Chapter 1779

Fang Yuan knows that Fang Di Chang, a wisdom path great grandmaster, is the biggest obstacle to joining Fang clan as Suan Bu Jin. Wisdom path Gu Immortals are usually very calm, so a change in emotion would signal a huge problem, and his joining might stir strange feelings in Fang Di Chang. Fang Yuan therefore had Ying Wu Xie disguise himself as a Western Desert Gu Immortal and attack heavenly dew oasis, and Fang Di Chang fell for it. The staged event also let him display his battle strength and, to a degree, his loyalty, easing his integration into a clan that doubted him. Risks remain: closer contact may expose him, Ying Wu Xie’s disguise is not special, and Qing Chou is likely still lurking in green ghost desert. Still, his need for a vast number of soul beasts is greater. ^{ch. 1779}

Under the agreement Fang clan gives Fang Yuan a portion of soul cores once in a while, and being busy it will likely hand over its stockpile. He must therefore develop green ghost desert himself, using pawns such as Ying Wu Xie. He cannot station himself there, and Fang clan, which treats the desert as its own territory, would find him an eyesore if he hunted alone as Suan Bu Jin. He does not want it controlling the desert too much, but he cannot eliminate it entirely and chooses to work with it. Unlike Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, he does not answer every conflict with killing. ^{ch. 1779}

Inside the formation, Fang Yuan inspects the oasis waters, from delicate springs, jade toad drool and bitter fragrance water to rarer divine strength water and black-white water. Divine strength water, a rank six strength path immortal material, can kill even a Gu Immortal who drinks it without food path methods. Black-white water, a rank seven immortal material at the center, is white by day and black by night, and under the open sky it creates drops of heavenly dew. Heavenly dew is a rank eight immortal material and the oasis’s most valuable thing. Ying Wu Xie never reached the center, so a hundred droplets accumulated over half a year remain, and Fang Yuan stores thirty away. This follows the righteous path’s hidden rule that defenders secretly keep a portion, and thirty drops, three months of accumulation, is the limit before Fang clan would accuse him of embezzlement. He muses that if the nine heavens had not shattered, the center would hold nine colored water, which yields nine heavenly star sweat, a rank nine immortal material. ^{ch. 1779}

Fang clan gave him the methods to use the formation, and with formation path grandmaster attainment and wisdom path methods he quickly gains some grasp of how it works. It is unimpressive beside Chi clan’s work and mainly raises heavenly dew production, so Fang clan also placed acupuncture trees as defense. Fang clan’s strength lies instead in Immortal Gu Houses, mobile formations that let rank six Gu Immortals fight rank eight enemies. Were he Fang clan’s leader, Fang Yuan would gather people to strike one enemy fiercely and deter the rest of the Western Desert righteous path without going overboard. Time is pressing, since Southern Border’s righteous path will soon come after him. ^{ch. 1779}

In flipping heaven sand sea, Fang clan’s Gu Immortals secretly approach treasure moon oasis, and Fang Di Chang transmits that Dong clan’s Dong Lu Chen has arrived. Fang Gong attacks the oasis directly, and Dong Lu Chen flies up in shock and anger but is restricted by having to defend it. An oddly shaped, broken Immortal Gu House rises into the sky with Fang Di Chang’s voice inside, saying Dong clan spread a rumor that Fang clan once attacked the oasis and Fang clan will now supply evidence. The house then unleashes an immortal killer move. Dong Lu Chen’s anger turns to shock and fear as Fang Di Chang names it as steal dao, the killer move of Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable. The oasis’s countless natural dao marks are exposed, and Dong Lu Chen watches furiously, unable to stop them, as they are all drawn into the theft path Immortal Gu House that Fang clan owns. Steal dao directly steals dao marks, and after creating it Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had the foundation for a qualitative change and officially founded theft path. ^{ch. 1779}