"Hang in there Fang Yuan, we're coming to help you!" Jiao San shouted with a concerned expression, taking huge steps into the room.
But the next moment, he was dumbfounded.
The room was empty, Fang Yuan was not inside.
The four became silent.
"How can this be, where is he?" Jiao Sao broke the silence, saying frustratingly.
He 'performed' outside the room for such a long time, but it turned out to be a one man performance as Fang Yuan was never inside.
The three looked at each other, not expecting such a result.
"This is weird, if Fang Yuan isn't here, why would he paste that paper on the door?" Kong Jing said carefully.
"Get the landlord here now!" Jiao Sao raised his foot and sent the door flying.
"You looking for me? Hmph, I was just about to find you. Coming to my house and raising a huge ruckus, even breaking down my door. Young man, you sure are capable." The landlord was an old man, but his tone was very firm.
Being able to own additional houses in the Gu Yue village and renting it out, he was obviously a Gu Master.
A Gu Master's strength and status supersedes a mortal. Mortals do not dare to operate such a business. In fact, they do not own property.
The entire village's property is owned by the Gu Yue clan. The mortals who live here are the farmers and servants of the clan.
"Senior, we are here to find a young man, he is our group member." Facing the landlord, Jiao San controlled his temper.
An old Gu Master like the landlord, even if he is old and no longer striving for his career, he still has strong relationships and connections. Even if he is retired his ability is still not to be underestimated.
Those without human relationships and trump cards, how would they dare to do business?
This is not a peaceful era, it is full of violence and plunder.
The landlord shook his head, his tone rigid, "I do not care about my tenant's whereabouts, but I do know that you broke my door. You need to compensate me."
"Hehe, this is our fault, it is only right that we compensate you," Jiao Sao laughed dryly. Although he was furious inside, he still forced himself to compensate some primeval stones and even gave some extra.
The landlord's expression turned slightly better, "If the young man who rented this room is who you are finding, then I must tell you that he has not turned in for a day. After paying a month's rent, he bought a huge amount of things yesterday and asked me which place sold coal cheaply. I told him that there was no need to buy coal, as there is a valley outside the village towards the north.
A mine is situated there where he can excavate the coal. After thanking me, he left and never returned."
"So that's it." Jiao San looked at the decorations in the room.
Indeed, the mattress and bedding was new. The table and chairs were old goods bought by Fang Yuan that were seemingly firm.
The stove was empty, it indeed did not have coal.
Jiao San breathed out slowly, being at ease.
"It seems Fang Yuan was delayed by excavating coal. Nevermind, let's come again tomorrow." He walked out of the room first.
But on the third day, Fang Yuan still did not show up.
Jiao San and the others stood outside the room, hesitant.
"Digging for coal, it does not need so much time. Fang Yuan wants to do closed door cultivation so maybe he dug more. But it's been so long, could something have had happened to him while he was excavating?" Kong Jing conjured.
Jiao San nodded unnoticably, pointing towards the bed and stove, "This lad is very stingy. He paid a month's rent all of a sudden and even bought so many things, and especially pasting that paper on the wall, he probably wanted to cultivate here. Too bad he was unlucky. These days the wolf hordes have gotten bigger, and the wild beasts around the village have gotten more active.
He might have encountered some wild beasts."
"Leader is wise!" The two female Gu Masters said at the same time, flattering him.
Jiao San laughed while raising his head, "Hahaha, I was still fretting over how to deal with him. Though we have that deer catching mission, let's not rush out to do it. If we meet him in the wilds, we are forced to save him, right?"
"Hehehe." The other three members started laughing.
Day four.
In the aperture, waves of black green primeval essence hit against the crystal walls relentlessly.
The translucent white crystal wall was already full of cracks, crisscrossing each other.
This is Fang Yuan's result after working hard non-stop for three days and three nights. At most, when he really could not take it anymore, he would quickly take a meal and settle his bowels.
These days, Fang Yuan had purposely slowed the wave crashing process, and at the same time he drew more primeval essence from his primeval stones. Thus, after such a long time, the green copper Primeval Sea had only dropped from the 44% limit to around 20%.
As time passed, when there was only about 13% primeval essence left, the wall could no longer hold up, and had reached its limit.
Crack crack…
The originally sturdy crystal wall broke into pieces, and the fragments fell into the Primeval Sea, causing ripples and waves. After that, it turned into white dots and vanished into thin air.
What replaced the crystal wall, was a brand new white light wall.
This was the Rank two light wall. Although there was not much difference and it still emitted white light, it was much more glimmering that the Rank one light wall.
At the same time, traces of red primeval essence were produced in the sea and it mixed around with the black green Primeval Sea in the aperture.
