Yan Fang staggered through the wasteland, his figure a grotesque silhouette against the charred earth.
His left arm was gone, leaving only a burned stump where flesh and bone had once thrived. His remaining hand instinctively hovered over the wound, but all it met was scorched skin.
His reserves of essence were long depleted, rendering him incapable of activating any healing Gu. Even if he had the essence, the oppressive earth Qi in his wound would have made them useless.
He arrived at a hole in the ground. Inside were his master and Ning Zu, or what was left of them. Peering down, Yan Fang's gaze fell upon Ning Zu's lifeless body, burned to a crisp, no sign of vitality lingered.
Before him, burned tentacles writhed weakly, their regeneration painfully slow.
Eyes embedded in the tentacles remained closed, and something within them struggled to break free.
Without hesitation, Yan Fang leaped into the pit, his one hand tearing at the fragile tentacles.
They were now very fragile, sapped by Ning Zu's relentless assault and his own deadly killer move.
From within the tentacles, a human figure emerged: It was the elder, though his lower body was grotesquely fused with the tentacles, as if they had become a single entity.
Yan Fang froze, his breath catching as tears welled in his eyes. Forcing them back, he reached for the elder, desperately trying to free him from the parasite.
But the tentacles clung stubbornly, refusing to release their hold. The elder's voice, barely more than a whisper, broke the silence.
"Yan Fang…" His tone was faint yet warm, carrying the weight of a man on deaths door.
Yan Fang couldn't hold his tears any longer. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry. I-I wanted to save you. I wanted to save the village. But I was too weak." His voice cracked, and grief overtook him.
The elder placed a trembling hand on Yan Fang's head, his touch gentle. "You've done well… my son." A weak smile formed on the elder's face, looking happy despite what happened.
Yan Fang sobbed uncontrollably, his sorrow a storm raging within his chest, he knew that the elder had no off springs, so his words ment a lot to him.
The elder's hand moved to Yan Fang's cheek, wiping away his tears with the last of his strength.
Then, without warning, the elder's fingers plunged into Yan Fang's eye socket.
A scream died in Yan Fang's throat as the elder gripped a portion of his skull and tore out a chunk, exposing his brain.
Yan Fang fell lifelessly to the ground, his expression frozen in a mix of confusion and sadness. The elder discarded the grotesque fragment of his brain to the ground.
From Yan Fang's body, an energy surged forth, entering the elder's chest and coalescing into a pink spider-like Gu with four legs and three eyes on its back: one green, one red, and one white.
The elder picked up the Gu and allowed it to enter his aperture.
It was the Affectionate Gu.
With a grim resolve, he turned his attention back to the tentacles. Though weak, they writhed desperately, unwilling to surrender.
But their resistance was futile. The elder's skin turned green as he absorbed the parasites, one by one, in their weakened state, they could not resist. As he fully integrated them into his body, his skin slowly returned to its normal hue.
Panting slightly, the elder muttered to himself. "They are no longer Gu… they've become something else. A lifeform of their own. Incomplete, but alive. I'll need to deal with this soon…."
His aperture hummed with renewed life as it returned to normal, essence circulating freely once more.
Turning toward Ning Zu's scorched body, the elder used his Gu to summon a bubble of water.
The bubble multiplied, the duplicates merging until a large, singular sphere enveloped Ning Zu, his burned skin dissolved slowly within the healing liquid, revealing patches of new, healthy flesh beneath.
The process was agonizingly slow, hindered by the earth Qi that clung stubbornly to Ning Zu's body.
But just as progress became somewhat noticeable, a barrage of strings tore through the air, forcing the elder to leap back.
A figure stepped into the sunlight. A zombie, its purple eyes glowing, stood with strings coiled around its hands. In a raspy voice, it spoke. "Where is my disciple?"
The elder narrowed his eyes. "Who?"
The zombie's voice dropped, cold and threatening. "Xiong Wei Xu, where is he?! I won't ask again."
The elder's expression softened with realization. "Oh, that brat, he's probably dead."
The zombie's fury ignited, strings shooting forward to bind the elder. Yet the elder's skin turned green once more, an eye opening on his forehead.
Its yellow pupil locked onto the zombie, and with a flash, the zombie's connection to its aperture severed. The elder's aperture was sealed too, explaining his earlier reliance on the parasite rather than his Gu.
The elder attacked, summoning his tentacles that merged into a massive hand that swung toward the zombie.
Though stripped of its Gu, the zombie countered, catching the blow with its rotting hands. Flesh peeled away, revealing raw tissue beneath.
But before either could strike again, the zombie froze. A voice spoke in its mind, and a pink will emerged from its forehead, taking the form of a small fox.
The elder's body suddenly stiffened, his movements halting, not believing what he was seeing.
A lotus mark appeared on his forehead, and his soul was ejected from his body.
It was Ning Zu!
Before Yan Fang's killer move had struck, Ning Zu had used the Soul Lotus Gu to transfer his soul into the elder's body, allowing him to survive by using the parasite as a shield.
Ning Zu approached the pink will and embraced it gently. The zombie, stunned and trembling, whispered, "Master…?"
