329 RI

Eastern Sea.

Shen clan headquarters, purple rosewood myriad sparrow island.

An elderly Gu Immortal stood in front of a stone door as he waited patiently.

The elderly Gu Immortal radiated rank eight aura, he was the current first supreme elder of Shen clan, holding high authority — Shen Cong Sheng!

Rumble...

As the door of the secret room was opened, two Gu Immortals walked out from within.

The person in front wore a grey robe and had shoulder length black and white hair, it was Shen Shang.

As a cultivator of human path, the stay in Divine Emperor City was his fortuitous encounter. After leaving Divine Emperor City, the black fire injury in his immortal aperture was completely healed, his battle strength surged to pseudo venerable level.

Shen Shang walked out of the stone door and stayed at the side, smiling at the Gu Immortal behind him: "Please come in."

This Gu Immortal wore a grey hemp garment, it was very simple and plain, but his muscular body could not be concealed. He wore a conical hat that could not hide his pale face and weakened state.

It was Lu Wei Yin, who had survived the battle in Crazed Demon Cave.

Lu Wei Yin bowed slightly and said: "Senior Shen's human path methods are extraordinary, thirty percent of my injuries have healed already. I can only repay this debt in the future."

Shen Shang laughed heartily: "No need to worry about it, don't call me senior either. We fought together in Crazed Demon Cave, having close cooperation, with our friendship, you can just treat me as an equal."

Shen Cong Sheng laughed as well: "Seniors, the banquet has been prepared, please come with me."

Before Lu Wei Yin gave any modest reply, Shen Shang laughed and grabbed his arm, bringing him to the banquet enthusiastically.

The banquet was held outdoors in the open, at the peak of rosewood myriad sparrow island.

There were three people in the pavilion, Shen Shang sat at the main seat, Lu Wei Yin sat beside him as the guest, while Shen Cong Sheng sat at the end respectfully.

There was no need to comment about the beautiful and delicious food and wine on the table, Lu Wei Yin only took a small bite before he gazed afar.

He saw that the sea was calm as a mirror, having no waves at all, the setting sun was radiating brightly, and the evening clouds were like blazing flames.

"Such a beautiful sight." Lu Wei Yin praised.

At this moment, the countless birds and sparrows chirped on the island, countless purple rosewood branches shook with the cries of the birds, emitting beautiful sounds.

At once, the blend of sounds created a medley that spread far and wide, towards the sea and sky that stretched to the horizon.

Lu Wei Yin could not help but show an expression of indulgence, he shut his eyes to savor the moment. After a long while, he opened his eyes and let out a breath of air: "I've heard of the reputation of Eastern Sea Shen clan's rosewood myriad sparrow island. After seeing it today, it truly lives up to that reputation. After surviving Crazed Demon Cave and seeing this beautiful sight, my heart has calmed down, sigh, it is great to be alive."

Lu Wei Yin's strength was at the peak of rank eight, aside from his defense, which was firmly at pseudo venerable level.

However, the battle in Crazed Demon Cave made him feel extremely weak.

There were many crises and trials that caused Lu Wei Yin to be on the brink of death multiple times, recalling these dangerous moments, Lu Wei Yin still felt some lingering fear now.

Shen Cong Sheng showed an expression of curiosity as he inquired: "If not for Heavenly Court's and Longevity Heaven's declarations, the entire five regions would still be kept in the dark. What exactly happened in Crazed Demon Cave? Not only did Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable revive, Gu Yue Fang Yuan even became Heaven Refining Demon Venerable?"

Heavenly Court and Longevity Heaven both suffered losses, even though they had gains too, Fang Yuan was the biggest winner. Thus, they did not describe the details of Crazed Demon Cave to the rest of the world.

With this huge commotion, after the initial shock of the Gu Immortals, they started to gain deep curiosity.

Shen Cong Sheng was no exception.

Lu Wei Yin and Shen Shang looked at each other before retelling the complex story of the battle in Crazed Demon Cave together.

After Shen Cong Sheng heard their story, he became silent.

The pursuit of Limitless Demon Venerable, the scheming Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, the powerful Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, the pitiful Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, and the immense restraint of Gu Yue Fang Yuan...

This battle was at a whole new level!

To the extent that even Demon Immortal Qi Jue, Zhan Bu Du, Qi Sea Ancestor, Lu Wei Yin, and Shen Shang were mere side characters in comparison.

The price of this battle was also shocking beyond belief.

Pseudo venerables like Zhan Bu Du and Demon Immortal Qi Jue died. Fang Yuan lost about fifty Gu Immortal subordinates, only half of Longevity Heaven's Eight Extremities were left. And in Crazed Demon Cave, countless lifeforms including Nie Kuang Feng, Bu Tian Kong, and Duan Hu had died!

Eventually, Limitless Demon Venerable failed in pursuing eternal life, while Fang Yuan ended up as the biggest winner.

Shen Cong Sheng frowned and asked the two immortals: "There are three things I do not understand. Firstly, if I were Limitless Demon Venerable, why would I rush at that moment and take such a risk? With such strength, couldn't he have suppressed the entire world and built another formation if this Crazed Demon formation was not enough to achieve his goal?"

Shen Shang shook his head slightly: "Limitless Demon Venerable is a true Dao pursuer, after a million years of preparation and planning, how could he relent without giving it a test?"

Lu Wei Yin added: "He could not last long in that condition either. Although he seemed to have revived, he was not a true living Gu Immortal. At least, after his death, he did not have a flesh-and-blood body, there was no immortal aperture either, in fact, he turned back into truthful floating ice."

"So that's it." Shen Cong Sheng nodded and asked again: "Secondly, are they really ignoring Spectral Soul Demon Venerable and letting him remain in the void of the ninth layer of Crazed Demon Cave?"

Lu Wei Yin pondered and said: "Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was first manipulated by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and experienced a surge in emotions, he almost lost his memories and only vaguely remembered Lord Paradise Earth. Afterwards, Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was released from the Door of Life and Death by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, he actually went to block the hole of the world boundary of his own accord, that was out of our expectations."

"He did not regain his memories and sanity like what we anticipated. There were no changes in his emotions, it was like he was completely emotionless, but he treated the world boundary's hole as the biggest threat. He used his body to block it and ignored everything else, that was truly a strange condition, as if... he was a soul beast."

Shen Shang said: "Us two discussed between ourselves regarding Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's condition, but we had no conclusion. Now it seems that even the venerables have no answer, they can merely make guesses. After Fang Yuan gained the upper hand and snatched the final truthful floating ice, while Spectral Soul Demon Venerable focused on suppressing the world boundary's hole, the three venerables stopped fighting. After the battle of Crazed Demon Cave, they are all severely weakened, since the hole is handled by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, ignoring him is the best move for now."

Saying so, Shen Shang looked at Lu Wei Yin and said: "As for what they will do in the future and whether Spectral Soul Demon Venerable can regain his sanity, none of us can guess."

Lu Wei Yin nodded, his expression turned more solemn.

Spectral Soul Demon Venerable had a deeply murderous nature, without regaining his sanity, he could only stay in the ninth layer void and not escape. But if he regained his sanity, the five regions and two heavens would fall into chaos.

Shen Cong Sheng asked his final question: "And thirdly, Fang Yuan's schemes to become a venerable were exposed by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable. But there are still things I cannot understand. How did Fang Yuan get so many new killer moves? He had an endless number of compound killer moves, totem killer moves, and even Dang Hun Luo Po Seal that made use of Dang Hun Mountain, Luo Po Valley, and Reverse Flow River. I really cannot understand it, I thought Fang Yuan was always specialized in the wisdom path aspect of blocking others' deductions. His wisdom Gu was also used up in Heavenly Court, how could he still have so many killer moves?"

"Unless he has made some important progression in wisdom path? But isn't this growth simply too big?"

"So be it if he had Dang Hun Luo Po Seal, but that killer move that allowed him to escape from the Door of Life and Death used the three secluded domains of heaven and earth as the cores, he had nearly replicated the road of life."

Lu Wei Yin and Shen Shang shook their heads, they had no idea either.

The former sighed: "If Fang Yuan was not so unpredictable, he would not have become the biggest winner in this contest."

The latter said: "Regarding this, I have some guesses."

The three immortals ate and spoke, discussing their theories.

After filling their bellies, Shen Cong Sheng took out a cup and made tea for Lu Wei Yin and Shen Shang.

Lu Wei Yin took a look and became quite curious, he asked: "Is this your six sound tea?"

Shen Cong Sheng smiled: "It is just a small creation, allow me to embarrass myself."

