It is said that there are no lessons in victory, but there are a thousand lessons in defeat. As Lord Sky Crane made his way back towards the Central Continent, he couldn't help but ruminate over these words.
He thought dejectedly about the kind of lesson he had just learned - or might have been supposed to learn anyway. What was there to learn from his recent encounter? That you should always be prepared for your enemy to pull a Gu House out of what appeared to be their lower digestive tract just when you were about to win? What kind of a lesson was that?!
Even his joy at finally subduing his old rival was muted by the fact that the job was left unfinished. That was a massive stain on his honor, as well as the honor of the Immortal Crane Sect. The former was somewhat acceptable to him, but the latter was not.
The crane he was riding upon let out a weak cry. Its beak had been badly damaged when it struck it against that Immortal House. Out of the ten thousand cranes that he had brought to the Southern Border, less than a thousand remained. Most of them were ordinary cranes, with very few Beast Kings among them.
Still, it could not be said that his journey had been entirely unfruitful. After all, he now knew of the existence of a very complex mortal Gu House. Even if he lacked the strength to take it, that didn't mean that the Immortal Crane Sect lacked the required strength. He could get a lot of contribution points for donating it to the sect.
Even if that Gu House was strong, before the might of an actual Gu Immortal, it was nothing. A mortal could never hope to compare to an immortal, even if they had a Gu House like that. However, without a doubt one would be able to dominate the mortal realm with its aid. Depending on its power, even a Rank 6 Immortal might find such a thing helpful.
The Gu Yue Clan was now like a beggar who had found a diamond necklace. They were committing a crime just by possessing it. It was only for the best that the Immortal Crane Sect take it from them before someone else did.
Lord Sky Crane had also gained something else.
He took a gu from his aperture to admire it; one that looked like a skull carved out of a giant ruby: the Blood Skull Gu! He had managed to snatch it from first gen Gu Yue completely intact during their fighting.
As for the other gu worms, first gen Gu Yue had detonated them with his final breath when he realized that all was lost. Lord Sky Crane had used a special method on the Blood Skull Gu to ensure that it didn't meet with the same fate.
The gu worm that he had found among the Blood Sea Ancestor's Inheritance and had always been rightfully his; that had been stolen from him by the man who called himself Gu Yue and had once been his senior brother - it was finally back where it truly belonged, in his hands!
There's a reason that betrayal hurt the most; it came from those who you knew and trusted. Even now, after a thousand years, it felt as if the wound had been made just yesterday in Lord Sky Crane's heart.
But never mind that now.
Even if it had taken a thousand years, he had finally retrieved his property. The Blood Skull Gu, although mortal, was extremely valuable. It could cause a commotion in any of the Five Regions for how it could be used to raise the aptitude of mortals. Immortals had their descendants and mortals whom they needed to raise, after all.
A force like the Immortal Crane Sect would find less use for it given the lack of tight blood relations between most members, but that didn't meant that they couldn't make use of it in some way or the other.
He had no doubt that this in itself could gain him quite the amount of contribution points from the sect. The sect might even be able to find a way to prolong his life even further in recognition of what he had done.
His cranes had to rest after the battle, and so they stopped by a nearby stream. With his Rank 5 strength, Lord Sky Crane did not need to fear wandering anywhere in all the five regions. However, his flock had just fought a difficult battle and was quite exhausted himself.
The journey back home was extremely long given the distances needing to be covered, as well as the fact that he needed to find food for his entire flock whenever they landed.
Another third of his flock either died out or were culled simply because they had been too injured to keep up with the rest, or because they had fallen prey to all sorts of animals which Lord Sky Crane couldn't deal with in time as these threats gnawed away at the fringes of his flock.
They eventually reached the Miasma Regional Wall that separated the Southern Border from the Central Continent. As they crossed through the barrier with relative ease, being mortals, Lord Sky Crane felt his cultivation fluctuate as he had already somewhat adapted to the Southern Border, and now this adaptation was going in the opposite direction.
He was still far stronger here than in the Southern Border, however.
As he was about to send out a missive to the Immortal Crane Sect, he immediately felt a sudden sense of danger as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.
An impossibly strong aura burst out from the clouds as the Gu Immortal in question revealed himself. Lord Sky Crane did not recognize the man, given he was wearing a mask and did not wear anything that would betray himself as belonging to any organization in the Central Continent. A demonic or lone cultivator? Or a righteous path cultivator pretending to be acting on his lonesome? Immortals rarely bothered with mortals, but there was no mistaking the killing intent that this person was radiating.
Lord Sky Crane knew that he had no real chance of fighting or fleeing against such an enemy. "Sir, whoever you are, I can assure you that the Immortal Crane Sect will give you adequate compensation in exchange for my life if-"
"There are two things I want," the Immortal said, interrupting him. "The first is the Blood Skull Gu you're carrying. The second would be your life. Neither are negotiable."
Several days later, the Immortal Crane Sect would find Lord Sky Crane's corpse atop one of the nearby mountains. His soul had been extracted from his body, and the only clues they could find regarding what had caused his death was that a Blood Path attack had likely been responsible for dealing the finishing blow. It was a bit hard to tell given that bits and pieces of him had already been devoured by some of his cranes.