The pink will didn't resist. It returned the hug with its tiny hands, sending him information of what it has seen these past few years.
Now fragile and weak, Ning Zu guided the will to the bubble of water, letting it sink into Ning Zu's original body.
He looked at the zombie, dropping the act of being the elder, "So, Meng Yan's will somehow survived till now."
The zombie, overwhelmed by disbelief, muttered, "You… knew my master?"
Ning Zu nodded. "I did."
Without another word, Ning Zu closed the eye on his forehead and returning to his normal form, before changing bodies using the Blue Lotus Gu.
His body was finally restored, the bubble broke, as Ning Zu stood completely drenched in water.
He then took out the Bloothorn Monarch Gu from his aperture.
The Bloothorn Monarch Gu was a remarkable creation, refined by Ning Zu not long ago.
It had the ability to extract blood from living beings, its sharp needle sucking it from them. When it had enough blood, it could imprint a tattoo directly onto the user's skin.
The mark was more than decorative, it was imprinting Dao marks on the user's body.
However, the process was incredibly demanding. To form the equivalent of a single Dao mark, the Gu required nearly a billion literes of blood. The higher the quality of the blood, the less was needed, but even then, the price was staggering.
Initially, Ning Zu had intended to use the Bloothorn Monarch Gu to acquire blood path Dao marks. His goal was to claim a Blood Ancestor inheritance, one that only those with blood path Dao marks could access.
However, the chaos of recent events had upended his plans. Now paired with the Blood Skull Gu and the Hatred Gu, the Gu served a different purpose.
Once he activated the Gu, it hovered before him, before going to the elder's body's its needle piercing his skin. A surge of crimson light enveloped it as it drained every drop of his blood, leaving his body gaunt and pale as if he had starved for years.
The Gu then moved to Yan Fang's lifeless corpse, drawing the blood from his body as well, leaving him a desiccated shell.
When that finished, the Gu returned to Ning Zu.
"You," Ning Zu said, his voice calm but commanding as he addressed the zombie. "I need you to do something for me."
The zombie didn't understand anything of what was happening, but he had no choice but to oblige.
———
High in the canopy of a grand tree, an old man sat in a modest wooden cabinet, worn and weathered by time.
He looked as though a light breeze could take him to his grave. Despite the chaos unfolding within the Xiong clan, he remained unbothered, his demeanor calm and detached.
The faint creak of the door broke the stillness, and his clouded eyes opened as a figure stepped into the cabinet.
"Ah, Zi Rui," the old man said with a rasp, a faint smile tugging at his lips. "It's unexpected to see you here. Tell me, where is my favorite grandchild, hmm?"
Ning Zu stood before him, his expression unreadable, his face devoid of any warmth.
"Gramps," he replied flatly, "Chu Er is sleeping now. She can't meet you."
The old man sighed deeply, his frail chest rising and falling with the effort. With slow movements, he stood up and reached into a small box, retrieving a jar of liquor.
"You know," he began, his voice tinged with melancholy, "I've always known you weren't truly my grandchild. My only grandchild is Chu Er. You? Heh… You shouldn't even exist. No one can bring back the dead—not even those so called immortals."
He returned to his chair, settling into it as if it might be the last time. Lifting the jar, he drank directly from it, savoring the sharp bitterness. His gaze drifted back to Ning Zu, who hadn't moved.
"Well," the old man said after a long pause, his voice resigned, "it seems my time has come. But could you at least let me finish this liquor first?"
Ning Zu approached without a word, he reached for the jar, taking it from the old man's hands and downing the entire contents in a single gulp. The liquor burned as it went down, but Ning Zu's face betrayed no discomfort.
The old man observed him with an expression that wasn't that of surprise, but pity.
His tired eyes softened as he spoke again. "You're walking a path that will drive you insane, little man. It might not seem like it, but I've lived a long life. I can see these things."
Ning Zu didn't respond, his focus already elsewhere. He pulled out the Bloodthorn Monarch Gu, its dark, sinister form gleaming faintly in the light. The old man's lips curled into a faint smile as he closed his eyes, surrendering to fate.
"Do what you must," he whispered.
The Gu activated, its needle piercing the old man's skin. In mere moments, every drop of blood was drained from his body, leaving him a lifeless husk.
But he was still smiling, looking like was satisfied with his life.
Ning Zu remained unmoved, signaling the Gu to leave and find Chu Er.
The Gu, with the help of the blood skull Gu and the hatred Gu, added with the blood of close relatives and two Gu masters, she wouldn't be a C grade talent any longer.
He was certain that with the Gu's help, Chu Er's talent would soar. She would gain the Great Strength True Martial, just as he had.
With his task complete, Ning Zu gently lifted the old man's corpse and carried him outside.
He dug a grave beneath the tree, the soil soft and yielding under his hands. Lowering the body into the ground, he buried him with care but no visible emotion.
The grave marked the end of one chapter, but Ning Zu's path was far from over. Stepping back, he activated the Burning Wings Gu.
Flames licked at the air as he ascended, his destination clear.
The Bai clan were next.