Lu Wei Yin had a serious expression: "Shen clan's six sound tea is famous in the world, to think that I am lucky enough to try it. There is a term in luck path called 'every cloud has a silver lining', there is also another saying 'there is bound to be great fortune after surviving a huge crisis'. Haha, I am really lucky today."

Six sound tea was a set of six tea cups.

These six cups of tea had very specific details when it came to the brewing process, temperature, cup used, sequence of drinking, and exact way to drink.

Shen Cong Sheng expended rank eight immortal materials to brew the first cup of tea, it was called autumn wood sound.

This tea was crystal clear, it was like the sky devoid of clouds, extremely pure and intact. The moment Lu Wei Yin drank it, he felt refreshed, his mind became clear, it was pure and cleansed. It was as if he had turned into a carefree flying bird, or a cool breeze, moving casually in the autumn skies, forgetting all his worries.

Shen Cong Sheng made the second cup of tea, it was called cloud flow tea.

This tea had a special texture, it was soft as cotton unlike normal tea. It melted when it entered the mouth, turning into a slightly cold stream of water that flowed down his throat, it was drunk in one mouthful without doubt.

He made the third cup of tea, it was called river mournful cry.

But halfway through, tears flowed down Shen Cong Sheng's cheeks, he failed to brew the tea successfully.

"I am ashamed, I am ashamed." Shen Cong Sheng quickly wiped his tears and apologized.

Lu Wei Yin's injuries had been treated by Shen Shang, he was also hosted so enthusiastically by them, he knew that the main show was coming, he quickly asked what they wanted to hear: "First supreme elder of Shen clan, why are you crying?"

Shen Cong Sheng answered: "Thank you for the concern, I am merely tearing up in guilt. It has been a thousand years since my Shen clan was established. To think that it would face the crisis of extermination during my generation, I, Shen Cong Sheng, am truly incompetent and useless. This beautiful rosewood myriad sparrow island and our countless clansmen are all going to perish."

Shen Shang sighed deeply.

Lu Wei Yin asked: "Are you two worried about Fang Yuan?"

"Precisely. Not long ago, information spread that this Lord Demon Venerable returned to Eastern Sea, picking a mortal island to set up his five restriction profound light qi that encompassed the surrounding ten thousand li! I am truly worried and fearful now, the whole of Shen clan is worried and fearful, in fact, the entire Eastern Sea Gu Immortal world is worried and fearful!" Shen Cong Sheng said this, a large amount of tears flowed down his face again.

-x-X-x-

The great Shen clan first supreme elder was crying with a tearful expression now.

Part of it was definitely Shen Cong Sheng's inner fear towards Fang Yuan, but he had deeper goals as well.

With the combined announcement of Heavenly Court and Longevity Heaven, such news could not be fake.

Fang Yuan became Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, while news like Qi Sea Ancestor being Fang Yuan's clone became known throughout the world.

Before this, Eastern Sea's righteous path had been defending Qi Sea Ancestor as they made the Righteous Qi Alliance, to contest against the variant human alliance under Fang Yuan's control.

It turned out that both leaders were Fang Yuan after all, it could be said that the entirety of Eastern Sea's righteous path clans were toyed around in the hands of Fang Yuan.

After Shen Cong Sheng found out about the truth, he felt anger and humiliation, but soon, fear and unrest followed.

Shen clan was an Eastern Sea super force, it had huge businesses and seven seas under its control, but how could they face Fang Yuan?

Back when Fang Yuan was still a pseudo venerable, Eastern Sea's super forces had joined together unprecedentedly and nominated Qi Sea Ancestor to lead them. This caused their situation to stabilize.

Now that Fang Yuan was a venerable, Shen clan and the other super forces could not escape his wrath.

Because they were located in Eastern Sea, they could not move elsewhere.

Even if they wanted to move, where could they go?

Southern Border and Western Desert were impossible, since the absence of a venerable meant that Fang Yuan could chase after them if he was unhappy, and they would be doomed.

Other than those regions, Central Continent and Northern Plains each had their own venerable who could resist Fang Yuan. But they already had their own super forces, how could Shen clan and the rest develop there? If they stayed in Eastern Sea, Fang Yuan would bully them, but if they went to Central Continent or Northern Plains, would Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable not suppress them? The five regions chaotic war was bound to happen, if Shen clan joined either venerable, when war broke out, they would be used as cannon fodder.

Thus, Shen Cong Sheng gathered the elite Gu Immortals and discussed for a while, he decided that joining Fang Yuan was the best choice for them.

Even though it was quite embarrassing, Fang Yuan was now a Demon Venerable, everyone would understand their actions.

After Shen Cong Sheng made up his mind to join Fang Yuan, he thought about it more deeply: Since he was going to join Fang Yuan, Shen clan had to be the first clan to do so, it would give them more advantages. If Shen clan took the lead and worked with a pseudo venerable like Lu Wei Yin, stirring other Eastern Sea righteous path forces to join Fang Yuan, they would leave a good impression on Fang Yuan.

Shen Cong Sheng secretly told this plan to Shen Shang, after he thought about it for a while, he decided that it was possible. Thus, they had to convince Lu Wei Yin first.

Shen Shang felt that they had a good chance of convincing Lu Wei Yin.

Even though he had only met Lu Wei Yin shortly, they had a deep connection. Shen Shang had once received Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's guidance while Lu Wei Yin was his Southern Border inheritor.

If they looked at this from the Central Continent sect system, they were disciple brothers.

Furthermore, during the battle of Crazed Demon Cave, Lu Wei Yin and Shen Shang had worked together without any internal conflict. After returning, Shen Shang used his human path methods to heal Lu Wei Yin. If he were to use only his own earth path methods, it would take a long time to recover!

At once, Shen Cong Sheng cried while Shen Shang drank tea by the side, they were both waiting for Lu Wei Yin's response.

Lu Wei Yin sighed internally.

He had already understood that Shen Shang had an unclear relationship with Fang Yuan, they had worked together during the fate war to fight Heavenly Court. In Crazed Demon Cave, after Shen Shang left Divine Emperor City, he immediately cooperated and fought against Heavenly Court as a result of Fang Yuan's words.

Then what about Lu Wei Yin?

Where should he go?

Lu Wei Yin had been considering this question for a long time.

After the battle in Crazed Demon Cave, the situation of the world changed drastically.

Three venerables were in a standoff, but there was still the possibility of other venerables reviving.

Everything needed to be reconsidered.

Lu Wei Yin, who had pseudo venerable battle strength, was clear of his own situation. Fighting against a venerable was courting death. But in certain situations, pseudo venerables were still capable of influencing the victory and defeat of venerables.

The battle in Crazed Demon Cave was proof of this.

When Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable got into a deadlock, they first invited Fang Yuan before asking the other pseudo venerables to join their side. These people were the crucial pieces needed to tilt victory in their favor.

In Crazed Demon Cave, even after the three venerables stopped fighting, Fang Yuan and the other venerables did not deal with Lu Wei Yin and the rest.

Other than the fact that they were in poor condition and were wary of each other's actions, thus being unable to take risks, if they tried to kill the pseudo venerables and failed, they would be forcing them to join the other sides.

Thus, Lu Wei Yin and the rest returned safely.

Lu Wei Yin pondered for a while before saying: "If Lord Paradise Earth were still around, I would definitely follow him. The reason why I helped Fang Yuan to ambush Spectral Soul during the pursuit battle was to use his strength to help Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable revive. But now, he has been killed by Fang Yuan..."

Lu Wei Yin gritted his teeth, showing anger on his face.

If Paradise Earth were to be killed by either Giant Sun Immortal Venerable or Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, Lu Wei Yin might still feel better.

But it was Fang Yuan who killed Paradise Earth.

While Fang Yuan managed to escape from Spectral Soul Demon Venerable because of Lu Wei Yin's desperate attempt to ambush him.

Shen Shang observed his expression and knew that Lu Wei Yin's emotions were surging, he understood why Lu Wei Yin felt so conflicted as well.

Shen Shang did not speak. He had received Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's help in the past, it was not appropriate to speak now.

Shen Cong Sheng had no such issue, immediately urging: "In my opinion, Lord Lu Wei Yin, you do not need to be too conflicted. Back then, you helped Fang Yuan mostly because of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's will."

After pausing for a while, he added: "Furthermore, even though Fang Yuan took Lord Paradise Earth's life, that was merely the final hit. The most important culprits were Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable."

Lu Wei Yin sighed as he looked up, he had no choice but to nod as he said: "You are right."

