292 RI

"Feng Jiu Ge!" Duke Long screamed, charging towards him.

Immortal killer move — Dragon Claw Strike!

Immortal killer move — Spiraling Dragon Fang!

Claw marks emerged, nearly ten feet long, cutting through the air with invincible might. Dragon fangs flew everywhere, like piercing sharp blades, circling and flying while emitting murderous aura.

Feng Jiu Ge retreated slowly as he continued to sing his destiny song.

Around him, there were several clones, they looked like him but had mystical powers.

Immortal killer move — Song Warrior!

Song warriors fought for Feng Jiu Ge, not only blocking the dragon claws and fangs but even fighting against Duke Long.

After several rounds, Duke Long destroyed a song warrior.

But next, a brand new song warrior appeared on the battlefield, engaging with Duke Long in combat.

Duke Long instantly understood that killing these clones was pointless, the true way to fight was to go after the source, to directly deal with Feng Jiu Ge.

Immortal killer move — Dragon Gate.

Duke Long crossed a large distance and approached Feng Jiu Ge.

Feng Jiu Ge calmly activated yang pass tune as he pulled apart their distance once again.

Duke Long was unable to fight Feng Jiu Ge in close combat, he could only use qi path killer moves to attack at a distance.

Feng Jiu Ge showed no fear, his destiny song continued to weaken Duke Long while he used his hands to unleash the triple extreme sound killer move, with drum fist, bell palm, and finger whistle.

Feng Jiu Ge fought against Duke Long while exchanging many blows, they unexpectedly were evenly matched!

Rank eight future self brought a qualitative transformation to Feng Jiu Ge's battle strength.

While the three regions' Gu Immortals hesitated on whether to help Feng Jiu Ge, they were shocked to realize: Feng Jiu Ge did not need anyone's help!

The battle strength he displayed shocked everyone.

Duke Long was unable to take down Feng Jiu Ge, he was shocked and furious. At this point, he realized that even though Feng Jiu Ge was fighting earlier, he had been keeping his true strength hidden, he did not use his full power at all.

Right now, Duke Long wanted to destroy Red Lotus' scheme. But Fang Yuan was a tough enemy, Duke Long knew about his strength, so he chose to fight Feng Jiu Ge instead.

As long as Feng Jiu Ge was disrupted and destiny song failed to activate, then Fang Yuan and the others would not have the Immortal Gu recipe, they would not succeed.

But Feng Jiu Ge's strength far exceeded Duke Long's expectations, he could only attack more aggressively while trying to take down Feng Jiu Ge as soon as possible.

Duke Long was stalled by Feng Jiu Ge, while Wu Shuai controlled Dragon Palace to defend Fang Yuan's main body, Calamity Luck Altar was blocking Demon Judgment Board.

Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals unleashed a storm of attacks but the other three regions' Gu Immortals and Di Zang Sheng stopped them.

The battle situation was tilting in the favor of the three regions' Gu Immortals, but Fang Yuan was facing a problem now.

The sea of human wills was vast and turbulent.

Using the human wills as Gu material to refine destiny Gu was wishful thinking.

But it was a possible method.

Under the effect of destiny song, the human wills and flames merged, refined into a mystical Gu material that was formless and colorless.

Fang Yuan, who was controlling this Gu refinement session, had to endure the terrifying waves of human wills. He had to calm the human wills like subduing tides, sending them to the respective tributaries.

Fang Yuan's expression quickly turned dark, his veins were bulging on his forehead, thoughts collided endlessly in his mind, he could not keep up with this expenditure, his storage of thoughts was rapidly used up, about to be emptied!

At the periphery of the battlefield, Spectral Soul and his servants kept a close watch on the situation.

Fairy Zi Wei saw Fang Yuan's expression as she analyzed: "Oh no, Fang Yuan is not in good shape. I know about his wisdom path foundation, he is most skilled at blocking deductions and concealing his true location. But this refinement expends his thoughts and focuses on his cognitive ability. The sea of human will is truly terrifying, even I myself cannot last long in it."

But Spectral Soul smiled lightly, saying calmly: "Don't worry, a certain venerable has already prepared for this. Fang Yuan should know what to do."

Spectral Soul could not help but recall the past.

When he was still alive, exploring Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.

There, he found wisdom Gu, he also saw Giant Sun's special will left behind by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

Back then, he wanted to immediately take wisdom Gu for himself.

"Spectral Soul, I would like you to let wisdom Gu remain here." Giant Sun's special will had to show up and stop him.

Spectral Soul Demon Venerable smiled coldly: "You can't stop me."

Giant Sun's special will nodded: "Of course, you are the current Demon Venerable, invincible in the world, I have no way of stopping you. But I am sure you have made a deal with Red Lotus Demon Venerable already?"

Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's expression changed, before coming here, he had obtained one Red Lotus true inheritance, he made a deal with Red Lotus Demon Venerable.

"You mean to say?" Spectral Soul Demon Venerable hesitated.

"That's right, my main body has made arrangements in this wisdom Gu. When the crucial person arrives, he will destroy Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, this wisdom Gu will go along with him." Giant Sun's special will said openly.

"So that's it." Spectral Soul Demon Venerable looked at wisdom Gu deeply but did not take it.

At this moment.

"I've already given it my best effort... it seems I need to use wisdom Gu after all." Fang Yuan sighed.

By now, he had already guessed many of the venerable arrangements.

Wisdom Gu was Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's arrangement, but unlike those of Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable and Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable, it had activated long ago. Back then, Fang Yuan was unaware of this.

Fang Yuan had just opened his immortal aperture's entrance when wisdom Gu flew out by itself, floating above Fang Yuan as it emitted a divine radiance.

Fang Yuan instantly felt relaxed as his expression went back to normal, he felt a sense of ease.

"So that's it." He inspected it closely, realizing: "Wisdom Gu is one of the Gu materials, no wonder it is so effective. With the addition of wisdom Gu, my thoughts are expended more slowly, but my immortal essence expenditure is huge. This rate of consumption is not something I can sustain."

Even though the sovereign immortal aperture's rate of time was very fast and could accumulate immortal essence rapidly, Fang Yuan had undergone many intense battles, the expenditure was high as well.

Once he fails to keep up with the expenditure, the Gu refinement would be forced to stop, Fang Yuan would suffer an overwhelmingly terrifying backlash!

But Fang Yuan was not flustered, he was cool as ice.

He knew clearly, at this point in time, the venerables were not going to watch by the side.

As long as he still had a trace of value, he was irreplaceable, the venerables could not allow him to die at this moment.

"Next, it should be your turn to take action, Giant Sun..."

Far away in black heaven, a dark gold palace floated quietly in the sky.

In the palace, immortal zombie Giant Sun slowly opened his eyes.

He looked towards the south, the scenes in Heavenly Court were reflected in his eyes.

"We have finally reached this moment." Immortal zombie Giant Sun smiled before sighing to himself lightly: "Red Lotus, it was your scheme that worked after all."

Certain memories in his life started to surface.

On the stone lotus island, Gu Immortal Giant Sun who had yet to become venerable received Red Lotus' gift.

At the same time, they also made a transaction.

"This is the incomplete Immortal Gu recipe of destiny Gu?" Giant Sun received this incomplete recipe and was immediately drawn to it. He was the creator of luck path, it had never failed him, but from this incomplete recipe, he saw a whole new world!

"Red Lotus, you are the one who damaged fate Gu, giving me the chance to create luck path. Now, you are gifting this incomplete recipe of destiny Gu to me, I owe you an immense favor!" Gu Immortal Giant Sun said solemnly.

"I will make the arrangements according to our agreement. I will leave wisdom Gu behind and create responsive luck Immortal Gu to help that unparalleled genius who will create destiny song. Furthermore, I will retain my final attack, as long as the situation advances to reach that stage, I will take action and help your million year plan succeed!"

Red Lotus' will smiled: "I will thank you in advance. If my plan fails, please follow our agreement and try your best to refine destiny Gu yourself."

"Of course!" Gu Immortal Giant Sun said resolutely.

...

Within Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace, immortal zombie Giant Sun slowly raised his right hand.

Boom—!

An enormous beam of light flew through the sky and shot towards Heavenly Court's direction at an extreme speed.

This beam of light was so gigantic, like a large river that spanned across heaven and earth.

Wherever it went, it pushed aside all the air, the beam's movement was accompanied by a deafening and majestic sound.

Such a grand and powerful killer move shocked everyone and sent them into a daze.

Even Duke Long, Feng Jiu Ge, and Fang Yuan felt incredibly small and insignificant upon seeing this move.

The beam of light started from black heaven above Northern Plains, piercing through the regional wall and directly bombarding Heavenly Court.

Heavenly Court shook intensely, the world seemed to tremble as countless Immortal Gu Houses cracked and broke.

