247 RI

The Sea God Ceremony ended, the result was astonishing; the person who became the saintess was completely unexpected by anyone — Xia Lin.

Saintess Palace shined with bright and gorgeous lights, a group of servants were running around.

Xia Lin had already changed into her saintess attire, she was dressed in a white garment while her tail rested on a lump of clouds.

She opened the window and gazed at the large courtyard, those colorful corals could not attract her gaze.

She looked dazed and unfocused: "Several days have passed since the Sea God Ceremony concluded, Master Chu has not appeared again after transmitting his message that day. When will he return?"

4"Saintess, your elder sister has come to pay a visit." At this moment, a maid lightly walked towards Xia Lin and reported.

Xia Lin's brows slightly furrowed as she sighed: "Please bring her in."

Xia Lin's elder sister Zhao Lu walked into Saintess Palace.

She was only Xia Lin's elder sister in name, but after Fang Yuan tampered with her memories, this elder sister did not doubt Xia Lin's identity.

"Little sister, have you considered what I said to you a few days ago?" Zhao Lu said directly.

Xia Lin shook her head lightly: "I am really sorry, I don't want to get involved in other affairs. The saintess position was never my goal, if possible, I do not want to be the saintess."

Zhao Lu laughed.

Her laughter carried a sense of ridicule and jealousy.

She was narrowly defeated by Su Yi in the final stage, then Xia Lin came out of nowhere and was supported by her backers just to give it a try. They had not thought Xia Lin would truly succeed!

The political force behind Zhao Lu, naturally, would not let go of Xia Lin and wanted to make her their representative for benefits.

But before Fang Yuan left, he had instructed Xia Lin to not agree to any person or side with any political force.

So Xia Lin had already refused Zhao Lu a few days ago.

Naturally, Zhao Lu's mood would not be so good.

First of all, her long lost little sister had suddenly appeared, besides the connection of blood, she did not feel any affection for this sister.

Secondly, she had worked hard for so long, but in the end, Xia Lin – who had cut in line – snatched the position of saintess. This was the same as snatching her lifelong dream!

Lastly, the force behind her still made her come out to persuade and rope in her younger sister Xia Lin, but Xia Lin still refused!

With all these reasons, Zhao Lu's mood naturally could not be good.

"Xia Lin, if you truly didn't want to become saintess, why did you take part? Don't say such things to me, we both understand the situation here, tell me whatever requests you have, this deal will make you fully satisfied!" Zhao Lu spoke frankly.

Xia Lin's brows furrowed deeper, she knew Zhao Lu was not her elder sister. This was just Master Chu's doing.

And now that she heard such words from Zhao Lu, Xia Lin's impression of her worsened greatly.

"Elder sister." Xia Lin spoke softly: "I am truly sorry, I really don't want to get involved in these matters. But you can rest assured that I won't collaborate with other forces as well."

Zhao Lu's eyes opened wide: "Xia Lin, you are truly naive, you actually have such thoughts? I had thought you were waiting for the right price, sigh, I overestimated you. Since it is so, I will make it clear for you, you will die if you don't have our support, understand?"

Xia Lin was stunned as she stared at Zhao Lu: "Don't tell me..."

Zhao Lu shook her head: "Don't think wildly, we never had the intention to conspire against you even if you ended up not collaborating with us. You are the saintess, a person who has received the Sea God's recognition, which merman force dares to make a move against you? Once the deed is exposed, they will face a terrible death!"

"Every selected saintess has an important task. That is to go to Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea and sing for three days and three nights, using her song to eliminate the increasingly dense demonic aura in Regret Crying Sea! This is an extremely dangerous task and has a very low survival rate. Many saintesses have passed away in Regret Crying Sea, some who came back alive turned crazy. Although the saintess position is good, it carries enormous risks and danger. If not for this task, there would be at least ten times more mermaids competing for the position of saintess!"

"There is such a thing?" Xia Lin was astonished.

Zhao Lu laughed: "You think I am deceiving you? This information might be hidden but it is not any important secret. You can easily inquire about it with your current identity and position. You can casually find anyone to ask, but of course, ordinary mermen are in the dark about it."

"Among the sea areas controlled by the Sacred Court, the most dangerous is Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea. It is an absolute forbidden area! According to legends, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable suppressed a peerless demonic Gu Immortal in this sea area. The Immortal Venerable was too benevolent to take away the demonic Gu Immortal's life, so he sealed the demonic Gu Immortal to make him repent. This demonic Gu Immortal had no choice but to repent, so there are often sounds of crying in that sea area. But his sins are truly too heavy and his demonic nature is too strong, the demonic aura will accumulate after a period of time and start influencing the living organisms in the sea area, making them stronger, ferocious and crueler."

3"The saintess' task is to go the center of Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea and sing with all her strength, using her song to dispel the demonic aura, otherwise, as time goes on, the demonic aura in Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea will keep on getting stronger, making the living beings in the sea area become more tyrannical and invasive. This demonic aura is infectious as well, which will expand the area of Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea."

Xia Lin showed a surprised expression as it was the first time she heard this secret: "Even with support and ample preparations, the previous saintesses had to face extreme danger. If I go in alone without your help, it is almost like seeking death?"

"Not almost, but definitely!" Zhao Lu's tone was firm.

She expected this could persuade Xia Lin but did not expect Xia Lin to still reject: "Even so, I won't collaborate."

"Even if it will result in your death?" Zhao Lu's expression was cold.

It was not that Xia Lin did not have hesitation, but the image of Fang Yuan in her mind made her insist on abiding by the agreement she made with Fang Yuan.

"Yes, I am sure, even if I die."

Zhao Lu was so furious that she laughed: "If so... I only wish you good luck!"

The sisters parted on a bad note.

"Haha, it finally appeared!" In front of Merit Obelisk, Fang Yuan's eyes emitted bright light.

A new task had appeared on Merit Obelisk — help the new saintess complete her most important mission!

The task did not provide any details, by only looking at this task, outsiders would have no idea what the mission was.

But Fang Yuan had already inquired about it. In the Merman Sacred Court, the selected saintess had one important mission – to purify Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea!

Fang Yuan could only enter Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea if there was such a task.

But the issue was: Fang Yuan was not sure if this task would appear on the Merit Obelisk. So he needed to support a saintess and this saintess should have low strength with no one to rely on.

If so, the saintess would have no way to complete her mission and would require the help of outsiders.

In this grotto-heaven, there were no local Gu Immortals besides the suppressed demonic immortal. Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea was extremely dangerous, accumulating demonic aura at set intervals. The restraining method of the grotto-heaven was to select a saintess to quell it without regarding the sacrifices.

The saintess' mission was extremely important, if there was no successor to the saintess position for too long of a time, the demonic aura might even pervade the whole grotto-heaven. But naturally, there might also be some backup methods left by Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable.

What Fang Yuan did was to hasten the appearance of this task as far as possible.

And from the results, his plan worked perfectly.

Without any hesitation, Fang Yuan accepted the task and was once again teleported to Sacred City.

Several days later.

Saintess Xia Lin stood on a giant tortoise that was slowly advancing towards Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea.

Behind her stood Fang Yuan.

The journey was tranquil and calm, but all of a sudden, a gale blew towards them carrying with it crying sounds: "I really regret it! Why did I have to provoke Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, I regret it so much!"

Xia Lin jolted, quickly looking at Fang Yuan: "Master Chu...."

"No worries." Fang Yuan smiled while secretly using wisdom path methods to calm Xia Lin and the giant tortoise.

The crying sounds seemed like an immortal killer move that could disturb an ordinary being's emotions and mind.

The nearer they reached Demon Suppression Regret Crying Sea, the louder and more concentrated the crying sound became.

"I regret it! I should not have killed so many people."

"I painfully regret it! I should not have chased after power, it would have been much better if I had stayed behind to look after my parents as a filial son!"

"I truly repent! I deceived everyone and concealed Immortal Gu, I let a friend, who trusted me the most, carry the blame so I could get benefits!"

...

The mournful cries made Xia Lin's face pale, while Fang Yuan instead became more excited because he already felt the large immortal formation in this place.

"I am now almost certain regret Gu is here! But if I take regret Gu, will it destroy Paradise Earth's arrangements and trigger his backup methods?" Fang Yuan was doubtful.

Regret Gu was very important, it was used to suppress the giant demon in the sea and was clearly not included in Paradise Earth's true inheritance.

1But as far as Fang Yuan was concerned, it was a crucial Gu worm he had to take and he had decided to take the risk.

He focused his mind, activating investigative methods with all his strength, this demon suppression regret crying formation gradually appeared in his mind, becoming increasingly clearer.

This time, it was Fang Yuan who became pale.

"Such a powerful formation, it is as vast as the sky! My formation path attainment level is high and I also have extremely powerful wisdom path methods, but I would need at least dozens of years to comprehend all the profundities of this large formation!"

Cold sweat started seeping out of Fang Yuan's forehead when his mind suddenly jolted: "Regret Gu!"

He discovered regret Gu.

Although regret Gu was hidden, Fang Yuan had already determined regret Gu was hiding somewhere in the center of the sea area through all kinds of clues and arrangements.

