Everlasting Immortal Firmament

Eight Trigram Mountain, west of the former Chiyou City:

Thick fog shrouded Eight Trigram Mountain as Gu Hai ventured into its depths.

As he moved forward, Gu Hai sensed an oppressive force within the fog, like a sword dangling above his head.

It was not just that sensation; there was no possibility of flying here, similar to the Yellow Springs Sea. Here, the laws were chaotic, making flying and executing secret techniques impossible. Moreover, the gravity kept increasing. Each step forward amplified Gu Hai’s weight. After a short while, Gu Hai felt his weight had increased more than a thousandfold.

Gravity a thousand times the normal would have a tremendous impact. Any ordinary person would be crushed into a pulp by the gravity alone, but not Gu Hai.

Gu Hai pressed on towards the center. He detected faint emissions of black Shaman Energy in the distance, most likely from Chiyou’s corpse.

Chiyou’s corpse was right in front of him. Although Gu Hai knew he was venturing into danger, he pressed on without hesitation.

Deep within the mountain was a valley shrouded in black fog. This was the source of the Shaman Energy Gu Hai sensed. At the entrance of this valley, a figure sat cross-legged atop a boulder.

It was none other than Houqing, who had not shown himself all this time.

The moment Gu Hai entered the vicinity of Eight Trigram Mountain, Houqing opened his eyes and activated a ritual array within the mountain with a wave of his hand. A scene was instantly projected to him—it was of Gu Hai steadily moving deeper into the mountain.

Houqing was unaware of the intense battles that had occurred in the outside world. Ji Dihong had stationed him here over ten days ago. He was mildly surprised to see Gu Hai.

“Gu Hai? He came alone? His Holy Eminence ordered me to guard this place because Gu Hai would send people to probe, and I must block and annihilate them. In addition, Mister Cangjie and others had other arrangements. I didn’t expect it would not be his people but Gu Hai himself who would come here. Gu Hai truly cares deeply for Chiyou!” Houqing let out a cold laugh.

As his cold laughter faded, his gaze turned icy.

Eight Trigram Mountain was not large. Gu Hai soon reached the outskirts of the valley. Through the light white fog, he saw Houqing before the black fog.

Behind Houqing was a valley enveloped in black mist. From a distance, the valley resembled an open mouth, and the surrounding peaks seemed like a giant dragon’s head. In the dragon’s mouth, black mist shrouded what was probably Chiyou’s corpse.

Despite his many misgivings, Gu Hai was closer to Chiyou’s corpse than ever, almost within arm’s reach.

“Gu Hai, you have some nerve to come here alone,” Houqing sneered.

Gu Hai finally took a good look at Houqing and responded with a faint smile, “Houqing, since that letter last time, have you been having a good time under Ji Dihong?”

Houqing’s face turned cold. “Humph! I knew it. You were the one who tried to sabotage me by driving a wedge between His Holy Eminence and me. Luckily, His Holy Eminence is wise and saw through your schemes!”

“Truly a case of Lu Dongbin’s dog biting him. What an ingrate!” Gu Hai retorted coldly.

Houqing did not understand the reference to Lu Dongbin, but he could grasp Gu Hai’s meaning. Gu Hai was cursing him.

[TL Note: Lu Dongbin is a legendary Chinese scholar who was later worshiped as a deity. Lu Dongbin’s dog biting him is a Chinese idiom that refers to an ingrate. This story stems from a dog biting Lu Dongbin when he was trying to help the dog, as the dog had misunderstood his intentions. There are other stories about how this idiom came about. Here is more information about Lu Dongbin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BC_Dongbin.]

“Gu Hai, you’ve discovered by now that this place is strewn with lifespan ritual arrays, right? The laws are chaotic. Unless you’ve reached the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm, you cannot fly. Moreover, your body’s gravity is at least ten thousand times the norm here. The space is sealed, and all strength is significantly reduced here. Since you have come to court death today, I’ll grant your wish!” Houqing said coldly.

Gu Hai looked at Houqing and said calmly, “Houqing, there’s no life-and-death feud between us. In fact, I saved your life!”

Houqing’s face turned icy. “Gu Hai, do you still expect me to show mercy and give you a way out at this point? Isn’t it too late?”

“Mercy? I don’t need it from you. Instead, I want to give it to you.” Gu Hai looked at Houqing pityingly.

“What did you say?” Houqing demanded, squinting coldly.

“Lady Houtu must have committed many sins in her past life to have a younger brother like you.” Gu Hai shook his head, fed up with the conversation.

“Humph! Gu Hai, don’t think I don’t know. If it weren’t for Long Wanqing and the others who went to the flawed immortal firmament, you would have died early there. Relying on despicable lies, you fooled a group of consummate Upper Heavenly Palace Realm cultivators to serve you. Your real strength is only at the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm’s sixth layer—no, maybe the seventh level! Your strongest attack in the flawed immortal firmament must have borrowed energy from the people within the Gu’s Immortal Firmament. You could do it only once, and afterwards, you almost died from the backlash. Dare you try it again? Here, you’re forbidden to fly, and gravity is ten thousand times stronger. You’re even slower now. I promised His Holy Eminence that whoever comes in must stay here forever. Today is your end!” Houqing said coldly.

With that, Houqing stepped into the air and threw a punch at Gu Hai.

Gu Hai laughed coldly. “Ten thousand times gravity? You think it affects me? You underestimate me!”

