My Own Way

Fang Yuan looked at all the files and blueprints compiled by Nexus and felt very satisfied with the results; "Wow, you even managed to deduce the location of the Flower Wine Monk Inheritance with the little information you had."

[Thank you, Sir. But the merit of this owes more to this body's memoirs of the local topography together with the description of the place mentioned in the book entitled 'Reverend Insanity']

"True, but that does not detract from its merit. Since without his amazing ability to calculate and deduce we would have wasted a lot of time looking and organizing everything." Fang Yuan lightly nodded his head as he praised the Nexus.

"Hmm... According to your plan, the best path you think I should take is to be an itinerant merchant. Why that? I believe heading directly to the northern plains is best." Fang Yuan asked Nexus why he chose him, as he would get more benefits if he went to the northern plains.

[If the Sir becomes a merchant, we can scan and learn many more items from this world and expand our knowledge]

"That's a pretty good reason, but what are we going to do if the will of heaven decides to stick its finger in the middle?" Fang Yuan agreed that the Nexus proposal sounded good if this was indeed the first timeline, but there was still a risk of Heaven's will interfering with his journey.

[I already thought about that possibility, Sir, and according to your memories of the book, there is a part that says explicitly that; 'Every Gu is a fragment of the great Dao'. So the more we learn about the 'Great Dao', the more freedom we will have.]

[And being a merchant would be the fastest and safest way for us to learn about the Dao. Since we will constantly be in contact with materials and Gu that contain the fragments of that Dao.]

"Okay, it's a good plan. This plan would work in Scenarios 1 and 3, but it would be almost impossible in Scenario 2 with the supervision of the Venerable Ones and the Will of Heaven." Fang Yuan continued exchanging ideas with Nexus to develop a better plan.

[Of course, Sir. If we are really in scenario number 2, we would have to follow the original plans of the entities of this world until we take possession of the 'Sovereign Fetus'.]

[But I recommend that you follow the plans of the Venerables. Since Destroying/Refining Fate Gu would also benefit you.]

"You are right. Sigh, it's so much to think about, I just appeared in this world, but I'm already up to my neck in trouble." Fang Yuan sighed and continued to discuss plans with the Nexus while waiting for tonight's big guest to arrive.

...

[Sir, I am feeling some subtle changes around us. It might be the arrival of 'Fang Yuan' from the future]

"Good, Good. Now I want you to prepare so that as soon as he arrives, you devour the two wills inside the little Cicada quickly enough that the will of Heaven will not notice any anomalies." Fang Yuan was quick and focused on his conscience in case something went wrong, and he had to fight against Future Fang Yuan's will.

[Understood!]

Nexus responded quickly, went on high alert, and began combing everything for irregularities. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan sat on the bed in the lotus position and concentrated on his mind while building up his defences.

[Confirmed arrival of Cicada Spring Autumn]

[Preparing measures for the rapid attack]

Nexus quickly detected the Cicada's arrival and immediately focused on incapacitating and devouring Heaven's will before moving on to Future Fang Yuan's.

"So we are in scenario 2. This is good, because then I already have a safe path to a certain extent." Fang Yuan thought quickly as he helped Nexus devour the wills inside the Cicada.

While Nexus focused on immobilizing and devouring the sky's will as quickly as possible, Fang Yuan concentrated on containing the future FY's will while injecting his will into the Cicada to take it for himself.

Because Nexus and Fang Yuan were already prepared and waiting, they won the battle without much effort. They successfully managed to devour the two wills while taking possession of the Cicada.

"Nexus, absorb and learn as much as possible from these Wills, then compile them and pass them on to me." Fang Yuan took his attention away from the nearly dead Cicada he had acquired and focused on Nexus.

[Understood, Sir!]

[Compiling...]

[...]

[...]

While Nexus focused on absorbing everything he could, Fang Yuan began to think about the strange rules in this world. For example, time is represented as a river, not metaphorically but literally. For there is a domain that governs the laws of time called; the 'River of Time'.

According to the histories of this world, there is a River of Time in this world. He rules and commands all time-related laws supporting the flow and circulation of the world's time.

And almost nothing can interfere or mess with this great power, so no one can jump into it and expect to be able to change the future since it's next to impossible but note that it was mentioned that 'almost' nothing can interfere with the River of Time, and how everything has its exceptions using the power of Spring Autumn Cicada, one can travel upstream and back to the past.

Just like Fang Yuan from the original story did. Using the power of this Mythic Gu, he can go against the very rules of time, successfully change his past, and rewrite his future with his own hands.

