The immemorial desolate beast Black Heaven Swallowing Snake was incredibly fast. They had merely heard the deafening noise of heavenly wind qi wall being torn apart before darkness consumed Lo Jik and Black Moon. It was entirely pitch-black. Lo Jik instantly tried using a few investigation gu worms but realized that the density of the abundant number of dark and qi path dao marks was simply too much! The effects of using the various gu worms did not yield any significant results. Heck, he couldn't even hear anything. The remnant heavenly dog's howl could be called ear-piercing but nothing echoed in this darkness.
Thinking about something, Lo Jik instantly focused on his blessed land and connected with Treasure Yellow Heaven. A blessed land was a unique and separate small world. The influence of a rank 8 immemorial desolate beast did not affect this connection!
Lo Jik hurriedly purchased several rank 5 dark path gu worms and communicated with Black Moon through Treasure Yellow Heaven. Using the dark path gu worms held great result as they were not impeded and even had better results than usual.
"We are still inside the Black Heaven Swallowing Snake's mouth. Thinking of its speed, we must have already left white heaven and entered black heaven." Lo Jik ignored the look of sheer accusation in Black Moon's eyes and spoke in a dignified tone. "We need to find a way to escape this immemorial beast. Our size is like a speck of sand compared to this immemorial beast."
Black Moon hesitated and asked Fairy Mo about Black Heaven Swallowing Snake instead of Lo Jik.
"Black Heaven Swallowing Snake is an immemorial beast that exists in two forms. Usually, it's nothing more than a cloud of dark qi in black heaven. However, it wakes up every seventy years to feed, taking the form of this gigantic snake. The most impressive aspect of this immemorial beast, aside from its docile nature, is the fact that it only hunts in white heaven. Its tail would be inside black heaven as it springs into white heaven with incredible speed and swallows its prey whole. And as witnessed already, it greatly desires pregnant dog-type beasts."
*Tss*
Lo Jik and Black Moon gritted their teeth as their clothes and skin started to corrode. Just because Black Heaven Swallowing Snake did not swallow and gulped them down did not mean they were safe in its mountain-sized mouth. The dark path dao marks already started affecting and corroding their bodies. From their injuries oozed smoky black mist—dark qi! This was the corrosion of dark and qi path dao marks!
"What about…" Black Moon glanced at Love Gu. Boasting innumerable dao marks, undoubtedly more than this immemorial beast, the effect of dark and qi path dao marks did not injure Love Gu at all!
"I cannot control it." Lo Jik sighed deeply as the suspicion in Black Moon's eyes deepened. His expression turned even bitter as he knew his act of fooling Black Moon into thinking that he had a deceptively greater control on Love Gu now blew on his face. Forcing a smile, Lo Jik patted Love Gu.
"Love Gu doesn't activate whenever I want… but it responds to me every now and then," he lied as he discreetly activated Disguise Immortal Gu.
The corner of Black Moon's lips twitched. She should have fought harder to keep her immortal gu!
"What now?" Black Moon frowned deeply. She could have effortlessly escaped this mess with her immortal gu house! The severity of their circumstances set in as Lo Jik grunted in response. "Look for information on this immemorial beast. Every clue is valuable. There has to be a way to survive!"
Black Moon blinked before nodding.
<<<>>>
Bu Zhen Zi flew high in the sky before encountering an obstruction. There was a large wall covering the sky of the entire gu world! It was a massive thing. This was not a wall but a qi path phenomenon similar to the regional qi walls. It was the heavenly wind qi wall separating the five regions from the two heavens!
He witnessed a humongous wall in the wall as strands of heavenly wind qi rushed in to fill the hole. Bu Zhen Zi's gaze sharpened as he used his immortal-level movement killer move to quickly enter the hole as he felt the surrounding heavenly wind qi forcing him away.
'Such pressure?!' He was shocked. There was already such a huge hole through the heavenly wind qi wall but Bu Zhen Zi suffered immense rejection and pressure as if he was entering an entirely intact regional qi wall. He gritted his teeth and charged forth regardless of the cost.
