Northern Plains.
An endless grassland stretched out, vast beyond measure.
The sky was clear and cloudless for thousands of miles, seeming utterly empty. In truth, however, three Gu Immortals had concealed their presence, floating in midair.
"According to Fairy Zi Wei's calculations, this should be the point closest to the Langya Blessed Land," the leading male Gu Immortal thought to himself.
If any Northern Plains Gu Immortal were to see this man's face, they would gasp in shock: "Feng Xian Tai Zi!"
Indeed, this man was one of the five publicly known Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals of the Northern Plains — Feng Xian Tai Zi.
The times had changed. The Snow Beard Ancestor, once the foremost among all Eighth Transformation cultivators, had vanished without a trace along with his wife following the destruction of the Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land.
The Medicine Emperor, Grand Supreme Elder of the Yao Family, had been selected by Eternal Heaven. He relinquished his family's heavy responsibilities and became the new generation's Southern Desolation Immortal within Eternal Heaven.
The Centipede Heavenly Lord had once been an independent immortal, but he had now seized the Black Family's territory, established the Centipede Family as a superpower, and joined the Righteous Path.
The Five Elements Grand Mage remained trapped inside Eternal Heaven's Immortal Gu House — the Fate Tribulation Altar.
With the Heavenly Court Gu Immortals' invasion and Eternal Heaven's emergence into the world, the Centipede Heavenly Lord's transition from independent to righteous, and the Snow Beard Ancestor's disappearance, the entire Northern Plains had practically become a realm of the Righteous Path — bright and glorious. Demonic Path Gu Immortals were all living with their heads down.
Among the five great Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals, only Feng Xian Tai Zi remained as steady as ever, with no upheaval whatsoever.
His identity was, in fact, extremely peculiar. On the surface, he was a surname-outsider Eighth Transformation cultivator — the Grand Supreme Elder of the Gong Family, husband of Gong Wanting. But beneath that veneer, he held yet another identity: he was a chess piece laid down long ago by Ling Yuan Zhai within the Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world — the highest-ranking spy Central Continent had in the Northern Plains!
Fairy Zi Wei had been planning for a long time. In this operation to send Feng Jiuge and his team on a surprise raid against the Langya Blessed Land, besides Chen Yi's overt support force, she had also activated this crucial hidden piece in the shadows — Feng Xian Tai Zi.
"My lord, the closest place to us is the Pine Tail Ridge, one of the ten great forbidden zones of the Northern Plains. The Langya Blessed Land is very likely concealed there," said a Sixth Transformation female immortal standing beside Feng Xian Tai Zi.
Feng Xian Tai Zi had two handmaidens by his side, and thanks to his fearsome reputation, they too had become renowned throughout the Northern Plains.
Their names were Le Yao and You Lan Jian Shi — both were Gu Immortals of Ling Yuan Zhai. The one who had just spoken was Le Yao, clad in yellow robes, delicate and lovely.
You Lan Jian Shi had stayed behind at base this time and had not accompanied Feng Xian Tai Zi.
Feng Xian Tai Zi gave a slight nod. He had come to the same conclusion.
His gaze shifted, coming to rest on the Gu Immortal beside him. Standing on Feng Xian Tai Zi's other side was — unexpectedly — a Sixth Transformation hairy man Gu Immortal!
This hairy man Gu Immortal stared with dull, vacant eyes, motionless as a sculpture, clearly held firmly under Feng Xian Tai Zi's absolute control.
If the Langya Earth Spirit or any other hairy man Gu Immortal of the Langya faction were present and saw this person, they would surely blurt out his identity on the spot.
This hairy man Gu Immortal was someone from within the Langya Blessed Land itself.
After the Battle of Yitian Mountain, the Langya Earth Spirit had helped Fang Yuan transfer away the assets from the Fox Immortal Blessed Land.
Fang Yuan had obtained the Supreme Immortal Body and wished to return to the Northern Plains, but was pursued and hunted.
