After all, the opponent was the founder who established the Soul Path — a Ninth Transformation Revered One, one of the ten peak cultivators in the river of history.
If such a person could have their soul searched so easily, that would be nothing short of a joke.
The Heavenly Stealer Demon Venerable, who cultivated the Path of the Universe, had created a killer move like Undetectable and Untraceable — one that required no Immortal Essence yet was perpetually effective.
The Ghostly Soul Demon's true body, even without Immortal Essence or Gu, would be far from easy to deal with.
When True Monarch Purple Mountain handed over all his inheritance to Fang Yuan, making Fang Yuan the master of the Shadow Sect, Fang Yuan's gains naturally far exceeded his earlier expectations.
"True Monarch Purple Mountain wants me to rescue these people, doesn't he? He just didn't say it out loud. Was he afraid I'd grow suspicious and refuse the gift?"
"That took quite some scheming."
"Still, if I make good use of them, they could indeed become my helpers. They've long been backed into a corner — they're my natural allies."
"Heh, I'll take you all with me then."
Fang Yuan had never been a narrow-minded person.
Even when he had first transmigrated into this world, that was the case. Having weathered the trials of both his past and present lives, his perspective had grown far broader than most.
Bai Ningbing, Black Loulan, and Black Rabbit had all betrayed him.
So what?
Fang Yuan understood them from the bottom of his heart.
These thoughts flashed through his mind and vanished.
Fang Yuan placed True Monarch Purple Mountain's will inside his Supreme Immortal Aperture.
Without Immortal Essence and Immortal Gu, the danger posed by True Monarch Purple Mountain's will had dropped to practically zero.
From now on, unless absolutely necessary, Fang Yuan would never grant this purple will any Immortal Essence or Immortal Gu to use.
Time was extremely tight. Fang Yuan had no time to inspect his gains and immediately communicated with the purple will inside his aperture.
What he wanted to ask about was naturally the method True Monarch Purple Mountain had revealed — the technique for controlling the Supreme Heaven Eagle.
Right now, using the Reverse Flow Body Protection Seal carried enormous risk. The Supreme Heaven Eagle naturally became his first choice.
The Supreme Heaven Eagle was superior to the Reverse Flow Body Protection Seal in that it flew faster and could pierce through the void. As an ancient desolate beast, it was also incredibly tough and thick-skinned.
Of course, the prerequisite was that Fang Yuan could actually control it.
Although Fang Yuan had the Name Restraining Immortal Gu, firstly it wasn't his own — he had merely borrowed it from the Wu Family — and secondly, it was only Seventh Transformation, likely insufficient to subdue an Eighth Transformation Supreme Heaven Eagle.
Fang Yuan quickly learned True Monarch Purple Mountain's method.
Fang Yuan actually knew this method too.
It was a Slave Path technique connected to a person — someone with rather a peculiar name called Hundred-Eighty Slave.
He was a Gu Immortal from the Eastern Sea whose early years had been rough. Born a slave with a lowly status, he seized every opportunity and risked his life time and again, growing steadily until he climbed to the pinnacle of existence.
He was a legendary genius of the Slave Path.
Ordinary Slave Path methods used the superior to enslave the inferior. But he turned this principle on its head, using the inferior to command the superior.
The Eastern Sea Zombie Alliance controlled Hundred-Eighty Slave's hidden legacy and made it available for purchase as part of its cultivation resources.
Shark Demon had once purchased part of Hundred-Eighty Slave's true inheritance. He intended to use his school of sharks to command upward and seize control of the One-Finger Flowing Shark within the River of Time.
Unfortunately, his plan was ruined by the Burning Heaven Demoness. Then, at the Eastern Sea Zombie Alliance headquarters, he fell victim to the Shadow Sect's scheme. Not only he but even his beloved wife Su Baiman were turned into Gu materials for refining the Supreme Immortal Fetus Gu.
The Shadow Sect's foundation was incomparably deep. As the first-generation split soul, True Monarch Purple Mountain surely had more than one method for enslaving the ancient desolate beast Supreme Heaven Eagle. However, the only method he could offer at this point was Hundred-Eighty Slave's technique.
Actually, it was quite fortunate.
Although True Monarch Purple Mountain possessed many Immortal Gu, after setting up the Purple Blood Pioneer Formation recently and having repeatedly distributed true inheritances over the past hundred thousand years, the fact that he could still assemble a set of Gu capable of subduing the Supreme Heaven Eagle was no small feat.
"This Immortal-level killer move is called Hundred-Eighty Slave — commanding through one's own name. It seems Hundred-Eighty Slave considered this his ultimate trump card, the technique he was most proud of."
"This killer move isn't too difficult, and all the Immortal Gu are present. The mortal Gu are all common varieties — I just need to purchase them in Treasure Yellow Heaven. It seems the Shadow Sect has already improved upon Hundred-Eighty Slave's original."
"The only thing I'm lacking now is desolate beasts or ancient desolate beasts of the eagle variety."
Fang Yuan's mind raced as he continued accelerating the Supreme Heaven Eagle's maturation, consuming vast quantities of Heavenly Crystals.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan began aggressively purchasing eagle-type desolate beasts or ancient eagle beasts in Treasure Yellow Heaven.
The trade of living desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts had always been substantial in Treasure Yellow Heaven.
However, filtering for eagle types among them yielded rather few results.
Time was pressing. Fang Yuan had no other options — after a brief moment of hesitation, he made his decision.
He broadcasted loudly throughout Treasure Yellow Heaven: "Purchasing eagle-type desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts! Premium prices! Payment via Immortal Gu — no problem!"
The announcement caused an immediate sensation.
Paying with Immortal Gu for desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts?
Immortal Gu were unique and extraordinarily difficult to refine, while desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts were far easier to raise and breed.
This was obviously a losing deal.
But Fang Yuan couldn't afford to care about that now.
Soon, many Gu Immortals took notice.
"I have Chaos Heaven Eagles — both desolate beasts and ancient desolate beasts. How are you selling your Immortal Gu?" the first Gu Immortal asked.
The Chaos Heaven Eagle was no ordinary eagle species. It had an eagle's head atop a humanoid body, a pair of arms with five-fingered human hands bearing sharp nails, eagle talons and eagle wings, and a fondness for wielding long bone clubs as fighting staffs.
"Although the Chaos Heaven Eagle looks bizarre, it's still definitely an eagle — it can serve my purposes." With that thought, Fang Yuan immediately asked, "How many do you have?"
"Thirty-three desolate beast Chaos Heaven Eagles and seven ancient desolate beast Chaos Heaven Eagles," the Gu Immortal reported.
Fang Yuan nodded without hesitation. "I'll take them. I have one Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu."