Chapter 870

An account records that Ren Zu met feathermen in green heaven who understood him, and asked them to rescue his daughter from ordinary abyss. They refused and mocked him as a pitiful, wingless human. Angered, self Gu, grown far stronger from feeding on strength Gu, seized every featherman from the sky, warning that without strength, freedom is only an illusion. Three days and nights of persuasion changed nothing, and a helpless Ren Zu let them go. ^{ch. 870}

Self Gu asks why he gave up on rescuing his fourth child. Ren Zu answers that the feathermen cannot be forced, only won over, since they lack shelter and food. ^{ch. 870}

Ren Zu builds a house nearby, using self Gu to gather food, and as storms drive feathermen to its warmth, wears attitude Gu to invite them in. More and more come to live off his hospitality, eating without restraint. ^{ch. 870}

At the right moment, Ren Zu drops the mask. He shuts the door and withholds the food. Grown soft and too fat to fly, the feathermen cannot resist self Gu, and many die of hunger and cold. Ren Zu again offers food and shelter for the rescue, but the feathermen refuse, and all eventually die. ^{ch. 870}

From their corpses fly small glowing creatures Ren Zu cannot catch. Cognition Gu explains these are wild freedom Gu, uncatchable, and that the feathermen found freedom only after death. ^{ch. 870}

Back at Hu Immortal blessed land, Fang Yuan withdraws his arm. Zheng Ling’s soul floats listlessly in the air, since only his body perished, while Zhou Zhong’s soul was extinguished for violating the agreement. Fang Yuan preserved Zheng Ling’s soul and stored it in his immortal aperture. ^{ch. 870}

Soul path, wisdom path and enslavement path are closely related. Dong Fang Chang Fan’s wisdom path inheritance slightly deepened Fang Yuan’s grasp of the other two. He had worked soul path mortal Gu into the immortal killer move myriad self, so the giant hand now secretly captures the soul of anyone it kills, unnoticed by Tai Bai Yun Sheng. Fang Yuan’s soul search reveals the feathermen’s origin. They are a clan from a fragment world of green heaven in Western Desert. Generations in that fragment world explain the ancient custom of suicide over slavery, he judges, while peace, plenty and no strong enemies corroded their minds. ^{ch. 870}

He also searches for White Sea Shatuo, whose methods besieging Sacred Feather City could restrict an Immortal Gu House, but finds nothing. He concludes only that Western Desert hides capable figures. ^{ch. 870}

Tai Bai Yun Sheng gains the dao marks of both featherman Gu Immortals, rank six and rank seven, making him the tribulation’s biggest winner. Fang Yuan’s own harvest includes the feathermen’s origin and Sacred Feather City’s, traceable to the Late Antiquity Era, the era of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable. It also includes whatever secrets and recipes Zheng Ling held as its leader, likely a full inheritance. Fang Yuan hopes for a strength path inheritance from Zheng Ling’s soul. ^{ch. 870}

His only regret is the mortal feathermen, all now dead. He had meant to raise them as slaves to help penetrate the Western Desert market. The feathermen, too pampered to have been easily tamed, made buying slaves elsewhere more practical, and he lets the matter go. ^{ch. 870}

Fang Yuan had already fused change form Immortal Gu into vaguely familiar face. He had planned to resume his foiled attempt to infiltrate Northern Plains Zombie Alliance. But contacting Fairy Li Shan reveals that, since Feng Jiu Ge investigated Fang Yuan’s Sha Huang identity, the Alliance now vets new immortal zombies far more strictly. With Feng Jiu Ge, Old Lord Can Yang and their group in hiding, Fang Yuan hesitates over pursuing the plan. ^{ch. 870}