The stone lotus island ambush that Fang Yuan planned had already ended.

A grand light filled Heavenly Court, but in Central Great Hall, the atmosphere was grim.

“At the crucial moment, Gu Liu Ru blocked Myriad Year Flying Warship while risking his life, I managed to live because of him.” Nine Spiritual Fairy said this as she coughed blood again.

Tears were in her eyes, the scene of Gu Liu Ru defending them with his life surfaced in her mind again.

Nine Spiritual Fairy had a beautiful face, she liked to wear a long robe and wave her sleeves around, she had a graceful aura but now, she was covered in blood, wounds were all over her body, her sleeves were cut and dangling. Nine Spiritual Fairy’s thin body was completely fragile at this moment, covered in this large robe.

In this battle in the River of Time, Heavenly Court had the absolute advantage at the start, but later, they lost completely, the six Immortal Gu Houses were destroyed, only two Gu Immortals, Nine Spiritual Fairy and Feng Jiu Ge, managed to escape.

Feng Jiu Ge was in the hall too, he lost his cool demeanor at this moment, his eyes turned dim as they lost their light, he showed an expression of loss and perplexity.

Fairy Zi Wei sighed to herself, she instructed them to go recuperate.

She learned of the result of this battle already, she called for Nine Spiritual Fairy so that she could gain more information about the minor details.

“To think that Fang Yuan obtained the stone lotus island long ago, how did he do it? We did not sense it at all.” Fairy Zi Wei deduced quietly, she could not find any answer.

Because of this, Heavenly Court lost this battle completely, they fell into Fang Yuan’s planned trap, their losses were severe.

Duke Long smiled bitterly: “The truth is, we had guessed that Fang Yuan might have a Red Lotus true inheritance already. But in the previous battle, Myriad Year Flying Warship was forced to escape from us, it was useless even if they tried to make use of the River of Time’s dangerous terrain. Now it seems that Fang Yuan had purposely did that so as to lure our attention, he wanted to fight for Dragon Palace and also to prepare for this battle, to make us underestimate him. This is truly a devious and scheming demon!”

“Then, when did Fang Yuan obtain Red Lotus’ true inheritance? So be it if he got it recently, but if he obtained this stone lotus island long ago, that would be a very scary situation.” Fairy Zi Wei thought about it as she felt a chill down her spine.

Right now, Heavenly Court was facing a difficult situation.

However, no matter how tough the situation was, Heavenly Court had to face it directly, they could not try to dodge it.

Duke Long said solemnly: “Even if Fang Yuan obtained one Red Lotus true inheritance and gained Twelve Zodiac battle formation from it, we need to continue putting our forces into the River of Time!”

This was only natural.

There was more than one Red Lotus true inheritance, if Fang Yuan obtained a second or third one, he would become even scarier.

From Heavenly Court’s perspective, the River of Time was an important area they had to guard, Red Lotus true inheritance was something they had to obtain. This situation might only change after they successfully repair fate Gu, but now, Heavenly Court had to start all over again, after losing six Immortal Gu Houses, they would have to build six, or even ten more!

Fairy Zi Wei nodded slowly, she had a serious expression, she shared the same opinion as Duke Long on this matter.

“But…” Fairy Zi Wei showed a look of difficulty.

There were problems in this too.

If they wanted to send more time path battle strength into the River of Time, the best method was to send time path Gu Immortals.

But because of Red Lotus Demon Venerable, Heavenly Court’s foundation in time path Gu Immortals was very weak.

Without any time path great experts, they could only make up for it using time path Immortal Gu Houses.

Heavenly Court lost six time path Immortal Gu Houses, the losses were too severe, they needed to rebuild these houses and needed a large number of time path Immortal Gu for them.

Even though Nine Spiritual Fairy and Feng Jiu Ge were still alive, they did not bring back many Immortal Gu.

Heavenly Court needed to refine many time path Immortal Gu to rebuild their Immortal Gu Houses.

And in this aspect, Gu refinement immortal materials were not a problem.

Heavenly Court had an immensely deep foundation of over millions of years, it was not for show. Heavenly Court’s three million years worth of accumulation was split into three treasuries of ‘early, middle, late’. Each one represented a million years of foundation, they had placed all of their gains in that time period into the respective inventories.

Any one of these million years treasury had more things in it than any of the ten great ancient sects.

In order to refine rank eight fortune rivalling heaven Gu, Old Ancestor Xue Hu went bankrupt. Even with Fang Yuan’s current foundation, he did not dare to refine rank eight Immortal Gu. When normal super forces try to refine a rank eight Immortal Gu, they would expend a good deal of their foundation. But for Heavenly Court, not just one, even if they refined ten of them, their foundation would not be shaken.

Heavenly Court did not lack immortal materials at all, they lacked refinement path great experts.

Yuan Qiong Du was a refinement path expert, he had been in charge of repairing fate Gu. But asking him to refine time path Immortal Gu on top of this was just too much for him.

