Chapter 1219

Fang Yuan steps out from Qiao clan’s group, drawing every gaze. Wu clan’s supreme elders gasp that he looks just like Wu Du Xiu. Wu Yong instead takes after his father and looks ordinary. Wu Yi Hai is handsome and muscular, standing out from the crowd. His wide, tall nose especially reads to onlookers as a Wu clan trait, though the real Wu Yi Hai never had it; the impression comes from Fang Yuan’s own disguise. The rank eight killer move familiar face, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable’s signature method, deceives everyone present, even Wu clan Immortals seeing Wu Yi Hai for the first time. ^{ch. 1219}

Wu Du Xiu herself was not beautiful, carrying features suited to a man, features that would have made her a grand hero rivaling heaven had she been born male. Wu Yi Hai bears seventy percent resemblance to her, winning the clan’s goodwill before he says a word. Wu Du Xiu’s death leaves Wu clan mourning and valuing her more than in life, a mood Fang Yuan’s timing exploits deliberately. Other clans’ Gu Immortals remark on the resemblance too. ^{ch. 1219}

Five hundred years of a previous life gave Fang Yuan a deep sense for reading a room. He feels Wu clan’s gazes turning welcoming. Wu Yong’s gaze alone carries animosity, since Fang Yuan’s appearance backed by Qiao clan disrupts his plans and puts him on guard. Wu Yong hates this younger brother in the deepest part of his heart, having disliked him from the first look because he wears their mother’s face. He grew up under her shadow, so her death leaves him grieving yet unavoidably free and joyful, a joy he dares not admit. ^{ch. 1219}

Fang Yuan judges the hard step ahead is Wu Yong’s own acknowledgment. He bows deeply, greeting him as elder brother. Agitated but wary, Wu Yong notes the resemblance to their mother, then adds that Wu Yi Hai’s blue eyes are not a color Southern Border usually carries, a pointed reminder of his Eastern Sea origin rather than any acknowledgment. Fang Yuan answers that his eyes turned blue after an accident in transformation path cultivation, that he returned at his mother’s arrangement, and that Uncle Zhang and Brother Leng died protecting him from the attacks he met on the way. Wu Yong orders them a grand burial and care for their descendants, but never once acknowledges his brother. Fang Yuan reads the dodge and bows again, asking only to pay respects to their mother. ^{ch. 1219}

The request is unassailable in a clan system built on bloodline. Wu Yong cannot refuse it without ruining the image he has spent the funeral building, though granting it amounts to admitting Fang Yuan into the clan. Privately Wu Yong would rather pay to send this Wu Yi Hai back to Eastern Sea. Fang Yuan’s performance and Qiao clan’s backing leave him unsuspicious of the disguise itself, only unsure what to do with the man. He considers a secret execution once he controls the clan, or exposing this brother as a fake to remove him openly, intense killing intent surging. He is close to agreeing when Wu clan’s third supreme elder, Wu Qiao, interrupts to insist that Wu Yi Hai’s identity still needs proper confirmation. ^{ch. 1219}

Fang Yuan and Qiao clan’s first supreme elder trade a private glance: Qiao clan has reached further into Wu clan than Fang Yuan expected, up to third supreme elder Wu Qiao himself. They recall the plan laid together: appearing at the funeral leaves Wu Yong unable to strike, since a first supreme elder is neither a lone cultivator nor a demonic cultivator. A request to honor their mother there gives Wu Yong no room to refuse. Fang Yuan had insisted the proposal to formally acknowledge his heritage come from inside Wu clan rather than from an outsider like Qiao clan, and that it happen at the funeral itself. He had asked Qiao clan for a Wu clan supreme elder to make the proposal openly and steer the situation toward the heritage acknowledgment. ^{ch. 1219}