Chapter 1144

At Snowy Mountain blessed land, Old Ancestor Xue Hu and his wife Lady Wan Shou recall the day they first met, when she told him she would marry him once he cultivated to rank eight. She now says she regrets it a little, wishing his cultivation were slightly lower. He answers that once they refine fortune rivalling heaven Immortal Gu he is confident of passing his myriad tribulation and can stay with her forever, and the two begin the refinement together. ^{ch. 1144}

Gorgeous lights shoot into the sky from Snowy Mountain blessed land. Northern Plains’ Gu Immortal world falls into fresh upheaval: Old Ancestor Xue Hu has begun refining rank eight fortune rivalling heaven Gu. At Feng Xian grotto-heaven, Gu Immortal You Lan warns that success would only make Xue Hu stronger. Prince Feng Xian answers that Xue Hu is Northern Plains’ number one expert even without the Gu, and that their task is capturing Fang Yuan, whom Heavenly Court has confirmed is in Northern Plains. His hatred runs deep: years spent positioning to infiltrate Eighty-Eight True Yang Building came to nothing once Fang Yuan brought it down. ^{ch. 1144}

At Bai Zu grotto-heaven, Heavenly Lord Bai Zu decides he alone is no match for Old Ancestor Xue Hu and cannot risk his newly built tribe on an irreconcilable enemy. He will concentrate on invading Hei Fan grotto-heaven unless Yao Huang and others move first. At Yao Huang grotto-heaven, a cauldron of cauldron strength Immortal Gu floats before Yao Huang, melting materials for his resurrection from the dead Immortal Gu. He decides fighting Xue Hu is unwise. He keeps to this refinement instead, which would give him a rank eight Immortal Gu and solve his lifespan problem. At Longevity Heaven, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable’s descendants resent the Gu falling to an outsider, but Five Elements Grandmaster keeps them from acting. ^{ch. 1144}

Days after the banquet, Shi Shi Cheng, the rank six rockman who controls grey cloud battle puppet, guides Fang Yuan and Xue Er to the rockmen’s sacred ground, Earth Mother Altar, while Sixth Hair negotiates the alliance. Over these days Fang Yuan sees the snowmen and rockmen raise their young with a crisis-driven strictness bordering on cruelty, unlike Hei Fan grotto-heaven’s Gu Immortals. Xue Er teases he will understand the soil beneath the plain once he enters. ^{ch. 1144}

Inside, two statues stand at the center. A female human immortal hugs a rockman Gu Immortal’s arm. Shi Shi Cheng introduces them as Shi Mu, the twenty-seventh first supreme elder, and his wife, the tribe’s most respected Lady Earth Mother, herself a human Gu Immortal. Xue Er explains that Lady Earth Mother’s love crossed race, that she chose to die and join Shi Mu not long after his own death, and that her dao marks and blessed land became this underground land. ^{ch. 1144}

Fang Yuan recognizes her: this Earth Mother is in truth Hei Feng Yue, Old Ancestor Hei Fan’s missing granddaughter, identified through his soul search of Hei Cheng. She vanished by hiding her identity, since neither her own tribe nor Northern Plains’ human Gu Immortals would have accepted her love for a rockman. He chooses not to dig into her past. Seeing no anger in him, Xue Er declares that love has no boundary between rockmen and humans, and Fang Yuan realizes this legacy is why the tribes accepted him so readily. ^{ch. 1144}

Shi Shi Cheng explains that the icy plain was once bare ice until Lady Earth Mother’s methods formed this soil. Every Gu Immortal’s tribulation here consumes earth qi, shrinking the land the rockmen can live on, which is why the tribes fought Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan says it is his fault, and that had he known, he would not have undergone his calamity here. Shi Shi Cheng and Xue Er brighten, calling the misunderstanding resolved. ^{ch. 1144}

Shi Shi Cheng then reports that lights soar from Snowy Mountain blessed land, where Old Ancestor Xue Hu has started refining fortune rivalling heaven Gu. Any human growing stronger is grievous news to variant humans. Xue Er, noting that Fang Yuan used Spring Autumn Cicada to rebirth, is an otherworldly demon, and destroyed Eighty-Eight True Yang Building with his own hands, asks him whether Old Ancestor Xue Hu will succeed in the refinement. ^{ch. 1144}