Chapter 1242

Above a vast sea of clouds, South Desolation Immortal stands in azure-gold armor, muscular and old with a beard down to his chest, when Yao Huang arrives and bows to Lord South Desolation. Both hold rank eight, South Desolation Immortal says, so such formality is not needed. Yao Huang answers that the gap in seniority still makes such ease disrespectful. South Desolation Immortal names him the sole rank eight Gu Immortal that the Huang Jin tribes still have in this vast Northern Plains, outside Longevity Heaven. Prince Feng Xian belongs to Gong tribe, an outsider in bloodline as South Desolation Immortal sees it. South Desolation Immortal recalls four Huang Jin rank eights from his own generation, one known as the Tiger God, who died in black heaven, and says the bloodline weakens every generation. ^{ch. 1242}

South Desolation Immortal reveals that Ancestor Giant Sun, a luck path cultivator whose wisdom path ability was not weak either, anticipated this decline. Giant Sun once said the fall of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building would begin a great era, when an Immortal or Demon Venerable could arise. South Desolation Immortal adds that Giant Sun set up many arrangements to help his descendants and preserve their strength for that era, and at worst to pass the bloodline down intact. Yao Huang argues that Longevity Heaven still defends Northern Plains. South Desolation Immortal answers that Longevity Heaven is only Giant Sun’s own aperture, unable to match Heavenly Court, which holds the apertures of three Immortal Venerables. He reveals that Central Continent has already invaded with three rank eight Gu Immortals and three Immortal Gu Houses, then tells him to follow. ^{ch. 1242}

The two immortals fly into black heaven, their route unusually smooth, until they stop at an empty, windless place. South Desolation Immortal’s body flares with golden light as his immortal killer move reveals a grand dark gold palace hidden in black heaven for countless years. Yao Huang recognizes it, extremely agitated, as Luck Suppression Heavenly Palace, one of three Immortal Gu Houses that Giant Sun Immortal Venerable owned; the others were Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, kept at Imperial Court, and Calamity Luck Altar, kept in Longevity Heaven. South Desolation Immortal leads him inside, where a seated figure, not formed from will, opens its eyes in a flash of lightning and gold. Yao Huang cries out, asking if this is Ancestor Giant Sun. ^{ch. 1242}

Elsewhere, a night heavenly wolf group of over ten thousand, led by a rank eight wolf emperor, chases the three Immortal Gu Houses through black heaven. The Gu Immortals find themselves surrounded and learn that the wolf emperor holds a wild rank eight Immortal Gu that conceals traces. Wei Ling Yang orders a charge northwest. Edge Link Camp opens the path, its charging horn killing several hundred wolves, while Canary Pavilion and Wind Sweeping Building follow close behind. The wolf emperor’s huge claws send the Houses flying, and though each House kills countless wolves, their charge cannot break the encirclement until the emperor withdraws rather than weaken its pack further. The three Houses emerge extremely damaged, having lost many Gu worms, three of them Immortal Gu, and Wei Ling Yang calls for a rest to repair them. ^{ch. 1242}

The moment they stop, countless lights bloom around them. Bi Chen Tian shouts a warning and shuts his eyes, since these are black lanterns nesting blind fire, but many Gu Immortals at the windows glimpse the lights first and lose their vision completely. Zhao Lian Yun is spared, facing inward, while Yu Yi Ye Zi shuts his eyes quickly, but not before the blind fire blurs and weakens his sight. The Houses charge straight through the lanterns and leave them behind. The rank eight Gu Immortals then count the cost: at least three people have lost their sight permanently, and seven more suffer severely weakened vision, salvageable only at high price through healing Immortal Gu sent by treasure yellow heaven. A swarm of nether ant Gu approaches next, marking the path of a soul beast army of hundreds of thousands or even millions, and the Houses flee again the instant they had stopped. ^{ch. 1242}