Chapter 587

A month later the ten-year blizzard grips Northern Plains, where snowmen move very frequently and become extremely lively, and their hunted tribes enjoy enormous growth. Wild snow, ice and water path Gu settle on their bodies in large numbers. Hei Bai and Hei Cheng, Hei tribe’s two Gu Immortals, stand on a cliff. Below lies a valley of tens of thousands of ice houses. Hei Cheng calls snowmen wealth, since captives can be traded to other Gu Immortals for immortal essence stones and will give Xue Song Zi something to cry about. Hei Bai says wooden chicken Gu would be in his hands but for Xue Song Zi, who also meddled in the last Imperial Court contest, and that they have been selling hunted snowmen in treasure yellow heaven. ^{ch. 587}

Hei Bai asks why wooden chicken Gu shows no trace, when Eighty-Eight True Yang Building should already have over twenty floors. Hei Cheng laughs that Hei Lou Lan, holding a one-edge owner token, will sense wooden chicken Gu in any new floor and send word. Hei Bai is somewhat worried, because a day outside equals over twenty days in Imperial Court blessed land and the notice may come late. Hei Cheng tells him to relax and deal with the snowmen first. Hei Bai nods, his worry slightly relieved. ^{ch. 587}

The two shoot down into the valley, and Hei Cheng’s laughter crushes countless ice buildings into fine powder, so the tribe suffers serious losses. The snowmen panic, then prepare to resist. Hei Bai releases Gu groups several hundred thousand strong that hover over the valley. The snowmen’s fighting spirit freezes completely before a Gu Immortal’s might. Immortal essence lets a Gu Immortal control large numbers of mortal Gu. Hei Bai points, the Gu groups pounce down, and mournful sounds echo in the valley. ^{ch. 587}

A dozen or so days later, in Imperial Court blessed land, Hei Lou Lan puts down a letter Gu from a Hei tribe Gu Immortal, urging him to speed up the search for wooden chicken Gu. He concludes that dealing with a Gu Immortal requires a Gu Immortal, so he needs strength path Immortal Gu. Watching the thirty-eighth floor of Eighty-Eight True Yang Building condense, he says only the building and Old Ancestor Giant Sun’s power can bring his revenge. His owner token is still one-edge. His forces can cross only three or four floors, and his strength path Immortal Gu and the tribe’s wooden chicken Gu already fill the quota of two clearances. He therefore recuperates and opens the building so Gu Masters outside Hei tribe grow stronger and admire him. ^{ch. 587}

His trusted aide Hei Shu reports that Chang tribe’s Gu Masters keep being killed or mysteriously disappearing. Neither tribe leader Chang Ji You’s personal search nor Hei Shu’s inquiry has found the killer. Hei Lou Lan, slightly gleeful at another’s calamity, says there is no hurry. He says Chang Shan Yin now tastes the bitter consequences of having Chang tribe’s Gu Masters capture many Gu Masters a few months ago and then killing all of them. Some of the Gu Masters Fang Yuan captured for experiments had relations to Hei Lou Lan, and Wolf King killed them, a grudge Hei Lou Lan has secretly borne. ^{ch. 587}

Hei Shu agrees. Chang tribe leader Chang Ji You is Wolf King’s son but too young to appease the tribe, whose affairs lie with his adopted father Chang Biao. The deaths of Chang Biao and Pan Ping in seventh floor’s ninetieth round have spread, and the avenger, maybe strengthened by the building’s rewards, now kills Chang tribe’s Gu Masters everywhere. Hei Lou Lan orders the avenger found quickly, to be taken into Hei tribe, which alone can protect their life. Wolf King, who may have found clues in Chang Biao’s corpse, entered the building the very day it reached Chang tribe and should be in seventh floor’s ninetieth maze round. ^{ch. 587}

Hei Lou Lan had not wanted the deaths of Chang Biao, Pan Ping and Water Demon Hao Ji Liu, but accepts them. He can completely forecast that Wolf King, once out, will fly up in rage searching for the killer, and the whole sacred palace may be turned upside down. He wants public anger at Wolf King to grow, but fears massacres of innocents would greatly weaken the forces mobilized to pass the rounds. He must prevent this, but soon an amazed expression crosses his face. Through his one-edge owner token he knows the Gu worms in the thirty-ninth floor, still condensing, and wooden chicken Gu has finally appeared. He orders Hei Shu to summon Ma Ying Jie immediately. ^{ch. 587}