Central Continent, Earth Abyss.
Ying Wu Xie stared at the collapse before him, his expression unspeakably grim.
Behind him stood Hei Lou Lan, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, and Shi Nu — a Seventh Transformation variant human Gu Immortal.
Four Gu Immortals' worth of combat strength!
Among them, Shi Nu was naturally the strongest, followed by Hei Lou Lan, then Tai Bai Yun Sheng. Ying Wu Xie had yet to shed his status as an Immortal Zombie and possessed only a few borrowed Immortal Gu — the residual Immortal Gu that Fang Yuan had left behind had not yet been reclaimed, making him the weakest of them all.
Hei Lou Lan had already been directly forced into submission by Ying Wu Xie, breaking free of the alliance he had formed with Fang Yuan and becoming Ying Wu Xie's right hand.
Shi Nu was the most loyal and devoted to Ying Wu Xie of them all.
As for Tai Bai Yun Sheng, though he was unaware of the truth, he had never once doubted Ying Wu Xie. Hei Lou Lan and Ying Wu Xie had joined forces to deceive him, keeping him completely in the dark.
"What's going on here?" Tai Bai Yun Sheng looked at the scene before them and asked in confusion.
Shi Nu answered in a deep voice: "The Earth Abyss is far from calm. Subterranean forces surge violently from time to time, causing tremors. These tremors can sometimes trigger catastrophic collapses, like the one we're witnessing now."
Hei Lou Lan's eyes held a strange glint: "This collapse is simply far too terrifying."
Shi Nu nodded: "Indeed. Every collapse in the Earth Abyss typically spans billions of mu, causing millions or even tens of millions of living creatures to perish. After the collapse, billions of jin of earth and rock pile atop one another. Combined with the resentment, death energy, and blood essence of the perished creatures, countless Desolate-level Blood Beasts and Bone Beasts form within, and wild Immortal Gu of the Blood Path and Earth Path are born as well. Master, how should we proceed?"
Ying Wu Xie stared ahead, and after a long moment, slowly exhaled a turbid breath.
His heart was heavy. He thought to himself: "This route was secretly established by the Shadow Sect beforehand. It is the safest and most covert path out of the Earth Abyss. I had just resolved to leave, and at this very critical juncture, an unexpected collapse occurs. What's more, it happened right here, cutting off our path forward. Heh."
Ying Wu Xie sneered bitterly to himself.
"This must be the doing of Heavenly Will!"
"My true body defied heaven to refine Gu and resisted Heavenly Will, causing it severe depletion. But judging by the situation now, Heavenly Will has likely recovered the majority of its strength."
"The Spring Autumn Cicada still resides within me, containing a considerable amount of Heavenly Will. Therefore, in the perception of Heavenly Will, I am like a torch blazing in the darkness!"
"Had my scouting been inadequate, had I not deliberately held back for a moment — I would likely be trapped inside the collapse right now. Or if I had been tempted by the wild Immortal Gu that would form here and lingered too long, I could easily have been discovered by other Gu Immortals arriving to investigate. For all I know, the commotion from when I activated the Gu formation earlier has already alerted and aroused the suspicion of Heavenly Court, and they've begun searching everywhere."
Ying Wu Xie had received guidance from the original will within Red Lotus Demon Venerable's true transmission, and thus possessed a deep understanding of Heavenly Will.
Heavenly Will had its limits and could be severely depleted. But because its foundation was the Five Regions' heaven and earth, it could never be completely annihilated, and its recovery capability was exceedingly swift.
On the matter of Heavenly Will — Fang Yuan was still kept in the dark, completely unaware, far behind Ying Wu Xie in understanding.
"Heavenly Will is so troublesome, and that's largely thanks to that wretched woman Star Constellation!"
"This body of mine is rather ordinary. I must first refine Ding Xian You before I can smoothly traverse the Five Regions. Then I will gather the remnants of the Shadow Sect scattered across the land and consolidate them into a considerable power. After that, I will attempt to rescue my true body."
Thinking of this, Ying Wuxie naturally thought of Fang Yuan once more.
Boundless hatred surged through his heart once again!
"Back when the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu recipe was designed, my original body had already taken the Five Regions' boundary walls into consideration. And so, Fang Yuan can now not only cross the Five Regions' boundary walls as if they were nothing, but also freely shift his aura and disguise himself as an Immortal Gu Master of any region!"
"But... don't think your days will be easy. Even though you are a complete otherworldly demon and Heavenly Will can no longer influence your thoughts, it can still influence other beings and scheme to eliminate you."
"Furthermore, every time you face your tribulations in the future, it will be the best opportunity for Heavenly Will to destroy you."
"I hope you can hold on — until the day I free myself to destroy you!"
Although Ying Wuxie hated Fang Yuan to the extreme, his most pressing concern right now was still saving his original body's remnant soul.
Currently, his original body's remnant soul was trapped within the dream realm.
It was common knowledge that souls confined within a dream realm would be gradually eroded and worn away by it. Thus, the time left for Ying Wuxie was extremely pressing.
Compared to saving his original body, dealing with Fang Yuan was a minor matter.
And so, what Ying Wuxie and the others needed to do most urgently was to quickly refine the Ding Xian You Gu, gather their remaining forces, then return to the Southern Border, break through the Southern Border Gu Immortals' blockade around the super dream realm, and rescue the Ghost Sovereign You Hun.
Southern Border.
The Sword Escape Immortal Gu activated!
Whoosh.
Fang Yuan's figure was like a sword, razor-sharp as it pierced through the sky, trailing a long white cloud tail behind him.
If he had only used the Sword Escape Immortal Gu, there naturally wouldn't have been such a conspicuous cloud tail.
The problem was that Fang Yuan's injuries at this moment were severe.
Wounds so deep the bone was visible had crystallized with dense Cloud Path Dao marks upon them, constantly billowing out waves of white cloud energy.
Fang Yuan's complexion was pale as paper, his brows tightly furrowed.
And behind him, over ten li away, a massive horde of ancient Cloud Beasts was in furious pursuit.
These primordial Cloud Beasts were the very ones responsible for all of Fang Yuan's injuries.
Although Fang Yuan possessed a Seventh Transformation Flying Sword Immortal Gu, he was utterly helpless against these Cloud Beasts that could gather and disperse at will, behaving much like mud monsters.
"It was said that when Bo Qing created the Myriad Sword Tribulation Immortal Gu killer move back in the day, he used the Flying Sword Immortal Gu as its core, splitting one into ten thousand to form a torrential assault like a rain of swords. Once I return to the Langya Blessed Land, I must find a similar Immortal Gu killer move and never suffer this kind of disadvantage again!" Thoughts like these had already churned through Fang Yuan's mind countless times.