Feng Jiu Ge had spent the entire day scouring the borders of the Central Continent, but Fang Yuan was nowhere to be found.
Returning to Bai Qing's blessed land, he found his daughter, Feng Jin Huang, sitting silently by a stream, her gaze dull and lifeless as she stared at the flowing water.
The sight made his heart ache.
With quiet determination, he muttered, "Just wait a little longer, Feng'er. I'll find that bastard Fang Yuan and bring him to his knees before you."
"Then you'll be able to hold your head high again."
After exchanging a few words with his wife, Bai Qing, he left once more—resuming his relentless search.
...
"Place that Immortal Gu as well," Fang Yuan commanded from within Yellow Treasure Heaven.
Obediently, the treasure spirit summoned another Immortal Gu from its storage and affixed it onto the shoulder of the young man standing before him.
This young man bore an uncanny resemblance to Fang Yuan himself—though the resemblance ended at the surface. His eyes lacked the abyss-like depth of the real Fang Yuan, instead appearing dull and lifeless.
At Fang Yuan's will, a stream of Immortal Gu began merging into the body of this false version—some entering its main aperture, others embedding into its second aperture.
Watching this unfold, the treasure spirit hesitated, then voiced its concern. "Master, wouldn't it be simpler to just use Fake Gu to disguise these Immortal Gu like the fixed immortal travel Gu inside this zombie?"
Fang Yuan shook his head. "If we want Heaven's Will to be completely fooled, the illusion must be seamless. All these 'real' Immortal Gu are necessary to conceal the 'fake' fixed immortal travel Gu within the aperture. The more authentic it looks, the less likely Heaven's Will will detect the deception."
He continued calmly, "And besides, we're not really losing anything. We've already refined semi-finished versions of all these Gu. Once the originals are destroyed, we'll just refine them again."
He gestured toward several cauldrons placed in the distance—each housing the re-refinement process.
The treasure spirit still looked reluctant. "But Master, it's not just one or two Gu we're sacrificing. There are fifty Immortal Gu on this zombie. One of them is Rank 8, and six others are Rank 7! Are we really going to destroy so many?"
It nearly winced, heart aching at the thought of so many rare Gu being discarded. Most of these Gu were used more as décor than for practical use—though strange in purpose, they were still treasures.
But Fang Yuan was unmoved. "These Gu are worthless to me," he said bluntly.
"What use do I have for an Immortal Gu that changes clothing, boosts carnal pleasure, makes someone beautiful for a minute, or reverts a Gu Master to a mortal by destroying their aperture?"
"These are useless trinkets. Don't mourn their loss."
With that, he activated the Yellow Apricot Immortal Essence in his aperture and triggered the killer move Fly Away.
In the next instant, the fake Fang Yuan vanished—taking all fifty Immortal Gu with him.
...
Two weeks earlier, after returning to the Daoist treasure Grotto Heaven, Fang Yuan immediately issued a series of large-scale orders to both the Treasure Spirit and Hu Immortal Land Spirit.
Under his instructions, the Treasure Spirit began operating under the identity of a different Gu Immortal—and started acquiring top-grade wines and specifically searching for a Liquor Worm Immortal Gu.
Meanwhile, the Hu Immortal Land Spirit was tasked with collecting a wide array of cultivation materials: Blood Path, Luck Path, and other path-specific resources—including the corpses of dead Immortal Zombies.
Within a week, their efforts paid off. Fang Yuan successfully acquired a Rank 8 Liquor Worm Immortal Gu from the Eastern Sea for nearly 10,000 Immortal Stones, while the Hu Immortal Spirit had spent roughly 1,000 Immortal Stones gathering the needed materials.
Once obtained, Fang Yuan embedded the Liquor Worm into his modified aperture. Using it, he began converting his Rank 8 White Litchi Immortal Essence into the superior Rank 9 Yellow Apricot Immortal Essence.
He then turned to one of the collected Immortal Zombie corpses. Using his own blood and scraps of skin torn from his hands, he began refining the zombie body—molding it meticulously to resemble himself in every detail. Once the task was complete, he fully healed his own wounds.
Next, Fang Yuan took a drastic step: he stripped away his Ten Thousand Man Soul, retaining only a Hundred Man Soul in his true body. The remainder, Ten Thousand Man Soul—now an empty, memoryless husk with no attainments—was transferred into the zombie body.
He then established a spiritual connection between the hundred man soul in his real body and the ten thousand man soul in the fake. Through this link, he could control the puppet body remotely.
After implanting several Immortal Gu into the corpse, he used the Refine Fake inheritance technique of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable within the Grotto Heaven to create a perfect replica of the Fixed Immortal Travel Gu, designed to fool even Heaven's Will.
Finally, Fang Yuan activated the killer move Fly Away, sending the fake "Fang Yuan" out into the Central Continent.
Watching the zombie body vanish into the void, Fang Yuan's gaze turned cold and calculating.Silently, he connected his will to the distant soul fragment now stationed in the Central Continent—his trap fully set in motion.
...
"There you are, you bastard!" Feng Jiu Ge shouted, eyes bloodshot as he sprinted toward the distant figure.