Black Moon and Lo Jik simply could not be lost!
"Where do you think you're going? Get over here!" Several foggy chains suddenly flew out and covered Bu Zhen Zi. Much to his shock, the chains did not pass through his phantom body and wrapped around him, instantly restricting him.
"Haha!" Fairy Phantom Scales eyes were bloodshot. "I deduced this killer move especially for you! Do you like it—guh!"
Bu Zhen Zi blew lightly. A sharp knife took shape near the woman as she barely turned her head in time. The phantom knife cut into her face, causing a deep gash as a trail of scarlet grew into flowing blood.
"Unrepentant little bastard!" She instantly attacked furiously as Bu Zhen Zi activated his defensive killer move while sighing internally. He reported his inability to assist Lo Jik and Black Moon before giving Fairy Phantom Scales his entire attention.
'So be it. You're the one courting death!' His eyes flashed with a dangerous glint.
<<<>>>
"What did the sect say?" Lo Jik asked with a bitter smile. He still searched for a way of escaping the immemorial desolate beast as their injuries deepened.
"They are deducing our location… it's not looking good," Black Moon answered honestly. Lo Jik could feel anguish, impotent rage, and sheer hope burning brightly in her moments ago but it had already started to dwindle. He didn't look down on Black Moon for this.
There was nothing ordinary gu immortals could do against an immemorial desolate beast.
Even gu immortals of Bai La caliber could only hide and pray not to end up in this situation. Only peak rank 7 gu immortals such as Xu Hao or someone a step beyond that, such as Feng Jiu Ge, could masterfully handle this situation and escape with their lives.
However, his associate's flickering hope only served to brighten the light of hope inside Lo Jik's heart. He searched Treasure Yellow Heaven all over and did not find anything meaningful about escaping the mouth of a Black Heaven Swallowing Immemorial Beast aside from odd dark path and qi path immortal killer moves aside from using brute strength. Unfortunately, Spirit Affinity House did not have relevant immortal gu worms or killer moves that they could send to the duo and help them escape. This situation was simply too rare. Lo Jik also turned to his second blessed land and used Pool of Wisdom gu house to its maximum output, trying to find out a way of surviving this tribulation.
And he knew this was a tribulation.
Not some vague and general term about it, no.
This was a heaven-devised tribulation!
But Lo Jik could not air his grievances without incurring deep suspicions. Some secrets were better left veiled.
Black Moon had already tried using her immortal killer move. Lo Jik also used his three strength path immortal gu worms. He would sometimes heal their injuries using Self-Reliance Gu Worm too.
"Let's wait it out. We can heal using Self-Reliance Gu Worm and wait for the sect to rescue us. Borrowing immortal essence stone from the sect should be no issue, right? We can still access Treasure Yellow Heaven." Lo Jik smiled optimistically and spoke with a clear gaze. But meeting Black Moon's eyes left his heart sinking.
"What is it?" He questioned.
"Black Heaven Swallowing Snake coils its body and springs into action by sniping for its prey in white heaven. However, this Black Heaven Swallowing Snake did something unexpected. It shot out of white heaven itself in search of its prey. That is an unusual reaction for a well-known docile beast."
A bad feeling rose in his chest as Black Moon continued gloomily.
"It was so intent on hunting that Remnant Heavenly Dog because that ancient desolate beast might have been the last victim of this immemorial desolate beast's feeding cycle. The immemorial desolate beast must have coiled again to digest that dog…"
Lo Jik paled.
"Oh… oh, no…" He sucked in a breath of cold air. "It's about to turn into a cloud of qi!"
This was not a pleasant situation. Lo Jik and Black Moon wouldn't be able to escape this cloud of qi because during the transformation, the dense qi path dao marks on the beast's body will also corrode them and turn them into clouds of qi! It was an absolute death trap!
"How long do we have?" Lo Jik asked after a moment of silence.
