Shocking!
Witnessing Fang Yuan's solitary might at the Eighth Transformation as he fought against many, every Gu Immortal present felt a jolt of disbelief.
The immortals had come here to intercept Fang Yuan—to disrupt his tribulation and prevent him from reaching the Eighth Transformation.
But none had expected that at their very next encounter, Fang Yuan would already possess Eighth Transformation cultivation.
This development caught everyone completely off guard.
"When did he achieve the Eighth Transformation?!" Chi Qu You's eyes widened slightly, unable to believe it.
"It's not strange that he can use the Spring Scissors and Summer Fan. The key point is that these two killing moves received powerful amplification from Time Dao marks, blocking all attacks. Even if Fang Yuan became an Eighth Transformation, how could he possibly have such abundant Time Dao marks in such a short time? I think it's far more likely that he replaced Xia Cha's physical body and used the Familiar Face killing move to disguise himself, attempting to deceive us into thinking he's already completed his tribulation." Shang Wu Jie forced himself to remain calm, analyzing rapidly.
"That's wrong! Our clan Supreme Grand Elder's Spring and Summer Immortal Gu are both at the Eighth Transformation level—only Eighth Transformation Immortal Essence can activate them!" Xia Zhao, the Supreme Second Elder of the Xia family, shouted.
"This..." Shang Wu Jie immediately faltered.
Immortal Essence contained one's own will. Only the person themselves, or the Heavenly Spirit or Earthly Spirit formed after their death, could use their own Immortal Essence.
The sole exception was an Immortal Gu House, which could accept Immortal Essence input from any source. But Fang Yuan's previous two killing moves were clearly not from an Immortal Gu House.
If Fang Yuan were only at the Seventh Transformation, with only Red Date Immortal Essence, he absolutely could not have activated the Spring and Summer Immortal Gu—even if he had replaced Xia Cha's body and obtained Xia Cha's Immortal Essence.
"Overthinking is pointless. Kill Fang Yuan, and we'll probably find out!" Wu Yong bellowed.
He shot forward like lightning. The Ancient Year Beast behind him crashed to the ground, never to rise again.
At this critical moment, Wu Yong demonstrated formidable combat power, being the first to slay the Ancient Year Beast that Fang Yuan had deployed. He went all out to engage Fang Yuan.
"Fang Yuan!" Wu Yong's gaze was icy, battle intent surging wildly. His roar cracked like thunder. "Even if you truly ascended to the Eighth Transformation, you will not escape today. The Five Realms Mountain Range you so carefully chose will be your burial ground!"
The moment his words fell, the entire mountain range began to tremble violently.
In an instant, the earth shook and mountains swayed. Shattered rock flew in every direction.
"What's going on?!" The immortals cried out in alarm.
Wu Yong's voice immediately echoed in their ears: "Everyone, there is no need for concern. This is a contingency I specifically arranged—it can alter the direction of the earth veins beneath the entire Five Realms Mountain Range, causing the whole range to collapse!"
The immortals' confusion only deepened.
What good would changing the earth veins do?
But soon, they watched with delighted surprise as the distinctive multicolored light qi of the Five Realms Mountain Range rapidly dissipated along with the crumbling range, vanishing into nothing.
"This?!" Even Jun Shenguang's face showed a flash of astonishment.
"Excellent! Without these restrictions, our combat power can return to full strength—we'll no longer be limited!" The Southern Border Gu Immortals were overjoyed.
"This Wu Yong really is different from Wu Du Xiu—he actually had this kind of contingency hidden away!" Shang Wu Jie's eyes gleamed.
"How is the Wu family so familiar with the Five Realms Mountain Range? Simply altering the earth veins could never achieve such an effect. They must know the crucial details of how Tao Zhu originally laid out this mountain range!" Chi Qu You's mind raced.
At the edge of the Five Realms Mountain Range, the grand formation assembled from Gu Immortals of the Wu and Qiao families rumbled continuously—it was the source of the cataclysmic changes to the entire range.
Qiao Si Liu, Wu Yu Bo, and others were stationed here.
Wu Yu Bo gazed toward the battlefield and sneered: "That demon Fang Yuan wanted to use the Five Realms Mountain Range to his advantage. Now let's see how he handles our Righteous Path siege once all his territorial advantage is gone!"
Qiao Si Liu remained silent, her expression somewhat conflicted.
She had once been very close with "Wu Yi Hai," at one point believing she would become his wife. The shocking upheaval that followed had far exceeded anything she could have imagined—Wu Yi Hai had actually been Fang Yuan in disguise. Whenever she thought about how close she had once been to this colossus of the Demonic Path, a chill ran down her spine.
There were no lingering feelings between her and Fang Yuan. What weighed on her mind was the Five Realms Mountain Range itself.
Everyone believed that Tao Zhu's research into the barriers between the Five Regions had yielded no results. But in truth, that was not the case.
The Qiao family had stumbled upon clues to Tao Zhu's inheritance and had been secretly exploring them, hoping to uncover the full legacy.
Unexpectedly, this intelligence had reached Wu Yong. Under his pressure, the Qiao family had been forced to surrender it—and it was ultimately used here.
It was precisely because of these clues that Wu Yong's faction had gained deep understanding of the Five Realms Mountain Range, enabling them to dissipate the Five Realms light qi by altering the earth veins. If anyone else had attempted this—randomly changing the earth veins—unless they were extraordinarily lucky, under normal circumstances the Five Realms light qi would still persist in abundance.
"Sigh... This was the inheritance of an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal, yet it was used here. With the Five Realms Mountain Range destroyed, virtually all future hope is buried along with it." Qiao Si Liu sighed heavily.
Though much has been described, in truth very little time had passed.
From the moment the Light of Alarm erupted from Jun Shenguang's body, to Fang Yuan appearing and pursuing him, to the Southern Border immortals attacking en masse, Fang Yuan blocking their assault and revealing his Eighth Transformation cultivation, to the rapid exchange among the Southern Border immortals, Wu Yong charging forward, the collapse of the Five Realms Mountain Range, and the loss of Fang Yuan's territorial advantage—
The entire sequence of dramatic events unfolded in the span of mere heartbeats.
Fang Yuan had blocked the Southern Border immortals' offensive, but his original intention remained unchanged. Even as Wu Yong bore down on him, he continued to pursue Jun Shenguang.
Jun Shenguang had unleashed his trump card killing move, his aura plummeting to its lowest ebb. His Solar Yang God was terrifyingly powerful—not only did it consume vast quantities of White Lychee Immortal Essence, but it also permanently dissipated his own Light Dao marks. It was inherently a desperate move that wounded the enemy at severe cost to oneself. And having used it within the Five Realms Mountain Range, he had suffered intense backlash. Though he had temporarily escaped, he was gravely injured.
But now, with the Five Realms light qi rapidly fading, Jun Shenguang felt a tremendous sense of relief washing over him. His greatest concern was instantly alleviated.
Watching Wu Yong charge toward Fang Yuan, a thought rose in Jun Shenguang's mind: Should I coordinate with the Southern Border Gu Immortals to jointly besiege Fang Yuan?
The thought had barely formed before Jun Shenguang swiftly dismissed it.
Keep running!
The situation was far too complex. He was not, after all, a Southern Border Gu Immortal. More critically—if Fang Yuan was chasing him and he managed to escape, that in itself constituted Fang Yuan's failure.
Jun Shenguang's choice to retreat in order to advance was exceedingly wise.
Fang Yuan continued to pursue him relentlessly, ignoring Wu Yong entirely.
Just at that moment, an abrupt and sudden change occurred.