Heavenly Court.
In the silvery white sky, countless immortal palaces were erected.
Within the discussion hall, more than ten Gu Immortals had gathered.
Duke Long sat at the highest seat, followed by Fairy Zi Wei and Qin Ding Ling. After them were Bai Cang Shui, Cong Yan, Che Wei, Yuan Qiong Du, Zhou Xiong Xin, and the rest.
Other than that, there were the wills of Gu Liu Ru, Wan Zi Hong, Prince Feng Xian, Xing Ye Wang, Jun Shen Guang, and others. These people had missions to do, they were unable to participate in this Heavenly Court meeting personally.
Once in a while, Heavenly Court's members would gather and hold a meeting to discuss matters and bring up their own opinions, to come to some consensus.
During normal times, Heavenly Court would usually be led by wisdom path Gu Immortals in terms of management. Currently, Duke Long was the psychological pillar holding up the organization while Fairy Zi Wei had control over the administrative affairs. Before her was Heaven Overseeing Tower Lord.
"Yuan Qiong Du, how is the research on second aperture Gu going?" Duke Long asked.
Yuan Qiong Du answered: "With Lady Zi Wei's help, I have already deduced some secrets, we can refine rank one to five second aperture Gu now."
The truth was that Heavenly Court's refinement path foundation was deeper than Lang Ya Sect.
There were three refinement path supreme grandmasters in history, Long Hair Ancestor was just one of them, the other two had practically their entire inheritances collected by Heavenly Court.
Yuan Qiong Du was the current person in charge of refinement path, he had incredible talent and aptitude, he was the one responsible for repairing fate Gu in the previous life.
Along with Fairy Zi Wei's deductions, the combination of these three things made it not so hard for them to deduce the recipe of Fang Yuan's second aperture mortal Gu.
After hearing this, many of the immortals had joyful expressions as they started to converse.
I've heard of this second aperture Gu, it is a good thing."
"That's right, having a second aperture will give Gu Masters a huge boost in battle strength."
"If we can obtain the Immortal Gu recipe, it will also be extremely meaningful to Gu Immortals!"
"From this point, we need to thank Fang Yuan, hahaha."
Fairy Zi Wei spoke in a calm tone as she interrupted: "Is Fang Yuan such a foolish person? He had already expected second aperture Gu to be deduced when he threw it out to Southern Border's righteous path. A second aperture has deep meaning indeed, but if Gu Masters had a second aperture, they would need double the time and effort to cultivate. They would need more resources as well."
"So that's it." The Gu Immortals here were all rank eight elites, Fairy Zi Wei had just said this when they understood the reasoning.
"Fang Yuan is intentionally doing this."
"He gave out second aperture Gu to extort Southern Border's righteous path but also to make plans for the five regions chaotic war."
"That's right, when the regional walls vanish and the five regions fuse, Gu Immortals and Gu Masters will not change in numbers, but this second aperture Gu will spread rapidly. By then, their need for resources will double, what will everyone do? They will need to fight and start conflicts to gather resources."
"This demon is truly vicious and devious, but we have no choice but to take his bait."
They had to.
Heavenly Court had obtained second aperture Gu from Southern Border's righteous path. Southern Border would research second aperture Gu themselves, the other three regions would not ignore it either.
Second aperture Gu was something that would cause a storm in the world if it was circulated.
Like the time Blood Sea Ancestor created blood path, even if the five regions' righteous path outlawed blood path cultivation, there were still many blood path Gu Masters and Gu Immortals.
"We can't deduce the recipe of second aperture Immortal Gu yet?" Duke Long, who had been silent, asked suddenly.
He spoke very little but he often got to the point quickly, this was no exception.
Yuan Qiong Du smiled bitterly and shook his head: "We are still some distance from deducing the Immortal Gu recipe. If I can have the help of a few refinement path experts of my level, I might be able to deduce it more quickly. But currently, I have limited energy and time, I cannot attend to too many matters at once."
Yuan Qiong Du was having a tough time recently.
Earlier, when Fang Yuan annexed Lang Ya Sect, he had to modify the formation to repair fate Gu. That was because the formation referenced Refinement Cauldron, it had to be changed for safety purposes.
Afterwards, Fang Yuan captured Southern Border's righteous path, Yuan Qiong Du was in charge of refining fixed space Gu before the rest.
After that, Fang Yuan defeated Heavenly Court in the River of Time, Heavenly Court's time path Immortal Gu Houses shattered. Yuan Qiong Du had to refine Gu once again, to try to refine these time path Immortal Gu.
Recently, Qin Ding Ling woke up, she handed Fairy Zi Wei a stack of luck path Immortal Gu recipes, Yuan Qiong Du was in charge of refining them.
Refining Gu was a dangerous task to begin with, Fang Yuan had refined many of these Gu before him, Yuan Qiong Du was faced with many failures during this period.
These last days, he had suffered great injuries from refining Gu, if Heavenly Court did not have superb healing methods, he might have died already.
"Next, Yuan Qiong Du has to prepare for the restoration of fate, before we fully repair fate Gu, second aperture Immortal Gu's recipe will not be obtainable." Fairy Zi Wei declared, it was a slight pity.
Duke Long nodded but did not speak anymore.
Qin Ding Ling sighed: "Without the recipe of second aperture Immortal Gu, Southern Border's righteous path will not be able to escape from Fang Yuan's threat and extortion."
"Hmph, these Southern Border immortals are truly the shame of the righteous path, they were extorted to this extent!" Within the hall, Xing Ye Wang grunted in displeasure.
"The truth is, Southern Border's righteous path has done quite a few things. They started to build Beacon Towers, this is an Immortal Gu House that is worth guarding against."
"Southern Border's righteous path is trying to break free from Fang Yuan, only Ba clan and Xia clan desire second aperture Immortal Gu, they are controlled by him. Meanwhile, Wu clan, Chai clan, and others are resisting him fully. They want to cooperate with our Heavenly Court, we have already started to suppress Fang Yuan's businesses in treasure yellow heaven."
"I need to remind everyone that Southern Border's Gu Immortal world has a powerful lurking force that we need to be on guard against, that is the Virtue Paradise. This is the true inheritance that Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable had set up personally, they have many Gu Immortals, the strongest among them being Lu Wei Yin, they also include mushroomman Gu Immortals."
"Even though Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable did not enter Heavenly Court, there was a friendly relationship between us. But what about the attitude of this Virtue Paradise? We need to probe further."
"I have already considered that." Fairy Zi Wei spoke: "After some time, I will personally head to Virtue Paradise and borrow Immortal Gu."
Heavenly Court needed this Immortal Gu indeed, it was also their test towards Virtue Paradise.
If Lu Wei Yin showed a friendly attitude, Heavenly Court would try to rope them in as allies.
After discussing Southern Border's matters, Heavenly Court's immortals went on to talk about Western Desert.
Because of Fang Yuan's schemes, Western Desert's situation changed a lot. After Fang clan gained control of Divine Bean Palace, they 'defeated' Heavenly Court, causing their plan in maintaining internal conflicts within Western Desert to suffer a loss.
"Fang clan does have the ability to rise to power. But this time, there was a crucial person who caused this situation, Fang clan's second supreme elder Fang Di Chang!"
"This person has huge ambitions, he is a formidable character. He has already allied with multiple Western Desert righteous path forces, if not for the fact that we succeeded in sowing discord among them, Fang clan's rise would have been unstoppable."
"Now that Chen Yi is dead, we do not have any proper Genesis Lotus inheritor, how will we retrieve Divine Bean Palace?"
"I suggest that we assassinate Fang Di Chang!"
"Too difficult, this person is very crafty and vigilant. After getting Divine Bean Palace, he has basically stationed himself inside permanently."
"Fang clan's first supreme elder is Fang Gong, what is his attitude towards Fang Di Chang?"
"Fang Gong and Fang Di Chang have a close relationship, they do not have conflict between them, we cannot do anything to them for now."
...
After Heavenly Court's immortals talked for a while, they decided to add reinforcements in Western Desert!
Even though Heavenly Court lost Wei Feng, their main forces were still intact, there were not much losses.
Back then, when Heavenly Court set up their forces there, it was because Fang Yuan had tried to escape using the natural tributary of the River of Time there, in order to stop him, they set up immortal formations at the tributary. After that, they noticed Thousand Transformations Ancestor's weakness and thus sent more people there to deal with him.
Even though Heavenly Court's plan to deal with Thousand Transformations Ancestor and Fang Yuan failed, they were not going to give up despite the setback.