Within Imperfection Regret Pavilion, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's silhouette gritted her teeth.

She watched as Giant Sun's attack approached, but Limitless' silhouette was drawing her attention, forcing her to have no time to deal with it.

Giant Sun's attack landed with unstoppable might, instilling itself into the sea of human wills and flames.

The three sources gathered and instantly formed a golden ball of light that was the size of a mountain.

Within the ball of light, flames flicked, human wills shined with rainbow light, incredibly dazzling. Fang Yuan remained unmoved at the center, he was controlling the situation.

Traces of pale white light started to spread out from his tightly grasped hands.

These traces of light were so familiar, Fang Yuan had a deep impression of them.

He was internally shaken: "Heaven path dao marks!"

Tens or hundreds of heaven path dao marks slipped out from the cracks between his fingers.

Fang Yuan opened his hands wide at this moment, with a loud sound, countless heaven path dao marks flew into the sky, entangling with each other.

Traces of dao marks went towards Fang Yuan's body.

Fang Yuan grunted, intense pain assaulted him, causing his body and mind to shake!

"These are newly added heaven path dao marks on my body? Wait no, not just me..." Fang Yuan's eyes shined with bright light, he acutely sensed that many of the heaven path dao marks vanished all of a sudden, following the sources of the human wills.

"As expected." At this moment, Fang Yuan was finally certain about Red Lotus Demon Venerable's plan.

He wanted to refine destiny Gu but he was not truly trying to refine a Gu.

Fang Yuan grasped this chance, doing his best to collect these heaven path dao marks.

With every single heaven path dao mark carved in his body, his sovereign immortal aperture's foundation would rise by a level.

This was an unprecedented and huge fortuitous encounter!

Each complete heaven path dao mark would cause a small qualitative change in Fang Yuan's immortal aperture world.

After his trip to Crazed Demon Cave, Fang Yuan became even clearer of the immense value of this opportunity.

But the fusing of heaven path dao marks was very painful, even someone with a firm mind like Fang Yuan started to feel dizzy after gaining ten complete heaven path dao marks.

But he was the main person refining this Gu, he could not use other methods, otherwise, he would disrupt the Gu refinement and fail the process, that would be a huge problem.

Fang Yuan relied on his determination as he gritted his teeth and held on.

He was not the only Gu Immortal enduring pain, he was just one of countless people.

At the same time, in the vast five regions, countless mortals screamed in pain, the heaven path dao marks found their way to the sources of the human wills and carved themselves into these people's bodies.

Each of these mortals could not endure even one ten-thousandth of a complete heaven path dao mark, many of them fainted at the first moment.

Those who could remain awake were fortunate, they were able to absorb more heaven path dao marks.

Pain!

Intense pain, pain that went beyond words.

Fang Yuan soon tore the skin of his lips as his eyes opened wide, even the corners of his eyes were torn, blood flowed out.

His entire body was shaking and covered in sweat, he still tried his best to continue fusing with each additional heaven path dao mark.

Soon, the Gu Immortals scattered across the five regions also started to endure this process.

Heavenly Court's fighting came to a stop, all of the Gu Immortals' expressions changed, they gritted their teeth as their faces turned red. With the addition of heaven path dao marks that automatically went to them, they were caught off guard and could barely endure this.

"No—!" Duke Long screamed in agony, at this moment, he finally realized what Red Lotus' plan was.

Duke Long was unable to take down Feng Jiu Ge after so long, he could only turn around and hope for the best as he tried to attack Fang Yuan, but the intense pain also assaulted him.

Feng Jiu Ge persisted in using destiny song, seeing that Duke Long was leaving, he quickly attacked more intensely to stall for time instead.

With a loud sound, like splattering water, the mountain-like human wills vanished on the spot.

Success!

"People of this world, I have entrusted fate to you. All of you hold a portion of fate, from today onwards, there will no longer be fate in this world!" Red Lotus' will spoke through the human wills, his voice was transmitted into the minds of everyone in the five regions.

The five regions' humans were still in agony and indescribable pain.

Because of the intense and unbearable pain, there were many cases of suicide on the spot.

"Red Lotus—!" Duke Long shouted in anger, he finally got away from Feng Jiu Ge as he arrived in front of Fang Yuan.

But it was too late.

The last bit of Red Lotus' will managed to gather into human form as it blocked the ferocious Duke Long for Fang Yuan.

"Master." The young looking Red Lotus smiled: "I succeeded at long last. Fate Gu has been split into countless portions by me and distributed to everyone in this world. It still exists, it has not been destroyed, but because fate has been fused with luck, it can no longer be used by heaven's will."

Duke Long was furious, his eyes were red, his hair standing on end.

"Traitorous disciple!" He screamed, he charged even quicker now.

At the next moment, he completely destroyed Red Lotus' will as he arrived in front of Fang Yuan.

Duke Long's aura broke through its limit again, reaching an unprecedented level, his strength was so overwhelming that even Di Zang Sheng and Feng Jiu Ge felt a threat to their lives!

Fang Yuan did not move, he did not even put up a defense.

Duke Long charged with unparalleled might, but when he was still a step away from Fang Yuan, his expression changed.

His aura froze at once, his advancement stopped.

His lifespan — was exhausted!

It was slightly earlier than in the previous life.

Fang Yuan was not surprised, he had found the truth when he saw a bit of the scattered light earlier.

The truth was, back then in Eastern Sea, when his Qi Sea Ancestor identity used steal life on Duke Long, it was effective.

But the effect was low and not easily observable, Duke Long also had incredible concealment abilities.

Afterwards, in order to avoid fighting Qi Sea Ancestor, Duke Long even took out Primordial Origin's true inheritance to successfully deceive everyone. This was because Duke Long did not know that Fang Yuan's steal life killer move had a limited number of usages.

This also caused Duke Long to become even stronger than in the previous life at the same time period.

The hero of a generation, the pillar of Heavenly Court, the master of Red Lotus, and the creator of the dragonman race — Duke Long!

Finally, his life was over.

Before dying, he still charged at the forefront.

For Heavenly Court, for the sake of humanity, he had truly done everything that he could until his death.

During the intense war, he forgot the limit of his own lifespan. Thus, at the moment of his death, other than rage and killing intent, there was also confusion on his face.

"Lord Duke Long..."

"Damn it, you must be feeling very unwilling to die like this!"

"Senior Duke Long!!!"

Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals cried out loud, their morale rose sharply, this was the will of the mourning troops!

Intense battle occurred again, the Gu Immortals of the three regions were actually suppressed by Heavenly Court which had fewer numbers.

Fang Yuan no longer participated in the fight.

He still endured intense pain as his gaze pierced past Heavenly Court, overlooking the entire five regions.

Earth shook as it produced waves of deep, rumbling noises.

At this moment, the regional walls that separated the five regions had completely disappeared. The earth veins were connected as the five separate regions merged into one!

Without the obstruction of the regional walls, people could freely move through the five regions with no obstructions. At the same time, the differences in heaven and earth qi also disappeared gradually.

The bloody cape on Fang Yuan's back slowly disintegrated, he raised his head slightly and took in a deep breath.

Ah, the air was filled with freedom.

From now on, there was finally a possibility of pursuing eternal life.

Thinking of this, Fang Yuan's lips curled up as he revealed a faint smile.

"The great era... has finally arrived!"

-x-X-x-

"Wake up! Hey, wake up kid."

Peng Da opened his eyes with difficulty, in his blurred vision, he saw a human face. It belonged to a middle aged man, he had a beard and a pair of crystal clear triangular eyes, there was a white headscarf covering his head.

Peng Da was shocked.

He remembered sleeping in his room earlier, why did a stranger barge into his room suddenly?

He exerted force to sit up but at the next moment, he was stunned.

"Where am I?!" He was shocked to find himself in the middle of a desert, there were no clouds in the sky, the sun was blazing and it was extremely hot.

"Hahaha, this kid is dazed."

"He is really lucky, he was attacked by the desert wolves but managed to survive."

There was not only the bearded middle aged man, there were several others surrounding him.

Not far away, there was a group of camels resting on the ground.

"Kid, this place is called wolf desert, when we found you, your companions were already dead. The desert wolves ate their corpses, after we chased them away, we found that you were still alive."

"My name is Mo Li, I am the leader of this caravan, I saved you and healed your wounds. You are quite lucky to have met us, do you remember anything now?" The bearded middle aged man spoke and explained.

Peng Da was dazed in the desert, the heated sand and glaring sunlight made him gradually accept this.

It was not a dream!

"I transmigrated!"

"Damn it, something like transmigration really exists, and it happened to me of all people!"

"But how did I get here? Yesterday, I was still doing some programming and coding, but today, I ended up here."

"Looking at their attire and speech mannerisms, this is obviously another world."

