Dog Shit Splits Luck
In Western Desert, bandits ambush a merchant caravan mostly staffed by feathermen, and after early losses the caravan’s human guards start deserting while the feathermen fight on. Han Li, a young low-rank Gu Master hiding among the goods, is already wounded when the featherman leader, a rank four Gu Master, notices him and heals his injuries at once. The leader then rejoins the fighting. His rank four strength turns the battle, killing many bandits, though he worries the bandits are using weaker fighters to drain his primeval essence before their true experts arrive. A golden thread tornado, the strongest kind in Western Desert and fatal to a rank four Gu Master caught inside it, approaches. Both sides panic, and the bandits charge the caravan to seize the goods before the tornado arrives, while the featherman leader holds his own fighters in place, since flight leaves them better off than the humans though the tornado would likely kill them anyway. The featherman leader orders the goods saved as the tornado closes in, and with the bandits retreating and the feathermen busy, nobody protects Han Li. ch. 1059
The tornado sweeps Han Li up along with many feathermen and goods, and he is knocked unconscious before waking on the sand among rocks, corpses and scattered goods. An old man sits beside him. The old man says he saved Han Li, and Han Li thanks him with sincere gratitude. He tells Han Li that he too was once an ordinary Gu Master like him, before he became an immortal. The old man then reveals that he caused the tornado himself after losing a bet to Tian Jin, and that before he dies he will pass his life’s true inheritance on to Han Li. ch. 1059
In Central Continent’s Broken Sword Valley, a crowd of Gu Masters, some rank three and four, rushes past Hong Yi chasing a reported rank four sword qi Gu. The valley formed when one of the countless sword lights immortal zombie Bo Qing shot from under Falling Heavenly River, before the battle of Yi Tian Mountain, cut a mountain in two. Sword path dao marks carried in that light have since produced wild sword path Gu worms there, drawing Gu Masters to hunt them. Hong Yi follows the crowd in. Moving away from the others, he finds a caterpillar molting and grabs it before the molt finishes, refining it into a rank five sword sheath Gu, black, palm sized, shaped like a miniature iron sword sheath. He cannot activate it with his own primeval essence, but a sword path Gu worm then emerges from a nearby bush on its own and enters the sword sheath Gu in his hand, leaving him speechless. ch. 1059
On a nameless mountain in Southern Border during a night rainstorm, Shang Bi Xi advances on Shang Xin Ci, who is defended by her heavily injured servant Xiao Lan and by Ye Fan. Xin Ci asks why he must fight her to the death, and Bi Xi replies that their father, their elder brother and Chao Feng have all died, so killing her seats eighth brother Shang Pu Lao as clan leader. She asks whether Shang Pu Lao is truly so cold hearted for the position. Bi Xi confirms it, and says her saving eighth brother’s life earns her nothing against a seat with authority over the whole city. Xin Ci pushes Ye Fan to leave, saying Bi Xi wants only her life, and Ye Fan refuses to abandon the woman who once saved him. Bi Xi adds that he means to kill all three of them, Xin Ci, Xiao Lan and Ye Fan, so no survivor can tarnish Pu Lao’s reputation later. ch. 1059
Ye Fan, heavily injured and unable to stand straight, still places himself between Bi Xi and Xin Ci, and Bi Xi knocks him down after calling him brave. With Ye Fan’s primeval essence spent and no threat left standing, Bi Xi closes on Xin Ci, who shuts her eyes and gives up resisting. As she waits for the blow, the figure of a man rises in her heart, and she wishes she could see him one last time. Bi Xi’s attack never comes. Xin Ci opens her eyes to find Bi Xi frozen some steps away, stiff as a statue with fear locked on his face. A female immortal appears, rebukes Bi Xi for disregarding kinship for authority and wealth, then names herself Shang Qing Qing, an ancestor of Shang clan, and declares that Xin Ci will take the role of Shang clan leader from now on. ch. 1059
