298 RI

Roar—!

A huge, mountain-like immemorial soul beast with two horns on its head was howling.

But it was not showing its might and dominance, but madly struggling to flee.

Its tail was grabbed by an ordinary hand.

Then, an extremely terrifying absorption force spread out from the palm. There was a whirring sound resembling a wild hurricane as the immemorial soul beast was absorbed completely by the hand within a few breaths of time.

The owner of that hand let out a burp.

It was the rank eight soul path expert, owner of Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven — Lady Cold Ash.

Her eyes were pitch-black and threads of black smoke coiled around her body. After a while, she stopped the killer move, the black smoke around her whole body were restrained, and nothing looked out of place from the outside.

But in fact, her body was already possessed by Spectral Soul and her soul had been devoured.

Spectral Soul sighed: "I am full again."

He got much more freedom with Lady Cold Ash's identity. Over these days, he was actively devouring immemorial soul beasts, increasing and recovering his strength rapidly.

But Spectral Soul was not satisfied.

Devouring immemorial soul beasts was not like consuming guts Gu after all, Spectral Soul needed to digest them. Otherwise, the immemorial soul beasts would corrode his soul, make him lose his rationality and finally turn into a deformed soul monster.

The first choice in strengthening the soul was of course the guts Gu from Dang Hun Mountain, there was no need to digest them and they could be absorbed almost instantly.

The more Spectral Soul yearned for Dang Hun Mountain, the more he wanted to find Fang Yuan and kill him!

"Where exactly did this rascal Fang Yuan go to?" Spectral Soul thought of Fang Yuan and could not help but narrow his eyes.

Fairy Zi Wei had already informed Spectral Soul of the information she had gained from Bai Ning Bing.

This was great news to Spectral Soul.

Fairy Zi Wei had found clues of Ying Wu Xie, as long as they got hold of Fang Yuan's subordinates, they would have enough clues to deduce Fang Yuan's location.

"Fang Yuan obtained so many heaven path dao marks and has been missing since the fate war, his situation must be dismal. This is the best chance to capture him."

Spectral Soul had been a venerable, he queried himself and got the conclusion that even when he was at his peak, it would have been a difficult task to refine so many heaven path dao marks. Let alone the current Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan was strong, but he was not a venerable after all and had a limited understanding of the heaven path dao marks.

"But I can no longer count on the arrangements I left in the sovereign immortal aperture."

Spectral Soul understood that heaven path dao marks developed naturally, the hidden arrangements he left behind were essentially dao marks and were certain to be transformed by the heaven path dao marks.

His methods would not be effective after they were transformed.

If they were effective, why would Spectral Soul have to go through such trouble to search and capture Fang Yuan's subordinates, he would have already gone to kill Fang Yuan.

"After half a month, I can devour an immemorial soul beast again to recover my strength... hmm?" Just as Spectral Soul was planning, he suddenly received a message.

Spectral Soul immediately revealed joy: "Wu Shuai is convening rank eight Gu Immortals of the two heavens alliance to discuss an important event, Lady Cold Ash is also summoned. Great, Wu Shuai is acquainted with Fang Yuan, he might even be Fang Yuan's clone. I might be able to lure out Fang Yuan's main body if I enslave him."

Spectral Soul immediately moved out of Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven under Lady Cold Ash's identity and rushed towards the headquarters of Eastern Sea's Xia clan.

In the public blessed land, he smoothly entered Dragon Palace and saw Wu Shuai.

Wu Shuai was sitting on the main seat while the other people were divided into two rows. On his immediate left was vice alliance leader Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch; on his right was the recent addition, rank eight expert Xiao He Jian.

Below them were leaders of various variant human forces.

The human grotto-heaven owners were arranged further back. For instance, Lady Cold Ash's position was almost close to Dragon Palace's door.

The political state of the two heavens alliance was clear from these seating arrangements. Variant humans were dominant and had most of the authority, while human Gu Immortals were firmly at a disadvantage. It was not that they did not resist, but they were helpless. After all, Wu Shuai had a dragonman identity and it was natural for him to be closer to other variant humans.

'If I kill all of them, how much of my strength can I recover?' Spectral Soul looked around with killing intent surging in his heart.

Sensing her gaze, Night Heavenly Wolf Lord who was standing opposite her nodded slightly, showing goodwill.

Spectral Soul had already obtained all of Lady Cold Ash's memories: "This Night Heavenly Wolf Lord, maybe I can make a move against him first. This human rank eight Gu Immortal's soul is much more suitable for my recovery."

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord thought: "This Lady Cold Ash can be used. My contribution regarding Granny Skeleton came from her. After this discussion, I should find her to drink tea and probe her intention. If I can rope her into Heavenly Court's side, my contribution will be even bigger."

Night Heavenly Wolf Lord's thoughts were normal.

In his opinion, the previous Lady Cold Ash did not lose hope and wanted to unite other human forces to counter the current alliance situation, raising the human forces' position in the alliance. But right now, her plan was already useless, Granny Skeleton did not come at all. And with Heavenly Court already proceeding to the next plan, that was, to split up the whole two heavens alliance, Night Heavenly Wolf Lord saw his chance to make much more contributions!

Just as Night Heavenly Wolf Lord and Lady Cold Ash were scheming, Wu Shuai spoke: "I think you should all know why I convened everyone this time. That's right, it is about the qi harvest fruit disaster."

"Qi harvest fruits have appeared in most of your grotto-heavens. These qi harvest fruits absorb the heaven and earth qi in the grotto-heaven to strengthen themselves, directly harming the grotto-heaven's foundation. But ordinary methods cannot get rid of these qi harvest fruits, a rash move will only harm the grotto-heaven's foundation."

"Today, I gathered everyone to try to collectively think of a good solution."

After Wu Shuai spoke, the immortals began to offer their suggestions.

Over this period of time, most of them had racked their minds and were completely focused on this problem.

These immortals might lack combat proficiency, but their foundations were instead stable and solid. Thus, they suggested many methods.

However, although there were many methods suggested, which were truly effective?

No one could guarantee or be certain!

None of them cultivated qi path as their main path, there were a few who cultivated qi path on the side but their attainment was low and could not be counted upon.

"There are many methods, let's try them one by one, there should be a way to resolve this issue. So, what we need to do is to try these methods continuously. Who is willing to try it first?" Wu Shuai summarized and asked.

Dragon Palace immediately fell into silence.

No one wanted to be the guinea pig!

It was extremely crucial to clear up the qi harvest fruits. It was like a heart surgery, a slight mistake and it would be the end of the grotto-heaven. Even if they were fortunate and the grotto-heaven survived, its foundation would be heavily damaged and there would be massive losses.

"These Gu Immortals are really pitiful, fortunately I have already sided with Heavenly Court." Although Night Heavenly Wolf Lord showed a worried expression, he was calm.

He had been informed by Heavenly Court that they had already found the solution to the qi harvest fruit issue. So he was not the least bit worried.

But in fact, Qin Ding Ling only said that to stabilize Night Heavenly Wolf Lord and make him more loyal.

"It is both hard and easy to resolve the qi harvest fruit." Spectral Soul naturally knew some methods but he did not mention them.

His current thoughts were filled with how to attack Wu Shuai.

He could not make a move now with so many people present.

But how could he find a chance to be alone with Wu Shuai?

"The biggest obstacle is still this Dragon Palace." Spectral Soul was somewhat wary. Dragon Palace, in essence, was an enslavement path Immortal Gu House, Spectral Soul was not afraid about this. What he was worried about were the dream path methods of Dragon Palace.

Even Spectral Soul had to be vigilant regarding this, once he was captured by dreamy light smoke, he would immediately be defeated.

Wu Shuai saw the immortals becoming silent for a long while, he already knew their thoughts.

He smiled: "Since no one is willing to give it a try, we should find other people to try. There are many grotto-heavens in the two heavens, there are still people who have not joined us and are harboring unfathomable thoughts."

The Gu Immortals' eyes brightened, they felt the alliance leader's idea was simply too great!

Thereupon, the immortals resounded in agreement, Ice Crystal Immortal Monarch and others even boot-licked Wu Shuai.

"Which grotto-heaven do you think is suitable?" Wu Shuai asked.

At the next moment, various opinions emerged and a large number of targets were mentioned.

The one which was mentioned the most was Profound Literature grotto-heaven!

Old Immortal Hua Yu was a human with powerful strength as well as high prestige that allowed him to influence many of the surrounding grotto-heaven forces. If Wu Shuai could get rid of him and incorporate Profound Literature grotto-heaven into the two heavens alliance, there would be countless benefits.

-x-X-x-

Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

"Xiao Bai, here will do." In the small path between mountains, Teacher Jiang stopped and spoke to Li Xiao Bai.

Li Xiao Bai showed sadness and reluctance: "I was able to survive in the capital city all thanks to teacher's guidance and help. I will engrave this kindness in my heart and never forget it. But after this separation, I wonder when I can see teacher again!"

"You." Teacher Jiang sighed and patted Li Xiao Bai's shoulder, encouraging him: "Although you lost in this world poetry competition, your poems have already spread far and wide. Everyone knows your talent is worthy of the title of a great scholar. Moreover, Su Qi Han has already returned, the capital city is the arena for you to display your talents. Go back, teacher will look forward to your performance."

