In the hall, the lights were bright.
On the round dining table, the wine had gone cold, and the dishes had chilled.
The bright red candlelight flickered, casting the shadows of the uncle and aunt against the wall.
The shadows of the two connected together, swaying gloomily along with the candlelight.
Before them knelt Mother Shen.
The uncle broke the silence: "To think this Fang Yuan is truly dead set on opposing me. Sigh, I originally wanted to persuade him with kind words, hoping to stabilize him and get him to live at home first, before finding an excuse to kick him out of the family. I didn't expect that little brat wouldn't be fooled! He is iron-willed, actually flatly refusing my invitation without the slightest room for negotiation! Not even taking a single step across my threshold!"
The aunt gritted her teeth, her expression somewhat panicked and disoriented: "This ungrateful little wolf cub is now sixteen years old. If he demands the family property, we can't refuse to give it. The family properties we received back then were all clearly recorded in the Internal Affairs Hall, item by item; we can't renege on it either. What should we do?!"
"You may step down first." After waving Mother Shen away, the uncle sneered, "Don't be anxious. Over this past year, I have long been deliberating and plotting. First, to split the family property, one must possess a Rank One middle stage cultivation. Fang Yuan has long reached this point, and is even at the peak stage. He even seized first place in the year-end examination, truly making one view him in a new light. Hehe…"
"However, wanting to successfully split and obtain the family property is absolutely not that easy! A Rank One middle stage cultivation is merely a prerequisite condition. To be allotted the family property, Fang Yuan still needs to apply. Once the Internal Affairs Hall approves it, they will issue a mission to examine whether Fang Yuan has the qualifications. This is also a clan policy to prevent the reckless division of family assets, which would lead to heavy internal attrition and weaken the clan's strength."
The aunt was suddenly enlightened: "In that case, Fang Yuan has to complete this mission to obtain his parents' inheritance."
"Exactly," the uncle laughed sinisterly, "But the missions from the Internal Affairs Hall are all issued directed at groups. This family property mission is no exception. For Fang Yuan to complete it, he must rely on the strength of his group; relying solely on himself won't do. The clan doing this is also trying every possible means to integrate groups, prompting group members to unite together and improve cohesion."
The aunt laughed heartily: "Husband, you are truly too wise. Having Jiao San take Fang Yuan into his group, this way, for Fang Yuan to complete the family property mission, he will need their strength. But Jiao San is our person; Fang Yuan fundamentally cannot complete this mission alone."
A gleam of smug light flashed in the uncle's eyes as he said, "Hmph, even if we couldn't recruit him into the group, I have other methods to deal with him. Let alone completing the mission, even if he wants to apply to split the family and receive this family property mission, it might not even be possible!"
…
Night fell, and the snow stopped.
Fang Yuan walked on the street, the bamboo buildings along the way covered in a layer of white frost and snow.
His steps landed on the snowy surface, emitting soft sounds. The chilly air breathed into his body made Fang Yuan's mind incomparably clear.
After rejecting Mother Shen, Fang Yuan ignored the urging of Jiao San and the others to stay, bid farewell to the crowd, and moved alone.
"So that's how it is." He pondered as he walked, "Uncle and aunt want to block me, delay me, and make me lose the opportunity to reclaim the inheritance."
"After the new year, I will be sixteen, possessing the qualification to split the family property. Both my parents are dead, and my younger brother has already acknowledged new parents. As long as it succeeds, the inheritance will all be mine. But to take back this inheritance, this process must be divided into two steps, and each step contains a major obstacle."
"The first step is, under the premise of not currently having a mission, going to the Internal Affairs Hall to make an application. The second step is completing the family property mission issued down by the Internal Affairs Hall, so as to have the qualification to obtain the family assets."
"Jiao San and my uncle and aunt are jackals of the same tribe. Leaving aside the second step, just on the first step alone, he wants to jam me."