"Also, why do I know this world's language? It seems like speaking this foreign language is part of my innate ability!"

Peng Da could not help but feel nervous, his heart was pounding rapidly. This situation was really out of his expectations, he started to panic as he felt troubled internally.

But around him, there were several strong men staring at him, Peng Da had to force himself to stay calm as he held his head, shaking it: "I... I only remember my name is Peng Da. As for the rest... damn it, why don't I remember a thing?"

"No way, you lost your memories?"

"This is so disappointing."

Everyone discussed.

The bearded middle aged man looked at Peng Da deeply, bright light flashed in his eyes: "Since you do not remember, forget it. I hope you can regain your memories one day, now, what plans do you have? Do you want to travel with my merchant caravan?"

Peng Da quickly nodded his head, he did not dare to travel alone in the desert: "Uncle Mo Li, I will definitely repay this debt of saving my life. No matter where you are going, please bring me along, I do not know where to go now."

He had a lost expression but he spoke truthfully. He had just arrived in this world, he did not know what to do.

"Then follow us." Mo Li nodded, instructing a person beside him: "Provide a camel for this kid Peng Da."

"Yes." Someone responded immediately: "Kid, follow me."

Peng Da was brought away to the camel, he stared with wide eyes, feeling shocked: "This is a camel?"

The Gu Master who brought him here felt strange: "Kid, are you really from Western Desert? You don't even know about the fire pit camel?"

The fire pit camel did not have a hump, instead its back was concave, forming an oval pit. The person riding the camel would lie in the round pit, with soft fur and warm body temperature, it was very comfortable. The Gu Master started nimbly packing away the goods in the round pit and building a tent on top of it. A portion of the cargo was tied to the camel's sides and the bottom of the tent.

Peng Da continued to pretend that he was in pain as he said: "I don't remember, damn it, I don't remember anything!"

That Gu Master gave him a glance: "I don't care what you forgot, but remember this, our leader saved your life. Since you are joining our caravan, you are eating our food, drinking our water, and living in our quarters, you need to work. Understood?"

Peng Da quickly nodded: "Of course, please give me the instructions. I will do my best!"

"Mm." The Gu Master nodded lightly, showing slight satisfaction.

But at this time, the bearded man's voice could be heard: "Don't make life difficult for him, let this young man rest for now and recover from his mental fatigue. It was fate that we met in this huge desert, it is not easy to live here, no matter who you are."

The Gu Master sighed as he quipped: "Leader, you are still so kindhearted."

Peng Da heard this, he felt a sense of deeper gratitude towards Mo Li, he shouted loudly: "Uncle, thank you so much, I will definitely repay you!"

Mo Li laughed loudly: "Good, kid, go and recover on your camel for now."

Next, he shouted at everyone: "We've had enough rest, let's continue on our way."

Thus, the camel bells rang as the merchant caravan moved forward again, traveling over this vast desert.

Peng Da lay on the fire pit camel's back, he felt very comfortable.

After being alone, he was shocked to find that his body was not his original body, it was a body that belonged to this world. His skin was brown from tanning, his arms and legs were thick, his joints were bulging.

"So only my soul came over, I went into the body of an inhabitant of this world."

"No wonder I can speak their language. It is a pity that I did not gain this inhabitant's memories."

"But this is not bad either. My original body was weak as I did not train it, but this body is very strong and young too."

Peng Da could not sleep, after inspecting his body, he started to look around and observe this world.

There was nothing in the desert, but the travelers were quite an eye-opener to him.

The food of the fire pit camel was actually some bright red charcoal.

The people in the merchant caravan could create water from nothing, they did not need to find oases or water sources. Moving in this desert was very secure because of them.

By night time, they started to prepare dinner. A Gu Master planted some seeds in the desert as trees grew out after a few breaths of time, bearing fruits.

Peng Da did not know what fruit this was but the flesh was tender and sweet, it was fragrant and filled his stomach with satisfaction.

Peng Da was amazed at every small detail of this world. When he ate dinner, he could not help but ask the leader Mo Li.

"Kid, it seems you really have amnesia! We are Gu Masters! These are Gu Master methods." Mo Li looked at Peng Da with a strange gaze.

"Gu Master?" This was the first time Peng Da heard this phrase.

Mo Li's expression was even stranger now as he pointed at Peng Da: "Kid, you are also a Gu Master, in fact, you are a rank two Gu Master."

"What?!" Peng Da was shocked.

After some explanation, Peng Da realized what that meant, he became more excited.

"So a certain group of people of this world are called Gu Masters. They are able to cultivate using Gu worms!"

"Gu Masters rank from one to nine, most of the caravan members are rank two, Uncle Mo Li is the highest at rank three. Meanwhile, I am a rank two Gu Master, or rather, this body's original owner was a rank two Gu Master."

"When Gu Masters cultivate to rank six, they will be known as Gu Immortals, they will be able to overturn mountains and seas, they can collect the stars and moon!"

"By rank nine, they will be invincible in this world, unparalleled and unmatched!"

"Oh heavens, this is such a wonderful world. Since heaven transmigrated me here, there must be a reason for my arrival."

"I must be unique, I will definitely rise above all others. Right! Once I get rank nine cultivation, I will be invincible in this world, that feeling must be very amazing!"

In Peng Da's original world, he was a very ordinary person. He was an orphan with no parents, lovers, or any other attachments.

He was extremely excited, by night time, he could not resist the fatigue, he fell deeply asleep.

What he did not know was, the Gu Masters in the merchant caravan were talking about him.

"This kid actually lost his memories. What should I say? Is he really lucky or unlucky?"

"Is he really amnesiac or pretending to be so?"

"There is no need to do that? From what I saw, he was very shocked by the fire pit camels and our Gu Master methods, it is unlikely to be an act."

"Whether he lost his memories or not, he is still a rank two Gu Master, he will be useful to us, there was no loss in saving him." Mo Li said.

Nobody could refute this.

Gu Masters were far more valuable than mortals, if Peng Da was a mortal, these Gu Masters would not have bothered to save him after realizing he was still alive back then. But since he was a Gu Master, he had value to them, thus he was able to travel on the camel and also got food and water from them.

While they were talking, Mo Li suddenly frowned, his expression turned grim: "Listen, do you all hear something?"

Everyone's expressions changed, at the next moment, this sound became louder, it was such a huge commotion that heaven and earth shook.

"Damn it! It seems like a hurricane, a super-sized hurricane!"

"This is a desert, why are there hurricanes?"

"Quickly move, protect the caravan and move out!"

The Gu Masters left the tent hurriedly but once they got out, they were stunned.

There was a boundless qi tide approaching from all directions, it was like a grand tsunami that overwhelmed heaven and earth. The qi tide was everywhere, it carried sand along with it and had an unstoppable might.

Extremely shocked expressions were shown all over the Gu Masters' faces.

This was a calamity far worse than any hurricane, at once, the Gu Masters felt an intense threat of death.

The merchant caravan was doomed, they only wanted to save their own lives now!

"Escape!" Mo Li gritted his teeth, before he finished his words, he quickly retreated with all his strength.

The other Gu Masters quickly reacted as they mimicked him and escaped.

In the abandoned merchant caravan, the mortals screeched, the camels were stirred too.

They were helpless now, only death awaited them.

But within this chaos, Peng Da was still deeply asleep, he had no idea that this fatal danger was upon him.

-x-X-x-

The sky was dark, there was only two to three faint starlight specks.

This was black heaven.

The surroundings were quiet, three Gu Immortals were moving stealthily in black heaven.

At the left was an elderly hunchbacked Gu Immortal, 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.

At the right was a female immortal, she had a graceful figure with hair that extended to her waist, and was adorned in a beautiful purple robe. Her eyes were like deep pools, with a sense of sorrow shrouding her face.

And at the center was a black robed Gu Immortal, he looked like a middle aged man with a pale face, his black hair was chest length, he had a deep and cold killing intent that surrounded his entire body.

They were Old Man Zheng Yuan, Fairy Zi Wei, and Spectral Soul Demon Venerable!

The three were moving quietly in black heaven, at this time, Spectral Soul paused and said plainly: "It's here again."

Fairy Zi Wei's and Old Man Zheng Yuan's expressions did not change, they guarded Spectral Soul as they started to put up their defensive methods.

Soon, the three immortals heard a loud sound.

Next, a huge and wild qi tide came from all directions. Wherever the qi tide went, lifeforms perished, it was a terrible sight.

The qi tide crashed towards the three immortals, after several minutes, it went past them.

The three including Spectral Soul finally let out a sigh of relief, they canceled their defensive methods as they came out again.