Li Xiao Bai bid farewell to Teacher Jiang with eyes full of tears.

Li Xiao Bai rode a horse through the mountain path that was covered with trees while pondering about his future.

He lost in the world poetry competition, although his earlier performances were exceptional.

Like he had expected, he ran into Teacher Jiang in the later stage. This made Li Xiao Bai fall into an awkward situation — if he won against his teacher, his morals and character would be criticized and there would definitely be a tide of hateful remarks.

Li Xiao Bai had wanted to use his next chance to continue passing through the stages. But he kept on running into his teacher again and again.

Teacher Jiang was also helpless, in fact, he also did not want to succeed by stepping on his own student. But he had to grab onto every chance because he had also probed the biggest meaning behind the world poetry competition.

Li Xiao Bai ran into Teacher Jiang time and again, his hands were tied and he eventually lost the competition.

Although he felt pity about this, Li Xiao Bai felt thankful as well: "My previous performances were too exceptional and even excessive. If I were to succeed like this, there would definitely be a detailed investigation done on me. Even if I passed the investigation, because I don't have a good background and am not a renowned person, I am very likely to be schemed against. Many people are coveting this opportunity to become an immortal, how could they let it fall into a minor character's hand?"

The world poetry competition's selections looked extremely fair, but in fact, where there were people, there would be conflicts of interests and many deals going on behind the scenes.

Just look at the list of candidates that passed the world poetry competition's selection, they were either influential officials or renowned people, even the so-called dark horses have extraordinary roots and background.

"It doesn't matter that I am not selected in this world poetry competition, there will be a second selection in the future."

"Even if there is no second world poetry competition, don't tell me I cannot become an immortal by relying on myself?"

"Hmm, what smell is this, it is so fragrant!"

Just as Li Xiao Bai was thinking, a delicate fragrance broke his train of thoughts.

This fragrance was really pleasing and smelled like the inky fragrance of a book.

Li Xiao Bai was immediately curious, how could there be such a fragrance in this mountain's forest?

He rode the horse and followed the fragrance to its source.

After riding for a while, dense bush blocked the path ahead, Li Xiao Bai had no choice but to get off the horse and continue on his feet.

The fragrance became increasingly strong as Li Xiao Bai moved deep into the forest, he knew he was going in the right direction and was getting closer to the source of the fragrance.

Finally, he brushed aside some leaves and found a pine tree.

This pine tree was covered with pine cones and these pine cones were releasing the dense book fragrance. And on the branch of the tree, there was an exquisite and unique brown tree-house.

"Is someone living here? A mountain hermit?" Li Xiao Bai carefully approached and called out: "I am Student Li Xiao Bai, I accidentally passed through here and took the liberty to pay a visit. Please don't blame me, sage in the mountain."

But there was no sound from the treehouse.

Li Xiao Bai called out several times but there was still no reply. Seeing that there seemed to be no one in the treehouse, he walked towards the pine tree.

When he reached the pine tree, Li Xiao Bai made another discovery. The treehouse was not constructed on the tree, but was integrated into the tree, like it had directly grown from the tree.

Li Xiao Bai wanted to enter the treehouse to probe, but after circling around the tree, he found that the treehouse was completely integrated, with only windows but no doors.

"What do I do?" Li Xiao Bai thought and subconsciously placed his hand on the tree trunk.

Suddenly, the bark let out crisp sounds as it transformed. In an instant, a spiral staircase appeared around the tree trunk that moved towards the treehouse.

And a door appeared on the treehouse as well.

Li Xiao Bai only hesitated for a bit before stepping on the stairs and walking to the treehouse.

There were three rows of bookcases in the treehouse that were standing against the three walls. In the compartments of the bookcases were many Gu worms.

"Book fragrance spreads, talented scholars smell. Book house inheritance shall be left to the fated." At this time, information was transmitted to Li Xiao Bai's mind.

Li Xiao Bai inspected it and felt joyous.

"So this is an information path inheritance."

"Although it is only a Gu Master inheritance with no Immortal Gu, there are various rank four and many rank five Gu worms. There is also detailed cultivation instruction, forming a complete system which suits me."

"Speaking of which, my luck has been improving recently. Looks like my main body has already stabilized the situation."

This inheritance was a peak level Gu Master inheritance, not only did it have many Gu worms, the pine tree itself was an exceptional mortal Gu House — Book House.

Li Xiao Bai stored Book House and returned back the way he came. He smoothly found his horse and hurried back to the capital city.

At the peak of the mountain, two figures were standing.

One immortal and one mortal.

The immortal was Hua Song, the mortal was rank five Gu Master Teacher Jiang.

Teacher Jiang had witnessed the whole process of Li Xiao Bai obtaining the inheritance and was extremely grateful: "Teacher, many thanks for helping my student."

It turned out that Teacher Jiang's teacher was Hua Song.

Hua Song smiled: "He is your student, according to the relationship, he is my grand-disciple. He belongs to our faction, how can I ignore him? When the world poetry competition started, I already noticed him. He clearly had the strength to pass the stages, but because he ran into you, he chose to limit himself. I had been hoping for you two, teacher and disciple, to succeed in passing the competition, but his luck seems to be quite bad, he ran into you again and again during the crucial rounds and was finally eliminated."

"I am at fault." Teacher Jiang lowered his head.

"Hahaha." Hua Song patted Teacher Jiang's shoulder: "You are really outstanding for being able to teach such a superb student. If this Li Xiao Bai had disregarded his teacher for fame and defeated you in front of everyone, I would have punished this kid severely. But he prioritizes this teacher and student relationship, his character is excellent. Although he failed this time, there is no harm in it."

"It is this child's fortune to be noticed by teacher. Just that, teacher, why didn't you…" Teacher Jiang hesitated.

Hua Song sighed: "Although I am the host of the world poetry competition, if I were to act in favor of my personal gain, I would be criticized by other Gu Immortals and lose my reputation in front of Old Lord Hua Yu."

"Moreover, Li Xiao Bai is still too young, he lacks tempering. If he suddenly became an immortal, it might lead to misfortune because of this good fortune. He should still continue to accumulate experience in the mortal world, a jade stone is useless if it is not polished."

"Teacher is right, I was thinking too simplistically." Teacher Jiang wholeheartedly admired his teacher and said excitedly: "I understand teacher's effort. Teacher, you don't want me to bear the feeling of guilt, so you gave Li Xiao Bai such a great inheritance, right?"

"It is good that you know that." Hua Song smiled: "You are my student, you were selected this time and will be nurtured to become an immortal. You must concentrate wholeheartedly and not split your attention because of other matters. Concentrate on cultivation, don't ruin my reputation."

"Yes, teacher, I will definitely use all my strength!" Teacher Jiang cupped his hands and bowed solemnly.

Although Profound Literature grotto-heaven maintained neutrality and was not willing to participate in any fights, they understood chaotic times were coming so they did not hold back in cultivating Gu Immortals.

Teacher Jiang and others were handled and given plenty of resources with many Gu Immortals guiding them personally.

Teacher Jiang studied and practised hard everyday, using his time to the fullest.

Despite him using all his strength to study, his performance was still at low to mid level. This showed the talents of this batch's Gu Masters.

Even the teaching Gu Immortals were secretly pleased. This batch was indeed full of the elites of Profound Literature grotto-heaven and everyone was an excellent Gu Immortal seed.

Over half a month passed, Teacher Jiang and the rest welcomed the most crucial moment of their lives — immortal ascension.

"With several teachers protecting us, the success rate of immortal ascension is high. Once I become an immortal, my future will undergo a complete transformation and elevation!"

Teacher Jiang was looking forward to it and studied with even more effort.

However, just as the first among them was about to undergo tribulation, there was an explosion and the whole of Profound Literature grotto-heaven shook fiercely.

Following the explosion, an Evil Dragon with the length of mountain ranges descended, filling the sky of Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

Large numbers of enemy Gu Immortals appeared in all areas of Profound Literature grotto-heaven and attacked at the same time. The flames of war burned everywhere.

The place where Teacher Jiang's group was in was given considerable attention.

"Die!" Wu Shuai controlled Dragon Palace and slammed down.

"It is Immortal Gu House Dragon Palace, we can't block it! Retreat!" The Gu Immortals who were guarding this place were pale with fright as they retreated.

Rumble!

Earth quaked and mountains shook, dust and stones flew everywhere.

This learning palace that was arranged meticulously was completely destroyed. Teacher Jiang and the rest could not even dodge and were squashed into pulp, dying miserably.

The Gu Immortals who taught them felt their hearts bleeding at this scene. Their weeks of guidance were just about to show results, the greatest future potential of Profound Literature grotto-heaven was destroyed all at once by this attack.

Completely destroyed!

"Wu Shuai, my Profound Literature grotto-heaven has remained neutral and never created any difficulties for you. But you actually attacked my land and slaughtered innocents, you are too overbearing and sinful!" Old Immortal Hua Yu was alarmed and shouted in fury.

