Shi Zhong

Shi Zhong inherited multiple Immortal Gu from his family, which other Shi clan Gu Immortals envy. Holding them is also a reason those Gu Immortals target and ostracize him, and the rules on taking over that inheritance cannot be broken. Short on food for them, having sold some of what he had prepared to cover materials for the wealth Gu refinement, he goes to treasure yellow heaven and compares You Chan, its foremost dragonfish seller, against a newer stall of Fang Yuan’s that charges less the more a buyer takes. He buys at the newer stall, joining an unfamiliar Gu Immortal to take a hundred thousand dragonfish at the lower price, and his guess that the seller has planted proxies is right; the immortal who buys with him is one of them. ^{ch. 1475}

When Shi Kang, Zuo Qiu Yan Ming, and Tuoba Feng Yan pass through on their way to join Wan clan’s muster against Fang clan, Shi Zhong hosts them at a small banquet and presses the main seat on Shi Kang, who takes it after refusing a few times. After they leave he is heavy in mood, because the clan’s treatment of Shi Kang runs opposite to its treatment of him. Over a hundred attempts at wealth Gu have failed by now, and he briefly considers and then rejects asking Fang Yuan to refine it for him, unwilling to risk handing over the recipe. He has begun to feel dejected, and his intuition vaguely tells him that by his own strength alone the chance of refining it is slim. He is then dazed when, in front of everyone in treasure yellow heaven, Fang Yuan’s will passes rank seven capture wind Gu to Wu Yong’s will. ^{ch. 2222}

News of Fang clan’s defeat leaves Shi Zhong indifferent, since he judges the battle result has nothing to do with him and means to go on relying on himself, and by now his attempts at wealth Gu have left him nearly broke. He notes the defeat gives Shi Kang another chance, and though he flatters Shi Kang to his face he envies and hates him inwardly. He starts selling wealth mortal Gu, a rank five byproduct of his failed refinements that turns into any rank five Gu material once, and he puts out only a dozen or so, since selling many, or selling them all to one person, would leave clues enough to deduce the Immortal Gu recipe behind them. Nu Er Tu weighs two or three and then backs out, suspecting a scheme, so Shi Zhong is left selling the whole lot to a single eager buyer. That buyer is Spirit Butterfly Valley’s Xiao Bai Hong, who hands the lot to his great grandson Xiao Qi Xing for a justice Gu refinement. ^{ch. 2262} Afterward Shi Zhong is still working hard at refining an Immortal Gu. ^{ch. 2263}