Chapter 949

Fang Yuan studies Hei Lou Lan. She now looks almost like the Fairy Black Moon he recalls from his previous life. Attitude Gu changes the mind, not the eyes, he reasons, so this huge a coincidence convinces him she is undoubtedly Fairy Black Moon. ^{ch. 949}

In that previous life, Hei Lou Lan won the Imperial Court contest. History recorded her as a tyrant later assassinated, though she never died. She joined Spirit Affinity House, rose to its next fairy, and later led Central Continent’s Gu Immortals to destroy Eighty-Eight True Yang Building and Northern Plains’s spiritual pillar, all in that former timeline. ^{ch. 949}

Fang Yuan guesses she reached Spirit Affinity House through Mo Yao’s will, won at Imperial Court blessed land. He is unsure how large its influence was, but his intuition says the guess matches that history. In this life, though, Mo Yao’s will struck him instead and nearly killed him. ^{ch. 949}

Fang Yuan notes that his presence in Northern Plains has already reshaped Central Continent’s future. It is a butterfly effect beyond imagining. With Hei Lou Lan staying in Northern Plains and out of that running, he guesses Feng Jin Huang the likeliest new fairy. ^{ch. 949}

At a Thieving Heaven inheritance’s entrance, Xu Hao tells Zhao Lian Yun she can become the next fairy if she succeeds. She cares nothing for the title, only for saving Ma Hong Yun. Li Jun Ying says success would very likely give her the power to save her lover; Zhao Lian Yun, an otherworldly demon, presses whether a mortal could ascend at once. Li Jun Ying is unsure, but says the inheritance alone would make her the strongest contender for that seat. ^{ch. 949}

Zhao Lian Yun enters the light and vanishes. Xu Hao stays confident, since years of research confirmed being an otherworldly demon is the inheritance’s only qualification. He admits he wants Thieving Heaven’s formless hand even more than ascension, still resenting his past defeat by Feng Jiu Ge. ^{ch. 949}

Since Feng Jiu Ge vanished, many turned against Fairy Bai Qing, and Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying led the anti-Feng faction. Heaven’s Envy Manor reported Ao Xue and Ling Mei dead. Feng Jiu Ge, missing so long, may be dead too. Feng Jiu Ge had sidelined Xu Hao by sending him to study the inheritance, which left him its foremost expert and let the couple take open charge of Zhao Lian Yun. ^{ch. 949}

Feng Jin Huang leads the fairy race, Li Jun Ying notes. But Zhao Lian Yun’s arrival now threatens that lead most. Backing her would let them suppress Fairy Bai Qing and regain authority, she says. ^{ch. 949}

Xu Hao is very startled: she has already come out. Zhao Lian Yun appears from thin air, and Li Jun Ying rushes to shake her shoulder. ^{ch. 949}

A will inside told her to accept a rank nine move, Divine Concealment, Zhao Lian Yun answers. Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying’s eyes go wide with shock. Disappointed at gaining no ascension, she asks whether she can still save Ma Hong Yun, and Xu Hao assures her that inheriting it alone is a gargantuan fortune. ^{ch. 949}

Li Jun Ying explains that Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable once stole the world’s treasures with no one able to track him, a feat rumored to rest on two moves: divine concealment and ghostly concealment. Divine concealment blocks thought, will, and emotion from reading its user. This leaves its user immune to nearly all wisdom path probing, and only a rank nine of that path has a chance. ^{ch. 949}

Xu Hao adds its most amazing effect: immunity to heavenly tribulations and earthly calamities. Heaven’s will is itself a will, so divine concealment blinds it, and none ever fell on Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, nor will any fall on Zhao Lian Yun once she ascends. Tribulations are also how a Gu Immortal gains dao marks, though, so her growth stays limited unless Thieving Heaven’s other methods, which could even steal dao marks, support her. ^{ch. 949}

Asked about ghostly concealment, neither has an answer; it stays extremely mysterious, though Li Jun Ying reasons it must be just as extraordinary. Zhao Lian Yun adds one more clue: a second Thieving Heaven inheritance, this one on ghostly concealment, lies hidden in Luo Po Valley. Xu Hao and Li Jun Ying trade a joyous glance. ^{ch. 949}