This was the Rank two initial stage red steel primeval essence!
"Finally I did it, I broke through to Rank two!" Fang Yuan opened his eyes abruptly, the room immediately brightening up.
But a second later, a strong wave of nausea hit him.
"I went through four days and three nights of non-stop cultivating, it is too intense and my body is going to collapse soon." Fang Yuan laughed bitterly, slowly lying down. "My cultivation was not disturbed at all, it seems that my set up at the rental house had worked. It was worth spending this sum, next I shall rest well for the night and return to the village tomorrow."
Thinking of this, intense sleepiness assaulted him.
Fang Yuan forced his eyes to stay open and used his intense will to cover himself with the blanket.
After closing his eyes, in a few seconds, he fell soundly asleep.
The cultivation earlier had used up most of his spirit.
He slept until the afternoon of the second day.
Fang Yuan opened his eyes, feeling his spirit recovering to around half, but he was still feeling weakness in his body.
He opened the door, walking out of the room for the first time in five days.
This attracted a person.
This person had slim long eyes with a thin body—it was Jiang Ya's brother Jiang He.
Seeing Fang Yuan, he exhaled in relief, saying, "You're finally out! Hmph, I would have broken into the room if you still did not come out after the next few days. After all if you die here, I'd be held responsible."
Fang Yuan laughed but did not say anything.
The winter sunlight broke through the window, shining onto his face, amplifying the trace of pale white weakness on his features.
Five days ago, he purposely asked the landlord and gave Jiao San the clues of his coal story. After that he left the Gu Yue village and went to the hamlet at the mountain foot.
Because of old man Wang previously, Jiang He was half an alliance mate of his. Using this relationship, Fang Yuan stayed a few days in the village and advanced to Rank two without any interruption.
Of course, the rock crack secret cave was much more elusive than Jiang He's place, but it was not completely safe. Fang Yuan had to consider the possibility of Jiao San and the others relentlessly finding him, and might find the rock crack secret cave.
Although chances were slim, if the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was found out, Fang Yuan's life would be in danger.
Fang Yuan was a very cautious person, and he naturally would not take such risks.
At the same time, it was safer at Jiang He's place. Even if they had a shared secret, Jiang He would not kill him to silence him.
The risks and troubles of killing a Gu Master was too great. Without sufficient benefits, Jiang He had no motivation to do it. In fact, to preserve the secret, Jiang He would even have to worry about Fang Yuan's safety.
After all, if the clan's punishment hall investigates Fang Yuan's death, they might find out about old man Wang's secret.
Seeing Fang Yuan safe, Jiang He was really relieved.
But quickly, he felt the aura of Fang Yuan and his expression changed, "To think that you really succeeded, reaching Rank two in one go!"
He was shocked in his heart. Five days ago when Fang Yuan approached him and stated his intentions, he was actually feeling disdainful in his heart.
Absorbing the primeval essence from the primeval stones and breaking through to Rank two, this kind of multitasking method was very draining on the spirit. Normally speaking, Gu Masters needed a very strong will, patience and years of cultivating experience.
Only with the experience, a Gu Master could treat the extraction of primeval essence from the stones as an instinct. At the same time, manipulating the Primeval Sea skillfully and causing the impact to be controlled at a degree, and it had to be perfectly calculated, just enough to match the recovery rate of the primeval essence so that the process could be sustained.
In Jiang He's opinion, Fang Yuan had no chance of success. But to think, he did it in one go.
Fang Yuan laughed indifferently, "I was lucky. I plan to return to the village today, but before that, it would be nice if I can have a meal."
"Hehehe, little brother Fang Yuan, since you're here, of course I'm taking care of your meals." Jiang He patted his chest, his attitude even more friendly than before.
Although he did not think well of Fang Yuan's future, but now that he has advanced to Rank two, it meant that he had gone through a difficult hurdle and has the qualifications to be on par with him now.
After a scrumptious meal, Jiang He brought Fang Yuan to the entrance of the small village personally.
"Little brother Fang Yuan, be careful this time. Recently the wolf nest area has gotten slightly fiercer, causing the wild beasts to become more active. Eh, it is snowing." Jiang He paused, then continued, "My opinion is, don't go now. How about you stay here for another night?"
After Fang Yuan reached Rank two, he became really friendly.
But Fang Yuan was insistent on leaving, thus saying goodbye to Jiang He.
The snowflakes fell calmly, just like pure white fur that was floating down slowly.
The light of the setting sun turned the snow into a golden yellow.
Flake by flake, the snow drifted onto Fang Yuan's head and shoulders.
In the far distance, the Gu Yue village stood upright over the mountain waist, watching over quietly.