Roar!
A colossal Ancient-era Soul Beast, twin horns atop its head, its body mountainous in size, let out a roar that shook the heavens.
But it was not displaying dominance — it was frantically struggling, pouring every ounce of its strength into trying to flee.
Its tail was firmly clamped within an ordinary-looking palm.
Then, from within that palm, an utterly terrifying suction force erupted. Rumbling like the howl of a hurricane, in merely a few breaths' time, the entire Ancient-era Soul Beast was devoured clean by that single palm.
The palm's owner let out a satisfied burp.
This was none other than the Eighth Transformation Soul Path cultivator, the master of Anhun Blessed Land — Cold Ash Fairy.
At this moment, her eyes were entirely black, her whole body wreathed in wisps of dark, billowing qi. A moment later, she retracted her killer move, and all the dark qi along her body withdrew as well. Judging by outward appearance alone, nothing seemed amiss.
But in truth, her body had already been seized by the Demon Venerable Spectre, her soul devoured.
Spectre sighed contentedly: "Full again."
With Cold Ash Fairy's identity at his disposal, he had gained considerably more freedom. Over these past days, he had been actively devouring Ancient-era Soul Beasts, his strength surging upward at a blistering pace, his recovery proceeding at an extraordinary rate.
Yet Spectre was not satisfied.
Devouring Ancient-era Soul Beasts was, after all, no substitute for Courage Gu. Spectre needed to digest each one. Otherwise, the Ancient-era Soul Beasts would corrupt his soul, strip him of his reason, and ultimately transform him into a deformed Soul Beast monstrosity.
The first choice for strengthening one's soul was, without question, the Courage Gu atop Danghun Mountain. Using it required no digestion whatsoever — absorption was nearly instantaneous.
The more Spectre longed for Danghun Mountain, the more fiercely he wanted to find Fang Yuan and kill him!
"Where on earth has that little brat Fang Yuan gone?" Whenever Spectre thought of Fang Yuan, his eyes would instinctively narrow.
Zi Wei Immortal had already informed him of her intelligence regarding Bai Ningbing.
This was excellent news from Spectre's perspective.
Zi Wei Immortal had also found traces of Ying Wuxie. As long as she gathered these subordinates of Fang Yuan one by one, they would have enough clues to deduce Fang Yuan's location.
"Fang Yuan obtained so many Heavenly Dao marks, and since the Battle of Fate, he's remained completely untraceable. His situation must be truly terrible. This is the perfect opportunity to capture him."
Spectre had once been a Venerable. He believed that even for himself at full power, refining that many Heavenly Dao marks would have been a rather difficult task. Let alone the current Fang Yuan?
Fang Yuan was strong, but he was ultimately not a Venerable. His understanding of Heavenly Dao marks was quite limited.
"But the measures I left on the Supreme Immortal Zhen Gu are certainly no longer reliable."
Spectre understood that Heavenly Dao marks naturally evolved. The measures he had secretly embedded were themselves dao marks, and being altered by the Heavenly Dao marks was inevitable.
Once altered, his measures would naturally become useless.
If they were still effective, why would Spectre need to go through all the trouble of hunting down Fang Yuan's former subordinates? He could have charged straight to Fang Yuan's doorstep long ago.
"Half a month more, and I'll be able to devour another Ancient-era Soul Beast, helping me recover my strength... Hmm?" Spectre had been plotting and planning when he suddenly received a transmission.
Spectre's face lit up with delight: "Wu Shuai has convened the Eight Transformation Gu Immortals of the Two Heavens Alliance for a major discussion, and Cold Ash Fairy is among those invited. Excellent — Wu Shuai has deep ties to Fang Yuan. He may well be one of Fang Yuan's clones. Once I enslave him, I may just be able to lure out Fang Yuan's true body — the big fish."
Spectre immediately set out, wearing Cold Ash Fairy's identity, and departed Anhun Blessed Land. After a stretch of travel, he descended to the Eastern Sea, reaching the Xia clan's main base.
Within the public blessed land, he entered Dragon Palace without a hitch and came face to face with Wu Shuai.
Wu Shuai sat in the seat of honor, with the others arranged in two rows. On the left was the alliance's vice-master, Ice Crystal Immortal King, and on the right was Xiao Hejian, an Eighth Transformation powerhouse who had recently defected to their side.
Below these two sat the leaders of the various non-human Gu Immortal factions.
The human blessed land masters were all ranked even further back. Cold Ash Fairy's position, for instance, was nearly at the Dragon Palace's entrance.
From these standing arrangements alone, one could discern the political dynamics of the Two Heavens Alliance. It was clear that the non-human races held the mainstream position, controlling the overwhelming share of influence. The human Gu Immortals, meanwhile, were firmly relegated to a subordinate role. It was not as though they had not fought back — but it was futile. After all, Wu Shuai himself was of the Dragonman race, and naturally felt closer to the other non-human species.
"If I slaughtered every last one of them, how much would my strength recover?" Spectre's gaze swept across the assembly, and the murderous intent within his heart surged upward.