Chapter 1897

Xia Cha leaves her closed cultivation, greeted by kneeling featherman girls. Fang Yuan captured her in the ambush battle of the River of Time and took her rank eight immortal aperture, though she lived. She has regained rank five cultivation since her release, but countless attempts to become a Gu Immortal have failed. Only one path is left, buying the rank six second aperture Immortal Gu from Fang Yuan. ^{ch. 1897}

Xia Cha summons the second and third supreme elders, but after an hour both send word that important matters keep them away. She once raised both, and now she is a rank five cripple. She reads their absence as a bid for independence, yet understands it and cannot entirely call them ungrateful. Fang Yuan extorted the clan too harshly on her account, greatly depleting its inventory, and restoring her cultivation would certainly cost a huge amount. The clan’s Gu Immortals reach an unspoken agreement, and her title becomes a hollow status. ^{ch. 1897}

She offers the second supreme elder the title through an information path mortal Gu, for some cultivation resources. He politely refuses, because he and the third supreme elder mean to keep her as a figurehead. Ba Shi Ba fared worse, losing the first supreme elder post of Ba clan to the newly advanced rank eight Ba De. Xia Zhao and Xia Chen Yuan, rank seven earth path cultivators she once nurtured, would rather leave her the title than lose their reputation. Her influence is slipping fast, and she has no capital to bargain with. She must become an immortal soon or be completely pushed out of the clan’s higher-ups. ^{ch. 1897}

Southern Border’s righteous path forces are changing their attitude, chiefly through Wu clan’s Wu Yong. Backed by Heavenly Court, he seizes the incredibly rare opportunity that the downfall of rank eights Xia Cha and Ba Shi Ba gives him. Lu Wei Yin’s Virtue Paradise holds many mushroommen, a weakness Wu Yong exploits. His faction in Southern Alliance demands confrontation with Fang Yuan and an end to accepting Fang Yuan’s extortion, and more Gu Immortals answer as the hostages return and the blackmail hurts. ^{ch. 1897}

Fang Yuan’s Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique body parts from Chi Qu You after a secret dream realm transaction. This clone is temporary and will turn into a dream realm at its time limit. Chi Qu You demands a higher price, saying exposure would completely ruin his Chi clan’s reputation. The clone judges that reason false, since Chi Qu You only wants more dream path research results. With extortion growing harder, this deal is again Fang Yuan’s main source of dream realms, as Chi clan controls Southern Border’s only dream realm formation. The clone says it will report to the main body and flies away. ^{ch. 1897}

Chi Qu You dares not attack, lacking dream path methods and fearing an ambush. Fang Yuan’s main body is far away in Eastern Sea, but Wu Shuai waits nearby with Dragon Palace, so an attack would certainly gain him nothing. The clone tells Wu Shuai that the Chi clan business must stop unless the price rises. It releases a few dream realm bodies as probably the last batch. ^{ch. 1897}

Wu Shuai holds back. Each move he makes raises the chance that Heavenly Court learns what the Wu Shuai clone truly is to Fang Yuan’s main body. The killer move dreamy light smoke is reserved for Heavenly Court, so revealing it on Chi Qu You would be a truly huge waste. ^{ch. 1897}

A Southern Border that keeps its strength could trouble Heavenly Court later, and outright destruction does not always pay. Xia Cha and Ba Shi Ba, whom Fang Yuan released, now feel ostracized in their clans. He will secretly sponsor them, as they have nobody else, and he needs them as eyes and ears in the righteous path forces of Southern Border. He still lacks means to restrict them. The time path clone deduces night and day, and the temporary clone bodies explode into earth path dream realms that fuse together. Wu Shuai sits on his dragon throne, and his soul enters the dream. ^{ch. 1897}