The thirty-fifth year of the Yuan Fang Blessed Land.
The war between Western Cloud Continent and Central Continent suddenly broke out. On the Cloud Continent side, an army of fifty thousand, personally led by the Cloud Palace Master and Feathered Men Saint King Yu An, was advancing toward Central Continent, blotting out the sky and sun.
At this time, Gu Yue Fuqi was in secluded cultivation, putting all his effort into refining a Rank Five Gu—Self-Image.
This was a Gu worm he had spent immense effort to deduce; once refined, he could use it to charge toward rank six, breaking the barrier between Immortal and mortal.
Yuan Fang, however, was unwilling to let him achieve Immortal Ascension so smoothly. After all, he himself had only just stepped into rank six; if Gu Yue Fuqi became another Immortal, it would undoubtedly obstruct his path of Human Dao cultivation.
Thus, Yuan Fang secretly activated the immortal gu, causing Yu An to fall into a strange dream.
In the dream, the Human Emperor of Central Continent, Gu Yue Fuqi, possessed the supreme method for Immortal Ascension. After Yu An woke up startled, he immediately took out a Rank Five Divination Gu to verify the truth of the dream with Ma Hong Yun of the Heavenly Palace.
Ma Hong Yun only scribbled a messy "Yes" on the Gu letter, so sloppy it looked like ghost talismans.
Seeing this, Yu An was overjoyed and immediately mobilized his troops for the expedition. In the Yuan Fang Blessed Land, people called the Remonstrance Gu "Divination Gu," the Submission Gu "Fortune-Telling Gu," and the Memorial Gu "Heavenly Inquiry Gu."
News of the approaching army soon reached Gu Yue Fuqi's ears. He immediately activated the Heavenly Inquiry Gu to send a memorial to Ma Hong Yun at the Heavenly Palace:
"Yu An leads an army without cause to invade the Divine Land; does this accord with heavenly principles? Will my elite forces be victorious upon meeting the enemy? In this struggle between two armies, is it fortune or woe?"
After Ma Hong Yun finished reading the memorial, he covered his mouth with a chuckle, dipped his brush in some ink from the inkstone, doodled randomly, and sent it back.
Receiving this ambiguous reply, Gu Yue Fuqi hurried to the old Clan Chief of the Basalt Rock Clan, asking Yan Xuanwu to interpret the hexagram for him.
Xuanwu Wudao stroked his snow-white beard that hung down to his abdomen—he was a nine-hundred-year-old elder with profound eyes:
"Purple Qi comes from the West, and many heroes emerge. This is an omen of calamity."
After hearing this, Gu Yue Fuqi let out a long sigh and immediately ordered the entire populace to build high walls, stockpile provisions, and mobilize the army for war, ready to repel the enemy at any time.
The dark clouds of war made people feel suffocated. Amidst the public panic, an extraordinary Rank Three youth came to join the army. Gu Yue Fuqi did not pay him much mind; in his view, a Rank Three Gu Master could not possibly influence the tide of battle.
But when the battle truly began, the sky was suddenly obscured by a massive shadow. Everyone looked up to see thousands upon thousands of Rank Three Blade Wing Blood Bats forming a dense swarm.
Under the exquisite coordination of the Blood Bat army's Formation, the battle situation was instantly reversed.
That bat swarm Formation was mysterious and profound, and there was even a handsome youth in black standing within the Formation. His black hair reached his waist, his face was cold and pale, his nose bridge was high, but his eyes were red as blood, exuding a demonic nature and the boiling blood energy of a youth.
The youth activated another Killer Move, and between hundreds of Blade Wing Blood Bats, a blood-colored silk thread—almost invisible but incomparably sharp—suddenly emerged.
Any Feathered Men warrior who touched this thread would be instantly sliced in half.
"What Killer Move is this? So incredibly powerful!" Gu Yue Fuqi asked in shock.
The youth gave a light laugh and said loudly, "This is my unique skill—the 'Linked Blood Bats' Killer Move!"
Under the devastation of this Killer Move, the Feathered Men army collapsed and fled in disarray. Gu Yue Fuqi took the opportunity to lead his army in pursuit, and Yu An could only lead his remnants back to Western Cloud Continent in disgrace.
In the Heavenly Palace, Yuan Fang was sitting on his throne sipping fragrant tea, relaxed and content. Just then, Ma Hong Yun rushed into the hall and reported urgently:
"Master! This is bad! Yu An has been defeated. An unknown powerhouse has appeared in Central Continent, defying destiny!"