"How should I take regret Gu? If I move rashly and trigger the formation's backlash, it would end up badly!"

"Maybe I can rely on reverse flow protection seal to resist it one time?"

"Or borrow the strength of the suppressed demon?"

Fang Yuan analyzed continuously in his mind.

If the demon was released, all the living beings of this small world might face extreme misery and suffering, but Fang Yuan had no misgivings or pity.

Just as Fang Yuan was thinking, a change occurred.

The large formation suddenly activated, regret Gu shot out directly towards Fang Yuan.

At the same time, an extremely boundless force emerged and pressed on Fang Yuan's body.

"What happened?!" At the next moment, Fang Yuan disappeared, directly leaving this grotto-heaven of Paradise Earth.

-x-X-x-

Dark clouds covered the sky and heavy rain was pouring down.

Rumble!

Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled.

In Central Continent, inside the city lord's manor in Maple Leaf City, the Maple Leaf City Lord was pacing back and forth outside a room.

He had a square face and a dignified temperament. Right now, however, his brows were tightly furrowed and his mood was like this weather, erratic and uneasy, feeling extremely worried.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks and leaned in with his ear pressing on the door.

Besides the torrential rainstorm and thunder, he could hear painful groans from his wife as well as several midwives' voices: "Madam, push, push harder!"

Maple Leaf City Lord was already over fifty years old, he loved his wife deeply. He was a rank five Gu Master with the highest battle strength in all the surroundings, he had high authority as well as a leader's charisma, he was well supported by the people. The only imperfection was he had no children.

Nine months ago, he had been ecstatic because his wife had finally gotten pregnant.

He was going to have a child in his old age, his greatest regret was finally resolved.

But despite him requesting for three famous midwives, two were rank three and one was rank four, his wife's labor still encountered unexpected difficulty.

"How could this be?!" Maple Leaf City Lord wanted to get angry but had nothing to vent on.

He clenched his fists, the battle strength, which he had been proud of in the past, was of no use at this moment.

He had many healing Gu worms but none of them was good at helping in childbirth.

"Oh!" He could only restrain his mood, lowering his head as he once again paced back and forth in the corridor.

"Wa! Wawa...." Suddenly, he heard an infant's cry.

He then heard joyous laughter from the midwives: "The child is born, it is a boy! Madam, you have succeeded!!"

"I, I have a child! My... son!" Maple Leaf City Lord was stunned for a moment before turning ecstatic, he opened the door impatiently and charged in to take a look.

Right at this time, a peculiar fragrance spread within the room.

This peculiar fragrance was refreshing and gentle. The fragrance started to become denser, condensing into rays of colorful lights, they were like streams of water that floated in the air, covering the whole manor as well as the surrounding hundreds of li.

"What is this?!" Maple Leaf City Lord stopped his steps in astonishment.

But the real shock came next. These colorful flowing lights continued to increase in numbers and the fragrance also became increasingly intense.

The rainstorm stopped abruptly, dark clouds slowly dissipated; sunlight pierced through the gaps between the dark clouds and shined down, the grandest ray of light among them shining on the delivery room of the City Lord's wife.

Then, the flowing lights started to condense into a manor-sized red lotus flower that floated in the air. It was vivid and did not dissipate for a long time.

"Born with a natural phenomenon!" Maple Leaf City Lord was shocked, his wife and the three midwives were also frozen from shock.

At the same time, in the sky, three rank eight Gu Immortals were standing on clouds and watching the city lord's manor in Maple Leaf City. They had seen the phenomenon when the baby was born.

"He has finally been born." The Gu Immortal in the middle, Duke Mei, heaved a long sigh. He was an old man with a benevolent countenance, his brows were particularly peculiar, they were like two exquisite dark brown roots that extended down from his forehead to his chest.

"This child is extraordinary indeed, he is blessed by the destined luck of humanity, his innate blessing is so dense that it actually condensed into a grand red lotus observable to the naked eye! He is absolutely an Immortal Venerable seed! It was worth it that our Heavenly Court used three wisdom path Gu Immortals to deduce him." Standing on the left, Gu Immortal Duke Tong sighed. 1

He was a middle-aged man with a very robust physique, his face and muscles seemed to be made from brass as they let out cold metallic glister. Standing on the clouds, he looked deep like a pool and lofty like a mountain, as if he was a vajra tower that could not be moved even if heaven and earth shook, an absolute spirit that disregarded the storms.

Duke Mei nodded: "Among all the Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables in history, they share a common characteristic, they all possess the destined luck of humanity1. It is just that in some cases, the luck is not conspicuous at the early stage and is deeply concealed. Only by a certain period would the luck activate. This child caused such a phenomenon when he is just born, no wonder heaven and earth cannot tolerate him and sent down calamities and tribulations to eliminate him. This is rare even in venerable history. If this child is nurtured properly, he will definitely become the most talented and outstanding existence among the venerables!"

Suddenly, Duke Mei's body shook as he coughed out a mouthful of blood.

"Duke Mei." Duke Tong frowned: "We suffered heavy injuries to block the calamities and tribulations."

"Duke Mei!" The Gu Immortal standing at the right also revealed a concerned expression. He was a young man with a head full of purple hair, a dragon shaped qi aura moved around his body continuously.

Duke Mei looked at the young Gu Immortal: "Duke Long, fate Gu has given us the revelation, you share an extremely deep affinity with this child. This child will become a venerable and you are his Dao Guardian! Go, take him as your disciple, guide him and nurture him. You will be the cause of his achievements as he will be the cause of yours. You two are destined to shine brightly in the history of humanity for all eternity!"

"Yes, I shall go now." Young Duke Long nodded.

"Go." Duke Tong's brows were furrowed: "When we return to Heavenly Court, Duke Mei and I shall enter a very long hibernation to recuperate. The era of the Three Dukes of Heavenly Court is over, Duke Long, you will lead Heavenly Court, continue to bring prosperity to this world."

"I will!" Duke Long restrained his excited emotions and slowly descended.

His sleeves were fluttering with the wind, he waved his hand and boundless wind surged. Endless dragon roars were heard, attracting attention and shock from everyone.

In this boundless wind, he slowly flew down and landed on the manor of Maple Leaf City Lord.

Including Maple Leaf City Lord, all the guards were kneeling on the ground, many of them shivering like leaves.

Maple Leaf City Lord was a knowledgeable man, knowing about Gu Immortals' existence as well as knowing his strength could not even resist one finger of a Gu Immortal. He forcibly calmed himself before paying respects: "I, Hong Zhu, pay respects to lord immortal. I wonder what matter lord immortal has descended to the mortal world for?"

Duke Long smiled: "Hong Zhu, your son is the blessed child of the world, a peerless genius that appears once in a million years with extremely rare innate talents. If he is nurtured well, he will definitely be outstanding. But if he lacks guidance, there will be huge danger to countless beings of this world, chaos would ensue. I was happy to see such a rare talent, and for the sake of humanity, I came here to take this child as my disciple. I will carefully raise and guide him, making him into a leader of the righteous path, a Gu Immortal who seeks prosperity for the whole of humanity."

"Ah..." Maple Leaf City Lord was both stunned and joyous at these words.

He was shaken by Duke Long's words, but he had personally seen the natural phenomenon just before, and was actually somewhat mentally prepared.

The joy was naturally because his son received a Gu Immortal master and had boundless future prospects, he would definitely surpass his parents.

Although he was a city lord with high authority, he was nothing compared to this Gu Immortal.

But besides the shock and joy, Hong Zhu felt somewhat dejected. He got a child in his old age, it was not easy, but who could have thought that before he even got a chance to look at his son, his son would be taken as a disciple by lord immortal. They would probably get very few chances to meet each other in the future.

Duke Long immediately knew what Hong Zhu was thinking, consoling: "Rest assured, I came today only to explain this matter and not to take away your son immediately. I will only bring him away when he is ten years old which is the correct time to start teaching him."

Hong Zhu immediately felt endless excitement and expressed his thanks repeatedly.

At this time, the door opened, the city lord's wife had already cleaned herself up, she came out while holding the newly born baby along with the three midwives and knelt on the ground, paying respects to Duke Long.

Duke Long's gaze was immediately attracted towards the baby. He laughed happily as he took a step forward, immediately arriving in front of the city lord's wife.

He carefully held the baby and inspected him.

This baby did not have any ugliness that a newly born baby had. His head was filled with dark hair and had a very attractive and cute face. His eyes shined brightly like stars, his skin was white and tender and his cheeks were chubby.

At this time, the red lotus that was hovering in the air slowly descended while shrinking and condensing continuously, in Duke Long's vision, the red lotus eventually landed on the baby's forehead, condensing into a nine petaled red lotus birthmark.

A trace of shock flashed past Duke Long's eyes as he thought: "This destined luck condensed into a birthmark, imprinted on his forehead, this phenomenon has not been seen in any venerable before. When my disciple becomes a venerable, he will probably be an extremely unique one!" 1

As he thought of this, Duke Long felt like the light baby he was holding had become as heavy as a mountain. A strong sense of mission and responsibility filled Duke Long's mind.

