Shocking the Immortals
Four Gu Immortals approach, and Fang Yuan gets no answer from the heavenly spirit about why they have come. He braces himself while betraying nothing outwardly. Their leader, an old, white-haired Gu Immortal, greets him as criminal immortal Chen Chi paying respects to the superior immortal from the main tribe. Fang Yuan wears Hei Cheng’s appearance by deliberate choice, since treasure yellow heaven means even this isolated place can learn Hei tribe’s news, and Hei Cheng’s disappearance and lost Immortal Gu House do not bar him from inheriting. Holding every one of Hei Cheng’s memories, Fang Yuan wears him without a flaw, demurs at the title, and gives his assumed name. Chen Chi sighs in open admiration, since Hei Cheng is known across Northern Plains as handsome and gentlemanly, and even disguised, Fang Yuan’s flair surpasses the original. Two of the four newcomers are women. ch. 1120
Fang Yuan asks plainly what criminal immortals means; a voice explains. Their ancestors, once guards to Hei Fan’s beloved granddaughter Hei Feng Yue, failed to protect her when a mysterious Gu Immortal targeted her on the icy plain. She vanished there, together with attitude Gu, and Hei Fan searched for her without success. The ancestors submitted to punishment, and Hei Fan locked them inside his own grotto-heaven, where every descendant since has stayed too. Three more immortals arrive: rank six Feng Jun and Zhou Min, led by rank seven Zheng Tuo, the voice that answered earlier. Zheng Tuo’s hunched back and a thin blood line trailing behind him mark him as an openly practicing blood path cultivator, which surprises Fang Yuan since such a cultivator would normally be hunted. Yet here he draws no hostility and even commands two subordinates, unafraid their own leader might attack them for battle strength. ch. 1120
All three greet Fang Yuan with outward respect, but Fang Yuan reads insincerity in Feng Jun’s stolen glances and the same ill will beneath Chen Chi’s group’s kindness. The two parties keep apart rather than mingling. Asked how many live in the grotto-heaven, Chen Chi answers nine in total, seven present and two more due shortly, adding that the absent pair have climbed Immortal Succession Mountain and know what the ten rings meant. The last two immortals, both male, arrive soon after, and once everyone is gathered the heavenly spirit stirs and drifts forward to guide them to Immortal Succession Mountain. Fang Yuan follows cautiously, alone against nine Gu Immortals, two of rank seven and seven of rank six, aware a sudden attack would turn unpredictable. Still, the mindless spirit’s welcome shows it carries Hei Fan’s will and is not completely unreliable, and the group’s disunity decides him to travel along and observe before acting. He keeps the eagle flying beside him rather than stowed away, since even if it could not defeat an attacker, it could draw enemy fire. ch. 1120
Along the way his talk wears down the immortals’ wariness, and two women from Chen Chi’s group transmit privately, in an old method out of use in Northern Plains but not blocked here, letting Fang Yuan overhear every word. They gush over Hei Cheng’s charm, calling him a dragon among men. The other immortals discuss his background more seriously. They note his rank seven cultivation matches only Chen Chi and Zheng Tuo, and that the eagle beside him carries an aura unlike even their own ancient desolate beasts. Feng Jun finally asks about the eagle’s origin, calling it very imposing. Fang Yuan answers casually that it is an upper extreme heavenly eagle, his beloved companion, useful for travel now though inferior to his other ancient desolate beasts, and destined to become an immemorial desolate beast once fully grown. The immortals gasp and stare, and afterward speak to him more cautiously and courteously, wondering just how high his standing in the main tribe must be. ch. 1120
