The caravan crossed mountains and valleys as they traveled west.
Half a month later, the caravan arrived at Hun Mu mountain which had a lot of weird looking trees; Fang Yuan sold half of his goods to buy a lot of these special wood.
Twenty days later, they arrived at Ju Yu mountain.
The mountain was full of bumps and craters, these bumps were all made by the falling raindrops.
At this place, once it rained, raindrops as large as wine vats fell and formed huge craters in the ground. Thus, the Tong clan of Ju Yu mountain was built in the empty caves inside the mountain. If it was an open construct, it would be easily devastated by the rain.
In Tong clan village, the golden lamp oil that Fang Yuan bought on Huang Jin mountain was very popular.
During their stay, it rained three times. Fang Yuan thus acquired many blue oil raindrops. These raindrops were a type of material for many different purposes.
These giant raindrops were the Tong clan village's misfortune that forced them to live inside the mountain caves. But, it was also their source of income.
After leaving Ju Yu mountain, the caravan arrived at Fang Zhuan mountain.
The rocks on this mountain were peculiar. Each were cube shaped, varying in size and thickness.
Da Fang clan was a large scale clan that had been living on Fang Zhuan mountain for over thousand years.
Their residences were made of tiles; much better than the condition at Tong clan village. Tall large walls were constructed around the village, and within the walls were defense towers, while outside the walls were pillboxes.
Fang Yuan remembered that at Da Fang clan, there was an eccentric elder that liked wood carvings.
After contacting him, all the weird and creepy soul wood he collected on Hun Mu mountain were sold to this clan elder.
Just like this, on this journey, with Fang Yuan's manipulation, his goods increased and decreased at times, but each time there was a change, he earned a ton of profit.
Once he did this many times, it naturally attracted people's attention.
Fang Yuan pushed everything to Shang Xin Ci, and rumors of her business talent started to circulate.
Time flew by quickly, after another four villages, the caravan gradually got close to Xiao Yue mountain.
This night, the caravan made a temporary camp near a cliff.
"We have entered Xiao Yue mountain's territory, the remaining journey is all uninhabited mountains and valleys. Gu worms and beasts roam free, and not even a hamlet exist. From tonight onwards, everyone has to place their full attention on the surroundings." Jia clan's leader instructed.
In the tent, many vice-leaders nodded in agreement.
Shang Xin Ci's eyes shone with bright light.
This was the most dangerous segment of the caravan's route. Once they passed this, they would reach Xue Lei mountain, and after that, they would have to travel past a few more clan villages, before reaching Shang Liang mountain's Shang Clan City.
"Alright, next we will establish our defensive measures." Jia clan's leader continued.
An hour later, the discussion ended and everyone left the tent.
Zhang Zhu came up immediately: "Miss, dinner has been prepared. Do we invite Hei Tu and Bai Yun to dine together again?"
"Of course." Shang Xin Ci nodded: "I have to ask him about his experiences in trading during the banquet."
These few days, Fang Yuan's revenue greatly exceeded his losses, earning five to six times the profits after few trades. This caused Shang Xin Ci, Zhang Zhu and Xiao Die - who knew the truth - to look at him in a different light.
According to the agreement, Fang Yuan gave half the earnings to Shang Xin Ci, but to her, these primeval stones could not compare to his business experience and understanding.
She did not have any cultivation talent, and as a mortal, engaging in business was her proudest ability.
But, in this aspect where she could be proud of herself, Fang Yuan displayed a strength which she could not help but admit was far superior to her!
Many seemingly absurd decisions gave surprising results after the deal was completed.
Shang Xin Ci was not someone who would give up on herself, and after knowing this difference in ability, she invited him to the dinner banquet daily.
A few words of advice from Fang Yuan could benefit her greatly.
Her talent in business was outstanding and she absorbed the knowledge like a sponge, growing rapidly.
The more she interacted with Fang Yuan, the more she admired him.
"Sigh, Miss, you have to be careful. These two obviously have their own stories, they are not ordinary people." Zhang Zhu sighed with worry, he was afraid Shang Xin Ci was sinking deeper into this.
"Don't worry, Uncle Zhang Zhu, I know what I am doing." Shang Xin Ci was indeed intelligent and smart, she never spoke to Fang Yuan about matters outside of business. She knew what could be said and what could not, never trying to probe further than she was supposed to.
She felt that Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing might be mysterious, but they were not dangerous.
Fang Yuan used proper techniques in his business trading, and he didn't go back on his words, splitting half the profits with Shang Xin Ci. Unknowingly, such behaviour gave Shang Xin Ci much feeling of assurance.
However, Fang Yuan did not accept the invitation to banquet this time.
"I am feeling a little tired today, I will not be going." He waved his hand at Xiao Die who came to invite him.
Fang Yuan did not accept every single invitation from Shang Xin Ci, normally only accepting one out of three invitations.
Xiao Die pouted as she looked at Fang Yuan begrudgingly, muttering under her breath and leaving.