"You don't need to kneel, please stand." After inspecting for a while more, Duke Long solemnly handed the baby back to the city lord's wife.

He exhaled, three gusts of qi flashed by, one fell on the baby while the other two merged inside the city lord couple.

The baby immediately fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The city lord couple felt boundless strength filling their limbs and bones.

The city lord's wife gave a cry of shock, the weakness from giving birth was gone instantly, she burst with energy as her body condition returned to when she was young.

City Lord Hong Zhu astonishingly discovered his old injuries were completely gone and his primeval essence had broken common sense, carrying a trace of green luster. His strength that was already at a level where it could not be raised further seemed to have been elevated by a large degree!

Without immediately inspecting his changes, Hong Zhu first gave thanks to Duke Long along with his wife.

Duke Long waved his hand: "You don't need to thank me because I still need your help. The parents and the master are not interchangeable with each other. I wish that you can love each other dearly and give your son deep care, let him feel the love and warmth of the world, this will be extremely helpful to his growth. Ten years later, I will come again." 1

Duke Long then slowly rose to the sky. Air currents surged around him and dragon roars were heard unceasingly, as if there was a formless wave of dragons.

Mortals gazed towards the sky and saw Duke Long flying away until his figure was blocked by the clouds.

After a while of deep silence, the whole city went into an uproar.

-x-X-x-

It was a clear sky with no clouds anywhere.

Maple Leaf City was bustling with people moving here and there.

Six years had passed since the City Lord's son, Hong Ting, was born.

In these six years, Maple Leaf City enjoyed a peaceful time with no calamities. Its size continued to expand unceasingly, already surpassing the original size by over ten times, it had become the number one human city in the surrounding plains.

Chirp, chirp...

A group of spiritual sparrows flew over from somewhere. Their whole bodies shined with golden light and were flying like they were dancing.

They displayed extraordinary liveliness until they arrived at the top of the City Lord's manor when suddenly, they imploded one after the other, bursting into specks of golden lights that sprinkled down.

Inside the City Lord's manor, Hong Ting was currently brandishing a short decorative sword. He was moving some ornamental mounds back and forth while skillfully swinging his sword.

In an instant, Hong Ting's figure disappeared, sword lights formed into spheres which shined brightly everywhere.

"Great!"

"Amazing!"

"Young master truly has unrivaled talents, he has completely perfected this sword technique after just learning it for three months. Such a density of sword lights is simply unbelievable."

The surrounding guards praised with sincerity from the depths of their hearts.

City Lord Hong Zhu stroked his beard and nodded with a smile. He was very proud of his son, as for the feeling of surprise, he had lost it a long time ago.

Over these years, Hong Ting's aptitude and performance had changed his view and understanding multiple times, he now knew how shallow his comprehension of the word 'genius' was.

Because of the endless surprises throughout these years, Hong Zhu had already become numb to them long ago. Now, everything involving his son was natural and a matter of fact.

Clang!

Right at this time, a crisp sound echoed.

Silver sword lights suddenly disappeared and Hong Ting's figure appeared once again, his short decorative sword had slashed apart a boulder.

Cheers and praises immediately resounded.

"Father, I feel like this sword technique has not reached its limit, there is room for improvement." Hong Ting walked out from the group of ornamental mounds and said with a smile.

Hong Zhu laughed heartily: "This sword technique belongs to the secret manual of a famous sword cultivator, Zhao San Si, I used a lot of treasures to exchange for it. You have only practiced for three months and already feel that it is not good enough?"

Hong Ting blinked with a cute slyness in his eyes: "Father, I only said that out of momentary inspiration. To tell the truth, this sword technique is only so-so, I have already learned all of its essence after practicing for three months."

Hong Zhu coughed, feeling a bit of headache again. His son's talent was too great, he was fast at learning anything, he even went as far as to comprehend the deepest essence of those moves. This was good but also bad as well. Hong Zhu's accumulations were already used up several years ago by Hong Ting. He went through all kinds of avenues to search for secret manuals to teach Hong Ting, but it still could not match Hong Ting's ability to absorb knowledge like a black hole.

If this continued for a long time, what could he do?

Right at this time, a group of spiritual sparrows flew over their heads and suddenly imploded into golden light specks.

The light specks fell and got absorbed into everyone's head; but most of the light specks were absorbed by Hong Ting alone.

Instantly, everyone had joyous expressions. They had received inheritances and all sorts of peculiar secret manuals.

"This is the gift of yet another immortal!"

"I wonder which immortal this is?"

"We should thank young master, we are all enjoying his fortune."

The guards looked at Hong Ting passionately, even Hong Zhu's gaze carried a trace of complex feelings.

Hong Ting had closed his eyes, immersed completely in the newly obtained sea of knowledge.

Hong Zhu and the rest were already not surprised at this scene, even the commoners outside the City Lord's manor were only slightly surprised before returning to their business.

Unusual phenomena and immortal miracles were fascinating, but when they happened too many times, they would start feeling bland and ordinary.

The immortal miracles appearing around Hong Ting could not be said to be 'a lot', it was at a mind numbing level that was simply overflowing with such incidents.

Since he was born and taken as a disciple by Duke Long, immortal phenomena would frequently occur around him.

Duke Long was the leader of Heavenly Court, not mentioning the rank eight Gu Immortals in Heavenly Court, just the ten great ancient sects under Heavenly Court were colossal forces with extremely robust foundations.

Duke Long had taken in this disciple with great publicity, he did not conceal anything. Everyone understood his intentions, so whether it was Central Continent's righteous path, demonic path, or lone immortals, they all paid extreme attention to Hong Ting's growth.

Hong Ting was the blessed child of the world, a future Immortal Venerable who would be cultivated by Heavenly Court, this was not a secret. So, every so often, Gu Immortals or descendants of Gu Immortals would secretly help Hong Ting, to build a good affinity and relationship with him in advance.

As a result, the golden sparrow inheritance gift was not strange, there were also spiritual cranes imparting scrolls, auspicious clouds sending fruits, sacred wind marrow cleansing, and all sorts of unusual immortal level phenomena that appeared endlessly.

After a long while, Hong Ting completely absorbed the knowledge in his brain but his brows furrowed into a frown: "There are eighteen types of weapon training methods, each one is exquisite and unique, but there is still no mention of any advanced aperture awakening method. Father, when can I awaken my aperture and control Gu worms? No matter how excellent these fighting techniques are, they are only mortal techniques. Controlling Gu worms is the only true way."

"Son, don't be in a hurry. You have once again forgotten what your master instructed in his letter." Hong Zhu said with a pleasant smile.

Hong Ting waved his hand impatiently: "Father, I know, I know. Master said that although I can awaken my aperture in advance, I must do it only when I am twelve. Before the timing and opportunity is right, I cannot do it in advance. I am really curious, master has such vast powers, why can't he awaken my aperture now?"

Hong Zhu's expression became slightly grave: "Son, your master is an immortal, you cannot understand what he is thinking but you have to obey. You need to understand that he absolutely won't harm you, he cherishes you just like how father and mother treasure you."

"Yes, father. I was wrong, please don't get angry." Hong Ting quickly cupped his fists, he was very filial to his parents.

Time passed, years passed in an instant.

Duke Long appeared once again and formally took Hong Ting as his disciple. He took Hong Ting to roam all over the world while personally guiding him.

When Hong Ting was twelve, Duke Long awakened his aperture. Hong Ting officially stepped on the path of Gu cultivation, and because of his peerless talent and robust foundation, his cultivation progress was shockingly fast.

Not only in his cultivation, his experiences also richened constantly on this journey. He met many people, mortals and immortals, kind people and evil people. His knowledge of human life and heaven and earth was constantly deepening.

He had a strong sense of justice and loathed evil, he looked handsome and kind but was crafty and resourceful as well.

"Master, I have found that evil Xue Tu Dao who slaughtered an entire village, he is staying at a nearby mountain!" On this day, Hong Ting returned to the cave from hunting and spoke to Duke Long with excitement.

Duke Long nodded with a smile: "Take a seat first, the soup is almost ready. This soup is made from the bones of an ancient desolate beast, it will be very helpful to your growth."

Hong Ting threw down the prey he hunted, saying with clenched teeth: "Master, I have been wanting to take action on Xue Tu Dao for over a year and get rid of this evil, but you said I only had rank three cultivation while he had rank five, I was not his match so you didn't allow me to go. Half a year ago, I already had rank four cultivation and eight killer moves, I had an extremely high chance of taking Xue Tu Dao's life but you said that it was not one hundred percent so you didn't let me make a move. Three months ago, I already reached rank five and could easily deal with Xue Tu Dao in two to three moves, but you said it was not time to take his life. Master, if we let such an evil person run amok, who knows how many more innocent lives would be lost. Let me strike now!"

Duke Long put down the ladle and let the bone soup simmer as he said with a sigh: "Disciple, the opportunity has not arrived."

"I don't care about any opportunity, I only know that if I don't make a move now, I would lose a good opportunity!" Hong Ting was extremely firm.