Clan rules stipulated that a Gu Master could only complete one mission at a time. This was to prevent Gu Masters from indiscriminately taking on missions and causing vicious internal competition within the clan.
Jiao San accepted missions consecutively. Right after completing the mission to collect mud swamp permafrost, he immediately accepted a new mission to capture wild deer.
Clan missions were all issued directed at the entire group. That meant, according to clan regulations, Fang Yuan had to complete this mission of capturing wild deer before he had the right to apply to split the family property.
"But when that time comes, I believe Jiao San will definitely accept another mission. As the group leader, in the handing over of missions, he will always be one step faster than me. I will always be one step away from being able to apply for the family property mission, but he will just stay jammed right in front of me." Thinking of this, the clear and cold light in Fang Yuan's eyes flashed.
These schemes and intrigues were truly annoying, like an invisible rope tying down his advancing footsteps.
However, Fang Yuan did not regret entering this group.
At that time, the situation in the martial arts arena had plunged him into a dilemma in both directions. Jiao San's invitation had instead helped relieve Fang Yuan from the siege.
If he hadn't entered this group, he believed his uncle and aunt would definitely have other methods, making them impossible to guard against. Now that he was within the group, he could instead clearly see their layout and counterattack unhurriedly.
"To solve this trouble, it's not like there are no methods. The simplest and most direct method is to directly eradicate Jiao San, and directly assassinate uncle and aunt. Then no one will fight with me over the family property. However, the risks of this method are too high. They are all Rank Two Gu Masters, and my Rank One cultivation is still a bit low. Moreover, even if I killed them, I wouldn't be able to handle the aftermath. Unless there is an excellent opportunity where I can act taking advantage of the situation… But such opportunities can often only be encountered by chance and not sought."
Fang Yuan could kill the family servant Gao Wan, and execute old man Wang's family. That was because they were all mortals, servants, their lives as cheap as grass. Killing them was equivalent to killing a dog or snapping a blade of grass; it didn't matter.
But assassinating a Gu Master would bring massive trouble.
Gu Masters all carried the surname Gu Yue; they were all clansmen. No matter which one died, it would draw a thorough investigation from the clan's punishment hall. Fang Yuan evaluated his own strength; currently, the risk of killing them was too great, and he might even be counter-killed. Even if he did kill them, the punishment hall's investigation would be an even bigger problem. Let alone his future movements being surveilled, the Flower Wine Monk's hidden inheritance might even be investigated and exposed.
"To attract a massive trouble a hundred times worse for the sake of eradicating a small trouble is truly not the deed of a wise person. Hmm? Arrived." Fang Yuan murmured softly, stopping in front of a dilapidated bamboo building.
This bamboo building was already battered and exhausted, like a dying old man with one foot in the grave, bending his back in the freezing winter wind, barely lingering on.
Looking at this bamboo building, a trace of reminiscent emotion involuntarily surfaced on Fang Yuan's face.
This was the house he had rented in his previous life.
In his previous life, when he was kicked out of the house by his uncle and aunt, the primeval stones on hand were less than fifteen pieces. After sleeping on the streets for a few days, he had found this place.
The rooms here were too dilapidated, thus the rent was much lower than other places. Furthermore, other places settled accounts by the month or by the quarter, but only here did they settle accounts strictly by the number of days.
"I don't know if other places contain my uncle and aunt's arrangements. But the memories of my past life tell me that at least here, there aren't any." Fang Yuan knocked on the door.
Half an hour later, he concluded a rental agreement and was led by the landlord to a room on the second floor.
Stepped upon beneath his feet, the old floorboards let out worrying sounds.
The facilities in the room were simple, containing only a single bed and a cotton quilt. The cotton quilt was covered in many patches, yet still had holes, exposing the yellowing cotton wadding inside.
There was an oil lamp at the head of the bed. After the landlord lit it, he departed.
Fang Yuan did not go to sleep, but instead sat cross-legged on the bed and began his cultivation.