Old Man Zheng Yuan looked towards the qi tide with an expression of sadness towards the people, he sighed deeply: "After the five regions fused into one, such a change actually happened. Once in a while, qi tides will surge, rampaging wildly all over the world. Not just the five regions, even the two heavens are not spared, they cause destruction everywhere they go, I wonder how many people will suffer from this."

Even though Old Man Zheng Yuan was subdued by Spectral Soul, he was only absolutely loyal to Spectral Soul, his original personality did not change.

Fairy Zi Wei's eyes flickered with uncertainty, she seemed to be deducing something but she soon gave up in dejectedness.

Fairy Zi Wei analyzed: "The heaven and earth qi of the five regions vary. Thus, when Gu Immortals go to different regions, absorbing the heaven and earth qi there would cause problems in their immortal aperture. This is also why Gu Immortals often have to return to their region to undergo tribulations. The difference in heaven and earth qi also caused the regional walls to form. Now that the five regional walls are gone, the heaven and earth qi of the five regions are converging into one, this is the reason for the birth of these qi tides."

"But it is impossible to calculate how long this qi tide phenomenon will last, or whether it will get stronger or weaker, we can't even predict a trend."

To deduce the result of this question, it was likely that Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable was needed, he had the deepest understanding of qi path after all. Other than that, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable could also make such a large scale deduction.

Spectral Soul snorted coldly, his voice was hoarse and icy: "This qi tide is a hindrance to us! Wherever it goes, soul beasts are unable to resist it, even if they survive, their soul cores will be damaged."

Spectral Soul wanted to recover his strength now.

Devouring souls was the fastest method.

Originally, he wanted to retrieve the Door of Life and Death, but it was actually moved away in secret.

The fight in Heavenly Court was over now, in Spectral Soul's current state, he could not take action rashly.

Thus, he brought his two subordinates to leave Heavenly Court and come to black heaven, they prepared to hunt soul beasts instead.

Within black heaven, there were countless soul beasts that formed into hordes. They often rampaged in black heaven with nether ants paving the way, they often had hundreds of thousands or even millions of soul beasts in an horde.

"Master, the qi tide is a calamity, please let us stay to help you." Old Man Zheng Yuan advised as a loyal servant.

Spectral Soul snorted coldly: "What use is there in staying by my side? I alone am sufficient, furthermore, I have tasks for you two."

Old Man Zheng Yuan and Fairy Zi Wei looked at each other as they said: "Please give us your instructions, master."

Spectral Soul squinted as he said eerily: "Back then, I expended my assets to refine sovereign immortal fetus Gu, leaving it for Fang Yuan to create a complete otherworldly demon. Now that fate Gu is destroyed, the plan succeeded, it is time to retrieve sovereign immortal fetus Gu now. I want you two to find and capture Fang Yuan alive, I will refine him back into sovereign immortal fetus Gu."

Spectral Soul's strength was at its lowest now, otherwise, he would have taken action during the battle in Heavenly Court.

If he wanted to grow stronger now, there were three crucial things: Door of Life and Death, dream realms, and sovereign immortal aperture.

Now that the Door of Life and Death was gone, Spectral Soul felt slightly disappointed. But he could use soul beasts instead.

Most of his dream realms were taken by Fang Yuan. Even though Fang Yuan used a portion of them in Heavenly Court's battle, the rest were still stored in Fang Yuan's possession.

Spectral Soul needed to take back his dream realms, only with his dream realms could he regain his attainment level of great grandmaster in all paths.

Other than that, the sovereign immortal aperture was necessary too, it could ensure that Spectral Soul would quickly reach the apex of his strength.

Spectral Soul had reason to believe that the sovereign immortal aperture was well developed by Fang Yuan. If he could take it back, it would be the same as gaining Fang Yuan's hard work.

If he could retrieve all three crucial keys, Spectral Soul would rise to the top, he would be unstoppable in this world!

He could not find the Door of Life and Death, but both the dream realms and sovereign immortal aperture were in Fang Yuan's hands, it was understandable that Spectral Soul targeted Fang Yuan first.

Old Man Zheng Yuan frowned as he recalled: "Master wants to deal with Fang Yuan? After this demon destroyed fate Gu, he left Heavenly Court immediately and did not participate in the battle afterwards. He acted very strangely then, nobody knows where he went after that."

Spectral Soul smiled coldly: "That is because of the heaven path dao marks, Fang Yuan could barely save himself, he had to make that choice. Since he could discern the arrangement that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable placed on wisdom Gu and thus used it in the refinement unhesitantly, he naturally can infer the arrangements I placed in sovereign immortal fetus Gu as well."

"Thus, when refining the Gu, he used Red Lotus' method to restrict me. Fang Yuan is very crafty, he managed to thwart my plan by borrowing others' strength. Red Lotus wanted to see that happen as well, hmph, after I get rid of Fang Yuan, I will deal with this old scoundrel Red Lotus."

Spectral Soul and Red Lotus worked together to destroy fate Gu for good. Now that the plan succeeded, Spectral Soul and Red Lotus returned to being enemies.

Two tigers cannot share one mountain, not to mention two venerables.

"But how do we locate Fang Yuan now?" Fairy Zi Wei felt a headache.

Why was it that after changing sides and betraying Heavenly Court, she still had to face this troublesome problem!

When she was in Heavenly Court, she tried all ways possible to deal with Fang Yuan.

As a wisdom path great expert, she had noticed Fang Yuan's threat long ago.

But so what?

Fang Yuan was too good at hiding and concealing himself, his most skilled wisdom path aspect was in blocking deductions.

And he was too vigilant, he never left any traces behind. Even if Heavenly Court wanted to find him, they were helpless and clueless.

Like how humanity had Immortal Venerables and Demon Venerables that the variant humans could not resist, they went into hiding and left even Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable without options against them.

Fairy Zi Wei lacked crucial clues, she could not deduce Fang Yuan's location.

That was the case when she was in Heavenly Court, until now, it was still true!

Thus, she had to get help from Spectral Soul, hoping that this Demon Venerable's soul had some way to deal with him.

But against this question, even Spectral Soul was silent for a while.

Sovereign immortal fetus Gu was refined by him personally, he had made an arrangement to sense the sovereign immortal body. But after the heaven path dao marks were absorbed by Fang Yuan, he lost his method. The connection was completely cut.

Eventually, Spectral Soul ordered: "We temporarily can't find Fang Yuan, we have to force him to show up."

"How? Fang Yuan is a solitary demon, he has no attachments at all. Even if he did have friends or family, with his cruel nature, if we threaten him, he will not appear." Old Man Zheng Yuan felt very troubled.

Spectral Soul snorted coldly: "During Heavenly Court's battle, everyone saw the scene of Fang Yuan destroying fate Gu through the killer move everybody's vision. You will go spread the secret of the sovereign immortal aperture, tell everyone in the world that Fang Yuan was able to reach rank eight and destroy Fate because the sovereign immortal aperture can annex immortal apertures to avoid tribulations and raise his cultivation level rapidly."

"Once in a while, Fang Yuan will have to annex immortal apertures to sustain his life. Whoever kills Fang Yuan will gain countless venerable inheritances, they will even possess the sovereign immortal aperture, they will be qualified to become a venerable and become invincible in the world!"

After pausing, Spectral Soul continued: "In that case, Fang Yuan will be an enemy of everyone. We also have to tell everyone about his current weakness, that he has no battle strength due to the heaven path dao marks troubling him. If not, he would not have escaped immediately after refining the Gu."

"With everyone in the world helping us find him, where can Fang Yuan hide? Even if he can hide for a while, he cannot hide forever. Both of you will go and find the secret treasuries that I left behind afterwards, the cultivation resources that I did not need when refining sovereign immortal fetus Gu are kept there, they are not of low value. Using these resources, you can rebuild Shadow Sect and help me recruit more members."

"Fang Yuan's subordinates like Bai Ning Bing and Hei Lou Lan are all outside now? If we find them, we might find clues to Fang Yuan."

Old Man Zheng Yuan and Fairy Zi Wei quickly responded.

Spectral Soul looked down at his feet, his gaze seemed to be piercing through the darkness and looking at the five regions: "The five regions fused into one, heaven and earth qi is converging as qi tides form and spread around the world. If the heaven and earth qi does not fuse completely, there will not be peace, it will be as if the five regional walls are thinned and spread all over the five regions. Thus, the Gu Immortals of the five regions will feel tremors in their immortal apertures as the two qi collide, they are forced to recuperate now. The stronger the immortal aperture foundation, the longer they need to recuperate."

"Fang Yuan will be forced to lay low for a very long time. But you two are ex-Heavenly Court members, you had phantom apertures so you are unaffected by this. We need to make use of this time, work hard!"

"As master decrees." Fairy Zi Wei and Old Man Zheng Yuan replied respectfully.

Spectral Soul waved his sleeves: "Then why are you still here?"