He smiled bitterly: "The situation has changed, the world is no longer like before. Without Lord Paradise Earth, I, Lu Wei Yin, am merely a wandering vagrant. Even though Mushroomman Paradise is still around, the mushroommen have all entered the sovereign immortal aperture already, they are Fang Yuan's hostages. I am troubled by both choices, I cannot calm down. Shen Shang, we have a deep friendship forged from battles, I wonder what your opinion on this matter is? I would like to hear your view."

Shen Shang coughed before saying: "I will not lie to you, friend, I want to join Lord Heaven Refining Demon Venerable. The truth is, back in the blue dragon whale, we had already worked with Lord Fang Yuan. Afterwards, we collaborated in both the fate war and the battle in Crazed Demon Cave. Through our multiple cooperations, Lord Fang Yuan had not let us down once. Of course, can we say that Fang Yuan is dependable? That is complete nonsense, he is still a Demon Venerable after all. But Shen clan's foundation is here, if we try to move, it will be too risky. After considering the pros and cons, this is the only thing we can do."

Gu Immortals could not cultivate without resources.

Shen clan was huge and had many Gu Immortals, they needed even more resources to maintain the cultivation of all their members, while promoting new Gu Immortal seeds as well.

Of course, each Gu Immortal had their own immortal aperture.

But just the resources inside one's immortal aperture were not enough to be self-sufficient. Otherwise, treasure yellow heaven would not be this popular with everyone.

The sovereign immortal aperture was able to be self-sufficient, but it was unique.

Even though it could be refined again, the amount of immortal materials needed, including the ten extreme physiques, and also the tribulation during the Gu refinement, made the risks and investments too great to bear.

Hearing Shen Shang's words, Lu Wei Yin's expression turned grim as he nodded: "Brother Shen has helped me a lot, since that is your decision, then I will follow you this time."

Shen Cong Sheng and Shen Shang glanced at each other while muttering internally: Sly old fox.

With these words, Lu Wei Yin wanted to use this decision to repay the favor of having Shen Shang heal his injuries.

As expected, a pseudo venerable like Lu Wei Yin was a genius among geniuses, he could not be deceived under most situations.

Shen Shang coughed and said: "It is for the best that you have decided to do this. We can help each other out in the future as well."

Shen Cong Sheng quickly made use of this conversation, suggesting that Shen Shang and Lu Wei Yin should take the lead to get all the other Eastern Sea super forces to join Fang Yuan as well.

Lu Wei Yin predicted that this would happen, he nodded and agreed on the spot.

Shen Cong Sheng brewed his six sound tea again.

After enjoying the tea, Shen Shang brought the satisfied Lu Wei Yin into their secret room again for treatment.

Shen Shang's and Lu Wei Yin's injuries were very severe.

Just one round of treatment was not enough. Even if Shen Shang was using human path methods, to get rid of these venerable dao marks on their wounds, time was needed.

On the morning of the second day, Shen Cong Sheng set off and visited the other super clans.

His plan to rope them in was quite successful.

These super forces were all based in Eastern Sea, they soon heard from Shen Cong Sheng that Shen Shang and Lu Wei Yin were going to join Fang Yuan.

With the death of Demon Immortal Qi Jue in Crazed Demon Cave, there were only three pseudo venerable battle strength experts left in the world.

Among the three of them, Shen Shang and Lu Wei Yin wanted to join Fang Yuan, while Qi Sea Ancestor, the leader of the Righteous Qi Alliance, was Fang Yuan's qi path clone!

This trend was simply too overpowering, the other Eastern Sea super clans soon joined in.

Of course, not everyone wanted to join Fang Yuan.

Xia Xuan, Xia Jia, and the other Gu Immortals had already decided to leave Eastern Sea and betray the Righteous Qi Alliance the moment they heard Longevity Heaven's and Heavenly Court's announcements.

These Xia clan Gu Immortals were truly pitiful.

First, their foundation was devoured by the variant human alliance, they then joined Qi Sea Ancestor to try and reclaim their territory. But the result was that Qi Sea Ancestor and Fang Yuan had played them entirely, killing the important Gu Immortals of Xia clan like Xia Rui Zhi.

"This demon Fang Yuan killed our clansmen and devoured our foundation, this enmity is greater than heaven!"

"Eastern Sea, we will be back one day!"

"Let's go, Zui Xian Weng is going to arrive here soon on patrol."

"Hehe, don't worry, in order to escape today, I specially found some rare wine for Zui Xian Weng. With his nature, he is going to be completely drunk today."

Xia clan's Gu Immortals conversed while secretly flying from Eastern Sea to Central Continent along the surface of the sea.

Zui Xian Weng watched as they left, until they vanished into the horizon.

This elderly Gu Immortal sighed deeply, he had a worried expression.

He had already regretted his promise to Qin Ding Ling. He was now Heavenly Court's spy that had infiltrated the Righteous Qi Alliance.

Heavenly Court had instructed him a day ago to purposely let these Xia clan Gu Immortals go.

"I succeeded this time because it was an easy mission, but next time?"

Zui Xian Weng thought about Fang Yuan, who had venerable cultivation level, all the wine that he had become flavorless.

"How did he suddenly become a venerable out of nowhere?!"

-x-X-x-

A tiny bamboo stick, on which five cicadas were skewered, was placed above the fire grill.

The bamboo stick was unusual, while the fire was also not ordinary, these five cicadas were all rank five fire path Gu worms named purple smoke cicada. Once the infusion of true essence, can emit purple smoke, obscuring a piece of heaven and earth.

If in the mortal world, each purple smoke cicada would cause bloodshed among Gu Masters, but here, they were just food.

The person cooking the cicadas wore a white robe and had thick hair, he was sitting on a folding stool that displayed his tall and thin body.

It was Northern Plains' rank eight Gu Immortal Heavenly Lord Bai Zu!

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu had a hobby that was well known in Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world. He loved to cook Gu worms and create these delicious dishes from time to time.

He personally cooked these dishes, other than for himself, he also gave them to his Bai Zu tribe members as a reward. Anyone who received such a reward would feel incredibly honored. This was Heavenly Lord Bai Zu's acknowledgement after all!

At times, Heavenly Lord Bai Zu would also invite his Gu Immortal friends as guests to enjoy his cooking.

At this moment, Chu Du sat in front of Heavenly Lord Bai Zu, he was the single esteemed guest that was invited!

Chu Du continued to chew as the number of purple smoke cicadas on the skewer fell to one.

"Brother Chu, how's the taste?" Heavenly Lord Bai Zu grilled his cicadas while smiling and asking.

Chu Du smiled too: "It has great flavor! To think that after grilling these purple smoke cicadas, they would actually have the flavor of chicken meat but also the sweetness of taro. It is a crunchy snack and one skewer is definitely not enough."

"Hahaha." Heavenly Lord Bai Zu laughed: "Everyone knows that I was a lone cultivator initially. Long ago, when I roamed Northern Plains aimlessly, I barely had enough clothes or food. One time, when I failed to capture a Gu worm, I accidentally crushed it with my foot. Half a month of effort became wasted as a result."

"I could not bear to leave it there! I felt angry and regretful. Thus, I cooked that Gu worm and ate it, the flavor was terrible and I had diarrhea for seven days and night, I almost died as a result."

"After that ordeal, I became more determined and ruthless. I swore that when I made it big, I would frequently eat Gu worms to take revenge."

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu had a drifting gaze.

Chu Du was solemn.

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu had never said such words to him, he seemed to have the intention to go into a deeper conversation.

Chu Du knew that this was the result of exposing his rank eight cultivation level, they were on equal levels now.

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu laughed again as he steered the topic back: "My grilled cicadas are just a hobby, there is good flavor but no benefits at all. This is not like those super forces with deep foundations, their famous teas and wines are passed down for generations and modified each time. Some of their better creations can even grant dao marks after consumption."

Chu Du nodded as he said analytically: "Ever since the Battle of Yi Tian Mountain and the actions of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, who has incredibly profound food path methods, Heavenly Court, which was his enemy, started to research food path and gained much result. The qi tides that swept the world also caused five or six food path inheritances that I know of to be circulated. These were mostly sold in treasure yellow heaven and were bought by many people, allowing them to benefit greatly. As a result, food path started to spread among people."

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu nodded and sighed: "With the destruction of fate, the unification of five regions, and the reign of three venerables, the chaotic war is about to start. This has never happened in human history. Food path originated from beastmen and was purposely concealed by people even when it was spread. But with the great era now, food path cannot be hidden anymore. I wonder how many food path experts will appear in the future? Food path is becoming like this, strength path will also not stay the same. Brother Chu, I know that you are focused on promoting strength path, that is impossible during normal times, but in this great era, you have a good chance of success."