But even Fang Yuan risked a lot using this Mythical Gu. Since this world is not that simple, any action has consequences and a price to pay. And the price of using that Gu Magic is your own life, letting all your strength and cultivation be the force that propels that Gu in the endless River of Time.

And the consequence of using this Gu is that it doesn't even have a high success rate; in fact, the success chances are so low that it's almost not worth using it. And the crucial reason for its failure chance is its main consequence of using it: every time Gu is activated, it consumes the user's luck and decreases it until all his luck turns to bad luck.

If someone weren't on the verge of death, they would never dare to think about using that Gu. The price of using it is too high for a possible chance of success.

"It's fortunate that the original Fang Yuan had the help of so many entities, because without their help, I'm sure Fang Yuan wouldn't even make it out of Qing Mao Mountain." Fang Yuan thought as he waited for the Nexus results.

[Sir, I finished organizing everything! And I must say that the gains were immense!]

"Oh? For you to talk like that must be a really amazing thing." Fang Yuan raised an eyebrow as he waited for Nexus to send all the information to him.

[Exactly, Sir!]

[After devouring the Will of Heaven inside the Spring Autumn Cicada, I gained a greater understanding and control over the Great Dao of this world.]

[The first advantage is that I can now slightly influence Heaven's will to the point where we no longer need to worry about it turning against us.]

[The second benefit is that I can now create a Gu that I have already studied its entire composition of Dao marks.]

"This…" Fang Yuan was speechless, he already expected the Nexus to be able to extract great benefits from the Heaven's Will it devoured, but he didn't expect it to be this incredible.

Fang Yuan calmed down and concentrated on the possibilities these new abilities could yield him; "Wait. First of all I have to know what the requirements are to utilize these skills and only then can I formulate a better plan."

Fang Yuan turned his attention to Nexus as he asked, "What are the requirements for activating these abilities? What price will we have to pay for each use of it?"

[The first skill doesn't cost anything, as after devouring the will of Heaven inside the Spring Autumn Cicada, I managed to establish a secure connection with the Dao of Heaven.]

[But my power of influence on her is still shallow, so I recommend that you remain discreet until we have more power, and also, let's remember that the Venerables can still be a problem!]

[The second skill, unfortunately, has stricter requirements; for example, I need to know its composition of Dao marks and how they are reorganized to create a Gu out of nothing. And I also need to use the Dao Marks I have already stored.]

"I see, nothing comes for free, which way do you intend to acquire Dao Marks. And the way of Gu can influence the Dao marks you need?" Fang Yuan continued probing and clearing his doubts first of all.

[The best way to acquire Dao Marks is by devouring Gu materials or even Gu Worms]

[As for the path of Dao marks - It doesn't matter as any Dao marks we get I will turn them into Great Dao marks, and with those Dao marks, I can create any I've studied before regardless of the path, as long as it has the right amount of Dao Marks!]

Fang Yuan spent some time meditating as he thought about everything that had happened. It hasn't been a few hours since Fang Yuan acquired this body, and he's already been through so much.

"Sigh. This is a thousand times better than I expected; now, with this, I am sure that I will be able to overcome this world and reach levels never seen before in this world." She sighed while showing a wry smile on her face. He had barely arrived here and already had a firm and solid foundation; this was much better than expected.

"Nexus scans the Spring Autumn Cicada and puts it in their database in case it gets destroyed or something. And send me all of Future Fang Yuan's compiled information." Fang Yuan began to organize himself and gave Nexus its duties.

[Understood, Sir!]

[I'm already in the process of studying Cicada Spring Autumn. This might take a few minutes as it contains a large mass of Dao Marks.]

[Sending Compiled information from the future FY!]

Fang Yuan soon began to organize all this knowledge and experience that popped into his head. It was a lot to take in at once, but with the help of Nexus, who compiled only the essentials and passed them along, he didn't have to worry about filling his head with unnecessary stuff.

"Hmm…so that's what fulfilment is. It's very pleasurable; I feel like I've taken a cover off my eyes and like my brain is working much better. I am beginning to understand the meanings of the paths." Thanks to Nexus' innate ability to absorb and learn everything it eats, Fang Yuan could now obtain Future Fang Yuan's achievements.

Fang Yuan spent moments like this, enjoying the calm and feeling of knowing, but he had to focus on other things. Fang Yuan then got up from the bed and started walking towards the bedroom window again while discussing with Nexus his plans.

Fang Yuan leaned against the windowsill again and looked deeply into the vast magical world before him, the place he would now live in. Fang Yuan took a deep breath and smelled the strong scent of rain and spring wind.

