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Far away from the battlefield, deep within a secluded stone lotus island floating in the River of Time—
Fang Yuan arrived.
Blood stained his white robe.
His long hair flowed behind him like frozen winter water, untouched by the turbulence of the River of Time.
His expression was calm.
Cold.
Unhurried.
As if he had merely arrived at a predetermined location.
His gaze fell upon the island, this was a Stone Lotus island set up by Red Lotus Demon Venerable.
Floating above it was a cocoon, waters from the River of Time surged and gathered forming this cocoon.
The cocoon of river water pulsed faintly.
Countless time path dao marks flowed along its surface, seemingly nourishing or better yet 'refining' something within the cocoon. Different lights flickered in and out of existence. This Stone Lotus Island was not merely an island — it was a formation node.
A node that began accumulating after a million years.
This was one of the seven Stone Lotus Islands left behind by Red Lotus Demon Venerable.
Only three had ever been revealed to the world. One was the arrangement left behind by Red Lotus for his inheritor Fang Yuan, the other for Feng Jiu Ge and the last was the one discovered by Spectral Soul.
On the Stone Lotus island, Fang yuan's time path clone was infront of a Gu.
Fang yuan flew down and approached it, it did not run, as if froced to stay in place by some force. It was the core of this formation. An arrangement made by Red Lotus.
"Truly, a Venerable's talent cannot be measured by common sense." Fang Yuan praised softly.
Red Lotus' arrangements had spanned a million years, layered across history itself.
He gazed at the core of the formation and at the Gu suspended within it.
This was not just any gu, it was the legendary rank 9 Time Gu recorded in
His clone had already been sent by Fang yuan here earlier, he was also the one who activated this formation, trapping the Venerables momentarily, allowing him to escape and come here.
This formation could actually control the river of time! Although it was limited, it was still terrifying and shows Red Lotus' terrifying attainments.
He had a theory that, much like the secluded domain of Heaven and Earth—Reverse Flow River, which could be controlled through Perseverance Gu—Time Gu might function in a similar way with the River of Time.
Although he did have Stealing Heavenly Secrets to verify it, he simply did not have the chance to use it to confirm his theory.
Red Lotus Demon Venerable… how terrifying.
A time path Venerable standing within the River of Time is like a fish returning to the sea. If he refines the countless dao marks within it and claims them as his own foundation, the River itself would become his stronghold.
Even if he has only just revived, what of it? With the River of Time as his base, who in this world could suppress him so easily?
As expected of a Venerable. Every move stretches across eras.
The River of Time outside roared in growing chaos.
Inside the island's perimeter, however, the currents were strangely stable. Countless currents rose and nourish the cocoon above the island.
The more chaotic the outer river became, the more stable this node grew.
This was Red Lotus' design.
In stability, nothing could be refined. In order could not be reborn. Fate would simply not allow it.
Only when the River of Time collapsed into disorder would these islands connect, forming a formation, each island becoming a node. Other time path methods would defenitely fail, However Red Lotus Demon Venerable was a supreme grandmaster of time path.
If he said he was the number one in time path no one would dare refute.
Four islands.
Four nodes.
If they resonated simultaneously, they would form a resonance across the River of Time which will then activate Red Lotus' plans.
Activating his arrangements, reconstructing a body using the river of time itself.
This was Red Lotus Demon Venerable revival plan.
Fang Yuan understood this the moment he gazed and witnessed the profundity of this formation.
He was not only a refinement path Venerable, he also has Quasi Supreme attainment in time path and his formation path attainment had already advanced to being a Great Grandmaster.
To him, this was not merely a revival method.
It was a grand refinement path formation that contained the deepest profundities of time path.
Red Lotus was refining himself from history!
And was waiting to be smelted back into reality.
Fang Yuan had already 'hijacked' this formation. Although he won over Heavenly Court back then, Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable still managed to revive.
So when he was recuperating and digesting his gains then, he started using stealing Heavenly Secret to deduce the other Venerables revival arrangements.
However the gains were not much, those Venerables that did shot show up after Primordial Origin did, had actually already revived secretly or had hidden their arrangements too deeply. Over time, stealing Heavenly Secret effects gradually weakened.
So although he did have some success, the results were far from satisfactory.
Like how he knew Primordial Origin's plan to revive through the qi harvest fruit which he even took advantage of to pave his way through Heavenly Court. But did not know of his other arrangements outside of Heavenly Court which allowed him to revive.
Without Li Xiao Bai, he probably would've never known that Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable had already revived back then.
Fang yuan knew that Red Lotus' had set up a revival plan in the River of Time when he was inspecting the secrets of the Venerables revival plans.
His first thought was obviously to interfere and foil his plans.
However he was cautious, he knew the other Venerables would not sit tightly when he makes a move. So he started preparing to send someone secretly instead.
After his time path clone basically lost all of its dao mark he nurtured and accelerated it's growth himself, and when his clone was a genuine rank 8.
He secretly ordered it to set off and find Red Lotus' arrangements in the River of Time.
Before this battle, he finally received some new from his clone.
He Chun Qiu[1] informed him that he had found Red Lotus' arrangement at last.
His clones shared his attainments, so when He Chun Qiu found the formation with time Gu as it's core, he deduced and analyze it's workings. Before informing his main body.
And with his attainments and Wisdom Gu, Fang Yuan soon deduced the formation functions. But before he could do something about it, he was suddenly attacked and beseiged by the 6 Venerables.
One thing leads to another and when the time was right Fang Yuan decided to take a gamble. He led the Venerables here where he can weaken them and communicated with He Chun Qiu about his plan.
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He was here to try and take Red Lotus' arrangement for himself. Gaining a time path Venerable clone.
As for his lacking attainment? Red Lotus' arrangement had already accounted for that.
He cannot help but compare Paradise Earth and Red Lotus' revival plan. Back then, If Star Constellation didn't prematurely destroy his Paradise Earth tomb, Paradise Earth would have regained his cultivation and would be a heaven path Venerable the moment he revived, that was Paradise Earth' plan.
Seeing the similarity between the profound workings of both revival arrangements, he waited. He stalled and held on until it was the right time, instructing He Chun Qiu different instructions.
And now he was here.
He smiled, with this, he was probably the only person who managed to hijack two Venerables revival plan.
Back then it was Primordial Origin Venerable, and now it was Red Lotus.
Fang Yuan did not hesitate, he stepped into the core of the formation, replacing his clone.
His clone moved simultaneously, flying and entering the cocoon.
The River of Time poured endlessly into the cocoon, time path dao marks surged. The island trembled.
He took control of the formation, adjusting several key nodes. Redirecting the dao mark flow. Triggering the resonance ahead of schedule.
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[1] He Chun Qiu is the name of his time path clone.
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