Gu Yue Fang Yuan
At a Sea God Ceremony in Fang Yuan’s first life, he fell silent under Frost Tide tribe’s leader’s long speech, then transmitted that he understood these tricks clearly and had accepted these truths. He had been forced from Qing Mao Mountain, wandered Southern Border, Western Desert and Eastern Sea, struggled at the border of death, and groveled before the strong. He had also once held high status, hearing reports from subordinates over tea. Given his life on Earth and his experiences after crossing over, his vision was beyond normal people and he was very knowledgeable. ch. 1673
The leader retorted that a weak human Gu Master took great risks in meddling in a merman political battle, and he offered many more beautiful mermaids, ready to swear an oath to the Sea God. Fang Yuan replied that he did not like Xie Han Mo and only wanted to help her, since favors must be repaid and hatred returned. Having used lifespan Gu, he had lived much longer than the leader could imagine and was tired of wishing for long life. Asked whether helping Xie Han Mo mattered more than the saintess position, he agreed and said the dark side of politics and mermaid beauties meant nothing to him. He was sick of wearing a mask and unafraid of death. ch. 1673
The leader shouted that Fang Yuan was a lunatic and that a mere rank three Gu Master could not live as he wished. Fang Yuan answered that living without a mask depends on the heart and not on strength or cultivation level, and that low strength even brings more challenges to surpass. Struck dumb, the leader judged that Fang Yuan, whose thought process was completely different from ordinary people and who leaned towards self destruction, had likely turned demonic. He felt deeply powerless. Fang Yuan knew these dark truths too well to be guided. ch. 1673
Pressed from above by the elders of merman Sacred City, and by scheming subordinates, many children and quarreling wives, the leader did not think his corruption wrong. He reasoned that corruption was only taking more benefits than the distribution agreement allowed, that the grand elder’s side was corrupt too, if not as heavily, and that everyone was an exploiter. He called his drive an aspiration. He expected to push through any opposition with political techniques. Without Fang Yuan, he would have pushed down Xie Han Mo, promoted his own pawn to the saintess position, and defeated the grand elder. A puppet saintess would then have issued policies that turned his corrupted history into legal events and cleared his reputation. Instead he completely failed, and he hated Fang Yuan and wished him dead but could not act during the ceremony. ch. 1673
Xie Han Mo and Fang Yuan walked to the stage together for the final song, he playing the accompaniment while she sang. Her song told of drifting with the waves, throwing away the mask, and laughing crazily until the end as a true person. The audience was entranced, and the leader, pale and shivering, understood that his loss was certain. He stared at Fang Yuan and mumbled that he was a demon. Xie Han Mo, entranced as well, looked at Fang Yuan with an extraordinary brightness in her eyes, yearning for such a free and unrestrained life. She thought Fang Yuan, who could create such a song, had an immortal’s disposition. ch. 1673
Back in the present, in Dragon Whale grotto-heaven’s Merman Sacred City, Xia Lin goes on stage for the third song and sings the same song. The whole place is shocked and Su Yi turns pale, the outcome already certain. Xia Lin sings entranced, with Master Chu’s image elevated infinitely in her heart. The familiar melody intertwines with Fang Yuan’s memory, for he once stood on the stage as an accompanist and now stands outside it as a spectator. After several hundred years, the vast power of time has changed him, yet it also seems that nothing has changed. He has always been Gu Yue Fang Yuan. ch. 1673
