Chapter 396

In the silent bronze hall, Fang Yuan sits with the refined rank six second aperture Gu floating before him. His eyes are on Bai Ning Bing, who has recovered his male body and stands behind him with an ice blade. The blade has pierced Fang Yuan’s heart, and healing Gu keep him alive. Tie Ruo Nan walks over and says that Fang Yuan never imagined this day. ^{ch. 396}

Bai Ning Bing says that since his resurrection on Qing Mao mountain he has pondered how to recover his male body. Fang Yuan held the Yang Gu and could make it self-destruct with a thought, so Bai Ning Bing planned to repeat the Qing Mao scene, timing a false self-destruction to the moment Fang Yuan used the Yang Gu. At Shang clan city he had chosen ice crystal Gu against Wei Yang’s advice of snow fairy Gu, because a snow fairy form could not be hidden. Ice crystal form with ice explosion Gu could stage a self-destruction extremely similar to that of northern dark ice soul physique. It deceived Fang Yuan. ^{ch. 396}

Poison vow Gu nearly made Bai Ning Bing abandon the plan. He judged Fang Yuan too confident in the poison vow with Shang Ya Zi, and rumors of the Bai clan contract leaked. Bai Ning Bing feared that Fang Yuan, who prepares for the worst, might escape the vow while he stayed bound as a chess piece. One person at Shang clan city could help him, and Fang Yuan himself had introduced her. He first met Doctor Su Shou at a banquet where she was to treat Fang Yuan’s disfigured face. Fang Yuan had asked Bai Ning Bing along on purpose, to make Bai Ning Bing give up. Seeing Bai Ning Bing’s real appearance, Doctor Su Shou turned extremely warm and promised help with any problem. ^{ch. 396}

Fang Yuan coughs blood, names Doctor Su Shou, and remembers a second meeting. Bai Ning Bing confirms that he intentionally lost to Yan Tu by just a little, giving up his vital Gu to evade Fang Yuan’s suspicions. He then went to Doctor Su Shou for treatment and told her the truth. She could not dispel poison vow but could remove its binding by letting the vow kill its maker, then reviving that person. She had freed herself the same way after a junior brother of her sect tricked her into such a vow when she was young. Only her teacher’s unique legacy lets her barely manage it, with a one-in-three chance of failure, and failure means death. Bai Ning Bing chose it on the spot and was freed. ^{ch. 396}

Free of the vow, he contacted Tie clan, and Tie Ruo Nan learned that the person before her was Fang Yuan, not Fang Zheng, and came to understand the events on Qing Mao mountain. The two began a secret cooperation. Tie Ruo Nan says Tie clan had set iron cabinet Gu and qi flow Gu around an area for the staged self-destruction, but Fang Yuan refused to rescue Bai Ning Bing, so she hurried to San Cha mountain. The days Tie clan’s four old-timers spent trapping Bai Ning Bing looked like reprisal but were a scheme against Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan slaughtered Tie Ruo Nan’s group. Tie Mu Bai took the stage, and she waited for news from Bai Ning Bing without seeking Fang Yuan out. ^{ch. 396}

After Fang Yuan seized control inside the three kings inheritance, Tie Mu Bai died and Bai Ning Bing hid deeper, using Fang Yuan’s trust to command the dog beasts. The land spirit’s death raised the pressure on him but freed him from its surveillance. Unsure, he gave way for Yan Jun to probe Fang Yuan. Feng Tian Yu being sent out proved the land spirit truly dead. He then maneuvered a way in for Tie Ruo Nan and the four old-timers, which is why she came to the hall alone. ^{ch. 396}

Tie Ruo Nan advises Fang Yuan to surrender. Tie Bai Qi, Tie clan’s enslavement path grandmaster, controls the dog beasts and obstructs the experts outside. The four old-timers confine the space outside the main hall with iron cabinet Gu and qi flow Gu so that no one can infiltrate. Holding the second aperture Gu, she pronounces his fate. Fang Yuan is silent. ^{ch. 396}