After discussing, they decided in unison that they would send a number of Gu Immortals and Immortal Gu Houses to the River of Time during the crucial moment, by using the tributary of the River of Time to reinforce them rapidly.
Their main target now was not Thousand Transformations Ancestor, it was Fang clan!
Thousand Transformations Ancestor was a lone immortal while Fang clan was a righteous path clan that was gradually gaining influence over Western Desert's righteous path. If they were allowed to develop, Western Desert's righteous path would be an increasing threat against Heavenly Court.
After Fang clan took away Divine Bean Palace, it meant that Fang clan and Heavenly Court could not come to peaceful terms anymore.
Thus, Heavenly Court started preparing to deal with Fang clan, it was a logical move.
After Western Desert was Eastern Sea.
"Eastern Sea's politics are also changing, Qi Sea Ancestor is holding a banquet and inviting Eastern Sea's Gu Immortals, what is he planning to do?"
"Not long ago, Qi Sea Ancestor came to an agreement with Duke Long, he stopped helping Fang Yuan. This person seems to be a neutral party but we cannot relax our guard against him."
"We have already infiltrated this Eastern Sea banquet. If Qi Sea Ancestor makes any move, we will know quickly."
Duke Long spoke again: "Qi Sea Ancestor has extraordinary strength, he is not beneath me. My personal opinion is to actively entice and sway this person to our side. This is so Heavenly Court faces less threat before we manage to repair fate Gu."
Duke Long's words made the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals feel heavy emotions.
Eastern Sea had Qi Sea Ancestor who could rival Duke Long in battle strength, Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals were somewhat unable to accept this fact.
After settling the matter of Eastern Sea, they moved onto Northern Plains.
Heavenly Court paid a lot of attention to any movement from Northern Plains' Longevity Heaven.
Among the four regions, Heavenly Court was most wary in regards to Northern Plains.
Northern Plains' politics had been influenced by Heavenly Court, the cooperation of Old Ancestor Xue Hu and Heavenly Court was a huge success for them.
If Longevity Heaven wanted to unite Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world, Old Ancestor Xue Hu would be the biggest obstacle.
After the matters of Northern Plains, Duke Long mentioned the River of Time.
"Now, we have five time path Immortal Gu Houses, yet we cannot find any trace of the Red Lotus stone islands. Can we do anything about it?"
However, Heavenly Court's immortals did not have any good ideas, these stone lotus islands were made by Red Lotus Demon Venerable after all.
Qin Ding Ling shook her head too: "In the aspect of luck path, we already have the Dao Guardian Feng Jiu Ge guarding it. He has powerful luck, if even he fails, then there is nothing we can do."
Duke Long was silent, he felt a little disappointed.
The repair of fate Gu was Heavenly Court's greatest plan.
In Duke Long's mind, Wu Yong, Longevity Heaven, Fang Yuan, and Dragon Palace were all below Red Lotus Demon Venerable's threat level.
But there was no other way, Heavenly Court had already done its best, the river suppression lotus sealing formation was their greatest achievement. It was a pity that they were still far from finding a Red Lotus stone island.
The discussion hall went silent.
But at this moment, Fairy Zi Wei's eyes suddenly shined, next, Duke Long and Qin Ding Ling also showed surprised expressions.
Eventually, all of the remaining Heavenly Court Gu Immortals became very excited.
"News came so suddenly!"
"A Red Lotus stone island appeared in the River of Time."
"Gu Liu Ru has already confirmed it, this Red Lotus stone island is the real thing without doubt."
"We have finally found one Red Lotus true inheritance!"
"As long as we can get one, we will be able to find our way to the rest of Red Lotus' true inheritances."
Duke Long nodded: "This is a good thing, we need to try to get this true inheritance as soon as possible now. Also... beware of Fang Yuan."
Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals turned solemn.
"Indeed, this commotion cannot be kept from him for long."
"By then, he will definitely show up."
"Set up the river suppression lotus sealing formation quickly, we need more reinforcements, if Fang Yuan comes. we will take his life!"
-x-X-x-
Eastern Sea.
To the east of the flourishing bumpy sea area, to the west of the barbecue islands, there was a unique and large sea area — Qi Sea!
There was no water in qi sea, instead, countless qi currents intertwined and entangled, forming swirls of millions of qi currents.
During the Remote Antiquity Era, Qi Sea had an incredibly high status in the hearts of all Gu Immortals in the world.
Back then, qi path flourished, it was the main Gu cultivation path, all other paths were non-mainstream.
All paths were inferior to the number one qi path.
Qi sea was incredibly big, it was a whole different world inside, countless qi currents moved within it, destroyed and created at every instance. Back then, qi sea was the number one qi path resource point in the five regions.
But time passed quickly, eras changed.
Qi path went on the decline, qi sea started to shrink, right now, qi sea was less than one-ten thousandth of its original size, the qi currents inside had all turned into pure water qi. Only at the most central area, there were still some qi path immortal materials left.
Qi sea had once been the most popular place, it was now the most deserted area.
It contained mostly water qi.
But in the whole of Eastern Sea, which sea area would have any lack of water qi?
It was easy to collect water qi anywhere, why would Gu Immortals go to qi sea on purpose to collect it?
Even if they wanted to get other qi path immortal materials, entering and exploring qi sea carried huge risks. They were better off just buying these immortal materials from treasure yellow heaven.
"By holding this Eastern Sea banquet now, qi sea will become renowned in the five regions again." Fang Yuan's main body sat on a cloud as he looked down at the qi sea sea area.
Looking from above, the qi sea sea area had waves of light blue in color as countless qi currents moved in turbulence, it was a huge contrast to the surrounding sea water that was dark blue in color.
Initially, when Southern Border's rank eight Gu Immortal Qi Xiang created the killer move unlimited qi sea, he had obtained inspiration from this qi sea to a certain degree.
Fang Yuan called himself Qi Sea Ancestor, he had not picked it randomly. He had already made ample considerations before deciding.
For example, which sea area should Qi Sea Ancestor originate from, where in Eastern Sea did he live in seclusion?
Fang Yuan chose qi sea for this.
This place was deserted, barely anyone came here, it was extremely compatible with Qi Sea Ancestor's cultivation of qi path as well.
If he told others, they would believe him as this was very logical.
At the center of qi sea, dragonman clone Wu Shuai transmitted: "The formation has been prepared."
This Eastern Sea banquet had significant meaning to Fang Yuan, he had made many preparations for this.
Fang Yuan not only deployed Wu Shuai for this, he even set a formation at the center of qi sea.
This was naturally a qi path formation. Fang Yuan's time path clone had qi path great grandmaster and formation path grandmaster attainment levels, along with the light of wisdom, he spent a month to deduce this.
At the center of qi sea, countless currents surged, they were turbulent from time to time, the area was very dangerous.
Setting a formation in this place was quite difficult.
But it was not a problem for Fang Yuan, he did not lack formation path attainment and he had ample resources, he was not trying to create a complex formation like the nine-nine consecutive unceasing formation, he was merely going for a usable and realistic effect.
Fang Yuan's main body checked it with his divine sense and confirmed there were no problems, he shut his eyes and meditated.
This Eastern Sea banquet was extremely important to him.
He plotted using the world as his chessboard, he arranged pawns to influence the overall situation, such planning was not easy at all.
In Southern Border, Fang Yuan's influence was small, because Wu Yong was gathering allies with his good political manipulation, there was nothing Fang Yuan could do to stop him.
In Western Desert, even though Fang clan was rising, its influence would only grow with time. Furthermore, be they Heavenly Court or the other Western Desert forces, they would not want this to happen. Fang Di Chang had a lot to do in this situation.
Central Continent had Heavenly Court, it was impenetrable like an iron fortress. The Zombie Alliance that Shadow Sect created had already been uprooted along with the organization Defy by Fairy Zi Wei.
In Northern Plains, Fang Yuan and Chu Du had a close relationship but it could not affect the big picture. Even though Bing Sai Chuan had not awakened, Longevity Heaven was started to take control, Fang Yuan could not do anything there.
Thus, Eastern Sea was an important part of Fang Yuan's plans and arrangements.
Eastern Sea was the most abundant in resources, if he succeeds, when the five regions merge, Fang Yuan would have enough influence to affect the other four regions.
A few minutes later, Fang Yuan opened his eyes as he muttered while looking at the horizon: "They're coming."
An Immortal Gu House was flying in the sky, it looked slow but was moving at a rapid speed.
The Immortal Gu House slowly stopped as a girl with bright eyes walked out, she was wearing a long dress that had exquisite rainbow clouds drawn on it.
