250 RI
"Come!" Duke Long suddenly appeared above Dragon Palace.
An immense suction force sent the rank eight Immortal Gu House slowly towards Duke Long's phantom aperture even though it resisted him desperately.
The other rank eight Gu Immortals saw this and went over, using their killer moves on Duke Long.
Duke Long sighed as he vanished on the spot.
Without restraint, Dragon Palace flew out of the sea, into the sky once again.
Eastern Sea's rank eights were about to chase it when Duke Long appeared in the sky again, obstructing their paths.
Dragon roars resounded again, Duke Long moved like lightning, flickering around the rank eight Gu Immortals effortlessly, the intense battle created loud explosions resembling an unceasing thunderstorm, countless innocent lifeforms were implicated, huge tsunamis were created on the sea surface.
Without Feng Jin Huang burdening him, Duke Long displayed terrifying battle strength, nobody present could match him equally.
However, these Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortals all had deep foundations, they had their own trump cards.
Even though they were losing to Duke Long, their lives were not endangered. They were wary of each other originally, but against Duke Long, they could cooperate seamlessly.
At once, Eastern Sea's righteous path, demonic path, and even lone cultivators worked together to fight Duke Long.
Duke Long felt increasing pressure.
His outburst earlier suppressed everyone, it was because he had concealed himself earlier and managed to catch all of the Eastern Sea rank eights off-guard with that one attack.
But as the battle continued, Duke Long's methods were slowly discerned by the Eastern Sea Gu Immortals, they started to find counters or appropriate methods to deal with them.
In this world, there were no invincible Immortal Gu or immortal killer moves, there were only invincible Gu Immortals.
Any immortal killer move, no matter how complex, had a structure, it would have advantages and weaknesses.
Duke Long was very powerful indeed, none of the Eastern Sea rank eights were his match. But this situation was special, everyone was trying to get the Immortal Gu House, nobody wanted to fight him to the death. As the Immortal Gu House flew continuously all over the battlefield, Duke Long could not set up a battlefield to trap it.
Dragon claws moved like a tornado, many Eastern Sea rank eights were forced back, Duke Long crashed into Dragon Palace as he grabbed it with his hand.
At once, a pair of huge phantom dragon claws appeared and tightly grasped Dragon Palace.
Dragon Palace shook intensely, it shattered the phantom dragon claws as it escaped.
Duke Long sighed, this situation had already happened many times. It was not easy to take Dragon Palace, he had to fight off the competitors first before trying to subdue it. But Dragon Palace was a rank eight Immortal Gu House after all, it had great power and could not be taken easily.
Duke Long's many attempts ended in failure.
"Duke Long is too strong, what do we do?"
"When he fights seriously, we will have no chance to get close to Dragon Palace, not to mention obtain it!"
"Duke Long is the only one attempting now, thankfully this Immortal Gu House is strong enough!"
"We cannot let this go on. Dragon Palace's resistance is getting weaker, Duke Long will subdue it eventually."
Eastern Sea's rank eight Gu Immortals all had injuries, they communicated with each other as they wanted others to use their trump cards against Duke Long.
Getting to rank eight, who would not have their own secret trump cards?
These immortal killer moves were definitely very powerful or mysterious and profound, but nobody wanted to expose them. Nobody could say for sure if their killer moves would fail in such a complex battle environment.
The stronger the killer move, the greater the backlash.
Even Duke Long was not using his triple qi retraction killer move.
Not that he did not want to use it, but the risks were too great, he could likely cripple himself.
When he fought against Purple Mountain True Monarch earlier, he had probed multiple times, only until he was sure that the enemy did not have other methods did he unleash triple qi retraction in the end.
Right now in this situation, if Duke Long used triple qi retraction and the enemy coincidentally countered it, what would happen?
These Eastern Sea rank eights were numerous and they all had deep foundations, who knew what methods they truly possessed!
Notched arrows were the most threatening. Gu Immortals who concealed their killer moves were also very threatening.
River of Time.
Immortal killer move — Summer Fan!
Fang Yuan was still in his immemorial year monkey form, his killer move activated successfully as he grabbed towards the space in front of him.
A huge fan with a long handle appeared out of nowhere, held in his hands.
"Bing Sai Chuan, get aside!"
Fang Yuan twisted his waist as he gathered strength in his arms, waving the fan ferociously.
Gush!! Wild winds blew, sweeping ahead as the storm sent Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and Shark Flow Lever into a tornado, restraining them as they flew outside of the river suppression lotus sealing formation.
But at the crucial moment, Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang flew out of their Immortal Gu Houses, charging at Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan.
Even though they did not cultivate time path, the river suppression lotus sealing formation did not break apart, time path was restricted in the formation as other paths were amplified.
Heavenly Court sent rank seven Gu Immortals which were elites, they worked together during this period and were able to mostly repair the river suppression lotus sealing formation, even though the hole was still present, it had become much smaller.
"Five Elements Grandmaster, quickly use your profound light!" Fang Yuan shouted.
Five Elements Grandmaster's voice came from within Year End Gatehouse: "I cannot use it a second time in this short period, this formation has been modified by a lot, the previous profound light will be ineffective now."
Immortal killer move — Song Warrior!
Feng Jiu Ge's body shook as four song warriors emerged, encircling Fang Yuan.
Xing Ye Wang's body was covered in starlight specks as he stabbed towards Bing Sai Chuan like a hedgehog.
Bing Sai Chuan and Fang Yuan looked at each other before flying up and abandoning their enemies, targeting the river suppression lotus sealing formation instead.
This was the wisest plan.
As long as the river suppression lotus sealing formation was destroyed, Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang would have to return to their Immortal Gu Houses.
Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang quickly tried to stop them, while Five Elements Grandmaster continued to control his immortal formation to trap the Eternal Yacht that Qing Ye was controlling.
In the intense battle, river suppression lotus sealing formation shook more and more intensely, more cracks were appearing as it endured Fang Yuan's and Bing Sai Chuan's attacks.
However, Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and Shark Flow Lever, which Fang Yuan blew away earlier, had reentered the battlefield, Fang Yuan and Longevity Heaven were starting to be suppressed.
"Fang Yuan, you still refuse to trust me now?" The situation was dire, Bing Sai Chuan shouted in anxiety.
Fang Yuan's eyes shined with bright light, he snorted coldly as he approached Bing Sai Chuan.
Bing Sai Chuan spread his arms as a ball shaped light shield appeared around him and Fang Yuan.
This was his defensive immortal killer move, anything that hit the light shield, be it lifeforms or killer moves, would freeze in time.
"Break it!" Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang shouted together.
Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and Shark Flow Lever erupted with powerful attacks, targeting Bing Sai Chuan's light shield.
But any killer move that landed on it froze in time, at once, there was a myriad of colorful attacks surrounding the light shield, it was a dazzling sight.
Bing Sai Chuan gritted his teeth, his body shook as he sustained the shield.
Even though he had rank eight peak battle strength, in this formation, time path was suppressed, at the same time, he was facing the attack of two rank eight Gu Immortals and two Immortal Gu Houses, it was not easy.
Fang Yuan obtained this prime opportunity, he dispelled immemorial year monkey transformation and activated emperor yama.
At this point in the battle, he finally obtained a chance to change his battle tactic.
Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang had rich battle experiences, they did not give Fang Yuan any opportunity to change his transformation, he was often interrupted.
After becoming emperor yama, Fang Yuan started to use his killer moves.
His aura surged rapidly from weak to strong, and from strong to a terrifying level.
Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang had solemn expressions, they were very alert.
At this point, Fang Yuan finally had the time to unleash his trump card.
Immortal killer move — Luo Po Seal!
"Be careful!" Bing Sai Chuan gritted his teeth as he dispelled his defensive killer move, moving forward.
Without obstruction, the frozen attacks from earlier struck towards Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan.
Bing Sai Chuan stood in front and paved a way for Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan held onto Luo Po seal as he waited in anticipation, he charged towards Xing Ye Wang while enduring the attacks.
Xing Ye Wang quickly retreated while Feng Jiu Ge went around, trying to attack Fang Yuan from the rear.
Fang Yuan suddenly laughed coldly, he flew up and shot Luo Po seal towards the river suppression lotus sealing formation.
The huge formation stopped working, several rank seven Gu Immortals inside died on the spot.
Bing Sai Chuan suddenly felt the pressure lifting, swoosh swoosh, large amounts of water from the River of Time gushed into the formation.
Immediately after, with cracking noises, river suppression lotus sealing formation disintegrated piece by piece.
Five Elements Grandmaster was deeply shocked: "Fang Yuan's Luo Po seal actually attacked the core of the formation and destroyed the core Immortal Gu, how did he deduce it?"
Boom!
