"That was quick." Lo Jik kept an information path gu worm while communicating with Bai La in Treasure Yellow Heaven. Like Fickle Consort Immortal, Bai La was stationed at another resource point as she cultivated fiercely and deepened her metal path foundation. Alongside her, Lo Jik had asked a few other gu immortals for forge some pieces of evidence but only Bai La chose to help him. This revealed her personal and political stance. Unlike the Feng, Anti-Feng, and the neutral factions, Bai La considered her position and warmed to the idea of joining Lo Jik and Black Moon's budding ambition.
"Because it was simple," retorted Bai La with an air of smugness around her. Alas, they couldn't meet else Lo Jik would have loved putting all that bravado to good use.
"And? What about my personal treasure?" He goaded with a deeper voice. "You received my presents, no?"
Bai La, stuck inside a cave, rolled her eyes. They weren't using their wills to communicate but employed their divine senses to chat in real time. Of course, she knew about Lo Jik's presents. He'd grown rather taken by the idea of dressing her in various strange outfits, some of which, admittedly, suited her greatly despite his daring taste and choices. And Bai La was also curious and less than happy as she not-so-eagerly tried out these outfits without wasting a second.
Scoffing, Bai La shared another information path gu worm. However, she almost wished she hadn't. Her jaw tightened unconsciously as Lo Jik fell silent before bursting out with a gleeful yelp!
"That's what I'm talking about! It looks so damn good on you!"
The information path mortal gu worm contained no heavenly secrets of comprehension towards the great dao but instead something greater and more profound. The gu worm contained illicit recordings of Bai La trying out several outfits while also posing in the ones that left a good impression in her mind.
"Hmph!" She snorted coldly but stayed quiet and basked in his praises. Of course, as a gu immortal, all this was unnecessary to her. She wouldn't have done this for anyone but Lo Jik as she owed him a great debt of life and was therefore obligated to succumb to all his lurid demands and vile fancies that rendered her body more and more compliant and rather expecting towards his sick fantasies.
That's all.
"How do you plan on dealing with others? The other nine sects won't stop pestering you." She quickly changed the subject to something more serious and tolerable. After all, spending a fraction of her time dolling up in skimpy and sometimes gothic outfits, the latter of which happened to attract her attention more, also led to some urges that were best left for Lo Jik to tend. Alas, he wasn't by her side. So, she didn't need to feel all that and fall prey to sexual frustration when she was also burdened by her cultivation. Yet her damned consort had sworn to distract her continuously.
"I'll think of something," he replied casually. "It's just the nine ancient sects. They can kiss my ass for all I care. Say, what do you think about that Faceless Transformation Immortal? A gu house that extends lifespan is quite something."
Bai La soured.
"Fuck him!" She cussed unceremoniously, having her share of bad experience with Faceless Transformation Immortal. Deep down, however, she was alert and also wanted to snatch his incomplete gu house. Such a treasure would allow her family and loved ones to live longer. She added after a moment. "We should try scheming against it. You are Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's inheritor… such a theft path immortal gu house suits you and our sect better."
Lo Jik blinked in surprise before smiling.
"It sure does."
They chatted for a while until Lo Jik sensed some disturbance and reluctantly bade Bai La farewell. They rarely got the time to chat so conveniently.
He spread his senses outwards while noticing that the seven rank 6 gu immortals from earlier occupied different spots on the mountain. They apparently already competed for the mortal inheritance uncovered previously and were now snooping for more clues and hints regarding other treasures remaining on the mountain.
Finally, he observed the gu immortal high in the air.
A new arrival.
Lo Jik stretched his limbs with satisfying pops echoing from his joints.
Awaiting Lo Jik was a white-haired old man dressed blue robes. His snow-white hair cascaded down to his waist. Despite lacking lifespan, the old man's thick white brows were straight like a sword. Sharp intensity sparkled in his milky-grey eyes. Surprisingly, this old man was blind. He also had no facial hair growing on his narrow jaw.
"Greetings, Old Sword Immortal." Lo Jik promptly paid his respects towards the aged rank 6 gu immortal. This old man had a frightening reputation among lone gu immortals within Central Continent.
