Chapter 1017

Yellow drags Green from his exploding immortal fetus Gu formation in Northern Plains’ Earth Trench; Green resists, calling it his life’s work. He then sees rank eight immortal materials saturated with heaven’s will, which had already swayed his own judgment. Only a complete otherworldly demon goes fully undetected by heaven’s will, Yellow tells him, and they abandon the attempt to start again. Green nods. ^{ch. 1017}

Elsewhere, a fog shrouded time path Gu Immortal marked with a red lotus accuses Da Li of holding Red Lotus Demon Venerable’s next true inheritance. Da Li denies it entirely and charges rather than argue. After a long fight he cannot win, and the Immortal Gu House, Graceful Chaotic Duel Stage, suppresses him. ^{ch. 1017}

Grand clear space, the myriad tribulation, ends at last, its green birds having cut Spectral Soul’s mass by a third. Heaven Overseeing Tower nears breaking its phantom form, and grey memory is already half over. The tribulations continue. Dark oil poison falls next, boiling and sticky, rotting his body while he does nothing to resist. Below him, earth collapse traps Ying Wu Xie and Bo Qing, sheltered unharmed under Spectral Soul. ^{ch. 1017}

Far off, Hei Lou Lan and Tai Bai Yun Sheng, wounded, flee Southern Border Gu Immortals after Hei Lou Lan nearly killed one of them earlier. She dares not approach Yi Tian Mountain again. A new, unknown tribulation follows, its imperceptible aura exploding Spectral Soul’s body until only a bare framework remains. ^{ch. 1017}

Old Man Yan Shi, coughing blood, deduces from heavenly secret Immortal Gu that Fang Yuan holds Spring Autumn Cicada. That explains how Fang Yuan refined Fixed Immortal Travel, obtained Dang Hun Mountain, then destroyed Imperial Court blessed land and toppled Eighty-Eight True Yang Building. As an otherworldly demon holding Spring Autumn Cicada, Yan Shi judges, Fang Yuan has clearly escaped fate and could be the best tool against heaven’s will. He resolves to hide Fang Yuan’s and Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s tracks from others. ^{ch. 1017}

Elsewhere, Qin Bai Sheng watches Dong Fang Chang Fan draw a tribulation through possession. The Blazing Glory Lightning Brilliance immortal zombie says the test is over, then asks why Chu Rong has not returned. Fairy Jiang Yu arrives with a terrible expression: Chu Rong, a fire path grandmaster of rank seven, is dead, and the attempt on Modest Thatched Hut has failed. Three Thatch Demon Immortal’s inheritor was deeply concealed and ruthless, and she almost failed to return. Qin Bai Sheng, mildly shocked, decides to abandon Modest Thatched Hut to avoid exposure before their plan. At Luo Po valley, Shadow Sect’s group faces Feng Jiu Ge and Central Continent’s Gu Immortals, whose investigation of Fang Yuan led them to Shadow Sect instead, leaving Qin Bai Sheng no choice but to fight. ^{ch. 1017}

Old Man Yan Shi coughs continuously elsewhere, pale and near death from exhaustion. He spent a hundred years of lifespan on heavenly secret Gu: Spring Autumn Cicada, he deduces, is in poor condition, already used once. Fang Yuan’s early arrival tells him their main body failed once before and used Red Lotus’ true inheritance to send Fang Yuan into the past. By Yan Shi’s planning, Bo Qing and Seven Star Child have already slowed Heavenly Court as much as possible, and Zombie Alliance waits in reserve. With newly gained lifespan Gu he has twenty years left, and expects to die and rejoin the main body after helping deduce the tribulations ahead. He does not die: generations of Shadow Sect’s wisdom path advisors had deduced enough together, using heavenly secret Immortal Gu, Paradise Earth’s own creation. ^{ch. 1017}

Seeing this, Heavenly Court’s Gu Immortals fall silent in shock: Shadow Sect had deduced the tribulations beforehand, making Spectral Soul’s stillness look deeply suspicious. Vine dragon, a new myriad tribulation, binds Spectral Soul in millions of thorned vines, feeding on his soul. He lets this happen on purpose, they realize, fusing his own soul path foundation into the ten extreme formation as its nutrients. The myriad tribulations carve space, poison, qi, and wood path dao marks into him to destroy his soul path dao marks, marks no weaker than the foundation of a hundred thousand years. What he means to refine, and his ultimate goal, still escape them. ^{ch. 1017}

The ten extreme formation nears its final juncture, its ball of light growing brighter. No matter what Spectral Soul is refining, Heaven Overseeing Tower Lord resolves, they must destroy the formation and ruin his scheme. Though still in phantom form, one chance remains to retaliate: a method generations of Heaven Overseeing Tower Lords made and kept secret. Asked why he has not used it, he tells them the price, and Heavenly Court’s Gu Immortals fall into deathly silence. ^{ch. 1017}