Chu Du laughed involuntarily, he had fought against Fairy Black Moon earlier and risked injuries to save her, it showed his aspiration to everyone.

Chu Du's eyes glimmered: "Now is still too early. Currently, there are less than five true strength path experts in the five regions. Other than me and Fairy Black Moon, there is only the first supreme elder of Western Desert's Fang clan, who is the most famous one. To revitalize strength path, I need to get more Gu cultivators to choose strength path in their cultivation. I cannot change the environment of the world, but I can create more strength path experts to push this tide along!"

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu finally reached the topic he wanted, he interjected: "Brother Chu, you are forgetting one strength path expert. In his early days, he mostly relied on strength path methods. And now, he is high and mighty, far beyond the realm of us ordinary people."

Chu Du was stunned for a moment before realizing that Heavenly Lord Bai Zu was referring to Gu Yue Fang Yuan.

Chu Du knew what Heavenly Lord Bai Zu's intention was in mentioning Fang Yuan, he cooperated and said solemnly: "Gu Yue Fang Yuan was able to become a venerable, it is truly out of my expectations. Back when I first met him, I felt that this person was not simple, he could not be estimated with common sense."

"Afterwards, I was fortunate to fight together with him several times, I found that this person had a hardy nature, he had both brains and brawn. Anyone with such a nature would not submit to being below others."

"But he had a special identity, he was the single chosen person by heaven's will to rebirth, he also received the investment of many venerables in an attempt to destroy fate. In his life, he had encountered so many dangerous situations and predicaments that even throughout history, nobody could compare to it."

"Finally, he managed to take that final step and become one of the strongest people in the world. After my initial shock and suspicion, I analyzed this and felt that it was a natural thing."

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu listened, he nodded, saying: "You are exactly right."

Next, Heavenly Lord Bai Zu subconsciously quietened his voice as he moved his body forward, saying to Chu Du: "I wonder if Brother Chu has stayed in contact with this Heaven Refining Demon Venerable..."

Chu Du did not answer openly, he asked: "Oh? Brother Bai Zu, you mean to say..."

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu shrugged and raised both palms, smiled bitterly: "In the current situation, Brother Chu, why the need to ask an unnecessary question? We became acquainted from our initial conflict, even though we made our respective tribes, in this Northern Plains, we are ostracized constantly."

"In normal times, we both have rank eight cultivation level, other than Central Continent, as long as we are alive, our forces can stay strong in any other place."

"But now, we are in the unprecedented great era!"

"Giant Sun Immortal Venerable revived, and he has a reputation for being the most caring towards his descendants."

"My Bai Zu tribe was established by devouring Hei tribe's foundation, which is a Huang Jin bloodline tribe."

"To speak the truth, Brother Chu, I have not been able to eat or sleep well recently, I am filled with worries."

Chu Du quickly consoled: "No matter how protective Giant Sun Immortal Venerable is towards his descendants, you still have rank eight cultivation level. Longevity Heaven has been trying to unify the entire Northern Plains Gu Immortal world, if he kills you, he will lose the support of many people. If the current world were ruled by Giant Sun Immortal Venerable alone, we might be in danger. But with three venerables in power now, we have hope of surviving."

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu still had a bitter expression: "However, there are countless ways for the stronger party to deal with us. Brother Chu, ever since our tribes were created, the other Huang Jin tribes have been ostracizing us. Haven't we seen enough of their methods? Giant Sun Immortal Venerable does not need to target us, when the chaos starts, he can just push our tribes to be the cannon fodder, it is a simple thing to get rid of us."

Chu Du heard this and nodded lightly. Heavenly Lord Bai Zu had expressed his inner worry as well.

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu wanted to contact Fang Yuan through Chu Du, he was not thinking of joining Fang Yuan immediately.

After all, Fang Yuan had been given the title of Heaven Refining Demon Venerable by Longevity Heaven and Heavenly Court.

Everyone in the world knew about Fang Yuan's nature, ruthlessness and cruelty was a part of it.

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu wanted to leave an escape route for himself, so that he could use it when a crisis appeared.

And the truth was, Chu Du had the same idea as him.

"To speak the truth, I have not contacted Fang Yuan for a very long time." Chu Du sighed and said the truth.

Chu Du added: "Everyone knows about my relationship with Fang Yuan. It is too dangerous to contact Fang Yuan now with Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's existence. If I get exposed, disaster would strike."

Even though he said that.

Chu Du had already made up his mind, while the three venerables were resting, he would secretly contact Fang Yuan and try to create a backup plan for his Chu tribe.

The concurrent reign of three venerables shocked the world.

After the shock, most of the forces and Gu Immortals started to think about their own circumstances.

At the same time, Fang clan's first supreme elder, who was known as the most famous strength path expert by Chu Du, was also holding a meeting now.

In the study room.

Fang clan's first supreme elder Fang Gong sat down and said with a tone of lingering fear: "To think that Fang Yuan became a Demon Venerable! Thankfully, our clan did not reject him and made the transaction with him. Otherwise, if we offended him, we could have defended against him back then, but now, we would face his revenge. Our entire clan would get into a crisis of life and death."

At the side, Fang clan's third supreme elder, rank seven Gu Immortal, Fang Hua Sheng said: "The truth is, our Fang clan was deceived by Fang Yuan for so long, but that is nothing big, he is someone who became venerable after all."

Fang Di Chang snorted coldly, showing a look of displeasure.

He had deep grudges with Fang Yuan. Back then, he schemed against Fang Yuan but got killed and captured instead. Even though Fang Yuan released his soul later, that was part of the transaction that allowed him to get a vast amount of soul cores as well as Thieves Den.

Right now, Fang Di Chang had another body, even though he had rank five cultivation level, he was already preparing for his immortal ascension.

Although his cultivation level fell, his status remained unchanged. After all, his adopted son, Fang Yun, was holding up his faction, he was still trusted by the whole of Fang clan.

Even though Fang Di Chang's wisdom path methods were weaker now, he still had his unique perspective.

He smiled coldly and analyzed: "On the surface, Fang Yuan has become a Demon Venerable and the current situation is unprecedented! Something like three venerables coexisting at the same time has never happened, but even among them, there are subtle differences."

"Look, Heavenly Court exposed Giant Sun Immortal Venerable of creating and cultivating blood path, they also claimed that Fang Yuan was Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, they are the most aggressive side."

"Longevity Heaven rebuked Heavenly Court and said that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was cultivating blood path to benefit the world, it was his great benevolence. At the same time, they also called Fang Yuan a Demon Venerable."

"Among the three, only Fang Yuan has not spoken. After the battle in Crazed Demon Cave, he has been recuperating in Eastern Sea. This shows that he is the weakest among the three venerables."

"In the future, the three venerables will have a huge battle, I still have a chance of revenge. Our Western Desert is situated deep in Western Desert, we have a great location. When the five regions go to war, the boundaries of the various regions will be chaotic. We only need to lay low and develop secretly. If the three venerables have a winner among them, we will join that side. If the venerables die, our Fang clan has hope of becoming an overlord of Western Desert."

Fang Gong and Fang Hua Sheng listened to his analysis and could not help but nod slightly.

-x-X-x-

After that, Fang Di Chang emphasized: "Looking at the five regions, Northern Plains, Central Continent, and Eastern Sea all have a venerable leader, while Southern Border has a righteous path alliance. Only our Western Desert is still divided and disunited."

"One can say that Western Desert is the weakest of the five regions."

"In this situation, we cannot take the lead to cause problems or show our stance."

"If other forces recruit us, we will try to balance ourselves and secretly join them while ensuring that our benefits are the priority. Back then, our Fang clan was attacked because we obtained Divine Emperor City. We cannot commit the same mistake again and become the target of everyone, that is too foolish."

Fang Hua Sheng and Fang Gong nodded again.

Even though Fang Di Chang had lost his cultivation level, he still had his wide-ranging perspective.

Southern Border.

Tian Lan Mountain, Luo clan's headquarters.

In the main hall, most of Luo clan's Gu Immortals were gathered, those that did not come personally also sent their wills instead.

Luo clan's first supreme elder had rank seven cultivation level, he looked around before speaking: "In the era of three reigning venerables, chaos will ensue. What should Luo clan do? If you have any ideas, do say them now."

Luo clan's Gu Immortals looked at each other, soon, one of them spoke.

This person cultivated space path, he was Luo clan's number one general, Luo Ran, who had peak rank seven battle strength, even surpassing the first supreme elder.

