Reverend Insanity

The sky was grand and vast.

White clouds rumbled, moving below one’s feet.

A huge lion growled lowly as its four limbs stepped on the air, flying towards the cloud layer.

This lion’s body was like snow, it was completely white.

Its thick mane swayed in the wind, strong air currents were created below its feet.

On the lion’s back, there was a huge chair, two Gu Immortals, one male and one female, were sitting together.

The female was old and looked like she was in her sixties, but her eyes were shining brightly, she was excited and could not sit still, looking around.

And the male had the appearance of a young man, he had a sharp nose and long thin eyes, his body was emitting a cool and experienced aura.

“Great-uncle, your steed is really amazing, it can travel on the clouds, in just half a day, we have already flown tens of thousands of li.” The female Gu Immortal praised.

“This is a desolate beast qi grand lion, it is not flying on the clouds, but it has the ability to control air currents, thus it can fly.” The young looking man explained patiently.

“A lion that can control air currents and fly in the air, I have never seen such a thing. Desolate beast… what does that mean?” The female Gu Immortal asked.

The young-looking male Gu Immortal smiled silently: “Qi He, you just ascended to become a Gu Immortal, it is normal that you do not know about common knowledge of the Gu Immortal world. This qi grand lion has qi path dao marks on its body, once it matures, it can soar through the skies. But this type of lion is very rare now, it is almost extinct in the five regions, it can only be seen in white heaven and black heaven now.”

“As for desolate beasts, they are a certain rank of beasts. Like how Gu Masters have rank one, rank two and rank three, other than desolate beasts, there are ancient desolate beasts and immemorial desolate beasts. Desolate beasts are equivalent to rank six Gu Immortals, because one desolate beast can fight evenly against a rank six Gu Immortal. And ancient desolate beasts are equivalent to rank seven Gu Immortals, while immemorial desolate beasts are equivalent to rank eight Gu Immortals.”

The female Gu Immortal, Qi He, heard this and her eyes shined, she assessed the qi grand lion again, thinking: “No wonder I felt such danger from this lion. Thanks to great-uncle, I survived the tribulation from ascension and became a Gu Immortal. If I had to fight this lion, I might get torn to shreds.”

The young-looking Gu Immortal, Qi Zai, was hundreds of years old, he had rank seven cultivation level, he only looked so young because of lifespan Gu.

He was old and experienced, seeing Qi He’s face, he could guess what she was thinking.

Stretching out his arm to pat this junior’s shoulder, Qi Zai consoled: “Little He, don’t worry, most people are like this after becoming immortal. When the matter I have to deal with is settled, we can return to Qi Sea grotto-heaven, your seniors are there, if the seniors know that our Qi clan has another Gu Immortal, they will be very happy. You will live in the grotto-heaven for some time and learn from your elders. Remember to observe carefully and ask questions.”

“Thank you for your advice, great-uncle.” Qi He had a serious expression, standing up and bowing to Qi Zai solemnly.

“Mm… let’s sit down and talk.” Qi Zai nodded, showing a proud expression on his face.

Qi He sat down, showing a confused expression, she hesitated for a while before saying: “Our Qi clan has a lot of Gu Immortal elders, why are we not imitating Southern Border super forces like Wu clan and Shang clan?”

Qi Zai smiled as he said: “You want to ask, why is it that we elders who have become Gu Immortals are not acting like Wu clan and Shang clan, looking after our descendants. Instead, we allow our juniors to get bullied and suppressed, is that right?”

“I wouldn’t dare to.” Qi He said anxiously.

“In the past, when I had just become an immortal, I had the same question as you.” Qi Zai sighed, he showed a look of reminiscence: “The reason is quite complex, it will take some time to explain.”

“The underlying cause of this relates to our Qi clan’s ancestor, he was one of the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs thousands of years ago.”

“Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs?” Qi He asked.

“The Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs were five publicly recognized Gu Immortal experts in Southern Border during that time. The five of them had rank eight cultivation level, at the peak of the Gu Immortal world. They often collaborated and explored white heaven and black heaven together, they had a close relationship, thus they were known as the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs. Our Qi clan ancestor was one of the Five Xiangs, Qi Xiang. And our Qi clan cultivates qi path primarily.”

“Rank eight Gu Immortals!” Qi He was lost for words.

Qi Zai sighed: “In the absence of rank nine, rank eights dominate! Every rank eight Gu Immortal is a legend, their actions have huge impact. And back then, the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs were extremely famous, even in the other four regions. And because these five people had similar interests and a close relationship, they often fought enemies together. In most situations, rank eight Gu Immortals work alone. Thus, in white heaven and black heaven, other rank eight Gu Immortals would avoid the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs if they encountered them.”

“During that time, Southern Border’s Gu Immortal world had the edge over the other four regions because of the Five Xiangs, they had incredible fame. But dozens of years later, the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs disbanded.

As he said that, Qi Zai’s tone became deeper.