Duke Long shook his head: "Now is not the time for Xue Tu Dao to die. If you forcibly kill him, not only will it be futile and fruitless, you will even create certain aftermath which will lead to tragedy."

"I don't believe it! I only need one move to take his life!!" Hong Ting raised one finger, staring right into Duke Long's eyes with a burning gaze.

Duke Long went silent for a while: "Then go, young man, give it a try."

"Thank you master!" Hong Ting was exulted.

"I just hope that you will not be disappointed when the time comes."

"Why will I be disappointed? Master, please wait a moment, disciple will return with Xue Tu Dao's head within fifteen minutes."

Hong Ting turned around and left.

But fifteen minutes passed, thirty minutes went by and soon it reached forty-five minutes, Hong Ting still did not appear.

Duke Long saw everything, he knew the timing was right as he left the cave and crossed a forest, arriving beside Hong Ting.

Hong Ting was kneeling on the ground, his face filled with shock, anger, and deep regret.

He was dazedly looking at the foot of the mountain, a small village had once been there where the villagers lived happily.

His eyes were red and filled with traces of blood. He saw Duke Long and raised his head, tear stains were still clear on his face.

"Master, I did not imagine there to be a Gu Immortal inheritance here. That Xue Tu Dao secretly came here to obtain this inheritance. After I destroyed his plan, he used the inheritance's power to stop me and although I fought with all my strength, I did not think the battle would cause the mountain to crumble, unexpectedly, unexpectedly... the small village was completely buried. Master! It was me, I caused the death of these villagers!" Hong Ting sobbed.

Duke Long did not console him, he was silent for a while before suddenly saying: "Disciple, do you want revenge? Do you want to get rid of Xue Tu Dao? The opportunity has arrived."

"Really? Where is he?" Hong Ting's body shook, asking immediately.

"At that mountain." Duke Long pointed.

Hong Ting immediately hurried off and easily killed Xue Tu Dao.

"I was so close, I already obtained the true inheritance and only had to absorb the gains. The moment I narrowly escaped death, you came after me! If I had some time, I would not be afraid, I could have become a Gu Immortal!" These were Xue Tu Dao's last words before he died.

Hong Ting was silently standing before Xue Tu Dao's corpse.

Duke Long appeared behind Hong Ting once again, remaining silent.

After a good while, Hong Ting stopped looking at Xue Tu Dao's corpse in a daze as he asked with an extremely hoarse voice: "Master, had I listened to your arrangements, I could have easily killed him and those villagers would not have been implicated, is that right?"

Duke Long did not reply, only softly patting Hong Ting's shoulder.

Hong Ting's body shook as he fell into a deep silence before asking: "Master, I want to ask you, what is... fate?"

-x-X-x-

"Fate..." Duke Long sighed with a deep and complex expression. He walked towards a rock and patted beside him, indicating Hong Ting to have a seat.

Hong Ting followed Duke Long and sat cross-legged.

"Look." Duke Long pointed at the rock he was sitting on.

Hong Ting quickly looked, he saw a small group of ants moving beside the rock. They were moving in an orderly fashion, returning to their nest with food.

"This is fate." Duke Long continued.

"...What?"

"Look again." Duke Long pointed at the sky.

Hong Ting gazed at the sky, clouds of all kinds of shapes were moving in the sky.

"This also is fate." Duke Long said.

Hong Ting's mind jolted as if he had comprehended something: "Master, you mean to say..."

He did not continue, he had gained some comprehension but was unable to express them in words at this time.

"Ants transporting food, bees collecting honey, wind blowing, clouds floating, everything in this world have their own paths to walk on. To us, they might look like they don't follow any rules, but they are actually moving according to the rules of the Great Dao."1

"Look at the moon and sun, every day, the sun rises and the moon falls, the moon rises and the sun falls. Look at a human's life and death, no matter who they are, be they an Immortal Venerable or a Demon Venerable, they will die in the end."

"Everything is fate."

"Every person, every living being, even every rock, every drop of water, every lump of fire, since they exist in this world, they will have value and meaning in their existence. Good and evil is also the same, without good, how would there be evil? Without evil, why talk about good?"

"You were in a hurry to kill Xue Tu Dao and did not see his value. Since heaven and earth let him exist, there is definitely a reason for his life. This is fate. Fate already has arrangements for everything in the world, it is just that we can only slightly feel this kind of arrangement and cannot see it clearly."

"Not being able to see clearly is normal. The laws of heaven and earth, the Great Dao of the universe, even if an immortal uses all their life, they would not be able to understand them thoroughly. We are too weak, too small, while heaven and earth is too vast. We should revere heaven and earth, follow the arrangements of the heavenly fate, and bring fortune to the world."

1"Your parents' marriage was fate's arrangement, their greatest value was to bring you into this world."

"You will become an Immortal Venerable in the future, this is also fate's arrangement. You need to accept it, climb to the peak step by step, lead Heavenly Court and contribute your life to the righteous path."

"And my greatest value in life is to teach and guide you towards the proper path. I am your... Dao Guardian."

1"Believe in fate, acknowledge fate, all its arrangements have their own reasons. If we forcibly interfere, it will lead to tragedy and regret. Just like how you tried to take Xue Tu Dao's life early, but were you able to kill him?"

Duke Long shook his head: "No. Although your strength surpassed his, you encountered all kinds of unexpected situations. In the end, not only did you fail to kill him, you even implicated innocent lives."

"Think back on it, if you had listened to fate's arrangements and attacked Xue Tu Dao at his weakest moments, would you still have encountered those accidents?"

"I will tell you, the value of Xue Tu Dao's existence was to activate this Gu Immortal inheritance, to open the way and hand this inheritance to you."

Hong Ting was dazed, he was motionless like a statue.

Two clear rows of tears fell from his eyes as he choked: "Master, I was wrong."

"It is good to know your mistakes and change them. Actually, your wrong choice was also fate's arrangement." Duke Long said.

"Master, what do you mean?"

"We are all under fate's arrangements, you thought you could defy fate, but your thought was also fate's arrangement. You don't need to feel guilty, you should comprehend fate's intention. You think your wrong choice was of no value? Wrong."

1"Every mistake has an inestimable value to a youth's growth. If you can absorb the lesson from this mistake, acknowledge fate's existence and accept it, then this mistake would have shown its value. That village's destruction also has its value!"

1Duke Long then took a deep look at Hong Ting: "My disciple, you are a talented and intelligent child, a good child, but I worry because you emphasize on feelings too much. You already have rank five cultivation now, among the paths to ascend to an immortal, you will probably choose wisdom path, right?"

"Master, your vision is unparalleled, I indeed have such thoughts, I feel like wisdom path is extremely suitable for me." Hong Ting said truthfully.

Duke Long shook his head: "Wisdom path focuses on thought, will, and emotion. You emphasize on feelings too much so studying emotions has more demerits than benefits to you. Listen to master, choose time path. When you can view the past and present, observe the rise and decline of history, all sorts of honor and disgrace, you will understand that all feelings and romance will be cleansed by time. I have received revelation from fate Gu, time path suits you the most."

2Hong Ting opened his mouth slightly, wanting to say something, but he nodded in the end: "Disciple shall abide by master's teachings and choose time path."

Duke Long nodded in satisfaction: "That's good, master is your Dao Guardian, pointing you towards the correct path is the meaning behind my existence."

Time slowly moved forward.

Hong Ting chose time path, and under Duke Long's protection, successfully passed his immortal ascension tribulation, becoming a time path Gu Immortal.

...

"Lord immortal Hong Ting, that demon has proclaimed he is going to slaughter the whole city unless I give my daughter to him as a concubine. He is a great Gu Immortal, we are only mortals. We truly are unable to do anything, considering the friendship between me and your father, I implore you to eliminate this demon!" An old city lord paid a visit, kneeling to the ground as he made his request to Hong Ting.

Hong Ting recognized him, this city lord's city was close to Maple Leaf City. They had frequent dealings with each other, this city lord and his father indeed had a close friendship.

He had even seen this city lord's daughter and had played with her when they were young.

"Old senior, please get up. I will definitely help, it is just that..." Hong Ting paused for a moment: "The opportunity has not arrived."

The old city lord was exulted: "Since lord immortal has replied, this old man shall be rest assured. I believe lord immortal will not go back on his words!"

Hong Ting waited till it was the correct time to kill this demonic Gu Immortal.

He attacked resolutely and killed this demon easily.

However, the old city lord was kneeling on the ground, gazing at the city filled with ruins and corpses as he cried in sadness: "This accursed demon is finally dead! My good daughter, the inhabitants of my city, you can rest in peace now, your hatred has been avenged!!"

...

"Disciple pays respect to master. I wonder what matter master has called me for?" Hong Ting went up to Duke Long.

"Disciple, master has sensed fate. Floating flower river is about to flood, the river channel has diverged. I want you to go save people. Remember, don't make a move early, you can only do so after three days and three nights." Duke Long instructed carefully.

"Yes, master."

Hong Ting came to the floating flower riverbank and looked at the flooding river water, countless living beings were forced to be homeless, while many drowned corpses were floating on the surface.