"Hua clan first supreme elder Hua Cai Yun greets Qi Sea Ancestor." Hua Cai Yun had rank eight cultivation level but she still acted very politely.
Next, from Hua clan's Immortal Gu House, several Hua clan Gu Immortals walked out and paid respects to Fang Yuan.
"It is not time yet, you have arrived early, please come in." Fang Yuan stretched out his hand as qi currents gathered, forming a cloud.
Hua Cai Yun kept her Immortal Gu House in her immortal aperture as she took a seat, while the other Hua clan Gu Immortals stood behind her.
"I was too excited to meet you for the first time, this is a gift from Hua clan, please do accept it." Hua Cai Yun said as the Gu Immortal behind her took out an item and presented it with both hands.
Fang Yuan took a look, this was a lump of qi that resembled a ball, Hua clan's Gu Immortal was holding it out respectfully.
There was flashing of lightning and rumbling thunder inside this qi lump, there was rainy or sunny weather occasionally inside, there was even snow at times.
Fang Yuan's eyes shined with bright light, he knew what this was.
This was a rare rank nine heaven qi.
Heaven and earth qi were the foundational qi of living beings, they were very common. When Fang Yuan placed his immortal aperture and opened his immortal aperture's entrance, he would absorb heaven and earth qi to stabilize his sovereign immortal aperture. He had many secluded domains of heaven and earth in his immortal aperture, they expended too much heaven and earth qi, the sovereign immortal aperture felt a heavy burden due to them.
Of course, after Fang Yuan annexed Qi Sea grotto-heaven, he gained a huge boost of qi path dao marks, his immortal aperture started to produce a lot of heaven qi and earth qi, Fang Yuan's burden in this aspect had eased a lot.
But the heaven qi that Fang Yuan's sovereign immortal aperture produced or absorbed were ordinary Gu materials, they were not even considered immortal materials.
If heaven qi was an immortal material, it would gather into a lump and could not be pulled apart easily. Its value would rise greatly, ordinary heaven qi could not compare to it.
The usage of immortal material heaven qi was very easy, one just had to scatter it.
Many Gu Immortals used it like that.
They would purchase a lump of immortal material heaven qi from treasure yellow heaven and scatter it inside their immortal aperture, creating different weather conditions like thunder, lightning, wind, or snow.
This type of weather would last for some time, the resource points of Gu Immortals would be altered in some ways as a result.
Most transactions in treasure yellow heaven would involve rank six or seven heaven qi. Rank eight heaven qi was very rare, while rank nine was barely ever seen, it was only sold once in a thousand years or more.
Hua Cai Yun gifted Fang Yuan a portion of rank nine heaven qi, it showed her sincerity as well as Hua clan's immense foundation, after all, Hua clan was most proficient in cloud path, they were experts in exploring black heaven and white heaven.
At the same time, in the River of Time.
Four Immortal Gu Houses flew above the river.
Present and Past Pavilion was not covered on all four sides, it was very simplistic, it traveled while riding the waves.
Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform was elegant and grand, the orange roof resembled cranes with their wings spread out. The Immortal Gu House was radiating three layers of autumn light, it was quite extraordinary.
Shark Flow Lever was white like jade, there were seven huge sharks in front of the lever, they had sharp teeth and were dragging the huge lever ahead.
Moment Stage was rank eight and had a ring of stone stairs around the outside, it spiraled upwards until it reached the red tiled pavilion at the top.
The four Immortal Gu Houses carried Heavenly Court and Central Continent Gu Immortals as they charged towards one destination — Red Lotus' stone island!
Within Present and Past Pavilion, a rank eight Gu Immortal stood as he watched the river water surging outside.
This person wore a red and white robe, standing straight like a spear or sword. His eyebrows were sharp like swords, a mysterious and profound light was hidden in his eyes. He had a calm and elegant aura, he was looking afar now as he continued to focus and comprehend.
It was Feng Jiu Ge!
"During this period in the River of Time, I have observed this long river, I watched the prosperity and downfall of eras, I witnessed the turbulence of the past and present. Destiny is like a wave, it rises at times and falls at times, it is slow at times while fast at times. The profundity contained within cannot be expressed in words, I can only sing it."
Feng Jiu Ge had been comprehending destiny song all along.
Different from the previous life, Feng Jiu Ge's destiny had changed a lot this time around.
He was defeated by Fang Yuan in Lang Ya blessed land, he was transported away by Chen Yi using the killer move karma relocation, he obtained the inspiration of destiny song.
This was way earlier than in the previous life.
After gaining some insight, Feng Jiu Ge came to the River of Time, he grabbed onto this inspiration and started to comprehend it.
The River of Time was a time path secluded domain, but Feng Jiu Ge made use of Present and Past Pavilion to observe the life of people in the past and present, he saw many scenes.
This was a great help towards his comprehension of destiny song.
Right now, his destiny song was sixty percent complete, it was ten percent higher than during the Central Continent fate battle in the previous life.
"My destiny song already depicts the destiny of living beings. But the destiny of venerables cannot be described so simply."
"Last time in Heavenly Court, I looked at Reckless Savage's blood skins and felt like they were incomprehensible. I hope that this journey to the stone lotus island will allow me to gain further growth in creating destiny song."
"We have arrived, it is here."
"Stone lotus island... Red Lotus' true inheritance!"
The four Immortal Gu Houses stopped nearby, Eternal Yacht was already waiting above the stone lotus island.
Eternal Yacht was the first to discover the stone lotus island, the Gu Immortals within it quickly informed Heavenly Court, they sent the other four Immortal Gu Houses to join up with it.
Feng Jiu Ge looked over with an expectant gaze.
Gu Liu Ru who was within Moment Stage had a complex expression.
"We finally found it, the hard work of our Heavenly Court over generations has not been in vain. After countless years, we have finally gained the fruits of our labor." Gu Liu Ru sighed deeply to himself.
He had many difficulties in his life, his lower body was crippled and could not be healed, he had an impassive attitude but at this moment, he was filled with excitement, pride, and satisfaction.
After breathing in deeply, Gu Liu Ru calmed down completely.
He sat on his wheelchair as his eyes flickered with cold light, he ordered: "Set up the river suppression lotus sealing formation now, I will lead Moment Stage while Feng Jiu Ge will lead Present and Past Pavilion. Eternal Yacht will move out to the tributary's entrance and bring in our reinforcements. Shark Flow Lever and Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform will patrol the surroundings, if anything shows up, inform me immediately."
"Yes." The immortals replied as they started to move, executing great efficiency.
-x-X-x-
"The three supplementary formations are ready." A group of Gu Immortals ended their work, they sat down in the Immortal Gu House to rest and recover.
The second group took over, on top of the three supplementary formations, they added a rank eight Immortal Gu — Suppression.
The second group had eight Gu Immortals that were either rank six or seven, they worked together with great coordination, after some work, they finally added in suppression Immortal Gu successfully.
This was the River of Time, a time path secluded domain of heaven and earth, as a rule path Immortal Gu, it was not easy to use suppression Immortal Gu here, the difficulty was high.
But rank eight Immortal Gu Suppression was one of the core Immortal Gu of the river suppression lotus sealing formation, it had to be the first rank eight Immortal Gu arranged here. After it, other steps could be taken.
At this time, the second group went to rest while the first group came back to work.
They were not continuing the setup, they were dismantling the three layers of supplementary formation that was created earlier.
These Gu formations were meant to help Immortal Gu Suppression find the proper area to be put in. After that, they had to be removed and make space for the next few steps of the immortal formation.
"Good, the three layers of supplementary formations have been removed. Next, we will set up the pale fire formation." The third group of Gu Immortals took over.
The first group of Gu Immortals were exhausted, they quickly went to rest.
"After the pale fire formation, we will set up the paper cage formation, let's go." The second group of Gu Immortals took over.
If the river suppression lotus sealing formation was split apart, there were a hundred and thirty-eight sub formations, the pale fire and paper cage formations were just two of them.
"Be careful, something has happened in the River of Time, a huge wave is crashing towards us!" Someone alerted.
At this time, the first group was resting, trying to recover as much as they could, the second and third group were busy setting the formation, the fourth group of Gu Immortals meant to deal with emergencies were activated.
In order to create the formation, Heavenly Court split the Gu Immortals into four groups. The first group had the strongest formation path abilities, they were in charge of the core of the river suppression lotus sealing formation. The second and third groups had similar levels of strength, the fourth group had the least number of people, they had some level of ability in formation building but were meant to deal with emergencies.
The fourth group of immortals quickly acted and destroyed the huge wave.
The second and third groups let out a sigh of relief. While checking that the formation was intact, they started to make preparations for the future steps.
