Chapter 1820

Chen clan leader angrily accuses vice clan leader Shan of poisoning the wine, and Fang Yuan, slightly dazed, has no answer. The Shan clan Gu Master beside him declares that they are killing the Chen clan members, because the mountain always belonged to Shan clan and Chen and Nie clans began as its servants. A Chen clan Gu Master retorts that the mountain was Chen clan’s and its ancestors took in both clans after they left their destroyed mountain. The Shan clan Gu Master adds that the wine was made with woman’s heart Gu to counter the clan leader’s justice Gu. Fang Yuan asks who said so, and the Shan clan Gu Master, the vice clan leader’s aide, answers in a stunned tone that his lord told him so himself. Fang Yuan is speechless. ^{ch. 1820}

A blinding white light then bursts from Chen clan leader, and justice Gu still works despite the poison. He denounces Fang Yuan’s role, vice clan leader Shan Xing, as a scoundrel who hid his ambition and feared justice Gu. Fang Yuan is only rank four with weaker Gu worms, while the leader is rank five, so he cannot win a fight. He sees that the poison matters only if justice Gu stops working. Chen clan leader kills him, and Fang Yuan dies with a faint smile. ^{ch. 1820}

On the second attempt, Fang Yuan tells Chen clan leader that he, not Nie clan, laid the plot to destroy the mountain and deceived him. He says the people the leader killed were all innocent and calls the leader a cold blooded murderer, a brute and a fool. Chen clan leader, completely shocked, asks whether he is drunk, then asks whether Fang Yuan poisoned the wine, and falls holding his stomach. Shan clan’s Gu Masters attack at once, while the leader can only watch helplessly. Fang Yuan’s words make the leader suspect himself and feel incredibly ashamed, so he cannot activate justice Gu. Shan clan had come prepared, so the Chen clan members are dead, injured or captured, and the second scene is passed. ^{ch. 1820}

In the third scene, Fang Yuan is chained in a cell, old and weak, his rank four aperture destroyed and his Gu worms gone. His only cell mate is Chen clan leader, deeply poisoned, injured, chained and barely breathing. The leader calls him father and says he defeated and locked him up without regret, because the evidence showed he was corrupt. The leader also does not regret his own fate, for he killed many innocent Nie clan members and deserves death. Shan clan tortures him for justice Gu, and he begs for more pain and for death, though he says pain cannot atone for his sins. Then he dies. Shan Xing, who took the leader’s position, arrives furious that justice Gu is lost, scolds Fang Yuan for not urging his son, and beheads him. ^{ch. 1820}

The exploration fails, and Fang Yuan’s desolate soul suffers huge injuries. After a long rest, he deduces that each scene’s condition is to satisfy the character’s needs, and that Chen clan leader is the key. In the first scene that meant a beautiful victory, in the second a successful scheme that suppresses justice Gu. In the third, the father wants freedom, which is why he chose to work with Shan Xing to make his son hand over justice Gu. ^{ch. 1820}

On the next attempt, Fang Yuan claims that he faked the evidence of his corruption and sacrificed himself to nurture his son. He says justice Gu needs firm belief in one’s own justice, and his son’s sense of justice was too superficial. Fang Yuan asks whether the truth matters, and when his son insists it does, answers that Nie clan defending its homes was justice, as was the leader’s slaughter out of fear for the mountain. Using the example of a sheep eating grass, he says nature is the law of the jungle, so there is no justice in heaven and earth, only justice made by humanity. Humans unite through organizations, laws and morals, and organizations with comprehensive laws, realistic morals and proper class systems survive more easily. Chen clan leader, completely stunned, learns that justice is man-made. Fang Yuan likens it to iron armor, a tool that has become the leader’s chain. ^{ch. 1820}

Chen clan leader says in a hoarse voice that he understands now, and a dazzling white light fills the dream realm. The realm fades, and Fang Yuan’s desolate soul returns to reality with the exploration succeeded. He reasons that father and son, both Chen clan leaders, hate Shan clan’s action, so helping Shan Xing would never pass the final scene. Only teaching the leader and resolving his guilt lets him use justice Gu again to break out of the prison. Fang Yuan finds the dream realm interesting. Inspecting himself, he smiles plainly at having advanced to human path grandmaster. ^{ch. 1820}