Black Moon closed her eyes and answered the next moment.
"Three minutes, according to Elder Xu Hao."
Lo Jik scoffed before chuckling softly.
"I can't believe this is how it ends…" He sent out several letter gu worms to Bai La and suddenly cut all communications with Treasure Yellow Heaven. A strange aura surrounded Lo Jik.
"You—!" Black Moon was shocked as Lo Jik straightened his back. An air of solemnity replaced the earlier feeling of self-deprecation.
Without another word, Lo Jik was covered in a massive giant of strength qi!
He punched forth with all his strength! He kicked and roared! He conjured his bow and arrow and shot them endlessly!
The air around Lo Jik turned crazed.
The gloominess in his eyes receded, leaving something Black Moon could only sum with one word—insanity!
'This guy…'
Black Moon's gaze changed. Her heart shuddered and shook off the earlier sense of defeat. She stood besides Lo Jik and also resumed her attacks. They were quiet but not the least bit defeated!
Their attacks might not even be registered by the immemorial desolate beast but they did not dare stop. Death was not defeat; it was to lose hope and give up.
Surrender?
Did they reach this stage by surrendering to their plights?
They might have retreated and submitted to dangerous circumstances but they never surrendered!
Love Gu on Lo Jik's shoulder suddenly let out a bright shine. The immense aura of rank 9 immortal gu worm exploded without any hindrances as the entire immemorial desolate beast shook and stopped!
*Boom*
A large wave of dreamy light erupted from Love Gu!
"We… lost contact." Fairy Yi and the will of other supreme elders felt their breaths hitching as they could not contact Lo Jik and Black Moon.
Bai La remained rooted in her seat as she heard that.
Just then everyone's expression changed. Hope returned to several gazes as they received crucial information.
"Their Soul Lantern and Life Tablet Gu Worms are still intact. They still aren't dead. Find where they are! There is still Love Gu! It might have protected them!"
<<<>>>
A pair of eyes observed two sleeping individuals in extreme darkness. They were none other than Lo Jik and Black Moon. 'Rank 9 Love Gu' continued to release extremely suffocating aura as the huge immemorial desolate beast did not dare move an inch for some reason.
'Love Gu… Disguise Gu… and dream path gu worms. This combination is so convenient.'
Another Lo Jik stood over the 'sleeping' couple. Rewinding time, Lo Jik started using his killer move to attack the immemorial desolate beast from the inside. In reality, he activated several dream path mortal gu worms alongside one of his most recent gains in terms of strength and dream paths.
Rank 5 Dream Strength Gu!
This strength path gu was the same as Water Strength, Fire Strength, Wind Strength, Earth Strength, and Heaven Strength. Ordinarily, it slightly increased the effects of the gu worms of the supplementary path—in this case: dream path. Also, used in tandem with Borrow Strength Gu allowed a gu master to gather dream's strength! This combination was extremely useful as Lo Jik used it for the first time in Self Dharma Killer Move not to harm immemorial desolate beast but to put Black Moon to sleep.
It wasn't that Lo Jik did not want to use dream path methods to affect this immemorial desolate beast. Unfortunately, the dao marks on such creatures were too high in number. Ordinary dream path methods will not work. Even immortal killer moves at the strength of rank 6 cultivation might not fully incapacitate such beasts! So, Lo Jik used a simpler method.
He used Disguise Gu and some illusion path gu worms to create this scene. Disguise Gu was still working hard, creating an extremely vivid scene of Love Gu releasing the aura of another immemorial desolate beast after the initial dreamy light that knocked out both Lo Jik and Black Moon. He also hid himself carefully and observed Black Moon with interest.
He had already started scheming against Black Moon the moment they were caught. Lo Jik never panicked because he had a few good solutions to deal with this scenario. The true threat lay in Love Gu Worm's unpredictability. Even now, Lo Jik was taking a huge risk in scheming against Black Moon. Earlier, they had information path alliance contract but that was only at a mortal level. Lo Jik used Self Chant to get rid of the relevant information path dao marks.