To rendezvous with Fang Yuan, the Langya Earth Spirit had proactively dispatched two hairy man Gu Immortals. But one of the two had died, and the other had mysteriously vanished.
As it turned out, the missing hairy man had experienced an entirely different fate. He had recently been captured alive by Feng Xian Tai Zi, and the intelligence extracted through torture from him became the crucial key to Fairy Zi Wei's calculations to locate the Langya Blessed Land.
It was precisely because he knew the terrain and landscape within the Langya Blessed Land that the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent were able to deploy an Immortal-level killing move, sending Feng Jiuge and his team directly inside.
Le Yao furrowed her brows slightly, a note of worry in her voice. "Judging by the timeline, Feng Jiuge's group should have been infiltrating for quite some time by now. How come there's still no word? Could they have run into trouble?"
Feng Xian Tai Zi contemplated for a moment. "Trouble, of course, there will be. Even though we possess extensive intelligence on the Langya Blessed Land and hold the upper hand through knowing both ourselves and our enemy, this is the world's foremost Blessed Land — originating from the Long Hair Ancestor — with depths that are unfathomable. There will inevitably be some unexpected trump cards."
Le Yao's frown deepened. "This time, Central Continent only dispatched a handful of Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals to attack the Langya Blessed Land. Isn't that somewhat... overconfident?"
Feng Xian Tai Zi laughed aloud. "That's because you don't understand Feng Jiuge."
"Oh?" Le Yao looked surprised.
Feng Xian Tai Zi gazed into the distance and let out a wistful sigh. "I, Feng Xian Tai Zi, could be considered a man of extraordinary talent. I began my cultivation at thirteen, achieved the Fourth Transformation at sixteen, and reached the peak of the Fifth Transformation at eighteen. After accepting my sect's great mission, I came to the Northern Plains to develop on my own. In three years, I became a Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal, and thereafter passed through tribulation after tribulation without a single defeat. I roamed the Northern Plains, joined the Gong Family, and after a hundred years achieved the Eighth Transformation. Though I walked on thin ice the entire way, who in the Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world ever saw through my identity?"
"I used to take great pride in that, harboring a secret arrogance — because what I relied on was not my sect's covert support, but my own efforts. I strategized, pulled strings, leveraged connections in every direction, and ultimately reached the Eighth Transformation! But then one day, I met Feng Jiuge, and only then did I realize I was his inferior. Compared to me, he is the truly worthy Son of Heaven — his talent is so great it can astound this entire era!"
Le Yao was utterly astonished.
In the upper echelons of Ling Yuan Zhai, there had long been a saying from the early days: "The Northern Phoenix and the Central Phoenix — two phoenixes soaring together, Ling Yuan Zhai shines bright." It referred to the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal Feng Xian Tai Zi and the Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal Feng Jiuge.
Several Grand Supreme Elders of Ling Yuan Zhai who knew Feng Xian Tai Zi's true identity had once believed that the sect's future achievements would primarily rest on the shoulders of these two.
They placed Feng Xian Tai Zi and Feng Jiuge side by side. But since Feng Xian Tai Zi was at the Eighth Transformation and ranked at the top, Feng Jiuge was valued more for his potential.
To have a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal mentioned in the same breath as their master at the Eighth Transformation — Le Yao and You Lan Jian Shi had once been quite indignant about it. Even Feng Xian Tai Zi himself had been displeased and had once written back to challenge those core Grand Supreme Elders of Ling Yuan Zhai.
However, as time passed, Le Yao and You Lan Jian Shi gradually came to a new understanding of the matter.
As for Feng Xian Tai Zi's own change of heart, it came from that one encounter with Feng Jiuge.
Years ago, not long after the 88-Cornered True Yang Tower had collapsed, Feng Jiuge had led several Central Continent Gu Immortals to the Northern Plains to investigate the truth. As Ling Yuan Zhai's most important chess piece in the Northern Plains' Gu Immortal world, Feng Xian Tai Zi had secretly received Feng Jiuge.