Chapter 104

Fang Zheng comes to argue for Uncle and Aunt, accusing Fang Yuan of repaying their years of raising the twins with cruelty and pointing out that half their servants have already been let go. Fang Yuan is unmoved, noting that even a wine tavern’s month end profits would cover those servants, so the poverty is only for show. When Fang Yuan points out that Fang Zheng, sixteen years old, has already acknowledged Uncle and Aunt as parents and so has no claim to the inheritance, Fang Zheng answers by challenging him to a written war challenge, a formal Gu battle to decide whether some of the family assets return to them. ^{ch. 104}

Fang Zheng shows he has since refined the rank two Moon Raiment, a defensive Gu that wraps him in a floating ribbon of light blue fog, unlike their last match, which he lost after only thinking to use his Jade Skin Gu too late. Fang Yuan is not surprised. Instead he asks whether Fang Zheng has cleared the challenge with his group leader first, since a member on an active mission cannot simply walk away to fight. Caught off guard, Fang Zheng agrees to go find Gu Yue Qing Shu and explain, and Fang Yuan tells him to bring Qing Shu to the northern gate’s wine tavern. ^{ch. 104}

At Gu Yue Qing Shu’s residence, Fang Zheng watches him train: a Green Vine Gu whipping out to about fifteen meters, a Pine Needle Gu firing needles from his hair into a wooden puppet, and a Moonwhirl Gu sending a curved green moonblade through the air. Awed, Fang Zheng admits to himself he could not survive ten breaths against such an assault, and calls Qing Shu the number one Gu Master among rank two. Qing Shu has heard much about Fang Yuan and is more curious about him than about Fang Zheng’s request, so he agrees to come along himself, sending Fang Zheng off once they reach the tavern. ^{ch. 104}

At the tavern, Fang Yuan and Qing Shu drink together, and Qing Shu opens by asking directly how much Fang Yuan wants for his Liquor worm, rather than whether he will sell it at all. Qing Shu is the top rank two Gu Master in the clan, having reached rank two peak stage at a young age and overpowered rank two upper stage Gu Masters Chi Shan and Mo Yan. Fang Yuan is not troubled by Qing Shu taking the lead in the conversation. Watching him in the winter light, he privately thinks him a genuinely talented man, and a shame. ^{ch. 104}