As for—why Black Moon?
She was an enigmatic and wealthy figure. Black Moon appeared out of nowhere and became the sect's fairy. There was a huge conspiracy behind Black Moon's appearance and Lo Jik wanted to know what he could gain from it. There was no malice in Lo Jik's heart for Black Moon. However, he already understood that if the chance arose, Black Moon wouldn't hesitate to steal all his secrets and wealth too.
'But I need to be careful. She was able to strike a compromise with Spirit Affinity House, who boast two rank 8 gu immortals. Her background is not small at all. I cannot leave any traces.'
He used a few killer moves to probe before realizing her soul and mind was protected by two powerful fire path immortal killer moves. It surpassed Lo Jik's expectations. He could only discover these methods because he did not use ordinary methods and relied on his human path foundation instead.
'She really has a rank 8 gu immortal backing her.' Lo Jik sucked in a breath of cold air. The excitement in his eyes, however, deepened. So what if he could not breach her mind and uncover her secrets? He still continued investigating her body and used one of his more dangerous human path killer moves.
Mortal killer move—Hopeful Sight.
As the name implied, the killer move's core was his human path investigation gu rank 5 Hopeful Sight Gu Worm. Once used, it turned the user's irides golden and allowed them to inspect the aperture of any gu master. Using Accumulation Gu, Lo Jik elevated the killer move to the effect of an immortal gu worm while also dealing with the obvious signs of use. So, his irides did not change in color.
Lo Jik focused on Black Moon's abdomen and soon viewed her blessed land!
What appeared in Lo Jik's view was a vast and open grassland with leisurely mounds and harsh sunlight. Her blessed land surpassed high-grade blessed lands in size and vitality!
'As I suspected. She also possesses a super blessed land.' Lo Jik cupped his chin. He already noticed slight irregularities once he saw her using strength path killer moves. 'But her blessed land didn't completely reach the peak of an extreme aptitude.'
'Hmm, this must be…' Lo Jik continued identifying the materials Black Moon planted and learned from her management style. He finally focused on the gu worms set on the surface of her blessed land.
'Oh, my.' Lo Jik was pleasantly surprised. 'Are those a batch of Group Strength Gu Worms? I must get the recipe from her. Hmm, these two immortal gu worms…'
His gaze shifted onto two strength path immortal gu worms.
Rank 6 Self Strength Immortal Gu Worm.
Rank 6 Strength Qi Immortal Gu Worm.
Where Lo Jik refined the two foundational gu worms of the two strength path branches into immortal gu worms, Black Moon possessed strength path immortal gu worms directly capable of elevating his Self Dharma Killer Move by several levels! But…
'They aren't truly crucial to me.'
Lo Jik continued scrutinizing Black Moon, noting how she also possessed a rank 7 fire path immortal gu worm.
'Her backer is possibly a fire path gu immortal.' Lo Jik narrowed his eyes. He stopped after feeling satisfied with his research before moving onto his next, 'primary,' objective.
Sure, he did scheme against Black Moon, but she was a happy accident. Since she was bound to lead a fourth faction in Spirit Affinity House, Lo Jik hypocritically felt that it was his right to fully understand his leader.
But…
Lo Jik slowly traveled through the giant snake's body, extremely careful the entire way until he reached his target.
It was the corpse of an ancient desolate Remnant Heavenly Dog! Half of its body was completely corroded by the dark and qi path dao marks.
'Lucky! One of them survived!'
Lo Jik moved to one location and grabbed an injured immortal gu worm on the base of the beast's tail. It was the second space path rank 6 immortal gu worm on its body.
Lo Jik brought the weak immortal gu worm towards Love Gu as it trembled under Love Gu Worm's terrifying rank 9 aura. Refining this rank 6 immortal gu worm had been the easiest for Lo Jik.
