Inside the cave abode.
Fang Qing took out the lower volume of the Supreme Simplicity Golden Book and read through it carefully.
Although this book explained the mysteries of [Year Guardian], if he believed it all, he would surely be walking straight into his own grave.
"Is there truly no hope of attaining [Year Guardian] from a Guest Position?"
"And to seek [Year Guardian], must one focus on a single virtue and never dabble in others? At least this Supreme Simplicity Golden Book was a truth acknowledged by a Golden Core True Lord of my branch... so it was not impossible to reason backward from it."
He counted on his fingers and silently deduced, "Among the Yin-Yang Five Virtues Dao Tradition, the four virtues of Yin, Yang, Metal, and Fire have all produced [Year Guardians]. Their proper positions could not be changed, and their paths could not be altered... Of the remaining Water, Earth, and Wood, all have experienced changes in their proper positions and transformations in their [Year Guardian] Dao Paths."
"In High Antiquity, Stomach Seizing Liu Virtue occurred, and [Willow Earth] consequently waned..."
"So, to seek the Earth Virtue [Year Guardian], the orthodox route should be [Stomach Earth] as Principal Position, [Willow Earth] as Secondary Position, [Maiden Earth] as Primary Position, and [Root Earth] as Vacant Position?"
"But [Willow Earth] had one Divine Ability taken away and was far too incomplete. Perhaps [Stomach Earth] was Principal, [Maiden Earth] Secondary, [Root Earth] Primary, and [Willow Earth] Vacant?"
"If it was the second possibility, then the Great Sun Tathagata was far too overbearing—or rather, too sinister. He held the Lord of the Charnel Forest in his grasp, and had even blocked off one path to the Earth Virtue [Year Guardian]?"
"When Xu Hei advanced to Purple Mansion earlier, the mysteries