They soon happened upon the valley in question.
It was picturesque, with a light dusting of snow atop the hills and pleasant fields of grass that gently swayed with the daytime breeze. However, in the center of the valley, the grass had been burnt away leaving a barren patch of soil appearing like a blight on the land. The smell of char permeated the air.
The Steam Spouting Yak was sleeping in the middle of this scorched patch near a river. Even though it wasn't expelling much steam now, small puffs still escaped its horns indicating that it had had a rather refreshing drink just some time ago. Its body was a deep red and practically glowed much like iron cast in a furnace, and the heat was so intense it caused the air around it to shimmer like it would over an open flame.
"The body is dangerous to approach, and you cannot damage it too much," Shang Qing Qing reminded him.
This was a difficult task for a Rank 6 without specialized Fire Path methods. The Shang Clan had no such person currently. Not to say it was impossible, just quite tedious.
And as it was, the Steam Spouting Yak wasn't causing that much issue anyway. It was just sitting there, sleeping peacefully in the field. It would only attack when provoked and seemed to be content to continue grazing otherwise.
This was near the boundary of the Shang Clan's territory, but it was not in danger of running too far away from them. Even a Super Force did not have unlimited time and resources, and had to portion them appropriately. There were more pressing matters for the Shang Clan to deal with.
Because of this it was a low-priority task for the clan and had told Shang Qing Qing to deal with it 'eventually', which is why she was using it as a perfect entry test for Fang Yuan.
Even if he failed, she would lose little, but if he succeeded - it would remove an annoying problem from her to-do list.
Fang Yuan contemplated the problem.
Immortal Gu were all unique. That meant that there was only one Immortal Enslavement Gu in the entire world, and the Shang Clan did not have it.
But that didn't mean that one could not enslave Desolate Beasts. There were other ways of enslaving both animals and humans, as Fang Yuan had used Blood Path methods to control the Crimsonhoof Deer in the past.
In the future, Fang Yuan had heard of a famous Lightning Path Gu Immortal. Although they were of the Lightning Path, they were famous for controlling a large pack of Ancient Desolate Beast dogs in combat.
This person did so entirely using Lightning Path methods. Whenever their dogs misbehaved, they would be shocked. These shocks were quite painful and eventually the dogs learned to submit to their master. Even if they were asked to sit in a single small confined place for hours they wouldn't dare move or get out of that spot without his permission.
Fang Yuan lacked Fire Path attainment, but that could be compensated for by his Wisdom Path and Emotion Path foundations.
Beasts lacked human intelligence and were often slaves to their instincts. The Enslavement Path was actually a branch of the Wisdom Path, and the Emotion Path a sub-path of the Wisdom Path. That was why Shang Qing Qing though that Fang Yuan might actually have a chance at succeeding.
Fang Yuan closed his eyes, contemplating the problem. "Fair Qing Qing, I need some time, if you will..."
"No problem," Shang Qing Qing answered.
Fang Yuan was thinking hard of what the best approach would be. His mind aimlessly wandered around his aperture while doing so, arranging for the gu worms he thought he might need for this task.
His first thought was to base it off of a Blood Path method, making the Steam Spouting Yak think that he was its family member. But that had a major issue with it. If it thought that Fang Yuan was a close relative, it would try and get close to him to perhaps nuzzle him and he might end up burning to ashes as a result.
He had a Blood Path defensive killer move that could protect himself from the heat, but he couldn't show that out in the open.
He needed something that would work from a distance.
While doing so his will absentmindedly wandered near the mouth of a cave. There was a young boy groaning there.
'Oh?' Fang Yuan wondered, realizing this was that boy he had seen a while back who had nearly happened upon Man Triumphing Over Heaven Gu. 'But he was not here but somewhere else instead...'
Wang Tian was growling as he had the misfortune of falling sick. He had a bad cold, and his body ached all over. Although his stomach growled he didn't have the strength to wander outside.
Given his sickness, his thoughts naturally went to one place.
Home.
There was little more that a sick person wanted than the comfort of their own bed. But Wang Tian's bed had been destroyed alongside the rest of the Wang Tribe some time ago.
He couldn't help but still pine for it. He even forgot the bad things that had happened there like the people who made fun of him. Those memories were washed away by the comfort of his small hut and being surrounded by the rest of his tribe...
"I want to go home..." he blurted out. There was no one around to hear his complaint as far as he knew, however. And there was no home to go back to other than in his memories.
Fang Yuan heard those words, but their significance didn't click in his mind until he continued working on what to do ten minutes later.
With that, Fang Yuan's eyes suddenly flashed open.
"Oh? Have you thought of something?" Shang Qing Qing asked.
"Yes, I believe I have a solution," Fang Yuan said. "But it will take some time to work on first."
Fang Yuan's answer hadn't come entirely from Emotion Path, but rather a combination with Human Path.
The move was very simple and easy to formulate once Fang Yuan thought of it for a while. It only needed a small number of gu worms. This also meant that its power wasn't as high as one would ordinarily expect and that it would be easy for an opponent to find a flaw with it. But against a creature with no real mental defenses or capability to question what was going on at a higher level, it would be devastatingly effective.
Fang Yuan spent another hour perfecting the killer move in his aperture; if he failed the first time, the Steam Spouting Yak would become aggravated and attack. It would also make it harder for him to approach it in the future. Because of this he had to try and succeed on the first attempt.
When he was confident, he flew near the beast. He didn't approach too closely. Instead, he activated his move.
Gu worms atop its body attempted to block the mental attack, but they were inconsequential compared to the might of a killer move. That was the benefit of human intelligence. If it had an Immortal Gu then this would've been a different story, but this was a domesticated beast of the Shang Clan. Naturally they would not have let it carry Immortal Gu around.
The attack connected without any major issues.
The Steam Spouting Yak woke up immediately, but it didn't attack.
Thoughts and emotions began flooding its simple mind. It began to remember where it had grown up - the warm, safe enclosures of the Shang Clan. It had been a bit of an annoying place as well, yes, because of the restrictions placed upon it. The Shang Clan members constantly harvested resources from its body which it naturally found annoying. Its movement was also restricted to the enclosure they had made around it.
That was why it had broken out of its enclosure in the first place. To finally be free.
The enclosure was an annoying place to be.
But at the same time, it was also home.