Chapter 978

Fang Yuan hides in the ruins, feeling that enslaving a Gu Immortal costs much more than beasts, which he had only controlled indirectly through beast kings. Zhou Zhong is completely different: a Gu Immortal with real wisdom, so the rank six slavery Immortal Gu, which could only enslave a rank six Gu Immortal, burdens Fang Yuan’s soul with an extremely huge weight. It works partly because Zhou Zhong, a featherman, has slightly duller intelligence than a human would. His own soul cultivation is shallow as a Gu Immortal. ^{ch. 978}

Fang Yuan is a layman in enslavement path, so he uses slavery Immortal Gu only superficially. His previous lives’ experience and the light of wisdom’s deductions still bring him a huge success. Zhou Zhong reports that he now controls Sacred Feather City and that Zheng Ling has moved to reinforce the first supreme elder. Fang Yuan orders him to kill the real Yu Fei first, since the real man is his greatest flaw while wearing that face. Zhou Zhong reports Yu Fei dead, turned to ashes. ^{ch. 978}

Fang Yuan orders Zhou Zhong to break the Immortal Gu House free of the enemy’s lock and escape with it, but Zhou Zhong reports failure: the whole House is still locked down. In his previous life a trap he laid made the feathermen suicide, leaving him only Zheng Ling’s soul, its memories of this same siege still extremely clear. Those memories let him time his infiltration precisely, since Zhou Zhong was bound and helpless. Fang Yuan tries himself and fails, falling back to watching from the sidelines. ^{ch. 978}

As in his previous life, Zhou Zhong labors the House, freeing Zheng Ling to fight beside the first supreme elder against White Sea Shatuo’s group. The outcome matches before: White Sea Shatuo’s side is beaten back, the first supreme elder is critically injured, and Zheng Ling fares slightly better. The House’s defense is restored. But the elder’s wounds prove fatal, and he dies. The two surviving featherman Gu Immortals hold through the night, give up the House, and all the feathermen gather and activate the immortal killer move heavenly wish, leaving the enemy to claim the empty city. ^{ch. 978}

Fang Yuan feels the heavenly wish’s white light sweep him and the feathermen through a tunnel, and lands in a human Gu Immortal’s blessed land, the group treated as an earthly calamity. It belongs to Tai Bai Yun Sheng. He approaches with Hei Lou Lan and Fairy Li Shan. In his previous life he helped Tai Bai Yun Sheng through this alone. This time he invited the pair deliberately, so the featherman calamity would intimidate them, having predicted it and told Tai Bai Yun Sheng how to prepare. Tai Bai Yun Sheng feels certain he can pass it. ^{ch. 978}

Zheng Ling’s heart sinks as all three arrive, their unconcealed Immortal Gu auras pressing on him. Tai Bai Yun Sheng displays landscape as before Immortal Gu, ending the feathermen’s threat to his immortal aperture. After a duel, Zheng Ling is killed again. These ancient feathermen would rather die than lose their freedom, and forcing them was Fang Yuan’s mistake last life, so Tai Bai Yun Sheng leaves the rest unforced and negotiates deceptively instead. But unlike last time, Zhou Zhong and the disguised Fang Yuan are already hidden traitors among them, and they lead the feathermen to relocate to Star Form blessed land. This gives Fang Yuan a new workforce for his growth in Western Desert. ^{ch. 978}

Hei Lou Lan asks how he predicted the calamity, and Fang Yuan deflects, crediting his master Purple Mountain True Monarch, who is also Tai Bai Yun Sheng’s master. Hei Lou Lan believes it, and her and Fairy Li Shan’s wariness of Purple Mountain True Monarch deepens. That heavy blow will greatly help him restrict Blazing Heaven Demoness. But enslaving Zhou Zhong has left his soul so burdened that even refining dream path mortal Gu grows difficult, sharpening his desire for Luo Po valley, which paired with Dang Hun Mountain would build his soul foundation fast. Luo Po valley is not yet his though: Shadow Sect has fortified it heavily, and in his previous life its unmanned Gu formations held Central Continent Gu Immortals off until Qin Bai Sheng arrived, so Fang Yuan must wait. ^{ch. 978}