As he spoke, Gu Hai glared and slashed out with the Life Executioner Saber in his hand.

“Ninth Cycle!”

When Gu Hai executed the Ninth Cycle, space shook.

Indeed, the lifespan ritual array had an effect. The Ninth Cycle’s manifested saber did not travel over five thousand kilometers like it normally could, limited to less than three hundred meters. However, three hundred meters were enough. The force remained concentrated, becoming more compressed instead of weakening as it clashed with Houqing’s punch.

Boom!

When the saber clashed with the fist, space swayed violently but did not shatter.

Gu Hai braced himself with his foot, which sank into the ground, while Houqing also halted.

“How can your strength be equivalent to a consummate Upper Heavenly Palace Realm cultivator’s?” Houqing exclaimed in surprise.

Because of the lifespan ritual array, the surrounding space did not shatter, but the force was real. Houqing was taken aback, gazing at Gu Hai with disbelief, clearly having underestimated Gu Hai’s strength.

“My strength? Hah! There are many things you don’t know; a lot of what you know are just foolish guesses. How much can you truly know?” Gu Hai responded coldly.

Boom!

Gu Hai and Houqing resumed fighting.

Would ten thousand times the gravity affect Gu Hai? Houqing did not understand how extraordinarily resilient Gu Hai’s physical body was. Gu Hai had spent his life refining his body, tempering it with unremitting effort to achieve a foundation unimaginable to Houqing. In the past, when Gu Hai’s cultivation was still in the Middle Heavenly Palace Realm, his physical body was already as if he had reached the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm. Now that his cultivation was at the seventh layer of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm, the ten thousand times gravity merely tickled him.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Gu Hai repeatedly clashed with Houqing with the Ninth Cycle. Who cared if he could not fly? Gu Hai’s leaps were formidable and in no way inferior to flight. His incredible strength even gave him the upper hand in their duel.

As their battle began, two more figures arrived, one after the other, unbeknown to them.

The first was Long Aotian. Guided by Jiangchen, he arrived swiftly, accompanied by Dijiang, the physical body of his previous life that had been refined into a clone.

The second was Long Shenying!

Gu Hai had asked him to take care of the battlefield and then come to assist him, just in case of emergency. Ignoring the fights happening elsewhere in the Divine Continent, Long Shenying had headed straight here as soon as he could.

Long Aotian and Long Shenying entered the foggy region of the Eight Trigram Mountain one after the other and gradually heard the fierce battle between Gu Hai and Houqing.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The two powerful combatants engaged in an intense, thrilling brawl, colliding hard time and again.

A look of panic crossed Houqing’s face, disbelief clear in his eyes. He simply could not believe that Gu Hai had become so powerful.

“It’s not that I’m strong; you’re just too weak. Of the four zombie ancestors, I’ve never seen one as weak as you. I think Kong Xuan and the Mosquito Daoist are stronger than you, even though they’ve just reached the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm,” Gu Hai asserted solemnly.

“That’s impossible! You’re not at the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm yet; how could you have such strength?” Houqing shouted back, filled with shock and anger.

“I told you: it’s not that I’m exceptional but that you’re too weak!” Gu Hai retorted, his pupils contracting and then dilating, giving off black and white lights.

Eyes of Life and Death! Open!

Gu Hai immediately saw the various weak points on Houqing’s body.

He mocked, “Wind-attributed zombie ancestor, it’s one thing for you to have few progenies, but you actually can’t even come up with anything new? This zombie ancestor seed is wasted in your body. Since that’s the case, I’ll take it.”

With those chilling words, Gu Hai changed the angle of the Ninth Cycle and suddenly slashed towards Houqing’s ribs. This area was one of Houqing’s weak spots, a cluster of nearly five vulnerabilities.

“What? Storm!” Houqing’s face changed as he hastily launched a palm strike at Gu Hai’s chest.

Standing tall, Gu Hai met the incoming palm with his chest.

Boom!

Blargh! The force of the impact sent Gu Hai stumbling back, and he spat a mouthful of blood. But aside from that, he was unscathed.

However, Houqing was not so lucky. The Life Executioner Saber struck one of his weak spots, opening a massive rupture under his ribs that spread to his chest.

Blargh!

He, too, spat a mouthful of blood as he went flying back, blood splattering around him.

Unlike Gu Hai, Houqing was not okay after spitting out a mouthful of blood. His face flushed red; he had apparently sustained internal injuries.

“This…this is impossible. You haven’t reached the consummation of the Upper Heavenly Palace Realm. Why?!” Houqing screamed. “Cough! Cough!”

“Do you know? There’s a kind of weakness that cries why,” Gu Hai sneered.

Despite coughing up blood, Gu Hai was unfazed. With the Eyes of Life and Death, he targeted Houqing’s weak points and lunged forward again. After all, in the mutual exchange of injuries, Houqing’s were over ten times worse than Gu Hai’s.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the two continued to clash, spitting out blood and attacking each other, Gu Hai’s hair became somewhat disheveled and his clothes a bit torn. As for Houqing? His body was ravaged, his internal organs shattered, and his souls shaken. Blood splattered everywhere. The sight of his impending defeat terrified him.

Houqing desperately wanted to ask why. However, Gu Hai’s words were like a dagger stabbing his heart. There’s a kind of weakness that cries why?

Why?