The Ghost King flew at full speed, following the faint aura of an Immortal Gu until he arrived beneath a snow willow.
"The aura of the Immortal Gu stops here — it doesn't continue any further!" The Ghost King's gaze turned urgent as he searched the snow willow from top to bottom.
"Nothing? No Immortal Gu! The Snow Wash Gu on this snow willow have all been harvested — clearly someone has been here. But why isn't the Immortal Gu here? If the Immortal Gu had kept moving, its aura would have shifted as well. But the aura terminates right here. Could it be that the Immortal Gu is dead?" This speculation arose in the Ghost King's mind.
Yet he refused to believe it. He deployed his scouting Gu and turned the surrounding area upside down.
"Nothing, still nothing!" The Ghost King gritted his teeth in frustration, his heart filled with regret and unwillingness.
"Wait!" Suddenly, his gaze turned vicious as another possibility struck him. "At the center of the Rotting Poison Grasslands lies the Purple Poison Blessed Land, where the Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal, Poison Scorpion Lady, resides. Could she have taken the Immortal Gu? A mortal's Empty Orifice cannot contain an Immortal Gu, but a Gu Immortal can. Once an Immortal Gu enters an Empty Orifice, its aura won't leak out. That would explain everything."
"So Poison Scorpion Lady was sitting at home when an Immortal Gu was delivered right to her doorstep? How detestable, how infuriating!" The Ghost King stamped his feet in rage. He would rather believe that Poison Scorpion Lady had obtained the Immortal Gu than entertain the possibility that it was dead.
But it never occurred to him that the true Immortal Gu had not been destroyed at all. Instead, Fang Yuan had used the Iron Coffin Gu to temporarily seal away all of its aura, then retraced his steps and buried it halfway along the route.
The Ghost King followed the aura forward. Fang Yuan had deliberately sealed it in stages, making the Gu insect's aura grow weaker and weaker, establishing a pattern of expectation.
The Ghost King kept thinking he needed to fly further ahead, never once guessing that somewhere along the path he had already traversed, the Ding Xian You Gu was buried deep underground.
When thoughts of Poison Scorpion Lady entered his mind, jealousy and resentment drove him further into a dead end.
"Poison Scorpion Lady is a Seventh Transformation Gu Immortal with tremendous power. I was able to rally the Three Immortals of Flower Sea and Red Jade Wanderer to attack the Langya Blessed Land because I promised them individual rewards. But I lack the influence to unite them against the Purple Poison Blessed Land. How infuriating! If I had arrived a dozen or so days earlier, I might have gotten my hands on the Immortal Gu."
"By my calculations, the time is almost upon us for the Purple Poison Blessed Land to open its gates and expel its toxic gases. I'm no match for Poison Scorpion Lady — I should leave first."
The Ghost King stamped his foot, shot up into the sky, and plunged into the dark clouds.
The dark clouds rolled on as the Ghost King stared back with unwillingness for a long while before finally flying toward his lair.
……
This night was destined to be eventful. On the pasture of the Ge family, everyone once again turned their attention to Fang Yuan.
If Fang Yuan had killed Ge Yao and taken her Gu insects, then the Spider Thread Trail Gu would expose him.
His previous lies would be thoroughly exposed — if you had never met Ge Yao, how could you possess her Gu insects?
At that point, no explanation would hold water!
"You brat!" The Ge family patriarch glared at Ge Guang furiously, seething with rage. "Benefactor Changshanyin is so upright and generous, and yet you still dare to doubt him?! Kneel down at once. Kowtow to the benefactor and beg his forgiveness!"
"Father." Ge Guang was genuinely startled, not expecting such a reaction from the patriarch.
Hadn't he always wanted to avenge his sister? He hadn't considered one thing — Ge Guang was filling in the gaps for him, and he hadn't done anything wrong.
The father and son of the Man family, meanwhile, stood by and watched from the sidelines.
"Brother Ge, your son speaks with such conviction. You do have the Spider Thread Trail Gu, don't you?" Fang Yuan's expression was perfectly calm, his gaze clear as water. "Then please bring it out and activate it in front of everyone."
"Um..." The Ge family patriarch hesitated.
"Brother Ge, if you have the means to prove my innocence, why have you been hiding it all this time? Hahaha, I couldn't be more delighted." Fang Yuan smiled warmly.
The Ge family patriarch studied their expressions for a while, then looked toward the Man family's father and son. The two had remained silent throughout, appearing as mere bystanders, but their gazes were laden with meaning.
"Very well. Since Benefactor Changshanyin insists, this old man will take the liberty." The Ge family patriarch finally gritted his teeth and produced the Spider Thread Trail Gu.
The Gu insect resembled a black spider the size of a fist, its body plump and round, its eight legs covered in soft black fur with hard, glossy tips that looked like tiny horseshoes.
The Ge family patriarch channeled True Essence into it, and the Spider Thread Trail Gu slowly radiated a faint white glow. Within a five-hundred-li radius, if any Gu Master activated a marked Gu insect, it would emit a red light indicating the direction. If the Gu Master kept the Gu insect inside their Empty Orifice at all times, the detection range was limited to one thousand steps. Yet from beginning to end, the Gu remained in the Ge family patriarch's hand without any change.
Seeing this, Ge Guang dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed to Fang Yuan. "Uncle Changshanyin, your nephew was wrong! I was too eager for proof and offended you. Please punish me as you see fit!"
"Please, rise. I should be thanking you for clearing my name. What wrong have you done?" Fang Yuan wore a faint smile and quickly stepped forward to help Ge Guang to his feet.