A whistling wind roared past his ears.
Below, the vast grasslands rushed backwards beneath Fang Yuan as he flew at breakneck speed.
After more than ten days of travel, the enormous green barrier wall now loomed directly ahead of him.
Suddenly, Fang Yuan's expression shifted.
He could feel the power of his Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu rapidly weakening.
"Someone is divining me again!" he realized instantly.
He hastily activated the Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu to resist the force of the calculation.
This was not the first time Fang Yuan had encountered such a thing. In recent times, he had slain Yelü Qunxing, pillaged two of the Liu Family's resource sites, stripped them clean, and even killed a Liu Family slave-path Immortal Gu Master at the Sixth Transformation, Liu Yong.
As a result, during his departure from the Northern Plains, he had been targeted by multiple divinations. The frequency was far higher than before.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan possessed the realm of a Wisdom Path Grandmaster, and the Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu shielded him as well.
But the Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu had a drawback: once activated, it required a lengthy recovery period before it could be used again.
Fang Yuan had to account for this, doing his utmost to avoid the dangerous situation of needing the Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu only to find it unusable.
Raising, using, refining — the art of using Gu was vast and profound. Different Gu Insects demanded different considerations.
The Liu Family.
Three Liu Family Immortal Gu Masters stood within a Gu formation, their immortal essence continuously draining as they maintained the formation's operation.
After a short while, the formation halted, and the three Immortal Gu Masters stood down.
"Failed again?" Outside the formation, Liu Chang — a Seventh Transformation Light Path powerhouse with his trademark long, drooping face — spoke in a sour tone.
"We have failed Lord Liu Chang's expectations. We are deeply ashamed." The three Liu Family Immortal Gu Masters hung their heads and sighed, their expressions grim.
Liu Chang let out a cold snort, displeasure evident as he swept his gaze across the three. But eventually, his tone softened. "Very well. Our Liu Family has no Wisdom Path Immortal Gu Masters. This formation is the best we have for achieving Wisdom Path calculation. Next, I will go ask Tian Xiaxin for help."
"Forgive my bluntness, Lord Liu Chang, but the reason we could not divine anything is not because the formation is lacking. It is because the target possesses powerful defensive measures that severely counter outside calculations." The leader of the three Immortal Gu Masters spoke up.
"Is that so?" Liu Chang's face darkened another shade.
He muttered under his breath: "The target is a Transformation Path Immortal Gu Master, specializing in the ancient sword floodfish transformation. How could he possibly have such a thing at his disposal? Then again, one can never be sure — the Transformation Path is said to reflect all paths. But it is far more likely that this demonic cultivator Liu Guanyi has someone helping him. Overlord Chu Du... even though he exiled Liu Guanyi, I refuse to believe he truly stands idle. None of these demonic-path vagrants are any good!"
As he spoke, Liu Chang gritted his teeth, his expression growing fierce.
Liu Guanyi had plundered two of the Liu Family's key resource sites and killed their Immortal Gu Masters. Where was the Liu Family's dignity now?
Liu Chang had been tasked with hunting down Liu Guanyi, yet after all this time, he had made zero progress.
Earlier, he had delayed his pursuit of Fang Yuan out of concern for his sister's safety. This had caused a very poor impression within the family, and the pressure Liu Chang now bore was immense. He wished he could run into Fang Yuan in the very next instant.
"Liu Guanyi, you cowardly turtle — where are you hiding?" Liu Chang's frustration was suffocating.
What he did not yet know was that in the days ahead, his frustration would only deepen. Because Fang Yuan had already left the Northern Plains, heading for other regions.
Just as troubled as Liu Chang was the Yelü Family.
Yelü Qunxing had died at Fang Yuan's hands. The Yelü Family would certainly seek revenge. Now that Fang Yuan had been expelled from the Chu Sect, the Yelü Family immediately sprang into action, launching investigations and hunting parties against him.
The Immortal Gu Masters they dispatched were no weaker than Liu Chang in combat strength. But alas, Fang Yuan had already departed the Northern Plains.
Fang Yuan passed smoothly through the Sweetgrass Barrier Wall.
Inside this miraculous barrier that encircled the entire Northern Plains, a thick green mist pervaded everything. Within the mist, light and shadow played across one another like wildly proliferating blades of grass — a sea of writhing serpents, a tangle of endless threads, constantly intertwining, constantly knotting together.
Fang Yuan's Supreme Immortal Aperture, however, threaded through without the slightest resistance.
Having crossed the Sweetgrass Barrier Wall, Fang Yuan entered the Azure Water Barrier Wall of the Eastern Sea.
By the time he passed through the Azure Water Barrier Wall and arrived in the territory of the Eastern Sea, his aura had completely transformed. He now felt like an Immortal Gu Master native to the Eastern Sea.
This was one of the wondrous qualities of the Supreme Immortal Body.
Wherever Fang Yuan went, he could perfectly blend into his surroundings, as though he were a born-and-raised local.
Unlike other Immortal Gu Masters, whose foreign aura remained perpetually obvious. Tribulations were even more troublesome — they had to return to their homeland to undergo them, otherwise absorbing the ambient qi of a foreign region would lead to dire consequences.
Upon entering the Eastern Sea, Fang Yuan did not rush onward. Instead, he came to the Azure Jade Blessed Land to rest and recuperate temporarily.
This Blessed Land was left behind by the Immortal Gu Master Liu Qingyu.
After Fang Yuan killed him, the duck land spirit had also been successfully brought under Fang Yuan's control.
Seeing Fang Yuan again, the duck land spirit was overjoyed, quacking excitedly and hopping up and down.
Fang Yuan offered a few warm words of comfort, which moved the duck land spirit to tears. "Quack quack quack!"
"I knew Master hadn't abandoned me!"
Unfortunately, Fang Yuan's realm was insufficient to annex this Blessed Land formed from a Seventh Transformation Immortal Aperture.
Fang Yuan took a proper rest here, the most important thing being to wait for the Concealed Crossing Immortal Gu to recover. Since this Blessed Land was a self-contained world, anyone attempting to divine Fang Yuan's location from outside would find it completely ineffective, and the Concealed Crossing Gu's energy would not be further depleted in the process.