After the Moon Festival had passed, Fang Yuan continued to appear in public frequently.
He took the initiative to approach Qiao Siliu. Although she was still annoyed by his dismissive behavior during the Moon Festival, she could not refuse him due to the clan's orders.
Gradually, rumors began to spread.
Wu Yihai of the Wu Family and Qiao Siliu of the Qiao Family were getting very close, often going on outings to enjoy the scenery together.
Whether it was Wu Yihai, the younger brother of Wu Yong, or Qiao Siliu, one of the three great beauties of the Southern Border, both were undoubtedly well-known figures in the Southern Border's Gu Immortal world.
Their behavior quickly gave rise to all sorts of gossip.
Qiao Siliu's suitors were furious, but at the same time they had to admit that Wu Yihai was a formidable rival. Setting everything else aside, just the relationship between the Wu Family and the Qiao Family alone gave Wu Yihai an enormous advantage.
This left Fang Yuan somewhat helpless.
He didn't actually want to be famous. The less attention the Wu Yihai identity attracted, the better.
Unfortunately, things rarely went the way one wished. This time, by borrowing Qiao Siliu's presence, Fang Yuan had once again made a huge name for himself in the Southern Border's Gu Immortal world.
This situation quickly impacted Fang Yuan.
The frequency of people attempting to deduce his whereabouts, which had only just shown signs of decreasing, had now surged back up and was extremely frequent.
Relying solely on the Dark Crossing Immortal Gu to deal with this situation was barely sufficient.
Fang Yuan had no choice but to frequently descend his aperture and hide within the Supreme Blessed Land.
An Immortal Aperture was a self-contained world that isolated the inside from the outside. As long as Fang Yuan didn't let any critical clues leak out and fall into others' hands, deduction of his location would be extraordinarily difficult.
Unless someone had obtained clues of the level of "Linked Fate," it was nearly impossible to deduce his specific location or other intelligence.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan himself needed to descend his aperture from time to time to absorb Heaven and Earth Qi. With the addition of the Reversal Flow River, the consumption of Heaven and Earth Qi was truly enormous.
Besides descending his aperture, Fang Yuan continued to deal with Qiao Siliu on one hand, while using the Wu Family's channels to gather intelligence on Luo Muzi and Lun Fei on the other.
It wasn't yet convenient to make a move.
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be imperiled.
Gu Immortals possessed endlessly varied and mysterious means. Sometimes a single moment of carelessness could lead to disaster.
For example, who could have imagined before the Snow Mountain battle that Fang Yuan could actually use the Reversal Flow River to resist the offensive of an Eighth Transformation Gu Immortal?
Fang Yuan was a cautious person by nature. Even if he wanted to take the lives of Luo Muzi and Lun Fei, he would only begin making targeted plans after thoroughly understanding their intelligence.
Then he would bide his time, and once a golden opportunity presented itself, he would strike with full force, killing in a single blow.
Only in this way was the risk minimized, and it best served his interests.
Even a lion uses its full strength when hunting a rabbit, to say nothing of the fact that Lun Fei and Luo Muzi had caught Qiao Siliu's eye, which meant their strength was not to be underestimated.
Another half month passed in this manner. One day, Wu Yong summoned Fang Yuan.
"Brother, I have a few tasks here. You may choose one to handle," Wu Yong said directly.
"Please go ahead, brother. Contributing to the family is my duty," Fang Yuan answered calmly.
A mortal Information Path Gu flew out from Wu Yong's sleeve. Fang Yuan took a look and found that the Gu recorded three items.
The first concerned Xuanming Mountain.
Recently, someone had discovered what appeared to be the aura of a wild Immortal Gu deep within Xuanming Mountain.
This news had already attracted numerous rogue Gu Immortals to head there.
More importantly, the superpower Yang Family had also dispatched forces.
If the intelligence proved true, obtaining an Immortal Gu would be joyful news for any superpower, as it would strengthen their foundations. The Wu Family certainly didn't want to miss this opportunity.
The Wu Family's current situation was neither good nor bad. Under Wu Yong's leadership, they had already stabilized their footing.
More critically, Xuanming Mountain was right next to the Wu Family's territory. While it wasn't Wu Family land, it bordered their domain.
If the Wu Family didn't send Gu Immortals this time, other superpowers would likely perceive them as weakened.
So in this task, Wu Yong had specifically instructed: even if they couldn't seize the wild Immortal Gu, they must at the very least destroy it and absolutely not let the Yang Family obtain it.
The second matter concerned the recent surge in the Red Dragon River's water levels. If left uncontrolled, it could very likely lead to a catastrophic flood.
Once the flood spread, it would pose a tremendous threat to all living creatures along its path, causing resource shortages and even potentially altering the surrounding environment.
The superpowers along the Red Dragon River all took this matter very seriously.
The Qiao Family and Wu Family's territories also bordered the Red Dragon River in certain areas.
Therefore, Gu Immortals needed to be dispatched to monitor the situation and attempt to control it, in order to prevent a devastating flood.