"Husband, Huang Er has been like this for three months already, what should we do? I don't know how I can live if something happens to her." Fairy Bai Qing looked at Feng Jin Huang, who was lying on the pillow, sobbing softly.
Fairy Bai Qing was a renowned Gu Immortal with considerable status in Spirit Affinity House. She had always appeared elegant and noble to the outside world, but now that the matter concerned her beloved daughter, she had lost her composure and was no longer as calm as usual.
In front of her, Feng Jin Huang sat on a cushion in the posture of nurturing her aperture.
She wore a phoenix coronet, her eyes lowered, and there was a small red mark between her eyebrows. Her appearance combined Fairy Bai Qing's delicate beauty with the dignity of her father, Feng Jiu Ge. She carried herself gracefully, while also possessing unparalleled beauty.
She possessed incredible aptitude, her talent was overwhelming, suppressing everyone of the same age among the ten great ancient sects. If Fang Yuan had not ruined her opportunity, Feng Jin Huang would already have become the owner of Hu Immortal Blessed Land.
Her skin was white as snow, her eyes were closed, and she breathed slowly as she slept.
Around three months ago, Feng Jin Huang had been cultivating as usual, nurturing her aperture, but an accident occurred during that ordinary cultivation session. She had lost consciousness ever since, and no one had been able to wake her using any method.
Ever since they learned of their daughter's condition, Fairy Bai Qing and Feng Jiu Ge had thought of numerous ways to save her, but there had been no progress. Even when they went to ask the supreme elders of Spirit Affinity House, there was still no solution.
"Husband, do you think Huang Er will remain asleep forever? Will she ever wake up and see me again?" Bai Qing thought of this terrible possibility and could not stop herself from feeling sorrow.
Feng Jiu Ge sighed and extended his arms to embrace his beloved wife, comforting her, "Qing Er, don't worry. Didn't first supreme elder say it already? Our daughter discovered the true method of using Dream Wings Immortal Gu… That is how she reached a hidden region and sent her entire soul into a dream realm. She has not lost her life and is still alive and healthy. We should consider this a fortuitous encounter for her."
Despite their desperate attempts, Feng Jiu Ge and Fairy Bai Qing eventually discovered that the true reason Feng Jin Huang had fallen into this state was Dream Wings Immortal Gu!
Fairy Bai Qing leaned against her husband, feeling slightly relieved. "When Huang Er was three years old, Dream Wings Immortal Gu came to her on its own. I have felt uneasy ever since. There has never been any information in our sect regarding Dream Wings Immortal Gu, and even after researching it, all we knew about its effect was that it creates beautiful wings around the Gu Master's soul. But it seems its true effect is something else."
Feng Jiu Ge nodded. "Your analysis is very reasonable. When Gu Masters nurture, use, and refine Gu worms, they learn different and new things about them. Even for famous Gu worms, there are effects unknown to us, and only through sufficient research and use can a Gu Immortal discover their true effects. But I am certain Huang Er will gain enormously once she learns the true use of Dream Wings Gu. When I go to Northern Plains, our family will have to rely on you. Inform me immediately when Huang Er awakens."
The ten great ancient sects of Central Continent had schemed and planned for countless years. They had invested enormous effort and time, spending manpower and resources, carefully planning and making arrangements, before finally obtaining some progress regarding Eighty-Eight True Yang Building.
But in the end, Fang Yuan had used his memories and experience to seize the fruits of their labor, using those very arrangements for himself.
The leader of this plan—Spirit Affinity House—was pressured by all the forces, and even within Spirit Affinity House itself.
"The scheme against Eighty-Eight True Yang Building began from the information left behind by Fairy Mo Yao. Throughout all these years, our sect has been leading the way and holding the most important methods. Now that such an enormous change has occurred, not only must we clear ourselves of suspicion, we must also investigate the truth! As the person with the highest battle strength in the sect, although I want to remain beside our daughter, all the other elders agreed that I should go investigate this."
Feng Jiu Ge let out a sorrowful sigh.
"Husband, you must be careful during this journey to Northern Plains. If something goes wrong, make escaping your priority. After all, it won't be like Central Continent there, there will be no support to help you. Don't trust the people from the other nine sects. Back then, when you challenged all ten great sects in consecutive battles, you won many fights and embarrassed and humiliated many figures without suffering a single defeat. Throughout all these years, you have been publicly acknowledged as the strongest person among the ten great sects, suppressing all of them by yourself. If something happens to you, I'm afraid they will sigh in relief rather than mourn you."
"Don't worry. To me, you and our daughter are the most important things. I'll be careful."
Feng Jiu Ge held Fairy Bai Qing's cheek before gently kissing her.
Fairy Bai Qing pulled away and took out a Gu from her immortal aperture before handing it to Feng Jiu Ge.
"Husband, this is the Guts Gu that Fang Yuan is selling. Why don't you use it? It's beneficial even to us Gu Immortals."
Fairy Bai Qing lovingly handed an airsac Gu to Feng Jiu Ge.
Feng Jiu Ge glanced at the Guts Gu before praising it.
"Guts Gu comes from Dang Hun Mountain, a secluded domain of heaven and earth. It is truly wondrous to see something like this. Even more astonishing is Fang Yuan's ability to negotiate with Immortal Crane Sect and begin such a monopolistic trade without fear."