He forcibly restrained his emotions and waited for three days and three nights. But at that time, he found that he did not even need to make a move, the river water retreated by itself, swamps appearing in many areas.

A wild Immortal Gu's aura emerged and was actually not far away from Hong Ting.

Hong Ting easily subdued this wild Immortal Gu: "Great Gu, it is actually a rank seven time path Gu which is perfect for me."

1Howl!

The wild Immortal Gu's aura attracted two ancient desolate beasts.

Hong Ting's expression turned solemn as he concealed himself. He waited for these two ancient desolate beasts to kill each other. After one died and another was injured, he made his move, getting these two ancient desolate beast corpses easily.

"Wonderful, wonderful." Gazing at the traces of the battlefield, Hong Ting suddenly came to a realization.

"So it turns out this was fate's arrangement. With the battle of the two ancient desolate beasts, floating flower river has expanded by several times its width while its river channel has been dyed by the ancient desolate beasts' blood, becoming much thicker. From now on, floating flower river will probably not flood again."

"There are also these plots of land beside floating flower river which will become extremely fertile as they are soaked in the essence blood and corpses of countless beings. In the future, the mortals who live here will truly be fortunate."

1...

"Bull-headed Demon Brute, let go of my parents now, otherwise, I will make you suffer a fate worse than death!" Hong Ting furiously glared at the bull-headed demonic immortal.

The bull-headed demonic immortal held Hong Ting's parents in each of his hands, laughing loudly: "Kid, you are very arrogant, you want to get rid of me? When I became a Gu Immortal, you were still suckling milk as a baby! Are you scared now?"

Hong Ting had to restrain himself and could only shout in anger.

Bull-headed Demon Brute quickly shouted: "Don't come over, don't be impulsive! Don't you want your parents' lives? If you come over, I will directly crush your parents' heads!"

"What do you want?!" Hong Ting shouted.

Bull-headed Demon Brute gave a malevolent smile: "Now we are talking. As long as you hand over my lifespan Gu, I will return your parents to you. If not, I only have a few days to live anyway, I will just die with your parents."

Hong Ting was immediately dazed.

According to fate's arrangements, those two wild lifespan Gu should indeed go to Bull-headed Demon Brute. But Hong Ting saw his parents getting old and reaching their life's limit, so he seized those two lifespan Gu without telling Duke Long. Who could have thought that Bull-headed Demon Brute would come and bring disaster to his parents!

In an instant, Hong Ting's face became deathly pale and his forehead was filled with cold sweat: "I have already used those two lifespan Gu."

"I know, you used them on your parents!" Bull Demon was not surprised: "But, you are Duke Long's disciple, a future Immortal Venerable who will lead Heavenly Court. I don't believe Heavenly Court's treasury does not have any lifespan Gu. Bring three hundred years, no, three thousand years lifespan Gu and I will release your parents!"

"This..." Hong Ting was now caught in a dilemma.

In the end, through twists and turns, he finally forced Bull-headed Demon Brute to retreat. But his parents were irrecoverably injured, even immortal methods could not heal them.

"Father, mother, I harmed you! If I had not taken lifespan Gu for you, you would still have several years left!" Hong Ting knelt down and cried.

Hong Zhu, however, smiled: "Son, life and death is up to fate, fortune is up to heaven. Humans have to die sooner or later, this world has long life but is there anyone who can live forever? No! We are fated to die, you don't need to feel sad for us. On the contrary, you should be happy for us. The two of us could have a son like you, a future Immortal Venerable, how great of an honor is this, we will definitely be noted down in history because of you."

Madam Hong also said: "My son, listen to your father, be a good person, you must be righteous."

The old couple grasped each other's hands and died at the same time.

"Father, mother—!" Hong Ting howled towards the sky.

...

Bright light accumulated in Hong Ting's eyes. Through the passing of time, experience and maturity made him full of manly charisma.

The setting sun illuminated the lush green hill.

Under the setting sun, he saw Liu Shu Xian for the first time.

Two pairs of eyes met each other, both felt their hearts pulsing, an indescribable atmosphere rapidly spread.

Love at first sight.

Liu Shu Xian revealed a strange expression, asking softly: "Who are you?"

Hong Ting, however, felt no surprise, he replied with a smile: "I am your fated husband, my name is Hong Ting."

Liu Shu Xian was astonished: "You are the future Immortal Venerable?"

"Don't be surprised, our encounter here was determined by fate."

Love gave Hong Ting a feeling of satisfaction and bliss that he had never experienced before!

He and Liu Shu Xian always kept each other's company and had a lot in common. It was like they were born for each other, like a key to a lock, they were a natural couple.

They roamed the world together, they conversed and dined under the moon. They had great chemistry, an eye signal to the other could express their inner heart and even convey all their intention to the other's mind. They were a true immortal couple, living together for hundreds of years. They supported each other in the path of cultivation, there was not even one fight or a moment where they were vexed at each other.

Liu Shu Xian accompanied Hong Ting all the way to rank eight, rank eight peak, and finally to rank nine venerable realm!

The tribulation was unimaginable, but Hong Ting still succeeded in the end.

Duke Long was heavily injured due to this, several Heavenly Court Gu Immortals perished, while Hong Ting held Liu Shu Xian's gradually freezing body with tears all over his face.

He tightly held Liu Shu Xian, repeatedly saying: "Don't leave me, don't leave me, I beg you, please live!"

"It's no use, I have been struck by the tribulation. Having a trace of my soul left to take a final look at you is already an enormous fortune. How could I possibly ask for more?" Liu Shu Xian smiled.

"I am useless, I am useless! I underwent tribulation but implicated you!" Hong Ting's head was lowered with tears rolling down his eyes.

"No, Hong Ting. That tribulation could only have been blocked by my special physique. Even if you all sacrificed your lives, you would only have failed. I was born with one of the ten extreme physiques and encountered you, it was all fate's arrangement. In your fatal moment, I suddenly understood the greatest meaning of my life, it was to protect you, to block the tribulation for you and help you ascend to the position of an Immortal Venerable! Now... I have accomplished it."

"No, No! Xian Er, I would rather not be an Immortal Venerable, I only want you to live, I only want you to live!" Hong Ting roared helplessly, his body was shaking and his tears were falling.

"Everything and everyone in this world has its own respective fate, it is fixed. Hong Ting, you cannot have such thoughts, you need to live on properly, your fate is to become an Immortal Venerable, lead Heavenly Court and spread the glory of the righteous path throughout the five regions... Do you know? I had always been wanting to see that scene, standing by your side and accompanying you as you bring fortune to the world with invincible might. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it..."

Liu Shu Xian's life force gradually fell, until she died.

Hong Ting's head was lowered and his back was bent deeply like an old man, a heavy shadow shrouded his face.

At this moment, he seemed to have lost all signs of life.

He was motionless like a statue.

In his immortal aperture, the remaining heaven and earth qi gathered and merged, refining a rank eight Immortal Gu according to his current mental state.

This Gu had the form of a centipede, its whole body was pale white like paper. Unlike centipedes, its legs were replaced by one hundred feelers. Every feeler was translucent, gently floating in the air, agitating hearts and continuously raising the deepest regretful feelings.

Rank eight regret Gu!

"Cough, cough, cough." Duke Long coughed out several mouthfuls of blood, he forcibly stood up and walked to Hong Ting's side.

"Liu Shu Xian's death was not without meaning, it was worthy and valuable, there is no need for sadness, my dear disciple. This was all fate's arrangement. Now, you are already an Immortal Venerable, rank nine venerables are extremely rare even in the long history of humanity. You still have a long life ahead, your mission has just started. I will abdicate my position, Heavenly Court as well as the five regions and two heavens need you. Hong Ting, Hong Ting?" Duke Long softly called.

1Hong Ting slowly raised his head, he did not look at Duke Long, his gaze was still on Liu Shu Xian's icy corpse.

He replied lightly: "I regret it."

-x-X-x-

"What did you say?" Duke Long did not hear clearly.

"I said, I regret it." Hong Ting said again.

Duke Long's brows immediately furrowed, using a stern gaze to look at his proudest disciple: "Regret? Oh Hong Ting, don't speak of such nonsense again. You are clear of it, how many people dedicated and sacrificed themselves to cultivate and support you until you reached your current cultivation level? If you say such things, would you be doing justice to those people who have helped you throughout your life? Would you be doing justice to your parents? Justice to your late wife Liu Shu Xian? Justice to the immortals who helped you pass the tribulation and sacrificed themselves?"

Duke Long berated Hong Ting sternly.

"Alright, Lord Duke Long, Liu Shu Xian's death is a great tragedy, we can understand Red Lotus Immortal Venerable's feelings. He is only in a temporarily agitated state." The other Heavenly Court Gu Immortals attempted to mediate.

"Red Lotus Immortal Venerable... hehe." Hong Ting laughed with disdain, he gazed at Duke Long with his bloodshot eyes: "If such sacrifices are required and there will be even more sacrifices in the future for this Immortal Venerable position, then I would rather not have it!"

"Enough!" Duke Long shouted in rage: "I will not allow you to speak anymore nonsense, Hong Ting! You think your Immortal Venerable position can be gained or abandoned at your will? This is all fate's arrangement, this is the mission of your life, you must accept it no matter what!"

