"We succeeded! We succeeded!!" Crown Prince Fengxian shouted, his pale face flushed with excitement.
"I have not failed my mission..." Wan Zihong lowered her eyelashes, her aura nearly extinguished. She had never been this weak before.
The so-called Four Phases Deviation Formation was nothing more than a ruse. Its primary purpose was to divert attention — the real goal was to create the environment that would force Lin Jianxing's sword qi into taking shape!
Crown Prince Fengxian, Wan Zihong, and the others had recently been killed in battle by Lin Jianxing.
After their resurrection, they had approached Star Constellation Immortal Venerable with heavy hearts to beg forgiveness — only to be rewarded and informed that everything had been part of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's calculations all along!
It turned out that Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, as the greatest wisdom path cultivator across all of history, had deduced from various clues during the three Venerables' standoff that Lin Jianxing was a Otherworldly Demon whose combat power had reached the quasi-Venerable level.
Lin Jianxing had been secluded in cultivation the entire time, concealing his true strength. No one in the world knew his secret.
Though Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had figured it out, she kept silent.
Then she deliberately sent the five Heaven Court Immortal Gu Masters to besiege Lin Jianxing. The purpose was to use Void Path means to capture the power of Lin Jianxing's killer move.
As was well known, the immortal apertures of all Heaven Court members were void apertures.
When the Heaven Court Immortal Gu Masters were injured during their fierce battle with Lin Jianxing, what had actually happened was that Sword Path Dao Marks had been inscribed onto them.
The Void Path methods that Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had deduced and improved allowed these void apertures to contain those Sword Path Dao Marks, and after the Heaven Court members fell, the marks could be secretly reclaimed.
Once reclaimed, the Sword Path Dao Marks could be restored to reproduce Lin Jianxing's techniques through a series of measures.
Ancestor Qi Hai had fallen into exactly this trap — his formation had crumbled, and then the Star Constellation Will had pressed the attack before he could mount a defense, resulting in his sealing.
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had concealed the truth until after the Heaven Court Immortal Gu Masters were resurrected, only then revealing the real plan to them.
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable apologized to the immortals.
The four Heaven Court immortals hurriedly said they were unworthy of such an apology, their hearts filled with nothing but boundless joy and absolutely no resentment.
They were loyal to Heaven Court, and they understood perfectly well that Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's decision to keep them in the dark was entirely reasonable. Only by remaining ignorant could such secrecy be preserved. Only by genuinely pouring their hearts out during the fierce battle with Lin Jianxing could there be no flaw in their act.
"But why go to such lengths to capture Lin Jianxing's techniques?" Wan Zihong had posed this question at the time.
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable did not answer, merely saying: Just follow her arrangements.
Now that Ancestor Qi Hai had been successfully sealed away, Crown Prince Fengxian and Wan Zihong finally understood Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's painstaking efforts.
The key to everything was Lin Jianxing's power.
First, he was himself a quasi-Venerable. Although his main body was not yet on the level of Ancestor Qi Hai, the sword qi techniques that Heaven Court had reproduced had been amplified multiple times over, their might far exceeding Lin Jianxing's current limits.
Second, Lin Jianxing's core Immortal Gu was the Sword Qi Gu. While sword qi was saturated with Sword Path Dao Marks, it also carried a rich concentration of Qi Path Dao Marks. It was precisely this quality that made it effective against Ancestor Qi Hai, who specialized exclusively in the Qi Path.
Finally, Lin Jianxing's sword qi attack was far too sudden, catching Ancestor Qi Hai completely off guard.
"Ancestor Qi Hai has finally been sealed. But Star Constellation Immortal Venerable went to such great lengths and went through all this trouble because she wanted to capture Ancestor Qi Hai alive. What exactly is this for?"
"Ancestor Qi Hai is Refinement Heaven Demon Venerable's most powerful clone. Perhaps it's to suppress Fang Yuan."
"I've heard before that Fairy Qian Hun modified Bo Qing's soul — it seems clones, while convenient, also represent a major vulnerability for the main body."
The other Heaven Court Immortal Gu Masters watched as Ancestor Qi Hai was escorted toward Heaven Court's portal, exchanging voice transmissions among themselves.
"Not a chance!" Just then, a Venerable descended from the sky above.
He wore white robes, his black hair billowing, his eyes deep and fathomless, his face carrying fury and killing intent.
It was Fang Yuan!
With one hand resting on Meng Qiuzhen's shoulder to maintain the Reverse Flow Protective Seal, Fang Yuan struck again.
Immortal Gu Killer Move — Dust Fog Soul Detonation Wind of the Incoming Dragon and Serpent!
Great fog rolled forward, dragons and serpents hissing, forming a terrifying offensive that poured down like a vast river of heaven, aimed straight at Ancestor Qi Hai.
Seeing that Fang Yuan was acting with complete disregard, actually intending to destroy his own most powerful clone in a single blow, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable, who had been following close behind, immediately adopted a grave expression.
"Immortal Friend Fang Yuan, you truly are ruthless and merciless! You wouldn't hesitate to eliminate even yourself. Unfortunately, I am still here."
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable withdrew the Heaven and Earth Secret Realm state of mind, extended all ten fingers, and tapped them rapidly — so fast that they stirred up a dazzling flurry of colorful finger shadows.
From those finger shadows, arcs of light condensed, all of them a brilliant azure, dazzling and resplendent, like crystal.
The soul fog that Fang Yuan had unleashed was continuously sliced apart by the azure crystal light arcs and rapidly collapsed. The remaining power was intercepted by the embroidered building that flew in to block, and the few lingering wisps that reached Ancestor Qi Hai's side were thoroughly guarded against by the Star Constellation Chessboard.
"Star Constellation — you!" Fang Yuan's pupils contracted sharply as he reassessed Star Constellation Immortal Venerable.
In their previous exchanges, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable had never employed such techniques. It was not that she lacked them — she had simply chosen not to use them.
She had been holding back all along!
Ancestor Qi Hai's clone being sealed away, and Fang Yuan's fierce counterattack — both of these had been anticipated by Star Constellation Immortal Venerable.
Star Constellation Immortal Venerable resisted with her full strength, keeping Fang Yuan from making any headway whatsoever.
If it had been Star Constellation Immortal Venerable who moved first to deal with Ancestor Qi Hai and attempt to imprison him, she would certainly have faced Fang Yuan's obstruction and found it very difficult to succeed. But by the same logic, since Ancestor Qi Hai had already been captured and Star Constellation Immortal Venerable held the initiative, it was comparatively easy for her to obstruct Fang Yuan's rescue attempt.
In the end, under Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's interference and protection, Ancestor Qi Hai was successfully escorted into Heaven Court.