Chapter 702

Fang Yuan’s offer to sell guts Gu moves He Feng Yang’s heart. He had expected failure, his best hope a forced escape with expand space Immortal Gu at the cost of heavy injuries and essence, since his life mattered more. Returning empty handed would cost him badly: his rival Lei Tan would mock him, second supreme elder would be disappointed, and the failed scheme would follow him as a lasting blemish. A trade would serve him far better than breaking free. ^{ch. 702}

Hu Immortal blessed land, held by four Gu Immortals, eight desolate beasts, and terrain, would cost any of the ten great sects a great amount of essence to take. Great Heavenly Sword Sect’s three Gu Immortals alone stand strong enough to consider leaving Immortal Crane Sect. A Gu Immortal left alive and aggrieved could harass a sect’s mortal holdings. With Fang Yuan’s strength shown, the sect can no longer press the attack without the other nine. A trade serves its real goal anyway: guts Gu was always the point of taking the blessed land, and the sect had asked Fang Yuan once to sell it. ^{ch. 702}

Fang Yuan reads his hesitation as genuine interest and sets his terms. At treasure yellow heaven, a hundred of his guts Gu already sell for one immortal essence stone. He offers Immortal Crane Sect a hundred and twenty for the same price, provided the sect recognizes Hu Immortal blessed land as its subsidiary, free to detach at any time. Under that status, the other nine sects need Immortal Crane Sect’s leave to move against him. ^{ch. 702}

He Feng Yang asks, half mocking, if Fang Yuan only wants the sect’s protection, since he could found his own. Fang Yuan says no one may found a sect on Tian Ti mountain. The mountain connects directly to Heavenly Court, and even Gu Immortals dare not fight there. He has no wish to leave so valuable a spot. The arrangement would also serve Immortal Crane Sect’s own reputation, he adds. ^{ch. 702}

He Feng Yang says the matter is too important to decide alone and asks to return and report to the sect. Fang Yuan agrees, on condition that Cang Yu remain as a guest, and she consents. He studies the group, meaning to remember them. Little Hu Immortal opens the blessed land’s proper door, and he leaves through it rather than by force. ^{ch. 702}

A direct question would damage a sect’s standing, though his calm, joyless look raises suspicion among the watching sects. Flying home, He Feng Yang turns over several theories for where Fang Yuan’s force came from, from sect collusion to outsiders skirting the regional walls with Fang Yuan’s Fixed Immortal Travel Immortal Gu. He settles on nothing certain. Hu Immortal blessed land is too dangerous to strike again until its secrets are known, since this loss came from being watched while unable to watch back. ^{ch. 702}

He suddenly halts in the air, sensing an ambush, and shouts a challenge. A disguised voice, shifting between a hoarse man’s and a crisp woman’s pitch, answers that he is very alert. Two figures block his path front and back. The clear sky turns dark and foggy, vengeful souls flying through it: a battlefield killer move meant to amplify certain Gu worms, beyond ordinary means. He demands their intent and names himself Immortal Crane Sect’s own. One mysterious Gu Immortal laughs that his sect means nothing here. The other says they will kill him regardless, spreading thousands of grey white threads meant to entangle him. ^{ch. 702}

He Feng Yang summons his crane group, among them iron beak, fire pellet, and illusion lightning cranes, and a desolate beast nine palace crane flies out to scatter the fog as he mounts it. He vows they will taste the fury of the Winged Crane Flying Immortal. The iron beak cranes block the grey white threads with their own bodies. The mysterious Gu Immortal who had laughed blows out pale green flames, amplified by the battlefield, burning many cranes from the sky. He answers with an enslavement path killer move: illusion lightning cranes pierce a lightning pillar through it, and fire pellet cranes wrapped in flame follow. The two crane groups crash into the mysterious Gu Immortals like a pair of giant fists as the battle opens in a series of explosions. ^{ch. 702}