"Master, please take care! We will take our leave." Fairy Zi Wei and Old Man Zheng Yuan left quickly.

-x-X-x-

Roar—!

Within black heaven, an ancient soul beast was escaping in a hurry.

This soul beast resembled a horse but had a human face. On its face now was terror and fear.

The ancient soul beast was panicking and escaping in a random direction, soon, its movements slowed down as its anguished cries became softer and weaker.

After several breaths of time, it completely stopped in the sky, floating silently in the night sky.

Soundlessly, its colossal body disintegrated as a Gu Immortal appeared.

This Gu Immortal had a pale face and chest-length hair, he was Spectral Soul.

Spectral Soul grabbed the soul core, which was the soul path essence of the ancient soul beast. But Spectral Soul was not satisfied, he placed this soul core into his mouth and ate it like a candy, swallowing it after a few seconds.

"Without using a soul path killer move, I need to wait a while to digest it completely." Spectral Soul said unhappily as he snorted.

After splitting up with Old Man Zheng Yuan and Fairy Zi Wei, he had been hunting soul beasts in black heaven.

But for some reason, maybe due to bad luck or the extermination of lifeforms due to the qi tides, he met very few soul beasts.

Until now, he had only met lone soul beasts or those that formed into groups of five or fewer. The quantity was so small that he even felt like he was not in black heaven!

"This efficiency is just too low!" Spectral Soul continued his journey.

"If my attainment level was still around, I can find the soul beast armies with just my instinct. Even Fang Yuan would not be able to escape my detection. It is a pity I need to start over!"

"However, fate Gu is finally destroyed. Heaven's will cannot obstruct my path to becoming venerable again, after I succeed, I want to see who dares to obstruct me, even if it is a venerable, I will kill them."

"Oh?" While Spectral Soul moved stealthily, a flash of joy suddenly appeared on his face.

He finally found an army of soul beasts.

He got closer and saw that this soul beast army had over three million members. The quantity was not small, and what made Spectral Soul happy was that they had high quality.

He had only taken a quick glance but he already saw six immemorial soul beasts and over thirty ancient soul beasts!

"Kill!" The desire to kill emerged in Spectral Soul's heart as he was about to charge over, but he noticed something.

This discovery was quite surprising: "Why are there soul path Gu Immortals?"

There were three Gu Immortals controlling the soul beast army.

Two males and one female immortal.

The female was at the center as the leader, she had a plain appearance and grey eyes, her rank eight aura was naturally emitted.

Of the two male immortals, one was tall and armored, with strong arms exposed and soul beast markings on his arms. The other was tall and thin, holding a bamboo staff.

The three immortals wore black robes of similar design, they were obviously from the same force.

"They are black heaven Gu Immortals." Spectral Soul soon discerned their aura, he snickered as he changed his earlier idea of charging in, he stealthily mixed in with the soul beast army.

The three immortals controlled the soul beast army with much difficulty, the two males were showing signs of tiredness, sweat gathered on their foreheads.

The rank eight female immortal seemed to have rested earlier, she spoke at this moment: "You two can stop, I will control the army now."

Hearing this, the two male immortals let out sighs of relief, the thin one started to boot-lick her: "Aunt, only you can control a soul beast army of such a size, even if the two of us cultivate for eight lifetimes, we would not even reach half of your strength."

The rank eight female immortal looked at the male immortal with displeasure: "If eight lifetimes are not enough to reach my level, you should just end your own life!"

"Ugh." The thin man knew that his boot-licking had backfired, he showed some awkwardness on his face.

The female immortal sighed: "You two are the most likely Gu Immortals in the clan to advance further besides me. Now that fate Gu has been destroyed, we are taking control of our own fate. The great era has arrived, the peaceful and quiet life of the past is long gone. You must have the spirit to work hard, if you do not have such an awareness, sooner or later our Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven will be drowned by the tides of the era!"

"Aunt, you have taught me a lesson." The tall and thin man nodded his head in succession.

As for the male immortal at the side, he remained silent.

The female immortal sighed again and continued: "The five regions were fused, the heaven and earth qi are merging, to the extent that qi tides swept across the whole world, even black heaven and white heaven are not exempted. Wherever the qi tide reaches, heaven and earth will shake, grotto-heavens can no longer be concealed, their positions will be exposed. This time, we as Gu Immortals of black heaven's grotto-heavens are meeting to discuss how to face this situation. At that time, the two of you will be representing yourselves as well as our Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven, don't forget this."

"Yes, aunt (madam), don't worry, we will remember this!" The two immortals responded respectfully.

The three immortals did not know that Spectral Soul had already gotten near them, he heard their entire conversation without missing anything.

"So that's it." Spectral Soul realized: "With the convergence of the heaven and earth qi, the grotto-heavens concealed in black heaven and white heaven are affected too. The reason is the same as why the five regions' Gu Immortals are forced to recuperate. but the five regions' Gu Immortals are more affected while the two heavens are not as troubled, the Gu Immortals are still able to move around with difficulty."

Within black and white heaven, many grotto-heavens were hidden.

Even Spectral Soul could not precisely count the number of grotto-heavens here.

This current change in the world was unprecedented, all of the grotto-heavens were unable to hide anymore, they were like fish forced out of the water.

Spectral Soul felt that this was a perfect opportunity, he immediately continued to hide, following the three immortals.

After spending half a day, the three immortals controlled the army of soul beasts and finally arrived at their destination.

This was also a grotto-heaven.

The grotto-heaven's entrance was open, many people were already waiting outside, the commotion was not small.

The soul beast army of millions that the three Soul Pacifying immortals brought here was not exceptional at all, they were only superior to the norm.

"So our friends from Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven have arrived." Seeing the three immortals, a Gu Immortal flew out from a pack of night heavenly wolves.

This Gu Immortal had rank eight cultivation level, he had a pair of sharp eagle eyes and had an appearance of a resolute character.

"Night Heavenly Wolf Lord, you arrived early." The rank eight female immortal from Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven replied while smiling.

"Actually, we were late, Lady Cold Ash." Night Heavenly Wolf Lord smiled bitterly, pointing at the grotto-heaven entrance: "Those variant human Gu Immortals have entered already. I waited for you to enter together, otherwise, as lone rank eight Gu Immortals, we will be pushed aside."

Lady Cold Ash nodded with a grim expression: "We have gathered here today because of Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch's request. He is a snowman Gu Immortal to begin with, he opened up his Ice Crystal grotto-heaven as well, this will definitely be dominated by variant human Gu Immortals. Let's go in and see first."

Lady Cold Ash quickly arranged for the two rank sevens to stay behind and look after the soul beast army.

She only brought some immemorial soul beasts with her into the grotto-heaven.

Unknown to her, Spectral Soul had already possessed one of her immemorial soul beasts, he followed after them.

Once they entered the grotto-heaven, the temperature fell drastically, it was an icy world.

Looking at the ground it was all white. The mountain stood tall, made entirely of frost crystals, this was very rare.

At the peak of the frost crystal mountain, there was a palace made of ice and snow.

Lady Cold Ash and Night Heavenly Wolf Lord arrived in front of the palace hall, they left their accompanying immemorial soul beasts and immemorial night heavenly wolves outside, entering themselves.

After Spectral Soul looked for a while, he successfully saw through the foundation of this icy palace, he immediately found a loophole and entered the hall.

There was a snowman Gu Immortal sitting at the main seat, he had a squarish face and dignified demeanor, he was Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch.

Other than that, there were three rank eight variant humans, they were rockman, hairy man, and eggman respectively.

"To think that in black heaven, variant humans are the superior force, they actually have four rank eights while the humans only have two." Spectral Soul thought about it for a moment before understanding why.

After humans dominated the world, variant humans could not live in the five regions anymore, they were chased into the peripheries of the world to live pitiful lives.

Black and white heaven became their top choices to relocate and live.

This place was extremely huge, once their grotto-heavens were concealed, even venerables would not be able to find them without sufficient clues.

Thus, black and white heaven became the foundation of the variant humans, they developed here.

Even though human Gu Immortals also explored both heavens, they only explored them to seek resources. Few rank eight Gu Immortals would place their grotto-heavens within the black and white heavens.

Human grotto-heavens were different from variant human grotto-heavens, the latter were taken care of by heaven's will, their tribulations were weaker, but the former were different.

As time passed, more and more human grotto-heavens that were placed were destroyed, few could develop successfully. Meanwhile, the variant human grotto-heavens were able to last a long time, their forces grew stealthily.

The six rank eight Gu Immortals discussed for a long time.

"The five regions have become one, qi tides rampage the heavens. Our grotto-heavens will be exposed, I propose that we unite ourselves and resist the enemies of the five regions together!"

"How will we resist them? Even though our grotto-heavens are doing well, how can our resources compare to the five regions? Even if we all work together, we are not the match of the five regions' humans!"