Gu Liu Ru and Feng Jiu Ge were stationed in Moment Stage and Present and Past Pavilion respectively.
Feng Jiu Ge's eyes were steady as he comprehended destiny, Gu Liu Ru had a deep gaze that was filled with alertness.
"We have found the stone lotus island, there is some commotion when we made the formation, Fang Yuan will definitely be alerted."
"He will definitely come here to cause destruction!"
"The river suppression lotus sealing formation has not been completed yet, we are at our weakest now, Fang Yuan will definitely come to attack."
"This is an important matter! I need to make up for my mistakes, I cannot let Fang Yuan succeed!"
While thinking, a silvery light appeared on the horizon.
Gu Liu Ru's heart immediately tensed.
Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and Shark Flow Lever that were patrolling outside changed directions immediately, trying to obstruct the invader.
It was Myriad Year Flying Warship!
"Gu Liu Ru, your Heavenly Court actually tried to take Red Lotus' true inheritance from under my nose, hehe, you are just dreaming." Myriad Year Flying Warship came rapidly as Fang Yuan's voice resounded from within.
Gu Liu Ru snorted coldly, his voice spread in this entire battlefield: "Fang Yuan, you are merely a loser that we defeated, was the painful lesson last time not enough for you?"
He was a time path great expert, he was like a fish in water in the River of Time. Rank eight Gu Immortals of other paths would need a lot more effort to make their voice transmit around the entire battlefield.
"Haha, with me here, don't think of setting any formation." Before Fang Yuan finished his words, Myriad Year Flying Warship already started to shine with bright lights.
These lights converged into countless silver flying swords as they shot out rapidly, towards the incomplete river suppression lotus sealing formation.
Gu Liu Ru's expression was grim, he felt a headache, Heavenly Court's biggest weakness now was this formation.
Fang Yuan ruthlessly attacked the enemy's weakness, Heavenly Court had no choice but to defend it, they were stuck in a passive situation.
Last time, when Fang Yuan attacked the river suppression lotus sealing formation, Heavenly Court could dismantle the formation, but this time, with this Red Lotus stone island, they would preserve it even if they had to pay a huge price to do so.
Boom boom boom!
Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform arrived first, it fought against Myriad Year Flying Warship, there were many impacts that caused the water of the River of Time to splash and splatter.
Shark Flow Lever arrived shortly after.
As the three Immortal Gu Houses fought intensely in the River of Time, in the sky of Eastern Sea's qi sea, the scene was harmonious and joyful.
After Hua Cai Yun, the Gu Immortals of Eastern Sea's super forces, Song clan, Su clan, and Cai clan also arrived.
The one from Song clan was naturally Song Qi Yuan, he came to the banquet with Song Yi Shi.
"This is my granddaughter Song Yi Shi, after hearing of senior's story, she became very excited, she asked me to bring her here and meet you." Song Qi Yuan smiled, he introduced his granddaughter Song Yi Shi.
Song Yi Shi had lost her father long ago, as her grandfather, Song Qi Yuan doted on her, for this Eastern Sea banquet, he brought her here so that she would get to leave an impression on people.
"This junior pays respects to Qi Sea Ancestor." Song Yi Shi said politely.
She had snow-white skin, her eyes were bright, she wore a blue-white dress and had an innocent aura, she was truly one of the six great beauties of Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world.
Similar to Hua Cai Yun, Song Qi Yuan also brought a gift, it was a qi path inheritance that Song clan had collected in its inventory, it originated from a historical qi path rank eight great expert. After Fang Yuan took a look, he saw that it was quite unique and had quite a bit of value.
Fang Yuan smiled as he looked at Song Yi Shi, he displayed the concern of a senior: "Song clan has a good descendant, a good junior. This is our first meeting, I cannot let you leave empty-handed."
Saying so, he took out a rank eight water path immortal material, it floated towards Song Yi Shi.
Song Yi Shi was of great upbringing after all, she received the gift and quickly thanked him.
"Take a seat." Fang Yuan waved his hand as qi currents gathered, forming a seat instantly, it was right below him and towards the left.
Song Qi Yuan saw this position and became very happy, he quickly brought Song Yi Shi to take their seats.
Song Yi Shi placed the rank eight water path immortal material in her immortal aperture, she acted very modestly and gracefully, displaying the demeanor of a young lady in an esteemed clan.
Hua Cai Yun laughed as she spoke: "Song Qi Yuan, this is the first gift that ancestor has handed out. Had I known this, I would've brought my grandson as well."
She was the earliest person, she had already conversed with Fang Yuan for some time, their relationship had gotten much closer in this period.
Song Qi Yuan laughed, he was secretly proud of this, bringing Song Yi Shi here was really a wise decision.
Song Yi Shi was looking at Qi Sea Ancestor for the first time, she was awe-inspired by his aura: "This old senior is truly the number one person in Eastern Sea, a person who rivaled Duke Long. He has the demeanor of a great person, he is so magnanimous and grand."
If she knew that this person was Fang Yuan, who had once acted as Xing Xiang Zi and watched her shower, she would not have such thoughts.
"Qing Yue An pays respects to Qi Sea Ancestor." Qing Yue An was the third Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortal who arrived.
"Junior Qing Yue Zhi Cheng greets Qi Sea Ancestor." A youngster was behind Qing Yue An, he wore a green shirt and had a tall nose and flat face, his eyes were shiny like stars, he was a handsome and talented junior in Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world.
"Good." Fang Yuan sighed and praised, assessing Qing Yue Zhi Cheng: "Another good junior. I have a gift for you as well."
He gave Qing Yue Zhi Cheng a rank eight immortal material as well, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng quickly received it with thanks.
Hua Cai Yun gradually saw a pattern as she thought to herself: "This Qi Sea Ancestor seems to enjoy helping talented juniors, just from this point alone, one can see that he truly has grand disposition."
At this moment, Nan Gong clan's Gu Immortals arrived at the banquet, Hua Cai Yun's expression sank.
This was because Nan Gong clan's first supreme elder brought Hua An along.
Hua An was originally a Hua clan Gu Immortal, but he betrayed Hua clan and joined Nan Gong clan. He had deep wisdom path attainment, he was one of the three wisdom path experts of Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world.
The saying goes: Jia Dan sits in twin polar, Hua An hides in Nan Gong, there is also Dragon Head Tortoise, living inside adversity sea.
Even though Hua Cai Yun was unhappy, she did not say anything. This was Qi Sea Ancestor's banquet, she wanted to get close to the number one Eastern Sea expert now, she had to endure it.
Eastern Sea's righteous path arrived one by one.
The last one who came was the grand elder of the Merman Imperial Court.
Fang Yuan said some words of consolation as he arranged for her to sit at the very end.
After the merman grand elder sat down, she sighed to herself internally: Even though this was her first meeting with Qi Sea Ancestor, this great expert was showing a good attitude towards the merfolk.
Of course.
The mermen were working with the dragonmen, they were Fang Yuan's natural allies.
Fang Yuan would not give her trouble.
Seeing Fang Yuan's treatment of the merman grand elder, Eastern Sea's righteous path Gu Immortals fell into contemplation.
River of Time.
Myriad Year Flying Warship was already at the inner area.
Immortal killer move — Daybreak Sword!
Swords moved out like an army of pythons, traversing the battlefield and attacking Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform.
Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform started to shine with a bright orange light, the strength of the silver flying swords weakened continuously.
At the other end, Shark Flow Lever shot out three frost waves and froze the water of the River of Time under Myriad Year Flying Warship.
Fang Yuan grunted from within Myriad Year Flying Warship, silver flying swords turned around and gathered in the water below the river.
Immortal killer move — Torrential Charge!
Myriad Year Flying Warship shot out like a meteor, crashing into the river suppression lotus sealing formation that was still being set up.
Boom!
With a loud sound, Moment Stage blocked Myriad Year Flying Warship as the two rank eight Immortal Gu Houses collided.
Moment Stage had a slight disadvantage while Myriad Year Flying Warship's advancement was halted, it was stalled by Shark Flow Lever and Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform which had caught up.
Heavenly Court had deep foundation, they already prepared some methods to deal with Myriad Year Flying Warship.
Myriad Year Flying Warship had gone through many battles, its methods were exposed, it could not do much in this situation.
At this moment, two more time path Immortal Gu Houses arrived as reinforcements.
One was Eternal Yacht carrying Xing Ye Wang, the other was Sun and Moon Temple carrying Nine Spiritual Fairy.
Heavenly Court's reinforcements arrived!
Four rank eight Gu Immortals, six time path Immortal Gu Houses!
