"Kee kee kee." Black Rabbit let out an eerie laugh, her once-cute features twisted into a hideous grimace.
Her eyes, once pure and clear, now brimmed with cunning light. Deep dark circles hung beneath them, as though she had stayed up half a month straight. Her eyeshadow was thick and heavy, like two black butterfly wings extending from the corners of her eyes and slicing diagonally into her temples.
Though her appearance had not changed all that much, her sinister and ruthless bearing was a world apart from the innocent, cute, and helpless girl she had been before.
"The White Rabbit True Inheritance is rather interesting." Radiance erupted from Fang Yuan's body.
After the glow faded, Fang Yuan had transformed into an enormous turtle.
Righteous Path Killing Move — Divination Turtle Transformation.
Pfft.
Chi Gui, the Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal of the Gu Formation path, spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.
"Damn it, damn it," he cursed ceaselessly, his eyes fixed straight ahead, where the shattered remnants of an Immortal Gu hovered.
This Immortal Gu had already sustained damage from Zuo Yehui's earlier attack.
Just now, when Chi Gui had tried to activate the second layer of the Super Gu Formation, the Immortal Gu had finally reached its breaking point and violently collapsed.
The failure of the Gu Formation activation could even trigger a chain reaction, causing other Immortal Gu to take damage.
Chi Gui had immediately substituted himself, using his own body to absorb the backlash from the formation's collapse. He had managed to save the Gu Formation.
But he was now severely wounded.
"Is it serious?" Ba De hurried forward to check.
Chi Gui forced himself to swallow the blood in his mouth, his face deathly pale: "Very serious. This destroyed Immortal Gu was one of the pillars. The second layer of the Gu Formation contains over three hundred thousand Gu Insects, but only four Immortal Gu hold that level of importance. We need to find a replacement, and then activate the second layer. This formation is structured in cascading layers — without the second layer, the innermost first layer cannot be established either."
He paused, then shouted with an anxious expression: "Does anyone else have an Earth Path Immortal Gu? Bring it to me now. This is a life-or-death moment!"
Beside him, Ba Quanfeng and Ba De exchanged a helpless glance.
The former was a Wind Path Gu Immortal, and the latter, Ba De, specialized in the Wood Path. Neither of them carried an Earth Path Immortal Gu.
While Chi Gui treated his injuries, Ba De and Ba Quanfeng went one by one to ask the others.
They asked individually because they wanted to keep this bad news as quiet as possible. After all, morale affected combat power — the fewer people who knew, the better.
Fortunately, among the Five Regions, the Southern Border typically had the largest number of Earth Path Gu Immortals.
Before long, several people volunteered to contribute their Earth Path Immortal Gu.
Chi Gui examined their options — none of them were good choices — but he could only pick the best of a bad lot, settling on the one closest to the original.
Chi Gui's injuries had not yet healed, but he disregarded them entirely.
"Next, I'm going to devote all my energy to working out a way to integrate this Earth Path Immortal Gu into the entire formation. My safety is in your hands now."
This was unquestionably an extremely risky move — essentially entrusting his life completely to others.
But Chi Gui's expression was resolute, without the slightest hesitation.
He knew he had no way out. He had to race against time. He had to gamble.
Ba De's face was grave as he slowly nodded: "I promise you — I will defend you with my life, even if Zuo Yehui himself comes, he will have to step over my corpse first."
This was no empty platitude. In the current situation, even with Ba De's considerable combat strength, he was no match for Zuo Yehui and could hardly change the tide of battle.
He was no Feng Jiuge, nor did he possess something like Fang Yuan's Reverse Flow Protection Amulet.
Ba De did not even know that a Wu Clan Immortal Gu House was already on its way.
But ever since the Shadow Sect's surprise assault began, he had immediately used his informational path methods to notify the Ba Clan.
The others had done the same. Hold the line and wait for reinforcements — that was the only lifeline in Ba De's mind.
And so, Chi Gui poured all his focus and attention into the Gu Formation. Ba De, recognized as the strongest combatant, took overall command of the defensive line and coordinated the defense. Now that the Wu and Qiao Clans had suffered setbacks and their prestige had plummeted, Ba De of the Ba Clan had become the most suitable leader.
Ba De did not shrink from this opportunity. As the strongest force protecting Chi Gui, he positioned himself at the rear, sweeping his gaze across the battlefield.
On the whole, the Righteous Path's defensive line was still holding.
The elite Righteous Path Gu Immortals, relying on the half-crippled Gu Formation, were able to retreat in an orderly fashion.
The Demonic Path Gu Immortals were pressing forward aggressively, but there were few true powerhouses among them. It was not that the Southern Border lacked strong demonic or lone cultivators — rather, the great battle at Yitian Mountain before this had already claimed a heavy toll on their ranks.
Though the Righteous Path had also suffered considerable losses in that battle, compared to the Demonic Path, the Righteous Path was far more stable. It possessed abundant resources, making it far easier to cultivate powerful Gu Immortals.
It was easy to foresee that, barring some extraordinary circumstance, if this trend continued, the Southern Border's Righteous Path would overwhelmingly dominate the Demonic Path and the lone cultivators for the foreseeable future.
Ba De's gaze lingered briefly on the three battlefronts — Fairy Miaoyin, Hei Loulan, and Bai Ningbing — swept past the others, and finally settled on Fang Yuan.
"Wu Yihai," he murmured the name silently, a swell of complex emotions rising within him.