Chapter 1037

Questioning the mudman he has reformed from grudge qi, Qi Zai learns it is Ni Jian, fifteen years old. The boy’s answers reveal that a mysterious Gu Immortal had attacked Ni clan village with a controlled beast group, seeking the current generation Ni Xiang without knowing which villager held the title. Threatened with the village’s death, the clan leader stepped forward, proving to be that Ni Xiang and the bearer of yes or no Immortal Gu. Forced to answer under a promise to spare the village, the clan leader sacrificed himself, then the Gu Immortal broke his word and set the beasts on the village. The village resisted, falling back rapidly with great losses to the huge beast group. Qi Zai’s own desolate beast mud monster, his guardian for the clan, rushed to save them, but the invading Gu Immortal was very strong and killed it himself after many attacks. With the guardian dead, the beasts submerged the rest, and not one clansman survived. ^{ch. 1037}

Days later, Qi Zai and Qi He arrive and find the ruin. Qi clan’s Gu Immortals deliberately preserve the Ni clan villages scattered across Southern Border; Qi Zai, who oversees Rotten Mud Mountain, already knew its leader held the Ni Xiang title. Ni Jian, the mudman, is Ni clan’s young clan leader and the old leader’s grandson, orphaned young and carefully raised by his grandfather; after the slaughter only his deep grudge remains, his soul taken. From the boy’s memory, Qi Zai forms a picture of the culprit, a short and muscular old man with a black and white beard, but does not recognize him. Fang Yuan had already disguised his face with familiar face, so even a personal encounter would not have exposed him. Southern Border’s Gu Immortals have been dying off since Yi Tian Mountain, and Qi Zai guesses this culprit may descend from one of the other three Xiangs, since Wu clan and Shang clan do not know the Ni Xiang secret. Qi clan is already in sight of victory in the ancient bet of the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs, and with a mysterious Gu Immortal appearing at that final juncture, Qi Zai decides to pursue rather than investigate the dead Qi clan Gu Immortal. ^{ch. 1037}

In Northern Plains, hairy men have brought Fang Zheng to Lang Ya blessed land, where he wakes in a cage as their captive. Two guards torture him with a whip until he faints, then wake him again with cold water. Recovering, he remembers being held prisoner in Hu Immortal blessed land by his brother Fang Yuan until hairy men came and took him away. His guard tells him Hu Immortal blessed land belongs to the hairy man Gu Immortals and that his brother has died in battle. Convinced by this, Fang Zheng is left dejected. ^{ch. 1037}

In Central Continent’s Earth Abyss, Ying Wu Xie comes to Hei Lou Lan and tells her he has decided. She knows the choice decides whether she lives: if he will not lift the alliance agreement binding her to Fang Yuan, she will definitely be killed. He had wanted to free only her side of the agreement and use her against Fang Yuan, but Fairy Li Shan’s deep information path attainment and Fang Yuan’s planning defeated the scheme before it began. Hei Lou Lan’s value fell greatly in his eyes. Hei Lou Lan and Shadow Sect bear a deep grudge, and if breaking her side also frees Fang Yuan, he must bind her with a new agreement. If he killed her, he would lose her Gu worms but keep her immortal aperture and Great Strength True Martial Physique, still binding Fang Yuan to the old agreement. Weighing the choice, Ying Wu Xie opens his mouth, and his next words will decide whether Hei Lou Lan lives or dies. ^{ch. 1037}