Chapter 1894

Fang Yuan brings Xia Lin to the fishing village and soul searches the village head, and the whole village falls into a trance and recovers without suspicion. Nothing in the village has changed since his previous life. As before, he poses as a traveling Gu Master. He easily defeats the village’s Gu Masters and gives them the recipe for water shell Gu, and the villagers are very grateful. At the sea bottom he teaches them to use it, along with healing methods that ease the black oil corrosion. Healing it completely needs at least rank four Gu worms, which they are nowhere near, so he teaches only what they can do. ^{ch. 1894}

He concentrates on Xia Lin, who got only water shell Gu last time, and nurtures her properly. Wisdom path methods hand techniques directly into her mind while he corrects many of her mistakes. When he leaves, the whole village falls to its knees. Xia Lin wants to follow, but he says their connection is not over and they will meet again, and she watches tearfully as he vanishes. He returns to the Merit Obelisk ten merit points richer, having completed the mission perfectly. ^{ch. 1894}

Only Miao Ming Shen stands at the obelisk, studying it patiently. He faintly feels a connection to it, extremely hidden and very weak, but cannot tell how to grasp it. Fang Yuan cannot detect how Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable restricts Gu Immortals, who cannot make a move on each other or on the inhabitants. The rule has gaps: his soul search and his teaching of Xia Lin go unrestricted because he means well, while an evil thought would bring backlash. Taking the black oil is allowed too, since it lets other natural resources grow, and he keeps the excess in his sovereign immortal aperture. ^{ch. 1894}

Fang Yuan approaches, and Miao Ming Shen recognizes Chu Ying with a start. Fang Yuan tells him his connection is too weak, mainly good for finding this place and of little use from now on, and advises him to complete missions and accumulate merits. Miao Ming Shen is surprised by the politeness and shocked that Chu Ying knows a secret he never revealed, but he asks nothing, since forcing this man is useless. Fang Yuan points to one mission as suitable for him, and Miao Ming Shen thanks him. The guidance sows discord and arranges to affect Eastern Sea: if Shen Cong Sheng cornered the popular Miao Ming Shen, Qi Sea Ancestor or Wu Shuai could recruit him. ^{ch. 1894}

Fang Yuan then exchanges for a title, and his merit points fall from over a hundred to single digits, from first place to last. He takes a new mission and vanishes. Miao Ming Shen, filled with huge suspicions, checks the exchange list but cannot tell what it was, since many rewards cost a hundred points and combinations could also use them up. He wonders whether the polite words were meant to make him hide this, then dismisses it, since the points are in plain view. ^{ch. 1894}

At the sea bottom Fang Yuan finds a rampaging tiger king salamander, a desolate beast he is to suppress. It is insane and mutilating itself, and its battle strength has soared to that of an ancient desolate beast, as with Miao Ming Shen’s group in the previous life, and he cannot see through the cause. The salamander is actually very beneficial, purifying seawater into extraordinary natural resources, and pacifying it would earn large merit, but that is impossible. So he kills it and stores the corpse in his aperture. ^{ch. 1894}

Ren Xiu Ping returns to the starting island, where Shen Xiao congratulates him on topping the merit board, ahead even of Shen Cong Sheng, whose expression is a little dark. Shen Cong Sheng asks what Chu Ying exchanged to fall to last place, and Ren Xiu Ping answers that it must be very useful to him. The immortals keep discussing it until Fang Yuan reappears and climbs back to first with ninety-eight merit points. They are tongue-tied. ^{ch. 1894}