26 Three Major Difficulties, Each One a Challenge – Preparations Before the Disaster Are Grueling

The First Major Difficulty: The Impending Earthly Disaster

The first major challenge ahead is the upcoming Earthly Disaster.

The world exists in balance—where there is yin, there is yang; where there is water, there is fire; where there is fortune, there is calamity. Every Blessed Land undergoes an Earthly Disaster every ten years and a Heavenly Tribulation every hundred years.

For the Night Soul Blessed Land, the next Earthly Disaster is just half a month away.

Earthly Disasters come in many forms, unpredictable and ever-changing. Some are grand and awe-inspiring, while others are eerie and terrifying. Even Gu Immortals can only do their best to prepare and adapt on the spot, relying on luck as much as skill. Qi Tian, only at the fourth rank, may be strong in the mortal world, but he is powerless against an Earthly Disaster.

The Second Major Difficulty: The Remnants of the Last Earthly Disaster

The second challenge is a lingering threat from the previous Earthly Disaster—a humanoid soul beast known as the Dark Phantom Wraith.

This soul beast, a calamity of its own, carries both soul path and darkness path Dao marks, making it an extremely formidable entity, powerful enough to rival a sixth-rank Gu Immortal!

Even worse, it is relentlessly bloodthirsty, existing only to exterminate all life in the Blessed Land. The once-thriving beast populations have been completely wiped out, leaving behind only plants and scattered wild Gu.

This means that when the next Earthly Disaster arrives, Qi Tian will have no beast herds to help mitigate the damage.

The Night Immortal and the Qi clan perished at the hands of the Dark Phantom Wraith.

Despite being a sixth-rank soul path Gu Immortal and possessing the Qi clan's inheritance, the Night Immortal had not yet fully converted her inheritance into battle strength. Moreover, her inheritance was not suited for offense or defense.

Underestimating the Dark Phantom Wraith's ability to conceal itself, she was ambushed and slain.

After killing the Night Immortal, the wraith went on a rampage through the Blessed Land. Only when the Earth Spirit formed did it cease its slaughter—not because it feared the Earth Spirit, but because the Earth Spirit has no soul.

An Earth Spirit is an amalgamation of obsession and the world's great power, an ethereal existence that lacks a true body or soul.

Since the Dark Phantom Wraith is a soul path disaster, its attacks are ineffective against the Earth Spirit. Likewise, the Earth Spirit cannot harm the wraith. Thus, the two exist in an uneasy balance.

However, the other living beings in the Blessed Land were not so lucky—slaughtered to the last. Even though the Earth Spirit guards the land, it cannot protect all creatures at all times, and the Dark Phantom Wraith is an expert in stealth and ambush.

The Third Major Difficulty: Managing the Blessed Land

The third issue is the Blessed Land's management.

Without Connecting Heaven Gu or Divine Thought Gu, Qi Tian cannot exchange resources through the Treasure Yellow Heaven. The Blessed Land's internal resources have dwindled due to successive Earthly Disasters, and with the beast herds completely annihilated, there is little room for Qi Tian to act.

Even with his past life's experience in managing a Blessed Land, there is no foundation to apply his knowledge—his hands are tied.

Moreover, now that Qi Tian has entered the Blessed Land, he has become the Dark Phantom Wraith's new assassination target.

Fortunately, the Blessed Land had previously absorbed spatial path Dao marks from a past Earthly Disaster, granting it instantaneous teleportation. After Qi Tian communicated with the Earth Spirit, he was teleported to the central region of the Blessed Land—to a house atop the Black Lotus.

This Black Lotus is no ordinary plant but an ancient wild soul path plant—Nine Nether Ghost Lotus, a sixth-rank existence obtained by the Night Immortal through great fortune.

She created a central lake in the Blessed Land and transplanted the Ghost Lotus there while raising soul beasts in the lake.

As a soul path wild plant, the Nine Nether Ghost Lotus contains vast soul path Dao marks, significantly altering the Blessed Land's environment. Over time, this effect will intensify, turning the entire surrounding area into a soul path Gu breeding ground and a gathering place for soul beasts.

Although it has not been in the Night Soul Blessed Land for long, the central lake has already become the richest area for soul path Gu worms.

Furthermore, due to the mass death of beast herds, wandering souls have gathered, leading to a surge in soul beast numbers.

However, the Nine Nether Ghost Lotus is immobile, limiting its role to defending the central lake, which Qi Tian now refers to as Nine Nether Lake.

As a sixth-rank existence, the Ghost Lotus suppresses spirits and souls, making it a natural counter to the Dark Phantom Wraith.

The wraith has attempted to infiltrate Nine Nether Lake multiple times, only to suffer losses. Its greatest strength lies in stealth and ambush, but in a direct confrontation, it is at a disadvantage.

Even the Night Immortal, despite her strength, fell because she left the Ghost Lotus's protection to deal with an Earthly Disaster, leaving herself vulnerable to the wraith's ambush.

For now, the Ghost Lotus is Qi Tian's greatest safeguard. Over the past year, he has rarely ventured beyond Nine Nether Lake, remaining in his house atop the Ghost Lotus or within the lake itself.

> "As long as I don't leave Nine Nether Lake, I won't have to fear an ambush from the Dark Phantom Wraith. But Earthly Disasters are unpredictable—if this disaster happens to counter the Nine Nether Ghost Lotus, the wraith will seize the opportunity to strike."

Qi Tian frowned deeply.

"What is the Dark Phantom Wraith up to?" he asked, looking at the Night Immortal's Earth Spirit.

"Master, ever since the Blessed Land's beast herds were exterminated, the Dark Phantom Wraith has been relatively quiet. But since your arrival, it has been lurking around Nine Nether Lake. You must be careful when leaving—so long as you remain within the lake, it will not dare approach," the Earth Spirit replied.

Hatred flickered in her eyes. Having perished at the wraith's hands and witnessing the slaughter of all living beings in the Blessed Land, she harbored deep resentment toward it.

With a wave of her hand, an illusionary mist swirled in midair, revealing the landscape surrounding the Soul-Gathering Tree.

Qi Tian saw a dark, shadowy figure—sometimes drifting as an amorphous blur, sometimes coalescing into a humanoid silhouette. It was petite yet eerily graceful, a purely spiritual entity. Despite possessing sixth-rank power, it skillfully restrained its aura, making it difficult to comprehend its true terror.

> "This wraith is just a soul path calamity, ultimately nothing more than a wild soul beast. Its intelligence is far inferior to a Gu Immortal's, making it easier to deal with than a true opponent."

> "Perhaps I can use the Ghost Lotus to destroy it... But how can I lure it in?"

Qi Tian pondered deeply.

Of all his troubles, this wraith was the greatest hurdle, beyond his current capabilities. Even with the Earth Spirit and the Ghost Lotus, it was not something he could easily eliminate.

Eventually, he sighed, shaking his head.

"Have you gathered the Blessed Land's important resources?" he asked.

The Earth Spirit puffed up her chest proudly.

"Master, as per your command, I have gathered the most precious resources near the Soul-Gathering Tree..."

Qi Tian stroked her head approvingly, offering a few words of praise.

Now, his focus shifted back to the Earthly Disaster.

> "If I can survive this disaster, there will still be hope.