Hong Ting laughed loudly, his hair was messy, he was in a miserable state. He lowered his head and looked at Duke Long: "A grand Immortal Venerable, invincible in the world, actually cannot do as he pleases, he cannot even reject this Immortal Venerable position?"

Duke Long snorted coldly: "Tell me, Hong Ting, who can do as they please in this world? Your thoughts are too childish, you think becoming an Immortal Venerable and leading the righteous path would not need sacrifices? What is there in this world that has no price to pay for? How shallow do you think the words 'righteous path' are? Wrong! Maintaining Heavenly Court's righteous path requires you to pay a price, it requires sacrifices. If you don't even have this sacrificial mentality, then I will tell you, you don't have the qualifications to enter Heavenly Court!"

Hong Ting's body shook.

"Lord Duke Long, Lord Immortal Venerable, please calm yourselves. We should recuperate and heal our injuries now instead of quarreling." The other Gu Immortals repeatedly tried persuading.

Hong Ting slowly lowered his head, but his fists were slowly clenched tight as he said with an incomparably firm tone: "I want to revive them."

Duke Long's brows raised, his face cold as ice: "Who do you want to revive?"

"Every person who sacrificed themselves for me. My parents, Liu Shu Xian, and many others."

"Presumptuous!" Duke Long suddenly shouted while pointing at Hong Ting: "How could you have such a heretical thought?! You know it clearly, I have also told you several times, life and death is determined by fate, life and death is the rule of the Great Dao, any living being's life and death is arranged by fate. You want to revive the dead? Are you trying to send the entire world into chaos? Have you not learned yet? The more you think like that, the more cruel tragedies will happen around you!"

"Even if there are crueler tragedies, I will accept them! Master, disciple always had a question. Why? Why must we accept fate's arrangements? If there was no fate, would the world truly fall into chaos? Is it not possible that the world will become a better place?" Hong Ting asked in an anxious tone.

Duke Long's body shook with anger, even the persuading Heavenly Court Gu Immortals slowly took a step back, looking at Hong Ting as if he was someone unfamiliar.

"Lord Immortal Venerable, your thought is too dangerous."

"Right, without fate, our human race would not be prosperous."

"Fate Gu is Heavenly Court's supreme treasure, Lord Immortal Venerable actually wants to destroy it? This, this, this..."

"All of you..." Hong Ting looked at the surrounding Gu Immortals, he felt an indescribably deep loneliness at this moment.

Time flowed, who knows how long had passed.

A lonely figure appeared in the River of Time.

His hair was messy, his face was filled with the vicissitudes of life, like a man who had roamed the world but had no place to call home.

His face still had the former Hong Ting's shadow, but his expression had already changed completely.

Red Lotus Demon Venerable looked at the endlessly flowing River of Time as he sighed: "It is time to leave behind my inheritance."

He slowly descended, his feet stopped right before he touched the River of Time: "This first stone lotus island will also be the most important stone lotus island, I will use regret Gu as its core and leave this behind for the otherworldly demon, for the person who has the greatest hope of destroying Fate!"

1Thereupon, a stone lotus island gradually appeared in this world.

Red Lotus Demon Venerable left behind rank eight regret Gu here as well as a large amount of time path immortal materials, immortal killer moves, a portion of his true meaning that contained his true memories of a certain period of time, as well as an immortal killer move with an unparalleled effect.

After finishing the arrangement, Red Lotus Demon Venerable flew away slowly with his exhausted body.

Time flew by, who knows how long had passed.

An outsider charged into this stone lotus island.

He was dressed in rough clothing, he had a thin looking body and a bald head, he had an ordinary appearance. He was bare-footed, his legs were even stained with some mud, like a farmer who had returned from a day of work in the fields.

However, his face looked very young, his eyes were glistening brightly, filled with compassion and benevolence.

Red Lotus' true meaning appeared, condensing into an illusory image of Red Lotus Demon Venerable who smiled towards the bare-footed young looking man: "Welcome, my honorary guest."

"I am Paradise Earth, I finally found this place after immense effort."

This person was Paradise Earth, who had already become an Immortal Venerable!

Red Lotus' true meaning directly asked: "Immortal Venerable, what is the purpose for your visit?"

Paradise Earth smiled: "Senior Red Lotus, why ask when you already know?"

Red Lotus' true meaning also smiled: "You are right, Fate has only been damaged, not completely destroyed, so everything is still traceable and observable from the River of Time."

Pausing for a moment, Red Lotus' true meaning continued: "I can lend you regret Gu, as for your intention to steal my inheritor, that will depend on your ability."

Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable looked solemn: "Although he is an otherworldly demon, he is not an emotionless person. Put down the blade to reach redemption, it is never too late to turn back. Who does not want to seek redemption? I am willing to give it a try!"

3Red Lotus' true meaning laughed: "Alright. My main body still had some worries when constructing this island. After all, I am not entirely confident in defending against Heavenly Court. However, since you are taking action, then there is no worry. This is regret Gu, catch it properly."

Regret Gu flew over slowly, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable stretched his hands, which were covered in radiance, and carefully received it.

"It is indeed worthy of being regret Gu, it constantly draws out boundless regretful feelings. Only a person with not even a little bit of regret is immune to this greatest flaw. Otherwise, any Gu Immortal who approaches it will feel incomparable pain and regret!" Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable smiled bitterly: "If not for my rank nine cultivation level, I might not be able to suppress it."

2"Looks like you also have regret in your heart." Red Lotus' true meaning sighed.

Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable smiled lightly: "Who in this world does not have any regrets in their life?"

Putting regret Gu into his immortal aperture, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable bowed towards Red Lotus' true meaning solemnly: "I take my leave, I will definitely send him here."

...

Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes, the dazed expression slowly dissipated from his eyes.

He went through this memory that Red Lotus Demon Venerable had left here and understood the cause and result of everything.

"I never expected to directly arrive at the stone lotus island. Red Lotus Demon Venerable and Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, even though both have already perished, their arrangements are still in effect."

1Fang Yuan sighed before looking at Red Lotus' true meaning as well as rank eight regret Gu that was already floating before him.

Red Lotus' true meaning smiled: "Fang Yuan, you are finally here. There is no need to say anything else, I believe you will try your best to destroy fate Gu. So, accept my true inheritance, it has already waited for you for over a million years!"

Fang Yuan nodded and extended his hand, trying to grasp regret Gu.

Red Lotus' true meaning reminded him quickly: "Careful, regret Gu cannot be touched directly, otherwise even if you refine it, you will be drowned in endless regrets! I have already prepared a method for you, you only need..."

"There is no need for that." Fang Yuan's expression was indifferent as he grabbed regret Gu and instantly refined it.

Red Lotus' true meaning was stunned: "You..."

-x-X-x-

The surging river was always flowing from past to present to future.

Fang Yuan stood at the edge of Red Lotus' stone island, looking at the River of Time with a tranquil expression and a deep gaze.

The River of Time could be said to be the most special secluded domain of heaven and earth.

Because it traversed the entire world, without its existence and movement, the whole Gu Master world would become a still picture without any changes or vitality.

Fang Yuan had seized Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley, these two secluded domains of heaven and earth belonged to him, but he absolutely could not seize the whole River of Time.

This secluded domain of heaven and earth belonged to all beings of this world.

Every beast, every grass, every rock, every drop of water, they all enjoyed the benefits derived from the River of Time.

Even Gu Immortals could at most only possess a tributary of the River of Time in their immortal aperture.

The River of Time was the collective wealth of the whole world.

Every drop of the water of time was a transparent pale white. A gazillion droplets of water crashed, intertwined, collided, and spun each time, giving off a brilliant light show. Thus, the surface of the River of Time was always covered in a thin layer of ever-changing radiance.

This was the area with the greatest amount of time path dao marks in the whole world, the largest congregation of time path.

Fang Yuan stood at the edge of the island and saw several year beasts, a one finger flow shark, and large numbers of time path wild Gu worms in just a short while of observation.

The River of Time was overflowing with vitality.

Several days had passed since Fang Yuan arrived at this Red Lotus stone island.

In this period of time, he had completely absorbed Red Lotus' true meaning, his time path attainment level soared rapidly, reaching an unimaginable height — time path quasi-supreme grandmaster!

6With this attainment level, Fang Yuan had many new insights when he looked at the River of Time. These feelings were not superficial, instead it pierced into the essence of the River of Time, mesmerizing Fang Yuan the more he looked at it. Pinnacle profundities of the Great Dao were in front of his eyes, quietly lifting a corner of a mysterious veil, allowing him to begin understanding this world and the principle of its operation.

Although he gained refinement path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment previously, his experience at that time had not been as deep as now. After all, Fang Yuan was currently in the secluded domain of heaven and earth, River of Time.

Time path quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment level gave Fang Yuan comprehensive growth in all aspects.

For instance, the mysterious immortal killer move time cutting edge, Fang Yuan now had the ability to completely understand its essence and change the Gu worms involved, restoring its original might.

