Chapter 119

Hearing Chi Shan name Gu Yue Fang Yuan, the elders recognize him at once as the young Gu Master whose disturbances have already reached their ears, including selling his family assets to buy a red steel Relic Gu. Gu Yue Chi Lian and Gu Yue Mo Chen’s faces turn ugly at the reminder, since had Chi Shan or Mo Yan used that red steel Relic Gu instead, either could have risen to rank two peak stage, equal to Gu Yue Qing Shu, a political win for whichever faction claimed it that Fang Yuan’s purchase spoiled. Another elder recalls that this same young man shattered Jade Skin Gu’s defense with his bare fists and defeated Gu Yue Fang Zheng to win the arena championship, an embarrassment to clan head Gu Yue Bo, who had specially nurtured Fang Zheng. When Chi Lian doubts that Fang Yuan’s strength could compare to Chi Shan’s own, Chi Shan answers that Fang Yuan has also bought a Black Boar Gu and spent months feeding it pork to build strength, and that after seeing him once move a huge rock to test himself, Chi Shan judges Fang Yuan’s strength does not lose to his own. ^{ch. 119}

Gu Yue Bo orders Fang Yuan’s group assigned to try the toad, but the internal affairs hall elder points out that Fang Yuan is a loner with no group, the sole survivor after his original group was wiped out in the first beast tide. Pressed on why he was never reassigned, the elder explains that Fang Yuan refuses every offer to join a group, fails nearly every compulsory monthly mission on record, and has only been given light punishments since he has broken no clan rule, calling him unrepentant and unruly. The elders mutter their disapproval of such an idle heir, and Gu Yue Bo silences them before ordering a compulsory command sent to Fang Yuan to test his strength against the River Swallowing Toad, framing it as discipline that doubles as a pretext for punishment should he fail. ^{ch. 119}

In the tavern, word spreads that the Chi Shan group has returned from the mountain’s foot in defeat and that villagers are kneeling outside the clan gates. Fang Yuan, already familiar with the news, is about to leave when Chi Shan arrives and tells him the clan has issued a compulsory order to head to the mountain’s foot; unable to refuse and judging the toad no great danger, Fang Yuan agrees and leaves with him. After they go, the tavern’s chatter turns to mocking Fang Yuan as doomed, egged on by the bandaged old shopkeeper’s resentment and the waiters’ gossip, until a Gu Master overhears them approvingly. This Gu Master, recognizable to Fang Yuan as the healing Gu Master from the earlier small beast tide whom Fang Yuan had once shielded himself with a girl this man sought after, slams a primeval stone on the table and offers rewards for more insults against Fang Yuan, while his three companions look on without objecting. ^{ch. 119}