Chapter 740

In Central Continent’s sky, three rank seven Gu Immortals from Combat Immortal Sect answer Shi Lei’s call for help: Qian Zhu Xian, Valley Lord Ming He, and Divine Mother Jue Kong, a space path Gu Immortal. The grotto-heaven opening described in Shi Lei’s letter has since closed. Divine Mother Jue Kong, the eldest at over nine hundred years, searches with a mysterious method and confirms it: Starry Sky grotto-heaven sits at this spot. ^{ch. 740}

Qian Zhu Xian marvels that Seven Star Child, never much known, secretly absorbed a fragment of blue heaven. That fragment is why Starry Sky grotto-heaven still endures. ^{ch. 740}

The Immemorial Antiquity Era’s world of Gu Masters had nine heavens; Ren Zu’s children destroyed seven, leaving only black and white to alternate today. A Gu Immortal’s aperture is itself a world that can swallow another. The most famous case is treasure yellow heaven, formed when the rank eight Gu Immortal, Daoist Countless Treasures, fused a yellow heaven fragment into his grotto-heaven. ^{ch. 740}

Valley Lord Ming He envies what such a fragment could bring: mystical power, unlimited heavenly power, and calamities weakened or gone. Qian Zhu Xian teases him to reach rank eight first, since only a rank eight grotto-heaven can absorb one. Ming He laughs that he doubts he could even survive a second grand tribulation. ^{ch. 740}

Rank six Gu Immortals face an earthly calamity every ten years and a heavenly tribulation every hundred. Three heavenly tribulations advance them to rank seven. Rank seven adds a fifty-year heavenly tribulation and a hundred-year grand tribulation. Rank eight loses the earthly calamity but faces a heavenly tribulation every ten years, a grand tribulation every fifty, and a myriad tribulation every hundred. ^{ch. 740}

Nine heavens fragments matter because they belong to the larger world outside any aperture. Absorbing one weakens a grotto-heaven’s tribulations and lets it survive even after its Gu Immortal dies, as Starry Sky grotto-heaven remains intact though Seven Star Child is already an immortal zombie. A large enough fragment can make tribulations vanish, as with treasure yellow heaven. ^{ch. 740}

Divine Mother Jue Kong warns of the weakness: absorbing even a little roots the grotto-heaven, which can never go back inside the Gu Immortal’s body. Qian Zhu Xian calls the lost freedom a huge price, but says he would take the trade without hesitation. Ming He agrees, admitting he sometimes envies immortal zombies. ^{ch. 740}

Divine Mother Jue Kong turns them back to the task. They wasted those days on purpose, to teach Shi Lei a lesson. She tears a man-sized hole into the void, and the three step through, only to reappear instantly in the sky, swapped out of Starry Sky grotto-heaven. She wonders whether it is the mystical ability the grotto-heaven gained from the blue heaven fragment, and calls it only a minor problem. ^{ch. 740}

At Dark Flow Giant City’s dark discussion hall, Fang Yuan, as Sha Huang, steps through the door under more than twenty gazes. He greets the room as fellow brethren. The enormous, bronze-skinned immortal zombie on the main seat, Yin Liu Gong, welcomes him warmly. Gu Ye, believing Fang Yuan a newcomer, pays respects to Yin Liu Gong, Dragon Commander Ye Cha, and Huang Quan Weng, and Fang Yuan echoes the greeting. ^{ch. 740}

Yin Liu Gong sits at the center, Dragon Commander Ye Cha on his left with pale sharp fangs, and Huang Quan Weng on his right, old and hunched. All three carry an unmistakable rank seven aura. ^{ch. 740}

Dragon Commander Ye Cha asks, his voice thick with killing intent, whether Sha Huang is his real name. A lone cultivator, he built his foundation in the Imperial Court contest. His rich battle experience leaves no one willing to look down on him. Fang Yuan laughs bitterly and admits it is not, saying he chose the name himself on his second day as an immortal zombie, to mark a new beginning. ^{ch. 740}

The gathered immortals show mixed reactions: disdain, sneers, silence, sadness, but understanding above all. Huang Quan Weng, coughing, closes the matter: Sha Huang counts as a Northern Plains Gu Immortal, and the Alliance gains a member. He notes that even Yao Huang once failed to push that same door open. ^{ch. 740}