Chapter 958: Pawn Bai Ning Bing Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios Looking at Old Man Yan Shi, Bai Ning Bing was very vigilant. Ever since he had advanced to Gu Immortal, while in the process conveniently getting rid of his female body which had been troubling him for a long time, he thoroughly realized how unfathomable Old Man Yan Shi was. Bai Ning Bing’s nature was to be indifferent. But his firm attitude towards Old Man Yan Shi was only a type of probe. Even his strong desire of wanting to fight Fang Yuan and take vicious revenge was also a disguise for himself as well as a probe towards Old Man Yan Shi. Although only a few years had passed, Bai Ning Bing was no longer so concerned about Fang Yuan. Being at the Gu Immortal level had broadened his horizons, he saw many more things and experienced many more wonders. What he minded was Old Man Yan Shi in front of him, it was not that he had not secretly investigated, but Shadow Sect was still deeply concealed, not revealing a trace. He did not know why Old Man Yan Shi was helping him, but at the same time, he was also discontent at being controlled like this. He had thought of walking away from all of this. But Shadow Sect had spent so much effort on him, they certainly would not let him leave easily. In addition, Bai Ning Bing cared about excitement and brilliance more than his own life, when the enemy was stronger, the process was dangerous, resistance became more difficult, it instead made him feel like he had not lived in vain, taking it as a pleasure of life. Competing against heaven, competing against earth, competing against humans, the joy was endless! There was one thing that Bai Ning Bing had never done in his life, that was — retreating in the face of danger! Facing Bai Ning Bing’s query, Old Man Yan Shi leisurely took out an Immortal Gu and said: “You only need to do as I say and I can guarantee Fang Yuan will return to Southern Border.” Bai Ning Bing’s eyes shined with coldness: “You seem to know Fang Yuan’s whereabouts clearly. But in the past, when I was advancing to Gu Immortal, and I asked you the same question, you said you did not know.” Old Man Yan Shi chuckled. He did not respond to Bai Ning Bing’s query, instead continuing: “To the south of Namei peak, east of Li Qiu, not far away from rock dragon cave, there is a nameless mountain peak. The mountain is tall and there is a long river that passes by it, the trees on the mountain are green and lush, it is a lone mountain with no other branch peaks. Go to the top of that mountain and activate this Gu. Once you succeed, leave quickly. This mountain will become a forbidden zone for immortals, any Gu Immortals that enter this area will be met with fatal killing intent.” Bai Ning Bing did not accept this Immortal Gu, his eyes still staring at Old Man Yan Shi as he coldly said: “You still haven’t answered my question.” “I don’t need to answer your question. You only need to know that when this is done, Fang Yuan will return. Back then, you signed an agreement with Shadow Sect, wasn’t the agreement that only after Fang Yuan is dead, you can be free from the agreement and regain your freedom?” Old Man Yan Shi smiled faintly. Bai Ning Bing was silent for a while, before taking the Immortal Gu. He then gave a cold snort, and flew away, disappearing into the horizon. He made haste when traveling, two days later, he found the mountain Old Man Yan Shi spoke of. “This mountain is ordinary and there is nothing strange, why did he choose this place?” Bai Ning Bing was puzzled. Actually, he had many guesses, even thinking of the possibility that Old Man Yan Shi was trying to harm him. “But, he has spent a huge price to raise me to Gu Immortal, why would he kill me now? The chance of this is very low.” Bai Ning Bing shook his head, there was another uncertainty which he had for a long time: “Why did Old Man Yan Shi help me to become a Gu Immortal? Among so many people, why did he choose me? Is it simply because of my Northern Dark Ice Soul physique?” Previously, Bai Ning Bing had such thoughts, but now he was increasingly feeling the truth was not as simple as that. Bai Ning Bing started to carefully investigate this nameless mountain peak, but he did not find any traces of Gu formations. He was filled with doubts and hesitation. If this was truly a trap, then he would be stupidly sending himself to death, wouldn’t he be humiliating himself? Bai Ning Bing suddenly had a thought: “Old Man Yan Shi would not make me come here in particular and activate Immortal Gu for no reason. His motive is veiled in mystery, but there is no time limit, I might as well delay and probe him.” If the matter was urgent, Old Man Yan Shi would be very anxious and naturally would urge him. At that time, with the Immortal Gu, Bai Ning Bing could obtain the initiative. Bai Ning Bing bided his time and made no move, sure enough, someone on Shadow Sect’s side became anxious. A black robed Gu Immortal appeared inside the stone pavilion, and spoke with a rough voice: “Yan Shi, Bai Ning Bing has already gone for close to half a month, but there has been no word or action from him. Could it be that he ran away with the Gu, or maybe encountered a problem?” Old Man Yan Shi was at ease, looking at the astrolabe chessboard. The astrolabe chessboard in front of him was filled with dao marks but compared to before, when Bai Ning Bing had appeared, the numerous and disorderly lines had already reduced by a little less than half. Old Man Yan Shi was pinching his fingers as he tried to deduce the chess moves, while saying to the black robed Gu Immortal: “Bai Ning Bing is still there, just not making a move. He already had doubts, doubts that this trip is harmful to him, so it is normal for him to have this reaction.” The black robed Gu Immortal could not help but speak urgently when he saw the leisurely attitude of Old Man Yan Shi: “But we can no longer delay the matter in Central Continent! Now, not just the Gu Immortals from the ten great ancient sects of Central Continent, but even a lot of lone cultivators and demonic cultivators have entered to explore the riverbed of Falling Heavenly River. Vice Envoy Blue and the others can only hold on for three days at most. After three days, Heavenly Court will realize this is an arrangement and it might disrupt our