BOOM!
A massive geyser burst violently from the previously calm river surface.
Compared to this geyser, Huang Shi Shang Ren flying through midair was like a fly beside a table leg.
Before the geyser even reached him, Huang Shi Shang Ren could feel it accelerating faster and faster!
Of course, this wasn't the truth. In reality, when a geyser erupted and reached its peak, its speed gradually slowed. The reason Huang Shi Shang Ren perceived the opposite was that his own speed was decreasing.
This was the River of Time. The eruption of a geyser caused the flow of time for surrounding existences to decelerate. In this way, anyone caught in the danger zone found it even harder to escape.
"Hmph." Huang Shi Shang Ren remained composed in the face of danger. At the critical moment, a flash of light briefly crossed his bald head.
In the next instant, his body returned completely to normal, and he retreated sharply, allowing the geyser to strike empty air.
BOOM!
Another thunderous explosion. The geyser missed Huang Shi Shang Ren and crashed onto the river surface, sending up enormous waves.
Huang Shi Shang Ren wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"This geyser carries the power of an Eighth Transformation killer move. Even I must be extremely careful. If struck, I would certainly be injured."
"And if I were to encounter a Ninth Transformation level geyser, severe injuries would be guaranteed — death would even be possible."
A heavy weight settled in Huang Shi Shang Ren's heart.
Although he was an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal, and fighting within the River of Time granted him a terrain advantage, he knew that Fang Yuan possessed Luck Path methods and might even hold a relatively complete True Inheritance of Universal Luck.
In a geyser segment like this, what one relied on besides raw strength was personal luck.
"Right now, I'm hunting Fang Yuan down, which puts him at a disadvantage. According to the subtleties of the Luck Path, this will inevitably make my pursuit rough and full of obstacles at every turn."
"Fang Yuan chose this route to make things difficult for me — a clever strategy."
"But..." Huang Shi Shang Ren's brow furrowed in puzzlement. "Even with the best of luck, could Fang Yuan possibly avoid every single geyser? The Ninth Transformation level geysers are rare, and he might not encounter them, but the Seventh Transformation ones are numerous, and the Eighth Transformation ones too. How did he get through? Did he rely entirely on the Reverse Flow Guardian Seal the whole way?"
If he had relied on the Reverse Flow Guardian Seal, this was actually excellent news for Huang Shi Shang Ren.
Because this geyser segment stretched for a considerable distance. If Fang Yuan had used this killer move to traverse the entire length, it would have caused an enormous consumption of Immortal Essence. This would naturally be advantageous for the upcoming battle between Huang Shi Shang Ren and Fang Yuan.
What Huang Shi Shang Ren hadn't guessed was that Fang Yuan had enslaved an Ancient Year Monkey to serve as a human shield.
Although Fang Yuan was able to control the Extreme Heaven Eagle, the Heavenly Court had attributed this to the Hei Fan True Inheritance. For a Slave Path Gu Immortal at the Seventh Transformation level to control an Eighth Transformation existence was already an astonishing feat.
But the truth involved the One Hundred Eighty Slave Path Killer Move and the shortcomings of the Flowing Water Year Immortal Gu.
The latter in particular — Hei Fan would never expose his own weaknesses. This secret was unknown to the Heavenly Court, which made it impossible for them to deduce that Fang Yuan possessed the ability to lure Ancient Year Beasts.
All of this combined ensured that the Heavenly Court remained unaware that Fang Yuan could command Ancient Year Beasts.
Half a cup of tea's time later, Huang Shi Shang Ren had completely flown out of the geyser segment.
Fairy Zi Wei's guidance reached him once more.
Huang Shi Shang Ren changed direction, his speed surging explosively as he once again gave chase after Fang Yuan's group.
A moment later, his figure abruptly halted as he stared ahead with alarm.
"A Yin Weave Spider!" Huang Shi Shang Ren's expression shifted as he cried out in a low voice.
Before him, an enormous spider of deathly pale color crouched motionless upon a massive web.
The spider's body was even larger than the geysers — like a mountain range, its limbs resembling rolling hills.
Compared to the spider, Huang Shi Shang Ren appeared all the more insignificant, like a mosquito before an elephant.
Even larger than the Yin Weave Spider was the massive web it rested upon.
This web had a crystalline quality — some strands were as fine as hair, others as thick as tree trunks. The entire structure was not a flat plane but woven into a three-dimensional cage resembling a forest.
Countless strands of spider silk, like tentacles or tree roots, plunged deep into the waters of the River of Time. No matter how fiercely the current battered them, these crystal silk strands remained utterly unmoved.
Vast quantities of spider silk branched off and interconnected, forming an enormous crystal web nest. The gaps between the strands, large and small, intersected into countless complex pathways.
Huang Shi Shang Ren's heart sank.
Could it really be true? Had Fang Yuan and his group actually passed through here to reach the Red Lotus True Inheritance?
He confirmed once more. The direction Fairy Zi Wei had pointed him was indeed this place.
This only deepened his conviction that this route had been deliberately planned by Fang Yuan and his group!
"Fang Yuan wants to use this natural barrier to make his pursuers give up the chase?" Huang Shi Shang Ren's face turned cold. With a soft snort, he flew into the massive crystal web nest.
Each Yin Weave Spider was an Ancient Desolation Beast, dominating a domain within the River of Time. Within its territory, even packs of Ancient Year Beasts wouldn't dare charge through recklessly.
It was one of the apex predators.
What the Yin Weave Spider relied on, besides its mountain-sized body, its unimaginably tremendous strength, and its razor-sharp mouthparts, was this crystal web nest.
Every strand of crystal silk in this nest was extraordinarily valuable. The ancient Gu Immortal sages had given it a rather poetic name, which had been used ever since:
Threads of Peaceful Years.
Any existence at the Seventh Transformation or below who touched these threads would fall into a state of frozen time, unable to move, leaving them to the slow Yin Weave Spider which would come to slowly consume them.