Feng Jiu Ge's attack landed on Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan's attention was on destroying the formation, he could only endure Feng Jiu Ge's ferocious attack.
Even in emperor yama form, Fang Yuan spat out three mouthfuls of blood, large numbers of soul path Gu worms died and multiple Immortal Gu were injured.
Without the formation's help, the battle environment changed rapidly, Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan obtained the upper hand again.
Both sides fought for a while, the river suppression lotus sealing formation had about one-third of its original size left, the remaining rank seven Gu Immortals were desperately holding on, but the formation was just a step away from destruction, they had no hope left.
"Cover me!" Fang Yuan said to Bing Sai Chuan.
Bing Sai Chuan used the ball shaped light shield, protecting Fang Yuan as he dispelled emperor yama, turning into the immemorial year monkey again.
"Cover me!" Feng Jiu Ge shouted the same thing.
Xing Ye Wang and the two Immortal Gu Houses surrounded Feng Jiu Ge immediately.
Immortal killer move — Assimilation Wind Song!
Feng Jiu Ge took a huge risk and successfully summoned the number one wind in the world!
Bing Sai Chuan broke out in sweat as he shouted to Fang Yuan: "Oh no, my defensive killer move cannot block the winds of assimilation, let's retreat!"
But out of their expectations, the winds of assimilation did not target the defensive shield, it attacked the stone lotus island.
Under Fang Yuan's shocked gaze, the stone lotus island was devoured by the winds of assimilation, the fragments were assimilated into wind.
The winds of assimilation became larger and larger, if anyone tried to get onto the island, they would have to face this world-destroying wind!
"Feng Jiu Ge, you!" Bing Sai Chuan was furious and anxious.
Fang Yuan's expression was ashen.
"If we cannot get it, neither will you." Xing Ye Wang laughed wildly.
-x-X-x-
The winds of assimilation ravaged in the River of Time.
When Feng Jiu Ge used assimilation wind song, there were sounds of howling winds. But when the actual winds of assimilation started blowing, it became extremely quiet, there was no sound at all.
The quiet winds of assimilation made every Gu Immortal present feel a chill down their spine.
The stone lotus island was continuously eroded by the winds of assimilation until it completely vanished, the winds grew larger and larger, multiple times its initial size after devouring the stone lotus island, it was like a pillar that supported heaven and earth.
However, it could not display its might in the River of Time, even though a lot of water was assimilated into wind, the entire River of Time did not budge, it had lost a completely negligible amount of water.
Even though the winds of assimilation were powerful, against the River of Time, it was too small, like a tiny insect on a bull.
All the Gu Immortals and Immortal Gu Houses had to steer clear of the winds of assimilation, Feng Jiu Ge was no exception.
"The stone lotus island was really destroyed!" Fang Yuan was deeply shocked, earlier when he wanted to get on the island, he was repelled by its protection force. To think that it was completely helpless against the winds of assimilation.
"Don't tell me this formation played a role in suppressing the stone lotus island earlier? Or was the island already at its limit, so it could not block the winds of assimilation?"
Fang Yuan watched as the river suppression lotus sealing formation continued to break apart.
Feng Jiu Ge also had a heavy feeling.
Even though he destroyed the stone lotus island, in his opinion, he had failed.
In order to find Red Lotus' true inheritances, Heavenly Court had paid a huge price in manpower and resources, they managed to find a stone lotus island after so much work, and trapped it using the river suppression lotus sealing formation. But to think that Fang Yuan and Longevity Heaven worked together to obstruct them.
Feng Jiu Ge had no choice but to destroy the stone lotus island, all of their hard work had been wasted.
But nobody could blame him for his actions.
Because it was necessary!
After the river suppression lotus sealing formation got hit by Luo Po seal, it was definitely going to break apart. Once the formation breaks, Feng Jiu Ge and Xing Ye Wang would be forced to return to the Immortal Gu House.
This way, Heavenly Court's side would lose their battle strength.
In contrast, Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan would be like fish in water in this River of Time, without the formation restraining them, their battle strength would surge.
The enemy was strong while they were weaker, Feng Jiu Ge had no confidence in continuing the struggle, Fang Yuan would obtain the stone lotus island eventually. Thus, when there was still a chance, he decided to cut his losses short by destroying the stone lotus island.
"Such resolution." A sharp light flashed in Fang Yuan's eyes, he did not hide his praise.
Bing Sai Chuan sighed deeply, showing a dejected look.
He was hoping to find some way to destroy fate Gu from the Red Lotus true inheritance, but now, even though Fang Yuan had the key Spring Autumn Cicada, the stone lotus island was already destroyed.
He was very disappointed, he did not know that Fang Yuan had already obtained one true inheritance in secret!
Fang Yuan was obviously not going to tell Longevity Heaven about this, even Heavenly Court was in the dark.
Rumble!
With a chain of loud explosions, the heavily damaged river suppression lotus sealing formation broke, most of the Immortal Gu were destroyed, while the Gu Immortals controlling the formation died one by one.
1River water moved in as huge waves were formed, the River of Time was restored to normal.
"Let's retreat!" Feng Jiu Ge gritted his teeth as he spoke.
The battle was not in Heavenly Court's favor.
Even though they had three rank eight Gu Immortals, in this situation, even if Duke Long came, they would not win.
Feng Jiu Ge and the rest were not time path Gu Immortals, they could only hide in the Immortal Gu Houses, relying on them to fight.
And these time path Immortal Gu Houses were only rank seven, if they had one rank eight time path Immortal Gu House, Heavenly Court would have a chance of victory!
Even though Heavenly Court had immense foundation, it was not without limits.
Firstly, after Lord Huang Shi died, they no longer had any time path rank eight Gu Immortals. Even though they created four time path Immortal Gu Houses, they were only rank seven. Heavenly Court did not have the ability to create a rank eight time path Immortal Gu House in such a short period of time!
Actually, Fairy Zi Wei's arrangements were not wrong.
Even though Fang Yuan obtained a Red Lotus true inheritance and modified most of his killer moves, while also raising the rank of his Immortal Gu, his increase in battle strength did not make this battle any easier, Fang Yuan alone could not obtain this Red Lotus true inheritance.
Heavenly Court did not expect that Longevity Heaven would suddenly cooperate with Fang Yuan.
After all, Fang Yuan destroyed Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, there was deep enmity between Fang Yuan and Longevity Heaven. This was not just simple hatred, Fang Yuan did not just destroy a rank eight Immortal Gu House, he destroyed Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's arrangements, the pride and glory of the Huang Jin tribes.
"Longevity Heaven actually gave up on revenge and cooperated with Fang Yuan. Is this because of Bing Sai Chuan?" Feng Jiu Ge returned to Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and looked at Bing Sai Chuan, frowning.
Heavenly Court's three Immortal Gu Houses were retreating rapidly.
Fang Yuan roared, he turned into the immemorial year monkey and chased after them.
Bing Sai Chuan fought side by side with him.
The two had powerful and ferocious attacks, they aimed at Heavenly Court's three Immortal Gu Houses.
Even though there were three rank eights on Heavenly Court's side, they could only defend, resist attacks, and escape.
Present and Past Pavilion finally broke out of Bing Sai Chuan's killer move, it quickly flew out of the River of Time, appearing above the surface.
The three Xunzi were very angry, they wanted to attack Fang Yuan, but they saw that the three Heavenly Court Immortal Gu Houses were escaping, the river suppression lotus sealing formation had broken up, the rank seven Gu Immortals controlling the formation had almost all died, the remaining few were struggling in the River of Time, they were not far from dying.
"Quickly retreat!" Feng Jiu Ge transmitted.
The three Xunzi gulped as they quickly joined the group and escaped.
Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan, as well as Five Elements Grandmaster controlling Year End Gatehouse, chased after them.
These four Immortal Gu Houses were very sturdy, they defended each other and were hard to catch.
But Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan got stronger as they fought, in this River of Time, their battle strength was far above their usual standards.
"The tributary of the River of Time is close by, we are about to escape!" Qing Ye shouted, raising the morale of the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals.
"Want to leave? Not so easy!" Fang Yuan laughed sinisterly, shortening their distance.
"All of you retreat, we will block them!" The three Xunzi were resolved to die, they stayed behind along with the tattered Present and Past Pavilion.
As the three Xunzi stalled for time desperately, the other three Immortal Gu Houses managed to escape through the tributary of the River of Time.
Present and Past Pavilion was completely destroyed, the three Xunzi died as well.
Fang Yuan was filled with regret that he did not capture any rank eight Gu Immortal, this was a really good chance.
Fang Yuan did not want to chase after them, in the outside world, Feng Jiu Ge and the rest could fight normally.
He swept through the battlefield and collected the immortal apertures, annexing them.
