Chapter 267

Wei Yang reports to Shang Yan Fei on the two guests, and the clan leader places the surname at once: Gu Yue, one of the three clans of Qing Mao mountain, with hundreds of years of history. He recalls intelligence from half a year earlier, that Qing Mao mountain was mysteriously attacked in a single night and turned from a green, lively mountain into a domain of ice and snow that has still not fully melted. Traces at the site pointed certain insiders toward one of the ten extreme physiques, and Shang Yan Fei had already guessed the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique caused it, which lets him place Gu Yue Fang Zheng’s origin. One doubt remains open to him: why the two hid their identities inside the caravan. ^{ch. 267}

Wei Yang calls the pair geniuses who will surpass him given time. He judges them at least rank three from how long they held out in battle despite an incomplete set of Gu, and guesses both carry A grade aptitude. Gu Yue Fang Zheng fought straightforward and brave, and conceded his loss without complaint once Wei Yang revealed a light source Gu; Bai Ning Bing stayed quick witted and cautious, probing for a weakness the whole match. Wei Yang urges recruiting them, and Shang Yan Fei, who had not rated the pair highly before, finds his interest greatly aroused. He reassures Wei Yang that A grade aptitude is not everything, points to Wei Yang’s own B grade rise to elder, and promises a reform Gu if one turns up. He sends Wei Yang back to keep attending the guests and gauge whether they can be won over. ^{ch. 267}

Three days later in the Nan Qiu garden, Fang Yuan and Shang Ya Zi sit down over an inheritance recipe Ya Zi wants badly enough to save his young master position. The price started at six hundred and fifty thousand primeval stones and has climbed by tens of thousands each day since, now standing at eight hundred thousand. Ya Zi cannot vent his anger, because Fang Yuan could complain straight to the clan leader. He has spent the days investigating instead, weighing an inheritance, raw talent, and even an illegitimate child as reasons for his father’s favor, and rejects each guess in turn. Fang Yuan reads Ya Zi’s mounting unease as the price working. He states plainly that the recipe is Ya Zi’s last hope to keep his position, so the price rises as the evaluation date nears. Ya Zi calls it blackmail and refuses eight hundred thousand as a loss that would sink his own evaluation. Fang Yuan then proposes recording the sale at six hundred and fifty thousand while Ya Zi actually pays eight hundred thousand, the surplus passed off as a personal gift with no stated link to the purchase. Ya Zi calls it falsifying accounts and refuses. Fang Yuan answers that no accounts are false: he only sells a recipe, and a grateful buyer may give a gift, two acts with no declared connection between them. Ya Zi is left speechless, having badly underestimated this man’s shamelessness. ^{ch. 267}