The beast tide has ravaged the Gu Yue village, both physically and spiritually. The core pillar of the village's strength, Gu Yue Bo, has died. Elder Chi Lian's aptitude is too low to advance to naturally advance to rank 4. Elder Mo Chen could have had a chance at advancing, but he was heavily injured, his aptitude has dropped enough to make such a thing impossible.
The only hope that Gu Yue village has to survive the next beast tide is to nurture Yao Le through the ranks as swiftly as possible. Sadly for the village, Yao Le is not too interested in remaining. I blink. "You two want to join us?"
The medicine hall's elder, Yao Ji, nods. "Qing Mao mountain will not survive the next beast tide. We have not received news from the Xiong clan, but without their clan leader they have most likely been destroyed. It is impossible for the Bai clan not to have suffered heavy losses. Even if the Gu Yue clan and the Bai clan were to unite we would still perish in the coming beast tide."
That tracks. The villages grouping together wouldn't help anyone, it might even make things worse. Beast tides in Qing Mao mountain split and attack all three gu master villages, if the villages were to unite the beasts wouldn't split anymore. "But why follow me? The Jia clan caravan is coming soon, you can just join them instead."
This time it's Yao Ji's turn to be surprised. "You will not be joining the Jia clan caravan?"
There's two possible destinations for me. Wu clan's city or Shang clan's city. Gu Yue village is somewhere in the middle between these two. I didn't have enough information to decide between the two, so the choice was made by flipping a coin. "I'll be going to Wu clan's city."
The plan is to beeline for Wu Clan as fast as humanly possible, before beginning to search for inheritances. With my luck I'm bound to find some good stuff there. Yao Ji hums, thinking for a bit, before replying. "I still wish for us to journey together. There is safety in numbers, don't you agree?'
One of the requirements to somewhat safely travel the wilderness is having rank 3 battle strength. Yao Ji is rank 3 peak stage, but her combat strength is small. There are two reasons for this:
The first is that she is a healing specialist, her main focus is not on improving her combat strength but in healing others. The second is that she is old.
Martial arts are crucial to the combat strength of rank 1 and rank 2 gu masters, afterwards, unless one is cultivating strength path, its importance slowly begins to decline. There's not much emphasis to be placed on punching well when you can throw moonblades from over a hundred meters away. Rank 3 is in a weird middle ground where martial arts are not that important, but are still somewhat helpful.
I nod. "Sure, feel free to follow me."
Having a healing expert come with me isn't going to hurt, worst case scenario I can just ditch her and her granddaughter if they start to get annoying.
Yao Ji smiles widely, putting her lack of teeth on clear display. "You are a kind young man."
—
Yao Ji POV.
"Grandma, how did it go? Are we going with him?"
Yao Ji smiles. "We are."
Yao Ji is old, she had even been among the ones who helped nurture the clan leader into the person he had become. She knows many of the clan's secrets, some of them are revealed only to the clan's most trusted elders, some are supposed to be privy to only the clan leader.
Gu Yue village will not be destroyed, the Gu Yue clan's progenitor would not allow such a thing to happen. He is likely to come out of seclusion and lead the clan until it can get itself back on its own feet.
Yao Le sighs in relief. "I'm so glad, thank you grandma!"
Yao Ji laughs. "You know I can't deny you anything dear!"
Yao Le is all that is left of her family. Her parents died two beast tides ago, their loss caused both of them great pain. The ideal plan would have been to join the Jia clan caravan for a while, to allow Yao Le to nurture her talent. Yao Ji still has enough lifespan left to guide her until the girl is strong enough to not need her anymore.
But she's never been able to deny her daughter anything. Yao Le pumps her arms excitedly. "Do you think I have a chance grandma?!"
Yao Le should ideally keep her marriage prospects open. Rank 5 cultivation would greatly open up her prospects, the best case scenario would be marrying someone easily suppressed and whose background would bring great benefits. "Of course you do, you're the prettiest girl in the whole clan dear!"
The choice between going towards Wu clan or Shang clan is meaningless by itself, the true benefit to going to Shang clan would have been the Jia clan caravan's protection.
The rumor mill says that Fang Yuan heroically fought four myriad beast kings by his lonesome, triumphing heroically over them. The truth is more likely to be that he fought two frenzy lightning wolves, his lack of injuries testifies to a flawless victory however. Her battle strength combined with his will thankfully be more than enough to guarantee Yao Le's safety. "What do we do now grandma?"
Yao Ji hums. "Hmm, Gu have become dirt cheap now that the beast tide is over. We will buy any gu we need for the journey, search for gu that are either easy to feed in the wilderness or whose food is cheap and simple to stock."
A small blessing is that the price of moonlight petals has neither decreased nor increased after the beast tide. A large number of gu masters are rushing to buy as many as possible, so their price is highly likely to crash soon.
Stocking on moonlight petals is a short term solution however. Thankfully, Yao Ji has the long term solution. "Grandma, should we take the moonlight petal seeds with us?"