Bing Sai Chuan and Five Elements Grandmaster did not move, they watched by the side.
There were quite a few rank seven Gu Immortals who died, they did not have qualification to join Heavenly Court so they still retained their rank seven immortal apertures.
Fang Yuan annexed them and made great gains.
"Let's go to Eastern Sea." After a while, Fang Yuan suggested.
Longevity Heaven had displayed their fullest sincerity in the battle over Red Lotus true inheritance, they were reliable allies for now.
Both sides had the same goal, to prevent Heavenly Court from repairing fate Gu.
If Heavenly Court obtained the complete fate Gu, they would regain their former glory, they would threaten the other four regions.
After staying for a while in the River of Time, Fang Yuan and Bing Sai Chuan confirmed that the Red Lotus true inheritance was truly destroyed. Even though they did not obtain it, they had managed to stop Heavenly Court from getting it, this result was neither defeat nor victory.
Soon, Fang Yuan and the rest left the River of Time, heading to Eastern Sea to stop Duke Long.
But along the way, they heard that the commotion in Eastern Sea was over, the outcome had been determined.
The eventual victor of this battle over Dragon Palace was Duke Long! Duke Long had incredible battle strength, he suppressed the Eastern Sea rank eights, afterwards, Heavenly Court's new member, rank eight Gu Immortal Chen Yi went there with an Immortal Gu House. At the crucial moment, Eastern Sea's lone immortal Yang Jun suddenly turned to help Duke Long, allowing him to successfully suppress the rank eight Immortal Gu House and keep it.
But Duke Long suffered heavy injuries as a result.
At the final moment, Eastern Sea's rank eights stopped holding back, they used their trump cards.
But it was already too late, after getting the Immortal Gu House, Duke Long left immediately without second thought.
"To think that this rank eight lone immortal Yang Jun was recruited by Heavenly Court!" Five Elements Grandmaster shook his head continuously. He was once a lone immortal too, but he had become a member of Longevity Heaven now.
"That might not be the case, Yang Jun might have been Heavenly Court's spy in Eastern Sea from the start." Fang Yuan thought of Prince Feng Xian in Northern Plains, he was a spy implanted into Northern Plains from the start, his identity had not been exposed.
Fang Yuan looked at Bing Sai Chuan for a moment, deciding to continue keeping this as a secret.
-x-X-x-
Central Continent regional wall.
"Go, quickly go!"
"Catch up, don't break away from the group."
A group of Western Desert Gu Masters shouted as they ran.
Behind them, the ground tore open, like a giant beast opening its mouth to devour people.
"Ahh—!"
"Save me!!"
Amidst cries and screams, a small group of people at the back fell into the Earth Trench, most of them were smashed to bits, those that luckily survived would also die eventually.
"Father, I can't hold on anymore!" Zhang Ping was a young man who had just become a rank two Gu Master, he was showing a flustered expression now, his primeval essence had already dried up.
"Oh no." Zhang Quan was a rank three Gu Master, he was covered in sweat now. He was already trying his best, using his killer move to not only move himself but also his son Zhang Ping.
If Zhang Ping ran out of primeval essence, Zhang Quan's killer move would be ineffective on him. By then, Zhang Ping would become very slow, Zhang Quan would be helpless as he watched his son fall into the abyss.
"What should I do?" Zhang Quan was helpless and anxious.
He regretted his decision deeply, if he had known this, he would not have brought his son to join the Central Continent Refinement Path Convention!
He had considered this because of his son's refinement path talent, he wanted to train his ability and gain more knowledge. But to think that they encountered an earth vein tremor while crossing the regional wall.
Right when Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping were despairing, the sight in front of them cleared up.
Zhang Quan was dazed before reacting, they had passed Central Continent's regional wall, they had arrived in Central Continent.
Because of earth vein tremors, other than causing lots of Earth Trenches, Gu materials, and Gu worms to appear, the five region's regional walls were also shrinking.
Right now, Gu Masters needed less than half the time to cross two region's regional walls compared to before.
"But so what?" Zhang Quan sighed deeply.
Zhang Ping was out of primeval essence and stamina, Zhang Quan had to carry him, but because of this, their speed was very slow, they were almost about to get devoured by the Earth Trench.
At the crucial moment, a mystical light shot towards them as the remaining Gu Masters were all brought into the sky.
The Earth Trench parted below their feet, soon, a huge and unfathomably deep abyss formed below them.
Only until they landed on the periphery of the Earth Trench did the mystical light enveloping these Gu Masters disappear.
"What is going on?"
"Who saved us?"
"Such an incredible method, I'm afraid it has to be a great Gu Immortal who saved all of us!"
The Gu Masters were all extremely excited from surviving that, they started talking among themselves.
Above the sky where they could not see, a Spirit Butterfly Valley Gu Immortal smiled kindly as he retreated his gaze from these Gu Masters.
The Gu Immortal flew rapidly, patrolling the area.
Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention had begun, many Gu Masters had been coming here for the last few days from the other four regions.
The Gu Immortal was a member of Central Continent's ten great ancient sects, he had received a compulsory mission from the sect to patrol this area and prevent the demonic path from causing trouble.
Many Gu Immortals received the same mission as him. These were all members of the ten great ancient sects, some independent sects, or even slave Gu Immortals captured by the ten great ancient sects, as well as lone immortals close to the ten sects.
This time, Heavenly Court held the Central Continent Refinement Path Convention, security was extremely strict, it was unprecedented.
Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping's group was luckily saved by the Gu Immortal, retaining their lives.
After getting into Central Continent, they rested for a while before going to the closest sign up spot.
Central Continent Refinement Path Convention had many sign up spots, they were evenly distributed all over Central Continent.
A few days later, Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping arrived at Scorpion Needle Sect with some Gu Masters that had similar objectives.
This was an ordinary sect, its specialty was in raising Gu that resembled scorpions, they were most famous for scorpion needle Gu. This was an offensive Gu worm, once used, it could shoot out scorpion needles. The needles were sharp and fast, they were poisonous and hard to deal with.
Scorpion Needle Sect had already made the arrangements.
Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping walked into the registration hall, it was packed with people.
A large portion were Central Continent locals, the remaining were like them who had come from the western region.
Scorpion Needle Sect was situated near Western Desert, many Western Desert Gu Masters came here to sign up.
The Central Continent Refinement Path Convention always attracted countless Gu Masters to participate, this time was no exception.
Following the procedures, Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping were brought into a hall for assessment.
The test only had four questions, it was not easy but not hard either. The test was regarding basic skills, any Gu Master with enough experience can pass, those who were trying their luck would be eliminated, to save on resources and manpower.
Zhang Quan and Zhang Ping passed the test without any unexpected surprises, they successfully signed up.
After getting out of the hall, they held a token each.
The token recorded the participant's name, sect, path, and the time and location of his test.
When a Gu Master signs up, their names could be fake, their paths and sects could also be kept secret.
Because of this, during every Central Continent Refinement Path Convention, a large number of lone cultivators, demonic path members, and even Gu Immortals would join while concealing their identity.
"A hundred primeval stones per person signing up, this is too expensive." Zhang Ping kept his token as he said grudgingly.
"So you must perform well this time, don't waste our investment." Zhang Quan looked at Zhang Ping with a gaze of anticipation.
"Yes." Zhang Ping nodded: "Oh yes, father, I saw that many Central Continent Gu Masters signed up directly, they did not need to take the test."
Zhang Quan smiled: "These people had gotten a certain position in the previous convention, they are able to join it directly now."
"Father, didn't you get a placing yourself in the last convention? Why do you have to pay again?" Zhang Ping did not understand.
Zhang Quan shook his head: "That is because I am not a Central Continent person, only Central Continent Gu Masters have this treatment."
"So that's it." Zhang Ping nodded.
This was clearly favoritism towards the locals, it was unfair but the young Zhang Ping soon accepted it.
This was Central Continent's territory after all, the convention was also held in Central Continent, what's wrong with helping their own people?
And this was not unfair either, because this test only looked at the basics, any Gu Master with refinement path attainment could pass it.
"The Refinement Path Convention is about to begin." In Heavenly Court, Duke Long used his investigative killer move as he paid attention to the situation in Central Continent.
His face was still pale now, his injuries sustained from obtaining Dragon Palace had not healed.
"This Refinement Path Convention will be very crucial, oh Red Lotus, do you know, after this convention, fate Gu will be fully restored." Duke Long's eyes became dazed as scenes of the past surfaced in his mind.
"Spring Autumn Cicada? You actually designed such a heretical Immortal Gu, Hong Ting, what are you trying to do?" After learning of this, Duke Long immediately went to find Red Lotus Immortal Venerable, Hong Ting.