Luo Ran spoke: "Everyone, news of the reign of three venerables shocked everyone, after thinking about it, I decided to look at it from another perspective. If I were either of the three venerables, I would first devour Southern Border and Western Desert. After all, weaklings are the easiest targets, it is not good for Eastern Sea, Central Continent, or Northern Plains if the three venerables fight now. The wisest decision is to strengthen myself first and take more territory and resources before fighting the other venerables."

"Our Luo clan is at the northern end of Southern Border, we are closest to Central Continent. If Star Constellation Immortal Venerable wants to interfere in Southern Border, our Luo clan would have to face her first!"

Luo clan's immortals nodded with a cold expression.

Ever since the disappearance of the five regional walls, their pressure had been intensifying daily. They had to search for backup plans and escape routes for Luo clan.

Luo Ran continued to speak: "With the reign of three venerables, unless our Southern Border also has a venerable, even if all the Southern Border Gu Immortals worked together cooperatively, we are not the match of any of these three venerables. As for the other super forces who are deeper inside the region, they might still have the choice of staying out of the war, but our Luo clan is stuck between Southern Border and Central Continent, when conflict starts, we will need to stick to one side."

Once he said that, all of the Luo clan immortals became stirred.

One of them stood up directly and shouted angrily: "Luo Ran, are you saying that our Luo clan should surrender before fighting? Are you going to ignore the righteousness of our clan throughout the generations? We, Luo clan, defend the glory of righteousness, are you going to abandon that?"

Everyone turned to look, the person who said that was Luo Fei.

Next, many Luo clan Gu Immortals added in their comments that sided with Luo Fei.

"When our Luo clan had once prospered, we almost threatened Wu clan's position, how can we act so cowardly?"

"Indeed, venerables are no doubt invincible. But in the current era, with the reign of three venerables, and the possibility that other venerables might revive in the future, the future is certainly uncertain, we cannot give up now."

"In my opinion, none of the three venerables now are worth joining. Heavenly Court has the sect system, if our Luo clan joins them, we need to change our clan system. Giant Sun Immortal Venerable is most protective of his descendants, Bai Zu tribe and Chu tribe are being ostracized by Northern Plains' Huang Jin bloodline. Meanwhile, Heaven Refining Demon Venerable has a lot of enmity with our clan, if we lower our heads to him, I will look down on myself!"

Seeing everyone's anger and riled emotions, Luo Ran quickly waved his hand: "Everyone, I did not consider it through."

Luo Fei stared widely: "Lord Luo Ran, you are the number one expert of Luo clan, if even you have such thoughts, we will be too disappointed!"

Luo Ran had an expression of guilt: "I was wrong."

Luo Fei added: "According to my view, the situation is not very dangerous. With the reign of three venerables, they are wary of each other while being restricted, they will not make a move easily. In the battle in Crazed Demon Cave, Demon Immortal Qi Jue and people like Xiao He Jian have already died, Fang Yuan lost many powerful subordinates. Right now, his main body is recuperating in Eastern Sea without doing anything, he does not have the strength to interfere in other regions."

"Additionally, even though our Southern Border has no venerable, we have the Southern Alliance and the Alliance Leader Wu Yong. During the fate war, Lord Wu Yong led our Southern Border righteous path and did not disappoint us even once! Why can't we hold expectations towards him and ourselves for now?"

After saying these words, Luo Fei sat down.

Many Luo clan Gu Immortals also nodded slightly, agreeing with her words.

Luo clan thought positively about Wu clan.

Because back then, Luo clan suffered a loss when exploring Qi Jue grotto-heaven, they were pursued and had to seek help from Wu clan to preserve their strength.

After some time, Luo Zu announced the end of the meeting, only Luo Ran stayed behind to talk to him secretly.

"Sorry you had to do this." Luo Zu said apologetically.

Luo Ran shook his head: "Joining Heavenly Court was my true intention to begin with. I was just probing them today, but it seems that Luo clan does not want to give up yet, they think that it is too cowardly. On the other hand, that information path Immortal Gu was only the idea of Immortal Crane Sect, even if our Luo clan wants to join Central Continent, we need to contact at least Heavenly Court, right?"

Luo Zu sighed: "Our Luo clan has always been an upright and righteous force, I am too useless to lead everyone, I am worried about Luo clan's safety. But you are right, now is not the time yet, we need to continue contacting Immortal Crane Sect in secret."

Central Continent, Immortal Crane Sect.

Verdant green trees grew as clear winds blew.

In a pavilion near the middle of the mountain, a young Gu Immortal was blowing his flute.

As the sound of the flute spread, an immortal crane fluttered in the sky.

The young looking Gu Immortal wore a clean white robe, his eyebrows were green and long, extending to his waist. It was the enslavement path immortal He Feng Yang, he was known as the Winged Crane Flying Immortal.

"I succeeded in passing my tribulation and became rank seven. But to think that the moment I came out of seclusion, I heard the shocking story of the reign of three venerables."

"Not only did Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable revive, there is even a new Heaven Refining Demon Venerable!"

"Gu Yue Fang Yuan..."

He Feng Yang felt complex emotions.

Back then, he was the one who asked Lord Sky Crane to head to Southern Border's Gu Yue village, he also dealt with Fang Yuan when trying to get Hu Immortal blessed land.

"If I made up my mind back then and took action personally, could I have killed Fang Yuan?"

This thought emerged in He Feng Yang's mind constantly.

But soon, He Feng Yang shook his head. The chances were that he would fail. Because behind Fang Yuan, there was the contest of heaven's will and the other venerables. Also, even if he could have killed Fang Yuan, what was the point of saying it now?

Fang Yuan was already a Demon Venerable.

While He Feng Yang had just gotten past rank six and advanced to rank seven.

He Feng Yang felt dejected internally, but he also had other emotions like envy.

He worked so hard for so many years, but he watched as a mortal like Fang Yuan rose rapidly in strength, eventually becoming a venerable! Fang Yuan had far surpassed him, he could not even see his shadow.

But through this flute music, He Feng Yang slowly calmed down.

"Everyone has their own opportunities."

"Fang Yuan was able to reach this stage, other than fortuitous encounters, he also had wisdom and courage to fight, he saw through many chaotic situations and had often gotten into dangerous situations."

"But I am not without hope. During peaceful times, spending resources on enslavement path is wasteful for the sect. But with the arrival of the five regions chaotic war, as an enslavement path cultivator, the sect will think highly of me, they will give me more attention and resources."

"Furthermore, I acted of my own accord and secretly sent Luo clan an information path Immortal Gu in the name of Immortal Crane Sect to try to recruit them. Since Luo clan's first supreme elder has not destroyed the information path Immortal Gu yet, this shows a clear attitude."

"If this succeeds, it will be a huge accomplishment, I will get a lot of sect contribution points. By then, I can exchange for an immortal pill from Heavenly Court so that Little Nine can become an ancient desolate beast!"

He Feng Yang looked at the nine palace crane in front of him and smiled.

This nine palace crane was a desolate beast with a close relationship with He Feng Yang. Back then, it was hit by a time path Immortal Gu and regressed in age, becoming younger and younger until it became a baby. He Feng Yang tried his best to save it, paying a huge price for it to recover fully.

Eastern Sea.

Five colored smoke rumbled as it contracted, eventually going back into Fang Yuan's sovereign immortal aperture.

Fang Yuan sat cross-legged on the nameless island, he saw a wide area before him without any smoke left.

Next, a large group of Gu Immortals came towards him. When they were a thousand steps away, they landed on the surface of the sea and kowtowed towards him, showing their subservience.

These were Eastern Sea's righteous path Gu Immortals, the various first supreme elders of the respective clans were among them.

Of course, they were led by the pseudo venerables, Shen Shang and Lu Wei Yin.

Fang Yuan was stunned for a split second before understanding the situation, he laughed: "A wise man submits to circumstances, everyone, please get up. From today onwards, I will treat you equally like my other subordinates."

The immortals showed expressions of gratitude as they said together: "We pay respects to Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, we are willing to give our lives to Lord Demon Venerable!"

But Fang Yuan shook his head slowly: "At this point, I should make a declaration to the world."

He connected to treasure yellow heaven and started to make his declaration.

"What, Heaven Refining Demon Venerable? I do not accept this title!"

Shen Shang and the rest were stunned.

"I am not in the demonic path, I am a righteous path member. All my past actions have been to seek blessings for all living beings in the world. I disregarded my own life and experienced countless crises to destroy fate, I granted freedom to everyone in the world! However, corrupt forces like Heavenly Court still try to suppress and slander me even now, they are trying to obstruct me!"

"I was best friends with Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable. In the battle of Crazed Demon Cave, he entrusted me with his wishes before dying, after becoming venerable, I will emulate Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, I will work for the harmony of the five regions!"

