The aperture of his immortal aperture hung wide open, but the scale of heaven and earth qi it was drawing in had already diminished significantly.
"Hmm? A great enemy stands before us — why do you hesitate to press forward?" The Tie family Gu Immortal raised his brows and shouted at the Southern Border Gu Immortals.
A faint blush crept across many faces as they snapped back to their senses. Immediately, someone yelled, "Let's charge in together!"
"Fang Yuan, this demon, is still undergoing his tribulation! This battle is ours to win! Whoever flees the field shall be the greatest disgrace of the Southern Border's Righteous Path!"
"Exactly! Charge into his immortal aperture! Even if we die, we'll make sure this demon Fang Yuan suffers devastating losses!"
"Heh heh heh, why be so pessimistic? This demon extorted so many treasures — there must be peerless rarities inside his immortal aperture. Not to mention, there are quite a few Heaven and Earth Secret Realms in there!"
"Our clan's Gu Immortal is still held captive by him. We just don't know in which part they're being kept."
"I've already checked. There are no immortal formations in the vicinity at all." The monkey, Shua, stroked the little head of the Eight-Eared Monkey and spoke with absolute certainty.
The Southern Border Gu Immortals instantly breathed a sigh of relief.
Fang Yuan's grand formation had given the Southern Border Righteous Path enough misery. With that concern eliminated, their morale soared. Without delay, they each unleashed their abilities and charged toward the wide-open immortal aperture.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
But in the very next moment, an abrupt change erupted.
An extremely piercing series of buzzing shrieks rang across the battlefield, so sharp they nearly ruptured the eardrums of all present.
At the same time, a blindingly brilliant light burst outward. Many Southern Border Gu Immortals were caught completely off guard, their vision going entirely white as they were rendered temporarily blind.
The Southern Border Gu Immortals panicked and hastily took up defensive postures. Countless killer moves were launched toward the center of the radiance.
The figure at the center of the light was not Fang Yuan — it was Jun Shenguang!
His heart overflowed with shock, fury, and disbelief. "This killer move of mine is the Flash of Awareness — it only activates when I am about to face a lethal crisis. It is not under my active control! I was just about to sneak into Fang Yuan's immortal aperture, and the Flash of Awareness triggered! What is going on?! Could it be that this is still a massive trap Fang Yuan has set?!"
He was an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal. Even as he blocked the Southern Border Gu Immortals' frenzied bombardment, he explosively retreated.
"Heh heh heh — what impressive agility, my friend. But since you've come, why be in such a hurry to leave?" Fang Yuan's laughter drifted leisurely into Jun Shenguang's ears.
Jun Shenguang's heart lurched violently, and he cried out involuntarily, "Not good!"
He immediately felt an invisible force of suction clamp onto him, trying to drag him into Fang Yuan's immortal aperture.
In that instant, every last shred of doubt in Jun Shenguang's heart vanished without a trace. He was now absolutely certain — this was a trap Fang Yuan had set!
Jun Shenguang bellowed, disregarding the backlash from the Five Peaks Mountain, and frantically activated his immortal killer moves to resist the invisible suction force Fang Yuan had unleashed upon him.
He then deployed one of his signature techniques, his body transforming into a streak of strange light, ready to blast out of the battlefield.
Though the move succeeded and the strange light shot outward, its speed was absurdly slow — comparable to a snail or a turtle.
"Damn it — this is a Time Path technique!" Jun Shenguang immediately identified it, for this Time Path method had slowed his time by nearly a hundredfold.
A wave of horror crashed through Jun Shenguang's mind. "I am an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal, possessing Eighth Transformation Dao Marks — how can my time still be slowed to this degree? Fang Yuan's Time Path technique has reached the Eighth Transformation level, far exceeding all previous intelligence! How did he accomplish this?!"
"What's happening?!"
"I've been hit!"
"Time has slowed to a crawl, as if I'm mired in a swamp — someone think of something, quickly!"
The Southern Border Gu Immortals nearby suffered the same fate as Jun Shenguang.
"Heh heh heh — you came uninvited, and with such enthusiasm no less. Naturally, I must repay your kindness a hundredfold." With those words, Fang Yuan descended upon the battlefield.
Before them stood a Gu Immortal clad in flowing white robes, his green hair drifting in the wind. His features were strikingly handsome — almost beautiful — and his deep eyes were as dark as an abyss, his gaze cold as ice, brimming with terrifying killing intent.
Every Gu Immortal present knew this appearance all too well. Their bodies shook violently, faces draining of color.
Among the Southern Border group, someone cried out in a trembling voice, tongue fumbling with terror: "It's Fang Yuan!"
But Fang Yuan paid these Southern Border Seventh Transformation Gu Immortals no mind. His cold, predatory gaze fell upon Jun Shenguang.
Jun Shenguang's face flushed crimson as he poured every ounce of his strength into breaking free of the Time Path restraints binding him. His techniques were numerous, and his efforts bore remarkable fruit — the Time Path shackles Fang Yuan had placed upon him grew fewer and fewer, and Jun Shenguang's speed steadily increased.
Fang Yuan smiled faintly and slowly extended his left hand from within his wide sleeve.
His left hand was fair as jade. Five fingers unfurled with an elegant grace, like a white lotus blooming in slow motion.
A surge of Soul Path aura erupted violently, then in the next instant contracted sharply, condensing into a phantom at the center of Fang Yuan's left palm.
The phantom was strikingly lifelike — a miniature version of the Lost Soul Valley, shrunk by tens of millions of times.
The phantom of Lost Soul Valley rotated slowly of its own accord, and Fang Yuan's five fingers began to close gradually.
A frantic alarm blared through Jun Shenguang's mind. An unprecedented sense of danger enveloped his entire being. His eyes went wide, straining until the corners nearly split open.