"You dare activate this grand formation right under our noses?! Even if you were once invincible under heaven, you are dead now. Fine if you look down on us, but to go against the natural order like this — Heavenly Will is manifest! How could we ever let you succeed?!"
The Tower Master roared in fury, once again combining the collective power of the Heavenly Court immortals to unleash the Monitoring Heaven Tower's most devastating attack.
"Hold the line!" The Shadow Sect immortals, having long anticipated this, promptly activated their Immortal Gu Houses and surged skyward.
The heavens and earth turned stark white in an instant.
An attack born from Fate was simply impossible to defend against.
When Fang Yuan came to his senses, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his face washed in a ghastly golden-purple hue.
Though he was a demon from beyond this world, he too was bound by the laws of this heaven and earth. The damage he suffered was merely a few degrees less than what the others had endured.
Looking more carefully, Fang Yuan saw that the three Immortal Gu Houses — the Indestructible Iron Fortress, the Blood River Chariot, and the Ominous Messenger's Dark Residence — had completely disintegrated, reduced to fragments and shards that tumbled ceaselessly from the heights above.
His own platform, the Startling Confrontation Stage, though sheltered within the Ten Extremities Undying Formation of the Immortal Zombies, had also suffered grievous damage. Over a thousand mortal Gu had perished, two Immortal Gu were critically wounded and on the verge of collapse, barely functional. Three of the platform's seven corners had shattered.
Yet inwardly, Fang Yuan was rejoicing.
He wanted the Heavenly Court side to keep pressing their attack, to break through this Ten Extremities formation. The moment a gap appeared, he would flee without hesitation.
The situation was growing clearer by the second — obviously, the Heavenly Court Gu Masters had come for the Shadow Sect. If Fang Yuan were to make his escape now, the Heavenly Court immortals would likely have no attention to spare for him.
Under Fang Yuan's eager anticipation, the Monitoring Heaven Tower, suspended at the highest point of the sky, once again became wreathed in a milky-white halo of light.
The halo grew thicker and thicker. Once it accumulated to its peak, it would unleash another devastating strike from Fate. When that happened, the Ten Extremities formation would surely break.
Whoosh —!
A powerful gale swept up as the Feathered Saint City hurtled directly toward Fang Yuan.
"You can't even handle the Heavenly Court immortals, so you come after me instead?" Fang Yuan sneered. But he did not engage head-on.
Cunningly, he piloted the Startling Confrontation Stage in evasive maneuvers, darting in every direction while waiting for the Heavenly Court's next blow.
Bang!
Without warning, the Monitoring Heaven Tower shuddered violently. The thick milky-white halo that had been building up suddenly scattered into nothingness, vanishing completely.
The tower was covered in scars. The damage was severe.
The Heavenly Court immortals inside the tower all coughed up blood in unison, wracked by the backlash.
From within the Feathered Saint City came the voice of the Seven Star Scholar, an Immortal Zombie: "Tower Master, you've fallen for the trick."
At that moment, over a dozen Shadow Sect Gu Immortals were gathered inside the Feathered Saint City, led by the Seven Star Scholar Immortal Zombie, the Thin Qing Immortal Zombie, and Shadowless.
Though the other six Immortal Gu Houses had been destroyed, the Shadow Sect Gu Masters had relied on a particular Space Path technique to break free successfully, all converging into this last remaining Immortal Gu House.
After all, with the Ten Extremities Undying Formation and the Shadow Sect's meticulous long-term planning, they held an overwhelming advantage in terrain. That they could pull this off was hardly surprising.
"How is this possible?" Fang Yuan stared at the scene, his expression flickering between shock and doubt.
Inside the Monitoring Heaven Tower, the Heavenly Court immortals were reacting one after another.
"The Monitoring Heaven Tower is a Ninth Transformation Immortal Gu House — how could it suffer such devastating damage?"
"The Shadow Sect didn't just attack. The problem came from within the tower itself!"
"There's a mole in our ranks!" The Tower Master's face was ashen, his gaze locking coldly onto Bi Chentian and Lian Jiusheng.
After the Sword Immortal Thin Qing had awakened, his sword light had once slashed across the Central Continent and cut through the Monitoring Heaven Tower. To prevent the lingering sword energy from corroding more Gu and causing further damage, the Tower Master had personally repaired the tower together with Bi Chentian and Lian Jiusheng.
The Tower Master himself could not possibly be compromised. That meant the problem had to lie with one of those two.
Receiving the Tower Master's silent signal, the other Heavenly Court immortals reacted swiftly, pulling back from the two suspects and surrounding them in a tight encirclement.
"Wait! How could I possibly be a Shadow Sect mole?!" Bi Chentian cried out in alarm and anger, rushing to defend himself. "Joining the Heavenly Court requires passing through layers upon layers of inspections and trials! In the three million years since the Court's founding, has there ever been a single traitor or insider?! This could well be some Shadow Sect trick! Right now, the priority should be destroying this Refinement Path formation as quickly as possible! We mustn't fall for the Shadow Sect's scheme to sow discord and buy time!!"
Bi Chentian's expression was earnest, his anxiety plain to see.
"Hahaha..." But beside him, Lian Jiusheng suddenly burst into laughter. His gaze turned sharply sinister as he swept it over those around him, his voice cold and chilling: "Precisely because the Court has existed for three million years, even the most rigorous inspections and trials have grown outdated. Infiltrating the Heavenly Court? What could be easier?"
"Lian Jiusheng, you —!" Bi Chentian gasped, stumbling back a step.
"So Lian Jiusheng, you're the mole!"
"Are you even Lian Jiusheng, or someone else?"
The Heavenly Court immortals were on high alert, yet not one of them dared make a rash move.
"In this world, there was never any 'Lian Jiusheng.' You think you can stop me? Not even a Ninth Transformation Immortal Gu House can do that! Heh heh heh — you'll have to get past me first."
With those words, Lian Jiusheng abruptly dropped dead!