Chapter 1369

Fang Yuan is stunned that Spectral Soul, a rank nine venerable whose name once carried overwhelming prestige, has been captured by a mere rank eight Gu Immortal. In his prime, Spectral Soul was invincible, ruling unchallenged across the five regions and two heavens. Spectral Soul’s era is over. He reasons it through: Spectral Soul died long ago and only a soul trace remains, worn thin by his long imprisonment in the dream realm. His first bid to defy heaven, Sword Immortal Bo Qing, reached only pseudo-Immortal Venerable before his corpse sank into Falling Heavenly River. His second, sovereign immortal fetus Gu, took a hundred thousand years of his own work before Fang Yuan seized the result at Yi Tian Mountain. ^{ch. 1369}

Duke Long declares that antiques like himself should step aside now that the great era is coming, then draws Spectral Soul into his phantom aperture. Purple Mountain True Monarch screams at the sky, certain all hope is lost with the main body captured. It is a complete loss, he thinks, with no way back. As a wisdom path Gu Immortal he holds back the urge toward a suicidal attack on Duke Long, and instead retreats deeper into Shadow Sect’s blessed land. The blessed land’s entrance closes and the soul beast army falls back to defend it, and Duke Long answers with Dragon Gate, a huge dragon-wrought gate that can force any blessed land open. He steps through into Shadow Sect’s blessed land as the gate closes, and vanishes. ^{ch. 1369}

Inside the blessed land a fierce battle runs on, but no sound of it reaches outside, and the battlefield falls into a peculiar silence with only the soul beasts moving. Most of the beasts flee the dream realms on instinct and turn to hunt Southern Border’s righteous path Gu Immortals instead. They ask Wu Yi Hai to pull them to safety inside the Gu formation, but none of them actually want to leave. They assume Heavenly Court, a fellow righteous power, will not turn on them, and the scattered dream realm is still their resource, holding secrets of a rank nine venerable’s fall that few will walk away from. Reinforcements from Southern Border’s super clans are already closing in. Fang Yuan orders them to kill the soul beasts as enemy forces whose escape would be a huge problem, but they refuse, telling him to leave it to the reinforcements and pleading exhaustion and spent immortal essence. ^{ch. 1369}

Fang Yuan instead turns to his brother Wu Yong for help. He asks to borrow bloodline Immortal Gu for the super Gu formation, framing it as Wu clan’s chance to seize control of the resource point. Wu Yong is briefly surprised at how strong Fang Yuan’s formation path attainment has become, but he already knows of it from Fang Yuan’s public dispute with Chi Shang over Qiao Si Liu, so he accepts it. Because Wu Yi Hai comes from Eastern Sea and Southern Border’s Gu Immortals know little about him, none of them look at him with the suspicion a local would draw, and Fang Yuan has ample room to perform. Wu Yong hesitates over lending reputation restriction Immortal Gu, not from doubting his brother, but from weighing how likely the plan is to succeed and what failure would cost Wu clan’s standing. ^{ch. 1369}