Sunlight pierced through the windows, lighting up the dim room.
The hut was a simple straw hut, supported by bamboo.
Children could be heard playing in the village.
Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes, the sun partially blinded him: "It seems I've returned to this moment in time."
Fang Yuan sighed.
"Good you're alive, I was getting worried," standing near his bed was a female Merman, her hair was a smooth black, and her eyes carried a gentleness and compassion within them.
But the unique thing about her was that her feet were replaced with the lower half of a fish! More interestingly her scales were whiter than snow and more pristine than jade.
"My name is Xie Han Mo, what's yours?"
"Fang Yuan. Thank you for saving my life miss Mo." Fang Yuan smiled politely, though his heart was in knots.
He thought to himself: "Even the last time they tried this trick they didn't go so far, tch." He gritted his teeth.
"I see, well than mister Fang Yuan, I bid you farewell," she bowed and began to take her leave.
"Wait!" Fang Yuan called out: "I must repay you, even if I have to break all the bones in my body, I must repay you for what you've done.:
Xie Han Mo was shocked, her heart slightly in turmoil: "There's no need, it was only a simple matter."
Fang Yuan knew what she was troubled by his current cultivation was too weak! He was only a Rank 2 Gu Master; how could he help her obtain the position of Saintess.
"Miss Mo, are you belittling my life? How can an act to save my life demand anything less than the highest of gratitude, anything you need I will do it." Fang Yuan righteously declared.
"This…" Xie Han Mo was deeply taken aback she thought to herself: "Oh no what should I do? He has no idea the troubles that plague me but maybe if I tell him it would scare him off."
Xie Han Mo clapped her hands together: "Okay Daoist Fang Yuan, you said you would do anything to repay me?"
Fang Yuan nodded: "Anything."
"I want to become the Merman Saintess."
"Done."
Xie Han Mo nodded her head: "Now you know the disparity in positions it's okay I appreciate the eh? Did you just say done?"
Fang Yuan nodded: "Indeed if that is what you wish for, I may not have immense strength but I know a lot about how the Merman select their Saintess,"
Xie Han Mo looked dubiously at Fang Yuan, she thought he was trying to act tough: "Oh really? Then why don't you explain to me then?"
Fang Yuan proceeded to not only explain but detail his plans, and Xie Han Mo's problems:
"While you certainly possess the qualifications, one needs a great deal of connections to succeed, the search for a Saintess is as much a political game as it is a religious ceremony."
"If you want to become Saintess you will need to…" Fang Yuan began elaborating grand and detailed plans, so much so Xie Han Mo seemed almost convinced that she was already the Saintess.
"How terrifying!" she thought to herself: "If what Fang Yuan says comes true, I could really find myself easily acquiring the Saintess seat…but something seems fishy, its too convenient that the boy I save is so well versed in the ways of the Merman, not to mention he's a Human!"
As Fang Yuan was reliving his past, two figures were in an extravagant room, its interior decorated with fine works of art, crafted from the grandest materials.
At the centre was an elegant round table, made from the finest mahogany.
"My my, how extravagant, I thought Heaven would be frugal but," Star Constellation glanced around at the various works of art.
"The Weeping Fiancé, the Depths Of Love, and several poems and sculpture depicting various forms of love, I must say 3 million years isn't enough?"
All the sculptures and paintings Star Constellation had seen were all love tragedies from across history, most of them lost to time.
"Hmph, the Heavenly Dao is a machine that impartially seeks and produces beings that it believes will be able to be eternal."
"It has learned that only by having trash, can the shimmer of beauty be appreciated. The first human, Ren Zu, was a complete failure, by design he was meant to be an inspiration to the other inhabitants to grow, but he defied Fate and created the Human race!"
"He was supposed to be alone, so that he could not reproduce, who knew he would sacrifice himself out of loneliness to acquire children, and then use those children to create humans." Heaven scoffed.
"I ordered, the Heavenly Dao to suppress Humans, but after observing their ability to push the boundaries and defy limits, it believed Humans to be the most successful species, and allowed Fate to fall into their hands."
Heaven continued: "With the adversities and oppression they faced, it only made them stronger, and since they didn't have the natural barrier I placed, they were able to achieve Rank 9! Tsk. I should have wiped you all out, but that damn Earth insisted."
Thinking about the events Millions of Years ago still left salt in Heaven's mouth: "And look at where we are now, I'm sitting across a human negotiating on seemingly equal terms, it's ridiculous."
Star Constellation sat by the side smiling: "I'll take your words as flattery, on to business, we know that you don't want more humans to acquire pieces of the Heavenly Dao, creating Dao Emperors, we are willing to return one Dao in exchange, you allow Humanity to persist and not hinder them, and we will prevent others from ever becoming Dao Emperors."