Heavenly Court's morale soared.
Eastern Sea, above qi sea.
Qi currents surged and formed into a vast cloud, Qi Sea Ancestor willed as countless dishes and delicious wine emerged from these currents.
It was finally time, Qi Sea Ancestor wanted to raise his cup and announce the start of the banquet when a voice resounded in the sky: "Black Soul Sea Lord would like to request a spar with Qi Sea Ancestor."
Next, his rank eight aura filled with dark energy loomed over the entire area.
The Eastern Sea immortals were stunned before their eyes started to shine.
An Eastern Sea rank eight was actually challenging Qi Sea Ancestor!
-x-X-x-
Moment Stage, Present and Past Pavilion, Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform, Eternal Yacht, Shark Flow Lever, Sun and Moon Temple.
Gu Liu Ru, Feng Jiu Ge, Xing Ye Wang, Nine Spiritual Fairy.
Heavenly Court gathered its forces in the River of Time, it was bent on getting Red Lotus' true inheritance.
In contrast, Fang Yuan's side only had Myriad Year Flying Warship, even though it was rank eight, against Heavenly Court's grand force, it was too small.
Heavenly Court had six Immortal Gu Houses and four rank eight Gu Immortals, they surrounded Myriad Year Flying Warship completely.
Myriad Year Flying Warship fell into a tight spot, but Fang Yuan spoke calmly as he smiled: "Hehehe, you want to occupy the stone lotus island? Since I cannot get it, neither will any of you."
Immortal killer move — Myriad Year Hunting!
Fragrance spread from Myriad Year Flying Warship, it quickly dispersed and caused countless dao beasts to resonate and growl.
A wave of a year beast tide was rapidly forming.
In the previous life, Fang Yuan cooperated with Bing Sai Chuan and fought against Heavenly Court over this Red Lotus true inheritance, in the end, Feng Jiu Ge acted and destroyed the stone lotus island.
This time, Fang Yuan made the same choice, he used myriad year hunting to summon an endless beast tide that targeted the stone lotus island.
This method was Myriad Year Flying Warship's strongest ability, it had an evident weakness however, the year beasts did not differentiate enemy from ally, in fact its main target was Myriad Year Flying Warship itself.
Last time, Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals fell for Fang Yuan's scheme, they thought that he could control the beast tide and slaughtered a large number of year beasts, taking most of the damage for Myriad Year Flying Warship. After suffering a loss, Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals realized that Fang Yuan could not control this beast tide either.
The weakness of myriad year hunting was already known to Heavenly Court.
But this time, Fang Yuan used it to target Heavenly Court's weakness, they were setting up the river suppression lotus sealing formation now, they had no choice but to fight against these beasts.
Gu Liu Ru snorted coldly: "This scoundrel is very devious, he used this move after all."
He had a calm expression as he instructed his people, Eternal Yacht and Shark Flow Lever left the battlefield immediately to head to the outside. At the same time, Nine Spiritual Fairy jumped out of her Immortal Gu House, turning into an immemorial desolate beast to leave the battlefield.
Heavenly Court had the advantage while Fang Yuan's Myriad Year Flying Warship was encircled, he could not stop these people from escaping.
After leaving the battlefield, Eternal Yacht and Shark Flow Lever shined with a bright light, two auras resembling years flow like water Immortal Gu started to spread out.
The newly formed beast tide was instantly lured to these two Immortal Gu Houses as eighty percent of them rushed towards the two Immortal Gu Houses.
The remaining twenty percent were intercepted by Nine Spiritual Fairy who had turned into an immemorial desolate beast, she took control over them.
"It's her indeed!"
"Nine Spiritual Fairy... a rank eight great expert that cultivated enslavement path and transformation path in Central Continent's history."
Within Myriad Year Flying Warship, a Gu Immortal had already discerned Nine Spiritual Fairy's identity.
Right now, Fang Yuan's main body was in Eastern Sea, only his will was inside the ship, the will could think and make comparisons to his previous life's events.
Nine Spiritual Fairy did not wake up in the previous life, but this time, she woke up and even earlier in time.
This was a very different situation.
After she turned into the immemorial year beast, the River of Time was no longer an obstacle to her.
Even though Heavenly Court could not counter myriad year hunting directly, they found ways to deal with it.
They analyzed the concept of myriad year hunting and targeted it, resolving the year beast tide that had yet to fully form.
Next, even if year beasts emerge, there would only be a few of them, they would not be of a threatening scale.
This was Heavenly Court's foundation.
It was also the reason why Fang Yuan had been concealing his strength and methods all along.
Once he exposes his methods, Heavenly Court would rapidly react and make deductions, they would counter his actions in their next encounter.
This was the case for daybreak sword, torrential charge, and myriad year hunting.
Myriad year hunting, which could change the situation, was resolved by Heavenly Court before it even showed effect.
The remaining four Immortal Gu Houses surrounded Myriad Year Flying Warship tightly as they unleashed a barrage of attacks.
"Fang Yuan, if you still have any methods left, use them." Gu Liu Ru smiled coldly.
Within Myriad Year Flying Warship, Fang Yuan's will was silent, he did not respond.
The battle continued, Myriad Year Flying Warship was kept suppressed and unable to turn it around. Even though it tried to break out several times, it did not succeed.
Over at Heavenly Court's four Immortal Gu Houses, Moment Stage was in front, as a rank eight Immortal Gu House and with the time path great expert Gu Liu Ru stationed in it, it was not inferior to Myriad Year Flying Warship.
At the same time, the other three Immortal Gu Houses worked together to assist it, their cooperation was not simple, they were very effective in their actions.
Evidently, during this period of time, these Gu Immortals did not slack off, they had practised extensively and their battle strength rose greatly.
"Fang Yuan is already trapped, he is not a threat."
"Be careful, we cannot be careless against this demon."
"Our river suppression lotus sealing formation is almost complete, what can Fang Yuan do to stop us?"
Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals had a surge of morale.
Many of them could already see the sight of Fang Yuan's defeat.
But at this moment, a grand aura surged from the stone lotus island.
Golden light flashed as a grey stone giant stood up slowly.
This giant was immensely tall, its muscles were bulging, its hair was thick, its eyes shined with a fierce beast light.
"What monster is this? It has time path aura!"
"We have not explored the stone lotus island yet, why did the guardian of this stone lotus island awaken?"
"Oh no, the river suppression lotus sealing formation has not been completed yet."
Heavenly Court's Gu Immortals had changes of expression.
The giant roared, it was actually the sound of a tiger's roar, the sound waves spread out in all directions, causing huge ripples to form around the island.
The river suppression lotus sealing formation shook intensely, the Gu Immortals setting up the formation spat out mouthfuls of blood.
"Quick, stabilize the formation!"
"Paper cage formation was broken, we need to repair it."
"Fourth group, Gu Immortals of the fourth group, quickly reinforce us!"
The Gu Immortals setting up the formation became very busy.
After the grey stone giant roared, it moved its arms, the muscles on his forearm and upper arm expanded like a balloon, to three times of its original size.
Pitch-black bull horns grew on its forehead, it lowered its head slightly as its arms gathered in front of its chest, it opened its palms and placed them together, air currents surged and gathered between its palms, creating a spiral ball made of currents.
Gu Liu Ru saw this as shock appeared in his eyes.
He understood, these air currents were just the physical appearance, these were actually time path dao marks!
More and more time path dao marks were drawn by the giant and gathered into a huge silver ball.
The ball became larger and larger, the giant monster growled and pushed with both arms, throwing the silver ball with all its strength.
The silver ball flew like a meteor, shooting out and causing endless gusts of wind to blow.
Central Continent's righteous path Gu Immortals were deeply shocked, their pupils shrunk when they saw this giant silver ball's might.
"Quick, we need to block it!" Gu Liu Ru gritted his teeth, he forcefully controlled Moment Stage to block the advancement of the silver ball.
Boom!
At the next moment, an intense sound erupted, the silver ball crashed into Moment Stage and burst out with terrifying might, Moment Stage was like a house swept by a typhoon, it flew away even when resisting.
"We blocked it." Moment Stage stopped eventually as Gu Liu Ru let out a breath of turbid air, Moment Stage was already damaged beyond words, it was filled with cracks, countless mortal Gu died while many Immortal Gu were injured.
The Gu Immortals inside Moment Stage were already very busy, they could not stay as carefree as when they encircled Fang Yuan anymore, they quickly tried to repair the Immortal Gu House.
The aftermath of the silver ball explosion caused intense winds to blow, the river suppression lotus sealing formation was still affected and damaged, many Gu worms died, the Gu Immortals setting up the formation were very busy trying to fix it.