He was a peak-stage rank 6 gu immortal.
One's immortal aperture drew heaven's envy after a gu immortal ascended successfully. Rank 6 gu immortals had green immortal aperture cores and produced beads of green grape essence. They suffered heaven's wrath regularly in the form of earthly calamities every ten years and a heavenly tribulation every hundred year based on their blessed land's flow of time. Successfully surviving three heavenly tribulations completely polished and refined the rank 6 gu immortal's green immortal aperture core into red immortal aperture core, marking their breakthrough to rank 7 cultivation.
Rank 6 gu immortals, aside from their battle strength, loosely categorized themselves on the basis of heavenly tribulations endured successfully. While called calamities and tribulations, these events were blessings in disguise. Else, how could one cultivate?
Enduring tribulations and calamities successfully not only led to the qualitative change in one's cultivation but also carved hundreds of dao marks every time!
The greater the number of tribulations passed, the stronger a gu immortal!
The current Old Sword Immortal was at the cusp of becoming a rank 7 gu immortal and only required to face his third heavenly tribulation. Not only was his cultivation greater than Dark Cloud Immortal Yin Yun and Hong Guang, but he had acquired a complete sword path true inheritance in a fortuitous encounter. His battle strength far surpassed Lo Jik's earlier challengers.
Lastly, Old Sword Immortal had a great reputation.
He could not stand sight of evil in his presence. He loathed it so much that he used sword path dao marks to turn himself blind!
This was a gu immortal who had an appropriate sword path immortal gu or two, a complete set of immortal killer moves, and a deep accumulation of sword path dao marks to further amplify his strength.
He was truly Fickle Consort Immortal's strongest opponent yet.
"Mm." Old Sword Immortal nodded. His next words were spoken openly, shocking the other gu immortals observing the battle from Tian Ti Mountain as well as the gu immortals from the other nine great ancient sects in the distance. "I'm here to pick a fight, Fickle Consort Immortal. I'm being paid in 30 Pin Sword Seeds alongside 80 immortal stones for every immortal killer move I force you to reveal."
Lo Jik chuckled softly.
"Is that all? I can pay you double the amount, Senior."
They conversed warmly. Old Sword Immortal was straightforward and bore Lo Jik no ill will, or so he claimed. Yet, by helping the other nine great ancient sects suppress Lo Jik, he indirectly acted out in malice. Old Sword Immortal knew how hypocritical his stance truly was, yet it was nothing new to Lo Jik or anyone else for that matter.
"How will others trust me if I accept every opponent's offer?" Old Sword Immortal smiled. "But I shall keep your price in my mind and raise my own worth next time around. Negotiation is a skill that strains my mind and heart still."
"Haha!" Lo Jik laughed. "I think you're quite great at negotiations already. 30 Pin Sword Seeds is more than enough. Should we move elsewhere?"
"A battle above the clouds is always thrilling." Old Sword Immortal floated upwards. "The sky above Tian Ti Mountain has yet to attract any other flying desolate and ancient desolate beasts ever since the beast tides."
"Very well."
The pair flew slowly—
Aura of several gu worms fluctuated around Lo Jik as a dense milky-white light of qi shone around him and transformed into a six-meter-long elegant-looking dragonman with shallow scars on the surface of his skin. A pair of hand-like fleshy wings flapped behind him as he burst out with horrifying speed!
Immortal killer move—Self Dharma!
Immortal killer move—Continental Slash!
Old Sword Immortal struck at once, already prepared for sneak attacks. He might be blind but he had great battle experience. Furthermore, Lo Jik had already revealed the devious heart he hid with a mask of sincerity when he beat Hong Guang black and blue.
*Boom*
Self dharma briefly shook as Lo Jik retreated by three steps before flapping his wings and evading long gashes of sword qi targeting him. He evaded the attack fluidly as Old Sword Immortal gave a soft shout and activated a mortal killer move to increase his movement speed. Unlike Lo Jik, whose Self Dharma covered many aspects of combat and was also relatively simple to use, letting him fly and attack using one immortal killer move, Old Sword Immortal could not use two immortal killer moves at once.