"Everyone, do not believe in rumors, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was not killed by me, Star Constellation and Giant Sun cooperated to end his life."

Fang Yuan spoke in a righteous tone.

Shen Shang and Lu Wei Yin stared at him blankly.

The other Eastern Sea righteous path leaders were also listening like this was a dream.

Fang Yuan suddenly raised his volume, he said in an energetic tone: "Everyone, I want you to remember, I, Gu Yue Fang Yuan, am Great Love Immortal Venerable! From today onwards, I will create my Heaven and Earth Great Love Alliance, I will bring benefits to the world and peace to the five regions!!"

News soon spread rapidly in treasure yellow heaven, every Gu Immortal in the world heard of it.

Be they Heavenly Lord Bai Zu and Chu Du who were currently grilling food, or the three higher-ups of Fang clan who were discussing secretly, or Luo clan's immortals, or He Feng Yang, they all received this shocking news.

But Fang Yuan did not stop, he continued to speak.

He placed a list in treasure yellow heaven that contained a vast number of Gu worm names. If any Gu Master or Gu Immortal paid the appropriate price, he would refine Gu for them. For mortal Gu, he did not restrict quantity, while in regards to Immortal Gu, he could even refine rank eight Immortal Gu for them!

The five regions went into an uproar.

"This is my promise as Gu Yue Fang Yuan, a refinement path venerable!"

"Gu worms are the core of our cultivation, they are our foundation. But all along, they have been too rare and hard to refine, especially Immortal Gu."

"Because of this, the first thing that I will do to benefit the world is to refine Immortal Gu for everyone. Regardless of our past grudges or enmity, be it friend or foe, I will not mind it, I will refine Gu for everyone equally. This will prove the great love in my heart!"

"I know what you are worried about. But in fact, I have already made many transactions with various forces and Gu Immortals, I refined many Immortal Gu for them."

"For example, I've transacted many times with Western Desert's Fang clan, this is all evidence!"

In Western Desert, Fang Gong, Fang Di Chang, and Fang Hua Sheng stared with wide eyes.

Fang Di Chang, who had earlier emphasized that they should 'keep a low-profile and not cause public outrage' turned pale immediately.

"Or for example, Southern Border's Wu clan. I have refined more than one rank eight Immortal Gu for Wu Yong, the evidence is here!"

Wu Yong:"..."

Luo clan's members: "..."

Luo Fei held her head and felt like her heart had broken: "Why? Lord Wu Yong, you actually cooperated with Fang Yuan secretly... why?!"

"Or for example, Northern Plains' Bai Zu tribe, I have many possible areas of cooperation with Heavenly Lord Bai Zu, we have been in close contact." Fang Yuan continued to announce.

Heavenly Lord Bai Zu was like a stone statue, the skewer in his hand that he was roasting went up in flames.

Chu Du looked at him, seemingly saying: Brother, what is wrong with you? Since you have been in contact with Fang Yuan all along, why did you want to use my connection with him?

Fang Yuan continued to say: "Not just Northern Plains, Central Continent is involved too. For example, Immortal Crane Sect's He Feng Yang, I have been in contact with him since my younger days, we have truly become acquainted as a result of past conflicts."

"Slander, this is pure slander!!" He Feng Yang smashed the jade flute in his hand, he shivered intensely.

Finally, Fang Yuan said: "Whether you believe me or not, that is up to you. Risks exist all the time, but what if this is true? Why don't you try first?"

"Everyone, please give me some of your trust!"

"Since long ago, countless people have misunderstood me. Thus, allow me to prove now to the people over the world that I am truly Great Love Immortal Venerable!!"

After Fang Yuan's declaration.

Winds blew on the surface of the sea.

The kneeling Eastern Sea Gu Immortals raised their heads and looked towards Fang Yuan in a daze.

Looking at them, Fang Yuan showed a kind and sincere smile: "Everyone, please get up. You have already joined my Heaven and Earth Great Love Alliance, you will receive greater preferential treatment as the first batch."

"I guarantee you that."

-x-X-x-

Li Xiao Bai followed several information path Gu Immortals, they carefully waited in ambush.

"Xiao Bai, black and white heaven are fusing together now, the commotion is huge and the environment is dangerous. Later, when the hound groups fly over, you should focus on watching rather than taking action, do you understand?" A rank seven information path Gu Immortal instructed.

Li Xiao Bai quickly nodded: "Yes, I will listen to the seniors."

He was acting obediently, without the arrogance of a great scholar, all the information path Gu Immortals here had a good impression of him.

Li Xiao Bai had become a rank six long ago, he was an information path Gu Immortal. Because of his talent, he was also the most favored Gu Immortal junior in Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

These information path Gu Immortals came from Profound Literature grotto-heaven, they were at least second-grade officials in the grotto-heaven's Imperial Court.

Profound Literature grotto-heaven had a special system, Gu Immortals entered the Imperial Court and most of them held important positions and roles. After Li Xiao Bai became a Gu Immortal, he also started to work for the Imperial Court.

The only exception was Old Immortal Hua Yu.

He had rank eight cultivation level and stayed in the background, controlling the entire situation.

"They're here." After a while, the Gu Immortal in charge of investigation spoke.

The immortals quickly displayed several killer moves, they concealed themselves even more deeply.

Soon, Li Xiao Bai saw a group of remnant heavenly dogs running towards them while stepping on air.

These were all space path ancient desolate beasts, they ate space path Gu worms as food.

"A total of three hundred and sixty-eight remnant heavenly dogs, and four heaven swallowing hounds." Li Xiao Bai cultivated information path, he was most skilled at collecting information, after taking a glance at them, he noticed the size of this hound group.

Remnant heavenly dogs were ancient desolate beasts, after they grew to an extent, they would become heaven swallowing hounds.

Heaven swallowing hounds were immemorial desolate beasts that ate nine heavens fragments, grotto-heaven, and blessed lands as food. They had always been a huge threat to the two heavens' grotto-heavens.

As the dog group continued to approach, Profound Literature grotto-heaven's Gu Immortals started to work together, they secretly used a killer move.

This killer move had no commotion or sound, it spread out rapidly.

Initially, the dog group had no change, but after more than ten breaths of time, three heaven swallowing hounds stopped and bared their fangs, looking in the same direction with expressions of vigilance.

The final heaven swallowing hound also slowed down.

The four heaven swallowing hounds barked at the same place for a while, afterwards, three of the heaven swallowing hounds brought most of the remnant heavenly dogs to move on another route, towards a different direction.

The final heaven swallowing hound brought more than twenty remnant heavenly dogs as they continued on their original path.

The Gu Immortals of Profound Literature grotto-heaven had been hiding all along, after the dog group left their field of vision, they showed themselves and sighed in relief.

"Alright, it has been settled."

"Most of the hounds have been misled by us, they think that direction has sumptuous food, but there are soul beasts there instead."

"Haha, we have also used information path methods on those soul beasts, once the dog group goes there, they will think that the soul beasts are hiding an immortal aperture. They will kill each other without us taking action."

"The remaining heaven swallowing hound was not tricked by us, it likely has the protection of an Immortal Gu. But with this number that we lured over, Lord Hua Yu has enough to work with."

"Xiao Bai, did you see clearly? When your cultivation level rises to rank seven in the future, you need to complete such missions often as well. Our Profound Literature grotto-heaven cannot move and is placed in one spot in the sky, but we need to resolve lots of problems before they even occur."

Li Xiao Bai immediately answered: "I will work harder!"

These Gu Immortals immediately moved along the direction that the heaven swallowing hound went earlier.

This heaven swallowing hound brought a few remnant heavenly dogs with it, getting ambushed midway by the battlefield killer move that Old Immortal Hua Yu set up in advance.

After a large battle, the heaven swallowing hound died. There was a wild Immortal Gu after all, but it was destroyed in the battle.

There were some remaining remnant heavenly dogs that managed to survive, they escaped along the cracks of the battlefield killer move.

They were space path beasts after all, running away was their expertise.

But afterwards, they met with Li Xiao Bai's group.

After a few rounds of killer moves, these remnant heavenly dogs became minced corpses. Li Xiao Bai also took action, he used some immortal essence but did not play a big role.

However, he showed an expression of excitement and lingering enthusiasm, the other information path Gu Immortals looked at him and had a deeper impression of him being a cute young junior.

Old Immortal Hua Yu collected and stored the battlefield killer move as the immortals quickly greeted him.

Old Immortal Hua Yu nodded and looked at everyone, when he saw Li Xiao Bai, he smiled at the latter.

He liked this young junior a lot and appreciated his talent.

