Heavenly Court.
A thousand layers of celestial halls, still as radiant and magnificent as ever.
In the great hall, Zi Wei Fairy slowly opened her eyes. A flash of purple light flickered through her beautiful pupils and vanished in an instant.
Then she furrowed her brow slightly, her voice ethereal as she murmured to herself, "The Fixed Space Immortal Gu has self-destructed."
After taking charge of the Star Constellation Chessboard, Zi Wei Fairy had become one of the top three Wisdom Path powerhouses among Gu Immortals. When she dispatched Liu Hao and Jun Shenguang to deal with Fang Yuan, how could she not have guarded against his Great Thief Ghost Hand?
A fall in the pit, a gain in your wit — the Fixed Travel Immortal Gu had been stolen right from under her nose by Fang Yuan from Feng Jiuge's body. Zi Wei would not make that mistake a second time.
"Yuan Qiongdu." Immediately, Zi Wei connected with this newly ascended Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal of Heavenly Court.
"Lady Zi Wei." Yuan Qiongdu responded at once.
"Go and refine a replacement Fixed Space Gu," Zi Wei instructed coolly.
Yuan Qiongdu's expression shifted subtly. He himself had been the one to inscribe Refinement Path dao marks onto the Fixed Space Gu and related items earlier, so he understood the implications.
Zi Wei's words meant only one thing — Liu Hao was as good as dead.
Liu Hao and Yuan Qiongdu hailed from the same ancient sect. Yuan Qiongdu hesitated briefly before asking, "Might I ask, Lady Zi Wei — Liu Hao, he..."
"Most likely captured alive by Fang Yuan. But I would honestly prefer that Fang Yuan killed him," Zi Wei said, her tone detached and cold — strikingly similar to how Fang Yuan had extorted the Righteous Path of the Southern Border!
Yuan Qiongdu looked momentarily stunned, then quickly grasped the reasoning.
Zi Wei's words were not born of personal grudge or a wish for Liu Hao's death. Rather, if Liu Hao was captured alive, it meant the other Southern Border immortals had been captured by Fang Yuan as well.
If Fang Yuan had killed Liu Hao, the others would likely be no different. In that case, Fang Yuan and the Southern Border Righteous Path would have a blood feud of irreconcilable depth — no possibility of compromise or cooperation would remain. The Southern Border had already suffered tremendous losses in the Battle of Righteous Heaven Mountain and the Dream Battle. If a batch of Southern Border immortals were now slaughtered by Fang Yuan on top of that, their vital force would be truly crippled. The entire Gu Immortal world's strength and reserves would sink to last place among the Five Regions.
When the era of chaotic warfare across the Five Regions arrived and the boundary walls dissolved, the Central Continent could strike against the Southern Border first.
Once the Southern Border was absorbed by the Central Continent, holding two regions and already possessing the greatest strength, the Central Continent would immediately tower over the remaining three — an overwhelming advantage. The entire strategic landscape would shift, no longer the old predicament of being besieged on all fronts!
Compared to this grand design, what was the sacrifice of a mere Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal like Liu Hao?
Understanding this, the shock on Yuan Qiongdu's face dissipated. He bowed and said, "I will go at once to rush-refine the Fixed Space Gu and related items."
Yuan Qiongdu had long been prepared for this. He was himself an Eighth Transformation cultivator, and with the aid of Heavenly Court's great Refinement Path formation, producing a replacement Fixed Space Immortal Gu and its kin should be a near certainty.
Yet in the depths of Zi Wei Fairy's heart, a sense of unease lingered ceaselessly.
For a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal, such unease was an omen.
The three fundamental elements of Wisdom Path were thought, intent, and emotion.
The rising, shifting, and extinguishing of emotions might mean nothing more than the passing joys and sorrows of ordinary cultivators. But for a Wisdom Path Gu Immortal, they held an entirely different significance.
"Could it be that I've overlooked something? What is it that unsettles me so?" Zi Wei settled her mind, took up the Star Constellation Chessboard, and dove into deep divination.
After a long while, she slowly opened her eyes, a flicker of puzzlement crossing her face.
The result of her calculation was identical to what she had determined before.
"The true key to Fang Yuan's successful ambush lay in the very first step — luring the Southern Border immortals into the Time Path grand formation."
"This was not his own doing. It was the Shadow Sect, long ago, that had arranged this Time Path formation near the Time branch flow, integrating it with the natural dao marks."
Fang Yuan possessed the attainment realm of a Formation Path Grandmaster. At most, he could construct immortal formations using immortal materials.
Only upon reaching the level of Formation Path Grand Conmaster could one weave immortal formations based on the natural dao marks of the external environment.
The Shadow Sect certainly did not lack such individuals, and so they had set up the Time Path formation long in advance near the branch flow of the River of Time, concealing it thoroughly.
Such formations, built upon natural dao marks, could save on the use of immortal Gu — but they had their drawbacks.
The primary disadvantage was that, depending on the specific distribution, arrangement, and other conditions of the natural dao marks, the resulting Time Path formation would differ each time.
A Gu Immortal deploying such a formation not only needed their own design sense but had to adapt to the local conditions. In a different location with different Time Path dao marks, this particular kind of highly effective concealing formation simply could not be replicated.
Therefore, the terrifying result of Fang Yuan's successful ambush and capture of the Southern Border immortals could not be reproduced a second time.
This was something Zi Wei Fairy had spent an enormous price to determine, combining the critical clues brought back by Jun Shenguang with painstaking divination.
"Without an immortal formation to restrain them, even if Fang Yuan detonated a Pure Dream Reality Seeker Body, the dream expansion would be slow enough for the Gu Immortals to flee at their leisure."
"If he used an immortal battlefield — unless it was a Dream Path battlefield — the formations of other paths would first be corroded by the dream and collapse."
"Therefore, Fang Yuan's tactic of exploiting dreams does not pose a significant threat."
"Then what is the source of my unease? Could it be... Demon Venerable You Hun?"
At this thought, Zi Wei Fairy rose from her seat and left the great hall, heading toward a certain location within Heavenly Court.
Demon Venerable You Hun was there. The self-destruction of Soul-Shaking Mountain had given him an opportunity to leverage the soul path dao marks to protect himself, holding on in desperate defiance.