Chapter 703

The battle continues as the iron beak flying cranes, black as steel and fearless of death, charge the two mysterious Gu Immortals. One of them looses a sound path killer move that scatters the tight crane formation. Seeing the chance, the other grabs his ally’s arm. The two turn into lumps of grey white flame, piercing through the broken formation straight for He Feng Yang. Striking down an enslavement path Gu Immortal directly is the proper tactic. ^{ch. 703}

He Feng Yang only smiles that they have fallen into his trap. He plays a five hole jade flute Gu, and the enslavement path killer move Eight Sided Ambush reveals tens of thousands of hidden cranes, closing around the two. He had left an empty space in his formation as bait. Three five string zither Gu join the flute in a second killer move, Formation Like Water. Countless cranes flow outward and inward until the two feel like beans about to be ground to pulp. ^{ch. 703}

He Feng Yang notes his enemies keep switching paths, sound, fire, wind, and more, to hide their real one. A Gu Immortal’s own path grows stronger through their immortal body. Suppressing it costs the two dearly. Outnumbering him two to one still leaves them losing. ^{ch. 703}

He Feng Yang taunts that they will die here unless they use their true methods. The two, worn down, agree with a look. One admits as much, calling him worthy of the Winged Crane Flying Immortal. The other tells him to look around. Dark blue soul beasts have formed in the fog, matching his crane group in number. He Feng Yang recognizes it as soul taker battlefield, a killer move of vile reputation traced to Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, one of history’s ten venerables and most murderous, created in his youth. Anything that dies within it has its soul taken and turned into a soul beast under the caster’s control. ^{ch. 703}

The two admit they showed weakness only to buy time, letting the battlefield grow large enough to erase his enslavement path advantage. Soul beasts engage the crane groups, and as He Feng Yang turns his formations to meet them the two break out of the encirclement. It often takes ten soul beasts to kill one crane. But shattered ones reform inside it, and every crane that dies feeds it a fresh soul beast, so the balance tips against him over time. ^{ch. 703}

The two finally show their real paths. A wind path killer move, Tornado Dragon Whip, kills cranes with a whip hundreds of meters long. A poison path killer move, Killer Bee Stab, rains thousands of potent needles that kill any crane they touch outright. Deciding the enemy planned this in advance, and that only a fool stays inside soul taker battlefield, He Feng Yang moves to retreat, relying on his expand space Immortal Gu to escape through the fog. ^{ch. 703}

He reaches by divine sense to a will in his immortal aperture. He asks Lord Tiger Demon to use Force Intrusion once more so he can escape the battlefield. The will warns that each use costs Lord Tiger Demon’s main body two red date immortal essence beads. He Feng Yang promises to make it up on his return. The will feeds the two beads and a handful of mortal Gu into the expand space Immortal Gu. ^{ch. 703}

He Feng Yang activates it, tearing a hole through soul taker battlefield, and flies clear on the nine palace crane’s back into open sky. The two Gu Immortals behind him shout in anxious protest. He Feng Yang laughs with pride, vowing to learn who ambushed him. Then he abruptly feels something wrong. He has always been a cautious man, and his sudden overjoyed mood makes no sense after a trip that failed and should leave him downcast. ^{ch. 703}

He turns to find a third Gu Immortal, small as a boy and wrapped in dark light, less than a foot behind him with a dagger raised. The true plot within a plot has sprung while his guard was down. Furious and shocked, he does not retreat. Tiger Demon’s anger will shouts a warning that this third one is an emotion path Gu Immortal able to twist his judgment through his own feelings. The Gu Immortal only says it is too late and stabs. The dagger bursts with an Immortal Gu’s aura that his expand space Immortal Gu and mortal killer moves cannot block. ^{ch. 703}