"Success or failure hangs on this — as long as we hold on, we'll claim victory!"
Inside the Profound Ice Remnant House, the immortals were roaring and shouting, all composure lost.
Outside the Profound Ice Remnant House, soul beasts were packed shoulder to shoulder, like a sky-covering swarm of ants, enveloping the Profound Ice House dead center.
"How many hidden points remain?" Shark Demon bellowed.
"One hundred and seventy-eight!" Bu Dan reported immediately. His ability to break things was mediocre, but at this point, the Battle Soul Sandfield was nearly collapsing — soul beasts could no longer be produced — and his scouting ability was more than sufficient to survey the entire situation.
"One hundred and seventy-eight…" Su Bai Man murmured, her expression grim but her eyes blazing with newfound hope.
That number of hidden points seemed like it could be destroyed with ease.
But in truth, many difficulties remained.
First, among the Gu Insects that persisted to the end were core Immortal Gu, which were extremely difficult to break through.
Second, all the immortals were currently inside the Profound Ice Remnant House, their methods severely restricted — they could no longer unleash themselves freely as before.
Gu Immortal Houses offered comprehensive offense and defense, controlled advance and retreat, and served as war fortresses — each excelling in its own domain with no shortcomings or weak points. The more Gu Immortals inside a Gu Immortal House, the higher their cultivation, and the more Immortal essence they supplied — the greater the combat power the Gu Immortal House could unleash!
But there was a critical drawback.
The Gu Immortals inside only provided the Gu Immortal House with power. The House's offense, defense, advance, retreat, healing, scouting, and other capabilities all depended on the Immortal Gu and mortal Gu used to construct it.
As a result, Fang Yuan, Xie Shu Fang, and the others' original methods for breaking through were instead rendered unusable by the Gu Immortal House's interference.
From this perspective, ancient battle formations were far superior to Gu Immortal Houses. Although ancient battle formations had been rendered obsolete in the history of Gu Cultivation by the ever-proliferating succession of Gu Immortal Houses, the facts proved that ancient battle formations still excelled in many ways.
For instance, the combat methods of ancient battle formations were far more flexible and diverse than those of Gu Immortal Houses.
A Gu Immortal House's offensive, defensive, healing, and scouting capabilities were fixed at the time of construction — its power grew or diminished only with the amount of Immortal essence supplied. This made it rather rigid.
But ancient battle formations were different. Although they too were composed of Gu formations, the core linchpin was the Gu Immortals within.
Gu Immortals inside an ancient battle formation could deploy their own unique Immortal path killer moves.
Just like in the Battle of Langya, when Fang Yuan and the Mao Min Gu Immortals combined to form the second ancient battle formation, Tianpo Suoluo. That silver giant would shift its appearance according to the different killer moves the Gu Immortals executed, and the power of those killer moves would be dramatically amplified.
In short, had this been an ancient battle formation, the immortals would likely have already destroyed every last hidden point and won the battle. But with a Gu Immortal House instead, they found their hands and feet bound.
It was like climbing a mountain — the summit was just one short flight of stone steps away, tantalizingly close. Yet that final stretch had become an insurmountable obstacle.
To the immortals, time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl. Every single second was torture.
"Are we going to fail once again this time?" Su Bai Man murmured in despair. Shark Demon gritted his teeth in silence, a look of ashen defeat coloring his features.
Chapter 477. The Black and White Shine
Just then, Xie Shufang stepped forward, her expression grave as she addressed Shark Demon: "I can deal with the last of these hidden Gu Insects. However, the method I intend to employ comes at a great cost. If you are willing to offer one of the Immortal Gu from within as payment, I will make the move."
Shark Demon's face darkened. He snorted coldly. Su Bai Man's eyes also glinted with a murderous light, her expression turning ugly.
Xie Shufang's proposal could easily be seen as taking advantage of the situation to extort them. But at this moment, everyone else had exhausted their options. To overcome this final obstacle, it seemed they had no choice but to rely on Xie Shufang.
However, her very first demand was for an Immortal Gu as payment. Everyone knew just how valuable an Immortal Gu was; this was truly an outrageous asking price.
Yet, after a moment of rapid calculation, Shark Demon did not remain silent for long before agreeing: "You may take only one Immortal Gu from it. That is my absolute limit!"
He had faced fierce competition within the East Sea Zombie Alliance just to secure this mission to explore the Jade Dew Blessed Land. Apart from the portion of the profits he had to hand over to the Alliance, the rest would belong to him and Su Bai Man.
This immortal zombie couple had already invested heavily in the early stages, to the point where it had become a drain on their resources. The Immortal Gu within the Jade Dew Blessed Land represented a portion of their wealth. One could say that Xie Shufang's demand now was like carving flesh from their hearts!
But it had to be said, Shark Demon was a man capable of great things. He knew when to bend and when to stand, and how to assess the situation properly.
He actually swallowed his pride and agreed to Xie Shufang's terms.
This point secretly earned a measure of approval from Fang Yuan.
Hearing Shark Demon's concession, Xie Shufang did not hesitate. She nodded directly and smiled: "Lord Shark Demon, I am not such a greedy person. It is just that one of the Immortal Gu forming this battlefield killer move happens to be exceptionally suited to me. I would not dare ask for more than that. This time, I consider myself having accepted your favor."
"Then please, Master Xie Shufang, make your move," Su Bai Man said, crossing her arms over her chest, her tone stiff.
This single Immortal Gu would not be so easy to take.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Xie Shufang's face was solemn and heavy, her aura surging higher and higher. At the same time, a dazzling black and white radiance erupted from her body.
The two streams of light, one black and one white, spun constantly before rapidly coalescing into a large sphere.