Hong Ting clenched his fists, saying to Duke Long: "Master, I've already said it before, I want to revive them, let everything start over again."
"You!" Duke Long pointed at Hong Ting, he was shivering from anger.
Hong Ting lowered his head: "Master, scold me if you want, beat me if you want, but I will never give up!"
Duke Long looked at Hong Ting angrily, he did not scold him, instead, he sighed after a long while of silence: "Hong Ting, my disciple, you are too naive. Even if you are an Immortal Venerable, what can you do to fate? Go ahead and try, I won't stop you. You will definitely fail, but I hope that countless failures can wake you up."
1Many days later.
"Master..." Hong Ting was covered in injuries but he was extremely excited, he came before Duke Long: "I finally found the only hope, I am about to succeed, I will definitely change fate!"
"How can that be possible?!" Duke Long did not believe him at all.
"I am relying on this — love Gu. I had obtained inspiration from <
Duke Long was extremely furious and shocked: "Heresy, blasphemy, Hong Ting, don't forget your identity! You are a righteous path Immortal Venerable, you want to change history, do you know that such actions will have an unimaginably bad effect?"
"Oh master!" Hong Ting raised his head, looking at Duke Long with glimmering eyes: "You still don't understand?"
"Understand what?"
"Times have changed! The hearts of the people have changed too. Our generation does not need restrictions..."
2Before Hong Ting finished his words, Duke Long shouted: "Enough! You actually said fate Gu is a form of restriction? Hong Ting, enough is enough, at this rate, you will fall into the demonic path! I... I do not want to exterminate you in the name of justice!!!"
Breathing in deeply, Duke Long regained clarity in his eyes.
His memories were kept away, but Duke Long still had a sense of guilt left in him.
"Oh Red Lotus... you did not understand after all." Duke Long muttered: "No matter how times change, fate Gu will always be the protector of humanity. You are disregarding the big picture of humanity for your personal selfish goals, I failed in my teachings!"
"You are my disciple, as your master, I will atone for your mistakes."
"I do not have much time left."
"But it is fine, I just need to wait until fate Gu is repaired."
"I will not allow anyone to ruin this Refinement Path Convention!"
Boom—!
At the same time, Scorpion Needle Sect erupted with an intense explosion, countless Gu Masters who participated in the Refinement Path Convention died or got injured.
As dust clouds settled, an ancient desolate year snake hissed in the rubble of Scorpion Needle Sect.
Watching the ancient year snake slaughter more Gu Masters, Fang Yuan left with a cold smile.
Using an immortal killer move with Fixed Immortal Travel as the core, he left for the next location.
Heavenly Court wanted to repair Fate, they had to hold the Refinement Path Convention to gain success dao marks. How could Fang Yuan allow them to succeed so easily?
A merciless slaughter had begun.
-x-X-x-
Unification Sect was one of the sign up locations of the Refinement Path Convention, it was filled with people as well.
"The Refinement Path Convention is about to start! To think that I would get a second chance in this lifetime, thank the heavens." A middle aged Gu Master sighed deeply.
The Gu Masters nearby recognized him as they started to talk among themselves.
"Quickly look, it is refinement path master Luo Sheng!"
"He had lost in the previous Refinement Path Convention due to some accident, it seems he wants to compete again."
"Normally, the Refinement Path Convention is held once in a hundred years, Luo Sheng was not supposed to have a chance. But to think that ten years later, the ten great ancient sects would hold it again!"
The middle aged Gu Master heard their discussions as he kept a peaceful expression.
He was way beyond the age of vanity, he just wanted to prove himself now.
"My opponents this time cannot be underestimated."
"Even though I worked very hard during this period, Central Continent is too huge, the five regions have countless geniuses."
"And even at this spot, there are already many new talents..."
The middle aged Gu Master looked around, focusing his attention on three Gu Masters. One was an old man that had been reputed for many years, he was also a refinement path master. Another was a young man, and the last one was a young girl. The former had performed well in the previous convention while the latter was a rising star that had emerged in the last ten years.
1"This Refinement Path Convention is still going to be that intense!"
"I must make good use of this opportunity, I cannot fail anymore..."
"I will prove myself, I will let my wife and children be proud!"
Boom!
At the next moment, a huge ancient year beast descended from the sky, crushing the entire hall to ruins.
The middle aged Gu Master's grand ambitions vanished into thin air.
1The young Gu Master with a great future, the genius young girl who was highly thought of died pathetically on the spot, her bones and flesh were mashed together, even her corpse could not be seen clearly.
"Onto the next location." In the sky, Fang Yuan's figure flickered and vanished.
This was the fifteenth spot that he had attacked.
Central Continent lost many Gu Masters, these were just mortal Gu Masters, how could they handle the ancient year beasts?
Even rank six Gu Immortals might not be able to face these ancient year beasts.
Fang Yuan slaughtered these Gu Masters mercilessly, he created lots of bloodshed, more and more talented Gu Masters were killed, even Heavenly Court was feeling heartache.
"This demon Fang Yuan, he is truly evil and vicious, he came to cause trouble after all!"
"Damn it, are we going to watch and do nothing?"
"Lady Zi Wei, I wonder if..."
Fairy Zi Wei shook her head: "Fang Yuan is very vigilant, he only sent out ancient year beasts each time to attack, even though he slaughtered many Gu Masters and caused great chaos, he rarely attacked personally."
Fairy Zi Wei sighed deeply: "His wisdom path attainment is truly deep, he knows that the more he attacks, the more clues he would leave behind, and the more easily we can find him. It is very hard for me to locate him, I will need more clues and even more time."
"But how can he have so many ancient year beasts?" Some Gu Immortals frowned.
"According to Southern Border's information, Xia Cha had a year essence pool in her immortal aperture, he should have used this to capture so many year beasts." Fairy Zi Wei said.
Even though her expression was calm, she was filled with rage.
Fang Yuan was a Gu Immortal yet he attacked these mortals without restraint, he was really bullying the weak and was simply too shameless, he had no bottom line!
1Most demonic path Gu Immortals would not do this.
This was the tacit consensus among Gu Immortals, but Fang Yuan broke it without concern.
"This Fang Yuan is truly the greatest plague to all lifeforms in this world!" Fairy Zi Wei was furious while feeling sadness for those innocent lives: "The longer he lives in this world, the more lifeforms he would harm and kill."
1Duke Long was truly calm, his heart was like a tranquil lake.
"Good, Fang Yuan showed up, didn't we expect this to happen? Follow our plan, even if we have to pay a huge price, we must repair fate Gu!" Duke Long was immensely determined.
Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals heard his orders and realized: Nothing in this world could affect Duke Long's determination.
Fang Yuan was a real problem, Heavenly Court could not ignore him, they had a plan already.
Several days later, the people who were in deep fear of Fang Yuan's assaults received accurate proof and information.
All evidence pointed to Fang Yuan, he was the culprit!
Everyone was extremely riled up.
"Fang Yuan has already become a Gu Immortal?!"
"There really are immortals in this world..."
"Fang Yuan, you killed my father, I will definitely take revenge for this immense hatred!"
"Even rank fives are just ants if they do not become Gu Immortals."
"Fang Yuan is evidently trying to ruin the Refinement Path Convention, for the sake of my life, I'm not going."
"Go! Why not? If we do not go, wouldn't we fall into that Fang Yuan's scheme?"
"That's right, even though I am a mortal Gu Master and will not be Fang Yuan's match, to avenge my wife's death, I will even give up my life, I will not let this demon Fang Yuan succeed!"
Some were fearful, some felt emotional, some backed out, while some became determined.
Time passed, days went by, the Refinement Path Convention continued.
Fang Yuan was all alone but Central Continent had many sign up locations for the Refinement Path Convention. Even though he had Fixed Immortal Travel, he could not eliminate every Gu Master that went.
Because many places were secretly guarded by Central Continent's Gu Immortals.
Especially when Heavenly Court made arrangements after Fang Yuan's attacks, they sent out missions to countless Gu Masters to move around and distribute tokens to other participants of the tests.
This way, the participants in Central Continent became dispersed, nobody went to sign up locations, Fang Yuan's slaughter became very inefficient.
Even though Fang Yuan tried, more than ten thousand Gu Masters died in his hands, but he could not stop the Refinement Path Convention from starting.
The sign up phase was over, the true competition had already started.
"Oh?" Fang Yuan appeared at a place in Central Continent, he was about to attack when he suddenly frowned.
"Where are you going, Fang Yuan?"
"Die!"
A Central Continent rank eight Gu Immortal pounced at Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan gave a glance at him, he did not want to fight, he used his killer move to escape.
"Central Continent's Gu Immortals have been getting faster and faster recently, is it because I've used Fixed Immortal Travel's killer move too frequently, they have already deduced it?"
