Chi Quyou rushed to Phoenix Flame Mountain at full speed, only to find that the mountain protection grand formation had already been largely breached by Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan was tearing out Sunset Paulownia trees and stripping the Paulownia Forest of all its avian creatures, including the Fire Phoenixes — his movements utterly practiced and efficient!
The Gu Immortal guarding this place had not fled. Instead, relying on the remnants of the grand formation, he was launching fierce attacks against Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan handled it all with ease.
He simultaneously fought off the remnants of the formation while plundering everything in sight.
"Stop!" Chi Quyou roared, equal parts startled and furious.
"Supreme Grand Elder, you've finally come!" The Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal stationed here was overwhelmed with emotion, tears filling his eyes.
At first, he had been quite confident in the mountain protection grand formation, but after just a brief exchange, Fang Yuan had shattered it, leaving him trembling with fear, his courage completely broken. Before Chi Quyou arrived, he had been purely on the defensive. Now, seeing that Chi Quyou had come, he immediately launched several grand and imposing attacks.
Chi Quyou charged over, and Fang Yuan voluntarily withdrew.
"Fang Yuan, look at what you've done! Now retribution has come!" Chi Quyou's eyes blazed with fury.
This massive resource node of Phoenix Flame Mountain was somewhat special.
Beyond raising Fire Phoenixes, each year during a specific period it would also attract numerous wild phoenixes to come here, stay, and lay eggs. If Phoenix Flame Mountain suffered a major upheaval, the wild phoenixes would very likely choose a different location, causing enormous losses to the Chi Family.
But Fang Yuan simply smiled.
Compared to his previous life, Chi Quyou was even angrier, because Fang Yuan's plundering had been far more thorough this time around. The Chi Family had suffered greater damage, making Chi Quyou's heart bleed.
"Senior Chi Quyou, I've been waiting for you as well. Now witness this!" So saying, Fang Yuan activated the Yama Battlefield.
Chi Quyou hesitated for a moment, then did not dodge. Instead, he allowed the Yama Battlefield to envelop him, shouting: "I'd like to see what you're capable of!"
The Yama Battlefield rapidly took shape, forming a vast mass of yellowish-brown clouds that engulfed both Fang Yuan and Chi Quyou.
Then the Yama Battlefield swiftly contracted — one moment it seemed like an enormous yellowish-brown cloud, and the next it condensed into a single point, mimicking how an Immortal Orifice would shrink and anchor itself into the void, vanishing without a trace.
"What a fine Soul Path battlefield," Chi Quyou praised.
Chi Quyou clasped his hands behind his back, completely at ease, his demeanor having undergone a drastic change. Despite being trapped within the Yama Battlefield, he showed no urgency to fight, instead appearing leisurely and composed.
Internally, he was secretly wary: he had not expected Fang Yuan to possess a battlefield killer move as well. There had been absolutely no intelligence on this before.
Compared to the same point in his previous life, Fang Yuan's Yama Battlefield this time had not been exposed.
In his previous life, he had used the Yama Battlefield to besiege Feng Jiuge, which not only exposed this method but also allowed Fairy Ziwei to deduce and successfully counter it.
After the defense of Langya Blessed Land, Fairy Ziwei had even published all the intricacies of the Yama Battlefield, along with how to dismantle it, into the Precious Yellow Heaven for free — causing the Yama Battlefield's practical combat value to plummet while its risk multiplied.
In this life, although Fang Yuan had used the Yama Battlefield several times, his targets had been Meng Tu, Sleeping Maiden, and Drill Turtle — all of whom either died or surrendered. And when dealing with Feng Jiuge, he had been inside the space of a super grand formation, where it was inconvenient to activate the Yama Battlefield. Thus, this method had remained a secret, unknown to the world.
Only now, with Fang Yuan deploying it, did it become truly exposed.
Fang Yuan could not kill Chi Quyou. After this battle, intelligence about the Yama Battlefield would inevitably spread far and wide.
Of course, not killing Chi Quyou was not because Fang Yuan lacked the ability, but because the risk of killing Chi Quyou was too high and the reward too small. This was the same reasoning behind Chi Quyou's earlier reluctance to deal with Fang Yuan.
When two tigers fight, one is sure to be wounded.
Fang Yuan stood on the other side of the battlefield, sizing up Chi Quyou from afar with a smile: "Lord Chi Quyou, you've fallen into my Immortal Path battlefield, yet you show not the slightest inclination to attack. Instead, you'd rather chat with me? What exactly are you after?"
Chi Quyou let out a cold snort: "Cut the pretense!"
"All your plundering everywhere was nothing more than an attempt to draw my attention."
"Think about it carefully. Since you could so easily breach the guardian formation, why didn't you take the lives of the Chi Family Gu Immortals? That wouldn't have been difficult for you. Yet you never killed a single Chi Family Gu Immortal."
"Second, whether at Heart-Capturing River Beach, Cloud Bamboo Mountain Range, or Phoenix Flame Mountain, your raids were fierce, but at each location you preserved the foundation and didn't destroy it."
"Taiyu Temple and I launching our attack — that was also within your expectations. Seeing us move out, you deliberately targeted Phoenix Flame Mountain and Tattered Cave to lure our forces into splitting up."
"You simply wanted to find an opportunity to speak with me, but had no other covert means of doing so."
"So speak. What exactly do you want?"
Chi Quyou spoke at length with eloquent composure. Long before the forces had split, he had already guessed Fang Yuan's intentions. All the anger and fury that followed had been nothing but an act.
Chi Quyou's analysis was largely correct.
In his previous life, Shadow Plunder Gully was still intact, and Chi Quyou had been stationed there for some time. It was only when Fang Yuan attacked Phoenix Flame Mountain that he managed to draw Chi Quyou out alone.
In this life, Fang Yuan had long since conquered Shadow Plunder Gully, and Chi Quyou had been together with Taiyu Temple the entire time, which made things somewhat difficult for Fang Yuan.
Taiyu Temple, this Space Path Immortal Gu House, was specifically designed to counter Immortal Path battlefields. In his previous life, Fang Yuan had fought against it, and even the Great Thief Ghost Hand had been powerless against it.
To communicate with Chi Quyou, Fang Yuan's best course of action was to avoid this Gu House, create an opportunity, and lure Chi Quyou out for a private conversation.
This was no challenge for Fang Yuan. With his profound attainment in the Wisdom Path, a mere shift of thought and a few slight adjustments were all it took to achieve his goal.