Another example was Xia Cha's time path Immortal Gu and immortal killer moves, Fang Yuan could now modify them and make them suited for himself.

The greatest growth was in time path Immortal Gu recipes. With both time path and refinement path at quasi-supreme grandmaster level, Fang Yuan had a very high assurance in modifying any time path Immortal Gu recipes and refining time path Immortal Gu.

There was no doubt that Red Lotus' true meaning was the most valuable treasure. Below it was the rank eight Immortal Gu — Regret.

1Not mentioning this Gu's legendary status, just based on its rank eight level, its value was extraordinary.

With this Gu worm, Fang Yuan now had five rank eight Gu worms: Attitude, Wisdom Sword, Years Flow Like Water, Soul Beast Token, and Regret.

1Fang Yuan could now construct Regret Pool with no obstacles.

Of course, difficulty was still there, but the greatest hurdle had become non-existent because of regret Gu. Back when Red Lotus Demon Venerable arranged this true inheritance, he had deduced Fang Yuan's situation and thus prepared a large amount of time path immortal materials.

With regret Gu and time path immortal materials, Fang Yuan only needed to follow the procedures and spend some time to construct Regret Pool. He could even build an Immortal Gu House better than Regret Pool.

With all these, Fang Yuan could begin to refine Gu en masse. On one hand, he could refine a lot more time path Immortal Gu, on the other hand, he could advance the rank of the Immortal Gu he already had.

These time path immortal materials left behind by Red Lotus Demon Venerable were of high rank, the lowest was rank seven while there was a large amount of rank eight immortal materials.

Were Heavenly Court to see this, they would cough out a large mouthful of blood. They tried all methods to disturb Fang Yuan and obstruct him from purchasing time path immortal materials without hesitating on paying a huge price. This had indeed created huge trouble for Fang Yuan, but all their actions turned out to be of no use now.

2Red Lotus' true meaning, rank eight Immortal Gu Regret, large amounts of time path immortal materials, as well as immortal killer moves.

Among the immortal killer moves, the greatest gains were immortal killer moves that used Spring Autumn Cicada as the core. The most important thing Fang Yuan cared about was the spring autumn success killer move, this move used several supplementary Immortal Gu and with the activation of Spring Autumn Cicada, its success rate would reach one hundred percent!

Simply using Spring Autumn Cicada had too low of a success rate, it also had the disadvantage of greatly decreasing luck. But although spring autumn success immortal killer move still had the disadvantage of reducing luck, the failure rate was lowered to zero.

With this move, Spring Autumn Cicada's practicality obtained an enormous boost! Fang Yuan had already decided to prepare this killer move.

Almost all the immortal killer moves were in the form of information and required Fang Yuan to personally prepare them. But one time path killer move had been specially activated by Red Lotus Demon Venerable and left for Fang Yuan. The former rank nine killer move, after over a million years, had its power greatly reduced but was still effective.

The name of this time path killer move — Future Self!

This move relied on the River of Time and Red Lotus' stone island, the Gu Immortal user could temporarily borrow the use of a certain future state of his life.

For instance, a Gu Master who had only rank five cultivation, but in the future, would successfully pass his ascension tribulation and become rank six. Under the use of future self, he could borrow the body of his future Gu Immortal self and temporarily gain a Gu Immortal's cultivation level.

5Even Fang Yuan was speechless at the mysterious and terrifying powers of this move.

Unfortunately, this move had already weakened to rank seven level and was of no use to Fang Yuan.

1In Red Lotus Demon Venerable's deduction, Fang Yuan would have rank seven cultivation when he found this stone island. But Red Lotus Demon Venerable was after all not a wisdom path Immortal Venerable, even if he were a wisdom path Immortal Venerable, there could still be flaws in the deductions. Especially in the situation when fate Gu was injured and luck path emerged, everything had become much more difficult to predict.

"My cultivation is already rank eight, I can only give this future self killer move to my subordinates."

"This can make up for their lack in strength and have the qualifications to participate in my battles."

"What a pity that I lost so much manpower before this."

The complete content of Red Lotus' true inheritance was extremely plentiful and indeed worthy of being Red Lotus Demon Venerable's true inheritance. But Fang Yuan was still slightly disappointed.

The thing he had most expected was some kind of method or a shortcut to pull a fast one and destroy fate Gu.

However, Red Lotus Demon Venerable did not leave behind such things.

Even in the memory left by Red Lotus Demon Venerable, it only portrayed his experiences of becoming an Immortal Venerable and his regretful life later on. As for how he refined Spring Autumn Cicada or how he invaded Heavenly Court and injured fate Gu, there were no memories of them.

The memories had directly skipped to Red Lotus Demon Venerable constructing the Red Lotus stone island after becoming a venerable. What was the deeper meaning behind such an arrangement?

Fang Yuan had inquired before he consumed Red Lotus' true meaning.

The reply of Red Lotus' true meaning was: There was no shortcut to destroying fate Gu. Even if Red Lotus Demon Venerable had exploited some kind of shortcut back then, that shortcut no longer existed now. Don't underestimate Heavenly Court. If there was any shortcut, be extra careful as it should be Heavenly Court's trap!

As for why Red Lotus Demon Venerable did not leave behind more memories, Red Lotus' true meaning did not have an answer. He only gave speculation: "He might not have wanted to point you towards a specific direction because it could easily lead to misunderstandings. Whether or not to destroy fate Gu is your own choice."

Fang Yuan asked: Where are the other Red Lotus stone islands?

Red Lotus' true meaning did not know.

However, this reply was within Fang Yuan's expectation.

If every Red Lotus stone island could mark the other islands' locations, they would have already been taken by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable or Heavenly Court. To prevent such a situation from happening, Red Lotus Demon Venerable specially constructed each Red Lotus stone island separately without the ability to sense the others' locations.

"Fate Gu must be destroyed!"

A Heavenly Court with or without fate Gu were two completely different concepts. If Heavenly Court successfully restored fate Gu, although Fang Yuan would not be bound by the shackles of fate, other people or beings in the world would be influenced or even manipulated by fate.

At that time, Fang Yuan's enemies would be everyone and everything besides him!

This was slightly exaggerated, but it was that serious.

Another more important reason was that fate Gu's existence was the greatest obstacle to Fang Yuan's pursuit of eternal life.

Fate Gu did not allow revival, it stated that all living beings must die.

Thus, no matter what, Fang Yuan would have to destroy fate Gu.

Red Lotus Demon Venerable might have already deduced this, so he was not worried about Fang Yuan's motivation.

-x-X-x-

Inside the sovereign immortal aperture.

Mini Central Continent.

Dark clouds covered the sky as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed.

Fang Yuan's time path clone was standing high in the sky, he was observing the Gu refinement process cautiously to prevent any accidents.

Under the dark clouds, the originally wide plain was now filled with deep craters.

Bolts of lightning struck the ground, smashing the earth and creating half-spherical craters. The soil inside the crater was refined into a ceramic-like structure with smoke rising up from them.

"The time is right, my main body should be making a move!" The time path clone just had this thought when countless lightning bolts converged together into one enormous lightning bolt!

Boom—!

The deep blue lightning bolt resembling a heavenly pillar struck a white boulder at the center of the plain fiercely.

Instantly, the white boulder was split into pieces by the lightning bolt, countless fragmented rocks flew out everywhere.

The lightning was incomparably fierce, it had suddenly converged together and vanished just as suddenly.

The white boulder that was the size of a hill exploded, but a small Gu worm floated in the air.

The Gu worm was in the form of a butterfly with various colors, it was man as before Immortal Gu.

"I finally succeeded after failing six times, not bad, not bad!" Fang Yuan's time path clone was exulted upon seeing this.

Man as Before came from Tai Bai Yun Sheng, its origin could be traced back to Purple Mountain True Monarch.

The original man as before Immortal Gu was only rank six, which was only effective in healing rank six Gu Immortals and had barely passable effects on rank seven, often failing in its activation. Its effect on rank eight was even more abysmal. Fang Yuan could use it effectively because of his sovereign immortal body's characteristic — different kinds of dao marks did not conflict with each other. But now that he was currently rank eight, rank six Man as Before was clearly too weak.

But now, man as before Immortal Gu was successfully advanced from rank six to rank seven!

Fang Yuan's time path clone inspected it carefully and soon discovered the difference between rank seven Man as Before and the rank six version.

They both had the shape of a butterfly, but the rank seven Man as Before was much more dazzling. Moreover, there was a change in the butterfly's body, it looked like a tiny naked and pale person.

Although rank eight Man as Before was more suitable for Fang Yuan, he was currently satisfied with advancing it to rank seven.

Refining rank eight Immortal Gu would need countless cultivation resources which Fang Yuan currently did not have the ability to bear.

Back then, Old Ancestor Xue Hu had almost emptied out his accumulation to refine rank eight Fortune Rivalling Heaven, every member of Snowy Mountain blessed land had complained about it. What's more, Old Ancestor Xue Hu had cultivated for much longer than Fang Yuan in this life.