Wu Shuai laughed heartily inside Dragon Palace, suddenly, his laughter stopped: "Old Immortal Hua Yu, you don't know when to advance or retreat, you don't know what's good for you! I sent messages for you to join time and time again, but you actually made excuses to ignore them, you simply show no regard for me. Today, I will make you and the entire world realize what the outcome of defying my will is! Attack!"

-x-X-x-

Attack—!

Wu Shuai's shout triggered boundless wind and clouds, resounding throughout the grotto-heaven.

Many Gu Immortals in Profound Literature grotto-heaven had a change in their expressions, feeling panicked and worried when they sensed Wu Shuai's ferocious might.

Profound Literature grotto-heaven had lived in peace for too long and had never experienced such an ordeal. Even the current grotto-heaven owner, Old Immortal Hua Yu, was extremely surprised.

Because Profound Literature grotto-heaven was an information path grotto-heaven and was most specialized in gathering all kinds of information and clues. They would definitely detect any invasion in advance.

However, Old Immortal Hua Yu and the rest were completely unaware of this invasion, and Wu Shuai's surprise invasion could even be considered a masterpiece, he was able to teleport his Gu Immortals to various areas of the grotto-heaven, launching violent attacks at the various important areas and Profound Literature grotto-heaven's Gu Immortals.

This ambush could be said to be extremely successful.

Profound Literature grotto-heaven suffered disastrous losses, not only did the meticulously selected future potentials like Teacher Jiang perish, even most of the Gu Immortals of Profound Literature grotto-heaven were killed.

"Persevere, this is our home, we cannot lose it. I have already requested for reinforcements, we cannot let these despicable thugs succeed!" Old Immortal Hua Yu shouted, slightly stabilizing the morale of the soldiers.

He then opened his mouth and moved his tongue, spitting out text characters.

These characters were like a storm as they shrouded Dragon Palace with dense frost energy.

Immortal killer move — Cold Words!

The moment Dragon Palace was struck by this move, layers of frost solidified on its surface which greatly slowed its speed. The frost continued to condense and spread, and in a blink of an eye, was already as tall as an adult's calf. If this went on, the whole of Dragon Palace would be sealed in ice.

Wu Shuai snorted as he activated his defensive killer move.

The frost on Dragon Palace's surface began to melt gradually, and Dragon Palace's power continued to rise, letting out rays of orange light.

The orange light shot towards Old Immortal Hua Yu, who immediately changed the words he recited and used a movement method.

Immortal killer move — Quick Words!

At the next moment, his speed surged and he perfectly dodged the orange light.

Immortal killer move — Vicious Words!

Old Immortal Hua Yu spat out tides of characters from his mouth, these purplish black words were like poison arrows that shot and detonated on Dragon Palace.

Rumble…

The series of explosions forced Dragon Palace to retreat constantly, at the same time, large amounts of toxic smoke infiltrated Dragon Palace.

Wu Shuai was seated on the main seat, he did not panic upon seeing this and immediately activated defensive methods to resolve this danger.

Old Immortal Hua Yu's reputation was not undeserving, he truly had some skills, to be able to confront Dragon Palace without losing his ground.

Naturally, this was because Dragon Palace was an enslavement path Immortal Gu House and was most proficient in the enslavement aspect. Moreover, Wu Shuai did not reveal the Four Dragon Generals although he had already gathered them. What he used normally was the Evil Dragon, which had already become a trump card of Dragon Palace.

The Evil Dragon was rampaging!

The two heavens alliance's Gu Immortals were killing and looting!

Wu Shuai was not in a hurry at all, because the situation was extremely favorable to him.

Old Immortal Hua Yu became increasingly anxious as the battle continued, he knew he was already tangled up with Dragon Palace and would have to rely on external force to save Profound Literature grotto-heaven from the danger.

But could the reinforcements arrive in time?

Old Immortal Hua Yu was awaiting the reinforcements, but he knew there was not much hope. Although he had a high reputation, and Profound Literature grotto-heaven's relationship with the surrounding grotto-heaven forces was also quite close, but asking these people to reinforce him in fighting against such strong enemies?

Old Immortal Hua Yu placed himself in their position and thought: if a surrounding grotto-heaven was attacked and asked him for reinforcements, and the enemy was the two heavens alliance, he would also hesitate.

The two heavens alliance's Gu Immortals continued to wreak havoc.

Flames of battle rose everywhere as living beings were exterminated.

"Old Immortal Hua Yu, use your trump cards if you have any left, if you don't use them now, you won't be able to save your grotto-heaven. Hahaha." Wu Shuai laughed wildly.

Old Immortal Hua Yu was silent, his expression grim.

The aftereffects of their fight harmed everything around them, causing holes to appear in the grotto-heaven aperture walls, linking the inside to the outside world.

Suddenly, Wu Shuai's laughter stopped as he shouted in fury: "Old geezer Qi Sea!"

The moment he finished speaking, boundless qi currents surged in from outside and gathered into a giant hand.

The hand was as large as a mountain as it slammed into Dragon Palace and sent it flying far away.

Following which, a tall and sturdy figure appeared in the grotto-heaven's sky, looking down at Dragon Palace.

"Qi Sea Ancestor!" Old Immortal Hua Yu looked up and said with surprise and joy.

Qi Sea Ancestor's appearance surprised him, but thinking about it carefully, he felt it was natural. Qi Sea Ancestor was the biggest enemy of Wu Shuai, he would not sit by and watch Wu Shuai leading the two heavens' forces to do whatever he pleased.

Roar—!

Dragon Palace moved back while the Evil Dragon took its place.

Qi Sea Ancestor, however, held his hands behind his back with no intention to attack: "Wu Shuai, stop now, I can let all of you retreat. If we truly fight, your two heavens alliance will cease to exist."

"You…" Wu Shuai's furious voice came from Dragon Palace: "Qi Sea Ancestor!"

The Evil Dragon stopped, Wu Shuai seemed to be thinking.

Old Immortal Hua Yu let out a sigh of relief, looking towards Qi Sea Ancestor with an extremely grateful look.

Qi Sea Ancestor did this to preserve Profound Literature grotto-heaven and not let it turn into ruins. This was not easy! The two heavens alliance's Gu Immortals were scattered everywhere, Qi Sea Ancestor could take the chance to attack them and deal heavy damage to the two heavens alliance.

But Qi Sea Ancestor did not do this, instead, he considered Profound Literature grotto-heaven. Moreover, prior to this, Old Immortal Hua Yu had never come into contact with Qi Sea Ancestor.

"Qi Sea Ancestor took such protective action for an outsider like me. He is truly worthy of being a famed expert and the leader of Eastern Sea's righteous path!" Old Immortal Hua Yu was extremely moved.

However, at the next moment, the Evil Dragon attacked and Dragon Palace followed closely behind.

"Qi Sea Ancestor, it has been too long since the battle that day. Face my move again!" Wu Shuai shouted.

"Despicable!" Old Immortal Hua Yu cursed when he saw Wu Shuai sneak attacking.

But Qi Sea Ancestor was smiling as if he was already prepared: "Come."

Boom!

At the next moment, the Evil Dragon and Dragon Palace crashed into a firm and solid qi wall.

The qi wall broke down but the Evil Dragon and Dragon Palace's momentum was also completely exhausted.

"Old geezer Qi Sea, I am relieved that you are so energetic. We shall battle later!" Wu Shuai saw he was unable to gain any progress and started to retreat slowly.

Dragon Palace and Evil Dragon left the battlefield and moved out of the grotto-heaven.

The two heavens alliance's Gu Immortals did not dare to stay any longer and started retreating, they were afraid of Dragon Palace leaving them behind in this dangerous place.

Wu Shuai's group arrived fast and left just as quickly, leaving behind flames of war and ruin.

Old Immortal Hua Yu did not rush to provide disaster relief and stabilize the situation, instead, he flew towards Qi Sea Ancestor and bowed deeply: "Ancestor, you helped us in repelling the enemies. Everyone in Profound Literature grotto-heaven is grateful for your kindness."

Qi Sea Ancestor smiled brightly as he held Old Immortal Hua Yu's hands and pulled him up: "We are both humans, it is natural for us to band together and help each other against the variant humans."

Old Immortal Hua Yu said with hatred: "Wu Shuai is trying to overturn humanity's rule, he is a lunatic and a despicable fellow. He is an enemy of everyone in Profound Literature grotto-heaven, we won't rest until he dies!"

Qi Sea Ancestor nodded: "In the current era, chaotic times are coming, who can stay out of it? It is good that you realize this!"

Old Immortal Hua Yu cupped his fists and bowed again: "Looking at the immortals in this world, only Ancestor's might and prestige has spread everywhere, your moral conduct is worthy of being respected. From today onwards, Profound Literature grotto-heaven will be at your command, we will listen to your arrangements."

Qi Sea Ancestor smiled: "Brother Hua Yu, let's join hands in fighting the variant humans, we will protect our homelands and fight for a beautiful future."

-x-X-x-

Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

A tea ceremony was in session.

Old Immortal Hua Yu sat on the lower seat while he let Fang Yuan have the main seat.

