Seeing that neither Ren Xiuping nor Tong Hua had been spared and had been forced to hand over their immortal materials to Fang Yuan, Miao Mingshen and the others felt their hearts clench.
What if Fang Yuan extorted them next?
Could they refuse?
Probably not.
Miao Mingshen and his group couldn't stay in this Dragon Whale Paradise for the rest of their lives—they still needed to cultivate in the Eastern Sea.
Even though Fang Yuan demanding their immortal materials was entirely unreasonable and nothing short of extortion, for the sake of their long-term prospects, Miao Mingshen and the others would still bow their heads.
This world had always operated on the principle that power came first, and reasoning came second.
Just as Miao Mingshen and his group had steeled themselves mentally, Fang Yuan didn't even glance at them. Instead, he turned to face the Merit Stele.
Shen Congsheng seemed to have forgotten about Miao Mingshen's group entirely as well.
Only Ren Xiuping and Tong Hua were looking at Miao Mingshen's crew—the former's gaze brimming with venomous hatred, while the latter's emotions were far more complex.
Fang Yuan looked at the face of the Merit Stele.
Without a doubt, the mission he had accepted earlier—the extermination of the demonic Immortal Gu Master Shen Shang—had failed completely.
That mission had already vanished from the Merit Stele's surface. Not only that, Fang Yuan discovered that a massive amount of merit had been deducted from his total.
The others hadn't been spared either—all of them had suffered merit deductions.
"Supreme Grand Elder, your merit!" The Shen family Immortal Gu Master cried out in alarm.
Shen Congsheng's face turned ashen, his expression grim.
His merit had been deducted the most severely—even more than Fang Yuan's. Though Fang Yuan had plummeted from first place to dead last, at least his merit was still a positive single digit. Shen Congsheng's merit, on the other hand, had gone directly into the negatives!
This situation surprised even Fang Yuan. After all, this bizarre phenomenon hadn't occurred in his previous life.
"Brother Shen, it seems the Merit Stele is punishing you severely because you took the initiative to destroy the undersea grand formation and release Shen Shang. As for me, I was negligent in my duties—even went so far as to take the undersea grand formation for myself—so my merit has been heavily deducted as well," Fang Yuan analyzed.
Shen Congsheng's expression shifted slightly, a trace of anxiety creeping in: "I've just received another message from the Merit Stele. I must raise my merit back above zero within ten days. Otherwise, I'll be expelled from the Dragon Whale Paradise and never be allowed to enter again."
Fang Yuan's mind stirred. Possessing profound attainment in the Wisdom Path, he immediately parsed the intelligence hidden within those words.
"So the Dragon Whale Paradise can be explored multiple times. We'll have opportunities to enter again in the future? But how do we get in?"
The biggest challenge was locating the Dragon Whale Paradise in time.
Fang Yuan subtly glanced at Miao Mingshen.
"Miao Mingshen could sense the location of the Azure Dragon Whale and enter this place. Could that very ability be the qualification and opportunity he spoke of?"
Some time ago, Fang Yuan had already run several deductions.
The method Miao Mingshen used to sense the Azure Dragon Whale was remarkably peculiar—even Fang Yuan couldn't discern its workings. One had to consider that Fang Yuan possessed an extraordinarily broad perspective, cultivating multiple Paths with high attainment in many of them. Yet Miao Mingshen specialized exclusively in the Space Path, and the sensing method he employed had nothing to do with Space Path whatsoever.
That was very strange.
Precisely because it was so strange, Fang Yuan had been cautious and hadn't rushed to interrogate Miao Mingshen about this sensing technique.
Now, the various clues suggested that this sensing ability likely wasn't Miao Mingshen's own skill at all—it originated from the Dragon Whale Paradise itself, from the Merit Stele.
Shen Congsheng stared at his merit count, his brow furrowed. The number on display was too glaring. He was the first to walk toward the Merit Stele: "Immortal Friend Fang Yuan, my time is limited, so I won't stay to chat."
Fang Yuan nodded: "Please help yourself, Brother Shen. If you need assistance, leave a message Gu Insect at the foot of the stele, and I will do everything in my power to help."
The immortals behind them watched the two interact so cordially, and their expressions grew peculiar.
Shen Congsheng was the leader of the Righteous Path, while Fang Yuan was universally recognized across the Five Regions as a demonic fiend. The two of them getting along so well and so openly—was that really appropriate?
Shen Congsheng heard Fang Yuan's words and gave him a smile.