"Even so, they seem to be able to detect where I would show up, what is this investigative method? Time path?"
At the next moment, Fang Yuan's surroundings changed, he was hundreds of thousands of li away from the previous place.
But his expression was grim, he sensed acutely that three rank eight Gu Immortals were approaching him from three directions.
"Fang Yuan, where are you going?"
"Heavenly Court has prepared more than ten investigative killer moves for you, you cannot escape!"
"Especially one of them, it was created by Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, known as people's accusation! Hahaha, demon, did you think of this? The more people you kill, the more hatred you gather, these mortal Gu Masters' hatred will continuously track you down."
The three rank eights arrived before Fang Yuan.
Immortal battlefield killer move — Rumor Cage!
Suddenly, a fourth rank eight Gu Immortal appeared above Fang Yuan, using an immortal battlefield to trap him.
"We caught Fang Yuan!"
"Lord Zhou Xiong Xin's rumor cage is truly the battlefield killer move with the fastest activation time, even Fang Yuan could not react in time."
The four Gu Immortals were overjoyed.
"Lord Duke Long, we finally trapped Fang Yuan." Inside Heavenly Court, Fairy Zi Wei was extremely excited.
"Mm." Duke Long replied plainly.
Fairy Zi Wei's eyes shined brightly: "Lord Duke Long, the chance is rare, I recommend that you act personally to eliminate this Fang Yuan now!"
Duke Long shook his head: "Fang Yuan is nothing but a troublemaker, repairing fate Gu is the important thing now. It is not time for me to act."
2"Lord Duke Long..." Fairy Zi Wei wanted to speak more but suddenly, her expression changed.
At this instant, Central Continent's areas, especially those that were holding refinement competitions, were targeted with Gu Immortal level attacks.
In fact, not only refinement competition locations, even some famous resource points in Central Continent were attacked by Gu Immortals, they were looted.
"Even Infallible blessed land is being attacked!" Fairy Zi Wei's expression was grim, she could not believe it: "There are actually so many Gu Immortals targeting us?"
-x-X-x-
Fang Yuan floated in the air, it looked like he was staying motionless amidst a blizzard, soon, thick white snow gathered on his body.
But looking from afar, it seemed like he was covered in a thick fox skin coat.
This was the modified time path killer move, winter coat!
Fang Yuan had many defensive killer moves, the strongest was reverse flow protection seal, but Reverse Flow River was clearly dried up now, this killer move could not be used anymore.
Other than that, Fang Yuan had emperor yama, winter coat, bloodstained conqueror's robe, purple thought light shield, hair armor, lion fur armor, divination tortoise transformation, ghost official garment, and other defensive methods.
Hair armor and lion fur armor were mortal killer moves, even though Fang Yuan had used them for some time, they were eliminated long ago.
Purple thought light shield was Purple Mountain True Monarch's method, it had defended against Duke Long's fists in battle earlier, it was quite useful. But Fang Yuan only had this killer move and did not cultivate it, he lacked the crucial Immortal Gu.
Bloodstained conqueror's robe was originally Fang Yuan's method, it was used for some time. Even though the core Immortal Gu was now rank seven, a rank seven method was useless now.
Divination tortoise transformation was considered a defensive method, but similarly, the ancient desolate beast divination tortoise was useless in a rank eight battle.
Ghost official garment had a huge origin, being designed by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, it was used to defend against wisdom path methods.
Emperor yama killer move which combined ghostly concealment, Soul Beast Token, and ghost official garment had incredible defense, it could be used in rank eight battles.
But its defensive was still lower than winter coat.
Emperor yama was a comprehensive method, it had both offense and defense, by using the yama children, it could even fight against a group.
Meanwhile, winter coat focused on defense, after Fang Yuan annexed Xia Cha's immortal aperture, his time path dao marks increased in numbers drastically to being his highest path, winter coat's power was greatly amplified.
And most crucially, after some modifications, winter coat's defense was even better than before!
While he could not use reverse flow protection seal, winter coat was Fang Yuan's new replacement.
Bam bam bam...
The three Central Continent rank eights attacked Fang Yuan furiously, he did not dodge, he used winter coat killer move to block all of the attacks.
"What killer move is this?"
"It seems like Xia Cha's winter coat..."
"How can this be? Xia Cha's winter coat is not like this."
The three rank eights had varying expressions as they conversed secretly, they were very shocked by winter coat's defense.
Next, they placed all their attention on Zhou Xiong Xin.
These three rank eights came from Central Continent's ten great ancient sects, but Zhou Xiong Xin was different, he was a recently awakened Heavenly Court member.
Zhou Xiong Xin had already activated his immortal battlefield rumor cage, in this environment, all other paths were suppressed, only information path was amplified!
Fang Yuan's winter coat killer move was suppressed, but the other three rank eights' offensive methods were also suppressed.
As the three rank eights looked at Zhou Xiong Xin, Fang Yuan was also assessing this immortal battlefield rumor cage.
Rumor cage consisted of many silver text and characters, these characters were large as horse carriages or small as ants, they weaved together into a huge ball, enveloping Fang Yuan and the other four rank eights.
Because there were gaps between characters, the round ball seemed to be connected with the outside world, it was not completely shut off.
Fang Yuan had a serious expression.
Inside the sovereign immortal aperture, his time path clone was bathed in the light of wisdom, he was trying to deduce the mysteries of this immortal battlefield.
But regarding information path, Fang Yuan was not skilled in it.
If this was a time path or refinement path immortal battlefield, Fang Yuan could use his time path and refinement path quasi-supreme attainment levels to deduce it immediately. But against information path, he lacked the attainment, he could only deduce it using the light of wisdom forcefully.
Undoubtedly, it was wise that Heavenly Court sent out information path Gu Immortal Zhou Xiong Xin to deal with Fang Yuan.
If this was any other Gu Immortal that Fang Yuan has met before, he would be prepared with specialized methods. But this was the first time Fang Yuan was seeing Zhou Xiong Xin.
Zhou Xiong Xin wore a white robe, he had a square face with an air of righteousness, his body was quite muscular.
Those who could become Heavenly Court members were elite experts among rank eights. Forget about the rest, just that rumor cage alone was incredibly profound, it could be activated rapidly and was the fastest immortal battlefield killer move that Fang Yuan had ever seen!
"Fang Yuan, since you are trapped, don't think of leaving alive. You committed so much slaughter, so many innocent lives died in your hands! Now, you will experience the bad karma that you have created!" Zhou Xiong Xin said in a righteous tone, his aura burst out as he used two immortal killer moves.
Immortal killer move — Malicious Rumors!
Immortal killer move — Rumors Become Tigers!
Instantly, the silver characters in the cage started to shine in a dazzling light.
The dense light flowed like water, moving in the air as it gathered and swirled.
Next, from the silvery light, silver tigers emerged.
The tigers attacked as Fang Yuan shot out like lightning, facing them.
Strength path giant hand!
1Fang Yuan rushed to the silver tigers as he attacked, but the giant hand only lasted for a moment before it broke.
Fang Yuan's brows rose, the silver tigers had great battle strength.
Immortal killer move — Spring Scissors!
The jade green scissors flew out with great agility, wherever it went, the scissors snipped as tiger heads fell, tigers were cut into halves and their corpses faded into silver light that flickered and scattered.
Spring scissors was unstoppable!
Zhou Xiong Xin's eyes flashed with a different light, he thought: "It is different from our intel, after the battle for Red Lotus' true inheritance, Fang Yuan's spring scissors seems to be modified again, it has grown more powerful!"
Zhou Xiong Xin was an information path Gu Immortal, he could rapidly gather information about any change or unusualness.
"Spring scissors killer move had not been modified for hundreds of years in Xia Cha's hands, but Fang Yuan could constantly modify it? Is Fang Yuan's wisdom path attainment level really so high? Or maybe his time path attainment level is very high, after all, this is a rank eight killer move, it is not easy to modify!"
Zhou Xiong Xin was secretly shocked.
Even though he was still under the suppression of rumor cage, spring scissors killer move still slaughtered countless silver tigers like they were thin paper.
But Zhou Xiong Xin did not fluster.
"The battle is under my control, slowly, you will see my power, Fang Yuan." Zhou Xiong Xin laughed to himself secretly.
A moment later, Fang Yuan frowned subtly.
"The silver tigers are endless, it is clearly one with this rumor cage battlefield, no matter how many I kill, they will regenerate!"
"And most importantly, these silver tigers are growing stronger!"
"Strange..."
Normally, methods like these silver tigers are meant to expend the enemy's reserves through advantage in numbers.
But these silver tigers were growing stronger at a rapid rate, it was far beyond normality.