Lo Jik sent it to Old Man Desolate using the Connecting Heaven Gu connecting his human path blessed land with Immemorial Desolate Grotto-Heaven. He didn't have time to identify the injured space path immortal gu worm or even heal it. However, Old Man Desolate was more than affluent and had enough reputation in Treasure Yellow Heaven to accomplish these two objectives.
'Alas, the other rank 6 immortal gu, Space Bite, got destroyed. It was a rare space path offensive immortal gu worm.' Lo Jik shook his head and turned his attention to the ancient desolate beast. He did not move it into his blessed land and observed the beast's unborn child.
The unborn child had yet to perish. Ancient desolate beasts possessed monstrous vitality. The death of its mother did not kill the ancient desolate pup that was a few hours away from being delivered successfully. The space path dao marks on the body of the beast also protected the unborn pup.
'But I might leave clues if I take it away…' Lo Jik controlled his greed and let go of this chance. A space path immortal gu worm was already an extremely great fortune!
'Who could have thought that this calamity is a blessing in disguise?' Lo Jik smiled coldly. 'Thankfully, I came prepared for several situations.'
Lo Jik did not touch the unborn pup and returned to the snake immemorial beast's mouth region. He laid down in the same position before taking away several illusion path gu worms. However, he kept using Disguise Immortal Gu Worm to disguise Love Gu Worm's aura into that of another immemorial desolate beast.
'Now, we wait. I might also have to ditch Black Moon if things turn dangerous… but Spirit Affinity House should act quickly enough.'
Lo Jik closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
<<<>>>
A damaged white-blue rank 8 immortal gu house tore through heavenly wind qi wall before approaching a strange sight.
A humongous pitch-black snake beast stayed motionless like it was a statue. It was coiled and a portion of its tail had turned into a qi cloud. Even Fairy Yi and other gu immortal's expressions changed as they sensed something.
"Be careful. Only the presence of Immemorial Desolate Nine-Lights Heavenly Condor can scare a Black Heaven Swallowing Snake stiff! It must also be hunting for the snakes. Don't make any moves. The condor's eyesight is extremely weak inside black heaven!" Fairy Yi exclaimed as the immortal gu house dimmed and came to a stop.
It wasn't long until they resumed communication with Lo Jik, greatly surprising the group. His was quite agitated as he hurriedly explained the situation.
"Love Gu activated and momentarily knocked me and Black Moon out using some strange method. It was releasing some aura that stopped this beast but this aura is weakening! We won't last for long, elders!"
Fairy Yi and others exchanged glances before they bombarded the docile snake with several killer moves. Not only did they easily capture this immemorial desolate beast with Fairy Yi's methods, they also rescued the two gu immortals inside it.
Black Heaven Swallowing Snakes become extremely hard to detect once they turn into dark qi clouds. However, this acquisition brought the sect significant profits because they came prepared, saving a lot of cost on investigating the gu worms.
Meanwhile, other elders approached Lo Jik.
Love Gu activated again. It was of great interest for other gu immortals. They couldn't help but ask Lo Jik what Love Gu took in exchange.
To which, Lo Jik only shook his head and answered vaguely, his tone full of resentment.
"Forget about it… just, forget about it…"
He looked extremely disheartened.
***
Alternate Title: Lo Jik needs his Kyoka Suigetsu; Lo Jik's righteous desires; Bu Zhen Zi's life and death battle; Towards the two heavens; Scaring an immemorial desolate beast stiff; Lo Jik: Love Gu did everything *Love Gu: Mfer, you dare slander me?* *Genderbends Lo Jik again*; Scheming against Black Moon; Insanity is just a mask; Great benefits; Short greed ruins big plans; Getting a space path immortal gu; Heaven's Will: Take this! *Giant Sun: Did you know luck path can transform tribulations into fortunes?*; Snake that eats the dog's dawg; Puppy gone; Lo Jik casually flexing a rank 9 and rank 8 immortal gu worms; Black Moon's secrets; Black Moon's support
***
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