Fang Yuan used Qi Sea Ancestor's identity to talk with the Gu Immortals, obtaining first hand information regarding the part of white heaven above Eastern Sea.

There were not just Profound Literature grotto-heaven's Gu Immortals who participated in the tea ceremony. After Qi Sea Ancestor repelled the enemies, Gu Immortals continued to arrive to reinforce them.

These Gu Immortals were from the surrounding forces and were late in reinforcing Profound Literature grotto-heaven, but Old Immortal Hua Yu asked them to stay and join this tea ceremony regardless.

Qi Sea Ancestor said frankly: He had already allied with Heavenly Court and wanted to recruit the human forces in the two heavens, to fight against Wu Shuai's variant human alliance and defend the righteous path of humanity.

Old Immortal Hua Yu was naturally the first to support it, the other forces also responded quite passionately. Many of the Gu Immortals even express their willingness to join Qi Sea Ancestor's faction to fight Wu Shuai's violent and lawless alliance.

Some Gu Immortals hesitated while many others had to report to their superiors to come to a decision.

The tea ceremony ended. Fang Yuan was quite satisfied with the result.

The first step was important if he wanted to interfere in the two heavens' grotto-heavens. With Wu Shuai's active cooperation, almost all the two heaven's Gu Immortals recognized Wu Shuai's might and felt insecure. Everyone realized they could not evade this calamity because even a powerful force like Profound Literature grotto-heaven was almost exterminated. If not for Qi Sea Ancestor lending a hand, Profound Literature grotto-heaven would have ceased to exist.

Chaotic times were coming and no one could stay out of it. Only by stepping on the waves of chaos could they survive and grow stronger.

Qi Sea Ancestor needed only slight effort to persuade five grotto-heaven forces. Of course, it would take some more effort to integrate them. And important details like profit distribution and other rules had yet to be finalized.

Even so, Qi Sea Ancestor's action had already caused a huge change in the two heavens' forces, even affecting the overall situation of the conflict between humanity and the variant human races.

Fang Yuan naturally would not conceal this news, the moment the tea ceremony ended, he spread this news in treasure yellow heaven.

In an instant, the Gu Immortal world of the five regions was shaken.

Some sighed at the changing state of the world and the impending chaos, some praised Qi Sea Ancestor's righteous move and felt he could shoulder the responsibility to lead humanity, some were guessing Wu Shuai's next move, and some were thinking of Eastern Sea's political situation. Qi Sea Ancestor was publicly recognized as the most powerful expert in Eastern Sea, now that he was so close with Heavenly Court, how would Eastern Sea's righteous path forces face this relationship?

The five regional walls were gone, the independent five regions merged into one, changes in any one side could change the whole situation of the five regions. Every move of an expert with an identity and status like Qi Sea Ancestor could deeply influence the whole world.

Eastern Sea, Shen clan.

"Are there still no clues on Ancestor Shen Shang's whereabouts?" Shen Cong Sheng sighed: "I don't blame you, qi tides are appearing everywhere, Divine Emperor City is a very tightly protected area."

A Shen clan Gu Immortal asked: "First supreme elder, Qi Sea Ancestor has already allied with Heavenly Court now, they even handed over the latter half of Primordial Origin's true inheritance. What should we do?"

Shen Cong Sheng replied: "I have already discussed this with Song Qi Yuan, Hua Cai Yun, and other first supreme elders. Qi Sea Ancestor is our Eastern Sea's expert, he cannot be recruited by Heavenly Court. Every clan will take out a portion of cultivation resources from their treasuries and gather them into a big gift to build a good relationship with Ancestor."

Shen clan's Gu Immortal nodded, not objecting to it.

Qi Sea Ancestor was the most valuable existence to rope in, besides his battle strength, it was also because he cultivated qi path.

Currently, Eastern Sea's super forces were thinking of developing qi path and they would have double the results if they could get Qi Sea Ancestor's help in this aspect.

Fang Yuan put on a great show before, everyone in Gu Immortal world thought Qi Sea Ancestor liked to give guidance and support the younger generation. This made Eastern Sea's super forces feel there was a high possibility in this matter.

Western Desert, Fang clan's headquarters.

Fang Gong's expression was dark: "We are willing to pay such a huge price but Heavenly Court still doesn't want to release Fang Di Chang?"

One of the gathered Fang clan Gu Immortals said: "First supreme elder, in my opinion, Heavenly Court is not sincere at all, they are just stalling for time and fooling us."

"Hmph!" Fang Gong slammed his right fist on the table.

He was furious but helpless.

In the fate war, Fang clan's losses were the largest. Not only did they lose Divine Bean Palace, even their strategist Fang Di Chang was captured by the enemy and there was no news of him until now.

Fang clan naturally thought Fang Di Chang was captured by Heavenly Court. Thereupon, they secretly contacted Heavenly Court and wanted to pay a huge price to redeem Fang Di Chang.

But Heavenly Court had all along been stalling their request.

Fang Di Chang was extremely important to Fang clan, without him, Fang clan would be without a strategist.

After Fang clan refined Divine Bean Palace, they had the possibility of raising their status and becoming the leader of Western Desert's righteous path. But Divine Bean Palace and Fang Di Chang were gone, destroying Fang clan's dream of becoming the leader.

Fang Gong was in a very bad mood, especially after hearing of Qi Sea Ancestor's actions.

"Qi Sea Ancestor has already begun to lead Eastern Sea, but me? Fang clan? We are just stagnating at the same spot! Sigh..." Fang Gong felt helpless.

The only thing that gave him some joy was that Fang Di Chang had already prepared for the future and had passed on Fang clan's wisdom path inheritance to Fang Yun.

"Since Heavenly Court is not willing to release Fang Di Chang, we can only prioritize on cultivating Fang Yun." Fang Gong made the decision.

They could not wait any longer.

Time waits for no one!

Cultivating a Gu Immortal, especially a competent wisdom path Gu Immortal, required a long time.

Central Continent, Heavenly Court.

Qin Ding Ling looked at the intel and smiled, muttering to herself: "Fang clan is actually willing to pay such a huge price to buy back Fang Di Chang. If they knew Fang Di Chang was already replaced and is now Fang Yuan's clone, what would they feel?"

Heavenly Court already knew of Fang Di Chang's identity.

The current Divine Emperor City was guarded by Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable's will. He had already informed Qin Ding Ling of this.

Although Fang Di Chang was sealed in Divine Bean Palace's painting, he had a portion of the authority and was resisting stubbornly, even Genesis Lotus' will could do nothing about it.

"But it will be over soon." Qin Ding Ling smiled: "That earlier batch of Gu Immortal seeds we sent in are developing extremely well, they already possess strength to defeat Fang Di Chang. As long as we capture him, we can use the close connection between him and Fang Yuan to search for the location of Fang Yuan's main body."

Spectral Soul was secretly searching for Fang Yuan's main body, Heavenly Court was doing the same as well.

Qin Ding Ling knew Fang Yuan was in a poor state currently and it was the best time to kill Fang Yuan. If they could kill Fang Yuan, not only would it restore Heavenly Court's reputation, there would even be enormous spoils of war. Be it the various inheritances on Fang Yuan, his Gu worms, his sovereign immortal aperture, secluded domains of heaven and earth, and so on, they were all things Heavenly Court wanted.

Qin Ding Ling was taking control of Heavenly Court in place of Fairy Zi Wei, although she was only a luck path Gu Immortal, she tried her best and was busy everyday, her hard work was showing results.

Internally, Heavenly Court was leading the ten great ancient sects, actively cultivating talents and recovering their strength.

Externally, Heavenly Court was allying with Eastern Sea, they roped in Qi Sea Ancestor first but the price was half of Primordial Origin's true inheritance. They would soon capture Fang Di Chang, and their hopes of capturing Fang Yuan's main body were even higher than Spectral Soul!

"Everything will get better."

"My Heavenly Court is and will continue to be the supreme leader of humanity!"

-x-X-x-

Divine Emperor City.

Inside the painting, Fang Di Chang waved his hand, immediately, a large amount of white sand flew out and scattered around.

The white sand fell on the ground and immediately melted into puddles of milk that seeped into the ground.

Blop blop....

Air bubbles rose from the ground, the beans buried under the ground devoured the milk and grew rapidly.

In three minutes, Fang Di Chang expended the small amount of rank eight immortal material milk sand he had. The barren land became extremely fertile and green bean sprouts broke out of the ground surface.

"Again." Fang Di Chang took out a snow path immortal material.

The immortal material was thrown to the air and was digested by Divine Emperor City, turning into broken lightning rays that covered the whole bean field.

The broken lightning slightly touched the tender bean sprouts and agitated their growth potential, the bean sprouts began growing with a visible speed.

"Continue." After the lightning rays dissipated, Fang Di Chang took out the third immortal material.

Time continued to pass, about three days and three nights later, Fang Di Chang slowly stopped his actions.

He looked at the field, the beans had already grown into divine bean soldiers. They were standing in rows, silent and still like statues as they waited for Fang Di Chang's orders.

Fang Di Chang sighed, thinking: "This is the last batch of divine bean soldiers. My immortal materials are basically all spent."

