Chapter 657

Fang Yuan steps out of the wisdom light halo, his wills nearly spent. His deduction of Immortal Crane Sect’s plan failed, and he judges the cause not too few wills but too few clues. Wisdom Gu differs from natural inspiration: its light offers unending insight, but the deduction’s accuracy still depends on the Gu Master’s own foundation and evidence, so more evidence demands more thought and consumes more will. Natural inspiration is the precious experience of a Gu Master advancing to Gu Immortal. Heaven and earth then hand him a direct answer, useless unless the question fits what he can already comprehend, so the wise use is to ask within his current foundation. Fang Yuan recalls that wisdom path holds an Immortal Gu, heavenly secret Gu, letting a Gu Immortal seize a strand of heavenly secret and obtain an answer with no deduction. History credits its creation to Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, rumored the rank nine Gu Master closest to heavenly fate, whose own rank eight heavenly secret Immortal Gu vanished without trace after his death. ^{ch. 657}

He judges that this heavenly secret Immortal Gu, paired with wisdom Gu, would work exquisitely, but turned against him it could expose every secret he holds. The wind veil of assimilation already swallowed his crimes in Imperial Court blessed land. That leaves ordinary wisdom path Gu Masters only the Imperial Court contest itself to investigate from, a slow route of low probability. ^{ch. 657}

In northern plains, Tong Zu, a Chanyu tribe Gu Immortal, leads about ten righteous path Gu Immortals down into Dong Fang tribe’s Jade Pool blessed land. It is headquarters of the Huang Jin family’s Dong Fang tribe, a super force. From above its countless jade pools mix blue and green like stars in the sky, and guests admire the aquatic life each pool raises, prized across treasure yellow heaven. Dong Fang Yi Kong greets them, a Gu Immortal himself, modestly ranking the land below Murong tribe’s Yin-Yang blessed land in scenery and Guan tribe’s Shi Huang blessed land in productivity. Guan Shen Zhao’s forehead eye spots underworld eels in a pool beside a small hut, where an elderly man fishes. Tong Zu greets him, recalling their charge into Snowy Mountain together over ten years before, and the fisherman rises: Dong Fang Chang Fan, northern plains’ foremost wisdom path Gu Immortal. ^{ch. 657}

Chang Fan leads the guests inside the hut into a spacious interior with a plaza and sixteen subtly patterned stone statues. One guest praises it as Modest Thatched Hut, a rank six Immortal Gu House, calling it truly brilliant. Seated in the administration hall, Chang Fan says he has gathered them to make a transaction. Tong Zu asks how they are to pay, since Chang Fan stopped making deductions for others decades ago but wrote that he would name the true culprit behind True Yang Building’s destruction. Chang Fan’s lifespan is ending, he answers. In exchange for one deduction for each tribe, he asks that after his death they ally with Dong Fang tribe and leave it unmolested for fifty years, terms already drafted into contracts on east window Gu. ^{ch. 657}

The Gu Immortals find the conditions extremely lax, asking nothing of mutual protection. They grow excited, since only Chang Fan can plausibly name True Yang Building’s true culprit. Immortal Gu auras now lie scattered across northern plains after Imperial Court blessed land’s fall, so one deduction would very likely hand a tribe an Immortal Gu. Tong Zu accepts first, and every other tribe’s representative follows. Pleased, Chang Fan calls for Fairy Li Shan to act, and a rank six female Gu Immortal steps out from behind the hall to general surprise. When a guest asks how an oath can be sworn in a blessed land with no mountains or rivers, Dong Fang Yi Kong, silent until now, opens his palm to reveal a miniature mountain peak in colored light. Murong Qing Si names it Miniscule Mountain first, and Dong Fang Yi Kong confirms it with a modest smile that cannot hide his pride, setting off a commotion among the assembled Gu Immortals. ^{ch. 657}