Fang Yuan now turned his attention to other matters. Although he had no need to cultivate further and could spare his primeval essence for other matters, having enough Red Relic Gu to carry him all the way to Rank 2 Peak Stage nearly instantly if everything worked out. He also had several administrative issues he had been putting on hold while cultivating but which he could tackle now.

The biggest issue was the upcoming end-of-year examination the burden of organization some of which fell upon him.

Starting with the list of people who were not contending. Although it was called an ‘examination’ to call it a tournament was more accurate – and no one actually ‘failed’ it. That said, it was considered to be incredibly shameful to not participate unless you had a role like a dedicated healer.

With that said, Yu Sai, in typical Yu Sai fashion, had signed up for the list to not participate the moment that it was announced. Li Mei seemed to be somewhat inclined to follow but she changed her mind at the last second.

Fang Zheng’s name was now on the list, but that was because Fang Yuan had convinced him to do the same.

“But Brother, the entire clan will look down on me and laugh at me if I don’t at least show up!” Fang Zheng had protested.

This was all true- while no one expected anything from Yu Sai in the first place, the spotlight would be on Fang Zheng without a doubt. And while someone without cultivation couldn’t do very well, at their level, Rank 1, even one’s fists were sometimes good enough.

As it was, Fang Yuan did not care if Fang Zheng’s reputation was damaged, however. The more that the clan despised Fang Zheng, the more that Fang Zheng would begin to despise the clan. That would make him far more easily manipulated. And if Fang Yuan wanted to spirit him away from the village in the future, it would be better if Fang Zheng severed all ties with it.

“And with what gu will you fight? The only one you have is the Liquor Worm.”

“Brother I- I can still fight with my fists if I focus on martial arts! And I… I was wondering if you’d lend me your Moonlight Gu for a few fights…”

“I don’t have an issue with lending you a gu worm,” Fang Yuan lied. “However, I am worried that you will divide your attention between cultivating and training martial arts. One cannot try to ride two boats at once – and giving a mediocre performance in the exam will not help you in the future. Only by advancing in your cultivation can you actually succeed in the future. Take my advice and don’t bother with the exam and focus entirely on the Liquor Worm to advance to Rank 1 Middle Stage.”

“If you say so…” Fang Zheng said. He had been betrayed by practically everyone, and had only realized now that the only one who had ever shown him affection disregarding any kind of benefits that they could reap from him (aside from his parents) had been Fang Yuan. As such, he trusted Fang Yuan completely and assumed that if Fang Yuan was giving him some kind of advice it was good advice.

The irony being that there had been a time when that was correct- in Fang Yuan’s first life. If he was still the Fang Yuan back then his support of Fang Zheng would’ve been genuine unlike now. Then again, Fang Yuan also had a deeply vested interest in seeing Fang Zheng succeed right now. But that ‘success’ was measured in terms of cultivation, which was why Fang Yuan wanted Fang Zheng to focus on nurturing his aperture.

As a matter of fact, now that he was at Rank 2, Fang Yuan considered whether it was worthwhile to inject some of his own essence into Fang Zheng’s aperture. He didn’t earlier as the difference was not by much but now that he was at Rank 2 he could help out with Fang Zheng’s cultivation and make him a pseudo-B-grade talent much like Chi Cheng. Additionally, Fang Yuan was focused on his own cultivation more than his brother’s, but now that he had reached Rank 2 with the help of the Red Steel Relic Gu he could take a breather as he would have to wait a sufficient amount of time before using them anyway.

To inject your essence into someone else’s aperture like that would, without a doubt, cause damage to it. Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng were twins and so the damage would be less than that of what was caused to Chi Cheng’s aperture and could be reversed in the future using Cleansing Water Gu. That said, Fang Yuan only cared about bringing Fang Zheng to Rank 3 and didn’t care about his future prospects beyond that.

However, Fang Zheng’s aperture had only recently recovered and was too fragile to take in foreign primeval essence for now. That, and the fact that the Liquor Worm was doing a good enough job meant that Fang Yuan felt that it was better to hold off for now.

With the list completed and handed over to the academy elder, he could move on to some other minor issues that had been building up over time.

Meanwhile, things in Gu Yu village were not idle. Especially not when it came to his aunt and uncle, who were constantly worried about their ill-gotten fortune.

“Husband, now that Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng have made up, don’t we have a target we can use?” Aunt asked. As it was, before, Fang Yuan had appeared to be invincible as there was no avenue to take him down. Now though, it looked like he had a weakness- Fang Zheng. At least, to Aunt, it appeared so.

“Yes…” Uncle said but then let out a heavy sigh. He had started eating less and less and gotten very few hours of sleep and looked haggard all night. “But… I think it might be in our best interest to lay low and let Fang Yuan take the inheritance…”

Aunt was shocked. “Husband- what are you saying? Without the inheritance, how will we support ourselves?” Uncle looked like someone who had already accepted defeat, rather than his usual vigilant and devious self.

The reason behind it was that Uncle was afraid that if he pushed Fang Yuan too hard, they might be found out. As it was, he was worried that any day, the clan would figure out that he had been the root cause behind the attack. This had sapped his will to fight. On top of which, though he cared little for Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng he was not completely heartless and seeing the damage that his little plan had caused made him want to scheme no more.

The image of Fang Yuan standing before him, a future elder of the clan, made him shudder in horror every single time he pictured it. But he did not have it in him to scheme further, as it was, none of his schemes were going to work regardless. He had heard that the clan head had shifted his attention to Fang Yuan, and any attempt by Uncle to suppress Fang Yuan might attract that man’s wrath.

“Our best plan now,” Uncle said, downing a bottle of liquor. “Is to simply make sure we have a good supply of primeval stones to last us our lives. And try not to cause any trouble. It would be best if we start tightening our belts right now – dismiss one-third, no, one-half of the servants. Also, we need to stop making large and extravagant purchases- I can’t have people thinking that we are swimming in primeval stones. We need to appear poor- our lives depend on it! On top of which…”

Uncle walked over to a corner of the room, picking up a heavy wooden stick. He sighed, and with a swift motion broke his left arm.

“Husband!” Aunt shrieked, thinking that he had gone mad.

“Now,” Uncle said, wincing in pain. “That should take care of the idiots asking me to train them or to spar.” While the clan did encourage fighting, attacking someone while they were injured would no doubt be looked down upon especially if they were Uncle’s age. And now, Uncle had the perfect reason to avoid teaching people as well.

“Why didn’t you pretend to break your arm?” Aunt asked.

“Oh… they could tell if I pretended…” Uncle said. “And if anyone asks, we can’t afford a healing Gu Master to fix my arm.”

He could curse Fang Yuan all he wanted, but a wise man knew when to submit to circumstances. And these were the kind of circumstances he had to deal with. Only by appearing destitute could he survive the coming storm!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep