The enemy's offensive was fierce, and Fang Yuan temporarily withdrew.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable pursued relentlessly, shouting: "Back then, I charged into the Gate of Life and Death to probe Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's trump cards and figure out Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's condition. You charged in too — what a brilliant calculation! If you had stayed outside, you would have still had to deal with Star Constellation Immortal Venerable when she emerged later. But by following me closely, you were able to spy on the true strength of both Heavenly Court and my Longevity Heaven!"
At the time, because of Heavenly Court's arrangements, the Gate of Life and Death and the Immortal Tomb were closely linked, making it impossible to forcibly destroy them within a short period.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable secretly observed fortune, becoming aware of the bizarre fortune changes between Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, and wanted to investigate thoroughly. If possible, he would sever the "close relationship" between the two Venerables.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was well aware that Star Constellation Immortal Venerable would have contingencies, but he still plunged headfirst into the Gate of Life and Death.
Because he himself also had trump cards.
When using Blood Path methods to fully resurrect, no matter how severe his injuries, he would recover from them all.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had been exploiting this trump card to its fullest, trying every possible way to probe out more of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's methods.
From Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's perspective, this was also his first time fighting against a Venerable.
A Venerable's foundations were profoundly deep, and he had to probe them thoroughly.
To destroy the Immortal Tomb, he had to start from the Gate of Life and Death. Charging into the Gate of Life and Death would allow him to uncover the true relationship between Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. If possible, he would break that connection, rescue Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, and join forces with him. And if there was even greater possibility, he would claim the Gate of Life and Death for himself!
Carrying all these plans, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's expedition into the Gate of Life and Death did indeed succeed in uncovering Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's scheme involving personal bonds.
When Star Constellation Immortal Venerable left the Gate of Life and Death, did Giant Sun Immortal Venerable truly have no means to stop her?
Not at all.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable was actually glad to see Star Constellation Immortal Venerable leave.
First, the Elixir of Forever still needed more time to mature, and he had already left behind a monitoring method within the Crazed Demon Formation — the Fortune-Suppressing Heavenly Palace.
Second, at the time, the Crazed Demon Hollow was a three-way struggle — not just the Green Lotus Great World's Heavenly Court and the Barren Great World's Longevity Heaven, but also the Loess Great World's Paradise.
In the end, through this contest, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable forced Paradise to resurrect early, with only Half-Venerable cultivation.
When Paradise entered the Gate of Life and Death, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable managed to extricate himself without using his final trump card. Although he failed to rescue Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, he had joined forces with Paradise.
Boom!
Fang Yuan counterattacked, breaking Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's killing move and forcing him back again.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable let out a low snarl: "Paradise being forced to resurrect early — that was exactly what you, Fang Yuan, wanted to see, wasn't it? What superb acting, truly superb acting! After leaving the Gate of Life and Death, I fell victim to Qin Dingling's methods again and was pushed onto the defensive. I needed your help, but you were trapped by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable. You did it on purpose! You deliberately had your Qi Sea Clone activate Hu Ang — that way, once the Qi Sea Clone was bound as well, Zhan Bu Du couldn't leave either, and you could sit back in broad daylight and watch us tear each other apart!"
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable spoke through gritted teeth.
At the time, he was still in an Immortal Zombie body, suppressed by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, schemed against by Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, and the foundation of his combat system was being dismantled. Though the situation was dire, Giant Sun did not panic.
Because he still had his greatest trump card held in reserve!
Giant Sun held back precisely because he wanted to see more of the others' trump cards.
Then Paradise made his move.
But Paradise didn't attack Star Constellation Immortal Venerable directly. Instead, he first tried to aid Giant Sun, and after failing, immediately rescued Fang Yuan.
From this, it was clear that Paradise's intentions were equally unfathomable.
Yet after being "rescued," Fang Yuan still refused to come to Giant Sun's aid, instead going after the insignificant Qin Dingling.
As a result, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had no choice but to reveal his Blood Path trump card and fully resurrect.
Fang Yuan succeeded in killing Qin Dingling, but this showmanship was nowhere near enough to fool Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.
He saw clearly that since he had now exposed his true strength, he should immediately abandon his previous stance and join forces with Star Constellation Immortal Venerable against Fang Yuan.
Because of this, Fang Yuan suffered a combined assault from two Venerables. He had no choice but to expend the Reverse Flow River, but in the end he was still hit, and his Supreme Immortal Aperture suffered a calamity.
"Wait!" At this thought, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable suddenly let out a low roar. "That was when — that was when you used the fact that your Immortal Aperture had been struck and your aura was in chaos to secretly break through the Heavenly Dao's restriction, piling calamity upon calamity, deceiving the heavens, and ultimately surviving the tribulation to become a Venerable!"
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable had finally figured it out.
At the time, he had believed his scheme succeeded — he had detected Fang Yuan's declining fortune and the aura of calamity emanating from him. Little did he know, Fang Yuan had used that very situation to secretly charge against the Heavenly Dao's restriction and break through an even greater disaster.
Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's methods alone would never have been enough to produce black fire within Fang Yuan's Supreme Immortal Aperture.
The black fire was the remnant of the Calamity of Chaos.
Fang Yuan said nothing, attacking with savage ferocity, and Giant Sun Immortal Venerable struggled to defend.
He stared fixedly at Fang Yuan and continued: "So that's how you did it — became a Venerable right under our noses. I originally thought you weren't proficient in aura concealment techniques, but I never imagined your attainment in this area was astonishing, hiding your cultivation aura the entire time! You managed to deceive me, then Star Constellation Immortal Venerable — no, even Paradise was deceived by you!"
Fang Yuan, this great deceiver, had deceived everyone to the very end. The Venerables had all been utterly fooled by him!
Lu Weiyin and Shen Shang looked at each other, their hearts filled with shock and horror.
The clash between the Venerables grew increasingly intense as they gradually brought their full power to bear. They could not afford to get involved, and the Qi Sea Clone was similarly forced to the edge of the void.
Watching Fang Yuan gaining the overwhelming advantage, Lu Weiyin and Shen Shang felt a complicated mix of emotions.
On one hand, they were astonished and awed — after all, Fang Yuan had successfully broken through to become a Venerable and was even suppressing two great beings whose names would live on through history. But on the other hand, Lu Weiyin and Shen Shang were furious.
The two of them had deep ties to Paradise. Paradise's death could be said to have been largely caused by Fang Yuan's schemes.
In the end, Paradise had been forced to reveal his great secret — that he could absorb and digest Fact Ice Floes to increase his own cultivation!
Fang Yuan had deliberately made a deal with Paradise, and shouted so loudly about it precisely to provoke the two Venerables into going all out against Paradise as quickly as possible.
As a result, the two Venerables' fierce offensive actually ended up helping Fang Yuan, allowing him to ultimately kill Paradise.
Cunning, treacherous, and vicious!