He was just one person, he had limited time and energy.

“If one or two refinement path experts could wake up in the immortal graveyard, it would be great.” Fairy Zi Wei thought to herself, regrettably, the immortal graveyard was not subject to external influence, she could not wake up any Gu Immortal she wanted.

Duke Long also noticed this problem, he thought about it and said: “Then rally the ten great ancient sects, we can even unify the refinement path Gu Immortals of other sects and send them all here, get them to work together and refine time path Immortal Gu.”

Fairy Zi Wei nodded, Yuan Qiong Du had important matters to do, he was in charge of repairing fate Gu, Heavenly Court had to do this now to deal with the current problem.

Fairy Zi Wei sighed internally: “If we had succeeded in invading Lang Ya Sect and taken control of it, that would be great. This would not be a problem for us now, it was a pity that Lang Ya Sect ended up in Fang Yuan’s hands.”

Heavenly Court had lost that great first step and now, they were facing problems because of it. In contrast, by using his refinement path advantage, Fang Yuan was giving problems to Heavenly Court now. Yuan Qiong Du could feel this most deeply.

Fairy Zi Wei and Duke Long had grim emotions.

Fang Yuan’s victory in the River of Time was a devastating blow to Heavenly Court.

But the River of Time was just one aspect, Heavenly Court’s overall situation was worsening.

In Northern Plains, Longevity Heaven had been trying to unify and gather the whole strength of Northern Plains’ Gu Immortal world.

In Western Desert, Fang Di Chang refined Divine Bean Palace and was bringing Fang clan to rise up as the leader.

In Southern Border, even though Wu Yong was close to Heavenly Court, Beacon Towers were being built everywhere, it was becoming a problem for Heavenly Court.

As for Eastern Sea…

“According to our newest information, Qi Sea Ancestor defeated Zhang Yin using a single move, Zhang Yin is a famous Eastern Sea rank eight lone immortal, but he could not fight back at all. Qi Sea Ancestor’s battle strength is very terrifying, after this battle, his reputation soared, even more Eastern Sea Gu Immortals attend his banquet now.” Fairy Zi Wei showed a worried look.

Duke Long nodded: “Even for me, achieving this would not be easy. It seems that Qi Sea Ancestor has gotten stronger, according to his words, his battle strength rose after comprehending Primordial Origin true inheritance.”

After defeating Zhang Yin, Fang Yuan declared frankly to the Eastern Sea immortals: His battle strength had risen once again, it was because he obtained Primordial Origin’s qi path true inheritance from Heavenly Court.

Duke Long continued to speak: “Since Qi Sea Ancestor said that, it shows that he is close to Heavenly Court, but still wants to remain as a neutral party. This person can be swayed towards us.”

Qi Sea Ancestor had stayed in seclusion for so long even though he had strength that rivaled Duke Long, it showed that he had no ambitions to begin with.

Even if he had ambitions now, he was definitely more attracted to Heavenly Court, which had the complete true inheritance of Primordial Origin.

As Qi Sea Ancestor stayed as a neutral party, Duke Long and Fairy Zi Wei became more assured of his stand.

It was not just Qi Sea Ancestor’s personality, but also his lifespan that affected their judgment.

Lifespan was the biggest element that restricted a Gu Immortal great expert.

Qi Sea Ancestor looked like someone who was going to die soon, after all, using lifespan Gu would allow one to regain their youthful appearance.

He was so old already, he likely used many lifespan extension methods. These methods all had flaws, they would make lifespan Gu ineffective.

Duke Long did not have much longer to live, but he believed that Qi Sea Ancestor was in a similar state.

Fairy Zi Wei suddenly said: “Since Qi Sea Ancestor said that, we can send Gu Immortals to openly attend his banquet. Even if we did not receive his invitation, now that the entire world knows that Qi Sea Ancestor took our inheritance, even if we suggest a transaction, he cannot reject our visit.”

Duke Long agreed with this suggestion, even if it failed, they would successfully probe Qi Sea Ancestor.

Right now, the regions’ changes were not good for Heavenly Court, only Eastern Sea was relatively calmer. Heavenly Court wanted to make use of this, to ensure that at least Eastern Sea’s forces were on neutral terms with them.

Eastern Sea, above qi sea.

Ever since Fang Yuan defeated Zhang Yin, the number of people visiting this place had increased, the number of people attending his banquet multiplied rapidly.

The Gu Immortals who came would first go to pay respects to Qi Sea Ancestor, to take a look at this number one Eastern Sea Gu Immortal.

Qi Sea Ancestor and Duke Long’s battle was already known to all five regions. After defeating Zhang Yin, Qi Sea Ancestor became recognized as the number one Eastern Sea expert, nobody doubted him anymore.

The entire world was deceived by Fang Yuan.

Zhang Yin was one of the Four Dragon Generals, he cooperated with Fang Yuan and because of the immortal formation under qi sea, Qi Sea Ancestor’s attack showed an incredibly powerful aura.

