Awooo!
In the depths of Black Heaven, an Ancient soul beast was fleeing in panic.
The creature was shaped like a horse but bore a human face. Yet at this moment, that human face was twisted in sheer terror and horror.
The Ancient soul beast fled desperately, running for its life without direction, but its movements quickly slowed, and the wailing from its mouth rapidly faded away.
After a few breaths, it froze completely in midair, floating silently beneath the thick curtain of night.
Soundlessly, its massive hill-sized body gradually dissipated, revealing a Gu Immortal within.
This Gu Immortal had a pale complexion and black hair hanging to his chest—none other than Demon Venerable Spectral Soul.
Demon Venerable Spectral Soul held a soul core in his hand, the condensed essence of the Ancient soul beast's entire Soul Path cultivation. But he was not satisfied. He placed the soul core into his mouth and, much like chewing on broad beans, crunched it a few times before swallowing.
"Without a Soul Path killer move to assist, it will still take some time to fully digest." Demon Venerable Spectral Soul snorted coldly in displeasure.
Ever since parting ways with Elder Zheng Yuan and Fairy Zi Wei, he had been hunting soul beasts throughout Black Heaven.
However, whether due to bad luck or because the qi tide had wiped out too many living beings, he had encountered very few soul beasts.
Thus far, every soul beast he had come across had been alone, or at most a small group of three to five. It almost made him wonder whether this was truly still Black Heaven!
"This efficiency is far too low!" Demon Venerable Spectral Soul pressed on.
"If my realm were still intact, I could locate an army of soul beasts with nothing but intuition. Even Fang Yuan wouldn't be able to escape my perception. Alas, now everything must start from scratch!"
"Still, at least Fate Gu has been destroyed. Heavenly Will can no longer prevent me from returning to the position of Venerable. Once I have achieved it, we shall see who dares to show their head. Even if it be another Venerable, I will make heads roll."
"Hmm?" After sneaking along for a while, a flash of joy crossed Demon Venerable Spectral Soul's face before vanishing.
He had finally discovered an army of soul beasts.
He crept closer and found that this army numbered over three million strong. Not only was the quantity impressive, but even more pleasing to Spectral Soul was their quality.
A single casual glance revealed five or six Primordial soul beasts and over thirty Ancient soul beasts!
"Kill!" A thirst for slaughter surged within Demon Venerable Spectral Soul. He was about to charge when he noticed something else.
This discovery gave him a mild surprise: "Why are there Soul Path Gu Immortals?"
Three Gu Immortals were positioned at the center of the soul beast army, directing it.
The three Gu Immortals comprised two men and one woman.
The woman stood at the heart of the formation, clearly the leader. Her appearance was plain, her eyes gray, and the aura of an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal radiated from her naturally.
Of the two male immortals, one was burly in build, clad in armor, his sturdy bare arms adorned with soul beast tattoos. The other was tall and thin, carrying a bamboo staff.
All three wore black robes of a similar design, clearly from the same organization.
"These are Black Heaven's Gu Immortals." Demon Venerable Spectral Soul quickly discerned the three immortals' auras and smiled coldly. Abandoning his earlier plan to charge in directly, he slipped stealthily into the soul beast army instead.
Maintaining control over the soul beast army was no easy task. Both male immortals showed signs of strain, sweat beading on their foreheads.
The Eighth Transformation female immortal appeared to have been resting until now. She spoke: "Stop first. Let me take over commanding the army."
Upon hearing this, both male immortals visibly relaxed. The tall, thin one began to flatter: "Only you, Aunt, could command a soul beast army of this scale. Even if the two of us trained diligently for eight lifetimes, we wouldn't match even half your ability."
The Eighth Transformation female immortal glanced at him and said unhappily: "If you still can't catch up to me after eight lifetimes of training, you might as well just kill yourself!"
"Uh." The tall man instantly realized his flattery had backfired, and an awkward look crossed his face.
The female immortal sighed. "You two are the Gu Immortals of our clan most likely to advance further, after me. Now that Fate Gu has been destroyed, we must take charge of our own destinies. The great era has arrived—the stable, peaceful life of the past is gone forever. You must have the drive to advance. If you lack even this awareness, our Pacified Soul Grotto-Heaven will inevitably be swept away by the tide of the era!"
"You speak truly, Aunt." The tall man nodded hastily.
As for the burly male immortal, he had remained silent throughout.
The female immortal sighed again and continued: "The Five Regions have unified. The yin and yang qi of Heaven and Earth have merged, generating qi tides that sweep across the entire world—even the Black and White Heavens cannot escape their effects. Wherever the qi tides reach, Heaven and Earth tremble, and grotto-heavens can no longer conceal themselves—their locations are exposed. This time, the meeting of Black Heaven's grotto-heaven Gu Immortals is to discuss how to respond to this situation. When the time comes, the two of you won't merely represent yourselves—you also carry the reputation of our Pacified Soul Grotto-Heaven. Remember this well."
"Yes, Aunt. Rest assured, we will engrave this upon our hearts!" the two immortals responded respectfully.
What the three immortals did not know was that while they were talking, Demon Venerable Spectral Soul had silently crept up beside them and overheard every single word of their conversation.
"So that's how it is." Demon Venerable Spectral Soul's mind stirred. "With the yin and yang qi of Heaven and Earth merging, the grotto-heavens hidden within the Black and White Heavens have also been affected. The underlying reason is the same as why the Five Regions Gu Immortals have had to retreat and recuperate. It's just that the Five Regions Gu Immortals were affected more deeply—these are, after all, the Two Heavens, so the impact is lesser, and Gu Immortals can still barely move about."
Within the Black and White Heavens, numerous grotto-heavens had always remained hidden. The number of these grotto-heavens was so great that even Spectral Soul could hardly estimate them.
This time, the unprecedented cataclysm in Heaven and Earth meant these grotto-heavens could no longer remain hidden—like fish blasted out of the water by an explosion.
Spectral Soul immediately saw this as an excellent opportunity. He continued to conceal himself and followed the three immortals onward.