Heavenly Court, the Immortal Tomb.
An inexplicable change occurred.
A wisp of flame appeared—faint at first—but moments later it surged and spread, dyeing the entire sky above the Immortal Tomb crimson.
The fiery glow illuminated heaven and earth, immediately drawing the attention of Zi Wei and the other Heavenly Court members.
Zi Wei rushed to the entrance of the Immortal Tomb, only to find that amid the blazing firelight, flecks of silver-white brilliance had emerged, like countless diamonds scattered across a crimson curtain.
The firelight faded, and a bold, heroic elderly Gu Immortal strode out from the depths of the Immortal Tomb, dressed in a grand crimson robe.
The motes of light converged, and within a gentle radiance, another elderly figure appeared, seated in a wooden wheelchair, drifting leisurely forward.
Zi Wei's eyes flashed with keen light. She was pleasantly surprised—she recognized both Gu Immortal elders.
The elder in the crimson robe was Li Huang, a great power of the Flame Path. The elder in the wheelchair was Gu Liuru, a great power of the Time Path.
"This junior Zi Wei greets the two seniors." Zi Wei bowed respectfully.
Gu Liuru nodded without speaking. He was pale and sickly, emaciated and gaunt, having endured a life of hardship. His lower body was paralyzed and incurable, which had left him cold and aloof.
Li Huang spoke up: "The two of us awakening from our slumber is no coincidence. Surely the Heavenly Court must need our strength. What is the current state of affairs?"
Zi Wei expressed her shame, then laid out the situation in full before the two elders.
"Fang Yuan? I never imagined such a demon lord would appear in this world!"
"Hmph. In this unprecedented great era, some chaos is inevitable. But for the Demonic Path to run rampant like this is truly excessive. In the end, it all stems from the seeds planted by Red Lotus Demon Venerable."
Li Huang snorted coldly, anger plain on his face, deeply dissatisfied.
Gu Liuru's expression was as cold as ice, his tone calm: "Fortunately, the greater trend is still in our hands. As long as the Fate Gu is fully repaired in a few years, the Heavenly Court will remain in an unassailable position. Even if that Fang Yuan is formidable, he won't be able to stir up much of a storm."
He then turned to Zi Wei: "You are a Gu Immortal of the Wisdom Path and should be leading the Heavenly Court. Whatever you need us two old men to do, say it plainly. There is no need for hesitation."
Joy appeared on Zi Wei's face: "You two seniors have just awakened, so of course you should rest and recuperate first, equip yourselves with Immortal Gu, and restore your combat strength."
"Right now, the River of Time has slipped beyond our control. We are preparing to build a Time Path Immortal Gu House at any cost, and to lay down the River-Locking Lotus-Sealing Grand Formation within the River of Time. If you two seniors could take up position at the River of Time, that would be ideal."
Gu Liuru and Li Huang exchanged a glance. The former nodded slightly, while the latter laughed heartily: "Very well. I'd like to have a good look at this little Demon Venerable!"
In terms of raw combat strength, Li Huang was naturally superior to Gu Liuru, but Zi Wei was even more delighted by Gu Liuru's awakening.
This great power of the Time Path had awakened at just the right moment, filling the Heavenly Court's void in Time Path expertise and solving Zi Wei's most urgent problem!
"However—Fang Yuan has returned through rebirth. Does he know about these two awakening?"
At the thought of Fang Yuan, Zi Wei furrowed her brow once more.
The fact that Fang Yuan could be reborn made dealing with such an enemy incredibly troublesome. It always made one doubt one's own judgments.
What Zi Wei did not know was that in the previous timeline, only Li Huang had awakened at this time. Gu Liuru had awakened much later, during the final stages, when Chang Sheng Tian attacked the Heavenly Court. At that time, Gu Liuru and Hei Fan had fought a fierce, evenly-matched battle, only for Gu Liuru to be ambushed and killed by Liu Liuliu.
Fang Yuan had struck early, destroying Hengzhou and Jin'guting, then killing Qing Ye. This triggered the Ink Effect, which in turn caused Gu Liuru to awaken ahead of schedule.
This Eighth Transformation great power of the Time Path, operating within the River of Time itself, would surely pose an enormous obstacle to Fang Yuan.
Supreme Immortal Aperture, Little Central Continent.
Fang Yuan's divine sense enveloped the swampy terrain.
Here there was extremely fertile, high-quality silt, covered by a layer of crystal-clear river water, knee-deep for an adult.
This was a resource point Fang Yuan had just constructed—the Flower Mist Taize.
The Taize was vast, stretching as far as the eye could see.
Every few li, a bud of the wild Taize Flower stood upright, as large as a house.
When the Taize Flower bloomed, its petals connected into a single trumpet-shaped form, predominantly white, with a faint tinge of pink on some.
From the heart of the Taize Flower, wisps of white mist would gradually diffuse outward.
This Taize mist was the food of the Regret Gu.
The troublesome aspect of feeding the Regret Gu was that its ingredients were difficult to stockpile. Taize Flower mist needed to be fresh, so the best approach was to construct a corresponding resource point directly within one's immortal aperture.
In his previous life, Fang Yuan had created this Flower Mist Taize, but only after obtaining the Regret Gu.
In this life, with far more resources at his disposal, Fang Yuan had set it up in advance. Though he had not yet acquired the Regret Gu, by preparing ahead of time, once it came into his hands, there would be absolutely no worries about feeding it.
Even for the Regret Gu he had yet to obtain, Fang Yuan had already solved the feeding problem in advance. Every single Immortal Gu in his possession was now fully self-sufficient.
Even the Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Jia, recently seized from Ba Shiba, had been fully provisioned for. Fang Yuan had designated a dedicated ocean region within the Little Eastern Sea and introduced an entire colony of water spider beasts, ensuring the Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu Jia would have ample food.
Naturally, these water spiders had been extorted from the Southern Border's Righteous Path.
Although Fang Yuan had already devoured the vast majority of the captured Southern Border immortal apertures and scoured their souls down to the last, the Southern Border Righteous Path remained unaware of this and obediently submitted to Fang Yuan's blackmail.
Just as the Heavenly Court did not know that the true legacy Red Lotus Demon Venerable had left for Fang Yuan contained no direct method of destroying the Fate Gu—yet the Heavenly Court, fearing the worst, was pouring everything into recovering their disadvantage along the River of Time.