Heavenly Court.
Palace upon palace, radiance stretching boundlessly in every direction.
The Supervising Heavenly Tower stood tall among them. Four great Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals — the Supervising Tower Master, Bai Cangshui, Lian Jiusheng, and Bi Chentian — were positioned in the four cardinal directions of south, east, north, and west.
A colossal Gu formation drew magnificent patterns of light and shadow across the sky.
Countless rare immortal materials were tossed into the air as though they were the cheapest cabbages at a market stall.
Within the luminous image of the Refinement Path Gu formation, these materials were processed at tremendous speed in the blink of an eye.
By this point, half of the Success Dao Marks seized from the Undefeated Inheritance had already been consumed.
The female Gu Immortal Bai Cangshui watched the Refinement Path Gu formation hanging in the sky, her eyes blazing with focused intensity. This was her first time participating in the restoration of Fate Gu, and her first encounter with this astonishingly powerful Refinement Path Gu formation.
The Supervising Tower Master, leaning on his cane, had long since noted Bai Cangshui's expression. He now spoke: "Fairy Cangshui, if you wish to obtain this Refinement Path Gu formation, you need only contribute thirty thousand merit points, and it is yours."
Bai Cangshui's expression shifted slightly. She understood at once that the Supervising Tower Master's words carried a deeper meaning — he was reminding her that this was a critical moment in the restoration of Fate Gu, and she should not let her attention drift to the Refinement Path Gu formation.
"I am ashamed," Bai Cangshui said with a slight bow toward the Supervising Tower Master. "This Refinement Path Gu formation is unfathomably profound, its power extraordinary. Even though I am not a Refinement Path Gu Immortal, I can tell that this formation appears to have reached the fundamental essence of the Refinement Path. Yet it feels like a poem sung only halfway — this Gu formation gives me a lingering sense of incompleteness. It seems as though it could advance further still and become an Immortal Gu House!"
"Heh heh heh. Fairy Cangshui has a keen eye," Lian Jiusheng, who appeared as a white-haired youth, replied with a smile. "However, upgrading this Gu formation into an Immortal Gu House is not possible."
"Oh? Why is that?" Bai Cangshui's eyes flashed, curiosity surfacing on her face.
"The most important reason is the absence of the most critical core Immortal Gu. What Fairy Cangshui may not know is that this Refinement Path Gu formation was merely imitated by the predecessors of Heavenly Court through textual records of Long Hair Ancestor's Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu House, the Furnace. And that Furnace still remains within Langya Blessed Land to this day, with all of its core Immortal Gu intact."
"I see." Bai Cangshui's expression darkened.
An Immortal Gu is unique, and the Furnace still existed. Heavenly Court's formation indeed could not be easily upgraded.
"Of course, it would also be possible to start from scratch, to redesign it. Modify this Gu formation, utilize other Immortal Gu as the core, and achieve similar power. But the difficulty involved is immense. When Long Hair Ancestor completed both the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building and the Immortal Gu House Furnace, it was not merely because he was a great grandmaster of the Refinement Path — it was also because he had a dear friend who was a great grandmaster of Wisdom Path: One Word Immortal." Lian Jiusheng let out a sigh as he revealed this piece of hidden history.
One Word Immortal. The founder of the Three Reverends theory.
A true great grandmaster of Wisdom Path, whose predictions were remarkably accurate.
"One Word Immortal, Long Hair Ancestor…" Bai Cangshui murmured the names, then suddenly recalled something and asked, "By the way — back then, why wasn't Long Hair Ancestor recruited into Heavenly Court? He was a great grandmaster of the Refinement Path, yet his cultivation was only at the Eighth Transformation. He was no invincible Ninth Transformation Gu Immortal. Even if he was a Northern Plains Gu Immortal, our Heavenly Court certainly had the means to alter his Northern Plains aura and convert it into a Central Continent aura."
"That's right. A figure like Long Hair Ancestor — there have been only three such people in all of history. Why didn't Heavenly Court take him in back then?" Lian Jiusheng also found this puzzling.
Bi Chentian remained silent.
The Supervising Tower Master chuckled, his words carrying a note of pride: "That is because Long Hair Ancestor was no pure-blooded human. He was a hairy man, through and through! No matter how powerful he was, no matter how great his achievements in the Refinement Path, he could never be permitted to enter Heavenly Court. Heavenly Court is the sacred ground of our pure human race — how could we allow such lowly non-humans to sneak in?"
"Oh? So that's how it is… Long Hair Ancestor was actually a hairy man?" The other three Gu Immortals exchanged stunned glances. This was a secret they had never heard before.
Northern Plains, Langya Blessed Land.
Of the original five Cloud Pavilions, three had been breached. Only two remained.
On Qin Baisheng's side, Xuesong Zi had fallen.
On the side of the Langya Earth Spirit, an Ink Man Gu Immortal had also perished in battle.
Qin Baisheng erupted with terrifying combat power, unstoppable in his advance, charging straight toward the Cloud Pavilion where the Langya Earth Spirit, Fang Yuan, and Mo Tansang were holed up. The Langya Earth Spirit was spinning in frantic circles.
"What do we do? What do we do?!"
"They're too strong — we can't hold on at all!"
"Even though two Cloud Pavilions remain, losing them is already a foregone conclusion…"
"This is infuriating — despicable!"
"Should I let him out?"
"No — if I let him out, I'll be the one locked inside. I don't know when I'd ever get out again…"
"The Langya Blessed Land I built through so much effort might get promoted into a Grotto-Heaven by that lunatic all over again…"
"That lunatic's ambition is far too great. He'll definitely bring destruction upon Langya Blessed Land!"
The Langya Earth Spirit was blowing his beard and glaring, muttering to himself in an increasingly incoherent ramble, which only amplified the sense of panic and anxiety in Fang Yuan and Mo Tansang.
Fang Yuan was somewhat calmer — after all, he still had the Fixed Immortal Travel in his possession.
Mo Tansang, however, was truly terrified.
That Ink Man Gu Immortal had already fallen. If he too were to be sacrificed, the fate of the hundreds of thousands of Ink People in the Ink Man City would be utterly dire.
Without a Gu Immortal to protect them, the vast population of the Ink Man City would become a massive piece of meat, drawing countless jackals, tigers, and wolves to tear them apart in a ruthless contest.
The Ink People would inevitably meet a tragic end — reduced to slaves, living in abysmal misery.