Heaven squinted: "And why should I trust you?"
"Simple, we promise that henceforth no Immortal from Heavenly Court will ever become a Dao Emperor and Heavenly Court will do everything in its power to prevent them from occurring."
"Hmph," Heaven snorted: "You're Billions of years too young to trick me Star Constellation, I know what you're up to."
Star Constellation mainly smiled: "And?"
"On one more condition."
"What?"
"Kill Fang Yuan!"
"Oh? Why so determined?" instead of flat agreeing Star Constellation decided to fish for more information, from Heaven's response it was basically a done deal.
"Heaven no longer has full access to Heavenly Dao, this is probably because Earth is holding him back, the only thing he can do is prompt the Heavenly Dao to work within its preset boundaries."
Heaven slammed his hand on the table, shattering it, "Don't play games with me girl! The Wisdom you hold is from me, the Immortal Essence within you came from me, this entire world is nothing without me!" Heaven took a deep breath, and regained his calm:
"Fang Yuan is its greatest threat! I've already taken care of Spectral Soul and Thieving Heaven is gone all that's left is Fang Yuan, and his potential is scarier than both of them combined!"
How could Heaven not see their intent to probe him for more information: "I want you to utterly destroy Fang Yuan, leave no trace of him, do not take anything from him, and kill all those associated with him."
Heaven turned his back towards her: "Do we have a deal?"
Star Constellation thought about it: "There must be something on Fang Yuan that scares Heaven, all this talk about being scared of Fang Yuan is a pretence to something but what…wait!"
Star Constellation had a eureka moment.
Suddenly, a smile crept onto her face, "Heaven currently possesses Spectral Soul Demon Venerable's body, and he only attacked us when Ying Guang Xin entered the Spatial Tunnel to the Stone Continent!"
Indeed, Heaven was worried about Ying Guang Xin!
She still had ties to Spectral Soul's main body and could severely hurt, if not even, kill Spectral Soul Demon Venerable!
"Tch, that damn Spectral Soul because he's so bloodthirsty and sinister, no one trusts him, not even his own reincarnation! All was fine until she managed to acquire Freedom Gu. Now she has severed Spectral Soul's control over her. Because the Yin-Yang Body requires both halves to operate at its full power, I'm effectively required to consume 2x the energy to attain the same strength as these Venerables, if not for me taking some Heaven Path Gu Worms things could be worse…"
That's right!
After Heaven left the 4 Venerables to their own devices in the River of Time, he went across the world, to pick up Heaven Path Gu Worms that were created by the Heavenly Dao!
"Oh Heaven, what are you so worried about? Fang Yuan possess so many resources from my Central Continent how could I not touch anything and in fact, destroy it all? Won't I be harming the various Human forces of the Central Continent? Your request is too much!" Star Constellation hammered in her points.
"This damn woman!" Heaven thought to himself: "She suspects something regarding my interest in Fang Yuan, she wants to sieve through my true intentions! To can play that game."
"It is not that I have no concern over the well being of Humans, after all our cooperation in the future depends on it, but Fang Yuan is crafty, who knows what traps could lay hidden in all his resources, why weren't you recently tricked by him?"
This point made Star Constellation show a sour expression, though it was only pretending: "Hmph, trying to get me to lose my temper? I guess his intelligence must have degraded over the centuries."
The two began to go back and forth over their game of wits, trying to find out more about the other party.
After all, neither side could directly overpower the other.
Humanity could not get rid of Heaven as it would result in the collapse of the entire Gu World!
But Heaven could not get rid of Humanity as there were 11 Venerables! 4 of whom were alive and willing to sacrifice their life to prevent him from wiping out Humanity.
There was an incredibly delicate power balance between the 2 parties.
Meanwhile, outside the Tether between the Void Sphere and Reality,
Genesis Lotus was sitting on air, reading a book with all black covers.
His face was buried in the book, and he was cautiously observing his surroundings.
"I really shouldn't be looking but…" Genesis Lotus turned to the next page, and the image blew his mind away.
On it was an extremely gorgeous woman, tightly bound by ropes, and forced into a humiliating position.
Genesis Lotus was reading none other than Fang Yuan's Naughty Venerable: Photoshoot Edition.
He was about to go crazy when he felt something:
"Who's there?" he shot an Immortal Killer Move he had prepared.
His move flew towards an empty space when it suddenly stopped in midair, a voice called out:
"Oh? You managed to sense me?"
Genesis Lotus immediately recognized the voice: "It can't be! How is it you?"
Shock filled his face.
Because the person standing in front of his was Fang Yuan!