Thunderous explosions erupted one after another, as various killer moves clashed in rapid succession. Even the terrifying aftershocks they stirred up were rife with lethal danger!
The Fang family's ambush came far too suddenly, catching the Anti-Fang Alliance completely off guard. What frustrated the allied Gu Immortals even more was that they had not established themselves at a resource point — they were camped in the middle of an ordinary stretch of desert.
They had been preparing to launch a massive offensive against the Fang family, but before the battle, they still needed to finalize the terms of their trade.
Fang Tichang's stratagem had proven devastatingly effective. By repeatedly conducting open transactions with Fang Yuan, he had sown instability within the Anti-Fang Alliance, drastically delaying the timing of their formal attack.
And this very ambush — it too was Fang Tichang's doing!
"Fang Tichang of the Fang family!!!" Wan Xiao gnashed his teeth in fury.
He was not alone. Every Gu Immortal in the alliance felt the full weight of Fang Tichang's cunning in that moment.
Inside the Rooster Cage and Dog Kennel, Fang Tichang's expression was cold and sharp, his eyes gleaming with a cutting edge. The battlefield situation was mapped perfectly in his mind. He barked a command: "Release all the ancient desolate beasts. Don't aim to kill — just scatter the enemy Gu Immortals and break their formation."
In the next instant, the Rooster Cage and Dog Kennel erupted with blinding radiance. Dozens of ancient desotent beasts — some chickens, some dogs — barely formed two squads and charged forward with ferocious momentum.
Wan Haoguang's eyes nearly split from rage. He immediately grasped the Fang family's plan and roared, "Don't get scattered! Anyone who gets isolated will be in mortal danger!"
The Fang family Gu Immortals had all retreated into three Immortal Gu Houses, while the alliance's Gu Immortals were hovering in midair.
Their faces drained of color. Who could withstand these ancient desolate beasts with their bare bodies?
Even deploying killer moves, they could not eliminate them in short order.
If they started fighting while retreating, their already loose formation would shatter instantly — and the Fang family would have exactly what they wanted.
At that very moment, a Gu Immortal in the alliance suddenly burst into loud laughter, his appearance undergoing a dramatic transformation.
"My turn!" He wore a sweeping teal robe, laughing boisterously, his voice grating and unforgettable.
"You're not Tian Fengmang — you're Tian Daji!" the other alliance Gu Immortals cried out, joy flooding their faces.
Tian Daji was a Seventh Transformation cultivator who specialized in the Slave Path.
He was not of the Tian family's main bloodline. Originally, he had been a humble youth without any cultivation Aptitude, destined to live his entire life as a mere farmer.
But while tending the fields one day, he had accidentally unearthed an Immortal Gu Master's inheritance from the soil.
It was that inheritance that turned his fate upside down.
He first cultivated in secret, then was discovered and forced to hand over the inheritance to the Tian family. The Gu Immortal who received it at the time — Tian Ganghui — was an upright man. Rather than coveting the inheritance for himself, he actively protected Tian Daji in the days that followed.
Tian Daji inherited this peculiar legacy. It allowed him to enslave only chicken-type creatures, but its effects were extraordinary.
In the next instant, Tian Daji struck, activating a Slave Path killer move that turned every chicken-type ancient desolate beast the Fang family had released — all of them — against their masters.
The ancient desolate beasts immediately wheeled around and attacked the dog-type ancient desolate beasts behind them.
In a flash, chickens and dogs clashed, kicking up a storm of sand and dust across the battlefield.
The Anti-Fang Alliance's crisis was resolved in a heartbeat. Wan Xiao, Wan Haoguang, Sun Wang, and the others launched their attacks in quick succession.
Killer moves of the Wind Path, Light Path, and Flame Path detonated one after another, forming a perfect three-wave offensive that surged toward the Rooster Cage and Dog Kennel.
The Fang family had their schemes, but the Wan family had their preparations.
Tian Daji's identity had been kept a secret — revealed only now, the result of deliberate coordination between the Wan and Tian families.
Though the alliance had been slowed by the Fang family's stalling tactics, the Wan family had not wasted that time. While internal discussions continued behind closed doors, they had also been actively organizing the alliance's Gu Immortals to run joint drills.
The alliance's Gu Immortals had little natural synergy with one another. Individual combat was no problem, but group battles were their greatest weakness.
After all, Dao marks from different paths repelled each other.
To address this weakness, under the condition that Heavenly Court continuously supplied Immortal Yuan Stones, the allied Gu Immortals had trained diligently, developing a basic level of coordination for group warfare.
"Fang Huasheng." Fang Tichang issued the call for reinforcements even as he maneuvered the Rooster Cage and Dog Kennel into a retreat.
Though the chicken-type ancient desolate beasts had turned traitor on the battlefield, the Rooster Cage and Dog Kennel still controlled the dog-type beasts. This Immortal Gu House was critical — if it were bombarded and any key Immortal Gu inside were destroyed, things would go badly. The dog-type ancient desolate beasts would stop obeying orders and collapse into rout.
Fang Huasheng, stationed in the Falling Blossom Pavilion, received the message and rushed over immediately.
Immortal Gu Killer Move — Mirror!
A burst of radiance erupted from the surface of the Falling Blossom Pavilion.
The light was pure white as snow. It surged outward, then abruptly retracted, condensing on the rooftop into a massive, tightly closed bud.
The bud unfurled rapidly, its petal-like segments resembling mirrors that refracted streams of light. As they opened, the petals collided with one another, producing a cascade of crisp, tinkling chimes.
When the flower had fully bloomed, it towered a full three-tenths larger than the Falling Blossom Pavilion's roof itself — a sight of breathtaking beauty.
The Mirror took shape in the blink of an eye, then unleashed a tremendous suction force.
Whether it was Wan Haoguang's attack, Wan Xiao's, or Sun Wang's — more than half the power of their killer moves was drawn in.
But the remaining fraction still rocked the Falling Blossom Pavilion violently. Mirror petals shattered and drifted down, and the surviving segments folded back inward, reforming the closed bud.
"Take it back!" Fang Huasheng growled.
The Mirror bud bloomed once more, violently ejecting all the offensive power it had absorbed moments before.
The flower dissolved completely. The unleashed killer move forced Wan Haoguang and the others into a hasty retreat, compelling them to desperately deploy defensive measures just to hold their ground.
Fang Huasheng saw the three immortals in disarray and knew the window of opportunity had opened. He was about to press the attack when suddenly, from the enemy's ranks, a Flame Path Immortal Gu House burst into view!
It resembled an enormous rolling wheel. After drawing the two Dong family Gu Immortals — Dong Zhu and Dong Ming — inside, it immediately came thundering forward.