Chapter 873

Fang Yuan studies the roster attacking Lang Ya blessed land: Qin Bai Sheng, Jiang Yu, He Lang Zi, Xue Song Zi, Hei Cheng, and two mysterious Gu Immortals he cannot place. Xue Song Zi and Jiang Yu are rank six; the rest are rank seven. Hei Cheng, of the Hei tribe super force, carries a hidden injury that bars immortal killer moves and has cut his battle strength sharply, though his dark arrow Immortal Gu is not to be underestimated. He Lang Zi, a famous transformation path demonic immortal, holds three immortal-level desolate wolf transformations and once turned down recruitment by Old Ancestor Xue Hu. Strongest of all is Qin Bai Sheng, a lone cultivator who has roamed Northern Plains for hundreds of years and survived Five Elements Grandmaster. Most rank him at rank seven’s peak, well above Old Lord Can Yang, and a planner who ran the Northern Plains auction, profiting most. ^{ch. 873}

Facing such a man troubles Fang Yuan. But Lang Ya land spirit tells him he need only hold Qin Bai Sheng back for thirty minutes, while the spirit stalls and makes the attackers pay. He will not say what he relies on, before giving Fang Yuan a letter Gu recording the technique to work the cloud building. Working the building gives him a grasp of the whole formation, a fog maze one step short of a battlefield killer move, since carving one would conflict with the world’s dao marks and damage the blessed land. Only an investigative immortal killer move lets a Gu Immortal navigate it, and only its fixed buildings let the rest stumble on one by luck. ^{ch. 873}

Fang Yuan opens observation mirrors limited to his building and waits through empty fog until Fairy Jiang Yu appears. He thinks at once of her dark limit Immortal Gu, which Hei Lou Lan once used to hide her own aura, before becoming immortal. Hei Lou Lan had planned to seize it, but Jiang Yu proved too hard to find. Even capturing her alive would not win him the Gu, Fang Yuan judges, since a single thought can make one self-detonate. Just then Jiang Yu detours around his territory and vanishes. ^{ch. 873}

A second Gu Immortal enters his territory: Qin Bai Sheng, whose earlier showing alone matched Central Continent’s Shi Lei and who, unknown to Fang Yuan, has recovered his original strength since fighting Feng Jiu Ge. Fang Yuan resolves to trade only a few blows before retreating if found, since his reinforcement of the land spirit is only situational. Qin Bai Sheng advances straight past the cloud building with an investigative immortal killer move; once it finds the place, Fang Yuan’s first defense will fail. But Qin Bai Sheng’s expression suddenly changes. He wheels north-east and flies off at speed. ^{ch. 873}

Fang Yuan at once hears the land spirit’s surprised voice. The invaders’ information path technique is immortal level, working against the Gu formation itself to let them transmit from inside it. Earlier waves met only desolate beasts, but this time Mo Tan Sang defends beside them, so the invaders now reinforce each other. Fang Yuan turns grim: Mo Tan Sang leads Inkman City, and exposure of his help would bring it a huge crisis, so fighting concealed against a stronger, more numerous foe, he cannot protect his building. The land spirit blames the invaders’ knowledge on Gu Immortal slaves he sold rather than killed. Fang Yuan agrees: Qin Bai Sheng’s aid to an ally has already exposed much. ^{ch. 873}

The mirror shows Mo Tan Sang riding a desolate beast against Hei Cheng. Mo Tan Sang, rank six and mainly a qi path cultivator, is at a disadvantage. Hei Cheng controls the fight without dark arrow Immortal Gu despite his injury. Fearing exposure, Mo Tan Sang lets the beast fight while he heals and defends it, though Fang Yuan knows it will die once Qin Bai Sheng arrives. A third figure nears, and Fang Yuan wonders why Xue Song Zi received no order to join that fight instead. A moment later Xue Song Zi finds his cloud building and shoots toward it at lightning speed, and Fang Yuan rises to meet him as battle erupts. ^{ch. 873}