His sword path movement immortal killer move was not only complicated but it was not flexible in close-quarter combat. Lo Jik, meanwhile, was a flying grandmaster! His speed was nothing to scoff at either. White glow bounced off of Old Sword Immortal as Lo Jik instantly closed the gap between them, radiating intense light and even greater strength! He was literally overflowing with immortal strength.
"Hah!"
Old Sword Immortal suddenly roared!
*Shhk*
Several thick slashes cut through Lo Jik's self dharma. His skin split open with shallow wounds at different spots as he narrowed his eyes.
'So sound path is effective!' Old Sword Immortal instantly activated his sword path immortal killer move that also utilized several sound path gu worms. This attack was formless and travelled using sound as a medium, effectively bypassing Self Dharma's defense.
Other spectators also watched with renewed interest.
Lo Jik hurriedly defended by crossing his arms in front of his face.
How could Old Sword Immortal let go of this opportunity. Lo Jik was a frightening opponent, that much he understood with just this short bout! Old Sword Immortal wouldn't dare lower his guard but he also didn't retreat rapidly.
'So, the strength of this immortal killer move depends on the distance between the user and the target.' Lo Jik saw through Old Sword Immortal's killer move that used supplementary sound path gu worms after experiencing it twice, noticing the slight difference in their outputs. The farther he was, the weaker the old sword master's attack.
Lo Jik wisely flew back as Old Sword Immortal's expression changed.
Circumstances changed at once. Old Sword Immortal now chased after Lo Jik but how could he dream of closing the gap?
Meanwhile, a bow blossomed to life in Lo Jik's left hand. He pulled the string and let loose a flurry of arrows!
Old Sword Immortal dodged bitterly but Lo Jik's aim was devilish, to say the least. He set traps in his attacks and forced Old Sword Immortal into a passive position. Worse still, the strength behind Lo Jik's arrows forced the old man to wholly focus on his defensive immortal killer move!
Everyone's expression was grave.
If the sound path weakness in Lo Jik's Self Dharma slightly eased the spectating gu immortals' mood then realizing that Lo Jik's basic arrows were no worse than long-ranged immortal killer moves instantly dragged their good mood through hell.
'How can he keep using this immortal killer move?' Old Sword Immortal was shocked. 'Does he have endless immortal essence?'
Gu immortals paid attention to all aspects in battles, including expenses and profits. Old Sword Immortal mainly stood to gain 30 Pin Sword Seeds, each worth roughly around eight immortal essence stone. However, he had also consumed nearly fifteen beads of immortal essence in these few short minutes. He felt heartache at the thought of battling Lo Jik for hours. His losses would be simply too immense!
'No. Strength path is known for less consumption of primeval and immortal essence.' Old Sword Immortal clenched his jaw as several floating swords rotated around him rapidly to block and cut every arrow.
'Let's make it a bit more challenging.' Lo Jik smirked, utterly at peace as he bombarded Old Sword Immortal with arrows. He had already seen through the old man's defensive immortal killer move. Lo Jik's attainments were not mere decorations. His sword path attainment also received another round of infusion from Qin Bai Sheng recently. While he couldn't instantly unravel the immortal killer move without seeing the gu worms used to create it, he could make use of the gaps in the killer move similar to how Old Sword Immortal's sound-based attack could make use of Self Dharma's weakness.
Lo Jik suddenly aimed at the recently slashed arrows. Their strength qi had yet to dissipate as four different arrows struck the cut arrows from strange and surprising angles. The directions of the four arrows that Lo Jik shot and the four arrows Old Sword Immortal cut in half changed at once.
The tips of eight arrows bounced off each other before flying at Old Sword Immortal from eight different directions.
Old Sword Immortal was pale.
His defensive immortal killer move revolved in one face at a time aside from it being entirely automated. The swords either revolved while floating horizontally or standing vertically. Old Sword Immortal couldn't use it flexibly.
