi Zai saw this, he snorted, two gusts of fire qi puffed out of his nose.

The fire qi dispersed in the air, turning into an inferno that rushed towards Fang Yuan.

At the same time, Ni Jian was fighting with everything he had.

Fang Yuan continued to hit with his palms against the mudman.

At this time, the inferno was already right in front of him.

He laughed as he activated a cloud path killer move, immediately, nine rings of clouds appeared around him.

This was Tai Bai Yun Sheng's defensive killer move — Nine Cloud Ring.

The inferno was completely blocked by the rings of clouds and absorbed. Four formerly white rings of clouds were dyed red.

Fang Yuan stretched out both hands and grabbed at the air.

Gusts of air gathered in the center of his palms and quickly formed into two black spheres.

Mortal killer move — Dark Vortex.

Fang Yuan flew forward, his hands continuously moving as spheres of dark vortexes were fired towards Qi Zai.

Qi He, who was beside Qi Zai, exclaimed in shock when she sensed the danger hidden within the dark vortexes.

Qi Zai counterattacked, using blades of qi, pellets of qi as well as the fire qi he snorted out of his nose.

Both sides went at each other, neither yielding even a step.

Qi He was getting dazed, unable to keep up with battle methods of Gu Immortals that were on display.

She had just ascended to an immortal, mortal battles were almost always carried out on the ground, it would never be like this where they flew up and down in a fast paced movement.

"I am almost certain he is genuinely a qi path Gu Immortal." Fang Yuan observed while he fought, gathering intelligence.

The battle had lasted for so long, but Qi Zai was still sitting comfortably on the back of the qi grand lion.

Even when Fang Yuan's dark vortexes and other killer moves bypassed his flurry of attacks and struck his body, they would be blocked easily by his condensed qi.

Qi Zai had the upper hand, but he was far from at ease in his mind.

"What is going on?"

"This guy... what path does he cultivate?"

The more Qi Zai battled, the more puzzled he was.

He was somewhat confused.

The mortal killer moves Fang Yuan used all had the signs of being amplified by dao marks.

But the killer moves already covered many paths like wind path, cloud path, dark path, strength path and other paths!

Qi Zai was really puzzled.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

-x-X-x-

Fang Yuan's situation was very weird, Qi Zai could not help but feel wary.

"What sort of dao marks does he have, why can he use the killer moves of different paths and receive an amplification effect, without any hindrances?"

Qi Zai seemed to be preparing while waiting patiently and at ease, but in fact, he was working hard at racking his brains.

"As far as I know, in history, only one person could do this... that was Reckless Savage Demon Venerable!"

There were a number of Demon Venerables in human history, among them was Reckless Savage, he was the founder of strength path and had also cultivated transformation path.

Historical records had stated that he could transform into countless things, and his dao marks could change at will.

For example, when Reckless Savage Demon Venerable turned into a lightning wolf, he would be able to use lightning path killer moves. When he became a swamp crab, he would be able to use earth path killer moves without feeling any disturbance and weakening from other dao marks.

Ordinary transformation path Gu Masters could only specialize in one kind of transformation. For example, in Northern Plains' imperial court contest, Cheng Long and Cheng Hu could only transform into a dragon and tiger respectively.

As for transformation path Gu Immortals, for example, He Lang Zi, he could turn into three types of wolves, having different dao marks on him. But when he switched his dao marks, he had to wait for some time and use certain methods to get rid of the original dao marks and prevent the disturbance of dao marks of other paths.

This problem had troubled every single transformation path Gu Master and Gu Immortal in history.

Except one person.

That was Reckless Savage Demon Venerable.

He could transform at will without considering the interference between dao marks.

Unfortunately, after Reckless Savage Demon Venerable died, his method was not passed down, countless talented individuals had tried to learn his methods, but their results had been failure, obtaining nothing.

"Don't tell me that this enemy here has inherited a crucial transformation path inheritance of Reckless Savage Demon Venerable?" Qi Zai thought of this and felt a fire of excitement burning in him.

Other than this explanation, he could not think of anything else.

"Of course, Gu Masters cultivate in various ways, there are countless numbers of people and methods, not all of them follow conventional wisdom." Qi Zai squinted, he was still very calm.

Actually, his guess that Fang Yuan had obtained a true inheritance of Reckless Savage Demon Venerable was still an underestimation of Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan could do this because he had the rank nine sovereign immortal fetus Gu that Spectral Soul Demon Venerable refined.

This Immortal Gu was not ordinary!

Not only was it the crucial thing needed for Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's revival, it was also his hope of surpassing all of the venerables in history.