As a clone of Fang Yuan, after Fang Di Chang was schemed by Genesis Lotus' will, he had been trapped in the painting.

Over this period of time after the fate war, he had been waiting for his main body to rescue him while using all his strength to accumulate troops.

But even by now, the main body had not come to save him, Fang Di Chang could only prepare to save himself.

He was now trapped in the painting, unable to contact the main body and even unable to access treasure yellow heaven. But he had refined Divine Bean Palace, so he still held a portion of the authority. This was the reason Genesis Lotus' will was unable to do anything to him in a short period of time.

Fang Di Chang used this authority to borrow Divine Bean Palace's strength in cultivating divine bean soldiers.

He was constantly accumulating divine bean soldiers, and now, their size had already reached an enormous scale.

"It is time, move out, invade and seize control of all the paintings!" Fang Di Chang gave a command without any hesitation. The divine bean soldier army began to set out.

They split into countless divisions as they moved towards the edge of the painting and invaded other painting worlds.

Outside Emperor City was a large farmland, wheat billowed in the autumn wind and many farmers were harvesting them.

"This year is an abundant year!"

"Yes, every family has made good harvests."

"What is this noise?"

The farmers were talking happily when they suddenly heard strange sounds and were bewildered.

A group of over three hundred divine bean soldiers charged into this painting world.

They discovered these farmers and behaved like sharks that smelled blood, they moved extremely quickly and killed anyone they saw.

"Run!"

"There are monsters, run!"

"Spare me. Spare...."

Guh.

Blood splattered everywhere, the last farmer's head and body were separated, falling into a pool of blood.

Divine bean soldiers killed all the humans and occupied this painting world.

At another painting outside of Emperor City.

It was spring and the scenery was beautiful.

A large group of scholars, students and young ladies went for an outing.

In the midst of their joyful talks, several divine bean soldiers appeared suddenly, causing the girls to scream.

"They dare to offend our young ladies!"

"What are these things?"

The scholars and students looked curiously as the guards surrounded the divine bean soldiers.

The divine bean soldiers began to attack, the guards were already on guard so the battle went to a standstill.

"These strange things have bad intentions!"

"Where did these things come out from?"

"Forget that, let's talk after killing them first."

The scholars and the students cooperated with the Gu Master guards and attacked, killing these divine bean soldiers without wasting much energy.

But soon, an army of a thousand divine bean soldiers arrived in this painting world.

This time, the guards, scholars and students were unable to resist, after a bitter struggle, most of them were killed and stepped on mercilessly by the divine bean soldiers, while a small portion retreated from this painting world and managed to survive.

Each divine bean soldier had extraordinary strength and was at least of desolate beast level, but in the painting world, they had to follow its rules, where the gap between immortal and mortal was minuscule.

Moreover, divine bean soldiers were transported to other painting worlds randomly, so their scales were not equal.

Fang Di Chang made a heavy attack but the divine bean soldier army was scattered everywhere and engaged in their respective invasions. Thus, some divine bean soldiers made good progress, some met strong resistance, while some were directly annihilated by the Gu Masters in the painting world.

Even so, Fang Di Chang soon revealed a satisfied smile.

"My guess was right."

"Divine Bean Palace's paintings are connected with Emperor City's paintings. Although I am sealed here, my divine bean soldiers originated from Divine Bean Palace and are of the same origin as the whole of Divine Emperor City, so they can move out."

"The more painting worlds these divine bean soldiers occupy, the more control I will have over Divine Emperor City. After gaining a certain amount of control, I can even go a step further and suppress Genesis Lotus' will, becoming the owner of Divine Emperor City!"

Fang Di Chang's huge move this time made the Gu Immortal seeds, sent by Heavenly Court into Divine Emperor City's painting world, gather and discuss a plan.

"What is going on with these divine bean soldiers?" Chen Da Jiang frowned.

Sun Yao's eyes were red: "I also don't know, these monsters appeared and began killing wantonly, they are extremely vicious. Those pitiful beggars and homeless people were all killed by these monsters."

"Maybe this is our fortuitous encounter or maybe it is a test?" Tang Ru Qi guessed.

Ying Sheng Ji frowned: "I killed many divine bean soldiers, but I have not made any gains until now."

Wei Wu Shang analyzed calmly: "Divine bean soldiers are a product of Divine Bean Palace, according to rumors, Gu Immortals can raise these wood path soldiers in a large scale in Divine Bean Palace. When it is time to battle, the Gu Immortal can release them to fight the enemies. Previously, when Divine Bean Palace was with Western Desert, they scattered a large number of divine bean soldiers to fight our Central Continent's ten great ancient sects."

"So what is the reason behind these divine bean soldiers' sudden appearance?" Zhao Shu Ye asked.

Wei Wu Shang shook his head: "I don't know, it has been some time since we arrived here but the painting world here is too vast and profound, we don't know a lot of its secrets."

"What is the point of trying to figure out the reason?" Right at this time, Xiao Qi Xing walked over.

"Ah, it is Brother Xiao."

"What information do you have? Or do you know the truth of the matter?"

These Gu Immortal seeds asked one after the other, they thought highly of Xiao Qi Xing because he had the best progress among them.

He mixed into the military faction and continued to advance in ranks and was already a junior officer now.

Xiao Qi Xing said: "I don't care about the reason behind these divine bean soldiers' appearance, I only know the higher-ups have sent the order to mobilize the army to exterminate these divine bean soldiers. This time, I am leading my troops alone and need assistance. We will cooperate and kill these divine bean soldiers. There will definitely be rewards after the battle."

"It is fine with me. These monsters should be killed!" Chen Da Jiang said.

Sun Yao nodded: "These divine bean soldiers are too vicious, they are simply disregarding human lives. I will take revenge for those pitiful beggars and homeless people."

"Count me in too." Zhao Shu Ye also expressed her stance.

Soon, all of these Gu Immortals agreed and temporarily joined Xiao Qi Xing as his subordinates.

Xiao Qi Xing laughed heartily, he was pleased and proud with this huge increase in strength and manpower: "Move out! Let us kill these divine bean soldiers."

-x-X-x-

Divine Emperor City, painting world.

In the vast plaza, Xiao Qi Xing led a large group of troops and was facing a group of divine bean soldiers.

The scale of this group of divine bean soldiers was bigger than Xiao Qi Xing's side.

"How do we fight them?" Sun Yuan Hua had just asked when the divine bean soldiers charged.

Xiao Qi Xing stopped his side from attacking and smiled: "Everyone, please stay put for now and look at how I fight them."

Saying this, Xiao Qi Xing flicked his fingers repeatedly, a large amount of Gu worms flew out of his aperture.

These Gu worms fell to the ground and turned into human shapes. Most of them were ordinary soldiers, a few clearly looked like elites, and an extremely small number of them looked much more brave and valiant.

"These are soldier Gu, sergeant Gu, lieutenant Gu?" Gu Ting narrowed his eyes.

"They should be." Wei Wu Shang counted roughly: "There are over five hundred of them, looks like Xiao Qi Xing progressed really well in the military camp to be able to accumulate so many human path Gu worms."

"Formation!" Xiao Qi Xing shouted while activating arrow formation Gu.

These soldiers immediately gathered, captains led lieutenants, lieutenants led sergeants, and sergeants led soldiers.

And the entire army formed a giant arrow that rushed head on towards the incoming divine bean soldiers.

"Charge—!"

Xiao Qi Xing's army roared loudly, on the contrary, the divine bean soldiers were silent like there was no life.

The two sides were like colliding waves which began to mix into each other.

Xiao Qi Xing's gaze was like lightning as he put all his attention on controlling his troops.

In the chaotic battle, his troops were further divided but they always maintained the most basic military formation.

On the contrary, the divine bean soldiers were a messy and disordered group.

After the initial stalemate, the situation began to slowly fall into Xiao Qi Xing's grasp. Once he occupied the upper hand, this advantage snowballed and soon, it turned into absolute dominance.

Finally, Xiao Qi Xing's side won a complete victory with all divine bean soldiers killed off.

"How is it?" Xiao Qi Xing returned with victory and showed off to the other Gu Immortal seeds.

Zhao Shu Ye rolled his eyes, not bothering to reply.

"Brother Xiao is truly amazing!" Chen Da Jiang raised his thumb.

"Hahaha." Xiao Qi Xing laughed heartily and said to Chen Da Jiang: "If you had walked the same path as me back then, you would also have such accomplishments today."

"We should continue. We have only cleared up one painting." Wei Wu Shang said.

"Don't be careless. These soldiers are only yellow bean divine soldiers, they are the most basic type of divine bean soldier." Gu Ting said.

They continued to march forward and fight divine bean soldiers.

After a while, they arrived at the most flourishing street of Divine Emperor City.

Divine bean soldiers were wantonly killing the people in the city and it was a scene of chaos.

Sun Yao's eyes turned red with fury. The first time she entered here, she had arrived at this street and enjoyed its flourishing scenes. She had never expected such a beautiful scene to be completely destroyed by the divine bean soldiers, everywhere was littered with corpses and blood flowed into a river.