Nobody knew that Zhang Yin was under control, even Duke Long did not know of Dream Token. In the previous life, he only found out the secret of the Four Dragon Generals after obtaining Dragon Palace by force.

Nobody guessed that Qi Sea Ancestor and Fang Yuan were the same person. After all, Fang Yuan only had rank seven cultivation level while Qi Sea Ancestor was a genuine rank eight. Fang Yuan tried to conceal the secret of the sovereign immortal aperture to the best of his ability, he gave up some short term benefits and obtained a much greater reward for it at this moment.

Xie Bao Shu arrived.

He was handsome and had a warm aura, he looked like a graceful young master, he was a famous lone cultivator in Eastern Sea. He had a unique method of nurturing vicissitude trees, he was once a major seller of year Gu, but Fang Yuan ruined that business. In the previous life, he had worked with You Xian Zi to snatch the moonlight mushrooms of Fairy Yue Hua.

Zui Xian Weng came too.

He was a rarely seen food path Gu Immortal, he was also the owner of Eastern Sea’s wine sea. He had a collection of countless wines, he held a wine reception every year. This time, he brought a thousand jars of top tier wines and gave them to Qi Sea Ancestor as a gift.

Seven Seas Snake Woman arrived.

This was a beautiful but dangerous woman, she was very ruthless in her actions. Even though she was a lone immortal, she owned seven sea areas, this showed her strength. At the same time, she was one of the six beauties of Eastern Sea’s Gu Immortal world, on par with Song Yi Shi.

Great Treasury Immortal arrived too.

This person cultivated information path, he was dressed in a gentlemanly attire, he had long sleeves that fluttered in the wind. In the previous life, he invaded Central Continent too, he stole Mi Lan Guang’s rank seven immortal material electrolytic iron starflower.

The qi sea banquet caused a storm in Eastern Sea’s Gu Immortal world, all sorts of people showed up one after another.

Among them, there were more lone immortals than righteous path immortals.

Eastern Sea had more lone immortals than the other four regions to begin with, and they had the most abundant resources. At the same time, the righteous path had a lot of territory that needed guarding, lone immortals could move more freely than them.

“I, Central Continent Gu Immortal Jun Shen Guang, bring a gift to meet Qi Sea Ancestor, please forgive my intrusion without an invitation.” Heavenly Court’s rank eight Gu Immortal Jun Shen Guang arrived.

The banquet became silent, countless gazes looked towards Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan smiled and laughed in a light tone: “An esteemed guest has arrived, what forgiveness do you speak of? The sea is wide and draws in all tributaries linked to it, my Eastern Sea is the same, how can we not have this bit of tolerance? Please take a seat.”

Fang Yuan waved his sleeve, a seat was formed again. Even though it was located at a good position, it was below the Eastern Sea rank eight Gu Immortals’ seats.

Seeing this, the Eastern Sea Gu Immortals’ expressions relaxed.

Eastern Sea was the most tolerant towards other regions’ Gu Immortals compared to the rest of the five regions, but they still had some sort of exclusion.

Fang Yuan had already expected Central Continent’s Gu Immortals to come here.

The truth was, he had been waiting for Heavenly Court’s envoy to come here.

Fang Yuan looked around, he saw that almost everyone was here, he started to speak: “Everyone, I have something to say.”

The place became silent again, everyone held their breaths, waiting for Fang Yuan’s speech.

Jun Shen Guang saw this and became internally shocked: Qi Sea Ancestor had only appeared for such a short time but his reputation in Eastern Sea had already reached this stage!

Nobody dared to ignore a single sentence from Qi Sea Ancestor, in fact not a single phrase, or a single word.

Fang Yuan did not say a lot of things but he expressed his own political views — peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding, uphold justice and resolve conflicts.

Finally, he said: “This banquet is not to simply gather everyone here, it is also a transaction event, an auction and also a battle stage. If anyone has conflict, you can engage in a duel to resolve it, I can be the judge here with all the Eastern Sea friends witnessing it. If anyone needs resources or has anything to sell, you can step up and state your requests. Every year from now on, at this time period, I will hold qi sea banquets. Of course, I will not charge any transaction fees.”

“Ancestor is wise.”

“Ancestor is impartial and magnanimous, we are in deep admiration.”

Eastern Sea’s immortals quickly praised.

Jun Shen Guang shook internally: Qi Sea Ancestor is using this move to increase his influence over Eastern Sea’s Gu Immortal world. Great strength would lead to admiration while great benefits would lead to influence and power.

Furthermore, he was going to hold qi sea banquets every year!

Jun Shen Guang could predict the qi sea banquets would get larger and larger, they would involve the entire Eastern Sea Gu Immortal world. When the five regions merge, Gu Immortals from the other regions would even come over, in time, Qi Sea Ancestor’s influence would not just affect Eastern Sea but the entire five regions!