Ever since Bai Ning Bing and Qing Shu's intense battle, Fang Yuan who had chased after Bai Ning Bing the entire way had become well-known, and his popularity rose.
These days, Fang Yuan had shown his strong side in the wolf tide, heading alone to hunt lightning wolves and showing shocking results.
He was the new generation's rising star. If not for his strange personality and bad reputation, his status would be on par with Chi Shan and Mo Yan.
But to the Xiong village members, Fang Yuan was also Xiong Jiang's murderer.
Thus, when Xiong Jiao Man and the others saw Fang Yuan, they showed a complicated expression.
Fang Yuan stared at them from above, waving his tree vine, saying slowly, "You can continue to wait for reinforcements, or escape using the vine in my hand and climb up the mountain."
Who knew when the reinforcements would come?
Matters on the battlefield were ever changing.
Xiong Jiao Man and the others obviously chose the tree vine in front of them, but Fang Yuan actually asked them for remuneration.
This caused the Xiong clan Gu Masters to be furious.
"Fang Yuan, we are alliance mates. How can you do this!" Someone shouted furiously.
"Asking for the Bear Enslavement Gu, how shameless can you be!" Someone sneered.
Fang Yuan calmly retorted, "One Bear Enslavement Gu and seven hundred primeval stones, in exchange for all seven of your lives, this is a cheap price. You can reject me, and I will go back to the clan to report your circumstances. Hehe, but when will the reinforcements come, will they encounter a wolf pack on the way here, that I cannot guarantee."
Everyone became quiet.
Their expressions were ugly.
"Alright, I promise you. Fang Yuan, you really live up to your reputation." Finally, Xiong Jiao Man chose to give way for the sake of everyone. Her words were full of spite towards Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan shrugged nonchalantly, the result was as expected.
He threw down the tree vine, and laughed coldly in his heart.
These four bold lightning wolf packs were lured here by him, he wanted to wait for them to die before retrieving their Gu worms and get a huge amount of merit points. But their Signal Gu had attracted the attention of the surrounding groups of Gu Masters, and they were all rushing over to help.
To not waste his effort, Fang Yuan could only act as a reinforcement Gu Master for once.
Xiong Jiao Man and the others used the tree vines and successfully escaped from the wolf pack. Not long after, three Gu Master groups arrived, and one of them was the Chi Shan group.
This caused the seven Gu Masters to become even more upset.
Xiong Jiao Man was extremely regretful. Not long ago, she had withdrawn her consciousness from the Bear Enslavement Gu and cooperated with Fang Yuan in refining the Gu worm, thus even if she wanted to go back on her words now, it was impossible.
"Fang Yuan, I will remember you." Xiong Jiao Man stared at Fang Yuan fiercely in the eye.
"Remember or not, that's your business." Fang Yuan laughed plainly, turning around and leaving.
"Miss Xiong, we meet again." At the other end, Chi Shan group arrived, speaking with a courteous tone.
Ever since the Bai Ning Bing incident, Gu Yue clan lost a Qing Shu, and Xiong clan's Xiong Li died, thus the two clans got closer. Politically, Bai clan became resisted by the other two clans together, even though the alliance was still in place.
"Little sister pays respects to elder brother Chi Shan." Xiong Jiao Man lifted her frowning brows, cupping her fists towards Chi Shan, continuing, "This time, we are asking the Gu Yue clan for some reinforcements, Xiong clan has been surrounded by wolf packs for six days and six nights already."
These days, the wolf tide was getting more severe. The lightning wolf packs have already started to surround the villages with the intention of attacking.
Xiong clan had the lowest position among the three clans—situated at the mountain foot, they would be the first to get attacked by the wolf packs. In fact, this is the third time they had gotten surrounded, and they needed reinforcements. With the coordination of offence from the outside and inside together, they would then be able to scatter and defeat these lightning wolf packs.
"The matter about reinforcements is not issue, didn't we cooperate well the last two times? But this matter, I have to report to the clan leader first. Come with me," Chi Shan said.
Xiong Jiao Man and the others followed Chi Shan group, coming to Gu Yue village.
Gu Yue village already had layers of defences. The outer walls were strongly reinforced with dozens of towers. Below the village walls were trenches dug and filled with sharp bamboo poles.
The village walls had been planted with the Steel Vine Gu and Poison Flower Gu; at one glance, the walls were covered in sharp vines and the beautiful poisonous flowers were all budding, over hundreds or even thousands of them.
Entering the main door, one could see that the surrounding buildings, whether it was a residence or tavern, had been all transformed into temporary forts.
Xiong Jiao Man and the other six, after leaving the Xiong clan, their journey was filled with difficulty. Traversing through wolf packs, they all had different injuries. Thus, they were led into a bamboo building to receive treatment.
There was over ten healing Gu Masters in the bamboo building, mostly Rank one Gu Masters, but also a few Rank two Gu Masters. But what caused Xiong Jiao Man and the others to be shocked was, the person in charge was not a Rank two healing Gu Master, but a young girl.
"Put this unconscious one on the vine chair."
"The one here has a fracture on his leg, Gu Yue Xing, come here and give him treatment."
"Superficial injury, Ah Feng, come here and stop the bleeding, Ah Xing come here and apply the disinfectant, Xiao Hua go place a fracture board on that leg fracture, then come here to bandage the injury.
The young girl had black hair, a peach-like small mouth, both eyes shining like crystals and her face was slightly chubby, with a alluring voice. But when she handled the patients, she was very experienced, causing others to look in amazement.
Xiong Jiao Man suddenly thought of one person, asking, "This little sister, are you Gu Yue Yao Le?"
