Chapter 1241

Zhao Lian Yun stands atop Wind Sweeping Building, looking out at black heaven’s dark veil. Black heaven is huge, each layer of the immemorial nine heavens matching the five regions in size, though only it and white heaven remain after Ren Zu and his ten children. Most aboard have never entered black heaven; the three rank eights have. The Houses slow and dim, and the Gu Immortals aboard fall silent. ^{ch. 1241}

Wei Ling Yang warns of a beast group ahead, and even the rank eights grow cautious. The Gu Immortals are shocked to see hundreds of astral wind flying heavenly boars below, each an ancient desolate beast with rank seven battle strength, rare in the five regions. They take comfort that desolate beasts lack human intelligence. The lead boar charges into the heavenly wind qi wall, the rest follow, and the group vanishes. Bu Zhen Zi marvels that a wall so hard for Gu Immortals to cross is nothing to the boars. ^{ch. 1241}

A voice adds that past Gu Immortals hunted such boars to refine qi path Immortal Gu that once helped them cross the wall. Bu Zhen Zi and Zhao Lian Yun turn to find its owner, Yu Yi Ye Zi from Ancient Soul Sect, who greets them both by name. Bu Zhen Zi answers that Yu Yi Ye Zi is extremely talented despite only rank six cultivation, saying it for Zhao Lian Yun’s benefit. Rank sevens seek him out to refine Immortal Gu or study recipes. Zhao Lian Yun, who joined the immortals only after placing love Gu in a phantom aperture and training intensely, asks why they did not use such Immortal Gu themselves. Yu Yi Ye Zi laughs that qi path’s strong era has passed, its recipes lost and materials extinct, and since almost no one enters the immemorial nine heavens before rank eight, such an Immortal Gu offers little benefit. ^{ch. 1241}

A huge patch of black clouds sweeps past. It is among the smallest black heaven has, and takes minutes to pass, while the true giants drift like floating continents sheltering fierce beasts or plants. Yu Yi Ye Zi is really knowledgeable, answering things even Bu Zhen Zi is unsure of, and he and Zhao Lian Yun talk on in a very relaxed atmosphere. ^{ch. 1241}

Small black clouds are easy to miss without a strong investigative move, so the three rank eights steer around them rather than fly through. Trouble finds them anyway when dark venomous snakes, desolate beast level under an ancient desolate beast king, burst from a cloud, and Wei Ling Yang is startled that this distance should be outside their territory. Wei Ling Yang chooses retreat to preserve battle strength for a long journey, though Myriad Tidal Dragon warns it will not be easy against snakes that never abandon a locked-on prey. The Houses flee, but the snakes trail them and more keep emerging. Some aboard argue for fighting, since the snakes carry poison path dao marks and their guts are the best material for healing Immortal Gu. The three rank eights ignore calls to fight and keep retreating. ^{ch. 1241}

Their evasive course brings a second, larger snake group and, worse, a swarm of bear mosquitoes, huge and far more numerous, each with a desolate beast’s strength. The swarm surrounds the three Houses and forces a fight, tens of thousands attacking at once, and only the Houses and their rank eight guardians keep everyone alive. Afterward, those who wanted to fight fall silent. They had seen how dangerous black heaven is. Starlight appears over a black cloud thick with star fragment grass, and the Houses stop there for the first time to harvest it. Bi Chen Tian says the journey has been unusually smooth, and Myriad Tidal Dragon suggests Zhao Lian Yun matters most to saving Ma Hong Yun by shaping their luck, since the clouds drift at random, beyond even heaven’s will. ^{ch. 1241}