The towering Sky Ladder Mountain reached a height of a million zhang, its peak vanishing into the clouds.
Situated in the very heart of the Central Continent, it was a land of legacies, a sacred mountain of sages. In ancient times, it had served as a ladder bridging the immortal and mortal realms, reaching all the way up to the Celestial Court.
A group of elite disciples from the Immortal Crane Sect now stood at the foot of Sky Ladder Mountain, having already waited for half a shichen.
"How much longer do we have to wait?"
"This Fang Yuan is really putting on airs, isn't he?"
"Shh, keep your voice down. He's Gu Yue Fang Zheng's own brother, and now he's the master of the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land!"
"Speaking of which, Fang Zheng's brother is truly incredible. He actually defeated Feng Jinhuang, Xiao Qixing, Ying Shengji, and the rest of them."
"What's so impressive about that? If I had a Supreme Elder from the sect backing me, activating the Fixing Immortal Travel Gu on my behalf, I could've seized the Blessed Land too."
"Our elders really had it all planned out. On the surface, they sent Fang Zheng to draw the fire, but the real killing blow was his brother, Fang Yuan!"
...
To make the whole affair convincing, the Immortal Crane Sect had lied to its own disciples. It was only then that the sect's members learned of the existence of one Gu Yue Fang Yuan within their own ranks.
Over the past three months, Gu Yue Fang Yuan had become the most discussed figure among the Immortal Crane Sect's disciples. Low-key and mysterious, he stoked everyone's curiosity. Silent until the moment he struck, he had won the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land for the sect and brought honor to the Immortal Crane Sect's name, making every disciple there proud by association.
The whispers behind him constantly drifted into Fang Zheng's ears.
Fang Zheng stood at the very front of the crowd, his gaze somber as he gazed up at Sky Ladder Mountain.
These days, he had been moving like a walking corpse, barely aware of how he had gotten through each day.
When Fang Zheng had left Qing Mao Mountain, he had sworn an oath of vengeance, determined to seek justice for his fallen clansmen.
He bore the weight of a blood debt, and the fierce will for revenge sustained him, driving him to cultivate with relentless effort. He worked harder than any other disciple, never slackening for even a moment.
He had imagined the day he would face Fang Yuan countless times — he would strike Fang Yuan down, force him to his knees, right there on Qing Mao Mountain, and make him repent for everything he had done. The spirits of his clansmen in the afterlife would finally rest in peace.
That was why, when he had been climbing Soul-Shaking Mountain, he had wanted to give up a thousand times, but had persevered a thousand times over.
Every time he thought of Fang Yuan, a tremendous surge of power would rise in his heart, sustaining him, urging him onward.
He was determined to claim the Fox Immortal's inheritance, not only because he refused to disappoint his master and the sect, but because the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land had multiplied the possibility of his revenge a thousandfold.
Yet never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that fate's blow would come so suddenly, and so devastatingly.
Gu Yue Fang Yuan — his own blood brother, the protagonist of countless nightmares — had appeared at the summit without warning! And then, before the eyes of all, he had seized the inheritance, and even the Gu Immortal could do nothing to stop him!
The defeated Fang Zheng returned to the sect.
Shock!
Agony!
Confusion!
Fear!
He knew of the sect's lies. He was an insider who knew the truth. But precisely because of this, the shadow in his heart only deepened further.
This was the same shadow that Fang Yuan had cast over him since childhood.
Why was his brother so brilliant, while he was so dull?
Why, despite all his tireless cultivation, did he still lose to Fang Yuan?
Why was it the same in the Southern Border, and the same again here in the Central Continent?!
"Am I, Gu Yue Fang Zheng, doomed to live in his shadow for the rest of my life, never able to defeat him?!" Every time Fang Zheng thought this, a fierce, burning refusal would surge from the depths of his heart, giving him even greater motivation to cultivate ruthlessly.
But this time was different.
This time was different.
When he thought of the task the sect had given him before he left, Fang Zheng could not stop his entire body from trembling.
The Blessed Land was in Fang Yuan's hands. To obtain the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, the sect wanted to recruit Fang Yuan. As long as he was willing to hand over the Fox Immortal's Blessed Land, he would become an elder of the Immortal Crane Sect.
Within the sects of the Central Continent, from the bottom up, there were outer disciples, inner disciples, elite disciples, and true inheritance disciples, each rank a tier above the last.