Central Continent.
White egrets flew in the sky, the weather was pleasant today.
Three rank seven Gu Immortals who came from Combat Immortal Sect had gathered within this sky.
“According to Immortal Monkey King’s request for help, it should be this place.” Qian Zhu Xian looked around as he said.
He was dressed in a green robe, he had a slim figure and his eyes were dark like an abyss, as if incapable of being alarmed.
“Although this place looks ordinary, it is evident that the grotto-heaven opening that was stated in the letter has closed up. But to check if it is really this place, we will need Divine Mother’s help.” Valley Lord Ming He, who was dressed in a white robe, looked over.
Beside him was a female Gu Immortal.
Beautiful and elegant, she was dressed in a golden robe and radiated majesty and dignity. She was a space path Gu Immortal, known as Divine Mother Jue Kong. Among these three, she was the oldest Gu Immortal, being over nine hundred years old.
Divine Mother Jue Kong closed her eyes, using her mysterious method, her aura remained calm and there was not even any trace of fluctuation.
In a short while, she opened her eyes, letting out a breath of foggy air: “It is here indeed, Starry Sky grotto-heaven is located at this place.”
The other two immortals heard this and their spirits lifted.
“Seven Star Child did not have much reputation back then, he actually cultivated to this extent without making a sound. In fact, his grotto-heaven even absorbed a fragment of blue heaven. Precisely because of this, Starry Sky grotto-heaven could still exist now. It is incredible.” Qian Zhu Xian sighed.
During the Immemorial Antiquity Era, the world of Gu Masters had nine heavens in the sky.
Red, orange, yellow, green, azure, blue, purple, white, black, they formed the immemorial nine heavens.
But seven of the nine heavens were destroyed by Ren Zu’s children, right now, only black and white heaven were left alternating in the sky.
Seven Star Child had a fortuitous encounter in the past, he secretly absorbed a fragment of blue heaven, this allowed his grotto-heaven to exist to this day, and not become a dead aperture due to his state.
The immemorial nine heavens were nine different worlds.
The immortal apertures of Gu Immortals were also worlds, worlds could swallow one another, the most famous example was treasure yellow heaven.
Back then, treasure yellow heaven’s owner — rank eight Gu Immortal, Daoist Countless Treasures, unexpectedly obtained a fragment world of yellow heaven. Thus, after he fused it into his grotto-heaven, it formed treasure yellow heaven.
After treasure yellow heaven was formed, it became extraordinary, and continued existing even until today.
“Once a grotto-heaven absorbs a nine heavens fragment, the benefits are really great. Not only will they gain some unpredictable mystical power, the immortal aperture’s heavenly power would become unlimited. Furthermore, calamities and tribulations would weaken greatly, or completely vanish. If I can obtain such a fragment world, I might even wake up laughing in my sleep.” Valley Lord Ming He was full of envy.
“Dream on, Ming He. Get your cultivation level to rank eight first. Only a grotto-heaven of a rank eight Gu Immortal can absorb a nine heavens fragment world.” Qian Zhu Xian laughed.
Valley Lord Ming He heard this and laughed bitterly: “I want to get to rank eight too, but I have no confidence in surviving the second grand tribulation. Thinking about how rank eight Gu Immortals have to undergo a grand tribulation every fifty years, I shudder at that thought. As for the myriad tribulation that is even more terrifying than grand tribulations, I simply cannot imagine them! Maybe, only someone like Shi Lei has no fear…”
Blessed lands had fortune, but heaven and earth was balanced, thus, once in a while, calamities and tribulations would befall.
Rank six Gu Immortals experience an earthly calamity every ten years, and a heavenly tribulation every one hundred years. Thus, when assessing a Gu Immortal’s cultivation level, they often used the heavenly tribulation as the standard. Fang Yuan was a two heavenly tribulations expert in his previous life.
After a rank six Gu Immortal goes through three heavenly tribulations, their blessed land would expand to another level, and they would become a rank seven Gu Immortal.
Rank seven Gu Immortals face an earthly calamity every ten years, a heavenly tribulation every fifty years, and a grand tribulation every one hundred years. Qian Zhu Xian and Valley Lord Ming He were one grand tribulation Gu Immortals, while Divine Mother Jue Kong was a level higher than them, being at two grand tribulations cultivation level.
As for rank eight Gu Immortals, they no longer experienced any earthly calamities, but they faced a heavenly tribulation every ten years, a grand tribulation every fifty years, and a myriad tribulation every one hundred years.
Myriad tribulations were far more scary than heavenly tribulations, they were known as ‘hopeless myriad tribulations’ among Gu Immortals, the difficulty was extremely high.
Thus, nine heavens fragments were much more precious.
Because the immemorial nine heavens were a part of the large world of Gu Masters. Calamities and tribulations would only descend upon blessed lands and grotto-heavens as they were immortal aperture worlds, this did not happen in the five regions or the immemorial nine heavens.
After the grotto-heaven devours the nine heavens fragment, in a way, they become a part of the large world of Gu Masters. This could greatly reduce the size and power of the calamities and tribulations, and the grotto-heaven would not die if the Gu Immortal dies. For example, Starry Sky grotto-heaven was still intact despite Seven Star Child already becoming an immortal zombie.
If the nine heavens fragment that was absorbed was big, calamities and tribulations could vanish for good. For example, treasure yellow heaven had never experienced any calamities or tribulations, it was now the biggest trading area in the Gu Immortal world.
“The benefits of absorbing a nine heavens fragment are huge. But don’t forget, this method has a weakness too. Even if you absorb just a bit of the nine heavens fragment, you will take in the aura of the greater world. Once the grotto-heaven is rooted into it, it can never be placed into your body again.” Divine Mother Jue Kong reminded them.
