Chapter 797

Hei Lou Lan reports she is already deep in her pool, drilling underground. In the air, Fairy Li Shan spits blood, the backlash of the alliance agreement she can endure, and wipes it away without pausing. She warns Hei Lou Lan to move stealthily and to watch especially for Fang Yuan, who is shrewd enough that even Pi Shui Han dances to his tune. Their Snowy Mountain Alliance with him is nearing its time limit, so Hei Lou Lan should stay wary of him too. Hei Lou Lan agrees at once. ^{ch. 797}

Fang Yuan moves above a jade pool. His previous-life investigative methods, a generation ahead of the surrounding Gu Immortals though he holds no investigative Immortal Gu, confirm it holds only oil water. Oil water is a resource extremely common in Eastern Sea, rather rare in Northern Plains and Western Desert. It moves little in treasure yellow heaven, too thin in single transactions and too scarce in bulk ones. ^{ch. 797}

Dong Fang tribe deepened this pool to draw traces of earth qi from below. Fang Yuan works out that periodic clear water refreshes the oil water’s concentration this way. Oil water needs specific Gu worms to extract. Low-battle-strength but well-regarded specialist Gu Masters normally do this work. ^{ch. 797}

With the strength path Immortal Gu Pulling Water, Fang Yuan bends a finger and draws the pool’s oil water into his aperture, the water rising like a dragon. The Gu costs more green grape immortal essence than oil water is worth. He means to attend Central Continent’s Refinement Path Convention, though, where oil water suits the earlier stages, and gathers it for that alone. ^{ch. 797}

Hearing nothing more from Hei Lou Lan, who seems to have moved to another pool, Fang Yuan privately guesses at her and Fairy Li Shan’s plans for Thatched Hut and Miniscule Mountain, unworried. With his rebirth’s knowledge he likely understands both treasures better than Fairy Li Shan herself. He recalls that Immortal Gu Houses, all but unstoppable the more Gu Immortals they store, drove some of the largest battles of his previous life’s chaotic war. He stores the oil water and flies on. ^{ch. 797}

At another pool he finds a beast group, tens of thousands of shark fin wolves that rush out howling at his approach. He has used shark fin wolves before, disguised as Wolf King Chang Shan Yin. He values them as slow, well-armored shields. But his gaze fixes on their leader, an enormous specimen over ten meters tall crouched to pounce. ^{ch. 797}

Fang Yuan means to subdue it, though he holds no beast enslavement Immortal Gu, the one true example of which sits in Lang Ya blessed land. Other paths, phantom, water, fire and light among them, have their own substitute methods, as Chang Fan once used to command his phantom beasts at Tai Qiu, though none compares to beast enslavement Immortal Gu. The wolf holds itself back, sensing his aura, until Fang Yuan attacks first. ^{ch. 797}

Two giant hands press down. The wolf grows a layer of watery armor, leaps, and fires water bullets. Two more hands join while the first two seize its rear legs and drag it down before it can reach him. It crashes to the ground, crushing several ordinary wolves too slow to flee. It struggles up, but a giant hand slams its face into the ground hard enough to crater it, and a second hand does the same again. A fifth hand joins the beating while the rest of the pack scatters, its water bullets reduced to a light drizzle against Fang Yuan’s frame. ^{ch. 797}

Half Moon Brutemaster watches, shaken. He already knew Fang Yuan’s rank seven battle strength, but seeing him maul the wolf without effort still unsettles him. He notes the desolate beasts of this blessed land carry no Immortal Gu, since a Gu Immortal would simply take one. Even beaten until it cannot lift its head, the wolf’s will stays stubborn. ^{ch. 797}

Fang Yuan increases the force. He hoists the wolf by all four legs while a fifth hand slaps its face again and again. Half Moon Brutemaster mutters, terrified, that this is truly hanging the wolf up to pulp it. Still the wolf will not break, its gaze holding bone-deep hatred, for wolves are beasts that hold grudges deeply. ^{ch. 797}

Fang Yuan wonders whether it still refuses to submit. Submission to the strong is a wild beast’s instinct, and by now it should have broken. Watching closely, he notices the wolf is in heat, its alpha instincts at their strongest, and gets an idea. A giant hand’s finger creeps between the wolf’s rear legs and flicks its penis with precision. ^{ch. 797}

The wolf convulses as though electrocuted. It howls in pain that only grows as the flicking continues. Half Moon Brutemaster, unable to speak, understands Fang Yuan is forcing submission by a method he has never heard of. Fang Yuan’s image transforms in his mind, from the burly, devouring brute he had imagined into a sinister figure with broad shoulders, a thin waist, and a trace of perversion. ^{ch. 797}

The wolf’s will finally breaks, and it collapses fully submitted. Its body bends like a shrimp, whimpering as weakly as a flower in the lightest wind. Pleased, Fang Yuan calls it a good method. He turns to Half Moon Brutemaster, having already noticed his stealthy glances. Fang Yuan’s face stays hidden, but Half Moon Brutemaster feels the gaze behind it settle like a cold, coiling snake, and a chill spreads through him. Half Moon Brutemaster privately judges Fang Yuan too savage to deal with and resolves to avoid him from now on. He flees, all but running. ^{ch. 797}