The situation was almost comical.
Three parties, in unison, were trying to recruit Fang Yuan.
His position was too advantageous. If he managed to reach his target in the river, whichever side he joined would gain an enormous edge.
But Fang Yuan didn't respond.
He was too exhausted to even speak.
With his feet planted on the riverbed, he straightened his body and pressed forward.
He knew that no matter what he said, it would be pointless. Only by personally capturing Ma Hongyun and Zhao Lianyun would he have the standing to negotiate and set terms with the three powers beyond the river.
The distance closed, inch by inch.
Beyond the River of Inverse Flow, all the Immortals watched Fang Yuan's every move, and one after another called out with higher bids.
There was one curious thing, though.
No one threatened Fang Yuan.
Everyone knew the identity he was operating under: Liu Guanyi. This Liu Guanyi had killed even Ye Lü Qunxing. His strength was formidable, and he had launched the attack on his own initiative, deeply offending the Liu family — proof of his vicious, lawless nature. Threatening a criminal like that would only backfire.
"I want to live, I want to be with Hongyun forever!" Zhao Lianyun wept, crying out in her heart. Every step forward was agony, each one barely covering an inch.
"I'm here, I'm right here. Don't be afraid, Xiaoyun, I'll protect you no matter what..." Ma Hongyun's face was pale as paper as he gripped Zhao Lianyun's arm. Blackness kept swimming across his vision, and with every step a fierce wave of dizziness crashed through his head, making him wonder whether he would collapse at any moment.
"Where do you think you two are going?" Fang Yuan's voice came from behind Ma Hongyun.
The pair jolted violently and spun around.
Fang Yuan's hands were already resting on their shoulders.
"No!" Ma Hongyun threw his head back and roared. He shoved Zhao Lianyun aside and lunged at Fang Yuan with all his might.
But could he possibly succeed?
His earlier failures against Ying Wuxie and Zishan Zhenjun had already put Fang Yuan in a foul mood. Against Ma Hongyun and Zhao Lianyun — one a mortal, the other a counterfeit Immortal — dealing with them was child's play.
After a dizzying flurry of movements, Fang Yuan had them both subdued, one under each arm, pinned against his sides and utterly unable to move.
When the two managed to comprehend what had happened, they naturally thrashed with all their strength. But then came Fang Yuan's voice, cold as the void: "Move again, and I'll kill the person you hold most dear."
Instantly, Ma Hongyun and Zhao Lianyun froze, staring at Fang Yuan with utter terror in their eyes.
A single sentence from Fang Yuan had struck right at their weakest point.
Fang Yuan exhaled a long, turbid breath, one captive tucked under each arm, and continued walking forward.
The perilous situation had finally, at this moment, been forcibly wrenched open to reveal a sliver of hope.
He gazed up at the sky beyond the river and called out to the three powers in a loud voice: "Now we can have a proper conversation!"
"Hahaha, brat, you're not bad at all. You remind me of myself in the old days. Everything can be negotiated!" Patriarch Snow Beard laughed boisterously.
"Don't do anything rash. The Central Continent can meet any condition you set," Wei Lingyang quickly added.
"Boring." Mao Liqiu curled his lip, flopped onto the ground, and lazily swayed his dog tail.
Xuanji Zi managed a bitter smile: "Liu Guanyi, just name what you want... eh!"
At that very instant, something unexpected happened.
Ma Hongyun had suddenly stopped breathing.
He was dead!!
The Immortals were stunned into silence.
For a moment, even Fang Yuan was taken aback.
"I didn't even use that much force. No — Ma Hongyun was worked to death! He'd been supporting Zhao Lianyun the whole way, pushing his own vitality and spirit beyond every limit again and again. In the end, not only his physical strength but his very spirit was completely drained. Once I grabbed him and his body finally relaxed, he died on the spot."
Fang Yuan quickly figured it out.
This sudden turn of events had caught him completely off guard.
Ma Hongyun was dead!
The Immortals erupted in uproar.
"Damn you! Liu Guanyi, you killed him! I'll strip your tendons and peel your skin — you will not die a clean death!!" Patriarch Snow Beard was incandescent with fury, howling at the sky, his eyes blazing red.
The moment Ma Hongyun died, his heaven-defying fortune dissipiated immediately.
Which meant that only the living Ma Hongyun held immense value as Immortal-grade material. A dead Ma Hongyun was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill Fifth Transformation Gu Master.
That was precisely why Lady Wanshou had always tried to refine Ma Hongyun alive, rather than killing him first and processing the remains at leisure.
Just like the Spring Dream Fruit Tree before, fortune-path materials had their peculiarities. A living fortune-path material had to be kept alive. Refining fortune-path Immortal Gu required the live-refinement method.
"Ma Hongyun..." Bi Chentian, Wei Lingyang, and the others looked like their souls had been hollowed out.
"You little bug, you crushed Ma Hongyun to death! You crushed him to death!!" Mao Liqiu's voice rose even higher than Patriarch Snow Beard's. His face was twisted with rage, his sharp teeth bared, his entire body bristling with fur. He looked ready to pounce at any second and tear Fang Yuan apart limb from limb.
"Ma Hongyun actually died just like that?!" Fang Yuan steadied himself. "No matter, I still have Zhao Lianyun."
Zhao Lianyun's tears streamed down her face.
"Hongyun!"
"Hongyun!"
The one she loved most had died right before her eyes.
An indescribable agony and grief crashed over her like a mountain flood and a tsunami, engulfing her small frame entirely!
But she could not cry out. She could not scream. She had lost the power to make any sound.
She could only wail and howl in her heart!
After everything — after enduring untold hardship and suffering to make it this far, after having only just reunited with Ma Hongyun — they were now parted by death forever.