Chapter 470

A patrolling Ge tribe Gu Master halts the Yan tribe party. An elder names Yan tribe leader Yan Tian Ji and asks to see Ge tribe’s leader. Ge tribe has camped at crescent lake only a day and is still raising its shelters. Told that wolf tracks lead straight into Ge tribe’s camp, Yan Tian Ji concludes the enslavement path Gu Master they need against Water Demon Hao Ji Liu is already inside, and judges Ge tribe cannot refuse him: his own daughter is betrothed to Liu Wen Wu, and invoking Liu tribe’s name should settle it. ^{ch. 470}

Ge tribe’s new leader Ge Guang welcomes them warmly to his tent. Over wine, an elder explains: Yan tribe’s eldest daughter Yan Cui Er has been kidnapped by Hao Ji Liu, unscrupulous and shameless, hiding in crescent lake and extorting the tribe; his strength fighting in the water has already beaten back their own rescue attempts. Ge Guang recognizes the name, his expression changing: this Water Demon Hao Ji Liu is a rank four upper stage water path Gu Master whose vile name is famous across northern plains, a devious and scheming demon. Ge Guang refuses. His father died in battle, he inherited the tribe only recently, and Ge tribe has already taken losses it cannot spare further against a demonic-faction Gu Master, even one it should oppose as a righteous tribe. The elders press him: Yan Cui Er is engaged to Liu Wen Wu, the Liu tribe’s third young master, a scholar and swordsman building his own following as a leading contender for the imperial court’s throne, and if Ge tribe lets his fiancée go unsaved, Liu Wen Wu will make them answer for it at the coming heroes assembly. Torn between provoking Water Demon and provoking Liu Wen Wu, Ge Guang hesitates, and Yan Tian Ji offers three thousand primeval stones if Ge tribe’s enslavement path Gu Master helps. Privately furious at so small a sum, as if he were being handed loose change like a beggar, Ge Guang tells them the truth instead: that Gu Master is not his to command, since he is Lord Chang Shan Yin and no member of Ge tribe. ^{ch. 470}

Ge Guang explains what he knows of Chang Shan Yin’s identity, and the Yan tribesmen react with delight: Chang Shan Yin, alive, a genius enslavement path Gu Master famous in their own generation, and since Chang tribe has already submitted to Liu Wen Wu, they expect he will help. Yan Tian Ji demands to be taken to him at once. Ge Guang resists: Chang Shan Yin returned only that morning and has already gone into closed cultivation to refine Gu, and interrupting him worries Ge Guang. Yan Tian Ji overrules him, citing their shared submission to Liu Wen Wu and the urgency of his daughter’s danger, and threatens Liu Wen Wu’s blame if Ge Guang stalls; Ge Guang concedes and leads them there. ^{ch. 470}

Yan Tian Ji tells Fang Yuan, as Chang Shan Yin, that Water Demon rose after a mysterious opportunity to rank four upper stage at only thirty-five, in the twenty years since Chang Shan Yin last woke. Fang Yuan agrees to make the trip, remarking on the many heroes northern plains holds and that Yan tribe asks with a life on the line. The Yan tribe elders bristle at the phrasing, sounding as if their own side were the weak one, but press on, flattering Fang Yuan that helping is his opportunity since Chang tribe already answers to Liu Wen Wu. Fang Yuan agrees again, by logic and by feeling both, and says he will fight alongside them. ^{ch. 470}

At the lake’s edge, Hao Ji Liu demands ten million primeval stones and a backwater battle Gu, a rare rank five Gu that boosts water path power, before he will return Yan Tian Ji’s daughter. Yan Tian Ji brings both, a rank five storage Gu holding the stones and the battle Gu itself, but insists on seeing her first. Hao Ji Liu calls up an elephant sized fanshell from the lake; inside, bound and gagged, Yan Cui Er weeps and struggles at the sight of her father. He warns Yan Tian Ji against any trick and promises she remains untouched, a virgin still, once the Gu are handed over. The Yan tribe elders grit their teeth, calling Hao Ji Liu despicable and demanding he fight fair, while Yan Tian Ji stays calm and tosses both Gu to the ground rather than let Hao Ji Liu take them by hand. Hao Ji Liu orders the Yan tribesmen back thirty steps and inspects the Gu for tampering. He finds none. Yan Tian Ji’s own will, cooperating as the ritual requires, lets Hao Ji Liu refine the backwater battle Gu with ease, and he compliments Yan Tian Ji’s tact before turning to the storage Gu. As his mind enters it and he sights the primeval stones inside, unable to hide his joy, a rank four immobilization Gu bursts out from among them and strikes him. Yan Tian Ji shouts the order to strike, and his elders close in around the frozen Water Demon. Fang Yuan rides out from the nearby woodland with a large wolf group behind him, telling Water Demon this is his death date. ^{ch. 470}