true plan.” Old Man Yan Shi nodded, agreeing: “What you say makes sense. In fact, the present state has already diverged from the original plan, the progress is really too slow.” “How about you send a letter to urge Bai Ning Bing to make a move quickly. If he doesn’t submit, we can take away his immortal level and make him fall down back to a mortal! He became a Gu Immortal with our help, but he is only a false immortal, there is no need for us to continue letting him be so arrogant! We can take action first and remove his Gu Immortal strength, making him a mortal again, restoring his female body. Such a junior with his head high above the clouds, if we don’t make him know his place, we won’t be able to use him.” The black robed Gu Immortal suggested. “Hehehe, why do you think I am using him?” Old Man Yan Shi chuckled, he lightly flicked his wide sleeve, immediately, a star mark was removed from the astrolabe chessboard. If Fang Yuan was to see this sight, he would definitely be very shocked. Doing this with such ease, Old Man Yan Shi’s wisdom path attainment level was definitely great grandmaster! The black robed Gu Immortal was wearing a large hood that covered his expression, but his tone was filled with heavy doubts: “Yan Shi, didn’t you choose Bai Ning Bing because you saw his ten extreme physique battle strength?” “No, no, that is not the case.” Old Man Yan Shi laughed, “This is only what makes him special on the surface. His true special characteristic is that he is also someone who has escaped fate!” “What? He is also one?” The black robed Gu Immortal was shocked. Old Man Yan Shi explained further: “Our crucial plan has been devised for a hundred thousand years! Our true enemy is not the Central Continent’s Heavenly Court, or the other four regions, but heaven. So I am handing this final crucial step to Bai Ning Bing. He is an escapee of fate, from a certain perspective, he could be said to have escaped the grasp of heaven’s will as well. Only this kind of person is qualified to become our pawn.” “So it was like that.” The black robed Gu Immortal came to a realization and had no more doubts. Old Man Yan Shi continued: “Bai Ning Bing is a fate escapee, heaven’s will is unable to control him completely, making him a potent weapon for us. We will first let him spearhead the attack, and what we will do is build up our energy, using all of our strength to cope with the fury of heaven’s will. After Bai Ning Bing left, I did not contact him and let him move freely, but you can rest assured, with his nature, he will not wait for much longer.” “Since that is the case, then I will continue sleeping.” The black robed Gu Immortal cupped his fists, and took his leave. Bai Ning Bing waited another two days on the nameless mountain peak, occasionally looking at the direction of Old Man Yan Shi’s stone pavilion. “So many days have passed by, but Old Man Yan Shi has not urged me yet. It seems he is not in a hurry about this matter. That makes sense! If he was hurried, he would emphasize the time limit for completing the task when he handed it to me.” Bai Ning Bing could not help but feel somewhat dejected. The probing just now was undoubtedly a failure. He looked at the mountain below him, and pondered: “I have checked this mountain time and time again over these last days, but I could not find traces of any Gu formations. Sigh! If this is is truly harmful to me, I can only admit defeat, I could not find out anything, I can only blame my inadequate ability!” Bai Ning Bing sighed and hovered in the air, looking at this ordinary mountain. “Go.” With a shift of his mind, his immortal essence started to be consumed as he activated the mysterious Immortal Gu. The Immortal Gu let out some radiance but it still lay on his palm, showing no movement. Bai Ning Bing was slightly surprised: “So this Immortal Gu requires a lot of immortal essence.” He continued to send beads of green grape immortal essence to it, the radiance of the Immortal Gu grew brighter and brighter, and the exquisite body of the Immortal Gu started to slightly tremble. After a while, Bai Ning Bing’s forehead was dripping with sweat, and he was feeling worried: “I have already used up hundreds of beads of immortal essence, why does it still not activating? So the difficulty in this task was in this!” Just when he was getting very puzzled, the Immortal Gu in his hand suddenly buzzed, it turned into a ray of light that shot towards the sky. The light continued to grow bigger, its speed however was becoming slower. When it reached a peak in height, it charged down to the nameless mountain. Boom! It crashed onto the mountain peak, the clash produced incomparably dazzling radiance. Bai Ning Bing quickly covered his eyes and retreated. He no longer needed to use his immortal essence. But whether the Immortal Gu succeeded in its activation, he still needed to check to be certain. Thus, he flew to a distance of five li away, before stopping in the air. He then saw an unbelievable and marvelous scene! Within the intense radiance, the nameless mountain peak suffered no damage, phantom images started to appear over the woods on the mountain. This was a section of a long river, the river water billowed, rising and falling, filled with a mystical and natural wondrousness that would be difficult to portray, there was endless profundity that could not be described with words or expressed. “This scene... could it be the river of time?!” Bai Ning Bing’s eyes suddenly enlarged, filled with extreme surprise. Afterwards, he saw the river of time’s phantom image gradually dissipate, becoming dimmer and dimmer. Two human-shaped figures seemed to jump out of the river, their appearances and clothes gradually becoming clearer. These two people were fighting! Both sides exchanged moves one after the other, the battle’s intensity shocked Bai Ning Bing to the core. Among them, one was enormous with bulging muscles, he was like a mythical creature that rampaged around with an extremely fierce momentum. He was a rank eight Gu Immortal! The other person was rank seven. But he seemed to be using a killer move to disguise himself, his whole body was covered in a layer of fog that made others unable to distinguish his face or stature. The only thing that could be clearly seen was a red lotus that was drawn on his forehead.