Three days had already passed since the battle at Xiao Zhe Manor.
For these three days, the entire Great Northwest seemed shrouded in a layer of gloom. Places once bustling had now become extremely desolate, and the major sects had all tightly sealed their mountain gates. For everyone knew that the sect heads, elders, and personal disciples of several of the Great Northwest's giants had been slaughtered by Young Lord Chiyan at Xiao Zhe Manor.
Now, these giants were like dragons without a head.
Yet, this did not lead to chaos.
After all, for a giant sect like the Hunyuan Gate, the death of one sect head still left a deputy head; the death of one elder still left many elders. The sect's situation could still be controlled.
But they could only control the sect's situation temporarily.
Now, from the sect's patriarchs down to the personal disciples, people had been killed—and those who died were all pivotal figures for their sects, the ones who connected the past to the future. Each one had been nurtured with immense effort, each one cultivated with countless resources. Now, with their deaths, not only was all that effort wasted and the losses severe, but the biggest problem was: who would inherit the sect in the future?
Of course.
For the Hunyuan Gate and the Huwei Wang Family, now was not the time to think about who would inherit the sect, but how to exact revenge!
They were giants of the Great Northwest. For the past hundred years, they had never suffered such a great humiliation. This grudge!
Must be avenged!
But how to take revenge?
Facing a Young Lord Chiyan whose identity was mysterious and unknown, whose strength was bizarrely supreme, and who killed without even blinking an eye—who would dare seek revenge?
No one dared!
Even if a sect had a hundred thousand disciples, they still wouldn't dare.
If sheer numbers were enough for revenge, then Gu Qingfeng would have long been surrounded and killed by the various sects at Xiao Zhe Manor.
They had proven with blood and life that Gu Qingfeng's existence could not be exhausted by endless waves of immortal arts and tactics.
So, should they just let it go?
No.
No one would let it go.
The Hunyuan Gate wouldn't, the Huwei Wang Family wouldn't, and the Blackwind Cave wouldn't either. They were all waiting, waiting for the Immortal Mansion, waiting for the big shots from the Immortal Mansion to return from the Immortal Dynasty.
They all knew that the Immortal Mansion's Twenty-Four Pride Immortals had all died at Gu Qingfeng's hands. The Immortal Mansion would definitely not stand idly by, and the Immortal Dynasty would never allow anyone to trample on its dignity—even if that person was the heir of Monarch Chixiao.
That was their stance.
And the people of the Changhong Branch were not idle either.
To be precise, none of the seventy or eighty Chixiao branches in the Great Northwest were idle.
Ever since the news of the Xiao Zhe Manor incident spread, it had alarmed almost all the Chixiao branches in the Great Northwest. The old Chixiao veterans overseeing each branch emerged from seclusion upon hearing the news, all wanting to know whether that Young Lord Chiyan was truly the Monarch's heir.
Unfortunately.
Gu Qingfeng was not at Xiao Zhe Manor.
As for where he had gone, no one knew.
Regarding this.
The hundreds of old Chixiao veterans led by Huo Toutuo, including Old Master Hong, could only leave for the time being. After discussion, they decided to make a trip to Heishui Mountain. Although Old Master Heishui was temporarily absent, Old Master Mei was there. And Old Master Mei's status—in his time, he was a lofty figure of the Chixiao Sect. Not to mention old banner chiefs like Huo Toutuo, even Old Master Heishui himself held him in great respect.
Huo Toutuo and the others planned to first inform the old master of this matter and, in passing, invite him out of seclusion to help verify the truth.
Even though Gu Qingfeng could play out the artistic conception of 'Wind Rising Over Great Green Mountain', condense the Chishang Seal Order, and even possessed the ability to turn to dust and revive—a skill only the old Monarch himself had.
Yet, these old Chixiao veterans still dared not be one hundred percent certain.
Even though Xuefeng, Hongwen, and other Chixiao people clearly felt their dragon spirits' immense reverence for Gu Qingfeng, they still dared not fully believe.
They had been fooled once fifty years ago.
No!
Ever since the Monarch disappeared three hundred years ago, they had lost count of how many times they'd been deceived. Those impostors were each incredibly convincing. To say nothing of others, the imposter from fifty years ago, Gu Tiansheng, who claimed to be the Monarch's descendant, was still vivid in their minds.
He claimed to be the Monarch's descendant, born from the Monarch and Lady Bihai.
Perhaps he couldn't play the artistic conception of 'Wind Rising Over Great Green Mountain', nor did he have the ability to revive from death, but he could also condense the Chishang Seal Order. The key was he even possessed the Monarch's token. To verify the truth, Old Master Heishui personally made a trip to the Bihai.
And the result? In the end, it was still fake. Not only was he not the Monarch's descendant, he wasn't even Lady Bihai's descendant. He wasn't from the Bihai side at all. The Bihai Old Master Heishui went to see was completely an illusory mirage. What was even more crushing was that the person wasn't even a man, but a woman!
The imposter's methods were undeniably masterful.
They had deceived nearly a thousand Chixiao people in the Great Northwest, leaving them scarred and battered, especially Old Master Heishui, who was so enraged that he was still searching the world for that imposter Gu Tiansheng.
Though deceived time and again, every time they encountered someone claiming to be the Monarch's descendant or heir, the old Chixiao veterans would still grow excited, still feel exhilarated.
Because they could not let go of that Chixiao Monarch who once led them to destroy the Immortal Dynasty, behead the Immortal River, dominate the Nine Heavens, and defy the Nine Skies.
And they could neither believe nor accept the fact that the Chixiao Monarch had been judged and turned to dust.
They were all here.
Waiting for news of the Chixiao Monarch.
Even if the Chixiao Monarch was truly dead, with no chance of reincarnation, just being able to wait for his descendant, his heir, would be worth it for the old Chixiao veterans of the Chixiao Sect.
...
This noon.
The sun blazed fiercely.
Within the void, above the clouds, as if beyond the Nine Heavens.
Boom!—Crack!
Rolling heavenly thunder continuously exploded, the vast heavenly might shaking the Nine Heavens incessantly.
Fierce astral winds howled forth, tearing at the void like primordial behemoths.
This was a forbidden zone.
The Forbidden Zone of Heaven.
Also hailed as the Nine Heavens.
A forbidden zone that ordinary people, even Immortals, dared not approach casually. No one was unafraid of the Heavens' imposing might, nor could anyone withstand the astral winds of the Nine Heavens. This heavenly might could suppress all souls; these astral winds could turn one to dust in an instant.
Yet.
At this very moment.
There was a person sitting cross-legged in the void beyond the Nine Heavens.
No matter how vast the heavenly might, no matter how fierce the astral winds, they seemed unable to budge him in the slightest.
That was a white-robed man with cold, handsome features, his three thousand black hairs dancing wildly in the astral winds, yet he remained unmoved.
It was Gu Qingfeng.
He was weak.
Weak not in body, but in essence, energy, and spirit.
Ever since awakening in this world, he had been extremely weak. Though he recovered daily, and the recovery speed wasn't slow, his spirit remained very weak. The reason was simple: the recovery speed simply couldn't keep up with the consumption rate.
His soul was that of the Avici Endless Evil Asura.
This thing consumed his essence, energy, and spirit incessantly.
Besides that, there was also the Nature's Myriad Colors Seed within his Purple Palace, that Tear of the Lonely Star, the evil heart he had condensed, and the seized Great Sun Tathagata Wrath Incarnation. These mysterious existences, like his soul, also consumed his spirit without pause.