"Weren't we instructed by Lord Dongfang Changfan before his death to exercise caution?" The Gu Immortal clan members beside him were visibly confused.
"Indeed. The Grand Elder specifically gathered us all to come here, which means the entire clan currently has no Gu Immortal combat strength left behind."
"I had assumed the Grand Elder already held the correct clues."
One after another, the Gu Immortals voiced their concerns.
Dongfang Wanshou let out a long sigh, his tone desolate. "Don't call me Grand Elder. In my heart, only Lord Dongfang Changfan was ever the Supreme Grand Elder of our clan."
"We all know that Lord Wanshou was personally promoted by Old Lord Changfan. But Lord Changfan has already passed on — who among us can escape death? In my view, we must focus on the present."
"Precisely. The matter concerns Lord Changfan's wisdom path inheritance, and it has already attracted this many demonic path Gu Immortals. Our clan may be one of the great powers, but the slightest misstep could bring us to the brink of ruin. We must proceed with caution."
"Had Lord Wanshou not personally assured us that this was Lord Changfan's arrangement before his passing, we would at least have left one Gu Immortal behind as a safeguard — to protect the seed of our clan against unforeseen circumstances. Gathering everyone here like this is extremely dangerous."
The Gu Immortals followed close behind Dongfang Wanshou, exchanging words and worries among themselves.
Dongfang Wanshou waved his hand. "Everyone, please calm down. While I don't have the correct clues in hand, I do possess the means to obtain them."
With that, he closed his eyes and carefully probed the lingering aura traces left by the teleportation Gu formation.
The formation's aura was ever-changing — each time Dongfang Wanshou probed it, he found something different.
Following the guidance Dongfang Changfan had given him before his death, he committed each trail of aura to memory and systematically ruled them out, one by one.
Before long, he slowly opened his eyes, flew into the air first, and addressed the others: "Follow me."
……
"Where is this place?" Dongfang Yuliang gradually regained consciousness from his stupor. He opened his eyes, and his vision slowly shifted from blurry to clear.
His head throbbed with splitting pain. In truth, it wasn't just his head — his entire body was covered in wounds of varying severity. Internal bleeding, and fractures in numerous places.
"I was only halfway along the route using the map Lord Changfan left me. How did I suddenly end up here?" Confusion filled Dongfang Yuliang's mind. Even as he pondered, he immediately set about treating his injuries.
With his Fifth Transformation Peak Stage cultivation and techniques, his wounds were quickly and effectively tended to.
"I remember the three of us were meditating, absorbing the qi within Yuan Stones, when the teleportation Gu formation suddenly activated and transported us here. Could it be that the map Lord Dongfang Changfan gave me was also fake? Or perhaps only the second half was fake — and the true destination was somewhere along the way."
Dongfang Yuliang felt this speculation was quite plausible.
Given his understanding of Dongfang Changfan's character, Changfan was certainly the type to set things up this way.
This arrangement was also designed to thwart any wisdom path Gu Immortals who might interfere.
Gu Immortals of other paths would be wary and hesitant, afraid of losing Dongfang Yuliang as a lead while also mistrusting one another, so they chose to hang back and bide their time.
But wisdom path Gu Immortals possessed the ability to search minds and extract clue maps — they could extract the correct information directly.
"Tan Wufeng and Dong Pokong were teleported together with me, but I can't see either of them now. Perhaps they're nearby. I should find them first before exploring this palace complex."
A short while later, having healed his injuries, Dongfang Yuliang set off on foot to search the surroundings.
Looking around, he realized the place appeared to be an entire complex of palaces, and he himself was standing inside one of them.
The palace was both magnificent and dilapidated — clearly the ruins of a sprawling, vast estate.
Dongfang Yuliang remained on high alert, but the palace was utterly empty, with no enemies in sight.
"Tan Wufeng!"
"Young master!"
After walking for some time, Dongfang Yuliang encountered Tan Wufeng, who had been searching for him as well.
Shortly after the two reunited, they spotted Dong Pokong near the palace's exit.
Dong Pokong was still unconscious, lying on the ground.
Dongfang Yuliang and Tan Wufeng worked together to revive him. With all three reunited, their joy was natural.
As always, Dongfang Yuliang took the lead. After a moment of thought, he made his decision: "If I'm not mistaken, this should be the inheritance site Lord Changfan prepared. We've already thoroughly searched the first palace and found no clues — let's check the second palace."
Sure enough, as he had predicted, the three arrived at the second palace and, at its center, were met with a trial.
It was a difficult case — a complex mystery.
Clues and evidence were provided, some genuine and some false. A time limit was also given: Dongfang Yuliang had to use his wisdom path techniques to think through the problem, not only identifying the false evidence and clues but also deducing the truth behind the mystery.
True to being the successor Dongfang Changfan had chosen, Dongfang Yuliang cleared the challenge in less than a third of the allotted time, claiming a generous reward — a complete set of Fifth Transformation wisdom path Gu Insects.
With his strength greatly increased, Dongfang Yuliang entered the third palace.
This trial was a partial Gu recipe, testing whether Dongfang Yuliang could deduce the full formula within the time it took an incense stick to burn.
……
Boom!