Qian Zhu Xian nodded, agreeing: “Simply put, by absorbing the nine heavens fragment, the Gu Immortal loses their freedom. They can only stay inside their immortal aperture world and cannot move about in the outside world. This is truly a huge loss. But if a nine heavens fragment appears before me, I would choose it without hesitation!”
“That’s right.” Valley Lord Ming He agreed: “Calamities and tribulations are too hard to survive, sometimes, I would want to become an immortal zombie, at least their dead lands would not experience any calamities or tribulations.”
“Alright, handling the task is the most important matter. We purposely wasted so many days, I’m sure that Monkey King has learned his lesson.” Divine Mother Jue Kong slowly closed her eyes.
Valley Lord Ming He fell into silence.
Qian Zhu Xian laughed: “Heh, after we save Shi Lei, I want to see if he can still act arrogant again?”
Divine Mother Jue Kong could no longer keep a calm aura, her golden robe fluttered as the aura of Immortal Gu burst out from her.
“Open.” Suddenly, she opened her eyes, her gaze was sharp as it pierced a hole into the void before her.
The hole was about the size of a man, through this hole, the three Gu Immortals could directly see the scenery inside Starry Sky grotto-heaven.
The three immortals did not speak, Qian Zhu Xian charged ahead and entered it. Next, Valley Lord Ming He entered, followed by Divine Mother Jue Kong.
But at the next moment, the three Gu Immortals appeared in the sky again.
“What is going on?” Qian Zhu Xian and Valley Lord Ming He showed some shock on their faces.
Divine Mother Jue Kong’s expression was solemn, her relaxed appearance was gone as she muttered: “In is not in, out is not out, space is interchanging, swapping around… this is the mystical ability Starry Sky grotto-heaven obtained after absorbing the blue heaven fragment?”
“Yes. Shi Lei mentioned this in his request for help as well.” Valley Lord Ming He recalled.
“It is not strange, why would it be simple if it could trap this monkey?” Qian Zhu Xian said.
Divine Mother Jue Kong snorted coldly: “This is only a minor problem.”
At the same time, in Northern Plains, Zombie Alliance branch, inside Dark Flow Giant City.
This place had densely accumulated darkness, even the clear skies could not shine any sunlight into here.
Fang Yuan pushed open the door and was inspected by more than twenty gazes.
He purposely showed a scared and hesitant expression as he stepped into the discussion hall.
He paid his respects, shouting: “I am Sha Huang, greetings to my fellow brethren.”
“Fellow brethren… you used a good phrase. We members of Zombie Alliance are in the same situation, we should help each other.” On the main seat of the discussion hall, there was an immortal zombie smiling as he said.
He was a fatty, he was over six meters tall, just like Fang Yuan’s eight arm immortal zombie form, but he was at least three times fatter than Fang Yuan. His skin was like bronze, his stomach was like a wine vat, big and round. Not just his stomach, his face, arms, fingers, they were all extremely round.
Fang Yuan saw him and thought of the information he had: “Flesh bronze zombie body, Yin Liu Gong…”
Before Fang Yuan came to the Zombie Alliance, he had gotten the relevant information from Fairy Li Shan.
Immortal zombie Gu Ye beside him thought that Fang Yuan was a newbie, he quickly paid respects: “Gu Yu pays respects to Lord Yin Liu Gong, Lord Dragon Commander Ye Cha, and Lord Huang Quan Weng.”
Fang Yuan followed after him: “I greet Lord Yin Liu Gong, Lord Dragon Commander Ye Cha, and Lord Huang Quan Weng.”
Saying so, he gave Gu Ye a look of gratitude.
Gu Ye smiled at him.
Yin Liu Gong was seated at the center seat, on his left was Dragon Commander Ye Cha, he was sitting up straight with a ruthless expression, his fangs were pale and sharp, on the right was Huang Quan Weng, he looked old and had a hunched back.
Even though they had overflowing death energy, their rank seven aura could not be concealed.
These three immortal zombies had true rank seven cultivation level, they were stationed in Dark Flow Giant City.
“Sha Huang… is this your real name?” Dragon Commander Ye Cha asked, his words were like steel, once he spoke, a strong wave of killing intent burst out, making one feel as if they were in the middle of a terrifying battlefield.
This was due to his experiences.
Dragon Commander Ye Cha was a lone cultivator, he had joined the Imperial Court contest and had used some of the opportunities inside Imperial Court blessed land to accumulate his foundation and become a Gu Immortal.
In other words, he had very rich battle experience, nobody dared to look down on him.
He opened his mouth, and his tone showed his imposing nature, it made people feel like he was pressuring them heavily.
“Of course not.” Fang Yuan laughed bitterly: “Sha Huang was the name I gave myself on the second day after I became an immortal zombie. It signified a new beginning, for me to temporarily forget my past glory. I had once sworn to heaven, only when I regain my real body and get rid of my immortal zombie status would I use my former name again.”
Once he said that, all of the immortals in the discussion showed varying expressions.
There was disdain, sneers, silence, sadness, but mostly, understanding.
Fang Yuan’s current performance and his mental state was just like theirs in the past. But after so many years, their grand ambitions were gone, their hopes and desires were almost completely burnt out. They were still immortal zombies now, life had not changed for the better.
“Alright, since Sha Huang opened the door, then he is a Northern Plains Gu Immortal. We in Zombie Alliance would be stronger with one more member. He has already proven himself. One has to know, previously, even Yao Huang did not manage to push open this door. Guh, guh guh guh…” Huang Quan Weng said as he started coughing, showing his old and weak state.