Supreme Immortal Gu.
Small Western Desert.
A massive, pitch-black city sprawled across the desert.
It was a grand fortress — its layout expansive, its structure meticulous. The entire city wall formed a perfect hexagon, weathered by countless storms. The perimeter exceeded two hundred li, the walls rose nearly ten zhang high, and were several zhang thick.
An ordinary person standing in the desert could see the dark city from a great distance, like a colossal black beast crouching upon the yellowish-brown earth. But up close, one had to crane one's neck just to take in the towering walls and enormous gate.
At every corner of the wall stood watchtowers, bristling with arrow slits packed tightly together.
Every few li, a broad horse ramp led up to the ramparts.
Within the walls themselves lurked concealed troop caverns.
Beyond the fortifications lay a bustling world of streets and commerce.
Inside, roads crisscrossed in every direction. Shops stood in rows, palaces and mansions rose one after another. Carriages and horsemen flowed ceaselessly through the thoroughfares. The clamor of voices was deafening — a picture of extreme prosperity.
This was Inkman City!
Founded long ago by the legendary Inkman Gu Immortal Yiyan Xian, it had been roughly half the size of Emperor City. Later, Fang Yuan had seized it wholesale and relocated it into the Small Western Desert.
At this moment, two Inkman Gu Immortals — Mo Tansang and Mo Qiyi — hovered in midair, gazing down at their surroundings with grim expressions.
"Over the past three days, these poisonous vines and windmill trees have spread another ten-plus li. Right now, they're only about twenty li from Inkman City," Mo Tansang said.
Mo Qiyi's brow was tightly furrowed. "We've intervened more than a dozen times to clear them out, but every time we finish cutting them down, they spring right back up. Are we really going to be forced to relocate again?"
Surrounding Inkman City on all sides was vegetation of staggering scope.
The plants consisted of dark purple-black poisonous vines and enormous cyan-golden windmill trees, forming something like a terrifying tidal wave of greenery poised to swallow everything in its path.
Mo Qiyi sighed heavily. "Wasteland plants have already begun to emerge within this vegetation. It'll only get harder for us to deal with. If we can't eliminate the root cause, we could clear it a hundred thousand times and it would still be treating the symptoms, not the disease. We thought we'd moved to a good place — who would have thought the living conditions here would be dozens or even hundreds of times worse than the Northern Plains?"
Mo Tansang patted Mo Qiyi on the shoulder. "The Master has already sent people to help us. It would be best to keep complaints like that to a minimum."
Mo Qiyi immediately fell silent.
His Master was the greatest villain under heaven — cold, merciless, and ruthless.
"Look! Our reinforcements have arrived!" Mo Tansang's face suddenly lit up with joy as he pointed toward the distant horizon.
Mo Qiyi looked up and indeed saw four Gu Immortals flying toward them.
Two Ice Fan Gu Immortals, one Fur Fan Gu Immortal, and one Mushroom Fan Gu Immortal. Among them was a tall, youthful female Ice Fan cultivator with blue eyes and blue hair, skin like ice, bones like jade — none other than Xue'er.
Mo Tansang and Mo Qiyi hastily stepped forward to greet them.
Xue'er held a very special status.
Back in the day, Fang Yuan had crossed paths with her, and on the surface, Xue'er was none other than Fang Yuan's betrothed!
Of course, Fang Yuan had never acknowledged this — but neither had he denied it.
The Ice Fan clan, and particularly Bing Yuan who stood behind Xue'er now, had been loudly promoting this connection, to the point that every Gu Immortal in the Supreme Immortal Gu knew about it.
"We never imagined we'd trouble Lady Xue'er to come here in person."
"With all of your help, it seems Inkman City's crisis can finally be resolved!"
Mo Tansang and Mo Qiyi offered their flatteries in turn.
Xue'er spoke. "The Inkmen and the Ice Fans may be different races, but our two groups began cooperating back in the Northern Plains. I've come here for two reasons: first, to assist you both; second, to ask that once this matter is settled, you return the favor and lend your support to my Ice Fan clan."
The Ice Fan clan was currently sheltering in the Small Northern Plains and had run into troubles of their own.
The two Inkman Gu Immortals hurriedly agreed that they would do everything in their power to help.
Bing Yuan said, "We conducted an inspection on the way here. Xue'er and I will give it our all, unleashing ice and snow killer moves to freeze and slow the spread of the vegetation, buying you time."
The Fur Fan Gu Immortal said, "I've brought a large number of Fur Fan Gu Masters with me. I'll have them work at full capacity to retrofit Inkman City, transforming it into a unified whole — a single massive Gu house. In the future, relocating will be extremely convenient."
The Mushroom Fan Gu Immortal said, "I can solve the problem of the poisonous vines. These vines are a catastrophe for you, but for my Mushroom Fan clan, they are excellent cultivation resources. Besides, I've already identified the source from which the poisonous vines originate. I can use the vines themselves — fighting poison with poison — to temporarily stabilize this vegetation in place."
Upon hearing this, the two Inkman Gu Immortals felt both elation and a fresh wave of concern.