Seeing that its attack did not work, the grey stone giant started to gather a silver ball again.
Gu Liu Ru saw this and gritted his teeth, he controlled Moment Stage to charge down.
But as Moment Stage got close to the stone lotus island, it gave off a brilliant light and a formless force blocked Moment Stage from approaching.
Using this time, the grey stone giant gathered another silver ball in its hands.
The ball shot out, Gu Liu Ru had no choice but to grit his teeth and resist the silver ball again using Moment Stage.
Boom!
Another explosion resounded, after the intense impact, the front part of Moment Stage was completely devastated, a large number of tiles and bricks flew out and turned back into Gu worm corpses.
The grey stone giant saw that its method was obstructed once again, it became infuriated as it growled and gathered another silver ball.
Gu Liu Ru frowned deeply: "This giant is using a very familiar time path method! To think that Red Lotus Demon Venerable had left this behind."
"But even if I know about its information, for now I can only block its attack by sacrificing Moment Stage, I need to protect this river suppression lotus sealing formation! Thankfully, we have this Moment Stage."
Gu Liu Ru felt glad in his heart.
The signature method of Moment Stage was to teleport from one location to another location in a moment's time.
This was not a space path method but a time path method instead, it was not teleportation in essence, but was the act of using Moment Stage to compress its time into a moment. If the distance was further, it would take several moments.
Gu Liu Ru wanted to protect the formation, he had a clear objective. As long as the formation was set up, it would isolate this place from the outside, the stone lotus island would not be able to escape, all of Red Lotus' arrangements on this island would weaken slowly and be resisted.
And against outside force, there would also be a strong layer of protection.
By then, even if Fang Yuan wanted to enter, with this formation and several Immortal Gu Houses around, it would be difficult.
Fang Yuan evidently understood this logic, Myriad Year Flying Warship tried to move in different directions, the remaining Immortal Gu Houses were just rank seven, they could barely contain it. This was like a thin fishing net trying to capture a shark.
Heavenly Court's situation was getting worse, Gu Liu Ru snorted coldly and came out of Moment Stage, joining the encirclement of Myriad Year Flying Warship.
He was a time path great expert, he could move and act freely in the River of Time, with his interference, Heavenly Court stabilized the situation once again.
"Persevere, persevere and we will gain victory!"
"After this period, when the formation is completed, it would be Fang Yuan's time to die."
Gu Liu Ru took charge of the situation, he dealt with Myriad Year Flying Warship while raising the morale of his people.
Eventually, the river suppression lotus sealing formation was completely set up, it formed a huge sphere that not only surrounded the stone lotus island, but also Myriad Year Flying Warship.
The formation activated, the grey stone giant grunted as it felt a strong suppression.
Myriad year hunting was also restricted, the fragrance could not spread out, a beast tide was unable to form.
"Get rid of Fang Yuan first, then explore the stone lotus island!" Gu Liu Ru shouted.
Without the threat of myriad year hunting, Eternal Yacht, Shark Flow Lever, and Nine Spiritual Fairy returned in time, they joined the encirclement against Fang Yuan.
"Fang Yuan, this will be your final resting place!" Gu Liu Ru's eyes shined with bright light, he had a cold expression.
"Is a demonic overlord going to die here?" Feng Jiu Ge squinted, inspiration regarding destiny song emerged in his heart.
"Let's not wait any longer, kill him!" Xing Ye Wang moved Shark Flow Lever and assaulted with deep killing intent.
Nine Spiritual Fairy was silent but her movements were not slow, she got around to the back of Myriad Year Flying Warship as her aura burst out, she prepared her killer move.
But at this moment, Fang Yuan's cold snicker resounded in Myriad Year Flying Warship: "Oh Heavenly Court, you have already been trapped, can't you sense it?"
Before he finished his words, stone lotus island erupted with a bright light, tens of water pillars shot up around the island.
The light and water pillars forcefully connected into the river suppression lotus sealing formation, the Central Continent Gu Immortals who were inside became dumbfounded. Someone shouted: "What is going on! We lost our control of this formation!!"
This was not a simple change of events.
Heavenly Court's four rank eights were in deep disbelief but the facts were in front of them: This was all Fang Yuan's trap!
"I did not waste a stone lotus island to trap you after all, this is not the place I will die, it is yours." Fang Yuan said so as the grey stone giant on the stone lotus island grew chicken wings and feathers, its hands turned into tiger claws, its mouth turned into a beak, it flew up and barged past the encirclement, paving a way for Myriad Year Flying Warship.
Realization flashed in Gu Liu Ru, he finally understood what this grey stone giant was, he shouted in shock and anger: "This is the Twelve Zodiac battle formation! To think that Fang Yuan had this method."
"This was all Fang Yuan's trap!"
"He has already obtained Red Lotus' true inheritance, he can control the stone lotus island!"
"This Twelve Zodiac battle formation is likely the content of the true inheritance, his time path foundation grew immensely, he is able to suppress our formation instead."
"We cannot stay here, we need to retreat!"
The four Heavenly Court rank eights discussed and decided to leave.
But the awkward thing was, this river suppression lotus sealing formation that they set up with so much work was their biggest obstacle at this moment.
"Want to leave now? Too late!" Fang Yuan's laughter could be heard inside Myriad Year Flying Warship, daybreak swords flew out and shot towards Three Autumn Yellow Crane Platform and Shark Flow Lever.
The grey stone giant growled loudly and pounced at Present and Past Pavilion.
Present and Past Pavilion had torrential waves around it but the grey stone giant ignored that, it advanced and slammed down with its fist.
The grey stone giant was just too big, its fist was larger than Present and Past Pavilion itself.
Before the fist landed, sounds of tiger and dragon roars resounded in the battlefield.
The might of the fist was simply destructive and unrestrained!
Feng Jiu Ge squinted while the other Gu Immortals were fearful, against this fist, they felt like the world was collapsing, any attempts to dodge it was futile.
They could not dodge!
Boom!!
An intense explosion resounded as Present and Past Pavilion crumbled at the impact of the grey stone giant's fist.
The injuries and deaths inside were severe, Feng Jiu Ge barely managed to escape in a sorry state.
Moment Stage!
At the crucial moment, Moment Stage teleported over and took in Feng Jiu Ge.
The grey stone giant completely ignored the Moment Stage that was nearby, it turned around towards Sun and Moon Temple.
Sun and Moon Temple was a time path Immortal Gu House of Spirit Affinity House, it was weaker than the rest, when the grey stone giant approached, Sun and Moon Temple could not escape in time.
The giant was too fast, it was inside the River of Time and had the power of the stone lotus island boosting it, its current battle strength was simply unheard of!
Boom!!
With a second explosion, Sun and Moon Temple shattered, most of the Gu Immortals inside died.
"No!!" Gu Liu Ru gritted his teeth, his eyes were red from anger, his body was shaking from hatred.
The Heavenly Court Gu Immortals were no longer as confident as before, they wanted to escape for their lives now.
The grey stone giant's battle strength made them feel deep despair!
Eastern Sea, above qi sea.
The Gu Immortals were very excited as they looked at Qi Sea Ancestor and the owner of the black soul sea area, Zhang Yin.
Zhang Yin was a lone cultivator with rank eight cultivation level, everyone knew him in Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world.
But they did not expect that he would challenge Qi Sea Ancestor. Although thinking about it, it was not strange, back then, the fight between Duke Long and Qi Sea Ancestor was only witnessed by Song Qi Yuan and Shen Cong Sheng, and these two were righteous path Gu Immortals.
Under everyone's gaze, Qi Sea Ancestor smiled lightly: "Gu Immortal Zhang Yin, you are very courageous, but will you be able to handle one move from me?"
Zhang Yin smiled arrogantly: "Ancestor, you underestimate me, not just one move.... ugh."
He suddenly stopped as the other Gu Immortals' expressions changed.
Instantly, they felt the entire world buzzing as countless qi currents gathered from all over the place.
Within all the surroundings, pressure intensified.
The immortals' pupils shrunk, cold sweat flowed down as they felt unparalleled pressure, they were like insects trapped in amber, fragile and helpless.
"What killer move is this?"
"Is this Qi Sea Ancestor's method?"
"We are merely feeling the side effect, what pressure is Zhang Yin, who is bearing the brunt of the attack, feeling?"
The immortals looked over, Zhang Yin's face turned red, he did not move in the air, his eyes were bulging as he struggled, he only trembled as he could not break free.
The immortals were all shaken.
A loud sound could be heard from above their heads.