"Moreover, we cannot cooperate sincerely with each other, we are of different identities after all."

"Everyone, don't worry, even though we are humans, our Soul Pacifying Ancestor was forced to live in black heaven, we have already broken all ties with the five regions."

"I'll be more straightforward, my Night Wolf grotto-heaven does not want to expose ourselves. After all, we have an immense enmity with Northern Plains' Longevity Heaven!"

"Friends." Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch spoke: "Do you all only want to go on the defensive, do you not want to progress further? Now that fate Gu has been destroyed, the reign of humanity has been disrupted. The five regions' Gu Immortals need to recuperate now, this is the best chance for us to take action!"

"Because we were in black heaven, we became the least affected ones, we can move around with difficulty. If we don't make use of this chance, we will regret it in the future."

"Immortal Monarch, what plan do you have?"

Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch sighed as he said with a grim expression: "The five regions are huge, they have abundant resources, even if our grotto-heavens are added together, we cannot compare to them. The world will definitely go into chaos, if we do not try to improve ourselves, when the five regions settle down, they will find a chance to eliminate us all. Only by taking this lead can we have a hope of survival."

-x-X-x-

Lady Cold Ash flew first towards the entrance of Ice Crystal grotto-heaven.

The two rank sevens from Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven quickly went to receive her.

"Aunt." The tall and thin Gu Immortal asked in concern: "How was the discussion?"

Lady Cold Ash shook her head lightly, at this time, Night Heavenly Wolf Lord also flew out of Ice Crystal grotto-heaven.

The two conversed for some time before parting ways. Night Heavenly Wolf Lord brought his wolf group along while Lady Cold Ash led her soul beast army, going back to their respective grotto-heavens.

Along the way, the three immortals conversed, not knowing that Spectral Soul was lurking around them.

Spectral Soul had originally wanted to hunt the soul beasts, but after seeing this, he changed his mind.

Just by the name of Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven, he could tell its foundation was soul path. Seeing that Lady Cold Ash and the two rank sevens were soul path Gu Immortals, Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven must be a place filled with abundant soul path cultivation resources.

Let alone anything else, just the soul beast army that they controlled was a scrumptious meal to Spectral Soul.

"Qi tides rampage in the five regions and two heavens, the grotto-heaven forces in black and white heaven will not lay low. Hehe, I can use this to my advantage and assault the other venerable forces and speed up my growth!"

Spectral Soul not only had to deal with Fang Yuan, there were also venerable forces like Heavenly Court and Longevity Heaven.

Now that fate Gu was destroyed, Spectral Soul was able to revive, the other venerables were also able to revive themselves.

With Fang Yuan missing at the moment, Spectral Soul had to consider the whole situation. Even though his true nature was killing, there were many ways to kill. Using others as one's lethal weapon was also a high level killing method, he was going to use it now.

Lady Cold Ash and the rest did not know that their Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven was currently targeted by a huge monster, Spectral Soul. Meanwhile, Night Heavenly Wolf Lord returned to his Night Wolf grotto-heaven.

Many Gu Immortals in Night Wolf grotto-heaven quickly greeted him.

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord said: "Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch wants us to form an alliance to resist the five regions. This is quite a difficult situation."

Gu Immortal Ye Zhi nodded: "It is quite difficult. In the current situation, fate Gu is destroyed, the five regions merged, as the heaven and earth qi fuse together, qi tides rampage in the world, no grotto-heaven can conceal itself. We are small and lone forces, when the five regions attack us, we will not be able to resist them. However, we do not need to fight the five regions, we are humans but Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch and the rest are variant humans after all. The five regions are stronger than the two heavens, this is an obvious fact, why can't we join the five regions instead?"

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord laughed: "Ye Zhi, you know me best, that is how I feel too. If we work with the variant humans, we will be considered spies of humanity. Even if the five regions do not want to attack us, if we ally with the variant humans, they will want to."

Ye Zhi frowned: "But we cannot join the five regions. Firstly, Northern Plains of the five regions is impossible. Secondly, the other four regions might not welcome us. And finally, if we join them, we will be attacked by Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch and the rest."

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord sighed: "Indeed, that is why I made an agreement with Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven's Lady Cold Ash, we will advance and retreat together, we will combine the forces of the human grotto-heavens here. As for which region to join, in my opinion, Central Continent's Heavenly Court is the most appropriate. We can secretly contact them first."

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord was an experienced leader, not only did he have rank eight cultivation level, he was shrewd in politics, nobody in Night Wolf grotto-heaven defied his rule.

Since he made a decision, the Gu Immortals in Night Wolf grotto-heaven did not dare to raise objections.

Heavenly Court.

Central Great Hall was finally repaired, Qin Ding Ling was currently the person taking charge.

They failed to repair fate Gu, Heavenly Court had undergone an intense battle, the damage was huge, even now, many areas were still in ruins.

"This is a humiliation!" Qin Ding Ling put aside the letter Gu as she rested temporarily. Her expression was calm but her eyes flickered with light, as memories surfaced in her mind, rage built up within her.

After Red Lotus' goal was achieved, Duke Long died while fighting and Fang Yuan retreated rapidly. But the three regions' Gu Immortals wanted to destroy Heavenly Court, nobody backed off.

At the moment of life and death, Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable's method started to activate. All sorts of rage qi, unlucky qi, grief qi, and others plagued the three regions' Gu Immortals, their physical conditions weakened.

This move was originally meant to deal with Fang Yuan, but Limitless Demon Venerable blocked it for him. After Red Lotus' plan succeeded, the battle between two venerables in Imperfection Regret Pavilion also concluded, with Limitless laughing as the two venerable silhouettes faded away. Without Limitless' power to restrict it, Primordial Origin's method started to work again.

And the other good news was that even though Feng Jiu Ge turned on them, he only helped Fang Yuan to refine the Gu, he did not do anything against Heavenly Court.

Heavenly Court was able to recover because of this and retaliate, maintaining their position in this difficult battle.

The three regions' Gu Immortals had no choice, with Dragon Palace, Calamity Luck Altar, and Clear Jade Dripping Wind Tiny Bamboo Building as their foundation, they retreated gradually.

After leaving Heavenly Court, some people wanted to loot Central Continent but the first qi tide happened at this moment.

The immortal apertures of the three regions' Gu Immortals became unstable, they had to leave.

Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals stopped chasing them, after witnessing Fang Yuan refine destiny Gu in front of them, their morale and fighting spirit had fallen.

After the battle ended, Heavenly Court, which was greatly damaged, tried to reduce its losses and take care of the aftermath.

Duke Long died while Fairy Zi Wei betrayed them for Spectral Soul, after Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals talked over it, they decided that Qin Ding Ling would be the new leader.

During this period of time, Qin Ding Ling had been the one in charge, taking care of all the matters, big or small.

Qin Ding Ling had a plain expression but a fire was burning in her heart. The great Heavenly Court had actually lost, it was a complete loss! She was eager to make up for this humiliation, but logic told her to not act rashly. Because everything had changed, Heavenly Court was no longer the old Heavenly Court, the enemies were no longer the same, even the world had changed.

After resting for a while, Qin Ding Ling continued to deal with the matters at hand.

"Oh?" She held an information path mortal Gu as her expression changed slightly: "Night Wolf grotto-heaven?"

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord was not willing to fight alongside the variant humans, he wanted to join the stronger side of the five regions. Among them, although Heavenly Court had lost this fight, it was still the number one human force for the last few million years.

Night Wolf grotto-heaven had grudges with Longevity Heaven, in the five regions, only Heavenly Court had the foundation to stand up against the vicious Longevity Heaven members.

In this information path Gu worm, Night Heavenly Wolf Lord also explained the ill intentions of the variant humans.

"Hmph, those of other races have such motives! Once fate Gu got destroyed, these variant humans jumped out immediately." Qin Ding Ling snorted, deep killing intense rose in her heart.

After calming down, Qin Ding Ling started to think about this situation.

Qin Ding Ling knew very little about Night Heavenly Wolf Lord and Night Wolf grotto-heaven. With just one information path Gu worm, she could not confirm if Night Heavenly Wolf Lord was really trying to sincerely join them, or if they were scheming against Heavenly Court.

"If this Night Heavenly Wolf Lord is sincere, how should we deal with Longevity Heaven and the variant human forces of the grotto-heavens?"

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord talked about the history of his ancestor truthfully in the letter, he did not conceal the grudges they had with Longevity Heaven.

Qin Ding Ling was slightly troubled.

Heavenly Court was at an unprecedented level of weakness.

Qi tides rampaged in the world, heaven and earth qi converged, the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals who had phantom apertures were even more mobile than the Gu Immortals in black or white heaven.

But Heavenly Court could not move them.