"Xiong clan's sister Jiao Man, hello. To think you know of my name." After assigning the Gu Masters to their stations, Gu Yue Yao Le walked over and introduced herself.
"Sister Yao Le, you are a famous character. Inheriting Lord Yao Ji's benevolent heart, and also extremely talented in medical skills, even with your Rank one cultivation, you are known as the top ten rising stars in Qing Mao mountain.
Even at the Xiong clan, there are numerous people admiring you, sister." Seeing her strong background, Xiong Jiao Man politely praised as she was on a trip to ask the Gu Yue clan for help.
"I'm flattered, sister Jiao Man." Gu Yue Yao Le is still young, and her face turned red as she looked down in embarrassment after being praised.
At this time, a Xiong clan Gu Master complained, "Although you're both the top ten rising stars, that Gu Yue Fang Yuan seriously cannot compare to you, little sister."
"Don't mention Fang Yuan, my blood boils thinking of him!"
"Times without heroes, lad gains fame! Sigh…"
"This person's morals are lacking, to think he is also a top ten rising star, and even the number one position. Thinking about it makes me want to vomit."
This sentence immediately attracted the attention of the people nearby, including the Gu Yue clan's Gu Masters.
"Gu Yue Fang Yuan? What did he do this time?" Someone curiously asked.
"Hmph, he took one of my Bear Enslavement Gu, and even seven hundred primeval stones, as a reward for saving us. I've never seen anyone so shameless, and corrupted by greed!" Xiong Jiao Man snorted, venting her unhappiness.
"This is nothing, there are worse things."
"His heart is blacker than coal, selling a vitality leaf for eighty primeval stones, he is taking advantage of the situation, this person is greedy and extremely shameless!"
"He is too arrogant and proud. My friend wanted to join his group, however not only was he rejected, but he even got insulted in public. What's his deal, he's merely a C grade talent."
"He is a living prodigal son, wasting the inheritance both his parents left him to buy a red steel Relic Gu from the caravan. Next he snatched another red steel Relic Gu from Bai Ning Bing. If I had these two Gu worms, I can also have his cultivation!"
"Lord Gu Yue Qing Shu is the best after all, humble and kind, too bad he died early."
"But his brother Fang Zheng has a sense of justice, helping those in need and is kind hearted, also having Lord Qing Shu's humble attitude, he is completely the opposite of his brother."
Xiong Jiao Man did not expect her ranting to cause so much reaction from the Gu Yue clansmen.
She was shocked. To think this Fang Yuan was such a failure as a human, being hated by so many people.
She felt strange, asking, "Since he is so hated, why did no one teach him a lesson?"
The bamboo building instantly became silent.
The Gu Yue clansmen all looked at each other, not saying a word.
In truth, many people could not stand Fang Yuan's mannerisms, as well as his act of maximising profit under such circumstances. Many people found problems with him, but the result everytime was that the person finding fault got into an even bigger mess themselves.
After many times, no one came to find fault with him anymore.
And Fang Yuan also became publicly known as the head of the top ten rising stars that emerged from the wolf tide.
All these statuses, originate from strength.
Fang Yuan's battle strength was the strongest, so he was the head. Regardless of how bad his reputation is, or how poor his human relationship is.
"That Fang Yuan again…" Gu Yue Yao Ji lightly frowned, muttering.
She had never seen Fang Yuan, but had already heard much about him. Towards Fang Yuan, she had a poor impression of him.
"This Fang Yuan, although my senior, the things he does are unforgivable, and he is so extreme. He dared to extort sister Jiao Man this time and got the Bear Enslavement Gu, not giving a hoot about our two clan's agreements. No, I must tell grandma and let her teach this Fang Yuan a lesson, otherwise our Gu Yue clan will be humiliated."
Thinking of this, the young girl suddenly felt that there was a need for a clan higher-up to come out and teach this Fang Yuan a lesson.
She naturally did not have this ability, but she felt that her grandma, medicine hall's Gu Yue Yao Ji could.
In her eyes, her grandma was omnipotent.
"You want me to deal with Gu Yue Fang Yuan?" Yao Ji looked at her granddaughter, her expression blank, and soon after that she started getting nervous.
"My dear granddaughter, did he bully you?" She hurriedly asked.
"He did not bully me, but he bullied others. This time it is the Xiong clan sister Jiao Man, he extorted her, getting a Bear Enslavement Gu and seven hundred primeval stones. This is too much, if this goes on, the clan's reputation would be completely ruined by him," Gu Yue Yao Le said.
"Mmm, grandma knows this matter. Darling granddaughter, leave first, grandma will not disappoint you." Yao Ji said after deep considerations.
"Thank you grandma! Grandma you do not know but this person is too wicked, raising the price of his goods and bullying the weak, he is a true villain."
After the young girl left, Yao Ji fell into deep thoughts.
She had wanted to deal with Fang Yuan for a long time, however it was naturally not a naive reason like Yao Le's, but because Fang Yuan possessed enough profits for her to strike.
First was the Liquor worm.
Although previously, Yao Ji had bought one from the caravan. But that was given to her granddaughter Yao Le. She herself still needed one Liquor worm as an ingredient to refine a Rank three Gu worm she wanted to fuse.
Next was the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass.
The clan's Nine Leaf Vitality Grass were mostly in Yao Ji's control, and by relying on selling the vitality leaves, she could consolidate her authority and status in the clan.
"This Fang Yuan is too arrogant! First I wanted to buy his Liquor worm, but he refused, what guts. This time he raised the price of the vitality leaves and earned a fortune. Does he really think I, the medicine clan elder, is thin air? Hmph!"