1This was unless Fang Yuan spent his entire fortune like selling Dang Hun Mountain, Luo Po Valley, Reverse Flow River, or wisdom Gu to exchange for countless resources. But that was not worth the loss, Man as Before might be a superior Gu, but it was not a crucial Gu worm like Spring Autumn Cicada.

Fang Yuan did not have the extravagant hope of refining rank eight Immortal Gu. He intended to advance most of his rank six Immortal Gu to rank seven.

Because of the high quantity and the difficulty of Gu refinement along with high failure rate, even if Fang Yuan invested all his current resources, it would hardly be enough.

Fang Yuan had gained batches after batches of cultivation resources from the grotto-heaven of the Five Xiangs, Qi clan's grotto-heaven, the Blue Dragon Whale grotto-heaven as well as Red Lotus' stone island.

However, Gu refinement was a bottomless pit, no matter how much investment was done, it would never be high enough.

Fortunately, Fang Yuan obtained regret Gu, which he used to construct a refinement path Gu formation that allowed a small portion of the Gu refinement process to be done again if it failed.

When Fang Yuan's time path clone took the rank seven man as before Immortal Gu, the dark clouds had already vanished. The refinement path Gu formation slowly activated and along with the killer move self cleansing, they cleaned the dao mark traces left at the scene.

"Next is Landscape as Before." The time path clone thought.

In the list of Gu refinement plans, Man as Before and Landscape as Before were at the top but there were still a lot more left.

For example, day Gu, Self Strength, Pulling Mountain, Strength Qi, Vajra Thought, Star Eyes, Star Thought...

Unravel mystery Immortal Gu was also important, after its rank was advanced, it could greatly increase the power of unravel dream, which was extremely beneficial in Fang Yuan's dream path cultivation.

There were also Dog Shit Luck, Qi Luck, Luck Inspection, Connect Luck, and Time Luck, these luck path Immortal Gu would also be an enormous help after they were advanced.

Fang Yuan was lacking offensive methods in luck path, but its support function could not be neglected. Previously, Fang Yuan had used his luck path superiority to get rid of the pursuit of the multiple time path Immortal Gu Houses of Heavenly Court.

Advancing the ranks of Immortal Gu was all done by Fang Yuan's main body, the time path clone did not have enough qualifications because of low cultivation level.

After receiving Red Lotus' true inheritance, Fang Yuan continued to stay in Red Lotus' stone island.

Besides him repeatedly refining Gu, Bai Ning Bing, Hei Lou Lan and so on were also moving around on the island. They exchanged pointers with each other and did their best to adapt to their future self.

Under the effect of future self, their battle strength climbed to first-rate or even the peak of rank seven.

This was already the limit of the killer move.

With his subordinates' strength rising to this level, there would no longer be awkward situations like before. Next time Fang Yuan battled, these people would have the minimum qualification to take part in the battle.

The regrettable thing was that Fairy Miao Yin, Lady White Rabbit, and Sixth Hair were dead. Although Fang Yuan still had several enslaved Gu Immortals like Qi clan's Gu Immortals, these people were far less reliable than the former. They were bound by a slave agreement which could very well dissipate under the power of their future self. So, Fang Yuan did not intend to elevate them even though the future self killer move could still be used on several more people.

Advancing Immortal Gu became Fang Yuan's most important project and occupied almost all of his time. Occasionally, he used Fixed Immortal Travel's killer move to teleport to the Five Xiangs grotto-heaven and continue refining the killer move heaven form.

Fang Yuan had already obtained the true inheritance and was the owner of this Red Lotus stone island, thus he could use Fixed Immortal Travel to travel back and forth.

Before this, this Red Lotus stone island had been protected by Red Lotus Demon Venerable's strength, which prevented methods like Fixed Immortal Travel.

This was the same situation as in the immortal aperture inside the blue dragon whale.

Fang Yuan had already tested it but unfortunately, he was unable to return to the dragon whale grotto-heaven with Fixed Immortal Travel.

Also, Spring Autumn Cicada might have reached rank seven, which expanded its detection range, but Fang Yuan did not go to look for other Red Lotus stone islands.

Firstly, his current strength had not increased a lot, he still needed to process his gains.

Secondly, Heavenly Court was also searching in the River of Time, Fang Yuan would have to avoid them if he ran into them.

Finally, Fang Yuan's rank eight immortal essence reserve was still accumulating because advancing Immortal Gu spent a lot of immortal essence.

Time passed, several months went by quickly.

Southern Border.

Boom—!

Earth tremored and mountains shook, rocks and stones flew in all directions as an Earth Trench appeared. The vast aura of a wild Immortal Gu spread everywhere.

"This wild Immortal Gu has finally appeared!" In the clouds, three Gu Immortals looked at the ground with smiles on their face.

"Alright, let's compete according to the agreement we set earlier."

"Yes. Earth veins are stirring more intensely and wild Immortal Gu appear from time to time. We need to finish our battle quickly."

The three Gu Immortals fought fairly, the atmosphere was harmonious.

The influence of Southern Border's righteous path super force alliance was becoming increasingly larger.

Previously, Wu Yong led the Southern Alliance but was unable to deal with Fang Yuan, instead Fang Yuan used the pretense of undergoing tribulation to plot a trap in five regional mountain range. But it was not like the Southern Alliance had no gains, they obtained Tao Zhu's true inheritance. After Lu Wei Yin rescued many Southern Border rank seven Gu Immortals from Fang Yuan's hands, he represented Paradise Earth's force and officially joined the Southern Alliance.

It was perhaps due to Fang Yuan that the Southern Alliance's righteous path Gu Immortals restrained themselves, as they had a common enemy.

They were inwardly apprehensive that as Southern Border's earth veins fluctuated repeatedly and cultivation resources appeared one after the other, Fang Yuan might suddenly come to fight over them. So, Southern Alliance Gu Immortals did not fight each other to death, instead their fights became controlled.

Heavenly Court.

Fairy Zi Wei's brows rose up in joy when she heard the report.

"Dragon Palace has been found! This is good news, Lord Duke Long had all along been searching for it and now, our Heavenly Court has discovered the Immortal Gu House Dragon Palace."

Dragon Palace was an extremely powerful Immortal Gu House, even Heavenly Court placed great importance on it.

"This Immortal Gu House has a deep relationship with Lord Duke Long, I should tell him this news first."

When Duke Long obtained this news, he immediately brought Feng Jin Huang to Heavenly Court and handed her over to Fairy Zi Wei to look after.

Several days later, Duke Long returned without anything.

Fairy Zi Wei was surprised, Duke Long was extremely powerful, in this current world, what methods could actually obstruct him?

"Dragon Palace is actually surrounded by a layer of dream realm, I cannot enter it." Duke Long sighed.

Fairy Zi Wei immediately understood the reason after hearing this reply, she consoled Duke Long: "Lord Duke Long, you do not need to worry, the formation is already ready, it can use the strength of the whole of Heavenly Court's grotto-heaven to suppress Spectral Soul. We will soon obtain his dream path research results."

Duke Long laughed joyfully and said 'good' three times.

Spectral Soul's dream path research results naturally referred to the Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique. With this method, Heavenly Court could condense dream realms into Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique bodies, the dream realm surrounding Dragon Palace would be easily removed.

"That demon Fang Yuan has made no move recently?" Duke Long asked.

Fairy Zi Wei shook her head: "Ever since he escaped from the River of Time, there has been no news of him. Currently, all five regions are facing frequent movements of earth veins with Southern Border's situation being the greatest, countless cultivation resources are being churned out. I really hoped he tried to loot these resources and gave us the opportunity to track him. But unfortunately, it is like he has completely disappeared, I have been using wisdom path methods to analyze every bit of information but have not been able to find his traces."

Duke Long nodded: "Continue to pay attention to him, even though this demon has reached rank eight, he has to face stronger calamities and tribulations now. This will definitely give him a headache. Although he can annex apertures with the sovereign immortal body, he needs rank eight grotto-heavens to skip grand tribulations. Furthermore, there is still the even more terrifying myriad tribulation!"

Even Fairy Zi Wei felt her heart palpitate when she heard the mention of myriad tribulation, she nodded with a smile: "Lord Duke Long is right, Fang Yuan might have advanced to rank eight but how many rank eight grotto-heavens are there for him to annex? His cultivation won't change much within a short period of time."

"Currently, Fang Yuan lacks resources, especially time path resources. It will be almost impossible for him to face the arrangements we made in the River of Time, that means he will have no chance at getting Red Lotus' true inheritance."

"Although he escaped before, his immortal essence expenditure was extremely huge and nearly all his trump cards were exposed. He needs to quickly accumulate rank eight immortal essence, because relying on immortal essence stones has too low efficiency, he can only rely on his immortal aperture's self-production. But the immortal aperture's self-production requires time, if he quickens the rate of time of his immortal aperture, he will also accelerate the arrival of his calamities and tribulations as well."

"Once he has no more immortal apertures to annex, he will have to face tribulations."

"The time he undergoes his tribulation will be the time our Heavenly Court takes his life!"

Fairy Zi Wei's eyes glistened brightly when she said this.

Duke Long nodded, looking at Fairy Zi Wei with praise: "With you taking charge of Heavenly Court, I am at ease."