Firstly, most of Heavenly Court's members had limited lifespan. Secondly, they had to reinforce Star Constellation's will.

Thus, a portion of Heavenly Court's members had to enter the immortal graveyard to hibernate and help Star Constellation's will, to prevent her from being completely assimilated with heaven's will.

But in that case, Heavenly Court's battle strength would be far lower.

Thus, Qin Ding Ling could not make up her mind.

"If only Fairy Zi Wei was still around." Qin Ding Ling sighed, the worry in her heart intensified.

Fairy Zi Wei and Old Man Zheng Yuan were enslaved by Spectral Soul, they left with him. The two of them knew a lot about Heavenly Court's secrets, together with the soul of a Demon Venerable, who could underestimate them?

Qin Ding Ling thought about it for a while before feeling the severity of this situation, she decided to discuss it with Zhou Xiong Xin and the rest.

Zhou Xiong Xin suggested: "This is an important matter, but the situation is not very clear now. The six Gu Immortals including Night Heavenly Wolf Lord are merely the rank eights of the black heaven above our Central Continent. What about the other four regions' black heaven? We do not know how many grotto-heavens there are, or how many rank eight Gu Immortals exist in these grotto-heavens. I am willing to go and investigate the two heavens myself!"

Zhou Xiong Xin cultivated information path, he knew the importance of information.

He had a phantom aperture and was not afraid of the heaven and earth qi convergence.

Qin Ding Ling agreed with his suggestion, she chose to continue keeping in contact with Night Wolf grotto-heaven while investigating the situation.

Jun Shen Guang took out an information path mortal Gu, saying: "The list of names have been chosen, they are all Gu Immortal seeds with great talent and aptitude. Most importantly, they are loyal to Heavenly Court and the ten great ancient sects. But there is one person whom I need everyone's input and discussion on."

Jun Shen Guang's list contained the names of many mortal Gu Masters, they were all exceptional geniuses.

Heavenly Court lost this battle and the immortal graveyard was even destroyed by Fang Yuan, everything had to be rebuilt from scratch. With the threat of the five regions chaotic war, Heavenly Court decided to nurture new Gu Immortals, disregarding the costs.

Qin Ding Ling received the Gu worm and looked into it.

There were many names on this list: Immortal Crane Sect recommended Sun Yuan Hua, Spirit Butterfly Valley recommended Xiao Qi Xing, Ancient Soul Sect had Gu Ting, Heaven's Envy Manor had Wei Wu Shang... but at Spirit Affinity House's section, the list was empty without a name.

Qin Ding Ling sighed as her expression turned complex.

She knew about the person Spirit Affinity House nominated, it had to be Feng Jin Huang.

But after the battle over Fate, Feng Jiu Ge betrayed Heavenly Court and went missing, his daughter Feng Jin Huang ended up in an awkward position.

She was originally Duke Long's disciple and the future Great Dream Immortal Venerable. But with the death of Duke Long and the destruction of Fate, she was no longer certain to be Great Dream Immortal Venerable.

Zhou Xiong Xin's concern was: If Heavenly Court continued to nurture Feng Jin Huang and she betrayed them like her father, what would they do?

Even though Feng Jin Huang was Duke Long's disciple, the disciple that he nurtured wholeheartedly spent a million years to plot and destroy Heavenly Court's fate Gu. Would his second disciple Feng Jin Huang also inherit this 'great tradition'?

"We will talk about this again next time."

-x-X-x-

Central Continent, Lake Heart Mountain.

Spirit Affinity House's public blessed land headquarters was situated here.

Within the blessed land, there was an area called Quiet Rain Valley.

When Feng Jin Huang was strolling in the valley, it started to rain.

A drizzle.

The rain was mild and quiet.

Bathed in the rain, Feng Jin Huang slowed down subconsciously as she walked.

The air was fresh with the smell of grass, all around her was a faint field of greenery.

This rain did not feel cold, it was like jade, mild and calm.

Feng Jin Huang knew that this was called quiet rain. When it rains, all sounds would be absorbed and the surroundings would be silent. Heaven and earth would be soundless, one would be able to hear their own heartbeats and breathing.

Quiet rain was a rank six immortal material, this valley was the resource point that created quiet rain, this was why it was named Quiet Rain Valley.

After Feng Jiu Ge betrayed Heavenly Court and went missing, his wife, the mother of Feng Jin Huang, Fairy Bai Qing, requested to be transferred to Quiet Rain Valley to collect quiet rain, she said she would not leave this place.

Whenever there was quiet rain, the valley would have music that sounded like zither and flute, it was akin to Fairy Bai Qing's anguished cries of sadness.

Feng Jin Huang had heard of this rumor and felt worried, she came to the valley to visit her mother.

The quiet rain was drizzling, there was indeed the music of zither and flute being emitted.

The sound of the zither spread out all around, like white clouds in the sky, ancient, melodious and pleasant to the ear. The sound of the flute, however, was high pitched, fluctuating almost abruptly, like a fierce hawk flying across the sky, sharply piercing the wind, tearing the sky.

At first, the sound of the zither resounded and the sound of the flute reverberated, alternating with each other, as if both sides were speaking, one sentence after the other.

Then, the zither and the flute began to approach each other, and gradually merged into one another. The white clouds were misty, and the eagles were flying across the clouds. The two abrupt sounds of music merged together, creating an indescribable beauty.

In the end, the sound of the zither and the flute become one and the same, forming a kind of mix, with the melodious sound of the zither and the clarity of the flute, it was unique and beautiful!

Feng Jin Huang was enchanted by the beautiful sound of the music. She went deeper into the valley and managed to meet her mother.

Fairy Bai Qing was sitting in a bamboo pavilion, with two Gu flying around her like white jade pearls. They were sound path mortal Gu, zither Gu and flute Gu.

When Feng Jin Huang entered the pavilion, the music slowly stopped.

Fairy Bai Qing had already known of Feng Jin Huang's arrival, she turned around slowly: "This demonic immortal unification song was composed by your father when we fell in love, it is the symbol of our relationship. I still remember the first time your father played it for me, he told me: Immortals and demons are one to begin with, initially, Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable was known as Primordial Origin Demon Venerable by the variant humans as well. This song contains deep meaning and your father has been treasuring and not using it, but he played it during the fate war."

Saying so, Fairy Bai Qing's tone changed as she looked at Feng Jin Huang fixedly: "The list of names has been announced already."

Feng Jin Huang nodded: "I know. The last time the sect recommended me, there was no reply from Heavenly Court. This time, the sect put Sun Yao's name and it was quickly approved by Heavenly Court."

Fairy Bai Qing said plainly: "Originally, the sect still wanted to recommend you to go there, but Li Jun Ying and Xu Hao got in the way, they ended up promoting Sun Yao instead. How do you feel about such an outcome, my dear daughter?"

"Hehe." Feng Jin Huang smiled slightly, her smile brilliant as a flower, bringing a bright sunshine to the bamboo pavilion for a moment.

"Mother, why do you have to test me on this? Ever since father betrayed and turned against Heavenly Court, I've already prepared myself. Right now, the situation is already not bad, my dream path Immortal Gu was not taken." Feng Jin Huang said.

Fairy Bai Qing also smiled slightly at her words: "It's not like there isn't any forceful seizure in the righteous path, but it's just that the act is often cloaked in a layer of righteousness and morality. It's already good that you have come to this level of understanding. However, don't worry too much, your father left Heavenly Court but created destiny song, his outstanding battle strength is evident to the world, Heavenly Court and Spirit Affinity House will not dare to touch you."

Feng Jin Huang revealed a look of displeasure: "Mother, you don't need to make an explanation for father. Although I can understand father, I will not forgive him. For him to suddenly turn his back on Heavenly Court and not even telling us beforehand is simply abandoning his wife and daughter! One day, I will settle the score with him."

"Hehehe." Fairy Bai Qing laughed and shook her head, walking up to Feng Jin Huang and holding her hand: "You misunderstand your father. That demonic immortal unification song, which he kept as a symbol of our love, has never been used for anything other than singing in front of me. But he used it during the fate war to tell me that righteous immortals and demons are the same, his feelings for me had never changed, and even when he left the righteous path and returned to the demonic path, it wouldn't end the relationship of our family."

"Do you believe me? As long as I give out the slightest hint of inclination to leave Spirit Affinity House, he will definitely take the initiative to bring me away. He understands me well and knows that I do not want to become a demonic path member. Therefore, he gave us both the opportunity to choose our side freely. He didn't want his ideals to become a burden on us."

Feng Jinhuang snorted coldly: "Father would rather help Fang Yuan, the great demon, than help my master. It's true that master was stubborn and was always nagging about fate and all that, but he was ultimately kind to us and truly had my best interests in mind. Father was simply too cold and heartless."