In his heart, Li Xiao Bai had a good upbringing and was the most talented Gu Immortal in the last hundred years of Profound Literature grotto-heaven's history, he was the future of the grotto-heaven.

"Sigh! To think that Qi Sea Ancestor is actually a clone of Heaven Refining Demon Venerable!"

"Fang Yuan is scheming and crafty, I was deceived by him completely. If not for Heavenly Court and Longevity Heaven exposing the truth, I would continue to be used by him."

"What Great Love Immortal Venerable, such words can only deceive idiots."

"Sigh, I cannot trust any outsider. Only these Gu Immortals in front of me are trustworthy."

Qi Sea Ancestor had once personally helped Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

Thus, Old Immortal Hua Yu respected Qi Sea Ancestor greatly. After joining the Righteous Qi Alliance, he had been following Qi Sea Ancestor's leadership enthusiastically.

But now that Qi Sea Ancestor's identity was exposed, all of that respect towards him turned into rage and humiliation!

Old Immortal Hua Yu had surging emotions, but he kept calm on the surface and controlled the situation. While ordering the Gu Immortals to clean up the battlefield of all traces, he also sent them to search the area.

They were all information path Gu Immortals, they soon cleared the battlefield of all noticeable traces or clues.

Other than that, the investigative Gu Immortals also brought back some information —

"The heavenly wind qi wall of the immemorial two heavens has mostly dissipated, the fusion of the two heavens will get more severe as time passes. Not only are the two heavens' beasts fighting more frequently, the dao marks of the two heavens are also undergoing huge changes. Some are conflicting with each other while others are fusing together and creating greater effects, they cannot be separated."

In fact, the heavenly wind qi wall had started dissipating long ago. Now that the five regional walls were gone and qi tides swept the world, the two heavens' fusion also reached the most intense moment.

This resulted in the intense commotion.

All the grotto-heavens that were in the two heavens were facing problems continuously throughout the period.

Earlier, the dog group was a huge threat to Profound Literature grotto-heaven so it was dealt with in advance.

But what worried Old Immortal Hua Yu and the other information path Gu Immortals was not just the trouble ahead of them, but also the bigger situation of the five regions and two heavens.

After Fang Yuan returned, he publicly announced himself as Great Love Immortal Venerable and set up his Heaven and Earth Great Love Alliance.

Immediately, the two pseudo venerables, Lu Wei Yin and Shen Shang, brought the various super clans of Eastern Sea's righteous path and submitted to Fang Yuan.

Thus, the Righteous Qi Alliance and the variant human alliance jointly entered the Heaven and Earth Great Love Alliance.

Old Immortal Hua Yu and the others ended up in an awkward position.

Speaking of which, they were members of the Righteous Qi Alliance, as were Granny Skeleton and others. But all along, because their foundation was in the two heavens, they were vaguely ostracized by Eastern Sea's super forces.

But that was nothing originally.

Old Immortal Hua Yu, Granny Skeleton, and the rest only needed to continue getting Qi Sea Ancestor's support.

But now, with the exposure of Qi Sea Ancestor's identity as their greatest enemy, Fang Yuan's clone, they had all along been trying to gain Fang Yuan's favor!

Old Immortal Hua Yu and Granny Skeleton could not help but feel stunned.

Concurrently, the changes in the two heavens made them busy and tired as well.

Right at this time, Fang Yuan announced himself as Great Love Immortal Venerable and made a declaration that shook the world, the five regions' Gu Immortal world went into an uproar.

Ever since Gu Yue Fang Yuan started cultivating, he had been ruthless and slaughtered countless innocents, he was clearly a demonic path member, how could he change his identity so easily with just some words?

If changing one's faction was so easy to achieve, what was the point of the righteous path?

Old Immortal Hua Yu scoffed in his heart but he was clear of the truth.

Fang Yuan's declaration was a joke. But with his strength as a Demon Venerable, who would dare to laugh?

Look at those Eastern Sea righteous path forces who submitted at the first second!

Even if Longevity Heaven and Heavenly Court made fun of his words, what could they do to Fang Yuan?

"I cannot drag this on anymore."

"Fang Yuan has already taken in Eastern Sea's righteous path, our two heavens' forces cannot watch anymore."

"But should we join Fang Yuan, Heavenly Court, or Longevity Heaven?"

Profound Literature grotto-heaven was not in the heaven of Central Continent or Northern Plains, this was the reason why Old Immortal Hua Yu joined the Righteous Qi Alliance earlier.

Now, joining Fang Yuan was the most convenient outcome.

Yet, they would not be able to preserve Profound Literature grotto-heaven.

Why?

Everyone knew that Fang Yuan had the sovereign immortal aperture, the two heavens' grotto-heavens were his targets to annex.

Since they could not keep their homeland anyway, what was the point of joining Fang Yuan?

And honestly speaking, Old Immortal Hua Yu really hated demons like Fang Yuan.

Old Immortal Hua Yu started to think more broadly, there were many options in front of him.

But which choice should he pick? It was a tough question!

Longevity Heaven.

At the most central area, there was Calamity Luck Altar.

The four directions of Calamity Luck Altar had the Four Desolations.

And around the Four Desolations, there were eight areas for the Eight Extremities.

Above the Four Desolations was golden light that radiated and enveloped the place. Above the Eight Extremities was a spreading aura of green light.

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had already returned to Longevity Heaven for some time already.

Whoosh.

A soft sound echoed.

The final few star path dao marks on Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's body went ablaze, they vanished completely.

"My injuries are finally healed." Giant Sun Immortal Venerable let out a breath of air: "Next, I need to refine the luck path dao marks of the five regions and two heavens to regain my strength as a Dao Lord!"

In the battle in Crazed Demon Cave, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable did not use genuine venerable level strength in combat.

Because they were in the void, there were no natural dao marks for them to refine.

If there were, every action of a venerable would be amplified and strengthened by the natural dao marks, they would become very terrifying.

This was like how Spectral Soul Demon Venerable had the amplification of countless soul path dao marks in the Door of Life and Death.

But strictly speaking, Spectral Soul Demon Venerable was not considered a true Dao Lord, because he did not have his sanity.

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had already refined all of the luck path dao marks in the world back in his time. But after his death, these dao marks went back to the control of the Heavenly Dao.

Thus, he had to refine them again before he could use them.

-x-X-x-

Longevity Heaven's luck path dao marks were originally from Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's immortal aperture, because it did not devour any nine heavens fragment, heaven's will had not taken over it.

As long as he fought in Longevity Heaven, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's strength would be even greater than Spectral Soul Demon Venerable in Crazed Demon Cave!

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's own luck path dao marks could not match Spectral Soul Demon Venerable in number. But with the colossal number of dao marks in Longevity Heaven, he surpassed Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's main body.

And most importantly, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was sane and clear-minded!

"It is a pity that I cannot fuse this original immortal aperture into my current body." Giant Sun Immortal Venerable did not lack methods to move an immortal aperture.

Once he fused with Longevity Heaven, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's strength would surge immensely. His luck path dao marks would greatly surpass and suppress Fang Yuan. By then, he could travel the five regions and two heavens without any worries!

After all, Longevity Heaven was Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's peak cultivation creation, it was Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's foundation after passing three chaotic disasters.

Meanwhile, Fang Yuan had only passed one Heavenly Dao blockade, he had survived the chaos tribulation in Crazed Demon Cave, it could only be considered a small chaotic disaster.

But right now, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had a reason why he could not absorb Longevity Heaven.

Because he cultivated blood path now.

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable wanted to use blood path as his main path and luck path as his specialty, his plan was to cultivate both paths.

Since he had planned this for so long already, he naturally had a superb blood-luck dual cultivation method. But he did not have the sovereign immortal body, no matter what he did, conflicts of dao marks still existed.

Right now, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had only started cultivating blood path officially for a short time, he had many luck path dao marks but few blood path dao marks, this difference was already the limit. If he fused with Longevity Heaven now, he would gain a surge of luck path dao marks that would suppress blood path entirely, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's dual cultivation plan would fail.

"Although I cannot regain Longevity Heaven now, in terms of refining natural dao marks, I have the biggest advantage, that is my immortal essence!"

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had the largest immortal essence storage of the three venerables! Currently, he had a thousand yellow apricot immortal essence beads.

Most of it was left behind in Longevity Heaven during his first life.

He had an even larger quantity stored back then, but there was continuous expenditure as time passed, because Longevity Heaven could not produce any more immortal essence after Giant Sun's demise, eventually, only less than ten percent of his immortal essence was left.

"But this quantity is definitely the highest among everyone!" Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was confident about this.