Earlier, spring scissors killer move was unstoppable, but now, it seemed slow. Not only did the silver tigers grow stronger, they were much tougher and more agile now, they often managed to escape from spring scissors, causing it to miss its target.
At this time, the time path clone finally made some useful deductions.
Fang Yuan looked at Zhou Xiong Xin as he spoke: "So that's it, this is the unification of information path and human path methods! You are using the grudge of the whole of Central Continent's mortals to display this move? Similar to the people's accusation killer move earlier."
Zhou Xiong Xin's eyebrows twitched, Fang Yuan actually discovered the profundity of this move so quickly it was truly shocking.
"Since you found out, there is no point hiding it. Indeed, this move was created by Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, it uses the will of Central Continent's people."
"Fang Yuan, you slaughtered so many people, everyone is furious. One mortal might be weak, but what about countless mortals? Their collective power is beyond your imagination."
"Thus, continue to struggle. You cannot defeat the unified will of every person, this is the bad karma that you gathered, this is simply just desserts!"
Fang Yuan was silent.
He started to attack rumor cage itself.
But before he found out the mysteries of this immortal battlefield, even if he used Luo Po seal, there would be little effect, he would be wasting rank eight immortal essence.
At the same time, somewhere in Central Continent.
"Fang Yuan is trapped, he is likely in a certain immortal formation or immortal battlefield. I can barely sense him anymore, our connection is about to be broken." Shen Cong Sheng said.
He was an Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortal, the first supreme elder of super force Shen clan, he cultivated sound path.
When Fang Yuan went after Eastern Sea's Dragon Palace, he had been hit by this investigative method unknowingly. Now, even though he was inside rumor cage, Shen Cong Sheng could still sense Fang Yuan's whereabouts slightly.
"Brother Shen's investigative methods are truly admirable." At his side, Song Qi Yuan said with a deep sigh: "Back in the days, I was hit by your investigative methods, it was truly a nightmare."
"Haha." Shen Cong Sheng laughed loudly: "We were still young, to think that you managed to steal the inheritance secretly, causing us to end up with no gains despite our hard work."
"It is expected that Fang Yuan would obstruct the Refinement Path Convention, he has deep enmity with Heavenly Court after all!"
"Indeed, even years ago, he was already fighting with Heavenly Court in treasure yellow heaven by exposing secrets of both sides."
"Heavenly Court wants to repair Fate, even if he is an otherworldly demon, he would not want them to succeed. Heavenly Court would have too great of an advantage after all."
The surrounding Gu Immortals also spoke, some had cold and indifferent expressions.
Taking a look, these were all rank eight Gu Immortals!
Song Qi Yuan, Qing Yue An, Shen Cong Sheng, Zhang Yin, Granny Rong, Shi Miao, and others, this was an unprecedented gathering!
"Alright, isn't this situation good? Fang Yuan is also a problem, with him resisting and fighting Heavenly Court, we will have less issues here. Hmm... Dragon Palace is nearby, there is no mistake." Shen Cong Sheng led the way as he moved ahead of the group.
It turned out that because Duke Long snatched the rank eight Immortal Gu House from these Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortals, they had lost their face.
1Thus, during this Refinement Path Convention, these people gathered secretly, they wanted to obtain Dragon Palace and salvage their reputation!
-x-X-x-
A group of Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortals flew along Central Continent's mountain ranges at a low altitude.
After Duke Long took the Immortal Gu House Dragon Palace by force, he caused Eastern Sea's righteous path, demonic path, and even lone immortal rank eights to work together.
"It should be here." Shen Cong Sheng suddenly stopped as he showed a suspicious expression towards the mountain below him.
This mountain was very plain, it was surrounded by mountains and was nothing special.
"This?" Hua Cai Yun frowned, shaking her head: "I did not find anything with my investigative method."
"Mm... but I feel that this mountain is different." Qing Yue An said.
"It is here." Granny Rong said with certainty.
The surrounding Gu Immortals looked toward her.
Granny Rong was a poison path Gu Immortal, how did she have such incredible attainment in investigative methods?
"There is an illusion formation here." Song Qi Yuan's eyes shined with crystal light as he spoke.
"But we do not have any formation path member now." Hua Cai Yun added.
Zhang Yin laughed coldly: "Why are we hesitating? Let's break into the formation by force. Earlier in Eastern Sea, we were all wary of each other, that allowed Duke Long to succeed. Now, we have set an alliance, we will advance and retreat together, even if Duke Long comes, so what?"
"Hahaha, he is right, let's charge in!" Song Qi Yuan laughed loudly, attacking.
Boom boom boom!
Rank eight Gu Immortals had incredible methods.
In a chain of explosions, the illusion formation seemed to have shattered, it exposed the true scenery.
Below the mountain, there was a huge rock cavern, the cavern had natural dragon markings, it resembled dancing dragons that intertwined together.
Eastern Sea's immortals only took a glance before they lost interest in this cavern with dragon markings.
They flew into the cave and found that there was a huge hole below.
They flew along the path, going down.
After passing a long tunnel, light appeared before the immortals' eyes.
"This is a natural Earth Trench below the cavern!"
"This is not a new Earth Trench, it must have existed for a very long time."
1"Is Dragon Palace at the depths of this Earth Trench?"
"Duke Long took away the Immortal Gu House, why did he put it here?"
Eastern Sea's immortals discussed.
The Earth Trench was unfathomably deep, it was completely dark and eerie.
Compared to the Earth Trench, they were too small, they were like insignificant flies.
Roar!
Suddenly, an intense gust of wind emerged from the Earth Trench, blowing upwards.
At the same time, the entire Earth Trench started to shake, the rocks along the cliffs of the Earth Trench started to fall.
The expressions of Eastern Sea's immortals changed, they felt a strong sense of threat.
The tremors started abruptly and ended just as abruptly.
More than ten breaths later, the entire Earth Trench returned to normal.
"What exactly is down there?"
"No matter what it is, it was able to make all of us feel danger, it is not simple!"
"I want to see what Duke Long is up to."
Eastern Sea's immortals were about to explore the depth of the Earth Trench when rainbow lights started to shine in the Earth Trench, a super immortal formation appeared and enveloped all of the Gu Immortals.
"They were waiting in ambush!"
"Such an amazing immortal formation!"
"Who is it?"
An old Central Continent rank eight Gu Immortal appeared before the Eastern Sea immortals.
He was wearing a gray robe, he was covered in a deep level of sadness all over his body.
Eastern Sea's rank eights were very knowledgeable, they quickly recognized this Central Continent rank eight expert.
"Oh? You are Wind Cloud Manor's Old Man Bei Feng?"
Old Man Bei Feng sighed: "Yes indeed, you have come here to attack Hidden Dragon Cave, it is very unwise. With me here, no matter what objective you have, you will not succeed."
"Hidden Dragon Cave! This is Hidden Dragon Cave?!" Many Eastern Sea Gu Immortals felt greatly shocked.
Hidden Dragon Cave contained the legendary immemorial desolate beast Di Zang Sheng, everyone knew that. But its location had never been exposed.
Old Man Bei Feng was originally able to become a Heavenly Court member, but because his beloved grandson Feng Chan Zi made a mistake, Old Man Bei Feng took the punishment together and they were tasked to guard over Di Zang Sheng in Hidden Dragon Cave.
Because of specific reasons, Duke Long placed the rank eight Immortal Gu House Dragon Palace here. These Eastern Sea Gu Immortals searched for clues and found their way to Hidden Dragon Cave.
"Puff!" Old Man Bei Feng's body shook as he activated the super immortal formation.
This super immortal formation was able to trap Di Zang Sheng, it was naturally very powerful, Eastern Sea's Gu Immortals were all swept by its power, their eyes blurred as they found that they were trapped in a huge space after regaining their vision, isolated from each other.
At the next moment, Eastern Sea's immortals struck and attacked their surroundings.
A rank eight battle was about to begin!
At the same time, immortals acted all over Central Continent.
Mountain Tortoise Valley.
Inside the valley, walls were steep, almost perpendicular to the ground.
Demonic path Gu Immortal Nine Ghost Finger sneaked in here.
He looked at the mountain tortoises here with a look of desire.
There were many mountain tortoises, they filled the entire valley, among them were gigantic desolate beast mountain tortoises.
"Mountain tortoises that are rare in Eastern Sea are common in Southern Border and Central Continent. This Mountain Tortoise Valley is the largest mountain tortoise breeding ground in Central Continent. Hehehe."
Nine Ghost Finger laughed smugly to himself.
This was originally the resource point governed by Spirit Butterfly Valley of the ten great ancient sects. But now, the Gu Immortal guarding this place was drawn away to protect a certain Refinement Path Convention area.
