Chapter 737

Fang Yuan wears the disguise of the mortal killer move unfamiliar face. His eight arms fold to ordinary shoulders, his body shrinks to normal size, and his fangs retract. He must hide, since Ma Hong Yun and Zhao Lian Yun, now held by Qin Bai Sheng, could expose his true zombie form if searched. Hei Lou Lan, Tai Bai Yun Sheng, and that form are all key survivors of the Eighty-Eight True Yang Building incident, and none can appear openly. ^{ch. 737}

Northern Plains is on edge after Dong Fang Chang Fan, its foremost wisdom path Gu Immortal, deduced with his dying breath that the culprit was an outsider. Countless forces now want revenge. Exposure would draw immediate, dangerous attention. The disguise is not a betrayal of the Snowy Mountain Alliance, since Fang Yuan had already told Fairy Li Shan of it by letter. ^{ch. 737}

Despite his zombie appearance, Qin Bai Sheng treats Fang Yuan as an equal. Fang Yuan judges him a shrewd operator, able to turn a Northern Plains siege against him into an advantage. Qin Bai Sheng, in turn, marks this small zombie as no ordinary figure, since probing has not made him slip. ^{ch. 737}

Fairy Li Shan teases that the two talk like old friends. Qin Bai Sheng lights up and proposes they swear brotherhood, using Fairy Li Shan’s mountain pledge Gu. Startled that he means it seriously, Fairy Li Shan worries that his discernment may already have seen through Fang Yuan’s disguise. ^{ch. 737}

Fang Yuan declines with a bitter smile, since he is too small a character to decide such things alone, unlike Qin Bai Sheng and Fairy Li Shan, who are free agents. Swearing before the mountain pledge Gu would place him at Qin Bai Sheng’s mercy. Privately, he reasons Qin Bai Sheng wants a line to the force behind him, or suspects him of toppling Eighty-Eight True Yang Building, and judges the man dangerously capable either way. ^{ch. 737}

Qin Bai Sheng accepts the refusal graciously, offering to help while still probing. Fang Yuan asks to borrow Fairy Li Shan’s mountain pledge Gu, says he is in no rush, and parts from the pair as they go on to invite Prince Feng Xian. He declines their invitation to come along, unwilling to risk a rank eight Gu Immortal whose investigative Immortal Gu is at least rank seven. ^{ch. 737}

Fang Yuan judges Qin Bai Sheng more dangerous than the brutish Shi Lei, his open warmth hiding real calculation. Were he not a reborn old monster, he might have missed it. Qin Bai Sheng, a lone cultivator, has built a network of alliances across Northern Plains, and in Fang Yuan’s previous life Blood Hunter came out of seclusion and overcame Qin Bai Sheng in battle. ^{ch. 737}

He flies on and meets a myriad group of azure ostriches, birds as strong as full-grown men. They rush at him as prey, then flee once they sense his zombie aura. In his previous life, meeting them would have forced him into hiding. ^{ch. 737}

Fang Yuan reflects that his cultivation now far exceeds where he stood at this point in his previous life. Back then Qing Mao mountain had already been destroyed by Bai Ning Bing’s self-detonation, and he joined a caravan to earn a living before he became a lone demonic cultivator. Only decades have passed this time. Yet his strength already ranks upper tier among rank six Gu Immortals. His rebirth’s influence keeps growing, and Qin Bai Sheng’s auction never happened in his previous life. He hopes joining Zombie Alliance now brings fewer accidents and lets his plans run smoothly. ^{ch. 737}

His first plan, taking dark limit Immortal Gu, stalled after the Xue Song Zi and Hei Cheng incident gave warning and Fairy Jiang Yu vanished beyond Fairy Li Shan’s reach. His second plan, killing Ma Hong Yun and Zhao Lian Yun, is closed off now that Qin Bai Sheng’s capture of them puts both under constant watch. The third plan was always to join Zombie Alliance. With the first two blocked, Fang Yuan must risk it now without enough control of events. ^{ch. 737}

He flies on toward Ku Mu mountain, his aura repelling every bird group, and avoids a desolate beast flying snake rather than waste time. After half a day he sights a mountain on the horizon: Ku Mu mountain. ^{ch. 737}