MTLNOVEL Chapter 153: Dollhouse: Part One
The sky was clear and the birds were singing as the fresh morning air blew across the valley on this beautiful day on Qing Mao mountain.
The next morning, three groups of people had gathered near the peak of Qing Mao mountain. The Xiong, Bai, and Gu Yue Clans were all here, each with some of their most outstanding members.
Unlike the previous timeline, the Lightning Lycan King had been slain before it could wreak havoc on the Xiong Clan. As a result, not only were the Xiong Clan in much better shape, but they also didn't have the negative stigma that was attached to them of being cowards during their last meeting.
The official purpose of this gathering was to discuss matters now that the wolf tide was over. In reality, many of the clan members were trying to perform feats to display their strength. The balance of power on Qing Mao mountain had shifted the moment Fang Yuan became a Rank 4 Gu Master, and now that he was reportedly at the peak stage of Rank 4, the balance of power had massively shifted towards the Gu Yue Clan.
Last time, the Gu Yue Clan had coerced the Bai Clan into joining them to suppress the Xiong Clan. This time, the Bai and Xiong Clans were somewhat united against the Gu Yue Clan, which posed such a threat that they felt they needed to put their differences aside to focus on a common enemy.
Bai Ning Bing stood among the members of his clan. 'Fang Yuan... a Rank 4 peak stage already? Either you have the help of an immortal, or...' Bai Ning Bing didn't think that Fang Yuan had the help of an immortal, as there was no record of one anywhere near Qing Mao mountain. This could only mean that he, too, possessed one of the Ten Extreme Physiques. However, it seemed he had also managed to find a way to contain it, given that he was rocketing up the ranks of Gu Master cultivation even faster than he was. 'What is your secret? I must find a way to get my hands on it.'
Bai Ning Bing did not fear death, but at the same time, he wasn't going to leap into its jaws without hesitation. If there was a possible secret that could help him survive, he would naturally want to obtain it. The main issue was that he didn't know of anything he could offer Fang Yuan that would satisfy him.
Despite Fang Yuan's reputation as a righteous path Gu Master, Bai Ning Bing was sure that he alone understood him correctly: he was a demon even among demons, one with no bottom line or guiding principle. He would not help him out of the pure kindness of his heart, and whatever price he would ask for his secret would without a doubt be quite steep.
Speaking of which, where was Fang Yuan?
The clan heads of the Xiong and Bai Clans were here, but he was conspicuously absent.
"What is with youngsters these days?" the Xiong clan head grumbled. "Isn't he the one who requested this meeting? He set it up himself as well as the time and still can't show up. Perhaps he's nothing more than a paper tiger, like the rest of the Gu Yue Clan, and was afraid of revealing it if he came here."
The Bai Clan head laughed gently along with the other Bai clan members.
The Gu Yue Clan members frowned, shouting out their own retorts. Gu Yue Chi Shan challenged several of the Xiong clan members to tests of strength in the meantime, though this was all a distraction from the bigger picture.
In truth they were also somewhat perplexed.
Why wasn't Fang Yuan here? He was the one who had specifically ordered them to gather in this location. The Gu Yue clansmen had not taken note that no one extremely important to Fang Yuan or his political faction was standing among them.
"Should we send a runner to the clan head?" one of the Gu Yue clansmen asked.
"What if he's dealing with an emergency?" another pointed out. "Maybe there is a fourth Thunder Crown Wolf somewhere?"
At the mere mention of that, the clan members all shuddered. They did not want to think that another Rank 4 equivalent Beast King existed. However, given the existence of the Lightning Lycan King which had only been discovered late into the wolf tide, such an idea could not be completely discounted.
'How much longer do we have to wait?' Bai Ning Bing was about to complain when suddenly someone screamed. A Bai clan Gu Master had been stabbed through the chest by a creature that had flown down, catching him by surprise and piercing right through his ribcage as it extracted his still-beating heart from his torso before gulping it down its gizzard in a single motion.
It then gave a murderous look all around, as if scouting for who its next victim should be.
"Look up! There are more of them!" someone shouted.
It looked like a storm cloud had gathered near the peak of Qing Mao Mountain, but this was no storm cloud. It was a flock of ten thousand cranes that Lord Sky Crane had brought with him from the Central Continent.
"Remember, no witnesses," Lord Sky Crane said, waving his hand slightly as he gave a mental command to the rest of his flock.
He could tell there were two Rank 4 Gu Masters down there, and he needed to deal with them so that striking at first gen Gu Yue would go smoothly.
Meanwhile, in Gu Yue Village, Fang Yuan saw the cloud of birds from a distance. He had been expecting it, and he had an investigative gu worm specifically tailored for this situation.
It was now time to put his plan in motion.
There was one small issue: Fang Yuan did not actually know how to get to the Blood River Graveyard. During the last fight, first gen Gu Yue had burst out from the ground after the clan head had gone towards him, though this had likely been in response to Lord Sky Crane's taunts.
The only people who knew the best way to get down there were the clan head and the other elders who knew about the prophecy of the Ancient Yin Desolate Moon Physique, but he couldn't very well ask them that now. They all assumed that he had already visited the place.
However, he had been scouting the area for some time and found a location that seemed promising. If it had been reasonable to the clan head that Fang Yuan had managed to find his way down there himself, it couldn't have been too well hidden or too impossible to reach.
There was a spot in an underground cavern where, upon reaching it, Fang Yuan took out the Thousand Li Earthwolf Spider and instructed it to start burrowing. While he was correct in that he ended up where he wanted to go, he burst through the ceiling and into the open air above the massive lake of blood that existed below, meaning this was most definitely not the right path that one was supposed to use. However, the cavern was massive enough that there were several potential entry points.
Fang Yuan hastily put the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider back into his aperture and extended his Lightning Lord Wings to slow his descent toward the coffin in the center of the lake.