Boom boom boom…
The explosions had been going on for three days and two nights.
The offensive from Bai Hai Sha Tuo's group had not ceased since the very beginning.
Countless mortal-path killer moves, interspersed with Gu Immortal killer moves, bombarded the Gu Immortal house Feather Holy City again and again.
Feather Holy City trembled without end. More than half of the soldiers and civilians inside had already perished, and despair was spreading.
"Defeat is already certain. Let's break out!" Zhou Zhong, the Feathermen Gu Immortal, proposed in a hoarse voice.
"The enemy has used their methods to pin Feather Holy City in place. Without this Gu Immortal house, how are we supposed to break out?" Zheng Ling, another Feathermen Gu Immortal, shot back.
Feather Holy City had originally held three Gu Immortals, but one had already fallen. Only Zheng Ling, a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal, and Zhou Zhong, a Sixth Transformation Gu Immortal, remained.
"Lord Zheng Ling, the situation is dire and I must speak plainly." Zhou Zhong's expression was solemn. "The reason Feather Holy City was trapped in the first place was that you refused to abandon this patch of heaven and earth, which gave the enemy time to lay down their measures. Now, if you don't cut your losses and make a decisive move, I'm afraid both our lives will be claimed here! I don't fear dying in battle, but the tens of thousands of innocent clansmen in the city will perish too. Even if these enemies spared their lives, they would train them into slaves, working like oxen and horses for those humans!"
Hearing this frank counsel, Zheng Ling finally came to his senses.
He looked at Zhou Zhong, tears glistening in his eyes: "You're right. I was being foolish!"
Zhou Zhong consoled him: "My lord, I can understand your decision. After all, this is the age of humanity, and there is no room for us Outlander races to survive. This patch of heaven and earth is a fragmentary world from the Green Heaven of the Nine Heavens of Antiquity — cut off from the outside world, a true paradise. It's not easy to give up. But whether we want to or not, we must."
Zheng Ling furrowed his brow: "Now that Feather Holy City has also been immobilized, there is only one way for us to take our people and escape alive."
Zhou Zhong immediately voiced his support: "Exactly. We'll use that Gu Immortal killer move — Heaven Grants Mortal Wishes!"
Half an hour later, every surviving Featherman was summoned and gathered around the martial training grounds.
"I wish — my Feathermen clan may survive!"
"I wish — my Feathermen clan may retain its freedom!"
"I wish — my Feathermen clan may have a heaven and earth to call its own!"
Tens of thousands of Feathermen cried out in unison. Under the combined efforts of Zhou Zhong and Zheng Ling, the entirety of Feather Holy City began to shimmer with a pure white light.
At first, the glow was only five or six feet high. But it swiftly climbed higher and higher, reaching seven or eight zhang.
"Bai Hai Sha Tuo, my lord, it seems the enemy is making a major move. Shouldn't we intervene and stop it?" the female Gu Immortal Tang Yanran asked.
"No need. I anticipated this long ago. All I want is this Gu Immortal house — they won't be taking it with them." Bai Hai Sha Tuo explained mildly, then issued further orders. "Don't stop the attack. Just maintain the current pace. Don't interfere with them — let them flee."
Northern Plains. Taibai Blessed Land.
The sky was a crystal-clear blue, and the earth stretched out as barren wilderness of yellow stone.
Accompanied by Taibai Yunsheng, Fang Yuan surveyed this first-rate blessed land.
This was not Fang Yuan's first visit to Taibai Blessed Land, but it was his first time touring it with Taibai Yunsheng as his guide.
Only when a Gu Immortal planted their blessed land in the outside world would their true body enter the blessed land to take charge of things.
Under normal circumstances, the blessed land resided within the Gu Immortal's body. Once the blessed land was planted in the outside world, the blessed land encompassed the Gu Immortal instead.
A Gu Immortal and their blessed land were originally one and the same. During the period when the blessed land was planted in the outside world, the Gu Immortal could not leave the blessed land to venture out into the outside world.
Taibai Blessed Land was a superior-grade blessed land to begin with, spanning a vast area of over seven million mu. Its Time Path resources were extraordinarily abundant — one day outside corresponded to thirty-three days within.
Of course, once Taibai Blessed Land had been planted, it absorbed the heaven and earth energy of the outside world and established a connection with the Northern Plains, so the time flow had slowed to a ratio of one to twelve.
Taibai Yunsheng had managed Taibai Blessed Land very well.
Setting aside the Floating Ball Tea Grass filling the sky and the Jade Peak Bird flocks nesting among the tea grass, large clusters of Tiankui clouds had already formed in the air, with Floating Hawks soaring among them.
Taibai Yunsheng had already begun establishing his third economic pillar.
His first source of income was Landscape As Before — repairing blessed lands for fellow Gu Immortals and restoring the outside terrain of the Five Regions. This was Taibai Yunsheng's largest source of revenue, not only boosting his finances but also expanding his network of connections. It could essentially rival Lishan Fairy's Mountain Alliance Gu.
His second source of income was the Floating Ball Tea Grass. Every quarter, Taibai Blessed Land produced a massive harvest of Floating Ball Tea Grass.
Taibai Yunsheng sold all of this tea grass in the Eastern Sea markets. Through the Shark Demon Immortal Zombie of the Zombie Alliance headquarters, he had managed to break into that market. However, competition in this trade was fierce, and it operated on thin margins with high volume. Often, a single quarter's harvest could not even match the payment Taibai Yunsheng received for a single blessed land repair job.
"I intend to make Luck Path mortal Gu my third business venture. The Floating Hawks that have migrated in now number over a hundred thousand. The hawks carry parasites, and large quantities of Cloud Path mortal Gu will be born from these parasitic swarms. However, what comes next depends on how this earthly calamity goes. If I pass through it smoothly and it adds Cloud Path Dao marks to my blessed land, that would be ideal."
Taibai Yunsheng explained his hopes to Fang Yuan.
This was precisely why none of the resources in his blessed land had been moved out.
The purpose was to "lure" correlated earthly calamities. After weathering them, his blessed land would gain Cloud Path Dao marks.
Misfortune and fortune give birth to each other.
Previously, when Fang Yuan's Fox Immortal Blessed Land underwent tribulation, virtually all of its precious resources had been moved out in advance. This attracted a Blood Path earthly calamity, which granted Fox Immortal Blessed Land Blood Path Dao marks.
If Fang Yuan had not relocated those resources, the earthly calamity might have changed form and manifested as something else entirely — perhaps a Fire Path earthly calamity that would have benefited the Nether Fire Dragon Pythons, a Wisdom Path earthly calamity favorable to the Eternal Regret Spiders, or a Water Path calamity more suited to the Dragon Fish, and so on.