Exterminate
A wounded, disheveled figure charges into the bubble and stares at Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan guesses at once that this is Ding Qi, the blood path demonic immortal Hua Die had told him about days before, brother of Ding Yan, who died at Liu Qing Yu’s hands. Tang Song and Zhou Li arrive behind him with a larger group. Ding Qi ignores them and names Fang Yuan as the one who took the inheritance his brother traced, calling him his brother’s murderer. Asked how he knows, he answers that he has blood trace Immortal Gu, created with his brother alongside Blood Oath, and casts blood-colored shadows replaying Fang Yuan taking the inheritance. Zhou Li and Tang Song, seeing it, turn on Fang Yuan too and demand he hand it over. ch. 1157
Liu Qing Yu’s group had reached the area first and drawn Ding Qi out. Word spread, and Zhou Li and Tang Song gathered a group of their own, suspecting at first that Liu Qing Yu had taken the inheritance clue. Already there, Ding Qi had set arrangements with blood trace Immortal Gu and fought alone against the pursuers while fleeing, and it was during that chase that Fang Yuan slipped in and took the inheritance. Blood path’s most famous name is Blood Sea Ancestor, a great demon who left seven Blood Sea true inheritances, but the brothers, who researched deeply and both created and refined Blood Trace and Blood Oath, would definitely rank reputably among the path’s experts today. ch. 1157
Furious, Zhou Li and Tang Song abandon chasing Ding Qi and demand Fang Yuan hand over the inheritance. Ding Qi is faster, attacking him directly as a murderer who owes his life. Fang Yuan refuses and bolts from the bubble into the currents, the group giving chase. Sword escape Immortal Gu pulls him ahead, and Zhou Li, perplexed, notices that his movement seems familiar. Ding Qi, enraged over his brother, swears to kill him, but Fang Yuan dodges and destroys their attacks himself. After a long chase, the pursuers grow stifled. ch. 1157
Fang Yuan slips into another bubble; the pursuers, suspicious, surround it without following at first. Ding Qi alone shoots in. When the others sense no disturbance, Tang Song follows, then Zhou Li, then the rest. Inside, they find the ruins of an abandoned city, broken as if by an earthquake. Ding Qi is there facing Tang Song, and only the one who took the inheritance is missing; as they move to hunt him, Fang Yuan’s voice booms from the sky telling them to enjoy their final moment. ch. 1157
The sky turns dark as an enormous hand covering it presses down, leaving everyone weak and helpless. Zhou Li shouts it must be an illusion, and the immortals strike back. The hand crashes down regardless, collapsing houses and killing several Gu Immortals outright. Zhou Li claws free to find the city gone, nothing left but ruins. Crediting Shadow Sect’s trap, Fang Yuan strikes again; the ground sinks and only Zhou Li, Tang Song and Ding Qi rise, and a third strike leaves them in despair. Ding Qi self-detonates rather than let Fang Yuan have an easy time of it, and Zhou Li and Tang Song resist to no effect, dying at his hands. ch. 1157
Fang Yuan praises City Well, the secluded domain of heaven and earth, for truly living up to its reputation. Before him stands a well, square outside and circular within. Looking down, he sees the miniature town at its bottom, completely decimated by his three strikes, bloody patches of meat paste scattered through the rubble. City Well first appears in The Legends of Ren Zu, chapter four, section twenty-three. ch. 1157
