Ghost was truly a Demon Venerable who had clawed his way to the top through sheer slaughter!
Anyone else would have immediately raised their guard, looking for a chance to break out. But his combat experience was far too vast — falling into the trap, he actually seized the opportunity in the very first instant!
It had to be said, the timing he chose was simply too good.
Fang Yuan had been hunted by three sides under immense pressure. Arriving here at last where it was finally safe, it was only human nature to let his guard down.
Ghost had used words to迷惑 him while secretly preparing his killing move. This strike was utterly silent — in all five domains, only Wu Yong of the Southern Border could hope to rival it with his breath-concealment technique. The moment Ghost unleashed it, he instantly turned the tables, his hand clamping down on Fang Yuan's neck.
And this move of Ghost's was extraordinary — it was called the Soul Shatter Hand. It could only be activated at close range, through direct physical combat.
In Gu Immortal battles, close combat was exceedingly rare. The vast majority were fought at range, with only a rare few paths like the Transformation Path and Strength Path relying on physical combat as their primary approach. The Soul Shatter Hand's range was extremely short — a significant drawback — yet Ghost still held onto it and refused to part with it, precisely because once it landed, its power was immense, the target could not break free, and it could decide the outcome in a single blow.
The next instant, the Soul Shatter Hand was unleashed with devastating force!
A smile once again spread across Fang Yuan's face, but Ghost's expression suddenly turned dark.
The "Fang Yuan" in his grip rapidly turned to sand and dissipated into nothing — it was merely a sand puppet!
Yellow sand filled the sky, and from within it came Fang Yuan's admiring voice: "Brilliant, as expected! Fellow Immortal Lu, you haven't wasted all that time and effort you put into setting up this Illusory Sand Shifting Shadows battlefield."
Fang Yuan made no effort to conceal his voice. Demon Venerable Ghost let out a cold snort, immediately tracked the sound, pierced through the sandstorm, and struck at Fang Yuan.
Ghost struck again, but Fang Yuan neither dodged nor retreated.
The next moment, Fang Yuan collapsed once more, dissolving into countless grains of sand.
Demon Venerable Ghost finally furrowed his brow — a rare show of frustration.
Lu Weiyin's voice came next: "Fellow Immortal Fang Yuan flatters me. The truth is, Fellow Immortal Ghost is simply too powerful — I had no choice but to deploy my most formidable battlefield technique. I won't hide it from you, Fellow Immortal: though this battlefield originates from the True Inheritance of Blissful Land, it has been refined and innovated upon by several generations, with quite a few variations. That layer you just saw was the Sand Puppet Substitute — it can confuse the enemy's senses and draw their fire."
"Lu Weiyin, do you no longer want your Mushroom Man paradise in the Southern Border? How foolish of me to have let your people go back when my Shadow Sect showed you mercy!" Ghost growled coldly, his eyes fixed on Lu Weiyin's sand puppet not far away. He knew that Fang Yuan and Lu Weiyin were deliberately speaking to undermine his morale and pile on psychological pressure.
In a battle between experts, every exchange of words was a clash in itself. Especially in the hands of Information Path Gu Immortals — their words were even sharper, every syllable cutting like blade or spear, and an opponent could not afford the slightest lapse in attention.
But Fang Yuan ignored Demon Venerable Ghost entirely and continued speaking to Lu Weiyin: "A battlefield technique of such power — it was indeed worth destroying two Immortal Gu Houses as bait to lower that old fossil's guard. The rest is up to you, Fellow Immortal Lu."
Lu Weiyin knew about Fang Yuan's tribulation. In fact, the Freedom Heavenly Mark killing move in Fang Yuan's arsenal had been Lu Weiyin's gift!
In truth, Fang Yuan did not trust Lu Weiyin. His primary escape destination had never been Earth Abyss — it was the Madness Den. Fang Yuan did not truly know Lu Weiyin's depths, and the memories from five hundred years ago contained very little about him.
