Fan Ru and the boy were startled by Fang Yuan's actions, but neither moved to stop him. He was a student Gu Master, so what? His status was far higher in the village than either of them.
"This person is the cause of your grandfather's illness," Fang Yuan said calmly, seeing the dazed expression on Fan Ru's face.
Initially the words did not sink in, but when they did, the boy was the first to respond.
"Fan Ru- don't listen to him! How could I be the cause of your grandfather's sickness?" the boy cried indignantly. He did not dare face Fang Yuan head-to-head.
"Indeed, Young Master, you must be mistaken, all that Shi Fei has done up till now is help us, sometimes even giving us ginseng at a low discount..." Fan Ru said.
"Of course he does, it's poisoned, that's why," Fang Yuan said.
"Poisoned!?"
"Check your grandfather's nails," Fang Yuan said. "See those markings? See the other lines under his gums? Those are telltale signs of arsenic poisoning. It is tasteless and odorless, and if given slowly indistinguishable from some illnesses. He has the same, only lighter."
How did Fang Yuan know this?
When he had been the Supreme Elder of the Blood Wing Demon Sect, he had often sent his sect disciples on missions. One of them had been to eliminate a village of Gu Masters who were nestled too close to a resource point he was coveting for his liking.
He had placed the mission on the sect's mission board, expecting that a Rank 5 or perhaps a group of Rank 4 disciples would go and take care of it. To his surprise, it was done by a Rank 3 Gu Master on her lonesome.
Intrigued, Fang Yuan summoned said disciple before him. Prostrating herself, she said, "This one used Rank 4 Arsenic Gu after sneaking into their village disguised as a healer, and poisoned their water supply! Once weakened, they then came to this one hoping she could cure them after their own healers failed, which is when I poisoned them further and so on!" She was a Poison Path Gu Master, but many Poison Path Gu Masters could easily masquerade as healers. Poisons and medicines were often the same substances, just given in different doses and with different intent. Taking even arsenic for example, which had been used as poison for time immemorial, could be used to treat Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, a type of blood cancer back on Earth.
Fang Yuan noticed the strange markings on her nails, to which she replied that she had been unable to fully control the Rank 4 gu worm and had inadvertently poisoned herself slightly, but would recover within a few week's time.
He had never paid much more attention to it than that, but this incident brought those memories back to his mind.
It was how he had recognized the tell-tale markings on that man's nails.
Of course, this mortal boy could not use a gu worm, but could get arsenic from somewhere else. It was used in some alchemical solutions, after all. However, in so doing, he had inadvertently also lightly poisoned himself.
Fan Ru, despite herself, glanced at her grandfather's nails, and also at the boy's.
"Wait- Fan Ru, there's a misunderstand-"
Before he could finish, Fang Yuan stepped on his foot, and he cried out in pain.
The boy looked at Fang Yuan defiantly, but any thought of resistance had vanished the moment he gazed at Fang Yuan.
Who was this person? Fan Ru had told him that a kind-hearted Gu Master had come to help her, which he had inwardly despaired at but still followed her when called.
After all, Fan Ru was the love of this boy's life.
However, she had rejected his advances many times over simply because she said that if she left, who would take care of her grandfather? He was old and frail and needed someone to take care of him.
Using this as an excuse, she spurred his advances time and time again.
Seeing this, he had decided to get rid of this obstacle which obstructed the path to his heart. When the old man had come down with a cold, he had visited their house one day, smiling brightly as he gave him some ginseng- being sure to tell Fan Ru not to take it herself as it was quite bitter.
And with that, the old man got sicker and sicker. And the sicker he got, the more the demand for the ginseng tea.
Before this plan could materialize though, he had been found out by this man. This man whose eyes were like two endless pools of darkness, who radiated the aura of one who was indifferent to the miseries and sufferings of the world.
A kind and gentle Gu Master?
This person was clearly radiating a malevolent aura! The man, despite his young age, was a demon among demons!
'Fan Ru- this demon has deceived you! He's a true wolf in sheep's clothing!'- Shi Fei thought.
The pain in his foot intensified, until he spilled the beans immediately.
Fan Ru was shocked - unable to believe the words that were coming out of Shi Fei's mouth. Earlier, she had felt that this student Gu Master definitely was wrong and that Shi Fei was right, after all, she had known him since they were both children!
But as a matter of fact, it was all of this time spent together that had manifested itself in the canker that therefore lay in his heart, and why he had tried so hard to get rid of what he thought was an obstacle to his goal.
"But don't you see, Ru'er, I just did this for you- for us, so that we could be together! C-Can't you see how much I love you! I even made sure that you never took the ginseng... because I'd never hurt you!"
Fan Ru didn't even recognize the twisted look on his face, as if it were a human face deformed beyond all recognition. Nor had she seen the dark obsession lurking deep within that had possessed him to act like so.
She merely shook her head.
In an instant, the sweetest of love fermented into the bitterest of anger within Shi Fei, and he reached for the knife he often used while chopping ingredients, now intending to-
Before he could move, there was a flash of light and suddenly, the room spun around him.
He had been decapitated!
Fan Ru screamed at the sight, though Fang Yuan was calm as he dragged the body and head outside.
Mortal villages like these had their own justice systems who managed their affairs, and Shi Fei would've been hanged by the mortal villagers once word got out of his deeds. Getting desperate, he had chosen to attack, perhaps banking on the fact that a 'greenhorn Gu Master' who was only Rank 1 like Fang Yuan might be easy to defeat.
How wrong he was!
Fang Yuan informed the village elder of what had happened, with Fan Ru being his tearful witness to the event.
Actually it was not a problem even if he killed an ordinary villager without any justification, but there was no need to resort to such brutish means when he was clearly in the right.
Once they returned to her house, she thanked Fang Yuan. Though traumatizing, he had uncovered the root cause of her issue.
"Regarding the arsenic poisoning," Fang Yuan said, dropping a primeval stone onto the floor of the hut. "There is a tonic you can find easily in the market for the kidneys- it'll help get rid of the arsenic in his body. Regardless, so long as you stop poisoning him, he should return to normal within a few months."
Fan Ru stared at the primeval stone like it was an alien object. "Young Master- after all you've done- I can't!"
Fang Yuan shook his head. "Take it, it is nothing. I wish you and your grandfather the best of luck."
"Young Master," a weak voice said, and Fan Ru turned around, shocked to see that her grandfather had gotten up. The commotion had roused him from his stupor. "I had known that boy Shi Fei since he was young. To think that he would do such a thing..." He then shook his head as he glanced at Fang Yuan. "Ah, this old man doesn't have the words or treasure to thank you."
"I need no thanks," Fang Yuan said with a graceful smile that adorned his features like that of a halo around an angel. "It is the duty of the righteous to take care of the sick and weak. After all, helping someone in need is common sense!"
The old man was nearly moved to tears by Fang Yuan's kindness. To think that such good people did, in fact, exist in this world apart from stories. "If only everyone in the world was like you, Young Master. It would be a much nicer place!"
Forget everyone, if even ten percent of the world was like Fang Yuan, the Gu World would tear itself apart in a sea of flames and chaos. As it was, the five regions and two heavens would soon barely be able to handle a single Fang Yuan, let alone multitudes!