In the past, after Spectral Soul Demon Venerable died, he was not resigned to that fate.

Thus, he built Shadow Sect and planned meticulously. During that time, he not only revised on the knowledge gained during his life, he even searched for countless inheritances all over the world. Among these inheritances, there were Gu Master inheritances of all kinds, they could give Spectral Soul Demon Venerable new inspiration and brand new directions. There were also Gu Immortal inheritances and even a number of the other venerables' inheritances.

Shadow Sect could obtain one of Red Lotus Demon Venerable's true inheritances, the most mysterious venerable in history, not to mention the other venerables.

Spectral Soul Demon Venerable controlled Shadow Sect and set up Zombie Alliance over the five regions, after tens of thousands of years, he accumulated his foundation and researched, putting in immense effort and making huge sacrifices.

Eventually, he gathered all his knowledge and made use of the key aspects of it, creating the rank nine sovereign immortal fetus Gu.

One could say, this Immortal Gu was not just the materialization of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's soul path, it also showed his immense accumulation of the essence of other paths, it was an unparalleled treasure.

Even though heaven's will used Fang Yuan as a tool, at the crucial moment, Fang Yuan, as an otherworldly demon, broke free of its manipulation, using sovereign immortal fetus Gu for himself.

Qi Zai felt suspicion, even though Fang Yuan had rank six aura, he did not dare to be careless.

He was probing Fang Yuan.

He was a rank seven Gu Immortal, even if he did not have any rank seven Immortal Gu, he had rank six Immortal Gu.

Earlier, the method of extracting the mud ball of grudge qi to create the mudman Ni Jian was an immortal method.

But he did not use Immortal Gu right now.

Immortal Gu were the trump cards of Gu Immortals, when used, they expended immortal essence!

Qi Zai only had a low grade blessed land, unless it was a crucial moment, he would not use Immortal Gu.

Of course, immortal essence was not the main reason, the most important reason was that once he used Immortal Gu, the information would be known by the enemy.

The number and specific types of Gu worms that a Gu Master owned were confidential secrets. Once intelligence was leaked, the Gu Master could be countered using specific means.

The same applied to Gu Immortals.

During an initial battle, without knowledge of the background of one another, Gu Immortals would try to probe each other first.

While Qi Zai was probing Fang Yuan, Fang Yuan was also probing him.

All sorts of mortal killer moves were used by Fang Yuan, together with his handsome appearance, Qi He's attention was greatly captured.

Similar to Qi Zai, even though Fang Yuan had Immortal Gu, he could not use them casually.

Even though the rank seven sword path Immortal Gu were powerful, Fang Yuan only had rank six green grape immortal essence, this was inferior to that of the rank seven Gu Immortal Qi Zai.

If not for Fang Yuan joining Lang Ya Sect, he would not have enough immortal essence stones to replenish his immortal essence, he would lose this battle for sure.

Both sides fought continuously, attacking and defending at various times, the commotion was huge, Qi He watched unblinkingly, gasping in her mind.

Unavoidably, Qi Zai was gradually falling into disadvantage against Fang Yuan.

No matter how impressive mortal killer moves were, they did not have Immortal Gu in them. Thus, the amplification from Qi Zai's dao marks was very limited, they could not exceed the level of effect from using an Immortal Gu.

In the long history of humanity, only one mortal killer move was publicly known to match Immortal Gu when activated.

That was the White Bone Chariot that Proud Bone Demon Lord Shen Jie Ao created.

This person was a rank eight demonic path Gu Immortal, he was proud for a good reason. In this particular achievement, none of the ten venerables could match him.

Even though Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables were invincible, they were not omnipotent.

Specialists tackled their own fields, in the past, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had asked Long Hair Ancestor to refine Gu for them.

In contrast, even though Fang Yuan's dao mark accumulation was not as high as Qi Zai, he had a large number of methods and because the amplification towards mortal killer moves was limited, he could deal with his opponent.

Thus, gradually, Fang Yuan attacked more and defended less, gaining the initiative.

Qi Zai was fully aware of the battle situation in his mind. He frowned and began his counterattack.

Battlefield killer move — Qi Lockdown.

Immediately, the surrounding area was sealed, air was immobilized, forming a translucent temporary battlefield.

Fang Yuan smiled, he was not nervous.

This battlefield killer move was only mortal level, it had little threat towards Gu Immortals like him who had Immortal Gu.

Only if they were a rank six Gu Immortal without Immortal Gu would they feel like this was a huge threat.

And Fang Yuan already had this kind of battlefield killer move.

Immediately, he used a signature move of Xue Song Zi, battlefield killer move snow domain.

