This massive explosion came far too suddenly, and it was far too violent!
In an instant, winds and clouds surged wildly, and the sky and earth changed color.
Heavenly Court shattered!
Countless fragments of its grotto-heaven flew in all directions, like a volcanic eruption. Only half of the Immortal Orifice Gateway remained, riddled with enormous gaps and openings, laid bare in the Nether Heaven.
Billowing clouds of smoke and dust still obscured the scene within Heavenly Court.
Countless Gu Immortals had perished.
One thing was certain: that qi-gong fruit, massive as a mountain, had already dissipated.
"Success..." In the Central Continent, Fang Yuan gazed toward Heavenly Court and let out a turbid breath.
Long before this, Fang Yuan had already deliberated at length.
His situation had been dire, beset by dangers on all sides.
The flow of time within the Supreme Immortal Orifice was far too fast, forcing Fang Yuan to undergo his tribulation. Although he had repeatedly deployed his Endless Trouble killer move to delay the catastrophe, the Calamity of Chaos could not be skipped using this method.
Once Fang Yuan underwent his tribulation, he would have to drop the Supreme Immortal Orifice into the Nether Heaven and keep its gateway wide open for a period of time.
This would inevitably be a colossal vulnerability. When that time came, Immortal Venerable Xing Su and Immortal Venerable Ju Yang would certainly attack, and Demon Venerable You Hun was very likely to as well!
Beyond the tribulation crisis, Fang Yuan also felt a gnawing hunger.
This hunger came from the Supreme Immortal Body itself.
The Supreme Immortal Body had been transformed from the Ninth Transformation Supreme Immortal Embryo Gu. Its drawback was that it had to periodically swallow an Immortal Orifice of the same cultivation level as a Gu Immortal.
Fang Yuan was now a Venerable, so he had to swallow a Ninth Transformation Immortal Orifice!
These two great crises weighed heavily on Fang Yuan's mind.
There was an old saying: a person who does not plan far ahead will find trouble at his doorstep.
Fang Yuan planned far ahead. He had already foreseen future troubles. Rather than letting these crises arrive on their own terms, it was far better to begin dealing with them now!
Fang Yuan was not a passive man by nature. Seizing the initiative, gaining the upper hand, and then controlling the situation — that was what he preferred!
He knew of one method for Immortal Venerable Yuan Shi's resurrection.
The reason was simple.
The Dao Tian Ji killer move.
Back then, Fang Yuan had ascended to Immortal status using a Gu Immortal seed. By employing the principle of learning from nature and utilizing the Dao Tian Ji killer move, he had thoroughly investigated every secret of Heavenly Court!
He naturally understood all the subtleties of how Immortal Venerable Yuan Shi used the qi-gong fruit as a resurrection method.
Immortal Venerable Xing Su was not entirely clear on the inner workings of the qi-gong fruit resurrection.
But Fang Yuan had dug deep into Heavenly Court's foundations. Moreover, he possessed the Grandmaster realm in the Qi Dao, and he had the help of Zhi Hui Gu to aid his calculations and analysis.
The arrangements Immortal Venerable Xing Su had made within the Stars Fill the Sky Precise Calculation Formation were extremely ingenious. In the end, they required coordination with the Embroidered Tower and the Star Constellation Chess Board to unleash their full power — specifically to capture and imprison quasi-Venerables.
These arrangements were highly secretive, and Fang Yuan had no knowledge of them.
But he did not need to guess to understand that Immortal Venerable Xing Su would definitely seek to resurrect Immortal Venerable Yuan Shi!
Putting himself in her shoes, anyone standing in Xing Su's position would prioritize resurrecting the two Heavenly Kings of Heavenly Court.
Open schemes are hard to execute; covert schemes are easy to carry out. Once Xing Su's movements were detected, they would become an glaring vulnerability.
Heavenly Court's foundation was immensely deep, having had three successive generations of Heavenly Kings who carried the legacy forward. This was Heavenly Court's greatest strength, but in Fang Yuan's eyes, it was simultaneously its greatest weakness.
So Fang Yuan devised a plan to sacrifice Qi Hai Lao Zu, deliberately luring Immortal Venerable Xing Su onto the path of using the qi-gong fruit for resurrection.
So what if Qi Hai Lao Zu was his own clone?
For the goal of eternal life, what could he not sacrifice?
Would Fang Yuan ever shy away from personal risk for the sake of a grand undertaking?
Deliberately sending Qi Hai Lao Zu as bait under the guise of resurrecting Immortal Venerable Yuan Shi — this plan had a very high chance of success.
But he still lacked an opportunity.
Fang Yuan could not be too obvious about the delivery.
Immortal Venerable Xing Su was the foremost intellect in the Wisdom Dao. Fang Yuan had learned this lesson from her time and again — many of his stratagems were deciphered by her the moment they were set into motion. The Fang Family incident was clear proof of this.
If the delivery was too conspicuous, Xing Su would notice. She might even turn his own plan against him and leave him utterly defeated.
The opportunity came soon enough.
One had to admit, the timing of the Heavenly Dao Dream Realm's appearance was impeccable!
For Fang Yuan, the Heavenly Dao Dream Realm itself could elevate his Heavenly Dao realm, but he was in no hurry about that.
As long as no one could effectively utilize the Heavenly Dao Dream Realm, he could continue secretly refining Ninth Transformation Immortal Gu in the shadows, steadily strengthening his power and widening the gap between himself and the other Venerables.
The longer time was drawn out, the stronger Fang Yuan became.
But competing for the Heavenly Dao Dream Realm served as an exceptionally convincing cover, one that could conceal his scheme to send Qi Hai Lao Zu!
Fang Yuan deliberated over this extensively, making difficult choices.
He could not send him too obviously. Everything had to appear reasonable.
Immortal Venerable Xing Su's wisdom was unfathomable. She was an absolute genius. But that very genius could sometimes be turned to Fang Yuan's advantage!
So Fang Yuan sent Qi Hai Lao Zu into the Stars Fill the Sky Precise Calculation Formation, making no other extraneous moves. Then Immortal Venerable Xing Su "helpfully" acted on Fang Yuan's behalf, completing his arrangement and capturing Qi Hai Lao Zu.
Throughout the entire process, Qi Hai Lao Zu had been kept in the dark by Fang Yuan's main body, completely unaware.
Not just him — Wu Shuai and Zhan Bu Du were the same.
Just as Immortal Venerable Xing Su had deliberately deceived the Five Immortals of Heavenly Court in order to acquire Lin Jianxing's Heavenly Sword Dao marks.