At that moment, the door to her room was slightly opened, and a young teenager entered.

"Big brother, why are you standing in the rain by the window?"

"Oh? So this is the so famous Fang Zheng the immortal cockroach, no matter how hopeless the situation seems he will always come out of it alive. This poor fellow has already survived more life-and-death trials than the original Fang Yuan himself." Fang Yuan thought as he made some jokes about his knowledge of Fang Zheng's future.

Fang Yuan continued to look at poor Fang Zheng; he looked pitiful – Fang Zheng walked with his head down for so long that he looked like he had scoliosis; his eyes were deep-set and full of dark circles as if he hadn't been able to sleep well for days.

His face was pale, but not a healthy pale, but an unhealthy and sad pale; he was sorry and despondent with someone living daily. A genuinely pitiful and pathetic sight of someone who would have been considered a top talent at the ceremony the next day.

"Fang Zheng, what a pleasant surprise. Come in." Fang Yuan spent a lot of time 'in that' place, where he wanted to approach the first living being he had seen. Then he plastered a beaming smile and came Fang Zheng with open arms.

Meanwhile, Fang Zheng looked at all this with fear and concern as he thought, "Why is big brother acting like this? Is he planning something? Am I going to die?"

Fang Zheng had never seen his brother smile so warmly at anyone, and now after seeing such an abnormality, he started to create various conspiracy theories in his fertile mind.

"What's wrong, my little brother? need something?" Fang Yuan continued smiling but lowered his hands as he approached Fang Zheng slowly.

"Hic. N-nothing, Big Brother, it's nothing!" Fang Zheng stammered as he closed the door and hurriedly left the room, as he thought that he would have many nightmares tonight with his older brother's smile.

"Well, what have I done? Why did he look so terrified? It's been so long since I've communicated with another human being. Is it if I lost my charm?" Fang Yuan wondered in surprise as he held his own chin.

[Of course not, Sir!]

[The Sir is as charismatic as the brightest star in the sky!]

[Young Fang Zheng must have only been surprised by his incredible charisma!]

"Thank you Nexus. You always know what to say in these moments. And here I thought that acting differently than former Fang Yuan would make him happier." Fang Yuan sighed as he looked at the newly closed door to his room.

"Poor devil. He's been through so much that he becomes suspicious when someone is being kind." Fang Yuan sighed with a wry smile as he turned his gaze towards the window.

"But jokes aside. I still need to think about how I'm going to handle things now that I'm here." Fang Yuan wiped the playful smile off his face and began to think seriously.

"I can act like old Fang Yuan, being cold and expressionless, thanks to all the memories of old Fang Yuan I have enough confidence to act like him for a while." pondered Fang Yuan on his possibilities.

"But I don't want to start acting like a cold, emotionless person. I prefer to be myself, I haven't spent so much time 'in that' place that when I finally get away I have to act like a person I'm not." Fang Yuan snorted at the thought of pretending to be someone else.

Fang Yuan has always had a warm and charismatic personality and never liked acting cold and emotionless. But he wasn't a stubborn idiot either; he knew that if he started working differently from the original Fang Yuan, people would distrust him.

That's why Fang Yuan was thinking about what to do to maintain his 'Fang Yuan Cold' character while still remaining true to his true 'self.

"Nexus! How far should I follow the timeline? How much can you influence the will of Heaven?" Fang Yuan asked, already creating some plans for his future.

[As long as the Sir goes to the Shang clan and receives the inheritance of the three kings, there will be no problem deviating from the original timeline"!]

[But I recommend that you follow the main timeline, as it is the safest and with the most information!]

[Taking a detour could slow us down or even hinder us!]

"Hmm… I understand what you mean Nexus. But I don't want to be limited by a mere linear possibility. I want to enjoy and explore that world while I still can." Fang Yuan knew that the moment he got his hands on the Hu Immortal blessed land, he would have no time for almost anything other than the grand plan.

So Fang Yuan wanted to enjoy his free time while he still could, rather than simply following a path predetermined by others.

[I see, Sir!]

[I will start formulating a plan right now!]

"Thank you Nexus!" Fang Yuan replied as he yawned from exhaustion. He had barely arrived in this world and had already been through a lot, his brain was now at its limit, and he needed a good rest.

[I recommend that the Sir rest early as tomorrow will be very busy!]

"You are right!" Fang Yuan recognized that he was tired and resolved to get some sleep before tomorrow's events. He then closed the window and headed towards his bed to get his well-deserved rest.