Chapter 273

Bai Ning Bing presses her palms to Fang Yuan’s back, and her Bone Flesh Unity Gu drives snow silver primeval essence, of a far higher grade than his own, into his aperture in a continuous flood. The walls crack under the impact, and Fang Yuan breaks from rank two peak stage to rank three initial stage in six hours. On Qing Mao Mountain the same climb from rank one peak stage to rank two took primeval stones and three to four days, and reaching rank three at all had required the external push of the Man Beast Life Burial Gu. This time his A grade aptitude, now at ninety percent, needs no such crutch, and Bai Ning Bing’s help on top of it leaves even Fang Yuan surprised. Left to his own effort the same breakthrough would take at least twenty four hours. Not counting the ranks above rank six Gu Immortal, rank three already sits in the middle of the strength spectrum, and whether righteous or demonic, a rank three is a strong force. Fang Yuan privately reckons the pace at more than three times what it was on Qing Mao Mountain, and credits his A grade aptitude with a bright future ahead. ^{ch. 273}

Checking his aperture afterward, Fang Yuan finds Bai Ning Bing’s Flesh Bone Gu already returned to her, and the black beetle shaped Plunder Gu he once used against her aperture already dead, starved during their journey. He weighs what is left to him Gu by Gu. The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus stays for now, though he lacks the recipe to keep refining it and expects it to matter little once he reaches rank four. The Demonic Blood Skull Gu, an inheritance of the Blood Sea Ancestor meant for raising descendants, he judges useless to him now and hopes to trade inside the treasure realm if he can manage it carefully. Spring Autumn Cicada, the Primeval Elder Gu, and the Bone Flesh Unity Gu are certain keepers, while the Blood Moon Gu is easy to raise but too weak in attack to fit a set, and the Tusita Flower tattoo should be swapped for something better. He decides the Breath Concealment Gu has to be exposed, without saying to what end, and that the Jumping Grass Gu, kept only as an emergency measure, should go. Beyond this he means to buy strength, investigative, and movement type Gu, and now that Shang clan trusts him, to try his luck at the gambling den. His goal is a matched Gu worm set within two to three years, ready before the Three Kings Inheritance and the righteous demonic battle at Yi Tian Mountain that follows, where too little strength would make him cannon fodder, while qualifying to join at all would let his rebirth advantage earn him great benefit. ^{ch. 273}

Wei Yang kneels before Shang Yan Fei in his study. The clan leader waves off the formality, recalling that Wei Yang’s help was what made him clan leader. Wei Yang deflects the credit, calling himself a blunt fighter beside his lord’s intelligence and strength, and senses a deeper point in Shang Yan Fei’s remark that even a strong leader needs capable hands, though he cannot place what it is. Shang Yan Fei admits he first suspected Bai Ning Bing was a girl posing as a boy, and Doctor Su Shou’s report that she asked about the Yin Yang Rotation Gu suggests a hidden story behind it, but whether she is male or female no longer matters to him. What matters to him is only whether she and Fang Zheng will work for Shang clan, and Wei Yang says he understands before taking his leave. ^{ch. 273}

Alone, Shang Yan Fei weighs what he has seen: the pair seized an inheritance from the Bai clan, escorted Shang Xin Ci home safely, hold rank three cultivation before turning twenty, and show they repay kindness rather than take it for granted. Born as the heirs of two clans rather than commoners, they carry, in his eyes, a symbol of righteousness by birth, and few young talents in his long years as clan leader have impressed him this much. But he wants them recruited for Shang Xin Ci, not for himself. ^{ch. 273}

He turns into a pillar of flame and reappears in a long, empty walkway lined with towering stone pillars, a giant red door waiting at its end. The door stands over thirty meters tall, carved with a huge sleeping human face rendered in perfect detail, and Shang Yan Fei tells it to stop pretending to sleep. The face opens its eyes, complains that little Fei Fei has grown up and lost his cuteness, and blows a thunderous gust of wind as it speaks. Shang Yan Fei cuts it off and says he has come to exchange for treasure. ^{ch. 273}