Hearing this, Yuan Fang was also slightly surprised. Before the war started, he had specifically allowed the Cloud Palace to obtain a new Legacy; logically, the Cloud Palace shouldn't have lost so easily...
He immediately activated the Heavenly Eye Gu to look, only to see that handsome youth in black standing in the center of the battlefield, blood energy surging around him.
"Hmm, this youth needs focused attention; he might be a variable," Yuan Fang instructed indifferently.
Ma Hong Yun, however, leaned in with a cheeky grin:
"Master, can you ask Miss Yun to accompany me for a few days? I haven't seen her for three days."
Yuan Fang smiled and shook his head. "Of course, but not today. Lian Yun has gone out for training. Once you Breakthrough to Rank Five, I will let her accompany you to North Darkness Mermaid Continent for training together."
Meanwhile, Gu Yue Fuqi's army was returning in triumph. Just as they returned to the imperial palace hall, he immediately issued an edict, appointing the youth as a Feather Forest Brave Guard, commanding five hundred Feather Forest Braves, specifically tasked with guarding the palace.
In the hall, Gu Yue Fuqi looked at the youth and asked warmly, "Young man, what is your name? Where is your hometown?"
A faint smile curled on the youth's lips. "My name is Jiang Xiaobai, from Jiang Family Village in Western Cloud Continent."
"Jiang Xiaobai? Jiang Family Village?" Gu Yue Fuqi showed concern. "Should I send someone to bring your family over?"
Jiang Xiaobai slowly shook his head. The expression on his face was neither sorrowful nor joyful, and his voice carried a hint of raspiness:
"My parents, family, neighbors... everyone in the entire village died three years ago. Not a single person survived."
Hearing this, Gu Yue Fuqi was first stunned, then let out a heavy sigh, thinking to himself: Truly a child of misfortune.
He said solemnly, "Who was the culprit? I shall avenge you right now."
A cruel smile appeared on Jiang Xiaobai's face, his eyes flashing with excitement and bloodthirsty red light, yet his tone was as relaxed as if he were speaking of something mundane:
"I killed them all. I refined my parents' flesh and blood into Rank One Blood Scent Gu, stripped my younger sister's skin, and refined her into a Blood Puppet Corpse. As for those ant-like villagers, I used them all to feed the Blade Wing Blood Bats."
At this point, he let out another mock sigh of regret:
"What a pity, what a pity. The village was too small, there were too few people, it wasn't nearly enough to eat... Sigh."
Gu Yue Fuqi felt as if struck by lightning, his entire body freezing. Only at this moment did he fully understand that the handsome youth before him was an out-and-out little Blood Path Devil Head.
But a complex surge of sympathy also rose in his heart—in the wild lands outside Central Continent, the Human Race suffered much bullying. For the sake of power, sacrificing family, friendship, and love was already a common occurrence.
The Human Emperor's young daughter, Ancient Moon Deep Love, listened to these words. Her face showed no disgust; instead, a hint of pity emerged:
"This youth must have suffered so much... Sigh, when will these chaotic times ever find peace?"
Just as her voice fell, the entire world shook violently, as if heaven and earth were protesting her naive thoughts.
But the vibration soon subsided. No one knew that this was Yuan Fang annexing another Blessed Land.
Just a moment ago, he had assisted Gu Yue Dongtu in achieving immortality, then immediately turned around and killed him, incorporating the entire Blessed Land into his own territory.
In an instant, the territory of Yuan Fang Blessed Land surged by six million mu, and the Human Dao dao marks also became increasingly heavy and profound.
This newly born world was named East Sun Tai Continent by Yuan Fang. Its territory spanned over one thousand four hundred and seventy lines, inhabited by ten ethnic groups, each with a population of one hundred thousand.
(Ancient Moon Deep Love:???)
As soon as East Sun Tai Continent appeared, it fell into continuous war. People with nowhere to go were forced to cross the sea to find a new way to live.
After these exiles arrived at North Darkness Mermaid Continent and Central Continent, they quickly turned from refugees into pirates, burning, killing, and looting along the coast, committing every evil.
Gu Yue Fuqi originally intended to dispatch the Merfolk warrior Dongfang Chenlin to quell the chaos, but Jiang Xiaobai stepped forward first and bowed:
"Great King! When I think of the coastal people trapped in fire and water, I cannot eat or rest! Please send me alone to quell the chaos; I will not fail your trust!"
