Chapter 1974

Spectral Soul has infiltrated Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven disguised as a soul beast and learned much about it. It is a soul path grotto-heaven whose soul pacifying killer move pacifies soul beasts and the souls of Gu Immortals. Even Spectral Soul praises it. With Fate destroyed and the five regions unified, Lady Cold Ash and the higher-ups send more Gu Immortals out to hunt and store soul beasts for the coming war. ^{ch. 1974}

Her nephew An Xun, the tall, skinny Gu Immortal seen in an earlier scene and the one with the best prospects there to go beyond rank seven, rests a few days and then receives orders to hunt again. Lady Cold Ash lets him command three thousand soul beasts with one immemorial soul beast as guardian. When he says so huge a group is beyond him, she says her killer move will let him command it with ease for twenty days. She is helping him in secret. She hopes he will beat An Chong and become the rank seven Gu Immortal who receives the most support. ^{ch. 1974}

In black heaven An Xun gains little for days and grows a little anxious, though he collects many qi path immortal materials that can only be traded. Spectral Soul knows why: after a qi tide, qi path dao marks flood an area and suppress other paths, so new soul beasts are hard to form. He judges that qi path immortal materials will multiply and that cheaper cultivation will draw many qi path cultivators. Spectral Soul follows An Xun as an ancient soul beast and waits. ^{ch. 1974}

After more than ten days An Xun meets a group of more than a thousand soul beasts and attacks. The enemy group holds an immemorial soul beast much stronger than expected, and his guardian is about to be defeated. He helps and kills it at the price of heavy injuries, unable to subdue it. He ends with eight hundred soul beasts, many of them ancient. ^{ch. 1974}

When An Xun relaxes, Spectral Soul flies into his body, and An Xun kneels and pays respects to master. Spectral Soul can forcibly modify a soul into absolute loyalty, with many limits. He once subdued Fairy Zi Wei and Old Man Zheng Yuan in poor condition, so he waited until An Xun was weakest. He staged the huge battle to deceive Soul Pacifying grotto-heaven, which keeps investigative methods on An Xun and would react quickly to any harm. He now has an opening there and believes Lady Cold Ash is no longer far from his grasp. Controlling the grotto-heaven, whose resources suit him best, would let him interfere in world affairs. ^{ch. 1974}

In a Central Continent valley, Fairy Zi Wei pierces Fang Yuan’s chest with a purple meteor, and he scatters into smoke. It is another myriad self clone, among hundreds she and Old Man Zheng Yuan have killed. She instills the captured smoke into a sealed clone of Fang Yuan, whose cultivation level rises. Since the arrest warrant every report concerns these clones, so she pays rewards and captures them all, in case the main body hides among them. Their ability to devour each other worries her. She reckons his strength is low because qi tides destabilize immortal apertures and the heaven path dao marks he absorbed work like a seal. ^{ch. 1974}

Inside the sovereign immortal aperture, the immortal formation whose core is the thousand wish tree, a human path ancient desolate plant planted in Mini Central Continent, activates. Fang Yuan spent effort creating and defending it while the heaven path dao marks bring Sovereign grotto-heaven endless disasters. He smiles to see it working normally. It is the main human path formation, and four more human path sub-formations will follow in the other mini regions. He hopes to use human path to restrict heaven path. ^{ch. 1974}