Chapter 1143

Deep underground in the northern icy plain, Fang Yuan sits with snowman, rockman and hairy man Gu Immortals around three bonfires. Lighting three fires for an honored guest is said to be a tradition from the Olden Antiquity Era. Shi Zong, the rockman tribe’s first supreme elder, rises with his wine bowl and calls the drink their tribe’s lip fish wine. He had not joined the battle to kill Fang Yuan. Gold, silver and pearl ornaments shine on his rock body, marking rank by their extravagance. Everyone drains their bowl at his invitation; Fang Yuan alone takes only a small sip, which the snowmen and rockmen let pass without comment. ^{ch. 1143}

Sixth Hair does not let it pass. A Shadow Sect spy placed inside Lang Ya Sect, he tells Fang Yuan that leaving wine in the bowl insults the host, adding that a mere human would not know the custom. Fang Yuan answers that he knows it well, he simply dislikes lip fish wine, which is only the saliva of underground rockfish. Sixth Hair’s face darkens, though inwardly he is pleased at having provoked the offense he wanted. Lang Ya land spirit had set Fang Yuan a mission to find variant human allies when he joined the sect, so finding these tribes completes it and earns him a reward, which is what Sixth Hair means to deny him. Fang Yuan’s own letter notifying Lang Ya land spirit had only sketched the matter roughly, so Sixth Hair and the others still do not know of the eagle that ended that battle. ^{ch. 1143}

A snowman Gu Immortal calls for ice wolf wine from his own winery instead, since he dislikes the lip fish wine himself. This is Bing Zhuo, the same dual spear wielding Gu Immortal who had made Fang Yuan struggle bitterly, robust and tattooed, his aqua hair tied above a dauntless face. Served in an ice bowl that releases cold air, the wine is icy in the mouth and hot like fire in the throat, and Fang Yuan calls it good wine. Urged to drink more, he drains the whole bowl in one gulp. The immortals break into applause. ^{ch. 1143}

Fang Yuan already reads Sixth Hair’s motive: Shadow Sect will target him only after saving Spectral Soul’s main body, so for now Sixth Hair can only delay his growth. Variant humans revere strength deeply, a trait carried since the Immemorial Antiquity Era, while humans, once they became the five regions’ overlords in an unshakable position, came to revere strength less than they had. Almost every snowman and rockman Gu Immortal now gathers around Fang Yuan, toasting him and leaving the hairy men to one side. His deliberate difficulty reads to them as an expert’s temperament, and it also let him probe their intentions; he is now all but certain he is safe. Sixth Hair, greatly shocked, cannot explain why a genuine human is so warmly welcomed. ^{ch. 1143}

Xue Er, a female snowman Gu Immortal, walks over and pours Fang Yuan’s wine herself, calling him the true hero when he asks whether she is the one who discovered his true body. Sixth Hair, close to rage, demands whether they are variant humans at all. He tells Xue Er to mind her identity. Bing Zhuo joins them, praising Fang Yuan as the only one worthy of the name hero, and Xue Er introduces him as the tribe’s strongest, ordinarily cold and extremely prideful but passionate only around Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan recognizes him as the dual spear fighter from dozens of rounds earlier, and the two drain their bowls together while Xue Er calls it heroes attracting heroes. Bing Zhuo then explains why: Fang Yuan possesses an immemorial upper extreme heavenly eagle, and had he not been on their side the tribes might have provoked a disaster for themselves. ^{ch. 1143}

Hearing the eagle named for the first time, the hairy man Gu Immortals stare at each other in shock. Sixth Hair rises to demand confirmation, and Fang Yuan admits it, explaining he allied with Chu Du to reach Hei Fan grotto-heaven and took the eagle as one of the gains from Hei Fan’s true inheritance. The news overwhelms Sixth Hair; his legs give way and he sits back down. Fang Yuan calls for a celebratory drink, since he had not had time to inform everyone. The hairy men rejoice that their sect now holds rank eight battle strength, one admitting he had failed earlier to recognize Fang Yuan’s worth. ^{ch. 1143}

Sixth Hair raises his own bowl smiling, inwardly spitting blood from anger. Fang Yuan asks, smiling, why his hands are trembling. A spy who has lurked for years, Sixth Hair lets nothing show on his face, and only his voice turns somewhat hoarse as he says he is extremely excited for Fang Yuan and Lang Ya Sect, that he is rejoicing. ^{ch. 1143}