"Please, Master, recite the passphrase." The timid voice spoke again.
Ying Wu Xie replied: "Heaven transforms through nine layers."
The voice continued: "Earth divides into five domains."
Ying Wu Xie spoke again: "Thousand autumns, ten thousand legacies."
The voice pressed on: "Will to command all living beings!"
Immediately after, there was a thud as both knees hit the ground. The voice choked with emotion as it spoke: "Shi Nu greets his Master."
"Rise." Ying Wu Xie laughed, raising his palm slightly toward the Stone Gu Immortal kneeling at his feet.
The Stone Gu Immortal knocked his head against the ground three more times before standing with the utmost reverence.
Yet even now, he kept both hands hanging straight down, pressed tight against his thighs, his body half-bowed, his head lowered, his gaze fixed only at the ground near Ying Wu Xie's feet, not daring to look the other in the eye.
His aura as a Gu Immortal was thick and potent — unmistakably at the Seventh Transformation.
Using Fixed Immortal Travel, Ying Wu Xie had not returned directly to the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land to seize Dang Hun Mountain. Instead, he had teleported to this secret base that the Shadow Sect had established in the Central Continent.
Ying Wu Xie's soul was, after all, a split fragment of Demon Venerable You Hun's own.
Before, his straightforward innocence had been due to the Pure Dream Reality Seeking Body dissolving his soul memories. With those memories scattered, he was no different from a newly born infant — naturally shallow in cunning.
But the crucible of life-and-death battle was the greatest tempering a person could undergo. What's more, having been infused with the remnant will of You Hun from the Red Lotus True Transmission, Ying Wu Xie had recovered some of his memories. Naturally, he had become far more composed and measured in his actions.
Having experienced rebirth, he was already aware of Fang Yuan's arrangements.
Not only were all of his Gu insects unusable, but his mind still harbored Fang Yuan's false intentions. One moment of inattention, and they would sway his thinking.
He held an enormous number of Gu insects, including a dazzling array of Immortal Gu — yet Ying Wu Xie could only use Fixed Immortal Travel.
Under these circumstances, he would naturally not be foolish enough to charge straight into the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land.
Even if he had the means to deceive the Earth Spirit, he would still need a considerable number of Gu insects to pull it off.
If he entered the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land unprepared, the Earth Spirit would certainly see through him and expose his identity. That would be far too troublesome.
So, Ying Wu Xie used Fixed Immortal Travel to come here first, in order to prepare.
"Take me to the Earth Eye first," Ying Wu Xie ordered.
"Yes, Master." The Stone Gu Immortal, Shi Nu, promptly complied.
The two descended underground, traversing winding and twisting secret passages, working their way downward until they arrived before an enormous underground pit.
The pit was vast, stretching a hundred li across.
Within it, yellowish-brown dust swirled thick and heavy, endlessly churning and rolling.
Around the pit's perimeter, layer upon layer of Gu formations had been set up, serving functions of healing, concealment, and assistance.
Ying Wu Xie focused his gaze and peered carefully. Amid the swirling dust at the center, he could faintly make out a soul sphere, bobbing up and down.
He observed for a long moment, then let out a sigh.
This soul sphere was, of course, Bo Qing's soul.
Back then, when Sword Immortal Bo Qing failed his tribulation, the Shadow Sect's split soul fragment "Huang" had barely managed to save him. But thousands of years had passed, and the injuries to Bo Qing's soul had only worsened. Far from recovering any vitality, it had decayed into this shapeless mass.
Bo Qing's soul had been ravaged by the Heavenly Tribulation. Water Path Dao Marks coiled ceaselessly through it, generating new ones without end. Although the dense Earth Path Dao Marks within the Earth Eye suppressed them, this was ultimately a stopgap — treating the symptoms, not the cause. It could only delay the inevitable, not provide a cure.
Even the vast reserves of knowledge held by Demon Venerable You Hun were powerless against this.
But the Shadow Sect had never given up.
To guard this place, the Shadow Sect had locally subjugated a group of Stone Men. With some guidance, they had nurtured one of them into a Stone Gu Immortal.
This Stone Gu Immortal was none other than Shi Nu.
Originally, Demon Venerable You Hun had been scheming for tens of thousands of years to refine the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu. Though Shi Nu was only at the Seventh Transformation, he was still a fighting force.
Unfortunately, when the time came to recall him, an unexpected complication arose on this end.
A wild One-eyed Giant Ape had appeared, and Shi Nu had been forced to step forward, enraging the ape and luring it away.
At that time, the Heaven Monitoring Tower had already been erected, and the situation was critical. The Shadow Sect had no bandwidth to handle this matter and thus did not retrieve Shi Nu.
In this way, Gu Immortal Shi Nu had, by sheer luck, kept his life.
In truth, the Shadow Sect had encountered no shortage of unexpected setbacks across various fronts.
Beyond Shi Nu, the most striking example was Qin Bai Sheng encountering Feng Jiu Ge.
Demon Venerable You Hun had intended to refine the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu — an act of defying the Heavenly Dao. Naturally, the Will of Heaven would intervene. Had You Hun been an Otherworldly Demon, things might have gone more smoothly. Unfortunately, he was native-born, and thus suffered the full obstruction of the Will of Heaven.
The Shadow Sect's strength was no trifling matter — its influence spanned the five domains.
Because of the Will of Heaven's interference, it had never been able to bring its full power to bear.
After Demon Venerable You Hun's failure, the Shadow Sect was shattered as well. Its subordinate branch, the Zombie Alliance, was completely annihilated, suffering catastrophic losses. Yet remnants of its network still persisted throughout the five domains.
Just like Gu Immortal Shi Nu.
A stick of incense later.
"Where is this place?" Tai Bai Yun Sheng emerged from within Ying Wu Xie's Immortal Orifice.