Chapter 1013

Trapped in the ground by grand tribulation Earth Collapse, the Gu Immortals find their thoughts interrupted along with their bodies, and only a wisdom path method prepared in advance could resist it. Ying Wu Xie struggles and sinks deeper for his effort. Immortal zombie Bo Qing, whose calm actually belongs to Mo Yao’s remnant soul inside him, tells him to stop struggling and stop thinking, since nothing can be done now; a myriad tribulation she once saw was worse than this one. Ying Wu Xie can only hope their main body will save them. ^{ch. 1013}

But Spectral Soul is sinking too, his left leg’s lower half still sewn to the ground from an earlier attack by the Immortal Gu House Embroidered Tower, and even his full strength cannot control the whole situation. Two of his six eyes hold Heaven Overseeing Tower in place. The other four watch the sky, where grey clouds are thickening into a second myriad tribulation. Unlike the fast, reflex-beating Wind Lightning Prison, this tribulation descends slowly enough that anyone facing it could retaliate. Yet Spectral Soul does not move, holding Heaven Overseeing Tower firmly even as the grey cloud completely shrouds him. ^{ch. 1013}

Heavenly Court’s Gu Immortals are troubled. Spectral Soul’s phantom path attainment, a great grandmaster’s level none expected, has trapped their tower’s phantom form so it cannot return to normal or fight. The grey cloud descends without any visible harm, leaving Ying Wu Xie confused, but Heavenly Court’s Gu Immortals recognize it as Grey Memory. One recalls inheriting from a rank eight senior who failed this same tribulation, lasting under fifteen minutes before he lost all motivation and interest in life. Grey Memory is harmless to the body, but it draws out a person’s deepest pain and trauma, and only facing that shame and anger, never an attack, can resolve it. They wonder whether even Spectral Soul might falter, since everyone carries some painful memory. Spectral Soul recognizes the tribulation himself, which is why he stands still. ^{ch. 1013}

Grey Memory then plays a scene from Spectral Soul’s childhood: his grandfather, the clan leader, has the boy’s mother put to death as a demonic path member, over the boy’s protests. His father moves in front of him, and the boy turns to see the dagger his father holds already driven into his mother’s heart. From that day on the boy stays very quiet. ^{ch. 1013}

Years later the boy shares an insight from clan history with his grandfather. Killing, he says, is the world’s one universal law, whether hunting for food, eliminating enemies, or a ruler purging his own meritorious subjects. History, to him, is only a hero killing a loser, or being killed in turn, and he begins listing forms of assassination before his grandfather can stop him. Enraged, the grandfather smashes his cup, cutting the boy’s face with the shards, and confines him to the house for a month to reflect. ^{ch. 1013}

Some years after that, now a rank one Gu Master, the boy refines hidden aura Gu and means to shock his grandfather in his study. He reconsiders, since his grandfather is rank four and could easily find him, and hides in a secret tunnel instead. There he overhears his grandfather and a clan elder, his personal aide. The aide reports that news of the clan leader’s eighty year lifespan Gu has spread, and calls it conclusive that the young clan leader, the boy’s father, means to harm him. The grandfather, enraged, decides to strike first and have his son assassinated, since open suppression would damage the clan’s righteous path reputation and stir internal strife, and once the son is dead his backers must give up. Behind the secret door, the boy listens, his whole body shivering intensely. ^{ch. 1013}