The clan leader is the sole person allowed to handle the distribution of moonlight petals. Yao Ji, as the medicine elder, is both old enough and connected enough to acquire some for herself. "Of course, how else are we to feed our moonlight gu?"
Yao Le gives her grandmother a hug. "You're the best, grandma!"
Yao Ji hugs her back. "No, you're the best, dear!"
—
Mo Chen POV
Mo Chen's hollow gaze is fixated right on the gravestones of his sons, Mo Yan and Mo Bei. The rising sun casts his shadow on both gravestones.
Gu Yue Bo failed to keep Mo Chen safe. Fang Yuan failed to keep Mo Yan safe, whether or not his death was somehow orchestrated by Fang Yuan does not matter anymore, revenge will not bring either of them back.
Mo Chen hears familiar footsteps approaching from behind. He does not turn around. "What have you come for, Chi Lian?"
Chi Lian continues walking, only stopping once he stands right next to his old rival. He does not speak.
The two sit quietly through the morning, through the afternoon before Chi Lian finally breaks the silence as Evening comes. "Your suffering does not bring me joy. We may be rivals, but we are family. I know what you feel, I felt much the same the day that my own son died."
Mo Chen continues to sit as still as a statue. "No, you do not. You still had Chi Cheng, you still had family. I have nothing."
His insistence that Mo Yan marry had fallen on deaf ears. Mo Bei, as the second son, did not have good enough marriage prospects to be married early.
Chi Lian nods. "You are right, I still had family, just the same as you do now still. We are the Gu Yue clan, we are all family. Who else is one supposed to lean on in times of trouble if not on one's family?"
Mo Chen does not give a reply. Chi Lian continues. "I came to tell you, if there is anything that you want or need, do not feel afraid to ask for aid. These are dire times, w-""Just… Just leave… please."
Chi Lian pauses, before bowing deeply to his rival. "Leave I shall. Farewell."
Mo Chen continues to stare at his son's gravestones as the sound of Chi Lian's footsteps grows fainter and fainter.
Just as the heaven gives with the right hand, heaven takes with their left hand.
—
Chi Lian POV.
In defeat, one must be gracious. In victory, one must be humble. That is how the seeds of reputation are sowed. "Old man, give me my primeval stones."
Chi Lian suppresses the desire to strangle Fang Yuan to death. The brat is too smart for his own good. "Here, take them."
Chi Lian throws a yellow tusita flower to Fang Yuan. "A hundred thousand primeval stones, just as we had agreed. Feel free to count them."
Fang Yuan empties the yellow tusita flower in a nearby wooden barrel, filling it to the brim with primeval stones. "Cui Wen, count these for me will you?"
The aforementioned servant grumbles. "You do realise that even with the help of these two idiots, this is going to take a while, right?"
Fang Yuan nods. "Don't worry about it, Chi Lian and I have some things to discuss as well."
'The three servants will have to be killed before they leave the room.' thinks Chi Lian, before saying. "Let us leave for my study then."
Both are silent on the way to the study, where they each take a seat in the leather armchairs. Fang Yuan gets himself comfortable on the armchair. "I've got a recipe for a gu that can forcefully advance a gu master from rank 2 to rank 3. What are you willing to pay for it?"
The last of Chi Lian's readily available primeval stones have been depleted by the assassination of Mo Yan, "What do you want?"
Fang Yuan immediately replies. "Eight hundred thousand primeval stones."
Chi Lian closes his eyes, takes a deep breath to calm himself, before saying. "I don't have any more primeval stones. Name something else."
Fang Yuan's reply is, once again, immediate. "I've got a list of gu that I haven't been able to purchase for myself, maybe you can help. Do you have a quill and some paper?"
Chi Lian motions for a servant to bring paper and ink. The servant lays the paper, quill and ink on the table. Fang Yuan begins writing, filling up two papers with his list of gu, before finally finishing at the halfway point of the third paper. "I want at least ninety percent of these for the recipe, not having the last two gu in the recipe will be a dealbreaker. A gu like this isn't going to come cheap."
Chi Lian does not reply, instead he takes the three papers and begins reading Fang Yuan's list. "Most of these gu are already stored by my faction, acquiring some of them is a maybe and the last six gu are impossible to get."
Most of the gu are parts of the moonlight gu series, all of the variants ranging from ranks one to three are included. The final six gu are all wisdom path gu, something that is completely absent from Qing Mao mountain. Fang Yuan shrugs. "I need at least two gu from the last six on the list. If you can't get them I'll call off the deal."
There is someone cultivating wisdom path in his faction, an elderly rank 2 gu master with 36% aptitude. He'd bought them for cheap from the Jia clan caravan many years ago. "Do you accept substitutes, or do you need exactly those six gu?"
Fang Yuan shakes his head. "If you find any gu that have an exactly identical effect then it's alright. If it's a similar effect then we'll need to talk about it beforehand."