"However, even though the person left, they left behind warning methods." Nine Ghost Finger did not enter abruptly, he stayed outside and investigated for a long time, realizing the truth.
This was an earth path immortal killer move.
"Let me see how to unravel this method!" Nine Ghost Finger's eyes shined brightly, his ten fingers quickly deduced and they flew all over the place.
His fingers moved fast, alternating between real and phantom, there were originally ten fingers but soon, only nine finger phantoms were left.
Nine Ghost Finger's wisdom path inheritance was very unique.
The missing finger represented the 'one in the Great Dao' that fled, it was the most profound heavenly secret1.
Nine Ghost Finger only secondarily cultivated wisdom path, he primarily cultivated soul path. His fingers danced as he muttered phrases to himself.
The more he deduced, the more his eyes shined with brilliance.
And meanwhile, countless li away in Moonlight Mound, a serious battle ensued.
Rank seven lone immortal Xie Bao Shu floated in the sky, his aura was grand as he attacked Moonlight Mound with a barrage of attacks.
He was dressed in a blue robe, he looked like a scholar with a handsome jade face, he had the appearance of a good looking young man.
His opponent, the female immortal guarding Moonlight Mound, was in a sad state, she said furiously: "Xie Bao Shu, you are not worthy of being a famous lone immortal of Eastern Sea, you actually acted so demonically and tried to plunder Moonlight Mound! Go and steal from the ten great ancient sects if you dare, we are both lone immortals yet you still target me! Back then, I bought your year Gu, I had given you business!"
Xie Bao Shu sighed: "Fairy Yue Hua, unless I had no choice, I would not do this. My year Gu business has flopped, I need another source of income. If you can give me half of your moonlight mushrooms, I will leave now without question."
1The Central Continent female immortal wanted to cough out blood: "I had spent thirty years nurturing my moonlight mushrooms and put in huge effort, you want half of them now, you are dreaming! Even if I cannot defeat you, you will not have them, before I escape, I will destroy the entire Moonlight Mound!"
"Can you?" Suddenly, a soft whisper was heard behind the Central Continent female immortal.
"Ambush!" The female immortal was very shocked, someone had actually sneaked behind her without her noticing.
"Who?!" The female immortal wanted to turn around and check but at the next moment, her vision went dark as she fainted.
You Xian Zi stood above Moonlight Mound as he looked at the Central Continent female immortal, before turning to Xie Bao Shu with a smile.
You Xian Zi specialized in theft path, he was the Gu Immortal most skilled at collecting Earth Trench black oil in Eastern Sea. His appearance was ugly and he looked like a lecher, but he was best friends with Xie Bao Shu.
Xie Bao Shu came to Central Continent for resources, You Xian Zi naturally came to help.
Inside rumor cage.
Fang Yuan shouted as he unleashed immortal killer move myriad dragon.
Myriad dragons flew and fought against the countless silver tigers.
At once, dragons and tigers fought, there were beautiful silver sparkles when they fought, amidst deep killing intent.
After a few breaths of time, the dragons fell in numbers, they were not the tigers' match.
Fang Yuan's face was grim as he continued to activate myriad dragon, holding his own.
"Lord Zhou Xiong Xin's methods are truly powerful!
"This combination is amazing, using rumor cage, malicious rumors, and rumors become tigers, his battle strength is increasing endlessly."
"The longer this drags on, the more disadvantage it is for Fang Yuan. But he is in a desperate situation, he can no longer escape."
The three Central Continent rank eights watched by the side, guarding the formation from a corner.
Zhou Xiong Xin alone was able to suppress Fang Yuan.
Any Heavenly Court Gu Immortal would have incredible talent, they were genius experts.
"Normally, I only have upper-tier rank eight battle strength, I am inferior to Li Huang. But with my information path advantage, using Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable's killer move and borrowing the wills of Central Continent's countless humans, my battle strength will continue to grow."
"At this rate, I will eventually kill Fang Yuan through attrition!"
Even though Zhou Xiong Xin had the advantage, he did not become careless.
Even though he had just woken up, a huge amount of information had allowed him to gain a deep understanding of Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan's great strength, craftiness, and threat was deeply etched into Zhou Xiong Xin's mind.
"Information path and human path... Heavenly Court truly has deep foundations, by just sending a counter, I am in deep trouble."
Fang Yuan looked at Zhou Xiong Xin as he sighed to himself.
The enemy did not expose any weaknesses, they were very vigilant against Fang Yuan and used all sorts of investigative methods, any sort of commotion would be detected, Fang Yuan's countless battle tactics could not be used.
Fang Yuan had become rank eight for a very short period of time, he was reliant on reverse flow protection seal and Luo Po seal, and others to stabilize his battle strength at upper-tier rank eight.
In earlier fights, he was either in the five regions' regional walls, five regional mountain range, or the River of Time, Fang Yuan could use the environment or other people to his advantage, shortening the difference in strength between him and the enemies.
But now, he was deep in Central Continent, he was countered by a true rank eight great expert.
In terms of information path, he had too shallow attainment. Human path was worse.
"Forget it, the probing ends here, it is time to use my territorial advantage." Fang Yuan's lips moved as he exposed a crafty smile.
At the next moment, his ambush was activated.
Rumble!
A huge formation activated in the outer world of Central Continent.
Rumor cage was like an egg, it was smashed by the terrifying force!
"Why is there a formation here?!" Central Continent's four immortals were shocked and furious.
"Make a guess?" Fang Yuan laughed heartily, turning into the immemorial year monkey as he jumped towards Zhou Xiong Xin, punching with his fist.
Rumor cage broke, the backlash made Zhou Xiong Xin spat out mouthfuls of blood.
Time path method activated, time was slowed in the surroundings, Zhou Xiong Xin could not dodge in time, he was hit by Fang Yuan's fist as he crashed to the ground.
"Quick, save Lord Zhou Xiong Xin!"
"Let's attack together!!"
The other three Gu Immortals charged at Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan laughed sinisterly, the formation activated again, stalling the three rank eights for a breath of time.
Using this chance, Fang Yuan's huge body descended as he landed before Zhou Xiong Xin who was like a rag doll.
Immortal killer move — Spring Scissors!
A huge pair of scissors was held in the monkey's hands. The blades were tens of feet long, they stabbed into the soil on the ground.
Next, the huge scissors snipped, the ground was like a soft piece of tofu when compared to the sharp blades.
Crack!
With a soft sound, the scissors closed up as the two blades met.
Blood splattered.
Zhou Xiong Xin's head flew in the sky before it landed on the ground.
Zhou Xiong Xin had died!
-x-X-x-
"More than half of Imprisonment Valley's southern thorns were stolen by a mysterious Gu Immortal."
"Red river beach's immortal formation was destroyed, the blazing red stones inside were all plundered by three Gu Immortals."
"Someone wants to steal Falling Heavenly River's primeval sand, he was forced away by Heaven's Envy Manor's immortal killer move that was left behind."
...
Fairy Zi Wei took command in Heavenly Court, observing the situation of the entire Central Continent, all of these news made her frown more tightly.
She was furious.
The huge Central Continent had abundant resources and talents, Heavenly Court's leaders and Central Continent's ten great ancient sects had worked effortlessly for countless generations to create this prosperity.
1But now, because of these thieves, it was a huge mess.
Meanwhile, Duke Long sat in his seat and listened to Fairy Zi Wei report the disastrous news, his face was extremely calm.
"No matter, so what if we lose some resources? They are just tiny problems." Duke Long said as he shut his eyes, resting as his arm supported his chin.
Fairy Zi Wei breathed in deeply, telling herself to calm down but at the next moment, her eyes widened as she said angrily: "Fang Yuan has already escaped, three of our Central Continent rank eights were injured, while senior Zhou Xiong Xin... he was killed by Fang Yuan!"
"Oh?" A sharp light flashed in Duke Long's eyes, he stopped resting as he sat up straight, saying: "Zhou Xiong Xin was specially chosen to fight Fang Yuan, he had the greatest strength among them but was actually killed by Fang Yuan while the rest escaped with injuries, there must be a reason. Where is the battle report?"
"Here." Fairy Zi Wei handed an information path Gu worm to Duke Long.
The battle report was very detailed, because other than Zhou Xiong Xin, the other three Central Continent rank eights were alive.
After seeing the report, the hall went silent.
Long after, Fairy Zi Wei said: "I originally thought that Fang Yuan killed senior Zhou Xiong Xin using Luo Po seal, to think that the killer move used was spring scissors."
"According to this intel, spring scissors was modified again. And most importantly, when Fang Yuan transformed into the immemorial year monkey, his battle strength has broken through to the peak of rank eight!"