Feng Jiu Ge could not help but admire such a person.
"Husband, this Fang Yuan is cunning and exceptionally skilled in speech and scheming. If not for his appearance using Fixed Immortal Travel, Huang Er would have been the one to possess Hu Immortal Blessed Land and Dang Hun Mountain. This person is wicked and an unparalleled genius, and he even has an organization standing behind him. Otherwise, how could he rise from a rank Five Gu Master to an immortal zombie in little more than a year?"
Fairy Bai Qing disliked Fang Yuan because of the unforgettable experience Feng Jin Huang had gone through.
Feng Jiu Ge laughed.
"Merely an immortal zombie. His cultivation will remain stagnant for the rest of his life. There are many methods that sacrifice something in exchange for power, but all such methods are filled with flaws. Perhaps the organization behind him has some method that allows him to successfully undergo immortal ascension at the cost of becoming an immortal zombie. The geniuses of this world are endless; there is always a mountain beyond a mountain and an expert beyond an expert. Even I would never claim to know everything."
Inside the Strength Path blessed land…
Fang Zheng had awakened around two months ago and found himself in a strange place.
This world radiated strength and vitality. The ground was somewhat rocky, but its surface was covered by a layer of fertile soil. Bronze-green grass grew over this fertile layer, reaching as high as Fang Zheng's knees.
During his first few days, Fang Zheng awakened in terror and panic whenever memories of what happened before he lost consciousness resurfaced. After awakening, he also possessed a feeling he could not describe.
At first, he was helpless. Without Gu worms and with his weak body, Fang Zheng could not easily obtain food. But through some luck, he obtained a rank one Gu worm.
The Gu resembled a mouse, except it had an upright body that was extremely hard and sturdy, without any fur covering it. Fang Zheng was a rank four peak stage Gu Master, so he easily refined the Gu worm.
At that moment, the strange feeling returned to Fang Zheng as he looked at the Gu worm he had obtained, and in an instant, he gained a kind of intuition regarding its ability and what it could do.
"This?!… How is this possible?!"
Fang Zheng gasped sharply, nearly losing his mind from the shock.
He found himself thinking about the moment Fang Yuan had grabbed him before he lost consciousness.
"Was this done by brother?!"
Fang Zheng trembled involuntarily, unable to stop himself from imagining the sinister scheme Fang Yuan might be planning.
Fang Zheng was not ignorant. His master, Lord Sky Crane, had been a rank five peak stage Gu Master, and as a member of Immortal Crane Sect, Fang Zheng knew what attainment levels were.
But he had never experienced this wondrous feeling before.
It was as though the secrets of Strength Path Gu worms had become incomparably clear. With a single thought, he could think of dozens of possibilities for coordinating Gu worms, and even killer moves no longer seemed difficult at all.
It was simply intuition.
Fang Zheng recovered from his thoughts when his stomach began to ache, forcing him to search for food. The land might be fertile and covered in grass, but the grass was extremely tough and there was nothing edible around.
However, after traveling for half a day, Fang Zheng discovered several strange trees.
The trees were filled with muscles and tendons and looked similar to something Fang Zheng had once read about.
"Meat tree!… It's a meat tree, just like the one in The Legends of Ren Zu!"
Fang Zheng laughed wildly and quickly uprooted one of the trees before beginning to eat it.
The taste was simply wonderful.
After eating, Fang Zheng closed his eyes and fell asleep beneath the torn meat tree.
He was exhausted and weary, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Some sleep would lighten the burden weighing upon him.
After roughly a month of struggling within this strange world, Fang Zheng had discovered several things.
"This world is extremely dangerous!… There are beast groups everywhere, and all of them are terrifyingly huge. Mutated beasts and myriad beast kings are the least of my worries; there are beast emperors and perhaps even worse things!… To summarize it, I'm surrounded by danger from every direction, whether from the extremely harsh environment, the beast groups, or dangerous Gu worms… But there are good things as well."
Fang Zheng thought about his experiences over the past month.
"I'm a master in both Strength Path and Transformation Path. I don't know how this happened, but that's simply how it is… Also, this place mainly contains Strength Path Gu worms. Gu worms from other paths appear in much smaller numbers, but they still exist in noticeable quantities… After an entire month, I've obtained two Gu worms: Earth Overturn Gu and Bandit Monkey Strength Gu."
Fang Zheng had obtained Earth Overturn Gu shortly after arriving in this place, while he acquired Bandit Monkey Strength Gu by killing one of those monkeys and finding the Gu worm on its body.
Feeding Earth Overturn Gu was easy. It ate white rocks, which could be found almost everywhere, while Bandit Monkey Strength Gu fed on the flesh of bandit monkeys.
Another month passed.
Fang Zheng had not made much progress, but he had become skilled at avoiding danger and fighting beasts for food and water. Life was no longer as difficult as it had been before.
Fang Yuan observed all of this through his will before withdrawing his consciousness from the Strength Path immortal aperture and turning his thoughts toward another matter.
"After cultivating for two months, my injuries have completely healed, my cultivation level has improved, and my dao marks have increased to six thousand each for Strength Path and Time Path. Even my soul cultivation has been quite fruitful. Soon, Star Lord Wan Xiang and Immortal Monkey King will head to Starry Sky Grotto-Heaven, so I need to go there before them."
Fang Yuan thought this before rising from his seat and beginning his preparations.