Chapter 1035

Qi Zai carries newly ascended Qi He, who calls him great-uncle, on a desolate beast qi grand lion, a kind now almost extinct outside white heaven and black heaven. He is hundreds of years old and rank seven, young looking only from lifespan Gu. He explains that desolate beasts rank with rank six Gu Immortals, ancient desolate beasts with rank seven, and immemorial desolate beasts with rank eight. The lion rides air currents on its qi path dao marks rather than treading the clouds. Gaps in her Gu Immortal knowledge are normal so soon after ascending, he tells her. She credits him with helping her survive the ascension tribulation. ^{ch. 1035}

Qi Zai promises that once his current matter is settled they will return to Qi Sea grotto-heaven, where elders will welcome Qi clan’s newest Gu Immortal. Qi He asks why Qi clan’s elders do not shelter descendants the way Southern Border’s Wu clan and Shang clan do. Qi Zai traces it to their ancestor Qi Xiang, one of the Five Xiangs. Qi clan cultivates qi path because of him. The Five Xiangs, Qi Xiang, Ni Xiang, Bai Xiang, Xue Xiang and Chi Xiang, were five publicly recognized rank eight Gu Immortals who explored white heaven and black heaven together. They grew extremely famous even beyond Southern Border, and other rank eight Gu Immortals in the two heavens avoided them. The Five Xiangs and their incredible fame gave Southern Border’s Gu Immortal world the edge over the other four regions in that time. ^{ch. 1035}

Dozens of years later they disbanded over what Qi Zai reports only as a supposed huge secret in white heaven, an unimaginable achievement one of them alone could claim. Rather than fight over it, being similarly matched and close, they set a thousand year bet: none would help their own descendants, and whichever clan held the most Gu Immortals after that span would win. A thousand years on, two clans tied. The other three refused to concede, so a second round was set, and the bet has run on round after round to this day, long after all five ancestors died. The five were not all righteous clan builders, since lone immortals and demonic path members stood among them. ^{ch. 1035}

Qi Zai reports the standings: Qi clan is the most prosperous descendant line. Xue Xiang’s blood path descendants are almost wiped out, and Chi Xiang’s live idle inside their aperture with no ambition. Bai Xiang’s last bloodline traces have all died recently, and Ni Xiang’s branches survive in Southern Border but no longer hold a single Gu Immortal. A huge matter has recently struck Southern Border’s Gu Immortal world: a Qi clan elder was among the many Gu Immortals who died around Yi Tian Mountain. Qi Zai’s destination is the current generation Ni Xiang, whose help the clan wants to deduce the truth. Qi He already believed Yi Tian Mountain was mortals exterminating a demonic path force, but Qi Zai now tells her its true nature, a gambling contest between immortals, which shakes her sense of how far mortals fall beneath them. ^{ch. 1035}

Flying on in silence, Qi He tells herself she is a Gu Immortal now, not a mortal, and her mood steadies. Qi Zai privately approves, seeing this as growth she needs. He adds that Ni clan had the most hope of producing Gu Immortals, and that the other clans obstructed it for that reason, hence its pitiful state now. Three thousand years into the bet Ni clan produced Ni Ren, a greatly talented refinement path Gu Immortal and its last, who broke the bet’s rule before dying. He chose Immortal Gu and refined them into his descendants’ bloodline, a plan for Ni clan’s future. ^{ch. 1035}