Afterward, Fang Yuan went to another secret chamber to inspect Dongfang Changfan's soul.
He had accumulated quite a few Immortal souls by now — Dongfang Changfan, the featherman Gu Immortal Zheng Ling, Xuesongzi of the Great Snow Mountain, and the Eastern Sea rogue cultivator Yao Gebi.
These past days, apart from constructing the Star Constellation Blessed Land, he had been harvesting these Immortal souls. By now, he had thoroughly plundered the memories within their souls and reaped considerable benefits.
What truly left Fang Yuan with a "lingering aftertaste," however, was Dongfang Changfan's soul.
Every so often, Fang Yuan conducted another soul search on him.
This time was no exception.
After the soul search, Dongfang Changfan's soul suddenly spoke: "My memories were long since plundered clean by you. Yet recently, you subject me to another soul search every so often, and each time you examine only the memories within my soul pertaining to breaking battlefield killer moves. It seems you've encountered some inheritance or a powerful enemy, and desperately need to break battlefield killer moves."
At Dongfang Changfan's sudden words, Fang Yuan was mildly surprised for a moment, then frankly replied: "That's right. These past days, I've been studying the Wisdom Path inheritance you left behind — specifically the content on breaking battlefield killer moves. Combining it with my own experience and cross-referencing your memories, I gain new insights each time."
A soul search could be understood as reading a book — what you read were the memories stored within the soul. But reading a book, you couldn't possibly remember every last detail with perfect clarity. Conducting a thorough soul search was like flipping through a book from cover to cover; at most, you'd know what the book contained. That was why it was necessary to review the old to learn the new. When it came to specific content, re-examining it in a targeted way would yield far more understanding.
Dongfang Changfan's soul smiled faintly: "Have you ever considered that I could help you? You're still a novice in the Wisdom Path. No matter how much you practice or how much you read, the immediate results will be extremely limited. My Wisdom Path attainment is far beyond yours — just give me a body, and I can use my mind to help you calculate, to help you devise solutions. Wouldn't that be a fine arrangement? You could use Information Path methods to restrain me, and I would be your most capable assistant."
"A fine suggestion indeed." Fang Yuan nodded, then smiled faintly. "But I won't be doing that. You can abandon that hope. Even as a soul, you refuse to behave — it seems the lessons I've given you still aren't enough."
The faint smile on Fang Yuan's face slowly twisted into a sinister grin.
Dozens of Gu Insects activated one after another at his command.
"Ahhh—!" Dongfang Changfan's soul convulsed violently, and the cell was filled with his agonized wailing.
This punishment would last a full two hours. The soul-wracking agony would be far more profound than physical torture. Fang Yuan was confident it would teach Dongfang Changfan a very good lesson.
Naturally, Fang Yuan had no intention of wasting his time here. He departed early and moved on to two other secret chambers.
In one chamber rested the soul of Zheng Ling, a Seventh Transformation featherman Gu Immortal. In the other was the soul of Xuesongzi.
Though neither of these two Gu Immortals had been Wisdom Path practitioners in life, they nonetheless possessed life memories of confronting battlefield killer moves.
Even without Wisdom Path methods, one had mastered Wind Path while the other had mastered Snow Path — each possessed their own unique approaches and accomplishments in breaking battlefield killer moves. These memories held considerable reference value for Fang Yuan.
It was worth noting that both of these souls had already been plundered by Fang Yuan several times over.
From Xuesongzi's soul, Fang Yuan learned that the latter had left behind a trove of wealth within the Great Snow Mountain Blessed Land. Within his personal snow peak, there remained quite a few snow people, as well as numerous snow pine trees and other flora.
But Fang Yuan did not dare to retrieve them.
Xuehu Laozu was unfathomably deep, and Fang Yuan had little confidence in his Meeting Like Old Acquaintances method. The news of Xuesongzi's death also could not be conveyed to Fairy Lishan.
Why?
After all, Fairy Lishan and Xuesongzi were both members of the Great Snowy Mountain and had been allies from the start. Once she learned that Fang Yuan had caused Xuesongzi's death, even if Lishan chose not to confront Fang Yuan directly, she would still be obligated by their alliance pact to inform the Great Snowy Mountain's ancestor.
Meanwhile, Zheng Ling's soul had proven equally lucrative. Fang Yuan obtained a complete Wind Path inheritance from him, along with the Immortal Killer Move Heaven Follows Human Will, a wealth of secret intelligence on the Immortal Gu House Feather Saint City, and — most importantly — that Fragment World of the Green Heaven upon which the Feathermen depended for their very survival.
The fragment world was quite vast, its resources rare and abundant. When Fang Yuan learned of this, he nearly drooled.
Although he now knew the layout of the Green Heaven fragment world and could reach it using Fixed Immortal Travel, the place had already been conquered and occupied by Immortal Gu Masters like Bai Hai and Shatuo. It was a tiger's den surrounded by wolves. Fang Yuan would not rush in recklessly.
Stepping out of his secret chamber, Fang Yuan received a message from Tai Bai Yunsheng, informing him that he had already rendezvoused with Shark Demon and the others.
Fang Yuan immediately used Fixed Immortal Travel to teleport directly into Tai Bai Yunsheng's immortal aperture, then stepped out from within.
The very next moment, Star Constellation appeared before Shark Demon and his companions.