Bai Ning Bing couldn't help but become curious when she saw Fang Yuan walking towards the dark leopard's corpses.
She saw him squatting down and feeling around the ears of the dark leopards.
After a while, Fang Yuan took out two exquisite purple leaves from the male leopard's left ear and the female leopard's right ear.
This was Breath Concealment Gu.
Rank three grass Gu; Gu Masters could use it to conceal their aura and cultivation level. To some degree, it was a camouflage ability.
Almost all the dark leopards had a Breath Concealment Gu in the ears. However, the dark leopards moved in pairs and were at least of thousand beasts king level. They were experts in sneak attacks, and were extremely agile; capturing them was a very troublesome and dangerous endeavor.
Moreover, the dark leopards were specific to Zi You mountain. Thus, the knowledge of there being Breath Concealment Gu in dark leopard's ears wasn't widely known yet.
In Fang Yuan's hundred and fiftieth year in his previous life, there emerged a righteous path figure nicknamed 'Hunting King', Sun Gan. He was the first to wantonly hunt the dark leopards for their Breath Concealment Gu, and made a fortune by selling them to the market.
After him, countless Gu Masters rushed to Zi You mountain to make a fortune. Like this, in only few years, the dark leopards were all annihilated.
Right now however, the Zi You mountain was still a secluded area.
In this place, daytime was safe whereas the night time was extremely dangerous. There were no clans here, but there was an embryonic form of a clan — a hamlet.
Fang Yuan didn't have the earth hearing ear grass to scout, but fortunately they obtained two Breath Concealment Gu.
Fang and Bai relied on this Gu to avoid many dangers.
They were not going to go up the Zi You mountain; their current strength was enough to move across the ordinary forests, but not enough to go deep into the famous mountains and great rivers. Even Bai Clan would have to pay a great price to explore these areas, let alone the current Fang and Bai.
They went around the Zi You mountain and moved forward, and after two days, they discovered a mountain path.
It was a man-made path, and was much safer than the forests. Of course, if one's luck was bad, they might come across dangerous situations.
Fang and Bai moved along the mountain path, until one evening, they saw a thin curl of smoke.
The two glanced at each other before hastening their steps. They saw a hamlet lying in a mountain basin.
The hamlet was surrounded by short stone walls, with guards standing on several points. It was evening now and the farmers were returning in groups, walking to the hamlet with hoes and other farm tools on them.
However, these were all mortals and were nothing to worry about.
"Let's go." Fang Yuan walked towards the hamlet.
"Just like this?" Bai Ning Bing was somewhat surprised.
Their appearance quickly attracted the curiosity and suspicious glances of the villagers.
Most of the villages in this world weren't too welcoming to foreigners. The clan villagers were even more so; they would set up tight defense around the whole village, for fear that spies and robbers would infiltrate the village.
"May I ask the two distinguished guests if you are respected lord Gu Masters?" Before Fang and Bai even reached the entrance, two guards who looked alike approached them.
Bai Ning Bing didn't speak, according to their original agreement, Fang Yuan would take charge of all the communications.
Fang Yuan shook his head: "Hello brothers, we are both mortals."
The two guards seemed to heave a sigh of relief when they heard this, their faces clearly loosening up.
The younger juvenile guard disdainfully sized up Fang Yuan's body, before speaking with some disgust: "I'll say, how could such a ugly person possibly be one of those lord Gu Masters who possess divine powers?"
Fang Yuan's whole body was burned and he had one ear less; such an ugly appearance birthed revulsion in people.
Bai Ning Bing also changed her normal attire, she cut off her long silver hair short and also dyed it black. Her body that was white as snow due to ice muscles, was now blackened. Only the color of her eyes couldn't be covered, thus she wore a straw hat and covered half her face.
As the two stood together, they remarkably looked like mortal villagers.
"Little brother, watch what you say." The senior guard reprimanded the junior guard, then vigilantly looked at Fang and Bai, "Where are you from and what are you doing here?"
"We are from a hamlet across the mountain. We were taking a handcart filled with herbs and salted meat, thinking to sell them, but sigh, we bumped into a tiger on our way. Whoa, that really scared me to death. We ran crazily all the way and only then could we save ourselves. Sigh… we don't dare to go back for the moment, so we came to your hamlet and hope to spend the night here.
We will immediately leave tomorrow." Fang Yuan spoke off the top of his head.
The vigilance in the guard's gaze lessened.
Fang Yuan said: "Brother, no need to scold your little brother. I got this injuries from a fire; that day, our house was on fire, and while trying to salvage the rice, I was burned to this state."
"Sigh, everyone is suffering nowadays." The senior guard heaved a sigh, "You can enter the hamlet, and if you don't find anyone willing to offer you shelter, you need to make do by spending the night in the corner of the walls."
After finishing saying the instructions, the guards opened the way.
After Fang and Bai entered the hamlet, the senior guard instructed his brother: "Go tell the village head, that two outsiders are here, he as an elder has rich experience, ask him to keep a lookout."
"Brother, you are too cautious. How could these two be Gu Masters? Besides, why would Gu Masters try to deceive us mortals? To have fun?"
"If I tell you to go, then just go!"