"This will need everyone's assistance." Xiao Qi Xing was modest for once: "The paths are narrow and vision is not clear, my troops won't be able to move properly."

The other Gu Immortal seeds had no objections as they charged to the front lines and attacked.

Xiao Qi Xing stayed at the rear, observing the situation while controlling the soldiers to move forward.

He was deeply aware that he came to compete for Genesis Lotus' true inheritance, these Gu Masters beside him were his greatest competitors. Know yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated, this was the best opportunity to gain information about these people.

These Gu Master elites of Central Continent's ten great ancient sects were indeed extraordinary.

Xiao Qi Xing had made a lot of progress, these Gu Masters were also not any inferior.

Ying Sheng Ji continuously took out doctor Gu, which took human forms and saved people everywhere.

Chen Da Jiang went through the outer gate, a group of officers moved around him as he joined the front lines with a long sword and a steel chain.

Sun Yao gave a bigger surprise to Xiao Qi Xing, three female dancers moved around her, their long sleeves fluttered in the wind and weakened the divine bean soldiers. Moreover, Sun Yao also held a human path killer move — Joy in Helping People; this move strengthened her allies.

As for Wei Wu Shang, he appeared and disappeared as he moved in the chaotic battle like a fish in water.

"This guy has already mastered thief Gu." Xiao Qi Xing realized.

These elites immediately shone brightly the moment they made their moves. Xiao Qi Xing also felt heavy pressure as he warned himself: "I really cannot underestimate these people!"

This chaotic battle lasted for five minutes before the whole street was cleared.

Without staying any longer, Xiao Qi Xing's group marched towards other paintings once again.

The divine bean soldiers in their path were all annihilated.

Naturally, they were not the only group who were counterattacking. The warriors in the painting worlds also organized many groups and participated in the battle, killing the divine bean soldiers.

Ye Fan and Hong Yi were also mixed among other groups, they were secretly conversing.

"These divine bean soldiers are really odd, there are so many types of them."

"The ten great ancient sects' members have also grown, we need to conceal ourselves and not be discovered by them."

They were the earliest people to enter the painting world.

At this moment, their accumulation far surpassed the Central Continent elites, but Ye Fan and Hong Yi could only move secretly. After all, the five regions world was the main world, once they were discovered by Heavenly Court, the situation would become a mess.

The counterattacking groups became faster the more they killed, their efficiency was increasing continuously and casualties were reducing.

After they had sufficient experience, they completely saw through the types of divine bean soldiers. Yellow bean divine soldiers were only cannon fodder, green bean soldiers could shoot flying arrows, red bean soldiers could self-detonate, black bean soldiers had the greatest defense.

After understanding the characteristics of the different divine bean soldiers, they began to launch targeted attacks. These divine bean soldiers were far weaker than their external appearance.

The counterattacking groups continued to gain victories and seized back more territories.

Finally, they gathered on the city walls of Divine Emperor City.

There was an ocean of divine bean soldiers outside the city walls, Xiao Qi Xing could not help taking in a sharp breath when he saw this.

The enemy force was overwhelming, it was not something their group could handle. They could only have a chance of defending the city by allying with other groups.

Divine bean soldiers rushed forward without any formation.

Xiao Qi Xing's group attacked with long range skills from top of the city walls.

Divine bean soldiers were like ants as they began climbing the city walls.

The ones guarding the city staked their lives to counterattack, not retreating a step.

The whole battlefield was like a huge meat grinder, large amounts of lives were lost every second.

This battle lasted three days and three nights.

Xiao Qi Xing collapsed and sat weakly on the ground. His snowy-white military robe was already dyed red with blood.

Cheers spread continuously in the surroundings, they had won. This largest group of divine bean soldiers was completely exterminated by them.

Victory was assured!

Next would be to clear up the remaining small groups of divine bean soldiers in every painting.

"Wait a second, we seem to be able to walk out of Divine Emperor City."

"We can follow the path the divine bean soldiers took and attack their base!"

When they were clearing up the battlefield, many made a big discovery.

The troops began to gather once again and battled their way to Fang Di Chang.

In this painting world, Fang Di Chang's strength was greatly reduced but he still had a group of divine bean soldiers around him.

"So you are the main culprit behind all these!"

"You are going to pay for your sins!"

"Why, why do you need to kill these innocent people, what grudge do you have against them?"

Emotions surged, but Xiao Qi Xing's group glanced at each other and moved towards the rear silently.

"So the cause of the divine bean soldier calamity was him."

"He is a Gu Immortal of Fang clan, Fang Di Chang, who had once refined Divine Bean Palace."

"I did not expect him to still be alive, and he is creating chaos in the painting world!"

"Don't tell me, did our sects send us here to get rid of him?"

"Strange, why didn't Heavenly Court attack and kill Fang Di Chang directly? Maybe this is a test for us, or maybe we can only deal with him while following the rules of the painting world?"

Xiao Qi Xing's group conversed quickly, their expressions were extremely serious. They were the ones chosen and nurtured by their respective sects, thus they had a lot of information about the Gu Immortal world, they had detailed information about the participants of the fate war.

"Kill!"

"Take revenge for our friends and family!"

"I will cut him into a thousand pieces!!"

The Gu Masters of the painting world attacked Fang Di Chang.

"A bunch of trash." Fang Di Chang stood at the center and commanded his troops calmly. The divine bean soldiers beside him changed their formation and moved smoothly like water. The cooperation between the various types of soldiers was extremely smooth and fluid.

Instantly, the warriors of the painting world suffered heavy casualties.

Xiao Qi Xing's group was also shocked.

"The scale of these divine bean soldiers is quite small, how could they have such results?"

"With a Gu Immortal commanding them, they are completely different from before."

"What should we do? Battle or retreat?"

"Fight! We have numbers on our side, Fang Di Chang might be strong, but the gap between us is not the gap between immortal and mortal. We have a high chance of success!"

"Slaughter the immortal!!"

Someone shouted the slogan which made Xiao Qi Xing's group extremely excited.

The moment they joined in the battle, the Gu Masters in the front lines felt like they had received strong reinforcements.

In fact, not only them, even Ye Fan and Hong Yi were also mixed in the battle, helping out secretly.

Fang Di Chang snorted coldly. Under his command, the divine bean soldiers' formation kept on changing while being extremely stable.

Xiao Qi Xing's group battled hard for a long time, but to their horror, they discovered that the casualty difference between the enemy and their side had reached a terrifying level. There were only negligible losses to the divine bean soldiers.

"What should we do?"

"An immortal is still an immortal in the end!"

"Let alone when Fang Di Chang is a wisdom path Gu Immortal."

Xiao Qi Xing's group's morale fell sharply and they had the thought of retreating, not daring to fight with Fang Di Chang.

But at this time, Fang Di Chang's body shook suddenly as he coughed a mouthful of blood. He snorted coldly and looked up at the sky, laughing coldly: "Genesis Lotus' will, you couldn't endure it and took action after all."

Fang Di Chang was suppressed by Genesis Lotus' will, his control over the divine bean soldiers was no longer as smooth as before.

Xiao Qi Xing's group immediately felt the pressure on them reducing sharply, they were surprised and happy as they attacked once again.

Fang Di Chang's divine bean soldiers continued to fall till they were all annihilated.

Fang Di Chang had no choice but to attack personally, he rampaged through the army, killing everyone in his path with no one being able to rival him.

This did not last long, his condition continued to deteriorate as he began to receive injuries.

After some more time, Fang Di Chang was soaked in blood and started to stagger.

"To think that I, Fang Di Chang, would actually die in such a place!" Fang Di Chang shouted in sadness as he self-detonated resolutely.

Boom!

The Gu Masters surrounding him were wiped out with no intact corpses.

After a short period of shock, the surviving Gu Masters shouted in joy.

"We won!"

"We finally killed the demon."

"Sob... father, mother, I have avenged you."

Xiao Qi Xing's group was also excited and their faces were flushed red: "We killed an immortal! We succeeded in slaughtering the immortal!"

-x-X-x-

Xiao Qi Xing's group strolled along the streets.

The huge battle had just ended, the flourishing and bustling street had turned into a scene of desolation, with no pedestrians moving around. Even if there were, they were mostly injured ones.

"Fang Di Chang is not worthy of being in Western Desert's righteous path! He slaughtered innocents and caused many deaths. Letting him die like this is really letting him go easy." Chen Da Jiang said hatefully.

Ying Sheng Ji sighed as he added: "Yes, this was once a place filled with rich vitality."

"Hehehe. You guys are truly funny." Wei Wu Shang laughed: "This is only a painting world, it is Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable's killer move. The people here are not real existences. No matter how many are dead or injured, after a few years, it will be restored back to normal."

"Yes. Compared to these things, I am more curious about the rewards the sects will give us!" Gu Ting said.

Xiao Qi Xing's eyes brightened: "We killed an immortal as mortals, and even got rid of the hidden disaster in Divine Emperor City. With such a huge contribution, not only our sects, even Heavenly Court should personally reward us, right? Hahaha!"

Xiao Qi Xing laughed heartily and was inwardly pleased.

He had the best performance and had contributed the most in putting down the divine bean soldiers and eliminating Fang Di Chang.