The Eastern Sea immortals quickly looked up and all of their faces turned pale as paper.
A huge hand completely made of qi currents was translucent and pale-white, it extended an enormous distance, shrouding the skies itself!
The giant hand pressed down as all of the Eastern Sea immortals felt suffocated, it was as if a mountain was crashing down upon them.
"What sort of power is this!"
"If I were not here personally, I would never believe it."
"I'm afraid this strength is on par with rank nine?"
"Qi Sea Ancestor!!"
At the banquet, many Gu Immortals stood up uncontrollably, their bodies shook as fear overwhelmed them.
Zhang Yin shouted with all his strength, his entire body was radiating dark energy as mild lightning flashed weakly, he could not escape, he was trapped and fixed in the air.
Seeing this, Song Qi Yuan and the other rank eight Gu Immortals were all incredibly shocked and fearful.
"It looks like Zhang Yin has used his full strength, but he cannot escape at all?"
"Is he going to die?!"
"Qi Sea Ancestor's battle strength is so terrifying. Does he wants to leave a deep impression on us and use Zhang Yin's life to raise his reputation in Eastern Sea?"
It was unimaginable, a rank eight Gu Immortal was completely helpless against Qi Sea Ancestor!
But the truth was right here, Song Qi Yuan and the other Eastern Sea Gu Immortals had to believe it.
As the qi current hand approached Zhang Yin, it slowly disintegrated and went past Zhang Yin, slamming into qi sea.
There was no heaven shaking explosion, after the qi current hand came into contact with qi sea, it quickly scattered and fused into the sea.
Zhang Yin regained freedom, he felt deep lingering fear as his clothes were filled with sweat, he had a fearful look as he stared with wide eyes, breathing roughly.
"Look at qi sea!" Song Yi Shi shouted.
Everyone turned to look, the treacherous and turbulent qi sea filled with countless spirals had been completely calmed, it was like a mirror now!
Eastern Sea's immortals were very shocked, many of them opened their mouths but could not speak.
"Ancestor's divine might, I have fully experienced it." Zhang Yin let out a breath of air as he paid his respects: "Thank you for sparing me."
Qi Sea Ancestor was still sitting at the main seat, his eyes were barely open as he waved his sleeves lightly: "Take a seat."
"Thank you." Zhang Yin took his seat amidst the silence.
Many of the Eastern Sea immortals were still standing, those who were seated were not feeling any better, they were all like statues.
Qi Sea Ancestor defeated Zhang Yin in one move, he had truly intimidated all of them.
"Ancestor has divine might!" After a while, Song Qi Yuan reacted as he stood up, respectfully praising.
"Ancestor has divine might!" Shen Cong Sheng also stood up and praised with respect.
"Ancestor has divine might. Ancestor has divine might." Countless Eastern Sea Gu Immortals stood up to pay their respects, they were completely in awe.
Fang Yuan smiled lightly as he said: "Everyone, take a seat, the banquet is beginning."
-x-X-x-
The stone lotus island ambush that Fang Yuan planned had already ended.
A grand light filled Heavenly Court, but in Central Great Hall, the atmosphere was grim.
"At the crucial moment, Gu Liu Ru blocked Myriad Year Flying Warship while risking his life, I managed to live because of him." Nine Spiritual Fairy said this as she coughed blood again.
Tears were in her eyes, the scene of Gu Liu Ru defending them with his life surfaced in her mind again.
Nine Spiritual Fairy had a beautiful face, she liked to wear a long robe and wave her sleeves around, she had a graceful aura but now, she was covered in blood, wounds were all over her body, her sleeves were cut and dangling. Nine Spiritual Fairy's thin body was completely fragile at this moment, covered in this large robe.
In this battle in the River of Time, Heavenly Court had the absolute advantage at the start, but later, they lost completely, the six Immortal Gu Houses were destroyed, only two Gu Immortals, Nine Spiritual Fairy and Feng Jiu Ge, managed to escape.
Feng Jiu Ge was in the hall too, he lost his cool demeanor at this moment, his eyes turned dim as they lost their light, he showed an expression of loss and perplexity.
Fairy Zi Wei sighed to herself, she instructed them to go recuperate.
She learned of the result of this battle already, she called for Nine Spiritual Fairy so that she could gain more information about the minor details.
"To think that Fang Yuan obtained the stone lotus island long ago, how did he do it? We did not sense it at all." Fairy Zi Wei deduced quietly, she could not find any answer.
Because of this, Heavenly Court lost this battle completely, they fell into Fang Yuan's planned trap, their losses were severe.
Duke Long smiled bitterly: "The truth is, we had guessed that Fang Yuan might have a Red Lotus true inheritance already. But in the previous battle, Myriad Year Flying Warship was forced to escape from us, it was useless even if they tried to make use of the River of Time's dangerous terrain. Now it seems that Fang Yuan had purposely did that so as to lure our attention, he wanted to fight for Dragon Palace and also to prepare for this battle, to make us underestimate him. This is truly a devious and scheming demon!"
"Then, when did Fang Yuan obtain Red Lotus' true inheritance? So be it if he got it recently, but if he obtained this stone lotus island long ago, that would be a very scary situation." Fairy Zi Wei thought about it as she felt a chill down her spine.
Right now, Heavenly Court was facing a difficult situation.
However, no matter how tough the situation was, Heavenly Court had to face it directly, they could not try to dodge it.
Duke Long said solemnly: "Even if Fang Yuan obtained one Red Lotus true inheritance and gained Twelve Zodiac battle formation from it, we need to continue putting our forces into the River of Time!"
This was only natural.
There was more than one Red Lotus true inheritance, if Fang Yuan obtained a second or third one, he would become even scarier.
From Heavenly Court's perspective, the River of Time was an important area they had to guard, Red Lotus true inheritance was something they had to obtain. This situation might only change after they successfully repair fate Gu, but now, Heavenly Court had to start all over again, after losing six Immortal Gu Houses, they would have to build six, or even ten more!
Fairy Zi Wei nodded slowly, she had a serious expression, she shared the same opinion as Duke Long on this matter.
"But..." Fairy Zi Wei showed a look of difficulty.
There were problems in this too.
If they wanted to send more time path battle strength into the River of Time, the best method was to send time path Gu Immortals.
But because of Red Lotus Demon Venerable, Heavenly Court's foundation in time path Gu Immortals was very weak.
Without any time path great experts, they could only make up for it using time path Immortal Gu Houses.
Heavenly Court lost six time path Immortal Gu Houses, the losses were too severe, they needed to rebuild these houses and needed a large number of time path Immortal Gu for them.
Even though Nine Spiritual Fairy and Feng Jiu Ge were still alive, they did not bring back many Immortal Gu.
Heavenly Court needed to refine many time path Immortal Gu to rebuild their Immortal Gu Houses.
And in this aspect, Gu refinement immortal materials were not a problem.
Heavenly Court had an immensely deep foundation of over millions of years, it was not for show. Heavenly Court's three million years worth of accumulation was split into three treasuries of 'early, middle, late'. Each one represented a million years of foundation, they had placed all of their gains in that time period into the respective inventories.
Any one of these million years treasury had more things in it than any of the ten great ancient sects.
In order to refine rank eight fortune rivalling heaven Gu, Old Ancestor Xue Hu went bankrupt. Even with Fang Yuan's current foundation, he did not dare to refine rank eight Immortal Gu. When normal super forces try to refine a rank eight Immortal Gu, they would expend a good deal of their foundation. But for Heavenly Court, not just one, even if they refined ten of them, their foundation would not be shaken.
Heavenly Court did not lack immortal materials at all, they lacked refinement path great experts.
Yuan Qiong Du was a refinement path expert, he had been in charge of repairing fate Gu. But asking him to refine time path Immortal Gu on top of this was just too much for him.
He was just one person, he had limited time and energy.
"If one or two refinement path experts could wake up in the immortal graveyard, it would be great." Fairy Zi Wei thought to herself, regrettably, the immortal graveyard was not subject to external influence, she could not wake up any Gu Immortal she wanted.
Duke Long also noticed this problem, he thought about it and said: "Then rally the ten great ancient sects, we can even unify the refinement path Gu Immortals of other sects and send them all here, get them to work together and refine time path Immortal Gu."
Fairy Zi Wei nodded, Yuan Qiong Du had important matters to do, he was in charge of repairing fate Gu, Heavenly Court had to do this now to deal with the current problem.
Fairy Zi Wei sighed internally: "If we had succeeded in invading Lang Ya Sect and taken control of it, that would be great. This would not be a problem for us now, it was a pity that Lang Ya Sect ended up in Fang Yuan's hands."