"Making me run errands again…" The young guard grumbled but still left in the end.
The scene inside the hamlet was peaceful.
The air was filled with the aroma of food. After a day of hard work, families gathered around the dinner table and talked happily.
Bai Ning Bing involuntarily felt relaxed in such an environment.
The reason for her disguise was because they didn't want to leave behind any traces which could make it convenient for the Bai Clan to track them. Another reason was because of Fang Yuan's cautious nature; by hiding themselves in an unfamiliar environment, they could react to any abnormalities.
It was easy to find a house to take shelter in, just give the villagers a primeval stone fragment and they would be more than happy to vacate a house.
However, doing this would not be in accordance with their current identities.
Fang Yuan had a better method.
He walked around the hamlet, before stopping in front of a worn out house.
There was only an elderly woman in this household. She had a grandson but he was killed by a wolf when out playing.
The old lady was drawing water from a well in front of her house; the action seemed to take a lot out of her.
"Auntie, let me help you." Fang Yuan put on a silly grin and eagerly ran towards the old lady.
The old lady was shocked when she saw Fang Yuan's appearance.
However, Fang Yuan acted passionately with a silly grin on his face, and after quickly pulling up several buckets of water, the old lady's vigilance disappeared.
"Young man, you are an outsider?" The old lady smiled open her mouth which had a few missing teeth.
"Yes, we were hoping to stay over for the night in your house. Auntie, I can do your work, may we?" Fang Yuan foolishly said.
"Okay." The old lady happily agreed. Although the villagers would help each other financially in normal times, she still needed labor force like this.
Bai Ning Bing watched this scene speechlessly.
This Fang Yuan could really act!
After fetching the water, it was chopping the firewoods. Fang Yuan also cooked the meal, the old lady repeatedly praised him for his swift and skilled movements.
"Auntie, let me help you fetch some more water. We will talk after I fill the water vat." After the dinner, Fang Yuan again went to fetch water on his own accord.
The old lady kept on saying no need, but Fang Yuan insisted on doing so.
After the water vat was filled, the old lady talked with tears in her eyes: "Young man, you are really… Sigh, such a bitter life like this old lady…"
Evidently, Fang Yuan had fabricated a miserable tale during the dinner, which left a deep impression on the simple old lady.
Lanterns were a luxury to ordinary people, thus the house was dark in the night.
The only light came through the window from the moon..
The house had two simple and crude beds. Bai Ning Bing was lying on the floor but was very satisfied. The exhaustion accumulated from days of walking was now slowly dissipating.
Fang Yuan laid cross legged on the bed, his mind was in his aperture, observing the bone flesh unity Gu.
He had not used this pair of Gu even once since he got it.
After all, he had refined it after tempering the recipe. And with Fang Yuan's cautious nature, he naturally needed to properly study it before using it.
Suddenly, Fang Yuan opened his eyes, a bright light flashed past them.
"There isn't any problem, bone flesh unity Gu can be used." After saying so, he summoned the pair of jade bracelet shaped Gu.
This two jade bracelets; one was green as grass whereas the other was red as blood. They were both tied together and couldn't be separated.
Fang Yuan had already refined them before. However, to bring out their magical effects, he needed to give up one of them and let Bai Ning Bing refine it.
Bai Ning Bing was sitting in a cross-legged position as she received the Gu, but he wasn't in a hurry to refine it and instead looked at Fang Yuan: "What do you plan on doing next?"
Fang Yuan chuckled: "And here I was thinking you wouldn't ask."
Despite it being dark, Bai Ning Bing could sense Fang Yuan smiling at this moment.
She just snorted and didn't speak.
Fang Yuan didn't plan to conceal his plans from her: "Our next destination is Shang Liang mountain."
"Shang Liang mountain, Shang clan?" Bai Ning Bing's brows slightly furrowed.
Shang clan was one of the top forces of the Southern Border, not weaker to Tie clan and Fei clan. Only the Wu Clan was above it.
Shang clan was famed for their businesses in Southern Border, and even the people outside the Southern Border - as long as they had some experience - knew that the Shang Clan of the Southern Border was the center for businesses and trading. Shang clan city was so flourishing that there were opportunities for primeval stones everywhere.
When Bai Ning Bing still had Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, she had looked forward to visiting the Shang clan city. Now however, she was hesitating: "With the crimes we have committed against the Bai clan, we might already be wanted by all the righteous path figures. Wouldn't we just be heading straight into a trap by going to Shang clan city?"
Fang Yuan smiled: "If there are only two places in the whole Southern Border that could accept us, that Shang clan city would definitely be one of them. Shang Clan might be one of the leaders of the righteous paths, but the Shang Clan city is a place with complete freedom, and also a place where most of the demonic path figures dispose of their goods.
If not for that, how could Shang clan be the richest clan in the Southern Border? Even Wu clan is far inferior to them in this aspect."
Bai Ning Bing pondered for a while when she heard this: "The rumors said that you could buy anything in Shang clan city, is this really true?"
Fang Yuan shook his head: "The things in the rumors are all talking of the low level goods. There are too many things in this world that has a lot of demand but no supply. For example — a certain Yang Gu? Hahaha."