Chapter 1438

In Heavenly Court’s Soul Suppression Hall, a rank eight Immortal Gu House, Fairy Zi Wei confronts the shackled remnant soul of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. Five pillars and a web of purple-gold chains fill the hall around him, and Fairy Zi Wei, knowing him as a rank nine Gu Venerable when alive, presses him to admit his wrongdoing and repent. He stays silent. She activates the hall, and its chains draw out images of his past life through a fifteen-minute soul search, but the information proves only superficial. None of it helps Heavenly Court deduce Fang Yuan’s tracks. Fairy Zi Wei judges that even this trace of his soul can resist the hall’s search, remarkable for a mere remnant, and that the hall will keep searching slowly and in time extract everything from him. ^{ch. 1438}

Still unsatisfied, Fairy Zi Wei grows increasingly uneasy. Feng Jiu Ge’s side has found no trace of Fang Yuan’s group, and Heavenly Court’s information on Western Desert carries no report of anyone leaving a tributary of the River of Time. The peace itself feels wrong to her. Then, gazing at the sky, she smiles and decides it is time for the world to know Heavenly Court’s might. ^{ch. 1438}

Heavenly Court announces that only a remnant soul of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable survived to be captured, his scheme ruined, backed by evidence spanning Zombie Alliance, Shadow Sect, the battle of Yi Tian Mountain and the super dream realm battle. The news shakes the whole Gu Immortal world. No rank nine venerable, let alone the most murderous of them, had ever been thought capturable. Doubts about its authenticity vanish completely before the evidence, and Gu Immortals across the five regions turn their attention to Heavenly Court. They dig up its past: Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable founded it, later Immortal Venerables inherited it, and three Demon Venerables invaded and left without success. Heavenly Court had kept silent for several months since the dream realm battle before this. ^{ch. 1438}

Dying in Northern Plains’ Longevity Heaven, South Desolation Immortal speaks to Yao Huang. He has only days left, he says, and tells Yao Huang to remember his instructions and take the South Desolation position after he dies. He warns that the five regions are entering unprecedented change, a wave surpassing even the venerables’ eras, that could swallow Longevity Heaven itself if it takes a wrong step, and calls Heavenly Court their biggest enemy. ^{ch. 1438}

In Southern Border, Wu Yong’s prestige has risen greatly after he displayed Clear Jade Dripping Wind Tiny Bamboo Building following the dream realm battle and won back lost Immortal Gu from Heavenly Court to return to their righteous path clans. Despite severe losses, this sweeps away Wu clan’s decline and holds its throne as Southern Border’s number one. At the strategic Corpse Emperor Yu Ding Tian, recently reclaimed from Yao clan, he entrusts the peak to Wu Zhen alone among the clansmen, and Wu Zhen accepts, vowing not to disappoint the first supreme elder. Wu Zhen asks whether to counterattack now that this last lost territory is back. After the news of Spectral Soul’s capture, Wu Yong drops that plan, judging Wu clan’s manpower, already barely enough for its vast territories, too thin after these losses. He chooses instead to recover strength and cultivate the next generation, though he still intends to seek resource compensation for the earlier infringement rather than expand. Wu Zhen agrees. ^{ch. 1438}

In Western Desert, the publicized capture leaves Tang clan’s Gu Immortals under huge pressure, and the second supreme elder, who had opposed the pact, calls Heavenly Court’s might frightening and asks whether it will hold the clan accountable. The second supreme elder answers his own worry, that Tang clan can keep the evidence hidden and gather other clans against Heavenly Court, and failing that sacrifice Tang Fang Ming and Tang Lan Ke for the clan. The first supreme elder laughs that he already knows how to handle it and asks what he is panicking for. He then turns serious: Tang clan must take such risks to rise, and a clan that cannot grasp Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable’s dream realm is unworthy of the opportunity. He adds that Tang Fang Ming and Tang Lan Ke already know they may be sacrificed, and that dying for the clan is the greatest honor. The second supreme elder calls him wise. ^{ch. 1438}