Home.
Quite a powerful word.
And there were rarely any feelings as strong as a yearning to return home among people.
Even if one disliked their home, when lost in a cold, alien place, one would forget the negative experiences and only remember the warmth their home provided.
Fang Yuan was able to build upon this easily. In his previous life, when he had first been kicked out of the Gu Yue Clan there were many nights when he missed life back in the village. Sure, it had multiple downsides and he was suppressed by the clan in favor of Fang Zheng, but those memories were washed away of happier ones.
When he had to spend nights outside in the cold, he began thinking of the warmth of the house he had grown up in - momentarily forgetting the abuse his Aunt and Uncle had put him through.
And who knew better how important a home was then someone who had to travel constantly like he did?
This mortal killer move was based off of Fang Yuan's own life experiences.
Fang Yuan called this mortal Human-Emotion Path killer move - Feeling Homesick!
Without Fang Yuan needing to prod it further, the Steam Spouting Yak stood up, turned around, and began wandering peacefully back towards where it had grown up.
If it could speak, it would've said the same thing that Wang Tian had earlier: "I want to go home!"
Shang Qing Qing was a bit bewildered. "Fang Yuan - what is going on?"
"I used a move on it that will make it want to go back home," Fang Yuan said.
"I don't understand..." she said.
Fang Yuan wasn't about to explain the move in detail as it might reveal his Human Path methods, so he said, "Fairy, you know how messenger pigeons work, no?"
Shang Qing Qing nodded. Gu Masters had little use for them as gu worms were better for communication but they were still used from time to time especially by mortals.
"Messenger pigeons remember where they were brought up and will return to their home when released," Fang Yuan said. "Much like that, I induced a strong desire in this Steam Spouting Yak to go back home. It wants to go back home now."
Shang Qing Qing pointed to the Steam Spouting Yak. "Fang Yuan, it's moving in the wrong direction."
Fang Yuan glanced down at it and frowned. The yak was moving in one direction, then stopping, and charging in another. It was creating a massive circular blight on the grass with how it was moving with seemingly no sense of direction whatsoever.
He had not accounted for the fact that the Steam Spouting Yak might just not know how to get back home like a pigeon would. But this was easy enough to remedy. "Where is it supposed to go?"
Shang Qing Qing shared an information-type gu worm with him, and Fang Yuan injected this information into the Steam Spouting Yak's mind.
It glared up at him, noticing that it was the victim of some kind of mental attack. It didn't have the intelligence to understand that Fang Yuan was helping it and neither did the gu worms atop its body which in a futile attempt tried to block this, but failed. It started spouting massive puffs of steam from its horns - a sign of its anger and looked ready to either charge at Fang Yuan or send a ranged attack his way.
But, Fang Yuan quickly backed away and it once again decided to go back home, ultimately deciding that pursuing Fang Yuan was not worth its time. Now it had a clearer idea of where 'home' was.
Fang Yuan and Shang Qing Qing followed the yak alongside its journey. They needed to intervene if it went near a settlement of mortals, or if it caused damage to some other resource point.
It paved a trail of burnt grass that was easy for them to follow. Although it couldn't do something like use a movement-type killer move, as a Desolate Beast it was quite fast on its own legs.
It walked with no regard to what it was encountering or what it trampled underfoot, only concerned with returning home as soon as it come. It stampeded over the homes of other smaller beasts without a care in the world. These beasts yelled out and scampered, their homes destroyed with some of them burning to ashes before they could react. The yak was not doing so out of malice; no, it was a relatively docile creature all things notwithstanding. But it wanted to go home so badly that it didn't care what stood in its path - only that it needed to get there as soon as possible.
They were all mortal beasts so neither Shang Qing Qing nor Fang Yuan felt there was any need to intervene.
Boom!
Rather than go around a massive boulder, it simply rammed its head through it, shattering it to pieces as it went along. Rather than going around a lake it simple waded through, a thick cloud of steam erupting as its body made contact with the water.
This continued for three hours as Shang Qing Qing and Fang Yuan tailed it. Soon enough they happened upon where it was supposed to be.
Its enclosure was made up of a formation of gu worms - but Fang Yuan could easily spot the gaping hole it had made when it had charged out. The formation was rather flimsy and didn't have any Immortal Gu. It was more of a hinderance to the Steam Spouting Yak getting out than an actual barrier, which is how it had managed to force itself out in the first place.
'More likely than not it might've gotten one or two gu worms that let it break out,' Fang Yuan said. 'Or perhaps one day it just got fed up with being there.'
"Alright, I'll have the formation repaired," Shang Qing Qing said.
Right now, there was no need to do so, as the Steam Spouting Yak was happily floundering around its cage which was its home as well. It was rubbing its head against the ground and might've even been crying out of happiness to have finally been back home.
In such a situation, there was no need to restrain it. Shang Qing Qing even felt that this method of restraining it was the best as it did not require this gu formation around it.
"You should also try and harvest the Rank 5 gu worms growing atop it," Fang Yuan added. "Some of them might've been what gave it the strength to break free."
Harvesting gu worms from it was yet another way that the Steam Spouting Yak could be used as a resource point.
And so, it had been returned home. A trail of mild destruction was left in its path, but the grass would always regrow and this was not a densely inhabited area.
Overall, this was a large victory for Fang Yuan.
Shang Qing Qing was quite impressed. "Junior Brother, your methods are quite fascinating. To have brought the Steam Spouting Yak back here without damaging it in the slightest..."
This had been tasked with her and while she did have methods to theoretically deal with it, all of them were somewhat cumbersome with some of them even needing the use of some Immortal Essence beads. Not to mention there was no guarantee that they'd work - she estimated that at best she had about a 70% chance of succeeding anyway.
But this task had been given to her by the clan, so she couldn't very well say 'no' to it. This made delaying it as soon as possible quite an attractive option for her. Fang Yuan though had done it with what seemed like nearly zero cost on his part. Unless he had to purchase some of the gu worms used in the killer move, this was essentially free to him. Even were that the case though, he could use those gu worms and this killer move later on in the future, so it couldn't even be said that the cost was just of any gu worms he'd purchased.
"Ah, it was nothing, simply a minor alteration of its emotions," Fang Yuan said.
"Well you've gotten rid of a big headache on my behalf," Shang Qing Qing said. "If you ever need anything, do feel free to remember me. I won't forget this favor of yours."
Fang Yuan wasn't considered an external elder yet, but he had done the Shang Clan a solid and was someone who they would not mind collaborating with in the future.
Fang Yuan needed the help of someone with a bit more authority than Shang Qing Qing, but this would do for now. He had a feeling that he would be meeting with someone higher-up sooner rather than later.
"Well, I hope that you don't have a problem with me entering Shang Clan City as a mortal," Fang Yuan said. "There are several friends there that I would like to meet with."
"Mmm..." Shang Qing Qing said. "Not an issue, Fang Yuan, but please remember that as an Immortal there are certain things that you cannot do or interfere in..."
"Of course, I will practice discretion," Fang Yuan said, cupping his hands. "And I thank you for giving me a chance to prove my skill."