Wei De Xin
The Gu Master overseeing the slave market hesitates, then tries to stall the purchase a full day while flattering Shang Xin Ci as her supporter. Fang Yuan cuts him off and kicks him more than thirty steps into a bystander, knocking him unconscious and vomiting blood. Three groups of Shang clan Gu Masters rush over at the commotion, but drop their aggression the moment they see Fang Yuan, whose rank four fighting strength dwarfs their rank two, their leader only rank three initial stage. Fang Yuan shows his purple thorn token, then states his own fine before the leader can: forty-nine primeval stones, though he hands over fifty and tells him to keep the change. ch. 330
A second Gu Master finishes the sale in under fifteen minutes and hands over a rank three poison scorpion Gu, white bodied and the size of two fingers, whose only ability is producing a rank two Gu in its droppings that carries a unique poison. The matching poison scorpion Gu is needed to detoxify the wearer every seven days. That makes the pair the common way to control slaves, since the more effective rank five slavery Gu is too expensive and rare for regular use. Shang Xin Ci cannot yet make it excrete, only sting, so Fang Yuan plans to refine it himself before handing it to her. ch. 330
Shang Pu Lao learns too late that the Wei clan captives have already been sold, having meant to buy them himself once his conflict with Shang Qiu Niu settled down. Questioning his injured Gu Master, he laments losing skilled former managers, above all Wei De Xin, most skilled at nurturing guards, and recalls how the former clan leader’s guard troops once held off five rank three Gu Masters attacking together. Told the sale is final, he gives up and sends the man to rest. ch. 330
The next morning, over thirty Wei clan members kneel before Shang Xin Ci in Nan Qiu garden, listless and beaten down by their fall from a ruling family into slavery; she feels both pity and worry. Fang Yuan calls Wei De Xin forward for a private word. When several clansmen shield her and one warns him off, Fang Yuan slaps the man so hard he is sent flying with broken teeth. With a cruel expression and a voice cold as ice, he tells the rest that having paid for them does not mean he is against killing some for fun, and nothing stops him doing as he pleases with their former leader’s wife. Wei De Xin orders her people to stand down and comes forward herself. ch. 330
At a lake pavilion, Fang Yuan tells her he is very interested in her. Wei De Xin kneels, believing he wants her body, and protests that she does not dare offer it. He laughs and clarifies it is her talent he wants: to raise loyal female guards for Shang Xin Ci and keep the Wei clansmen working with a positive attitude. Relieved, she agrees. Then he tells her he already knows she is pregnant and that she means to preserve her husband’s only bloodline while reaching her brother Wei Shen Jing for revenge; her face goes pale and her body shudders. ch. 330