Right now, it wasn't just Demon Venerable Ghost who was trapped within the Illusory Sand Shifting Shadows battlefield — Fang Yuan was as well.
Moreover, both of Fang Yuan's Immortal Gu Houses — the Dragon Palace and the Ten Thousand Year Flying Guillotine — had been destroyed. He had lost a great many Gu Insects, and the core Immortal Gu he had recovered were few in number, every one of them damaged.
Ghost grinned menacingly: "Fang Yuan, you'd better stay hidden like a good little boy. Perhaps Lu Weiyin can let you out? Hehehe... but it doesn't matter. Blissful Land is gone — no Earth Path battlefield, no matter how powerful, can hold me for long. The moment I figure out the secrets within, that will be the day you die!"
Lu Weiyin did not respond. Instead, he activated the battlefield.
Yellow sand whirled violently around Demon Venerable Ghost, and a figure burst through the flying sand — it was Fang Yuan's Qi Sea Clone.
Ancestor Qi Hai caught sight of Ghost and froze for a moment, as if he had been charging straight through the sandstorm and hadn't expected to find Demon Venerable Ghost here.
But the next instant, Ancestor Qi Hai struck without hesitation, unleashing Qi Path techniques against Ghost.
Ghost let out a cold snort, blocked the assault, and was about to counterattack — when he watched Ancestor Qi Hai be swallowed once more by the sandstorm, vanishing without a trace.
Ghost immediately gave chase in that direction, plunging into the yellow sand — but he couldn't locate Ancestor Qi Hai's trail at all.
Another figure struck from the sand — it was Demonic Immortal Qi Jue.
Ghost was about to greet him when he noticed that Demonic Immortal Qi Jue's expression was off. He immediately raised his guard.
Sure enough, in the very next instant, Demonic Immortal Qi Jue launched an attack against him.
Ghost blocked the strike and roared: "Qi Jue, what is the matter with you?!"
Demonic Immortal Qi Jue sneered: "Ancestor Qi Hai, since you've provoked me of your own accord, then I'll show you what true Qi Path power looks like!"
Hearing this, Ghost was momentarily stunned, and a thought struck him: Could it be that this was another layer of the Earth Path battlefield's power — the ability to make friend and foe indistinguishable?
Since the battlefield had been able to pass a sand puppet off as Fang Yuan without Ghost detecting the ruse, it was hardly surprising that it could disguise him as Ancestor Qi Hai and deceive Demonic Immortal Qi Jue.
Ghost and Demonic Immortal Qi Jue clashed for a dozen or so exchanges before Qi Jue was wounded and swallowed once again by the yellow sandstorm.
The next figure to appear was Qing Chou.
"Ghost, I want you dead! I want you dead!" Qing Chou was still maddened, the aura of his Ninth Transformation Immortal Gu so overwhelming that even Ghost felt a jolt in his heart.
Just like that, sometimes it was Ancestor Qi Hai, sometimes Demonic Immortal Qi Jue, and sometimes the primordial legendary wild beast Qing Chou.
They flickered in and out of the sandstorm, launching a wheel assault against Demon Venerable Ghost!
Demon Venerable Ghost's combat power was extraordinary, surpassing any one of them, but whenever he gained even a sliver of advantage, Lu Weiyin behind the scenes would immediately swap in a different fighter, leaving Ghost utterly helpless.
Demon Venerable Ghost was besieged in rotation, his vision obscured by the yellow sand, unable to break free for the time being, forced into a purely defensive stance.
At the rear of the battlefield, Fang Yuan was pushing through his tribulation with everything he had. Wu Shuai stood guard beside him, his face taut with vigilance. And around them, countless Army Ants gathered into a hollow sphere, shielding both him and Fang Yuan within.
Within the Supreme Immortal Aperture, the myriad tribulations had already transformed into a sky-high torrent of floodwater!
The flood surged forth, devouring everything across ten thousand miles.