Saying so, Fairy Zi Wei sighed deeply.
She had known that Fang Yuan was a threat long ago. If he was allowed to grow freely, he would become a huge problem.
Fairy Zi Wei had expected this to happen, but she did not expect that this day would come so quickly!
"How long has Fang Yuan become a Gu Immortal? In just the blink of an eye, he became rank eight. And with another blink, he reached the peak of rank eight, even my battle strength is only at upper-tier rank eight level."
At once, Fairy Zi Wei felt a little dejected.
Duke Long looked at Fairy Zi Wei as he said slowly in a low tone: "Zi Wei, don't look down on yourself, Fang Yuan grew rapidly not just because of his talent, he also had external help. He was chosen by Red Lotus Demon Venerable and obtained Spring Autumn Cicada. He also got Spectral Soul's true inheritance and inherited Shadow Sect. He even has ghostly concealment, that is part of Thieving Heaven's true inheritance. And don't forget, with the collapse of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, how many benefits did Fang Yuan get from Giant Sun Immortal Venerable?"
"We are already paying a lot of attention to him, your measures were not wrong. The reason why we failed was not just because of Fang Yuan, but also because of the forces affecting him. We are not eliminating Fang Yuan alone, we are also contesting the forces that surround him.".
"These are either Immortal Venerables or Demon Venerables, they were the reason Fang Yuan could grow to this extent."
1Fairy Zi Wei heard this and showed a shameful expression: "I had lost my cool and stability, thank you for the reminder, Lord Duke Long."
Duke Long smiled faintly: "I am not consoling you, this is just a fact. However, even though Fang Yuan has peak rank eight battle strength, as long as he is not rank nine, he cannot overturn our Heavenly Court. Zhou Xiong Xin's death was clearly reported, it was because Fang Yuan used an immortal formation to destroy rumor cage."
"Fang Yuan is crafty and vicious, he purposely stalled for time and made rumor cage stronger with the will of Central Continent's people, far beyond its original capabilities. By destroying it afterwards, Zhou Xiong Xin suffered immense backlash that he could not endure, causing him to be heavily injured."
"Even though the remaining three rank eights tried to help immediately, Fang Yuan was prepared and used the formation to disrupt them. By turning into the immemorial year monkey and gaining peak rank eight battle strength, he caught everyone off-guard and killed Zhou Xiong Xin."
"Fang Yuan had always been pretending to be weak, using rumor cage, he harmed our Gu Immortal. Even though Zhou Xiong Xin was very vigilant, he still fell for Fang Yuan's trap."
"Actually, if both sides fought fairly, even if Fang Yuan had peak rank eight battle strength, he could not kill Zhou Xiong Xin. The battle afterwards could prove this point, our three rank eights fought together and retreated, Fang Yuan could not retain them."
Fairy Zi Wei nodded continuously, Duke Long's analysis was the same as hers, she agreed: "There is no strongest Immortal Gu, only strongest Gu Immortal. Fang Yuan has grown fully now, he has powerful methods and vicious plans, he is also ruthless and achieves outstanding results. Right now, he has peak rank eight battle strength, our arrangements earlier were all disrupted, should we send Li Huang to deal with him?"
Duke Long shook his head: "Li Huang must continue to guard the Refinement Path Convention. Restoring Fate is the most important goal, we cannot divert anyone away from that objective. Even if we make Li Huang go after Fang Yuan, he has Fixed Immortal Travel. Even if teleportation fails, Fang Yuan would still want to waste Li Huang's time. After all, he is not the only person who wants to disrupt the restoration of Fate, we cannot fumble at this moment."
"Yes, Lord Duke Long." Fairy Zi Wei had regained her calm already.
Even though Duke Long was not a wisdom path Gu Immortal, he was in charge of Heavenly Court, his disposition was extraordinary, he was like a huge pillar stabilizing and holding up the entire situation.
Let alone peak rank eight battle strength, even if Fang Yuan was a pseudo-Immortal Venerable with the same strength as Duke Long, so what?
Duke Long believed that with Heavenly Court's foundation, they would definitely be able to repair fate Gu. Even if Fang Yuan caused much trouble, as long as he was not a rank nine venerable, he could not change the situation!
Duke Long was most concerned about the progress of the Refinement Path Convention.
He looked at the other person in the hall, asking: "Lord Zheng Yuan, how has the activation of common enemy hatred killer move gone?"
The person in question was an old man, he had many wrinkles on his face, he was thin and dry like a stick, he was truly resembling a man about to step into his grave.
1He sat on a stone bench and was curled up due to his hunchback. He breathed slowly and lightly, his aura was so weak that it would not be strange if he died now.
But his seniority surpassed Duke Long, even though he had rank seven cultivation level, he was a member of Heavenly Court.
He was Old Man Zheng Yuan.
Because of fate Gu's restoration, he had woken up from the immortal graveyard.
Normally speaking, Heavenly Court only recruited rank eight Gu Immortals, and those had to be elites among elites. But Old Man Zheng Yuan only had rank seven cultivation level, yet he was acknowledged and recruited into Heavenly Court.
The most important reason was because Old Man Zheng Yuan cultivated a special path — human path!
The concept of human path had existed from very long ago.
It originated from the person who everyone living in this world knew, Ren Zu.
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Heavenly Court thought of itself as humanity's leader, they had accumulated countless human path methods, these were one of Duke Long's greatest sources of confidence.
Old Man Zheng Yuan spoke in a weak voice: "Back then, when the eighteen variant human demonic immortals attacked Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, he was invincible in the world. After the eighteen variant human demonic immortals lost terribly, they were unresigned and tried to deceive the Immortal Venerable. Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable was troubled and sat in the formation for three days and nights, thinking deeply and unable to regain his senses. After reading <
1"I am merely a key to activate Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable's remnant methods, I do not deserve the title of 'Lord', please address me by my name, Duke Long."
Old Man Zheng Yuan was very humble: "Right now, countless lifeforms has already been activated, the killer move common enemy hatred is also effective in the whole of Central Continent, now, as long as we can gather enough human will to a certain degree, we will be able to use the killer move people's united hearts."
"Good." Duke Long smiled: "This is good, with common enemy hatred, Central Continent's people will be united in their anger and hatred, the Refinement Path Convention will definitely continue smoothly."
Central Continent, Mystical Body Sect.
This sect was created by a supreme elder of Wind Cloud Manor, Wu Fa, it was also a competition location of this Central Continent Refinement Path Convention.
After the initial selection, those that could compete here were all experts in Gu refinement.
There were thousands of Gu Masters in the square, each had their own space as they refined Gu.
The entire square was covered in a thick wall of light, rank seven Gu Immortal Wu Fa was staying here, protecting the place.
Half the time had passed, most Gu Masters had failed already.
Some people had soot on their face, some were pitiful and their arms were blown to bits, bloody holes appeared in their chest...
Gu refinement was a dangerous process, any distraction and they would suffer huge injuries.
Another Gu Master faced an accident during Gu refinement as he fainted on the spot.
The formation below the square's floor tiles activated, this Gu Master was teleported outside as healing Gu Masters gathered and quickly treated him.
This person had made a mistake while handling the Gu materials, the poison from the materials seeped into his body, causing him to faint.
Soon, he was saved and managed to wake up.
"Even though you woke up, your limbs are weak and your mind is fuzzy, you cannot continue with the competition." The healing Gu Master felt pity for him, he was not weak, many people thought he would succeed.
This person laughed: "So what if I failed? According to the great immortals, even if I fail in the competition, it will still benefit Central Continent! It will benefit the righteous path! Those demonic path immortals are trying their best to ruin our Refinement Path Convention, they killed so many innocent lives! Even though we are mortals, we cannot give up on resisting them. Participating in the Refinement Path Convention and keeping it going is our revenge against them!"
Even though his voice was weak, his content was firm, it felt like clashing swords.
"Good lad!" The healing Gu Master gave a thumbs up: "I think so too, those murderers are no immortals, they have no empathy at all. We must resist, we cannot let them win!"
Right at this moment, a change occurred in the square.
Two young Gu Masters stood up, holding a Gu worm in their hands.
One of them was Hong Yi, he shouted: "I succeeded!"
"Good, both of you succeeded, you will share the ranking of number one. According to the rules, you can get a small reward from our sect." Gu Immortal Wu Fa's voice resounded in the square, everyone started to envy them.
The two young Gu Masters looked at each other, they were neither too far nor too close to each other, one was at the center of the square while the other was at the north-east corner.
"Report your names." Wu Fa said, he did not show up, but upon inspecting these two winners, his opinion of them increasingly grew, they were both very handsome and had great cultivation levels.
"I am Hong Yi." Hong Yi said.
"My name is Ye Fan." The other young man also spoke.