At once, qi lockdown was pushed aside, as coldness seeped into the surrounding air.

Qi He could not hold it in anymore, she gasped out loud.

In front of her eyes, the battlefield had been split into two, one was an icy domain, the other had motionless air.

Qi He's perspective was still that of a mortal. This type of battlefield killer move, even though it was mortal level, was the trump card of every powerful mortal force. Unless it was an emergency, they would not use it normally, otherwise, they might get countered if enemies gained intelligence on it.

Just now, she witnessed two battlefield killer moves used in front of her, she felt that this trip was worth going on, she was satisfied with this eye-opening experience.

Seeing that Fang Yuan was still at ease, Qi Zai lost his patience, he took the lead to activate his Immortal Gu.

He was a vigilant person.

He did not use an immortal killer move, he only activated the Immortal Gu.

A rank six qi path Immortal Gu.

Fang Yuan did not know what it was, Qi Zai was not stupid enough to use it while calling out the Immortal Gu's name.

Once the Immortal Gu was activated, the entire battlefield changed drastically.

The qi lockdown battlefield dissipated, turning into fuel for the Immortal Gu. Snow domain could not resist it, a long rope of qi invaded it and pierced through.

This long rope of yin qi coiled around like a venomous jade snake, it was several meters long, assaulting Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan sighed, using his rank seven sword escape Immortal Gu.

Whoosh!

Immediately, he seemed to have turned into a sharp sword, piercing the air and flying away.

"So fast!" Qi He opened her mouth, extremely shocked. In the blink of an eye, Fang Yuan had flown almost beyond her vision.

It was a rank seven movement Immortal Gu after all, it had spectacular speed.

Qi Zai was shocked too.

He had estimated that Fang Yuan was a Gu Immortal specializing in snow path, wind path, or dark path, after all, the mortal killer moves that he used earlier were mostly from these three paths.

But when Fang Yuan used his Immortal Gu, it was sword path!

And it was a rank seven sword path Immortal Gu.

"What is this? He is not a transformation path Gu Immortal, but a sword path Gu Immortal?" Qi Zai felt like his brain was frying.

After probing for so long, he had thought that he found out some details about Fang Yuan.

But when he used his true methods, Fang Yuan actually displayed a rank seven sword path Immortal Gu!

And he flew so quickly!

"If this were in the past, I could only look on and sigh. It is a pity that you are unlucky, not long ago, I completed the immortal killer move that I had been designing for three years."

Qi Zai snickered, whistling as he opened his mouth.

At the same time, aura burst out of his body, the aura surrounded him and Qi He, and penetrated into the qi grand lion's body.

The qi grand lion cried out in pain, its eyes were red as it charged towards Fang Yuan.

Under the effect of Qi Zai's immortal killer move, the qi grand lion's speed was astonishing!

In less than a few minutes, the qi grand lion carried the two Qi clan Gu Immortals and chased up to Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan saw this and felt a headache.

Qi Zai used his Immortal Gu again, summoning the long rope of yin qi.

Very evidently, it was the same Immortal Gu as before.

The yin qi rope coiled and flew towards Fang Yuan, rapidly getting closer.

"He did not use any other immortal killer moves, just a rank six Immortal Gu, is it because his movement killer move has a lot of Gu worms in it, he has to focus his attention on it?"

Fang Yuan's eyes shined.

During the moment of crisis, his mind was still calm. He thought about it as he displayed his deep foundation in fighting.

When activating Immortal Gu, the aura of the Gu worm would leak, but when activating immortal killer moves, the leaked aura would be much more complex.

Thus, Qi Zai easily noticed that Fang Yuan's Immortal Gu was rank seven and sword path.

And Fang Yuan could also easily notice that Qi Zai was using just the rank six Immortal Gu alone.

Of course, this was a typical case, it did not hold true all the time.

Some special methods could conceal the aura of Immortal Gu and mislead the enemy.

Flying sword Gu!

Fang Yuan pointed as his Immortal Gu shot out.

Flying sword Immortal Gu was peerlessly sharp, the yin qi rope was cut into pieces easily.

Qi Zai's heart shook, he was shocked: "Why does he have another rank seven sword path Immortal Gu?"

"Is he really a sword path Gu Immortal?"

"Then, why did he use all those mortal killer moves?"

"Why are both his Immortal Gu rank seven?"

"Don't tell me, he is a rank seven Gu Immortal, and he is purposely concealing his aura to be rank six so that he can pretend to be weak when preying on others?"

Qi Zai could not guess Fang Yuan's actual situation.

He had a vigilant nature and a tendency to think deeply, the more he analyzed, the more shocked he got, he was scaring himself!