Chapter 217

A black bear about two meters tall growls at Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing in the forest, then drops to all fours and charges. Fang Yuan has buried Charred Thunder Potato Gu in the ground in advance, and the bear’s own steps trigger blast after blast beneath it. The bear runs at twice human speed, but the explosions blow open its chest and cripple its legs before it turns to flee. Fang Yuan does not lay a hand on it himself. He has already dug a hole in its escape path and buried at least five more of the Gu there, and a last explosion ends the hunt. ^{ch. 217}

Bai clan leader and elder Bai Mo Xing watch the fight in smoke images. Bai Mo Xing identifies the Charred Thunder Potato Gu and notes that Bai Gu mountain’s bare, boneless ground severely weakens it, since the Gu needs soil to grow. Bai clan leader points to something else: Fang Yuan did the whole hunt himself, spending his own primeval stones on a rank two Gu he could have left to his rank three bodyguard. She reads this as an upright character rather than a schemer, one they can only draw the spirit spring’s location out of by indirect means. ^{ch. 217}

Fang Yuan presents the bear’s skin, and Bai clan leader rewards him with a Green Copper Relic Gu. He uses it at once, advancing his cultivation from middle to upper stage within rank one; his rank itself does not change. That night, at a banquet for the competition’s top hunters, Bai Mo Xing introduces four of the clan’s young talents: his nephew Bai Mo Ting, ranked third in the hunt; Bai Cao Shuai, ranked fourth; Bai Lian, called the clan’s most beautiful woman; and Bai Zhan Lie, the clan’s top young expert. Bai Zhan Lie sneers that the Gu Yue clan breeds strong women and weak men, his attention caught by Bai Ning Bing’s rank three peak cultivation. Fang Yuan answers with flattery that hides his anger. Bai Ning Bing shows no reaction at all. ^{ch. 217}

Internally, Fang Yuan reasons that if the Bai clan is going to set traps for him regardless, he is better off handing them a fake weakness of his own choosing. He begins stealing glances at Bai Lian across the banquet, and looks away whenever she notices. By the meal’s end he is looking at her often enough that Bai clan leader and the elders notice too, reading it as ordinary youthful infatuation. Bai Mo Xing reports the sighting to Bai clan leader. She tells him to let her plan further. ^{ch. 217}

On the second day, Fang Yuan hunts an earth horn rhino with the same buried-Gu method and brings back its horn. Bai clan leader rewards him with a Clearing Heat Gu, a rank two healing Gu shaped like an armored worm fossil, with a half-transparent jade texture, that cures poison. It fixes what had been Fang Yuan’s greatest weakness. That night, Bai clan leader presents her own children. The twins, Bai Sheng and Bai Hua, toast Fang Yuan with solemn, adult composure. Fang Yuan recognizes them: in his memory of a previous life, these two reach rank five, expand the Bai clan village to new heights, and inherit the Bai Gu mountain lineage, with Bai Sheng eventually becoming clan leader. He returns to watching Bai Lian as the banquet goes on, while Bai Zhan Lie grows louder and Bai Mo Ting instead watches Bai Ning Bing. ^{ch. 217}