"From now on, Shang Xin Ci will be considered my own daughter."
There was polite applause at this announcement from Shang Yan Fei, as many people eagerly welcomed Shang Xin Ci.
"Ah, sister, so good to see you among us!"
"If you need any help, do not hesitate to reach out to your elder brother!"
"Heaven truly is kind to see all of us reunited like this as one big happy family!"
However, inwardly, they were already scheming against her. The Shang Clan had a massive fortune, but it was not limitless. It was split among people, of course, and no matter how large the treasure pile, it was human nature that one would want to have all of it, not even wanting to part with a single coin! That was how many of the Young Masters were feeling: another competitor had appeared in their eyes, because that was what Shang Xin Ci was.
"Well, it's good that everything turned out for you. I'm happy to see that you did manage to find a home here in the Shang Clan," Fang Yuan said.
"Thank you!"
"You have my gratitude as well, Gu Yue Fang Yuan," Shang Yan Fei said. "If it wasn't for your help, my daughter might have perished along the journey. You also helped her during her initial Gu Master journey. I wish to repay this favor of yours. Please name a reward and you will have it."
Fang Yuan shook his head and said, "There's no need for any kind of reward. When I went to save your daughter, I had only done so assuming that she was some random woman and had done so simply out of the kindness of my heart. I did not demand payment from her then for my services, and I think it would be hypocritical of me to do so now. I thank you for your generosity, but I do not need anything."
The others at the table were speechless. To outright refuse their father was shocking; it could even be considered to be an insult in certain ways! It was not every single day that one managed to get the favor of the Shang Clan Head, even for a Rank Five Gu Master. This was not something small. At the same time, it did not seem like Fang Yuan was simply saying this out of courtesy or etiquette. No, he truly seemed to think that as a righteous person, he did not need a reward.
"I understand your reasoning, Gu Yue Fang Yuan," Shang Yan Fei said. "You are a righteous person, and so you helped her out of the kindness of your heart. However, if word were to get out that I let you leave the city empty-handed, people would begin thinking that there was no benefit to helping a Shang Clan Young Master in the future. If any of my children or the future of the Shang Clan were to get into peril, perhaps no one would help them then. Because of that, I do request that you be compensated appropriately."
"I think that you are being a bit too cynical, Lord Shang Yan Fei," Fang Yuan said. "I'm sure that there are many other good people in the world, just like Shang Xin Ci and I. I'm sure there are many who would help your clan's scions if they got into trouble. Once again, I do not need a reward."
Bai Ning Bing fidgeted. Now, it was one thing to refuse once, but Fang Yuan had just done it twice! Many of the Shang Clan Young Masters gathered there narrowed their eyes and were thinking that Fang Yuan was being extremely dumb by doing something like that.
If Fang Yuan refused a third time, there was nothing that Shang Yan Fei, as a righteous path Clan Head, could do. To insist further would be insulting his guests.
"Fang Yuan, I understand your reasoning. However," Shang Yan Fei said, with a touch of anger in his voice, barely perceptible but evident nonetheless. Many of the Shang Clan Young Masters cowered upon hearing it, even though they were not the intended recipients of their father's ire. "As someone in my position, I simply cannot let you go without giving you appropriate compensation. Please, I request that you do not refuse a third time." Shang Yan Fei was sure that Fang Yuan would pick up on the hint.
Fang Yuan seemed to consider the matter silently before answering a minute later. That minute was filled with tension, as Bai Ning Bing wanted to turn around and grab Fang Yuan by the collar, shake and asking him what was wrong with his head to keep doing something like this.
Fang Yuan finally answered, "If such is the case, Lord Shang Clan Leader, the reward I would request is a Purple Crystal Relic Gu."
Up until now, Shang Yan Fei had been maintaining a neutral expression, only letting slight tones in his voice show his emotions. However, upon Fang Yuan's request, a crack appeared in his expression.
'This Fang Yuan', he thought to himself, 'he asks for far too much!'
A Purple Crystal Relic Gu was immeasurably precious. One could not find it on a mortal market, and even if one did, one could not give it away willy-nilly. The gap in a single minor realm at Rank Five was immense. It could take up to a decade for someone to advance from one of the minor realms to another. Shang Yan Fei had lived for much longer than Fang Yuan and was still only one minor realm ahead of him. Even considering the fact that Fang Yuan was a genius, this showed the difficulty in advancing at Rank Five.
On Earth, it was said that a mountain of gold could not buy a single second of time, and much of the same sentiment existed in the gu world. A Purple Crystal Relic Gu could shave off ten year's worth of effort - and at that level, each year that one lived was extremely precious, much like how rich people on Earth greatly prioritized their health compared to their poorer counterparts.
It wasn't like the Shang Clan did not have a Rank Five Purple Crystal Relic Gu; they did. It's just that they could not normally give them out as it would greatly shake the balance of power between the most powerful Gu Masters of the Southern Border. The Shang Clan Head, for example, could not just simply take them for himself.
However, Fang Yuan had now put Shang Yan Fei in a tough spot. Because he had refused any kind of reward twice in a row, but Shang Yan Fei had insisted upon it, if he said no right now, it would make him a laughing stock right in front of his own dinner party. To go from asking for nothing to a Purple Crystal Relic Gu - that is truly too much, he seethed inwardly. It could be said that it was going from asking for nothing to suddenly demanding ten million primeval stones!
However, at the same time, it could not be said that Fang Yuan had not necessarily earned it. The value of a Rank Five Man Triumphing Heaven Gu was actually more than that of a Rank Five Purple Crystal Relic Gu.
However, that was also exactly why Shang Yan Fei was so suspicious of this man. Who gave a Rank Five Gu worm to someone they had just met? Was the story about the inheritance actually accurate? Or did Fang Yuan somehow know about the relationship between his daughter and him through some kind of clue?
Although his agents had examined Shang Xin Ci and noted that nothing was wrong with her, and it did not appear that anyone had any methods to tamper with such kind of investigation, there were countless methods in the world, and who could know all of them? Not even a super force like the Shang Clan could be said to have counters for everything.