Chi Lian does not remember exactly what effects said gu master's gu had, he'll have to check in with the man. "I'll send a servant to announce you when I have them ready."
Fang Yuan sighs. "I'll wait to be announced then. Bring me some tea until then, I can't believe you haven't served me anything yet. That's a very disrespectful way to treat your guests, you know?"
Chi Lian motions for the servant to not bring any tea. "You know I-""Kid, we're done ya know?"
Chi Lian glares at the impudent Cui Wen. The man had not only dared to intrude upon the private meeting of his betters, he had even done so in the most disrespectful way possible. The man is courting death. "The servants cannot be allowed to live. The assassination of Mo Yan must be kept a secret."
Any of the truly important servants have been sent on errands, the ones present already have a deficient performance. Fang Yuan rises, before casually walking to stand beside Cui Wen. "Feel free to kill yours, I'm keeping mine."
The rumors of Fang Yuan's combat strength are greatly exaggerated, so much so that they are most likely either a complete fabrication or the work of someone exacerbating them on purpose behind the scenes. A fight breaking out is not in the favor of Chi Lian. "Hmph. Then make sure your dogs don't babble, otherwise the both of us will face great distrust."
Fang Yuan nods, before wordlessly leaving with his servants. Chi Lian turns to the closest servant. "Gather everyone in the courtyard, I have an announcement to make."
All of the servant's are pale, aware of their incoming fate. Disobeying would mean, if lucky, the death of their family. If unlucky they might be chosen to be made examples of, tortured to death for all to see and fear the consequences of disobedience.
—
Fang Yuan POV.
I sigh. "Why do you have to cause so much trouble for yourself? I told you that I wasn't going to let him kill you."
Cui Wen laughs. "Because it's fun! Did ya see the look on his face when I barged in the room? He looked like someone took a shit in his bowl of rice!"
I can't deny that it was pretty funny. "What do you plan to do now, do you want to remain in the village or do you plan to leave?"
Cui Wen blinks. "Ya're freeing us?"
I nod. "I told you that I'm leaving the village, didn't I?"
Cui Wen says. "I guess ya did, didn't ya? I haven't given that much thought. I'll probably join up with the Jia Clan caravan, strong mortals get paid pretty well for manual labor."
I turn to the brother and sister. "What about the two of you?"
They give each other nervous glances, before the brother finally replies. "We will join Cui Wen, remaining in the village does not seem to be a… erm…"
I snicker. "A good idea?"
"Yes, that."
I give the three of them a nod. "Alright then. If there's anything that the three of you need feel free to tell me. You've served me well, I'd like to repay some of that."
—
The next few weeks are chaotic.
Many mourn their dead, the beast tide having taken those close to them.
Many rejoice in the deaths of their rivals, their own social status improved by the lack of competition.
I do neither, all of my attention is on preparing to tackle what I assume to be the Blood Sea Ancestor's inheritance. Chi Lian actually manages to get those wisdom path gu worms for me.
I'd initially planned to double the list once he failed to get them. Getting them early isn't a bad thing however, even if I can't extort him even more because of it.
I still have enough blood stored to refine this gu. I give Shen Cui a nod. "Did you manage to get them?"
Shen Cui bows. "Of course master, a hundred prostitutes, as you requested. They are all currently in the second basement."
She didn't even flinch when I gave her the task to gather a hundred cheap and destitute whores, she just went 'Of course master, your wish is my command!'.
I motion for her to follow me. "Let's go see them shall we?"
—
The second basement is somewhat unique. I'd made it to protect Cui and Luli during the beast tide, having a secret basement does have some more perks however.
"I want each of you to pair up and drink this aphrodisiac."
There's exactly a hundred vials filled with a blood red liquid lying on a table between me and the whores. One of them, a prettish redhead, smiles. "Are you sure you can handle all of us?"
I nod. "Pretty sure, just do as I say and you'll see."
They all obediently follow my instructions. They all take a vial, pair up and then drink the contents of their vial all in one go.
I nod. "Good, now just wait for the aphrodisiac to get going."
At first they give me practiced coquettish glances, before the blend of combat stimulants laced with aggression enhancers begins to take effect. In ten minutes they're already glaring at each-other, more than ready to fight over any perceived slight. I smile. "Now fight to the death."
Shen Cui and I silently watch the ensuing brawl. These women have no one to miss them, they are widows and undesirables.
The screams of pain, anger and fear go unheard by the world above. They're numbers slowly dwindle as their rage takes over their minds. At first each of them fought against their partner, the fights resembling more of a tavern brawl than a frenzied melee.
In less than ten minutes the first death occurs. The woman's neck is bitten, exposing her arteries and causing her to bleed to death. The second death happens mere seconds after the first.
In fifteen minutes all that's left is a single, heavily wounded survivor. I give Shen Cui a nod, she slams an axe into the girl's head, killing her. "What is your next command, master?"
I lean down, slice open the head of one of the women and take the rank 1 frenzy blood gu out of her brain. "Now we advance this gu all the way to rank 5."