Gu Yue Fuqi chuckled inwardly:
What "cannot rest"? Clearly, your Gu worms are hungry. This kid joined him simply to use the war to feed his Gu worms.
After all, the population in this world was sparse, and Jiang Xiaobai did not dare to challenge a major power like the Cloud Palace head-on.
"Very well, better that outsiders die than our own." After weighing it for a moment, Gu Yue Fuqi granted Jiang Xiaobai's request.
But he also kept a trick up his sleeve—he dared not let Jiang Xiaobai go alone, fearing this devil would lose himself in the killing and slaughter his own people as well.
Thus, Gu Yue Fuqi dispatched two more Rank Three Gu Masters: one named Mo Da, a lean Inkman; the other named Yan Er, a thick-skinned Stone Man.
No one expected Ancient Moon Deep Love to insist on going along as well. Gu Yue Fuqi was helpless and eventually gave in to her, nodding his consent.
The four of them rode a Rank Three Treasure Artifact, the Brass Toad, followed by six Big-Stomach Horses, galloping all the way to the seaside.
When they reached the coast, traces of pirates were already visible. Without a word, Jiang Xiaobai directly activated his Earth Fiend Blood Bat army, slaughtering over eighty pirates in the blink of an eye.
"Not enough to eat! Not enough to eat! Too few!" Jiang Xiaobai looked at the corpses covering the ground, the red light in his eyes growing stronger. These few "rations" were clearly not enough to satisfy the bat swarm under his command.
Thus, he simply decided to take the initiative, grandly declaring: "If the bandits can go, so can I!"
In the following days, he sailed his ship along the coast day and night, killing everyone he saw. Those he couldn't see, he killed; those he couldn't see clearly, he killed; those he didn't like, he killed; those he did like, he also killed. He killed the tall, the short, the fat, the thin, the beautiful, and the ugly...
"Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Die! All of you, die! Hahaha! If you don't die, my Gu will die! Kill! Kill! Kill! Hahahaha!"
"Hahaha! Laugh, laugh, and laugh again, swinging the sword to slash the east wind!"
That frenzied laughter, mixed with the smell of blood in the sea breeze, echoed for a long time along the entire coastline.
Ancient Moon Deep Love looked at the tragic scene before her, her brows tightly knit and her face full of worry. In just a few days, besides countless pirates, over a hundred innocent civilians had already died under Jiang Xiaobai's blade.
Just then, a huge pirate ship came breaking through the waves. Over a hundred pirates stood on the deck, led by an Inkman Gu Master with Rank Four cultivation.
"Hahaha! So many people, just what I wanted!" Seeing this, Jiang Xiaobai was overjoyed and waved his hand sharply; the blood bat army pounced forward like a tide.
The Inkman Gu Master's expression did not change; he raised his hand and used a Killer Move, instantly killing dozens of Blade Wing Blood Bats.
Jiang Xiaobai's eyes sharpened. He grabbed with his left hand, and a blood-colored long saber appeared out of thin air—it was the Rank Two Blood Blade Gu; with another grab, another blood blade was in his hand.
He pushed off with his feet, his body shooting out like an arrow, the twin blades carrying the whistling sound of wind as they slashed fiercely toward the Inkman Gu Master.
The Inkman Gu Master dodged to the side, and at the same time, a golden, glittering long spear appeared before him—it was the Rank Four Golden Spear Gu.
"What a fine golden spear!" Jiang Xiaobai grew more courageous as he fought, his twin blades dancing so fast they were airtight. Saber Qi crisscrossed, every move heavy and powerful, yet the entire saber technique was as smooth as flowing water, without any stagnation.
"Junior, you indeed have some skill," the Inkman Gu Master swung his spear, the tip moving like a gale sweeping through a pear forest or a sudden rain lashing at branches:
"But an inch longer is an inch stronger; today you are destined to lose!"
The spear shadows were like a tide, suppressing Jiang Xiaobai so firmly that he couldn't advance even half a step.
Seeing Jiang Xiaobai at a disadvantage, the accompanying Mo Da and Yan Er immediately stepped forward to support him. Even with Mo Da and Yan Er's help, the Inkman Gu Master still held the upper hand.
"What sharp spear techniques!" Mo Da's longsword danced airtight, but he was forced back repeatedly by the golden spear, unable to even get close.
"This movement technique is too ghostly!" Yan Er swung his giant hammer, but he couldn't even touch the corner of the opponent's clothes, only able to futilely smash deep pits into the ground.
