Fang Yuan, while this was going on, had been busy trying to cultivate. But he had no doubt noticed the commotion outside the clan head's pavilion. He terminated his session earlier than he normally would have and walked outside, frowning. "What on earth is going on?"
Out in the distance, he could finally see what all the hullabaloo was about. There were a number of Gu worms, carriages, mortals, and Gu Masters near the base of the mountain. The way they were walking and the way that they were carrying goods on their backs, this was not an invasion.
"The merchant caravan came now!" a Gu Master exclaimed in a loud voice.
"But why are they here?"
"This is way beyond the time they would normally come. We thought that they wouldn't come at all," another one intoned.
"Just be happy that they're here."
"They don't seem to be as numerous as they were before," someone else noted. The caravan did not even seem to be one-fifth the size of what it would normally be when it reached Gu Yue Village.
Regardless of the reason for why the caravan was here, since everyone had given up hope that they would visit Gu Yue Mountain, the villagers were all in a cheerful mood now. The absence of the caravan had meant that many things had gone unsold and many products that the villagers needed were unobtainable. Whether they were Bai, Xiong, or Gu Yue clansmen, all of them were in high spirits.
Fang Yuan descended from the clan head's pavilion and went out to greet the merchant caravan. The snow had completely melted away by this point, and the mud had dried up under the sun. Most areas were safe enough for travel up the mountain, although there were one or two mortals who succumbed to accidents along the mountain trail. The merchant caravan stopped before the walls of Gu Yue Village.
Jia Fu dismounted from the head of the merchant caravan line. The number 'four' was still inscribed on his plate. He looked far more haggard compared to how he had in the prior times he had come to the village.
He looked like he had lost some weight, and he had signs of injuries which had only been partially healed. He looked like a man who had emerged from a war zone, Fang Yuan noted, as he walked towards the head of the caravan.
"Clan head of the Gu Yue clan Gu Yue Fang Yuan greets you," Fang Yuan said with a gentle smile.
Jia Fu was a bit taken aback to see Fang Yuan there.
Fang Yuan had not been the clan head the last time he had dropped by.
While the changing of clan heads was something that happened every now and then, what was even more jarring was the fact that Fang Yuan was now rank five.
That technically put him on higher footing than Jia Fu and almost equal footing with his father, the head of the Jia Clan. Jia Fu was almost approaching 30, and yet Fang Yuan was already at rank five while he was still only a rank four.
He was, of course, distracted from his cultivation because it's not easy to cultivate while running a merchant caravan and traveling across half the world. But even if he had been free all the time, he felt he may not have been able to do what Fang Yuan had just done. Was there some secret behind Fang Yuan's meteoric rise? He moved these thoughts to the back of his mind, recognizing that he needed to address Fang Yuan.
He cupped his hands and said, "Jia Fu, greets you, Brother Fang Yuan." He did not add 'junior' or 'senior' before the brother title - he was used to calling Fang Yuan 'junior brother' but could no longer. But should he really be talking to him like an equal? When the words left his mouth, he felt that calling Fang Yuan "senior brother" might have been the right option.
Fang Yuan did not care, however. "I have been well enough." He then looked over at the merchant caravan with concern. "However, Brother Jia Fu, you seem to have encountered some trouble along the way. This is not the normal time that you would drop by us. Did something happen along the way?"
Jia Fu's face paled at the memory of what had just happened. "To say that we ran into misfortune is an understatement, Brother Fang Yuan," Jia Fu said. "First of all, we ran into a Wailing Fog, which completely disoriented our sense of direction blinding us and also interfering with out sense of sound. Then there was an attack from a Lightning Panther, which would have killed all of us if I had not managed to fight it back and force it to retreat at the last moment. When the fog had cleared and this beast had been taken care of, we found that we were 20 li off course, and stuck in a swamp. Moving through that took us over ten days with all of the cargo we had, and we were constantly assailed by various kinds of venomous beasts and insects. Once we left, it turned out that two demonic Gu Masters had disguised themselves and joined our caravan. They wreaked havoc before stealing a large amount of our goods and leaving. Then, as if things could not have gotten worse for us, we were attacked by a large cloud of mites. The mites by themselves did not do much damage. However, they carried with them a plague which rapidly slew most of the mortals and many Gu Masters as well. Then there was a dust storm which damaged most of our wheels and other implements." He shook his head. "I do not exaggerate when I say I think we ran into more difficulties during this one trip than I have in my entire career combined."
"My heart pains to hear it," Fang Yuan said. In reality, the merchant caravan's misfortune was Gu Yue Village's great fortune, because now they actually had a chance to sell their wares and buy several things. In addition to that, Fang Yuan was already cooking up a scheme in his mind, adjusting for the changing situation.
Most merchant caravans were not headed by a rank four Gu Master, but a rank three one. If Jia Fu had not been rank four, however, it was clear that their merchant caravan would have been completely wiped out, instead of barely managing to limp on towards Gu Yue Village.
"Coming to my attention, allow me to toast to you," Fang Yuan said. Jia Fu graciously followed behind him.
"I had heard that there was an attack by a demonic Gu Master on Qing Mao Mountain," Jia Fu said.
"Indeed," Fang Yuan said. "It's a very long tale. I can tell you about it once we sit down there."
The thing that the merchant caravan was most starved for was food. When even Jia Fu looked like he had lost weight, how worse off were the others? The mortals had sunken cheeks and stared greedily at anything they could devour even if it were a lone blade of grass. The Gu Master's gu worms had hardly fared better, many of them only had one or two as the rest had starved out and died.
Although the clan's food supplies had somewhat recovered, it wasn't like they were swimming in grain either. However, many in the merchant caravan were willing to pay three times the normal price for food. And Fang Yuan even ordered some portion of the clan's own storage to be sold. After all, milk could sustain them for quite a while if all went according to plan.