Qi Zai gave a cold snort, pinched his fingers, and once again the soft mud surged and gathered, forming a mud ball.
On the surface of the mud ball, countless faces of resentment surfaced. Though silent, the sight still sent a deep chill through Qi He's heart.
Qi Zai's long sleeve lightly swept across it. The mud ball shifted shape and once again took the form of a mud creature.
Qi Zai made a soft sound of surprise, thinking to himself: "This is actually the same resentment from just now. This resentment was already dispersed once by me, yet it still managed to rise above all the other resentment, manifest, and take solid form. This shows just how deep the hatred and rage of its owner was in life."
Qi Zai asked again, "What is your name?"
"Ni Jian."
This time, Qi Zai heard it clearly.
So he asked further, "How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
Qi Zai continued asking, and the mud creature answered in halting fragments.
Qi Zai's questions progressed from simple to complex, from easy to difficult.
Time passed, and after a good while, Qi Zai finally pieced together exactly what had happened at the Ni family stockade.
A mysterious Gu Immortal had commanded ten thousand beasts to suddenly attack the Ni family stockade, and his goal was actually the same as Qi Zai's — to find the contemporary Mud Phase.
But unlike Qi Zai, he did not know who the contemporary Mud Phase actually was.
So he used the lives of every person in the stockade as leverage, demanding the contemporary Mud Phase step forward.
With no other choice, the Ni family patriarch had stood up.
It turned out he was the contemporary Mud Phase, bearing within him the "Right and Wrong" Immortal Gu.
The invading Gu Immortal was overjoyed and forced the Ni family patriarch to use the "Right and Wrong" Gu to answer his questions. He also promised that once he received a satisfactory answer, he would spare the entire Ni family.
The Ni family patriarch, thinking of the lives of his entire clan, chose to trust the invading Gu Immortal and sacrificed himself.
The mysterious Gu Immortal obtained the answer he sought. But he went back on his word and commanded the ten thousand beasts to slaughter the entire stockade.
The Ni family members fought back with fury and hatred, but the beast horde was overwhelming, and they were driven back step by step, suffering devastating losses.
At the critical moment of survival, a Desolate Beast mud creature that Qi Zai had tamed arrived to save the day.
It turned out that the Ni family branches scattered across the Southern Border had all been deliberately cultivated by Gu Immortal of the Qi family. Qi Zai was responsible for the Rotten Mud Mountain — at regular intervals he would check in and had learned that the contemporary Mud Phase was the Ni family stockade leader.
He had tamed a Desolate Beast mud creature in the sludge pools deep within Rotten Mud Mountain and left a wisp of will behind to command it, protecting the Ni family against unforeseen events.
When the unforeseen event occurred, the mud creature rushed to the battlefield to shield the Ni family members.
But the mysterious Gu Immortal was formidable. He attacked personally with multiple strikes and killed the mud creature.
Once the mud creature fell, the remaining Ni family members were immediately engulfed by the beast horde. Not a single person escaped alive.
The Ni family stockade, once quiet and peaceful, was crushed into ruins, strewn with corpses everywhere — a wretched sight beyond compare.
Several days later, Qi Zai and Qi He arrived at the scene and only then discovered what had happened.
And this Ni Jian was none other than the stockade's young clan leader, the Ni family patriarch's own grandson. He had lost both parents in childhood and was raised single-handedly by his grandfather, who had devoted himself to cultivating the boy. Their bond had been extraordinarily close.
His grandfather was driven to death by an enemy. That enemy then broke his word and slaughtered the entire Ni family, including Ni Jian himself.
After his death, even his soul had been taken away. All that remained was a wisp of extremely dense resentment, lingering and refusing to fade.
Qi Zai questioned him step by step in detail. Ni Jian's impression of Fang Yuan was extremely deep, and he answered every question without holding anything back.
Based on his answers, Qi Zai gradually reconstructed Fang Yuan's appearance.
He was a short yet stout old man, his beard a mix of black and white, bristling and stiff like iron wire. Yellow skin, small eyes, and a mouthful of uneven teeth.
"Who is this person?" Qi Zai silently cross-referenced his memories and found he did not recognize this individual.
Of course he wouldn't.
Fang Yuan was cautious by nature. Even when facing completely harmless mortal Gu Masters, he would disguise his identity, altering his facial features and build.
In truth, even if Qi Zai had been there in person and seen Fang Yuan face to face, he would not have seen through the disguise.
Because not long before this, Fang Yuan had already used the Langya Land Spirit to gather a complete set of Gu Insects, enabling him to once again employ the Immortal killer move — "First Meeting, Like Old Friends."
"This Gu Immortal is likely a recluse of the Southern Border... Aih, troubled times indeed!" Qi Zai sighed to himself.
Ever since the Yitian Mountain betting contest, Southern Border Gu Immortals had inexplicably suffered catastrophic losses.
And most of those fallen Southern Border Gu Immortals had, in life, occupied territories across the Southern Border, controlling countless cultivation resources.
This had created a vacuum of power and interest.
Many reclusive Gu Immortals, rarely seen in normal times, were now emerging in droves.
"This man needed multiple attacks just to deal with the Desolate Beast mud creature. His combat strength is nothing impressive — likely only a Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal. Yet he knew about the contemporary Mud Phase. Even the Gu Immortals of the Wu and Shang families are unaware of this secret. Could he be a descendant of one of the other three Phases?"
Qi Zai hesitated for a moment, then decided to pursue the investigation.
The Five Phenomena Patrolling the Heavens' multi-millennial bet — the Qi family was on the verge of victory. With the final deadline approaching, this unexpected mysterious Gu Immortal had appeared. This matter was of grave importance, even more so than the loss of Qi family seniors. He, Qi Zai, had to get to the bottom of it!
Northern Plains, Langya Blessed Land.
Splash.
A basin of ice-cold water was thrown onto Gu Yue Fang Zheng's face.
Fang Zheng, still unconscious, shuddered and was immediately jolted awake.
"Where... am I?" He opened his eyes only to discover himself locked inside a cage, reduced to a prisoner.
And standing beside him were two Hairmen, clad in armor.