"Wait—" He screamed as the swords blocked the arrows from the sides. But the top of his head and the bottom of his feet were entirely exposed because the sword could not move around him vertically.
*Pccht*
The tip of the arrow lodged itself on top of Old Sword Immortal's head. Blood instantly gushed like fountain as the tip of the arrow pierced his skull but couldn't damage his brain. The old man's body was covered in sword path dao marks. They acted as a passive defense by causing an internal friction against the few strength path dao marks carried by the arrow, weakening it quite a bit.
"Stop! I yield!" Old Sword Immortal shouted hurriedly but Lo Jik's gaze shimmered with a demonic light, the kind that caused Old Sword Immortal to ruin his vision. The old man screamed in terror as Lo Jik continued shooting out a flurry of arrows while utilizing trick shots every now and then.
Strength path arrows started piercing the old man from several directions.
Four more arrows pierced the old man's head, two entered his abdomen, and five pinned into his back.
"Curse… you…"
The old man coughed his last mouthful of blood; his body soaked in his own blood. His defenses crumbled as the last traces of life left his body. It was truly a terrible and horrifying sight.
'Hmph!' Lo Jik snickered coldly and suddenly grabbed the old man's corpse before flying to Tian Ti Mountain and dropping it unceremoniously on a spot.
"What did you do?! How could you kill Old Sword Immortal—"
Lo Jik instantly aimed at the incoming seven gu immortals and launched another round of arrows indifferently. They were significantly weaker than Old Sword Immortal and instantly turned pale, quickly running away in terror. Yet, they cast hateful glance in Lo Jik's direction and heated looks towards Old Sword Immortal's corpse.
While he killed Old Sword Immortal, Lo Jik did not perform any demonic deeds such as capturing the gu immortal's soul. With time, Old Sword Immortal's soul would enter the Door of Life and Death, spending the rest of eternity in the Death Obsession Domain recorded within <
Lo Jik's surroundings trembled as the space before Lo Jik erupted with a sharp silver sword light. The light, though magnificent, did not reach the sky and instead only grew ten meters high. Its silhouette resembled the pointed end of a sword and above the tip of the sword floated a luxurious plaque.
Chun Ni Blessed Land.
Lo Jik stepped inside the light with narrowed eyes as it dissipated the next second.
<<<>>>
Black Moon retracted her investigation killer move and stopped observing the main continent. She couldn't help but recall Lo Jik's earlier request of forging evidence about Old Sword Immortal. He had sent letter to Black Moon, Bai La, Bai Qing, and Bu Zhen Zi right before the beast tide wrecked Tian Ti Mountain. He asked these four individuals to forge evidence against four different lone gu immortals.
Bai La agreed without hesitation while Bai Qing also rejected him without hesitation. However, considering her daughter and mother's feelings, alongside all the assistance Lo Jik rendered to save them, Bai Qing needed to approach the matter carefully. She was astute enough to realize that it wasn't her that Lo Jik was asking for support but her husband. So, she wrote an empathetic reply. Nevertheless, Bai Qing was level-headed enough to separate familial matters from politics. And the fact that Lo Jik had relationship with half her family may have slightly diminished the value of his help when Bai La was stuck in the dream realm.
There was also Bu Zhen Zi, who answered for Xu Hao by rejecting Lo Jik and stating that he needed to recuperate from his injuries. In reality, forging evidence and suppressing lone gu immortals was a child's play for the supreme elders. However, many didn't want to see Lo Jik's growth remain unchecked.
Black Moon was also one of them. Lo Jik asked her to forge some evidence against Old Sword Immortal, but she also rejected him with the excuse of nearing a verge of breakthrough in her strength path research. Of course, Lo Jik replied in understanding.
'What is he planning?' Black Moon observed how Lo Jik cold-heartedly killed Old Sword Immortal, but there was no disgust in her heart towards this act. Couldn't she see how the constant battles would keep on draining Lo Jik's reserves while also exposing his strength to the world, allowing others to prepare efficient counters. Self Dharma's weakness against sound path method was already noticed by everyone.