“Why?” Qi He asked.

Qi Zai sighed, continuing: “I am not sure about the exact details. Supposedly, back then the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs found a huge secret while exploring white heaven. This secret represented an unimaginable achievement, but only one person could obtain it. All of the five Xiangs wanted to get it, but they did not relent. Because their strength was similar, and because of their relationship, they created a bet.”

“Bet?”

“That’s right, this bet had a thousand year duration. The rules of the bet were: The five Xiang could only watch as their descendants developed on their own. A thousand years later, whichever clan had the most Gu Immortals would be the winner.”

Qi He considered the time, a thousand years had already passed, she quickly asked: “Then who won?”

Qi Zai smiled bitterly: “A thousand years later, two clans had the same number of Gu Immortals, the victor could not be decided. The other three clans were unwilling to give up, thus, with two clans against three, another round of betting was decided upon. Thus, a thousand years, two thousand years, three thousand years… until now, the five ancestors already died long ago, but the bet is still ongoing.”

“So that’s it!” Qi He heard this old secret and was tongue-tied.

After a while, she accepted this fact and sighed: “That means without this agreement, Southern Border would have five more super forces?”

But Qi Zai shook his head: “Among the five Xiangs, there were lone immortals and demonic path members, developing clans is something only righteous path members generally have the patience to do.”

“Our Qi clan had Qi Xiang, who are the other four Xiangs?” Qi He asked again.

Qi Zai responded: “Qi Xiang, Ni Xiang, Bai Xiang, Xue Xiang, Chi Xiang, they were known as the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs. The following place I am going is where the current generation Ni Xiang is.”

“Why does great-uncle want to go to Ni Xiang?”

Qi Zai hesitated for a moment before smiling: “Alright, it is not an issue to tell you. Recently, a huge matter happened in Southern Border’s Gu Immortal world, large numbers of Gu Immortals died around Yi Tian Mountain. One of our elders from Qi clan died there. Thus, we are here to find the current generation Ni Xiang, so that they can help us deduce the truth.”

“Ah! Yi Tian Mountain…” Qi He cried out.

Regardless of what had occurred in Fang Yuan’s previous life, this time around, the battle of Yi Tian Mountain involved both mortals and immortals. Thus, Qi He had heard about it long ago.

But she only knew that Southern Border’s forces sent their mortal experts to attack Yi Tian Mountain and exterminate the demonic path in order to defend the righteous path. In Southern Border, there had been no demonic path power that was so brazen to create a force. Thus, the righteous path was trying to take them down.

Qi Zai thus told Qi He the gambling contest of Yi Tian Mountain.

Qi He finally realized that the truth was like this.

She muttered: “The difference between immortal and mortal is as far apart as clouds and mud. Those rank four and five experts are just pawns of the immortals.”

This truth had great impact towards Qi He, who had just become a Gu Immortal.

Qi Zai heard this and smiled internally.

When Gu Masters become immortals, not only would their strength and cultivation change, their mentality also had to change.

At this moment, Qi Zai could use the matter of Yi Tian Mountain to stimulate Qi He’s growth, so that she could adapt to her new identity.

Soon, there was silence.

Only the qi grand lion was still running in the air, Qi Zai and Qi He had turned silent.

Clouds moved around them, the world seemed vast.

Because there were Gu formations on the chairs, they did not feel any wind or noise.

Could any mortal see such a sight?

Qi He saw this and felt how huge the world was, mortals were like insects, her complex feelings faded gradually, she thought: “That’s right, I am a Gu Immortal, I am not a mortal anymore. Mortals and immortals are different, I need to remember this.”

After telling herself that, Qi He’s mood returned to normal, even her mind had undergone a change.

Qi Zai nodded internally at this, saying: “Actually, during these last few thousand years, among the descendants of the Heaven Surveying Five Xiangs, our Qi clan is the most prosperous. Xue Xiang’s descendants cultivate blood path, they are almost wiped out. Chi Xiang’s descendants are staying inside their immortal aperture and live like livestock, they do not have any urge to improve themselves, they are lazy and only want to eat, they are nothing significant. Bai Xiang’s final traces of bloodline have all died recently. As for Ni Xiang, even though they have several branches in Southern Border, there are no longer any Ni clan Gu Immortals.”

Qi He understood why, she nodded: “Becoming an immortal is really difficult, if not for great-uncle’s help, I would have died in the calamity and tribulation already.”

Qi Zai smiled, shaking his head as he said to Qi He with deep meaning: “Actually, Ni clan had the most hope in producing Gu Immortals. But because of that, the other clans obstructed them, resulting in their pitiful state now.”

“Three thousand years after the bet was created, Ni clan had a greatly talented refinement path Gu Immortal, Ni Ren, he was the final Gu Immortal in Ni clan’s history. Before dying, he planned for his clan’s future. He broke the rules of the agreement, helping Ni clan and selecting Immortal Gu to refine into his future descendants’ bloodline.”