Chapter 1322

Inside the super Gu formation at Yi Tian Mountain, Wu Liao and Wu An report to Fang Yuan, holding the identity of Lord Wu Yi Hai, that Ba De has attacked Wu clan. Wu Bei went out to meet him, lost the spar, and was severely injured, though still well enough afterward to sit in discussion with Qiao clan and the other clans. Fang Yuan orders the two to hold Wu clan’s position, striking only if struck. Neither man is surprised, since Wu Yi Hai’s own reputation rests on a spar won under his own rules, a bloodless end to the Mount Snail dispute, and rumors of an affair with Qiao Si Liu. Wu An lingers to ask whether the dream realm business the super clans run together should pause given the tense situation; Fang Yuan tells him to continue it as before. Wu An leaves relieved, since the order keeps his own risk very low if the business is later exposed. ^{ch. 1322}

Ba De, very astute, avoided striking the dream realm business itself. Fang Yuan judges this deliberate: the business is shared by every super clan, and attacking it would unite them against Ba clan. Ba De is saving it in reserve, to use only if Wu clan’s prestige truly crashes. Fang Yuan reflects that he has out-maneuvered the rank eight Wu Yong through scheming rather than strength. His courtship of Qiao Si Liu was never about her, but a route back into the giant dream realm. ^{ch. 1322}

Wu Yong tolerates Wu Yi Hai’s greed but not a bid for authority. Before Wu Du Xiu died she willed her Immortal Gu to Wu Yi Hai, and his now-approved bloodline makes him a huge threat to Wu Yong’s rule. Where Wu Du Xiu had watched Qiao clan alone, Wu Yong now watches both Qiao clan and Wu Yi Hai, since the two appear to be drawing together. He already grew wary once before, when Qiao clan’s agent inside Wu clan turned out to be Wu clan’s own third supreme elder. ^{ch. 1322}

Wu Yong’s response is quite extraordinary: rather than confront Wu Yi Hai directly, he offers three tasks as a hidden test. Xuan Ming Mountain’s task, the most intense of the three, concerns a wild Immortal Gu and is definitely going to end in conflict. Choosing it would show a willingness to risk himself for the clan, and it would leave Wu Yong ready to rely heavily on him afterward. Yi clan’s banquet would test any lingering attachment to Eastern Sea. Preventing red dragon river’s flood is a trap, since both Wu clan and Qiao clan hold territory on the river, and the work would throw Wu Yi Hai into contact with Qiao clan’s Gu Immortals. Marriage to Qiao Si Liu would greatly increase Wu Yi Hai’s own authority inside Wu clan, and would finally let Qiao clan truly reach into Wu clan’s inner core as well. Fang Yuan picks the river task, and Wu Yong, alarmed at what it opens up between the two clans, resolves at once to have Wu Yi Hai transferred away before they can grow close. ^{ch. 1322}

Unable to move openly against his own brother under the righteous path’s rules, Wu Yong decides instead to exile Wu Yi Hai into the giant dream realm for as long as he can. None of the three tasks was ever a genuine choice. Fang Yuan enters the dream, built from true memory rather than imagination, and wakes as a child: the son of Tu Shi Cheng, a formation path Gu Immortal. Tu Shi Cheng tells him Tu clan’s dominance over their mountain range rests on formation path, and vows to teach him the path from that day on. Fang Yuan answers in the boy’s voice that he will study properly. ^{ch. 1322}