Wild howling winds tore past his ears.
The Fire Plain Cave Lord streaked through the Primordial Daytime at breakneck speed.
He concealed his presence; to outside observers, only a vague silhouette flickered across the landscape. The one telltale sign was the scorching heat left in his wake, though the gale swept it away almost instantly.
The Fire Plain Cave Lord possessed Eighth Transformation cultivation, but even for someone of his caliber, navigating an environment like the Primordial Daytime demanded extreme caution.
A reckless display of power would draw the attention of Primordial Desolate Beasts — and the flame-path ones, in particular, would find him an irresistible target.
The Fire Plain Cave Lord was no pushover, of course; he simply had no appetite for trouble at the moment. Whenever he hunted Primordial Desolate Beasts in this realm, he always drew up a meticulous plan and prepared well in advance.
As he raced back toward the Fire Plain Grotto-Heaven, he turned his scrutiny inward.
The ant plague afflicting him had been suppressed — for now.
The Fire Plain Grotto-Heaven had been struck by the disaster long ago, and every Gu Immortal residing within had inevitably caught this vicious affliction.
The Path of Poison possessed characteristics of contagion and concealment; the Righteous Qi Alliance's decision to invite poison-path experts to study the problem had been entirely justified.
"The situation has finally been brought under control, but the Fire Plain Grotto-Heaven is still mired in crisis. It will take a massive contribution to earn the cure," the Fire Plain Cave Lord fretted.
The Fire Plain Grotto-Heaven had suffered devastating losses this time.
The largest Fire Hu Grassland within the grotto-heaven had been utterly annihilated — reduced to nothing but a wasteland. The Fire Hu Grass, which had once teemed with vigorous life, had been stripped clean, roots and all.
The Vermilion Flame Wolf packs and Red Yuan Horse herds that roamed the grasslands had been nearly wiped out. The ant plague had devoured every last one of them, leaving not even bones behind.
"Our clan has already suffered such catastrophic losses, and now we must fork over a fortune on top of it just to receive disaster relief!" The Fire Plain Cave Lord's brows knotted together.
The members of the Righteous Qi Alliance had spent enormous resources to finally produce some results — a way to suppress the Legacy Poison Ant Calamity killer move.
Even blood brothers settled accounts clearly, let alone something as loose and fragile as the Righteous Qi Alliance.
It was only the shared need to survive, to resist the overwhelming might of Fang Yuan, Wu Shuai, and the Foreign Race Grand Alliance, that had forced them to band together in the first place.
The East Sea's righteous-path factions had bled for these findings. They would never hand over the fruits of their research for free.
Under the Righteous Qi Alliance's charter, the Fire Plain Cave Lord first had to surrender a large haul of resources — or high-value true inheritances — to earn contribution points, and only then could he use those points to secure the grotto-heaven's salvation.
But what other choice did he have?
The Fire Plain Cave Lord let out a deep sigh from the bottom of his heart.
Both the present and the future filled him with dread.
"This was only Fang Yuan, that demon lord, making his first move! This was surely nothing more than a probe, yet it has already broken our bones and torn our tendons. He will certainly strike a second time, then a third."
"Fang Yuan possesses the Supreme Immortal Grotto — he can swallow Eighth Transformation grotto-heavens whole. The Foreign Race Grand Alliance's grotto-heavens have been dwindling one by one; how many has he consumed already? Our Fire Plain Grotto-Heaven is undoubtedly next on his list!"
"No — more precisely, every grotto-heaven in both the Black and White Heavens has already been marked as his prey."
Ever since Fang Yuan had devoured the Haoxi Grotto-Heaven and the Time-Difference Grotto-Heaven, he had never stopped swallowing others.
The Foreign Race Grand Alliance had long since submitted to him. They could only watch helplessly as their own grotto-heavens were devoured, utterly powerless to resist.
Having their home worlds consumed by Fang Yuan — many of them surely harbored resentment, but not a single one dared voice it.
The merging of grotto-heavens could hardly be concealed. The disturbance was simply too great.
As a result, the Fire Plain Cave Lord and others all knew this intelligence full well.
"The enemy is overwhelmingly powerful, and the Righteous Qi Alliance is at a clear disadvantage. We cannot match him in open combat; our only edge lies in our foundation," the Fire Plain Cave Lord analyzed inwardly.
The grotto-heavens in both Heavens were spatially limited. After countless ages of development and accumulation, each had already reached its peak — all potential for further growth had been exhausted.
But the East Sea was vast and rich beyond measure. Even all those grotto-heavens combined could not match its expanse and abundance.
This advantage was the Righteous Qi Alliance's confidence in standing against the Foreign Race Grand Alliance. After all, the latter had seized only a corner of the East Sea — the former territory of the Xia clan.
In this regard, the Righteous Qi Alliance still held a decisive edge.
"We have this advantage, and Fang Yuan has seen it clearly — which is why he deployed composite killer moves to wear us down."
"His methods will not stop here. When the time comes, I fear that every Gu Immortal stationed in the two Heavens will be a priority target."
"Sigh! When will this nightmare ever end… Hm?!"
Without warning, the scenery before the Fire Plain Cave Lord's eyes lurched into violent transformation.
A dense blue mist erupted all around him, enveloping him completely.
The Fire Plain Cave Lord immediately halted and activated his defensive and detection methods.
The next instant, his face changed drastically.
"A battlefield killer move! Who dares attack a member of the Righteous Qi Alliance! Show yourself — stop lurking in the shadows!" the Fire Plain Cave Lord bellowed.
But the only response was a chorus of childish giggling — "Hee hee hee" — echoing from every direction.
The laughter circled all around the Fire Plain Cave Lord, making even this Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal unable to pinpoint the sound's origin.
Then —
A child materialized silently from the all-enveloping blue mist.
He extended a chubby little hand, reaching swiftly toward the Fire Plain Cave Lord's back.