Because he knew that Heaven Refining Demon Venerable Fang Yuan had just advanced, his rank nine immortal essence storage was zero. As for rank eight immortal essence, he definitely had some but it was a small quantity as well.

It was obvious.

Ever since Fang Yuan's rebirth, his cultivation level had risen rapidly, he had almost participated in all the major fights. He also refined so many Immortal Gu and made various Immortal Gu Houses, with such an investment, how could he have a lot of immortal essence left?

And the thing that made Giant Sun Immortal Venerable most glad was that Fang Yuan got hit by his luck path killer move in Crazed Demon Cave — Fortune and Disaster Coexists.

Even though Fang Yuan made use of this killer move to end up deceiving him, it was undeniable that the sovereign immortal aperture suffered huge losses in the end. Together with the small chaotic disaster, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable estimated that the sovereign immortal aperture was definitely in a pitiful state right now!

This was Fang Yuan's situation, but Star Constellation Immortal Venerable also could not have more immortal essence than Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

The reason?

The reason was quite simple.

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's era was too long ago. Even if she left behind a large quantity of immortal essence, Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals would have expended them over the years.

In fact, three Demon Venerables, Limitless Demon Venerable, Reckless Savage Demon Venerable, and Red Lotus Demon Venerable, invaded Heavenly Court after Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's era.

When Heavenly Court resisted the three Demon Venerables, could they have avoided the use of venerable methods which expended the immortal essence left by the venerable?

"Regrettably, the two heavens are fusing and the heaven path dao marks are gathering with the change of environment, I had no choice but to retrieve Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace. Otherwise, my advantage would be even greater."

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had no choice but to move Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace back.

WIth Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace in immemorial black heaven, it could continue to arrange luck path dao marks and participate in the operations of heaven and earth, as well as the luck of living beings. It could allow the black heaven above Northern Plains to become Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's territory that he could manipulate.

Back then, in the Reverse Flow River battle, Heavenly Court organized a group to head to Northern Plains, but they suffered a loss in immemorial black heaven. It was mostly the effect of Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace.

Now, with the fusion of the two immemorial heavens, the luck path dao marks that Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace arranged in the past were affected by the change, they became chaotic and broken. If he forcefully protected these luck path dao marks and resisted the changes of the Heavenly Dao, the whole of Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace would be affected and face destruction.

These days, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had been healing himself while observing the situation, he had a rather clear understanding of it now.

In the five regions and two heavens, no matter how the environment changed, the battle between the venerables was the only thing that mattered.

For Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, be it Star Constellation Immortal Venerable or Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, they were both unprecedented enemies. In the short term, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable could not find a way to exterminate these two enemies, he could only try to weaken them while maintaining his advantage.

The abundance of immortal essence was Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's advantage.

"If I use this advantage well, I will be able to refine the luck path dao marks of the world first. On this basis, if I fight against either of the two venerables, I will be able to gain the upper hand!"

"Once I gain the upper hand, I will have to heavily cripple Heavenly Court or Fang Yuan. If I can't do that, a lot of trouble will ensue."

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable felt a sense of urgency internally.

If he missed the opportunity of using this early period of advantage, as time passed, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable would plot and scheme deeper as a wisdom path expert, she would get harder to deal with.

There was another point, they had to guard against Star Constellation Immortal Venerable secretly reviving the other Immortal Venerables of Heavenly Court!

This was the same for Fang Yuan too.

Right now, his immortal essence storage was at its lowest, once it started to rise, with his refinement path ability, he would refine Immortal Gu on a large scale, his strength would rise greatly, far beyond now.

"Refinement path venerable..." Thinking of Fang Yuan's declaration as Great Love earlier, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable could not help but frown slightly.

He could already predict that Fang Yuan's strength would cause a huge impact on the Gu Immortal world.

This strength was so colossal and unprecedented that even Giant Sun Immortal Venerable could not tell what the future would become because of Fang Yuan's actions.

After all, there had never been a refinement path venerable in history.

Refinement path was different from the other paths.

Gu cultivation had three major aspects, nurture, use, and refinement. Refinement path was one of these three aspects, this was a special trait that no other path had!

Heavenly Court.

"Cough, cough, cough." In a tightly shut secret room, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable coughed out several mouthfuls of blood.

The injuries from the battle in Crazed Demon Cave had not recovered yet.

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable cultivated wisdom path and star path, she was not as skilled as Giant Sun Immortal Venerable in terms of healing, who cultivated blood path.

Gu Immortal injuries were usually very troublesome.

Venerables were no exception to this.

Heavenly Court did not lack outstanding healing methods, but for the case of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, very few were suitable.

Because she had too many wisdom path and star path dao marks, healing methods of all other paths were barely usable. Human path was an exception but in the whole of Heavenly Court, there were no human path pseudo venerable experts. This was the lowest requirement to heal a venerable's injuries.

Thus, other than healing herself, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had no other methods.

"I still have six hundred and seventy-one yellow apricot immortal essence beads." Star Constellation Immortal Venerable frowned: "I did not have many to begin with, some were consumed during the battle in Crazed Demon Cave as well. I still have injuries on me, if I continue healing myself, yellow apricot immortal essence beads would be rapidly expended again. After that, I still need to refine Heavenly Court's dao marks and the natural wisdom path dao marks of the world..."

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable calculated precisely.

She had sufficient immortal essence for now, but wisdom path experts calculated ten steps in advance, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable was definitely deducing more than that.

The immortal essence storage was not enough for her to refine the wisdom path dao marks of the outside world.

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's situation was different from Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.

There were a large number of wisdom path dao marks in Heavenly Court, but they did not belong to Star Constellation Immortal Venerable.

Because Heavenly Court had annexed nine heavens fragments, even though Star Constellation Immortal Venerable contributed her own immortal aperture to this place, her original dao marks had all been assimilated and taken over by heaven's will.

Of course, during the process of refining dao marks in the outside world, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's current immortal aperture would still produce rank nine immortal essence continuously.

But Star Constellation Immortal Venerable felt that this was an extremely dangerous situation! Giant Sun Immortal Venerable or Heaven Refining Demon Venerable might attack at any time!

Thus, the more immortal essence she had in her storage, the better.

"Giant Sun Immortal Venerable must have more immortal essence than me. As for Heaven Refining Demon Venerable, he is the weakest among us in this aspect."

"But he cannot be underestimated! This man is... very special."

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable thought of this as she revealed a complex expression.

Fang Yuan's earlier declaration of being Great Love Immortal Venerable shook the entire world.

Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was wary of Fang Yuan's refinement path ability, while Star Constellation Immortal Venerable focused on his nature.

In the history of the ten venerables, Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable was noble and grand, Limitless Demon Venerable was a crazed Dao pursuer, Spectral Soul Demon Venerable enjoyed slaughter, Reckless Savage Demon Venerable was wild, Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable was indifferent, while Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was obsessed...

But no matter what, each of these venerables had their own pride and arrogance in some way.

But Heaven Refining Demon Venerable Fang Yuan?

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable squinted her eyes, she had never seen a venerable with such a nature. He simply did not know the limit of what the word 'shameless' was, he did not care about his 'face', he distorted truth and lies, even lying with a calm expression and deceiving with a righteous tone.

What Great Love Immortal Venerable?!

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable was certain that this title was part of Fang Yuan's current plan, it was a method to achieve his current goals. If it was said that anyone in the world could go from demonic to righteous, Fang Yuan was the least likely one among them all.

If he felt the need to make a move, he would do it regardless of how many innocent lives would be sacrificed.

By then, the declaration of Great Love Immortal Venerable and all related promises would be completely forgotten by him like a baseless fart.

But if he felt that going back to the righteous path had benefits to be gained, he would make another similar declaration with no shame in his heart.

Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had finally understood Fang Yuan clearly now.

"If I have to say that this person has a principle, then his principle is to have no bottom line."

"And if I say this person has a bottom line, then his bottom line is to have no principle!"

This was simply a thoroughly shameless person.

When Star Constellation Immortal Venerable felt a headache regarding him, this shameless fellow had already become venerable.

And the thing that made it hard for Star Constellation Immortal Venerable was that this shameless venerable had an incredibly deep understanding of the human heart, to the extent where he could predict their every thought.

His actions were bound to create a huge wave in the Gu Immortal world before gathering countless people to his side!

The temptation of Immortal Gu was too great!

Even if they could not trust him now, some risk-taking Gu Immortals would still try their luck.

Once Fang Yuan displayed sufficient sincerity, the entire five regions' Gu Immortal world would fall into his palm.

"Even Heavenly Court will not be spared from this..." Star Constellation Immortal Venerable smiled bitterly.