Gu Yue First Generation's laughter grew even more hearty, then suddenly stopped. He turned his head to look at Heavenly Crane Superior and spoke with hatred: "Junior Brother, never imagined there'd be a day like this, did you? We were both orphans, taken in by Master, but from childhood to adulthood, Master always favored you."
"Why? Was it not because your aptitude was Grade A, while mine was only Grade C?"
"You had Grade A aptitude, so of course your cultivation advanced rapidly. Do you have any idea how many times more sweat and effort someone with my Grade C aptitude has to pour in just to barely keep pace with your steps? Though we were known as the Twin Cranes of the Righteous Path, it was always you in the lead and me in the shadows, you the dazzling and brilliant one! All because you were a Grade A genius!"
"And then you got lucky on top of everything, receiving one of Blood Sea Patriarch's true inheritances. The Blood Skull Gu—capable of slaying one's own kin, purifying them into Blood Spring essence, irrigating the Empty Orifice, and elevating one's aptitude. Do you know what I felt at that moment? That Blood Skull Gu was my only hope! My day-and-night obsession, the hope that kept me tossing and turning! With it, I could change my life, change my destiny!"
"But it was mine, mine!" Heavenly Crane Superior stamped his foot and cursed.
"Yes, it was yours." Gu Yue First Generation nodded. "You had great aptitude, and great fortune too. We set out together, fought enemies side by side. But Heaven only showed favor to you, letting you obtain the true inheritance. Do you know? Watching your smug expression, listening to your plans for the future, I—who was forcing a smile—suddenly saw the truth."
"Heaven favors you, gives you Grade A aptitude, gives you the Blood Sea true inheritance. What could I do? I'm nothing but a Grade C. On my own, how could I ever succeed? I could only snatch, only seize! Turn what didn't belong to me into mine! Heaven had already laid out a fate for me—to be content beneath others, to be someone else's shadow! I refused to accept it! Why me? Why am I below while you're above?"
At this point, Gu Yue First Generation actually began to whimper and sob.
The Blood Ghost Corpse was terrifying enough on its own, and now it produced such an eerie sound, sending even colder chills through everyone's hearts.
"Since Heaven doesn't favor me, Master doesn't dote on me, and no one else believes in me, I can only favor myself more, believe in myself more, rely on myself more. I can only work harder, take greater risks, strive even more fiercely! Only then could I achieve anything! But the Righteous Path speaks of order, speaks of ethics, speaks of loyalty, speaks of seniority, speaks of rank. Someone like me—a nobody with no background, no talent, no resources—tell me, what do I have to succeed with?"
"Follow the Righteous Path, and all I can do is be exploited and oppressed, looking up at you noblemen, you geniuses. All I can do is grind away through the ranks until I'm old and decrepit, having achieved barely anything. So that's the Righteous Path... What a load of garbage, the Righteous Path!"
"Only by becoming a demon—casting aside ethics and loyalty, abandoning worldly rules, paying a terrible price—can one forge a new path, cutting through the thorns to carve out a road that belongs to me! So I plotted against you, stole your Blood Sea true inheritance, and became a demon. Ha ha, then let me become a demon!"
Then let me become a demon...
Then let me become a demon...
The voice echoed endlessly within the blood dome.
Outside the dome, Heavenly Crane Superior stood in silence.
Gu Yue First Generation stopped laughing and unleashed his killing arts once more. A great number of Gu Masters were slaughtered, their blood entirely absorbed by the Blood Skull Gu, then refined into Blood Spring essence that poured into Gu Yue First Generation's Empty Orifice, elevating his aptitude.
The higher one's aptitude, the more True Essence the Empty Orifice could store.
The more Guye clansmen Gu Yue First Generation killed, the higher his aptitude rose. After consuming Yuan Stones, the True Essence he could store grew ever greater, and his combat power became even more formidable.
Outside the blood dome, Heavenly Crane Superior was burning with anxiety, but the Blood Curtain Heaven was like an impassable chasm—he could only gaze at it and sigh, wanting to intervene yet utterly powerless.
In the end, only a mere handful of people remained within the dome.
"Kid, you took the Heavenly Origin Treasure Lotus, didn't you? Here's your chance to redeem yourself—hand it over obediently, and I'll spare your life!" Gu Yue First Generation advanced step by step, his overwhelming killing intent locked firmly onto Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan knew that hope of survival was slim at this moment, yet his expression didn't change. He sneered: "That kind of rubbish might fool a three-year-old. Humph, take one more step and I'll destroy the Heavenly Origin Treasure Lotus. You should know—this Gu was refined by me, and with a single thought I can make it self-destruct. Do as you see fit."
Gu Yue First Generation's steps slowed, but he quickly resumed his steady advance toward Fang Yuan.
"Kid, you've got nerve, and you're clever too. That's right—you're my descendant, and I need your blood to elevate my aptitude. Of course I won't let you go. What a pity, back then I used the Blood Seed Gu to purify my descendants' bloodlines, hoping to produce a descendant with the Guye Yin Desolate Physique. If such a genius were born and I took all their blood, my aptitude would skyrocket to ninety-nine percent Grade A!"
"If such a one had existed, I might have spared the lot of you. But you were unfortunate. Heh heh—the thing I can least tolerate is being pressured by others. Losing the Heavenly Origin Treasure Lotus is one thing, but now you can just die!"
Before his words had even faded, his wings spread behind him, and his body shot forward like lightning. In the blink of an eye, he appeared before Fang Yuan.
He thrust out his right hand to seize him. In that instant, Fang Yuan's pupils contracted sharply, every hair on his body standing on end, and he frantically retreated.
But how could one so easily evade a Fifth Transformation powerhouse? Just as the ghostly claw was about to reach him, an icy hand suddenly thrust in from the side.
Boom.
In the collision, the ice hand shattered, cold energy spilling in all directions, and Gu Yue First Generation was forced back a single step.
"Bai Ningbing?!" Fang Yuan turned his head, somewhat startled to see who had intervened.
Bai Ningbing retracted his broken arm. Cold energy billowed from the wound, and in an instant it froze into an ice hand once more, fully restored. Only it no longer reverted to flesh and blood—he was already on the very brink of the Ten Extremes limit.
"I never expected I'd get such an exhilarating death. What a pity I won't see the true ending of this battle!" Bai Ningbing sighed deeply, then suddenly smiled, his pair of ghostly blue eyes turning to Fang Yuan. "Fang Yuan, you and I are the same kind of person. I'm as good as dead. If you die too, that would truly be a waste. I'll protect you, but on one condition."
Though Bai Ningbing was only at the Third Transformation, he was close to death, and his combat power was climbing ever higher, surging like a geyser. The only one who might have any hope of defeating Gu Yue First Generation was him!
"Oh? What condition?" Fang Yuan's eyes flashed.