In his aperture, the primeval sea ebbed and flowed, the waves rising and perishing. Every drop of primeval water was dark green.
The four walls of the aperture were a sturdy white crystal membrane, semi-transparent in state.
This was precisely the scenery of the Rank One peak stage.
Suddenly, the green copper primeval sea began to set off massive waves. It was as if beast after beast had abruptly gone berserk, launching suicidal impacts toward the surrounding aperture walls.
Boom, boom, boom…
Giant waves swelled up and viciously crashed against the aperture walls. The splashing spray shattered into specks of glittering green, before completely dissipating.
In just a short moment of time, the sea level of the forty-four percent primeval essence rapidly dropped; a large amount of primeval essence was intensely consumed.
Streaks of cracks also appeared on the thick and sturdy crystal membrane.
But merely having cracks was far from enough.
For Fang Yuan to break through Rank One peak stage and advance to Rank Two, he had to completely wash down this crystal membrane, destroying it before establishing the new!
Dark green primeval essence continuously impacted the crystal membrane. The cracks on the crystal membrane also grew increasingly numerous, gradually connecting into an entire patch. In some places, the cracks deepened, forming even more obvious fissures.
However, as the primeval sea was thoroughly exhausted and no primeval essence remained to continue the impact, these fissures on the crystal membrane began to heal, and the cracks started to disappear.
Fang Yuan was not surprised. He withdrew his mind and opened his eyes in reality.
The oil lamp had already gone out; the lamp oil was scarce to begin with.
The room was pitch black; only the cracks near the window let in a bit of faint snow light.
There was no furnace in the room, so it was not warm. Sitting cross-legged on the bed without moving for a long time, Fang Yuan already felt the chill on his body gradually increasing.
His black pupils merged together with the darkness.
"Actually, to break through Jiao San's blockade, there is still a simpler and safer method than killing people. That is advancing to Rank Two! A Rank One Gu Master does not have the right to give up a mission, but a Rank Two Gu Master has one chance every year. If I advance to Rank Two and directly abandon the mission on me, I can apply to split the family property."
"But breaking through to Rank Two isn't such an easy matter either." Thinking of this, Fang Yuan sighed faintly. Getting off the bed, he slowly paced within the cramped room.
Advancing from initial stage to middle stage, and from middle stage to upper stage, this was advancing through minor realms. Advancing from Rank One peak stage to Rank Two initial stage was breaking through a major realm. The difficulty between the two could not be mentioned in the same breath.
Simply put, to smash through the crystal membrane required explosive power, forming a sufficiently strong impact force in a short period of time to smash the crystal membrane to pieces.
But Fang Yuan only had C grade aptitude, and the primeval essence in his primeval sea only amounted to forty-four percent. If he erupted with full strength to impact the crystal membrane, his primeval essence would be completely depleted in less than a moment.
Just like right now, after the primeval essence was wholly consumed, there was no surplus strength to continue the impact. And the crystal membrane possessed the ability to recover itself; before long, it would be fully healed. The efforts Fang Yuan made earlier would turn into useless work.
"To smash through the crystal membrane and reach Rank Two, excluding special circumstances, generally requires at least fifty-five percent dark green primeval essence. My aptitude is limited, having at most only forty-four percent. Therefore, people often say that aptitude is the second most important point in a Gu Master's cultivation!"
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan's footsteps slowly stopped.
Unknowingly, he had walked to the window, so he casually pushed it open.
Separated by the window, the wind startled the bamboos; opening the window, snow covered the mountains.
Under the moonlight, the snow was like white jade, paving the world before his eyes like a crystal palace, completely spotless.
The snow light reflected onto Fang Yuan's youthful face. His complexion was calm and his brows were relaxed, his pair of eyes like secluded springs under the moon.
The freezing wind rushed against his face, and the youth suddenly smiled, "It is merely some wind and frost, after all."