In terms of rewards based on contribution, he would be at the top!

In an alley which the group passed by, two beggars were sitting at a corner, looking at everything with indifference.

The behaviors of these ten great ancient sects' Gu Immortal seeds naturally fell into these two beggars' view.

"I owe my thanks to you, Brother Shen." One beggar transmitted his voice.

The other beggar laughed: "Should I address you as Fang Yuan, or Fang Di Chang?"

The other beggar replied: "I am only a clone, and strictly speaking, I can't even be considered a clone now, I am only a remnant will. So, you don't need to address me as Fang Yuan. As for Fang Di Chang, he is already dead, having died by self-detonation. I am a nameless person now, just a lowly beggar remains."

Shen Shang's eyes shone: "You are too modest. Even without me, you were already prepared to use death to escape."

The other beggar nodded, not denying it: "In my previous plan, if I could occupy and seize the painting worlds with the divine bean soldiers, it would have been the best result. But the chance for this was not high. By preempting the actions to take after defeat, I was naturally prepared for everything. Self-detonation destroyed my body and soul, but this will was secretly left behind."

Pausing for a moment, Fang Yuan's will continued: "I have to thank you for your help regardless. If I relied on just my methods, there is a high probability of Genesis Lotus' will discovering me. But with you shielding me, it is a completely different case. Shen Shang, your human path attainment continues to grow by the day."

Shen Shang chuckled: "That is true. Since the fate war, after I deciphered the venerable human path killer moves, my human path attainment rose quite a bit. And after I arrived in this painting world, I acted as a beggar, observing and experiencing life which gave me a lot of insight. A beggar has a beggar's advantage; beggars stand at the lowest level of society, they can observe the attitudes of people, experience kindness and harshness, feel hunger and fullness, warmth and cold."

Shen Shang then changed the topic, asking: "What do you plan to do now? Leave here or continue to stay?"

Fang Yuan's will did not hesitate: "I am unable to leave here. Even if only a will remains of me now, it has only temporarily escaped the observation of Genesis Lotus' will and has not grasped a way to leave. What about you?"

Shen Shang also shook his head: "I also haven't found the method to leave. I have already secretly checked those Gu Immortal seeds of the ten great ancient sects. They are able to enter and exit here because they have obtained the approval of Genesis Lotus' will. But I believe that as long as I continue to stay in hiding and research, my human path attainment will continue to accumulate and attain a qualitative change. By that time, I can find a method to leave this place."

Fang Yuan's will looked deeply at Shen Shang, he could see Shen Shang was happy to stay in here.

However, when Fang Yuan thought of it, it was also not strange.

Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable had made this huge move, he created a special small world to develop human path.

Over here, human path was supreme and other paths were secondary. Human path had the greatest development while other paths had little progress.

At the same time, this world followed the rules of the mortal world, there was an insignificant gap between immortals and mortals, which was more beneficial for the development of human path.

Moreover, the inside and outside were separated, when outsiders came here, they would be isolated from the five regions and could not even connect to treasure yellow heaven. This stopped information from spreading outside or entering and corrupting the people here. Thus, it created an isolated sacred land of human path.

Shen Shang primarily cultivated human path. In here, he was like a gluttonous monster that saw absolutely rare delicacies, he was like a fish in water and even felt deeply attached to this place.

Fang Yuan's will was currently possessing a body, it was created from Shen Shang's beggar Gu.

He had two choices in front of him now. One was to wait for the main body to rescue him, the other was to cultivate alongside Shen Shang and use Shen Shang's strength to get free.

All the information concerning the divine bean soldier calamity was gathered in Qin Ding Ling's hands.

"Fang Di Chang died by self-detonation?" Qin Ding Ling frowned.

This result somewhat disappointed Qin Ding Ling, she had been hoping to capture this clone of Fang Yuan alive. And through him, deduce the location of Fang Yuan's main body.

"I did not expect Fang Yuan's clone to resolutely kill himself, but this also conforms to Fang Yuan's vicious personality." Qin Ding Ling did not hold much doubts.

"If we could capture him alive, that would have been better. In the painting world, the gap between immortals and mortals is not big. Unfortunately, these Gu Immortal seeds have not grown enough and were unable to grasp the opportunity." Qin Ding Ling sighed inwardly.

Xiao Qi Xing's group thought they made important contributions by slaughtering an immortal, but in her mind, Qin Ding Ling reviewed it poorly.

However, even so, Qin Ding Ling decided to reward these Gu Immortal seeds heavily. They were important cultivation targets after all.

After dealing with the matter of rewards, Qin Ding Ling put her attention on Eastern Sea's conflict once again.

Eastern Sea's conflict was the clash between humans and variant humans.

One side was led by Qi Sea Ancestor while the other was led by Wu Shuai. They had fought several times in the immemorial two heavens as well as sea areas of Eastern Sea, and the battles were becoming increasingly fierce.

After Qi Sea Ancestor saved Profound Literature grotto-heaven, he united several grotto-heaven forces in the two heavens.

Although Wu Shuai was defeated, he was not willing to show any weakness. On one hand, he gathered the forces of the two heavens that joined him, on the other hand, he ambushed and invaded those grotto-heaven forces that wanted to wait and see.

Wu Shuai's direction was extremely clear and blunt.

Before attacking the five regions, he must clean up the two heavens to stabilize their base.

On one hand, this was because the distance between the two heavens' grotto-heavens was short and they could dispatch troops easily. If Wu Shuai ignored this, when the main army was outside in the future, the grotto-heavens only needed to pose an attack and it could cause Wu Shuai's army to end up losing their home ground.

On the other hand, qi harvest fruits of various sizes had appeared in grotto-heavens of Wu Shuai's subordinates. Every time Wu Shuai attacked another grotto-heaven, he would test the variant human Gu Immortals' suggestions to get rid of the qi harvest fruits. Wu Shuai's side was in dire need of such trial and error.

Because of Wu Shuai's violent strategy, more and more human forces in the two heavens sought Qi Sea Ancestor's protection.

Qi Sea Ancestor defended the grotto-heavens while integrating various forces. But on the whole, they were still at a disadvantage.

Wu Shuai's two heavens alliance was strengthening at a much faster speed than Qi Sea Ancestor's.

He was actively protecting the variant humans' benefits, which caused increasingly more variant human grotto-heavens to join him. In the two heavens, variant human grotto-heavens were much larger in numbers than human grotto-heavens.

The final batch of variant human forces who adopted the thought of waiting and seeing took the initiative to side with Wu Shuai. On one hand, they were forced to because of the situation, on the other hand, if they did not surrender, there was no hope in resolving the hidden danger of the qi harvest fruits in their grotto-heavens.

Wu Shuai's prestige soared but the qi harvest fruit's issue was still troubling him. The two heavens alliance tested many methods but they had all failed in eliminating qi harvest fruits.

Over at Qi Sea Ancestor's side, the progress in researching the mysteries of qi harvest fruit was also quite slow.

Wu Shuai's and Qi Sea Ancestor's sides fought frequently, but there were not many casualties. It was because both sides were not focused on eliminating the other side, but on clearing up the danger of the qi harvest fruits.

"The one who knows the most about the mysteries of the qi harvest fruit is probably Demon Immortal Qi Jue. Unfortunately my strength is restrained at present and unable to deal with him." Fang Yuan sighed in pity.

He had already resolved the huge problem of heaven's will, but he still had no clue as to how to refine heaven path dao marks.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue, who Fang Yuan was thinking about, had currently arrived at Western Desert.

"It should be nearby." Demon Immortal Qi Jue flew low and searched everywhere.

He did not succeed in borrowing Gu from Qi Sea Ancestor, so he used qi path investigative methods to search for other qi path Immortal Gu.

And on this search, he found several qi path Immortal Gu.

These qi path Immortal Gu were mostly wild Immortal Gu, they were naturally born after enormous qi tides, as for the rest, they were looted from other Gu Immortals.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue did not go overboard, he only looted qi path Immortal Gu and spared the Gu Immortals.

Moving and stopping along the way, Demon Immortal Qi Jue gradually left Eastern Sea and arrived at Western Desert.

"I deduced that a qi path Immortal Gu is near here." Just as Demon Immortal Qi Jue was mumbling, a Gu Immortal suddenly appeared within his investigative range.

Rank eight Gu Immortal, Red Heart Traveler!

-x-X-x-

Seeing this Gu Immortal, who was wearing a headband and a green robe, having a tall and powerful stance and handsome appearance, Demon Immortal Qi Jue's mind shook: "That qi path Immortal Gu I deduced, could it be on this person?"

The moment this thought emerged, Demon Immortal Qi Jue attacked!

With a loud sound, a giant white qi hand moved to catch Red Heart Traveler.

Almost at the same time that Demon Immortal Qi Jue discovered Red Heart Traveler, Red Heart Traveler also discovered Demon Immortal Qi Jue.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue did not recognize Red Heart Traveler, but Red Heart Traveler already had Heavenly Court's first hand information on Demon Immortal Qi Jue.

Seeing the white qi hand fly towards him, Red Heart Traveler's heart jumped and he quickly evaded.