If anything, she felt distaste against gu immortals like Old Sword Immortal who chased glory on the surface and even exposed the truth while still committing those very acts he exposed.
How would she act in this scenario?
Of course, she would be furious at Old Sword Immortal!
Why did it matter that he was honest?
He was still choosing to suppress her. He was choosing to go against her and help her enemies!
Would the victims of murder feel better if the killer revealed the truth right before bashing their heads into a blood pulp?
Yet, Black Moon also wanted to see Lo Jik get suppressed.
'Can't they already employ someone better?' She tapped her foot against the floor impatiently, wondering if the other nine great ancient sects finally had the excuse to intervene and suppress Lo Jik. Old Sword Immortal, for all intents and purposes, was a righteous figure despite his lone gu immortal status.
Her expression slightly changed after a moment.
She stopped paying attention to Lo Jik's circumstances and used a killer move. A peal of fire materialized before her. Despite burning close to her, it did not reveal any warmth. It was as if the fire was in a phantom-like intangible state.
The fire expanded, revealing a plain red reflective surface. The fire continued burning and acted as the surface's circular frame.
The red surface fluctuated and suddenly turned even more brilliant and reflective. However, it wasn't Black Moon's reflection inside this surface.
It was a vague figure with long yet disheveled hair. A hoarse, feminine voice emerged from the mirror.
"What happened, Little Lan? Your message sounded urgent."
Black Moon felt the other party's concern despite the voice being rough and inhospitable.
The masked woman fell silent for a moment before sighing softly, relaying several things.
"What?" The voice on the other side was extremely shocked. "Water Pavilion was plundered? The enemy knew exactly where it was? And now even Mo Yao's will and your mother's familial emotion vanished mysteriously?!"
The woman on the other side was greatly agitated about the disappearance of the familial emotion, more so than their immortal gu house being plundered.
Black Moon's mood was heavy. She never expected things to take such a turn when she accepted the sect's fairy position.
"I will have Shan'er look into—"
"No." Black Moon cut her off decisively. "I contacted you with this information not to waste your time in searching for culprit. They were not only mysterious but even the full force of our sect has been unable to locate them. I don't believe you and Little Aunt will have better result. Furthermore, both of you are in Northern Plains. It's even more difficult for you two to deduce things for matters related to Central Continent."
The voice fell silent as Black Moon continued.
"I just wanted to update you two. The plan, however, hasn't changed a bit. That immortal gu house was one of the best assurances I could have asked for but…" She sighed again. "I will manage things on my side."
The voice on the other side didn't push and acknowledged Black Moon's words. She only uttered after a pregnant pause. She was full of guilt and worry.
"Be careful."
Black Moon opened her mouth to say something but ultimately chose not to. She heard the person on the other side sighing softly as she ended the killer move.
***
Alternate Title: Bai La, the embodiment of choke me, hug me, kiss me, fuck me *Meanwhile Lo Jik being the embodiment of fuck me, press me, push me, use me*; All hail Goth Bai La supremacy; A consort isn't a consort if not distracting!; Orthodox harems: Having one or two favored female consorts that hog all of the emperor's attention; Chad harem: One slut to distract them all *Said slut gets bigger breasts and ass once gender-bent*; Bai La: I must cultivate *Lo Jik: Quietly wears a t-shirt saying 'I'm a farm land'*; Righteous hypocrisy; Lo Jik adds to his body count; Lo Jik after seeing Blazing Heaven *Body count planning noises*; Another family to plunder?; Bai Qing's not-so-obvious conflicts; Lo Jik dressing half of Bai Qing's family!; Bai Qing's worst nightmare: Seeing Feng Jiu Ge in a dashing butler's uniform *Bai Qing.exe error*; The bane of rank 6 gu immortals; Self Dharma's might; Peak arrow bender; Archery is still relevant?! Praise the author! *Heh*; Old Man was a chunni!; World Cutting Slash aah killer move; Old Man: I yield! *Lo Jik: Anyway, I started blasting*; Dying for dozens of immortal essence stones; Exposed weakness?
***
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