"I truly need it! I have reasons I must keep living!" Fang Yuan shouted loudly, insisting with all his might.
"Everyone in this world has reasons to keep living. Why should I die just because you want to live?" The Gu Immortal smiled as he spoke. "Of course, I understand your reasons. That demon is your mortal enemy, and you want to take revenge on him. But he is also my enemy, and I want revenge as well. Why should I sacrifice my reasons to fulfill yours? Go find other Lifespan Gu — I intend to use my own Lifespan Gu myself."
Fang Yuan could not refute him, because the Gu Immortal's words truly made perfect sense. He continued to beg bitterly several more times, but it was all useless.
Fang Yuan had no choice but to go out and search for Lifespan Gu. In truth, he had been keeping an eye out for Lifespan Gu throughout his cultivation. But his luck was poor, and the demon was also hoarding Lifespan Gu, making those in circulation extremely rare.
Fang Yuan was at his wits' end. He knelt before his parents' gravestone for an entire night. That night, he first wailed and howled, then wept softly, and by the time dawn broke, he rose to his feet, his gaze filled with a dangerous light.
In order to seize Lifespan Gu, he decided to take a desperate gamble. In the end, he murdered the man who had saved his life and searched his body for Lifespan Gu.
With this Lifespan Gu, he successfully extended his lifespan and continued his cultivation, seeking his chance at revenge.
He began to grow unprincipled, willing to stop at nothing. Because of this, the other Gu Immortals gradually came to regard him as a dangerous individual, a practitioner of the Demonic Path.
"So what if I've become a demon? Anything that helps me take my revenge — I will do it!"
The demon had annihilated every force that opposed him. His position was supreme, and no one in the world could shake him.
Fang Yuan could find no hope whatsoever of killing the demon. He gradually grew unable to endure it. The hatred in his heart was like a dark monster — if this monster was not fed its fill of revenge, then the first thing it would devour was Fang Yuan himself.
And so, Fang Yuan turned his attention to the people around the demon.
The demon was human too. Although all his previous family had been killed, over the years he had taken wives, gathered subordinates, and fathered quite a few children.
Among all those children, one young girl was the most doted upon by the demon. At only sixteen, the demon had spent an astonishing price to forcibly elevate her to Gu Immortal.
Fang Yuan devised a meticulous plan, engineering an accident so he could deliberately get close to this female immortal.
"You can call me Xiao Shang. Thank you for saving me." The female immortal was very naive, and with Fang Yuan appearing in the role of her savior, he quickly gained her trust.
Fang Yuan put on an act. The vicissitudes of years had honed his acting to perfection, and his rich experiences allowed him to see through people's hearts.
At first, he approached the female immortal Xiao Shang with the intention of killing her, to make the demon taste the bitterness of suffering. But gradually, as he spent day and night with Xiao Shang, something beautiful within Fang Yuan's heart was slowly awakened from beneath layer upon layer of frost and hardship.
When Xiao Shang confessed her feelings to him, declaring her love, Fang Yuan panicked and fled with his face buried in his hands.
He disappeared from Xiao Shang's sight.
He concealed himself and returned once more to kneel before his parents' grave, tears streaming down his face.
Because from his own panic, he understood the truth of his heart — without even realizing it, he had fallen in love with Xiao Shang.
How could he love the daughter of the very enemy he had sworn to destroy — the man who had slaughtered his family?
Fang Yuan was anguished beyond measure, torn by irreconcilable conflict.
In the end, he decided to let Xiao Shang go, and pursue revenge against the demon alone.
He altered his appearance, committed several daring robberies, and after gathering sufficient cultivation resources, he built a small hut beside the grave and dwelt there, cultivating with desperate intensity, charging toward the Eighth Transformation.
He succeeded in breaking through to the Eighth Transformation, but was gravely wounded.
While he was recovering from his injuries, Fairy Xiao Shang actually appeared — she had found Fang Yuan.
She confronted him, demanding to know why he had fled with his face in his hands when she confessed her feelings. She said this was the first time she had ever confessed to someone she loved, and to be treated like this was unacceptable. She refused to let it go — she had to get an answer.
Fang Yuan could not tell her the truth. He could only lead her to his parents' grave and say, "This is the grave of someone I once loved."
Fairy Xiao Shang's face went pale. She apologized to Fang Yuan, then asked, "Why are there no words on the gravestone?"
Of course there could be no words. How could Fang Yuan risk leaving such a clue, so carelessly exposing his true identity?
And so, he sighed deeply. "Because I never knew her name from beginning to end."
Then he told a heartrending love story.
Fairy Xiao Shang listened until tears streamed down her face, completely absorbed, her heart overflowing with sympathy and tender affection for Fang Yuan.
She decided to stay by his side, to live with him, and help him emerge from the shadows of his past. Her reasoning was powerful: "What is wrong with helping the person I love?"
Though Fang Yuan loved Xiao Shang as well, he was unwilling to be with her.
Because he was afraid.
He feared that after his revenge was complete, he would only cause Xiao Shang more harm.
He also feared that if he stayed with Xiao Shang, the fires of vengeance in his heart would gradually be extinguished.
On the very night that Xiao Shang moved in, Fang Yuan came face to face with the demon.
His lifelong nemesis!
The demon used his power to put Xiao Shang into slumber, then forcibly dragged Fang Yuan before him.