Previously when Fang Yuan rejected the invitation, Xiao Die made a scene several times, feeling indignant for her Miss. But the more Fang Yuan earned, the more Xiao Die's attitude changed, from indignant to accomodating and helplessness.
No matter which world it was, at whatever level of society, strength was what gained respect.
Fang Yuan shut the tent; Bai Ning Bing had already sat on one of the beds.
In the darkness, her blue eyes shone slightly.
When Fang Yuan first rejected Xiao Die, she was still a little surprised, but after a few times, Bai Ning Bing found out the brilliance of this action.
As the saying went, one who is unaccountably solicitous is hiding evil intentions1. Fang Yuan rejecting this invitation and not accommodating to Shang Xin Ci gave the young girl the feeling that he had nothing to gain from her.
"Let's start." Fang Yuan sat down on the bed as well with his back facing Bai Ning Bing.
Bai Ning Bing spread out both palms and placed them on Fang Yuan's back. Ten percent of her snow silver primeval essence flowed through her palms into Fang Yuan's body.
Bone flesh unity Gu shone with green and red light respectively, converting the primeval essence; six percent of snow silver primeval essence entered Fang Yuan's aperture.
Splash splash splash...
Fang Yuan's thoughts entered his aperture and used these primeval essence to nurture his aperture walls.
When he was rank one, his aperture could not take the impact of the snow silver primeval essence, but now that he was rank two middle stage, his aperture walls had a stronger foundation now and could endure it.
Only that this could not last for a long time, and he needed to rest every once in a while.
The light waves on the aperture walls flowed constantly. The white light grew stronger as some areas started to condense. Evidently, Fang Yuan was a step away from rank two upper stage.
With his rich cultivating experience, Fang Yuan had something like a gauge in his mind. He planned to breakthrough to rank two upper stage in one go!
Time passed and it was already late at night.
Howl—— !
Suddenly, howling of the Grey Wolf King could be heard.
The howl broke the silence of the camp, and soon after, numerous wolf howled in response to their king.
"Wolf assault, wolf assault!"
"Damn it, get up, the wolf pack is attacking camp!"
"So many grey wolves, I can't even count how many there are!"
...
Many people screamed in shock, waking up everyone else in the camp; everyone was riled up.
"Hey hearing this volume, it seems the wolf pack is quite large." Bai Ning Bing listened and laughed.
In the caravan's journey, they met many beast groups' attack, and now she wasn't shocked anymore.
"This is Xiao Yue mountain, some people say the entire southern border wolves live here. During a full moon, the wolf packs will gaze at the round moon, and the wolf howls can cause the entire mountain to tremble and shake.
This is only our first night, and we already encountered a grey wolf pack, our luck is terrible." Fang Yuan opened his eyes slightly, but multitasked and did not stop the cultivating in his aperture.
"Damn it, there are too many wolves."
"Healing Gu Master, where are the healing Gu Masters?! My father is injured, he is bleeding a lot..."
"The southeast direction's defense has been broken through, go reinforce them quickly!"
The situation was more severe than Bai Ning Bing had predicted. After discovering the wolf pack, in just a few minutes, the first line of defense in the camp was broken through, and the wolves broke into the camp.
"Ah——!"
"Take up your weapons and fight these beasts!"
Servants screamed as sounds of battle and shouting continued.
"Do we go out?" Bai Ning Bing asked.
"For what? What can you do? Don't forget your identity." After a moment of silence, Fang Yuan replied nonchalantly.
"But the wolves are already charging here, the goods you just purchased might be damaged." Bai Ning Bing laughed, showing glee in her tone.
"Then let them be damaged." Fang Yuan closed his eyes again.
After a while, Xiao Die's voice came from outside the tent: "Hei Tu, Hei Tu! Are you two in there?"
"What's the matter?" Bai Ning Bing asked.
"Oh my god, you are still here? Such a loud commotion and you didn't even wake up! Many grey wolves entered the camp, although the situation is under control, there might be some wolves left out. Miss is asking you to go over, with Lord Zhang Zhu to protect us, it will be safer!" Xiao Die shouted.
"No need, since the situation is under control, we shall not impose on your Miss. I can handle a grey wolf or two with my physical strength." Fang Yuan replied.
Xiao Die urged some more, but was still rejected. Finally she stomped her feet outside the tent: "Ungrateful bunch, don't blame me for not reminding you if you die. Hmph!"
Saying so, she hurriedly left.
The grey wolves continued to attack for fifteen minutes before retreating.
This beast group assault brought the greatest loss the caravan had suffered since their establishment.
Three Gu Masters died in battle, over a dozen injured, countless servants died, and most of the goods were damaged. Especially Zhang clan's goods, they received the most damage.
These goods were all borrowed by Fang Yuan, and at first estimation, Fang Yuan lost over a thousand primeval stones in this one night.
When it was daylight, and they calculated the losses, he showed a bitter smile but did not mind it at all.
Because last night, he had advanced to rank two upper stage. Only spending just a few months, this cultivation speed was shocking even to Bai Ning Bing who knew the method.