Liu Nan had a long time to think about what he was going to do regarding Fang Yuan. It looked like Fang Yuan was a person who had to go back to Bei Gu Mountain occasionally to ensure the stability of his village. If he could find some way to figure out when that time was, he could try ambushing Fang Yuan en route.
However, that had its own risks, given that Fang Yuan could have prepared something along the way. As it was, he was not currently attempting to kill Fang Yuan; there was a reason he had agreed not to use lethal blows in a previous fight.
His eyes were on something else, and for whatever reason, his master had forbidden him from killing Fang Yuan anyway, meaning Fang Yuan was possibly important to his master's future plans.
But while he waited for an opportunity to arise, he could certainly attempt to oppose Fang Yuan in any other way. Liu Nan had no relation to Shang Ya Zi, but, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, which is why he was making this kind of offer.
"I actually can't accept it for free," Shang Ya Zi said. "It won't count as part of a business deal if I do so. However..." He trailed off. "I'll buy it from you for 400,000 primeval stones. How is that?"
That was still a reasonable price, and he could show it as a result that would, without a doubt, gain him quite a bit of recognition.
"All right then. 400,000 primeval stones," Liu Nan said, nodding.
'Just who is this guy?' Liu Nan wondered. He had not heard much of this person before, but to essentially give away something so valuable for nothing in the beginning made it seem that Liu Nan had nearly infinite funds. 'He must belong to some kind of rich family, or he has a rich backer,' Shang Ya Zi thought.
Shang Ya Zi attempted to dig into this indirectly, but Liu Nan was evasive regarding such questioning.
"Additionally, aside from this current deal," Liu Nan said. "I know that Fang Yuan is helping Shang Xin Ci in her attempt to pass the young master assessment for the Shang Clan. Whichever side that he is on, I'm on the opposite side. If there's any further way that I can sabotage him, I'd be happy to assist."
Shang Ya Zi considered the matter. The help of a Rank Five Gu Master could certainly be quite useful. However, there was a limit to how much he currently trusted Liu Nan. "I will think about it and discuss it with my siblings," he replied.
"All right, I'll leave behind my address for you to reach out to me if there's anything," Liu Nan said.
"If you do not mind me asking, why is it that you hate Fang Yuan so much?" Shang Ya Zi asked.
"Let us just say that I know what kind of man he is," Liu Nan said. "You've already interacted with him - can't you see why someone might despise him?"
Shang Ya Zi had to give him that - Fang Yuan had a way of getting on people's nerves. He himself was known as a very petty and vengeful person. He was already plotting on how to take down Fang Yuan now that he had a way out of this predicament. There was absolutely no way that he was going to let Fang Yuan off the hook for trying to extort him. 'Fang Yuan, let's see how you continue to operate so easily in the city,' he thought, chuckling.
Liu Nan then gave him an Information Path gu worm, and Shang Ya Zi handed him 400,000 primeval stones. Lu Nan checked the contents of the Information Path gu worm. Indeed, there was a complete set of Dark Path gu worm recipes going from Rank One to Rank Four.
'Haha! This is perfect! Heaven is truly not blind to my efforts!' Shang Ya Zi thought to himself. Earlier, he had been wondering how to pass his assessment, and Fang Yuan's little scheme could have cost him if his subterfuge was discovered. However, this was a legitimate transaction. There was nothing that Fang Yuan could do against him now.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Shang Ya Zi said.
***
Bai Ning Bing chuckled lightly as she saw Fang Yuan's expression. "It looks like you've been outplayed this time, Fang Yuan!"
News of what Shang Ya Zi had managed to do had reached them. Shang Ya Zi was no longer willing to buy the Flesh Bone Lord's recipes for the earlier inflated price and was offering 300,000 primeval stones in a letter he sent to Fang Yuan, stating that that was all it was worth now.
"This really is their territory. It looks like you weren't able to outmaneuver them," Bai Ning Bing said. It was rare for her to see him take a loss on a transaction, which is why she was barely able to control herself in this moment.
"No, it isn't because of that," Fang Yuan answered flatly. "It's because of the interference of this Liu Nan person." He frowned and searched through his memories once again. Could it be possible that there was someone by the name of Lu Nan whom he had forgotten about? Five hundred years was a very long time, and his recollection of certain things was not perfect. Still, he could not find the slightest whisper of Liu Nan's name among those memories.
He had needed those primeval stones in order to refine certain gu worms. This would certainly set him back. Before, Liu Nan had simply been an annoyance, this however, was reaching the point where it was seriously interfering with his benefits. He would have to postpone several things he was planning because of this setback.
There was also nothing he could do. Shang Ya Zi had obtained this all through a legitimate business transaction and no longer needed to rely on Fang Yuan. On top of which, Shang Ya Zi was sure to make things difficult for Fang Yuan in the future.
However, he kept his cool. Losses were unavoidable in life. Failure was unavoidable. Ancient Yin Desolate Moon had encountered failure countless times while trying to find Success Gu.
Shang Xin Ci visited the two of them once more for her. However, this time it was more than just a lesson; this was a discussion regarding the game plan to get Shang Xin Ci to win the young master assessment. She was joining quite late and, as such, had been offered a two-month extension by her father. This was somewhat reasonable but would not really help them much in the grand scheme of things.
As she sat down, Shang Xin Ci pulled out a bag of 100,000 primeval stones. The contest was to see how much she could obtain from this starting seed.
Whether one was back on Earth, or in this world, the easiest way to make money was to already have a good amount. Wealth begets wealth, allowing one to invest without having to worry about potentially losing things like one's house or food.
This was even stated in The Legends of Ren Zu when describing Boundless Forest Samsara's search for Wealth Gu.