Talented without Virtue
Hu Mei Er lies against Li Xian, a rank four upper stage Gu Master who rarely fights and instead makes his living, and his wide connections, as an unscrupulous merchant of the demonic path, and presses him to avenge her against the black and white twin demons. She narrows the request while his hands wander over her body: he need only move against little beast king, this Fang Zheng, whom she calls the most hateful of the two, and can leave Bai Ning Bing alone. Li Xian hesitates until she presses herself into his arms and blows softly at his ear, at which point he agrees to avenge her, but only once the three kings inheritance has opened and passed, citing the risk of trouble at such a critical time. Hu Mei Er’s breathing turns rough and her face flushes at his attention, but her mind stays as clear as snow throughout, and she leaves once his evasion is plain. ch. 344
Once alone, Li Xian drops his lecherous manner for a cold, calculating one. He has no intention of being used as a tool in Hu Mei Er’s scheme, and reflects that little beast king, this Fang Zheng, is no simple figure: challenging three demonic Gu Masters right before the three kings inheritance opens looks to him like a deliberate plan, since every Gu Master on the mountain is too consumed with preparing for the inheritance to make trouble over it. ch. 344
The narration lays out how the righteous path ranks people on talent against virtue in four grades, from holding both, prized above all, down to holding neither, worthless to anyone. Applied to the demonic path the ranking inverts: virtue without talent is the type most likely to destroy itself by its own ideals, and talent without virtue, unrestrained by any loyalty or promise, is named the most dangerous and most valuable figure of all. Fang Yuan is such a figure. His aptitude is outstanding, an A grade rarely held by anyone; his battle talent lets him overstep realms, proven by Tyrant Heng Mei, Fei Li and Xue San Si, all with higher cultivation than his own, all dead by his hand; and at Shang clan city he showed a real gift for business, gathering a formidable set of Gu worms in only a few years. ch. 344
Against that talent, Fang Yuan carries not even a hint of morality: he left Hu Mei Er without a second thought, kills without discretion and treats life with contempt, smashed three men into meat paste, and deceived Xue San Si in front of a crowd while proud of it, all without a trace of guilt. Li Xian judges that a man like this, dropped into the righteous path’s peaceful order, would be excluded, suppressed, banished or imprisoned, but on the demonic path’s cruel, competitive ground he is a tiger loosed into the mountains, and, barring very bad luck, certain to rise far. Li Xian regrets not having found and killed him early, and admits it is now too late. ch. 344
Li Xian himself is best at business rather than combat, and knows there are those on San Cha mountain who could kill Fang Yuan, the four rank four peak stage Gu Masters, Kong Ri Tian and Long Qing Tian among them, but he has no way to command them, and all four are watching only the inheritance. He decides against confronting Hu Mei Er’s target himself and instead resolves to secretly befriend little beast king while staying neutral in public. He notes that by killing Xue San Si, Fang Yuan has also offended her godfather, the rank four upper stage Gu Master Century Boy, currently in seclusion refining a Gu but certain to appear once the inheritance opens and move against the black and white twin demons. Li Xian plans to watch that fight from the sidelines and decide his own next step only after seeing its outcome. ch. 344
Elsewhere, Fang Yuan cultivates diligently even on San Cha mountain, his light golden primeval essence raised a small realm in quality to bright golden primeval essence by the nine eyes liquor worm, a major reason he has been able to kill three rank four middle stage Gu Masters in a row. He reasons that the fear and hatred his reputation now draws changes nothing, since the demonic path he walks lets individual strength alone stand above a group, unlike Earth, where smaller gaps in strength force even demonic cultivators to answer to some moral code. With the three kings inheritance due to open in two days and little chance anyone will come looking for trouble before then, Fang Yuan plans to spend the time refining charging crash Gu. ch. 344