While Jiang Xiaobai danced his twin blades rapidly, he stared intently at the Inkman Gu Master's footwork, thinking to himself:
"This old ghost's movement technique is so strange; five steps can act as one, softness within hardness. It looks sluggish, but it's actually free and nimble..."
A sharp light flashed in his eyes: "There's a flaw! This is the movement technique 'Traveling Ten Thousand Miles Alone'!"
(In the Yuan Fang Blessed Land, Gu Masters use martial arts in addition to Gu worms in combat.)
The next moment, Jiang Xiaobai's blade spun, stabbing directly at the opponent's heart. The Inkman Gu Master's face changed drastically, and he hurriedly activated the Rank Three Golden Cover Gu to protect himself. Only a crisp "clang" was heard as the blood blade slammed into the golden light shield, but it failed to break the defense.
Failing to strike, the Inkman Gu Master didn't dare to linger in the fight. He suddenly turned and lunged straight toward Ancient Moon Deep Love in the distance.
Ancient Moon Deep Love's face paled, and she turned to flee. Seeing this, Mo Da and Yan Er immediately abandoned their opponent and rushed to her rescue with all their might.
Jiang Xiaobai, however, ignored all of this, merely controlling his blood bat army to completely swallow the pirate ship.
Just then, a sharp, fierce wind suddenly attacked. Jiang Xiaobai whipped his head around, only to see a streak of light piercing through the air—it wasn't light, it was a golden arrow!
Puchi!
The golden arrow instantly pierced through his chest. Jiang Xiaobai let out a muffled groan and fell heavily to the ground, blood instantly staining the deck beneath him.
At this moment, Yuan Fang was sitting high on his throne in the Heavenly Palace. He again quietly sent a dream to the Merfolk King of North Darkness Mermaid Continent, ordering him to immediately dispatch troops, with the target pointed directly at Central Continent.
Sure enough, by the thirty-sixth year of the Yuan Fang Blessed Land, after the Merfolk Royal Court had nurtured a second Rank Five Gu Master, the Merfolk King personally led an army of sixty thousand, grandly marching toward Central Continent.
Of course, that is all for later.
The sea breeze carried a salty, fishy scent as it brushed over the beach. Jiang Xiaobai slowly opened his eyes in a soft heavenly light.
The clear blue sky stretched overhead, white clouds drifted leisurely, and a gentle breeze stirred the black hair at his temples.
As soon as his consciousness returned, a sharp, piercing pain came from his abdomen.
Immediately after, a wave of warmth rose from the pained area, as if something soft was being gently applied to the wound, causing that sharp pain to miraculously ease.
It was a strange sensation, soft and slightly cool. Jiang Xiaobai wanted to see what it was, but his body could not move.
Soon, he had the answer—it was a pair of hands, a pair of delicate and soft hands. Those hands carried the coolness of fresh water and were gently wiping away the clotted blood on his body.
The owner of the hands was Ancient Moon Deep Love. She was activating the Rank Three Heat-Clearing Gu to detoxify and sterilize Jiang Xiaobai's wound. The golden arrow that had pierced his chest was coated with potent poison; if not for timely treatment, he would have died long ago.
"Jiang Xiaobai, you're awake?"
Jiang Xiaobai blinked confusedly, looking around: blue sky, white clouds, the sea, reefs, and the wet sand beneath him.
"Hmm... what... happened?"
Ancient Moon Deep Love then told him everything that had just occurred. It turned out that after he was ambushed by the golden arrow and fell, the Blade Wing Blood Bat swarm had also been completely wiped out.
To protect her, Yan Er and Mo Da had died together with that Inkman Gu Master. The remaining four pirates were weak and had been killed by her own hand.
After hearing this, Jiang Xiaobai said in a flat tone:
"Help me take out a small white porcelain medicine bottle from my crotch; there's medicinal powder inside."
"Ah! Why would you put medicine in a place like that..." Ancient Moon Deep Love's cheeks instantly turned bright red, and her voice became as thin as a mosquito's buzz.
Jiang Xiaobai, however, looked blank, as if he completely didn't understand her embarrassment:
"Why can't I put it in my crotch? I don't have pockets, I don't have a bag, and I don't have a Storage Gu."
Ancient Moon Deep Love's face turned even redder as she asked softly:
"Didn't your parents ever teach you about the difference between men and women?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she immediately covered her mouth, full of regret:
"Why did I have to bring that up... His family is long gone; aren't I just opening his wounds? I'm so terrible!"