Red Heart Traveler was a Heavenly Court Gu Immortal and the previous Demon Judgment Board leader, he was very strong. During the fate war, he came to Western Desert and disguised as a blood path demonic immortal, attracting the attention of many super forces of Western Desert's righteous path, thus restraining a large number of hostile forces for Central Continent.

Looking at the whole of Western Desert's Gu Immortal world, Red Heart Traveler had the confidence to fight against almost any Western Desert Gu Immortal. But right now, his opponent was Demon Immortal Qi Jue, one of the strongest Gu Immortals in the present age.

Red Heart Traveler was well aware that he was not Demon Immortal Qi Jue's match. The gap was too large, and the loser of this battle was certain to be him.

So Red Heart Traveler retreated without any hesitation.

At the next moment, Demon Immortal Qi Jue saw a lump of blood red light emerge behind Red Heart Traveler's head, after which the latter's speed increased sharply and was able to dodge his qi hand.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue exclaimed slightly, mumbling inwardly: "Blood path again? It seems like blood path is very prolific in this age."

Demon Immortal Qi Jue was naturally not willing to let go of Red Heart Traveler so easily, so he gave chase.

One chased and one fled, they had soon traveled over ten thousand li.

To his surprise, Demon Immortal Qi Jue discovered his main movement method was actually unable to catch up to Red Heart Traveler. Naturally, he was not left behind in the dust either.

"I have already modified my movement method but I am still unable to catch up to this person. Who is this person? A rank eight blood path Gu Immortal...."

Demon Immortal Qi Jue searched his memories and gradually found some clues.

He had previously soul searched Qing Hui Zi and obtained a lot of information. Red Heart Traveler's true identity was not exposed but he created havoc in Western Desert, and with the sensitive identity of a rank eight blood path expert, information regarding him was already spread in treasure yellow heaven and every Gu Immortal in the world had learned of it.

After chasing for some more time, Demon Immortal Qi Jue suddenly shouted: "Where exactly are you running to?"

His preparation was finished, he activated a killer move.

Red Heart Traveler immediately felt the surrounding qi currents engulf him, severely affecting his speed.

He sighed inwardly, he could only turn around and fight Demon Immortal Qi Jue.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue's moves were majestic and powerful, milky white qi currents surged like a tsunami with unstoppable might.

When they truly fought, there was no surprise, Red Heart Traveler fell into a disadvantage. But his methods also were not weak, blood red light spread and blood red flowers bloomed, there was no evil feeling, on the contrary, they were warm and righteous as they defended him.

Red Heart Traveler struggled with all his might, but in just several rounds, his whole body was soaked with sweat. He sighed internally: "As expected of a monster that was recorded in history, he is too strong!"

Red Heart Traveler felt he was like a small boat that was using all its strength to dodge and delay for time under the tidal wave-like attacks of Demon Immortal Qi Jue.

After several more rounds, Red Heart Traveler was already in a perilous situation.

At this time, there was suddenly a beast roar. An immemorial desolate beast drilled out from the desert and went for a surprise attack on Demon Immortal Qi Jue from behind.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue was caught off-guard but he did not panic, he waved his hand and a mountain-like giant qi hand slammed into the immemorial desolate beast.

But just as this immemorial desolate beast was about to be struck by the giant hand, it suddenly let out bright light and transformed into an immemorial swallow that shot towards Demon Immortal Qi Jue like a black arrow.

"So it is a transformation path Gu Immortal! Haha, interesting." Demon Immortal Qi Jue was slightly surprised, he praised while he fought against this immortal.

The aid was from Nine Spiritual Fairy.

She and Red Heart Traveler had come to Western Desert together to help each other out.

With her reinforcement, Red Heart Traveler's situation immediately turned better, he managed to escape from the horrible outcome of death.

"We can't fight for long! This old demon is truly terrifying, we are not his match. We are only able to resist him now because he is not familiar with our methods yet." Red Heart Traveler hurriedly transmitted his voice.

He had fought Demon Immortal Qi Jue and felt the terror of an expert at the peak of the present age. Demon Immortal Qi Jue was unable to get rid of him because he had resurrected not long ago and had yet to completely adapt to the changes. If they truly fought, it was only a matter of time before Heavenly Court's two immortals were killed by Demon Immortal Qi Jue.

"I have an idea, follow me!" Nine Spiritual Fairy transmitted her voice, retreating while fighting.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue chased after the two immortals all the way to a desert.

Nine Spiritual Fairy suddenly transformed into an immemorial desolate beast and held Red Heart Traveler in her mouth before plunging into the desert.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue snorted coldly: "Foolish action!"

With a clap of his hands, heaven and earth shook. Milky white qi current slammed the desert surface like a tsunami, the surrounding hundred li of desert was forcibly pressed down to over ten feet deep!

Nine Spiritual Fairy let out a muffled groan as she suffered heavy injuries.

Red Heart Traveler quickly used healing methods on her.

Nine Spiritual Fairy did not dare to return to fighting and concentrated only on moving deeper into the ground.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue was just about to plunge into the desert and continue chasing when he suddenly heard a beast roar. At the next moment, a huge immemorial soul beast flew out of the nearby desert ground.

Demon Immortal Qi Jue's pupils shrunk slightly when he saw this immemorial soul beast.

This immemorial soul beast had a strange shape and looked quite furious. It had a tortoise shell, four tiger paws, dragon tail, snake neck, and a human head. Its head was full of disheveled hair and its eyes were letting out ominous light and fury.

This was a legendary immemorial desolate beast with many Immortal Gu!

"Oh, you found Qing Chou." Seeing Demon Immortal Qi Jue tangled with the immemorial soul beast, Red Heart Traveler exclaimed in shock.

This immemorial soul beast was Qing Chou.

After Divine Bean Palace was seized by Fang clan, Qing Chou left Divine Bean Palace and hid itself in some areas.

But in the fate war, Divine Bean Palace and Emperor City had merged into one and Genesis Lotus' was in control of it. After the fate war, Genesis Lotus' will naturally handed all kinds of information to Heavenly Court.

Not only did Qin Ding Ling know of Fang Di Chang's true identity, she also obtained information on Qing Chou. Divine Bean Palace had imprisoned Qing Chou for so many years, Genesis Lotus' will had an extremely high understanding of it and knew of a secret method to find it.

Qin Ding Ling obtained this secret method and secretly commanded Nine Spiritual Fairy to search for Qing Chou and subdue it.

Qing Chou was a legendary immemorial beast, not only did it have outstanding battle strength, it also had a natural ability to recognize everything related to Spectral Soul. If Heavenly Court obtained it, not only could they deal with Fang Yuan, they could even deal with Spectral Soul, it could be considered as killing two birds with one stone.

Nine Spiritual Fairy had found Qing Chou's location not long ago, but her strength was insufficient and she had no confidence in succeeding. When Red Heart Traveler ran into Demon Immortal Qi Jue, she thought of a plan to lure Demon Immortal Qi Jue into fighting with Qing Chou.

"Amazing, like this, we can watch from the sidelines and even possibly benefit from their conflict." Red Heart Traveler smiled.

"Qing Chou is not Demon Immortal Qi Jue's match, we need to observe the situation before making a decision." Nine Spiritual Fairy talked while moving deeper into the ground, the further away they were from the battlefield, the better.

However, beyond the expectations of Heavenly Court's two immortals, Demon Immortal Qi Jue felt something amiss and breathed out boundless qi currents that filled the sky.

He entered them and quickly disappeared.

Without an opponent, Qing Chou also chose to leave the battlefield, escaping to the horizons.

Deep underground, Heavenly Court's two immortals looked at each other. Red Heart Traveler suddenly said: "Damn it! That Blood Sea true inheritance is going to be taken!"

Nine Spiritual Fairy was stunned for a moment before reacting: "You really found that blood path true inheritance?"

Red Heart Traveler nodded, sighing: "Heavenly Court's clues were not wrong, the crucial key was the qi tide that exposed the Blood Sea true inheritance. I searched for over half a month before finally arriving at the location. But I ran into Demon Immortal Qi Jue over there."

Nine Spiritual Fairy was silent.

Meanwhile, Demon Immortal Qi Jue returned back to the original spot.

"It is really here!" He inspected for a while, discovering the target was still here and had not moved.

After trying for a while more, he successfully obtained this Blood Sea true inheritance.

Back then, Blood Sea Ancestor had set up hundreds of thousands of inheritance sites that spread over Central Continent, Southern Border, Northern Plains, Western Desert and Eastern Sea. Among them, there were nine true inheritances.

One of the true inheritances had now fallen into Demon Immortal Qi Jue's hands.

"Blood path true inheritance... amazing, with this true inheritance, it will be several times easier for me to deal with blood path Gu Immortals."

"And this blood qi Immortal Gu is really suitable for me. Hahaha."

Demon Immortal Qi Jue laughed heartily.

Almost all the killer moves he activated before consumed qi path immortal materials. Now that he obtained a qi path Immortal Gu, his strength was raised further.

Although there was still some difference from his peak condition in history, he was already much stronger than when he fought Fang Yuan.