Fang Yuan walked through the plains and near a more arborous area. The tree line hide what was behind it from view, though if the hunter was to be believed, there was a group of deer behind those trees.

The deer, of course, being so close to the village and within its walls were all ordinary. There would not even be a single Hundred Beast King among them, otherwise the clan would’ve sent someone to dispatch of them. These deer were a good hunting resource which is why the hunter had them marked down, and Fang Yuan needed to reach them before they left.

In his previous life, the Crimsonhoof Deer had likely perished like this in the wilderness and never grown to maturity. However, he intended to change that.

As he got closer, he activated One With Scenery Gu. This unfortunately did nothing to hide his scent or noise, which was why ‘there was no strongest gu, only strongest Gu Masters.’ All gu had their weaknesses, but this would hopefully be enough.

Female deer raised two to three fawns a year, though in the harsh climate of this world, several of the fawns would have died by now. He merely needed to find the appropriate target.

and found a doe near the edge who was nestling a young fawn with her.

At this moment, Fang Yuan retrieved the Rank 1 Deer Enslavement Gu from his system. This was a one-time usage gu worm, meaning that if he failed, that would be the end of things. That said, this was an ordinary beast and not even a hundred beast king, meaning he was extremely confident in subduing it.

Man is the spirit of all things – how could the soul of an animal compare to that of a human?

As he launched the gu worm at the deer, he felt his soul colliding against the deer’s. It resisted, as all living things, it had its own will to live. The two souls wrestled against each other. The rest of the flock noticed its wariness and sudden change of behavior, looking almost ready to flee, but it calmed down soon enough.

Fang Yuan’s brows were furrowed. He had not strengthened his soul which was an integral part of enslavement tactics, but his willpower had not been reduced. His soul began to thoroughly suppress the deer’s and he won.

This fight felt like it had taken place over a few minutes, but had in reality only lasted for a few breaths of time.

Fang Yuan was then able to lead the doe back to where the hunter was. One With Scenery Gu’s power faded on the journey back, as it was, Fang Yuan did not have much primeval essence to keep up with the Rank 2 gu’s expenditure. He used primeval stones to restore his essence while they went back.

“Young Master, you are back!” the hunter said, a bit astonished at how obediently the deer was following Fang Yuan.

“I found the fawn a mother,” Fang Yuan said. Taking control of the deer and maintaining some manner of influence over it would strain his soul to some extent, but it was a simple enough command to make it take care of the Crimsonhoof Deer. On top of which, once it had taken care of the fawn for a while, it would grow attached to it and start raising it without any prompt from Fang Yuan.

The doe nuzzled the Crimsonhoof Deer, which nuzzled it back. It clearly was looking for someone to care for it- and though this doe’s scent would be different from its mother’s, it was close enough that it quickly bonded to the doe, which trotted off with her new adopted offspring.

Would the deer survive? The world was quite cruel, and the doe had been orphaned in the first place because its parents had been killed. One could scarcely guarantee one’s safety even in the confines of a village, let alone the wilderness. But, even if that was not the case, Fang Yuan still got his reward.

Mission Successful!

Aptitude permanently increased by 3%!

Karmic flag planted!

Fang Yuan wasn’t sure what the second prompt did, but he had finally made some progress in increasing his aptitude. For that, this whole excursion was worth it.

Meanwhile, on the girl’s side of the hot springs, there was a bit of a commotion.

“Did you hear? Some of the boys were caught peeping on us!”

“I heard some more of them are planning something too.”

“None of the peepers were the handsome ones either, just creeps.”

While the other girls were talking about this issue, Li Mei sighed.

Even if the hot spring had rejuvenating properties, it would likely do nothing for someone like her who had never had good skin in the first place. And it would do nothing for her looks.

On top of which, she had made little progress with refining her second gu worm. She had chosen the Little Light Gu- though for what could be considered a dumb reason. She had heard that Fang Yuan had chosen it, and being confused about her second choice, went with it, thinking that if it was good enough for the class president it should’ve been good enough for her too.

Of course, Fang Yuan had different prospects than her- something she should’ve considered. He had enough primeval essence to make good use of offensive methods. Her- although she hated it when Yu Sai talked about it, really had very few in the way of advancing.

Rather than choosing a combat-focused gu worm, she would’ve likely done better with choosing one that could heal. Healing Gu Masters had better rates of survival, and for someone like her who didn’t like fighting, that was more optimal than trying to get a stronger moonblade.

But, there was nothing that she could do about that now.

As for the peeping incidents, she couldn’t care less. If anything, that was at least some form of attention. Something that she couldn’t get otherwise.

‘Though come to think of it, would Fang Yuan be among the boys coming to peep? No… he wouldn’t write?

That didn’t stop her mind from going to… strange places.

She imagined walked out of the hot springs, only to be stopped suddenly.

“Ah, class president!” she’d say, noticing for some reason that there was no one around the two of them. At least, no one they could see was around them as the steam completely covered the hot springs and was so thick it was like the two of them were isolated in their own, small little world; just the two of them.

Fang Yuan would look amazing, muscles toned as the beads of water ran down them, accentuating each of the finely chiseled parts of his body. His long hair, wet but neat, covered part of his face but left his intense gaze unveiled. His eyes were like two hypnotizing beautiful pools of darkness that seemed to beckon for her soul to fall into them. His features had a strange grace and serenity about them that she couldn’t describe with words. As he always did, he had an aura of near invincibility and aloofness about him – though she knew that in truth, behind the mask of coldness, one of the kindest and most generous hearts in Gu Yue village dwelled.

The towel around his waist covered just enough as he slowly approached her, suddenly seemingly entranced by the rose-like color of her lips as he bent over her and his mouth moved closer to hers…

‘NO!’ she suddenly thought. ‘I can’t kiss Fang Yuan, or I’ll become pargenant just like mother warned me about! Uh… but what if he was a bit forceful and wanted to kiss me even if I said ‘no?’ Well… I’d probably resist a little at first… but not too much I guess if he really insisted…’

Her head was filled with all these strange thoughts that she couldn’t fully describe- her mother would not tell her what they meant, only that she was a bad girl for expressing them and needed to avoid all contact with boys, and her father stayed out of that conversation altogether.

She could ask the other girls- but something deep within her told her that this was a… rather taboo thing to ask and she wasn’t close to any of them as it was. She had had friends before, but they were all mortals and she didn’t see them as often now that she was a Gu Master.

And so, she was left blushing and dealing with these odd feelings in her head that she didn’t fully understand.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep