Chapter 1321

After the festival, Fang Yuan keeps pursuing Qiao Si Liu. She remains angry at his attitude during the moon festival but cannot refuse him under her clan’s orders. Rumors spread that Wu Yi Hai, Wu Yong’s brother, and Qiao Si Liu, one of the three great fairies of Southern Border, have grown close. Her other pursuers concede Wu clan’s ties give him an enormous advantage even as they resent it. Fang Yuan feels slightly helpless about it. It sharply increases attempts to deduce him, which dark limit Immortal Gu alone struggle to counter. ^{ch. 1321}

He begins placing his aperture down and hiding inside his sovereign blessed land more often. Deduction there is extremely difficult without specific clues. He uses the time to absorb heaven and earth qi, needed because Reverse Flow River makes his consumption of it huge. He also draws on Wu clan’s channels to gather information on Luo Mu Zi and Lun Fei. He judges it not yet time to move, since a single misstep can ruin a plan. He intends to strike only once he fully understands them and has accumulated enough strength for the lowest possible risk. ^{ch. 1321}

After half a month, Wu Yong summons Fang Yuan and offers him a choice of three tasks. The first is investigating a rumored wild Immortal Gu at Xuan Ming Mountain, which Yang clan is also pursuing. Wu clan wants it seized or destroyed rather than lost to a rival, given the site’s closeness to its own territory. Wu clan’s situation is currently stable, neither good nor bad. The second task is containing the rising red dragon river, which borders both Qiao clan and Wu clan, before it floods. The third is representing Wu clan at Yi clan’s second supreme elder’s twelve-hundredth birthday banquet, since Yi clan alone among the super forces has stayed friendly to Wu clan. ^{ch. 1321}

Fang Yuan chooses the river task. He cites his battle strength as unsuited to a clash with Yang clan’s soul path Gu Immortals at Xuan Ming Mountain. He turns down the banquet in Wu Yong’s place. He warns that Wu clan’s current troubles would let rival Gu Immortals corner him there and cost the clan face. Wu Yong accepts the choice and lets him leave. Once Fang Yuan is gone, Wu Yong’s smile and confidence fade into gloom. ^{ch. 1321}

Privately delighted his plan has worked, Fang Yuan sets off north. Gu Immortal Wu Fa intercepts him with new orders from the first supreme elder. Ba clan has been pressuring the super Gu formation, and Elder Wu Bei, stationed there, is injured and unable to hold it. Fang Yuan is to take Wu Bei’s place in command there instead, fulfilling his earlier wish for that posting. The river task will be handled separately. Wu Fa hands him a letter Gu from Wu Yong confirming the reassignment. It directs him to Yi Tian Mountain without returning to Wu clan first. ^{ch. 1321}

Fang Yuan complies with outward reluctance. Before turning northeast, he glances toward the northwest, where Qiao clan’s headquarters at Da Peng Mountain lies. Wu Fa notices the glance and sneers, understanding its meaning. He returns to Wu clan and reports the reassignment’s success to Wu Yong. Wu Yong is writing with vigorous brush strokes when the report reaches him, and he abruptly stops. ^{ch. 1321}

The page reads five words: can be used, but unreliable. It is the same assessment of Qiao clan Wu Yong once gave his mother as a youth. He laments that his brother has still not understood it. ^{ch. 1321}