Fang Yuan, we're very worried about you
The morning after his sleepless night, Fang Yuan leaves his room to buy supplies he cannot do without through the winter, spending down primeval stones already half used up on two large cotton-stuffed blankets, bed sheets, a mattress, a second oil lamp with two pots of lamp oil, a table, a chair, a stove, and enough dry rations and water to last about seven days. ch. 91
At the village’s north gate, Jiao San and the group wait past the agreed time, growing anxious over fifteen minutes and then a further half hour with no sign of Fang Yuan, and when a search of the other gates turns up nothing after fifteen more minutes, Jiao San concludes he has slipped away to attempt a rank two breakthrough alone, since reaching rank two would let him abandon the group’s mission and apply to split his family’s assets, and sends the group to search the whole village, inn included, through the rest of that day without success. ch. 91
In his room, Fang Yuan counts his primeval stones and judges them insufficient: his stock, once just above a thousand during his academy days, has been worn down by the upkeep of seven Gu worms against the three a same stage Gu Master typically holds, the extra coming from a free Little Light Gu he chose after placing first in the year end exam, and at this rate he can hold out only two months. He reasons that advancing to rank two is his surest way past Jiao San’s mission lock, since a rank two Gu Master may abandon one mission a year while a rank one Gu Master has no such right. ch. 91
Fang Yuan reviews that talent runs D, C, B, and A grade, each with its own internal range, and that C grade spans a primeval sea of 40 to 59 percent, placing his own 44% toward the low end; reaching rank two takes at least 55% black-green primeval essence, easy for A and B grade Gu Masters and for the upper end of C grade but out of his reach on talent alone. He weighs a talent-raising Gu worm, a support Gu worm like his rare Liquor worm, or another Gu Master’s lent primeval essence as the normal ways to close the gap, and rejects all three: a talent-raising worm is beyond his current reach even though he held one and reached rank six in his previous life, a second Liquor worm is too rare to expect, and borrowed essence risks a backlash he cannot yet guard against without a future Cleansing Gu. Settling on primeval stones as the brute-force answer, he resolves to attack the wall slowly while absorbing primeval essence at the same time so the cracks do not fully heal, judging the method will take four to five days, and knowing he can pause for no more than fifteen minutes at a stretch before the wall fully recovers and any unfinished attempt is wasted. ch. 91
By evening Jiao San’s day of searching has found nothing, and only on the afternoon of the second day does a female Gu Master report Fang Yuan renting the second floor of a worn-out bamboo building. At the door, Jiao San reads a note in Fang Yuan’s own hand asking not to be disturbed during a closed-door attempt at rank two, then knocks loudly with rising, mock-worried complaints about being ignored, and when no answer comes he has Kong Jing kick the door down, sending it flying onto the bed. ch. 91
