The sound of rushing waves reached Fang Yuan's ears, accompanied by the clear cries of seabirds.
The surface of the Eastern Sea before him shimmered and undulated beneath the warm sunlight.
The sea breeze brushed against his face, refreshing and invigorating.
Yet a faint sense of loss stirred in Fang Yuan's heart. "So the timing really isn't right yet…"
He had used the Cui Liu Zhu killer move to travel from the Southern Border to the Eastern Sea, all for the purpose of finding the Azure Dragon Whale.
For Fang Yuan now, possessing the Regret Gu was a wonderful thing.
Because he needed to refine a large quantity of Sixth Transformation Immortal Gu to bolster his overall strength. With the Regret Gu in hand, it could reduce countless losses and minimize the risks of Gu refining to the absolute minimum!
In truth, since his rebirth, he had come here many times.
This stretch of sea was where he had glimpsed the Azure Dragon Whale in his previous life, when he followed Miao Ming Shen and the others.
Unfortunately, Fang Yuan had never managed to encounter the Azure Dragon Whale.
"Perhaps I should make a move on Miao Ming Shen and directly seize that method he possesses?"
"With that method, I could locate the Azure Dragon Whale's precise position myself."
This thought flashed through Fang Yuan's mind, and he quickly assessed the risks involved.
If it came to action, Miao Ming Shen himself wouldn't be difficult to deal with. Fang Yuan could even leverage Chu Ying's identity and Wisdom Path methods to frame them.
The real risk was that Fang Yuan didn't know exactly what this method entailed.
If it were just an ordinary Immortal Path killer move, that would be one thing. The worry was that it might be something unusual and bizarre — acting rashly could easily backfire.
According to Fang Yuan's assessment, the latter possibility was by no means small. In his previous life five hundred years ago, he had never heard of anyone successfully seizing this method from Miao Ming Shen.
The Eastern Sea also had Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals. Miao Ming Shen was merely at the Seventh Transformation, and his method was connected to Le Tu's True Inheritance — it was impossible for it not to tempt the Eighth Transformation Gu Immortals.
But none of those Gu Immortals seemed to have any desire to act, which already indicated that the waters here ran quite deep.
"Following the trajectory of my previous life, if I bide my time, I can still follow Miao Ming Shen inside."
"But this approach has a drawback — the Ink Effect. In his previous life, Miao Ming Shen chose Chu Ying only after deliberation. Will he still choose Chu Ying this time?"
Fang Yuan activated the Cui Liu Zhu killer move and returned to the Southern Border once more.
At present, among the Five Regions, the Southern Border was the safest. Even if the Southern Border's Righteous Path came after him, he had a large number of captives to use as bargaining chips, and he understood the Southern Border's situation more thoroughly than anywhere else.
Fang Yuan was in no rush to move against Miao Ming Shen. His rebirth plan was proceeding smoothly and had been thoroughly considered. Even if he wanted to deal ruthlessly with Miao Ming Shen, acting now would be somewhat premature.
Everything required proper timing — one had to wait for the right moment, handle matters one by one, step by step, in an orderly fashion.
In life, sometimes you needed to be fast, and sometimes slow.
Too fast, and the fire burns too hot, scorching everything good. Too slow, and the fire stays weak, never building enough heat, wasting the opportunity.
Fang Yuan had long since mastered the balance of speed and patience.
His main task going forward was still his clones!
He needed to condense a dragonman clone.
The dragonman transformation technique that Bai Ningbing had mastered had already fallen into Fang Yuan's hands, and he had long since begun studying it.
This technique was called the "Everyone Like a Dragon" Gu Refining Method. It involved the Gu Immortal treating themselves as a Gu material, combining it with the Surging Dragon Ascension Fire for refining, ultimately changing one's race to fully become a dragonman.
The success rate of this method was less than one percent, and during the refining process, all of the Gu Immortal's Dao Marks would affect the final result.
When Fang Yuan first looked into it, he marveled at its ingenious concept.
However, he soon discovered its shortcomings.
This method had been created by Dragon Lord. Dragon Lord excelled in the Qi Path and Transformation Path, but his attainments in the Refining Path were not deep — he had largely relied on cross-disciplinary insights from his mastery of the Qi and Transformation Paths.
But Fang Yuan was a quasi-Supreme Master of the Refining Path. This technique could be vastly improved on the refining front. After his modifications, the success rate would increase significantly — possibly even reaching ten percent.
That was one in ten.
This probability was already the limit of what Fang Yuan could improve; he could not push it any higher.
Because the "Everyone Like a Dragon" Gu Refining Method was fundamentally a Human Path killer move that involved the profound mysteries of the Transformation Path.
Fang Yuan's attainment in the Transformation Path could not match Dragon Lord's. His attainment in the Human Path was even further behind.
Therefore, the "Everyone Like a Dragon" Gu Refining Method was also an excellent piece of material that could help Fang Yuan glean insights into the essence of the Human Path.
"What truly hinders me is the Surging Dragon Ascension Fire!"
The Surging Dragon Ascension Fire was a Ninth Transformation Immortal Material — the Human Flame among the Three Flames of Heaven, Earth, and Man. It was exceedingly rare.
The Bai Xiang Blessed Land had originally held a mass of it, but it had already been consumed by Bai Ningbing. There was none to be found in the Precious Yellow Heaven.
Purchase it openly in the Precious Yellow Heaven?
No — Fang Yuan had a better option!
The Xia Family's main base.
The atmosphere in the grand hall was heavy and oppressive.
The first to receive Fang Yuan's extortion letter was the Xia Family.