"Mother, since you are fine now, I'll be leaving."

"Oh you." Fairy Bai Qing sighed, but did not ask her daughter to stay.

When Feng Jin Huang left Quiet Rain Valley, she met with two female Gu Masters.

One was beautiful while the other was cute, they were acquaintances of Feng Jin Huang, they were anxiously waiting outside the valley.

After seeing Feng Jin Huang, they showed joy on their faces as they went to her.

"Senior sister, we heard you came here so we rushed over to find you!" The beautiful woman was Qin Juan.

"Senior sister, sorry, I... I did not want to snatch your opportunity..." Sun Yao had a cute and round face, she was very anxious now.

Qin Juan and Sun Yao were good friends with Feng Jin Huang, they had always followed behind her.

But in the recent years, Feng Jin Huang followed Duke Long and went away to cultivate dream path, they did not meet much during this period.

Feng Jin Huang laughed aloud and stretched out her hand to nudge Sun Yao's forehead: "Oh, you've done well this time, so why are you apologizing. The nomination quota is just a small matter, am I unable to become immortal without this funding? For me, becoming a Gu Immortal is by no means an obstacle. It's just that I have to consider the kind of Gu Immortal I want to become. But for you, this is a rare opportunity, so seize it well."

After speaking to Sun Yao, Feng Jin Huang looked at Qin Juan: "You've always been quite active and have good perseverance, but this time, when fusing with the dao marks, why did you faint? If not, the nomination would have been yours this time."

Qin Juan did not dare to retort: "Senior sister, you are right, I have slacked off on my cultivation."

"No, that is not so, senior sister. Sister Qin Juan was injured at that time, she could not endure the ordeal and fainted." Sun Yao quickly clarified.

"So that's how it was." Feng Jin Huang nodded her head and said regrettably: "It is indeed a great loss. Fang Yuan destroyed fate Gu and refined it into countless heaven path dao marks, which were dispersed to the people in the world. The more heaven path dao marks you absorb, the more beneficial it will be in the future. Be it cultivation or developing the immortal aperture, it will benefit with no harm. But there's no harm in not having any, at best it's just an opportunity. What determines your achievements in life will still depend on your own talents and efforts."

"Yes, Qin Juan will listen to senior sister's teachings." Qin Juan bowed.

Feng Jin Huang smiled again: "Let's go, I will give you two some guidance."

Qin Juan and Sun Yao revealed joyful expressions, the latter jumped around cheering: "That's great, we haven't been together for such a long time."

The three of them walked together, gradually leaving Quiet Rain Valley.

Within the valley, Fairy Bai Qing retracted her investigative method.

"Daughter, you've grown up." Fairy Bai Qing had a relieved expression.

Feng Jin Huang was very clear about her own circumstances, as well as Heavenly Court and the ten great ancient sects. Towards Feng Jiu Ge's actions, she had her own opinion, but she was able to put it aside and make a clear judgment, she had a solid foundation of skills.

"Maybe, your betrayal has hastened our daughter's maturity. We should let her walk on her own path."

"As a mother, all I can do is to wish the best for her."

"Of course, if some people in the sect do not know what is good for them and go overboard, I will not avoid conflict either." Fairy Bai Qing's expression turned cold.

At the same time, on another mountain, Affection Peak.

Spirit Affinity House's Li Jun Ying and Xu Hao went to visit Zhao Lian Yun.

Zhao Lian Yun had already become an immortal, she was assigned by Spirit Affinity House recently and became the Affection Peak Lord.

She was able to achieve what she had today thanks to the support of Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying, in addition to her own efforts. Zhao Lian Yun was also guided by the two immortals during her Gu Immortal cultivation journey and the management of her immortal aperture, so she was able to avoid many pitfalls.

Zhao Lian Yun remembered these debts in her heart, so when Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying visited her, she quickly came out of cultivation and attended to them personally.

But hearing their request, Zhao Lian Yun felt troubled.

"Seniors, you want me to use my status as the current generation fairy to deal with Feng Jin Huang and Fairy Bai Qing?"

"Indeed, now is the best opportunity! Feng Jiu Ge betrayed us and caused Heavenly Court to lose and Fate to be destroyed. If we target them now, we will definitely win." Xu Hao had a fierce expression.

The hatred between him and Feng Jiu Ge had a long history. In the past, he had hated Feng Jiu Ge so much that he held back key information and intelligence, almost causing him to die. Feng Jiu Ge had a very strong stance in his political manipulation, ostracizing the couple to the fringe of Spirit Affinity House in this power struggle. Most of the time, the two immortals were at a disadvantage against Feng Jiu Ge, they could only support each other with difficulty.

For them, Feng Jiu Ge's betrayal was great news, it was worth celebrating.

"This..." Zhao Lian Yun hesitated: "Feng Jiu Ge has already betrayed Heavenly Court, seniors, I know that you have grudges with him, but why do you want to implicate his family?"

"Oh Lian Yun, we cannot be too kindhearted sometimes. Think about it, think about the time you competed with Feng Jin Huang over the fairy position." Li Jun Ying urged: "If we do not use this chance, we will regret it in the future. You do not need to worry about it, I will tell you something, our sect's nominee was originally Feng Jin Huang but now she has been removed from the list."

"Seniors, people should let others off when possible." Zhao Lian Yun explained, she was not willing to do that. Conflicts should be resolved and not deepened, back then, when competing for the fairy position, both of them had used above board methods, Feng Jin Huang had a deep background but did not use any unscrupulous ways to deal with her as well.

Even though Zhao Lian Yun and Feng Jin Huang were competitors, Zhao Lian Yun admired Feng Jin Huang's personality, she had no ill feelings towards her.

Xu Hao did not listen to her words: "Back then, did the demon Feng Jiu Ge spare us?"

"You are too kind for your own good, Lian Yun." Li Jun Ying frowned.

Zhao Lian Yun sighed to herself, she changed her words and explained: "Seniors, we need to analyze this situation deeply. Even though the sect nominated someone else, Heavenly Court did not directly take away Feng Jin Huang's status. From that, we can see the attitude of Heavenly Court is still unclear towards her."

"Precisely because they are uncertain now, we need to deal the fatal blow and affirm their decision! The fight over authority will never cease, only when a true victor is decided can there be peace." Li Jun Ying said with deep meaning.

Zhao Lian Yun sighed again, she could only accept their request.

There was no choice, she owed them a big favor after all. Even though she was unwilling, people had to do some things that they did not want to in this world. They had helped her greatly, if she rejected them, what would others think?

Zhao Lian Yun was half an otherworldly demon, even though she was the current generation fairy, Spirit Affinity House still ostracized her. If she lost her relationship with Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying, she would truly become a loner.

The two immortals saw that Zhao Lian Yun agreed, they were overjoyed, they promised her a huge reward.

Zhao Lian Yun was not interested in the reward, after the two of them left, she continued her closed cultivation.

The destruction of Fate was actually great news to Zhao Lian Yun. With this, Ma Hong Yun's revival would be much easier and less troublesome.

But Ma Hong Yun's soul was still in Fang Yuan's hands.

Thus, Zhao Lian Yun had to cultivate and raise her strength, to make preparations to save her beloved.

In the secret room, Zhao Lian Yun calmed down and inspected her own immortal aperture.

Lian Yun blessed land had 5700km2 of land, the rate of time was one-to-thirteen. The terrain was mostly grassland and plains.

But after the heaven path dao marks were absorbed, Lian Yun blessed land started to change in many aspects.

Firstly, the ground cracked to form huge trenches, next, there was torrential rain as huge rivers were formed. The rivers overflowed and floods plagued the surroundings.

After three days and three nights, the floods receded, leaving behind vast expanses of fertile mud. Small ditches and rivers connected to the main channel of the giant river, forming an elaborate and dense network of rivers.

Zhao Lian Yun witnessed the transformation of her immortal aperture the entire time, she was dazed and greatly shocked internally.

"With heaven path dao marks, the immortal aperture will transform and become closer to a truly balanced environment. Even though there are temporary losses, the potential and prospects will rise by many times."

Zhao Lian Yun had divine concealment from Thieving Heaven's true inheritance. She did not face calamities and tribulations, this was beneficial and also detrimental, her immortal aperture development had always been a problem. But with the addition of heaven path dao marks, this problem was reduced greatly.

"If only I had more heaven path dao marks!"

"Sigh, what a pity that I only obtained six and a half heaven path dao marks, and they are all segmented too, I do not have a single complete heaven path dao mark."

"How many heaven path dao marks did Fang Yuan get? He was the person refining the Gu, he was the closest to these heaven path dao marks."

Zhao Lian Yun sighed.

She could not imagine it or find the answer, but she knew that the difference between her and Fang Yuan had been greatly increased again.