Heavenly Court had lost that great first step and now, they were facing problems because of it. In contrast, by using his refinement path advantage, Fang Yuan was giving problems to Heavenly Court now. Yuan Qiong Du could feel this most deeply.
Fairy Zi Wei and Duke Long had grim emotions.
Fang Yuan's victory in the River of Time was a devastating blow to Heavenly Court.
But the River of Time was just one aspect, Heavenly Court's overall situation was worsening.
In Northern Plains, Longevity Heaven had been trying to unify and gather the whole strength of Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world.
In Western Desert, Fang Di Chang refined Divine Bean Palace and was bringing Fang clan to rise up as the leader.
In Southern Border, even though Wu Yong was close to Heavenly Court, Beacon Towers were being built everywhere, it was becoming a problem for Heavenly Court.
As for Eastern Sea...
"According to our newest information, Qi Sea Ancestor defeated Zhang Yin using a single move, Zhang Yin is a famous Eastern Sea rank eight lone immortal, but he could not fight back at all. Qi Sea Ancestor's battle strength is very terrifying, after this battle, his reputation soared, even more Eastern Sea Gu Immortals attend his banquet now." Fairy Zi Wei showed a worried look.
Duke Long nodded: "Even for me, achieving this would not be easy. It seems that Qi Sea Ancestor has gotten stronger, according to his words, his battle strength rose after comprehending Primordial Origin true inheritance."
After defeating Zhang Yin, Fang Yuan declared frankly to the Eastern Sea immortals: His battle strength had risen once again, it was because he obtained Primordial Origin's qi path true inheritance from Heavenly Court.
Duke Long continued to speak: "Since Qi Sea Ancestor said that, it shows that he is close to Heavenly Court, but still wants to remain as a neutral party. This person can be swayed towards us."
Qi Sea Ancestor had stayed in seclusion for so long even though he had strength that rivaled Duke Long, it showed that he had no ambitions to begin with.
Even if he had ambitions now, he was definitely more attracted to Heavenly Court, which had the complete true inheritance of Primordial Origin.
As Qi Sea Ancestor stayed as a neutral party, Duke Long and Fairy Zi Wei became more assured of his stand.
It was not just Qi Sea Ancestor's personality, but also his lifespan that affected their judgment.
Lifespan was the biggest element that restricted a Gu Immortal great expert.
Qi Sea Ancestor looked like someone who was going to die soon, after all, using lifespan Gu would allow one to regain their youthful appearance.
He was so old already, he likely used many lifespan extension methods. These methods all had flaws, they would make lifespan Gu ineffective.
Duke Long did not have much longer to live, but he believed that Qi Sea Ancestor was in a similar state.
Fairy Zi Wei suddenly said: "Since Qi Sea Ancestor said that, we can send Gu Immortals to openly attend his banquet. Even if we did not receive his invitation, now that the entire world knows that Qi Sea Ancestor took our inheritance, even if we suggest a transaction, he cannot reject our visit."
Duke Long agreed with this suggestion, even if it failed, they would successfully probe Qi Sea Ancestor.
Right now, the regions' changes were not good for Heavenly Court, only Eastern Sea was relatively calmer. Heavenly Court wanted to make use of this, to ensure that at least Eastern Sea's forces were on neutral terms with them.
Eastern Sea, above qi sea.
Ever since Fang Yuan defeated Zhang Yin, the number of people visiting this place had increased, the number of people attending his banquet multiplied rapidly.
The Gu Immortals who came would first go to pay respects to Qi Sea Ancestor, to take a look at this number one Eastern Sea Gu Immortal.
Qi Sea Ancestor and Duke Long's battle was already known to all five regions. After defeating Zhang Yin, Qi Sea Ancestor became recognized as the number one Eastern Sea expert, nobody doubted him anymore.
The entire world was deceived by Fang Yuan.
Zhang Yin was one of the Four Dragon Generals, he cooperated with Fang Yuan and because of the immortal formation under qi sea, Qi Sea Ancestor's attack showed an incredibly powerful aura.
Nobody knew that Zhang Yin was under control, even Duke Long did not know of Dream Token. In the previous life, he only found out the secret of the Four Dragon Generals after obtaining Dragon Palace by force.
Nobody guessed that Qi Sea Ancestor and Fang Yuan were the same person. After all, Fang Yuan only had rank seven cultivation level while Qi Sea Ancestor was a genuine rank eight. Fang Yuan tried to conceal the secret of the sovereign immortal aperture to the best of his ability, he gave up some short term benefits and obtained a much greater reward for it at this moment.
Xie Bao Shu arrived.
He was handsome and had a warm aura, he looked like a graceful young master, he was a famous lone cultivator in Eastern Sea. He had a unique method of nurturing vicissitude trees, he was once a major seller of year Gu, but Fang Yuan ruined that business. In the previous life, he had worked with You Xian Zi to snatch the moonlight mushrooms of Fairy Yue Hua.
Zui Xian Weng came too.
He was a rarely seen food path Gu Immortal, he was also the owner of Eastern Sea's wine sea. He had a collection of countless wines, he held a wine reception every year. This time, he brought a thousand jars of top tier wines and gave them to Qi Sea Ancestor as a gift.
Seven Seas Snake Woman arrived.
This was a beautiful but dangerous woman, she was very ruthless in her actions. Even though she was a lone immortal, she owned seven sea areas, this showed her strength. At the same time, she was one of the six beauties of Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world, on par with Song Yi Shi.
Great Treasury Immortal arrived too.
This person cultivated information path, he was dressed in a gentlemanly attire, he had long sleeves that fluttered in the wind. In the previous life, he invaded Central Continent too, he stole Mi Lan Guang's rank seven immortal material electrolytic iron starflower.
The qi sea banquet caused a storm in Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world, all sorts of people showed up one after another.
Among them, there were more lone immortals than righteous path immortals.
Eastern Sea had more lone immortals than the other four regions to begin with, and they had the most abundant resources. At the same time, the righteous path had a lot of territory that needed guarding, lone immortals could move more freely than them.
"I, Central Continent Gu Immortal Jun Shen Guang, bring a gift to meet Qi Sea Ancestor, please forgive my intrusion without an invitation." Heavenly Court's rank eight Gu Immortal Jun Shen Guang arrived.
The banquet became silent, countless gazes looked towards Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan smiled and laughed in a light tone: "An esteemed guest has arrived, what forgiveness do you speak of? The sea is wide and draws in all tributaries linked to it, my Eastern Sea is the same, how can we not have this bit of tolerance? Please take a seat."
Fang Yuan waved his sleeve, a seat was formed again. Even though it was located at a good position, it was below the Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortals' seats.
Seeing this, the Eastern Sea Gu Immortals' expressions relaxed.
Eastern Sea was the most tolerant towards other regions' Gu Immortals compared to the rest of the five regions, but they still had some sort of exclusion.
Fang Yuan had already expected Central Continent's Gu Immortals to come here.
The truth was, he had been waiting for Heavenly Court's envoy to come here.
Fang Yuan looked around, he saw that almost everyone was here, he started to speak: "Everyone, I have something to say."
The place became silent again, everyone held their breaths, waiting for Fang Yuan's speech.
Jun Shen Guang saw this and became internally shocked: Qi Sea Ancestor had only appeared for such a short time but his reputation in Eastern Sea had already reached this stage!
Nobody dared to ignore a single sentence from Qi Sea Ancestor, in fact not a single phrase, or a single word.
Fang Yuan did not say a lot of things but he expressed his own political views — peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding, uphold justice and resolve conflicts.
Finally, he said: "This banquet is not to simply gather everyone here, it is also a transaction event, an auction and also a battle stage. If anyone has conflict, you can engage in a duel to resolve it, I can be the judge here with all the Eastern Sea friends witnessing it. If anyone needs resources or has anything to sell, you can step up and state your requests. Every year from now on, at this time period, I will hold qi sea banquets. Of course, I will not charge any transaction fees."
"Ancestor is wise."
"Ancestor is impartial and magnanimous, we are in deep admiration."
Eastern Sea's immortals quickly praised.
Jun Shen Guang shook internally: Qi Sea Ancestor is using this move to increase his influence over Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world. Great strength would lead to admiration while great benefits would lead to influence and power.
Furthermore, he was going to hold qi sea banquets every year!
Jun Shen Guang could predict the qi sea banquets would get larger and larger, they would involve the entire Eastern Sea Gu Immortal world. When the five regions merge, Gu Immortals from the other regions would even come over, in time, Qi Sea Ancestor's influence would not just affect Eastern Sea but the entire five regions!
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