They decided to name their first son Fang Ling.
Gu Yue Fang Ling started to walk around the age of sixteen months, and was able to speak by the age of two.
"Papa! Papa!" Gu Yue Fang Ling would say, running after his father around by the time he was able to. "Wait up for me!"
As he grew even older, he would often run around the newly constructed laboratory. Xie Han Mo was afraid that he would end up getting hurt by some of the chemicals present there. As such, his father, Fang Yuan, had to keep a close eye on him, as did several of the mermaid servants.
Xie Han Mo's handmaidens greatly doted over their new 'prince.'
"Papa, Papa," Fang Lin would say to Fang Yuan. "When I grow up, I want to be just like you. Will I also be able to become a Gu Master?"
"Of course, you will," Fang Yuan said, picking up his son in his arms as he told him the stories of Ren Zu, essential for any Gu Master's development in this world.
Occasionally though, Fang Yuan would teach Fang Lin some of the poetry that he happened to know of from back on Earth.
It was a less essential skill, but Fang Yuan had found his knowledge of poems from that world to be surprisingly useful at times, and couldn't see a reason to not impart to his children when they were young.
As for more important lessons like fighting, cultivation, and details of the Pill Path - Fang Ling would have to grow older before he could be taught things like that.
When Fang Ling was six years old, however, there was a commotion within the newly constructed Apothecary's Laboratory.
"Fang Yuan! Fang Yuan!"
"Mo'er, what happened?"
"Fang Ling - someone kidnapped him!"
"What?! How did that happen?"
"I don't know - the mermaid in charge was found knocked out, and he isn't in his room! Someone's taken him!"
Fang Yuan immediately went to go check the scene of the crime. Indeed, Fang Ling was not there, and the window was open.
"I need to find him," Fang Yuan thought to himself. "Don't worry, Mo'er, I'm sure that he will be fine."
It was here that his experience in the Blood Path came in handy once more.
Fang Yuan took out a drop of his blood, using it to locate where Fang Ling was.
***
Li Wei panted, stopping under the shade of a tree.
He was one of the mermen slaves whom Fang Yuan had bought. He was once the child of a mermen chieftain, and had a promising future as a future elder. That was before his tribe had been defeated and he had been sold off into slavery.
He had never forgotten this humiliation, or his previous glory. He had been injured in the fighting and his aptitude fell to C-grade, meaning he could no longer get to Rank 3 as he could have at one point.
Frustrated at the loss of future potential, and the indignity of being forced to work under a human (were they not proud merfolk who had their own area in the Eastern Sea? Why were they under a human's boot?) with no real prospects of advancement.
His gu worms would ordinarily be sealed, but there was a small loophole. Fang Yuan had tasked some of the merfolk to deal with the area of snow that blanketed a good portion of the Blessed Land. They were not that well-equipped to deal with something like that, but Water Path gu worms were not exactly the ideal solution to this.
Not that they couldn't try something. The merfolk were making a small lake with water they slowly heated up, eating away at the snow fields. It was slow and arduous work, with only a third being done by this time.
It did mean, however, that Li Wei had been allowed the usage of gu worms for this task.
And so, as his anger mounted, he finally decided to act.
To do something to get out of this situation.
He became friends with one of the maids working in the newly constructed lab, and from that, had snuck in one day under the pretense of visiting her.
Seeing that Fang Ling was guarded only by a single woman, he decided to take his chance.
So long as he held Fang Yuan's child, he would have leverage over him. Yes, he might be able to obtain his freedom - even beyond that, various gu worms that might let him recover his cultivation.
Li Wei had fled until he could move no longer, stopping now.
"What are you trying to do, mister?" Fang Ling muttered, talking for the first time since he had been taken.
"Quiet, you! I need to think of my next step!"
Fang Ling frowned. "Take me back to my mother."
"Heh - you're in no position to be making demands, kiddo."
"Don't you know who my father is? It's Fang Yuan," Fang Ling said. "Trying to keep me here? You're courting death!"
Li Wei frowned. This kid was only six years old and was already talking about 'courting death' and 'don't you know who my father is?' Wasn't his attainment in the Young Master path too high?
"Now, listen kid I-"
Li Wei did not get any further words out of his mouth as the two of them vanished, appearing before Fang Yuan and the Seven Rainbows Moth King.
"Ah!" Li Wei yelled out. He tried to activate one of his gu worms, but they were sealed off.
In a single flash, Fang Yuan decapitated him.
"Yay! Papa!" Fang Ling yelled out, ignoring the fountain of blood bursting out from what Li Wei's neck.
"Just wait a moment, Ling'er, Papa is doing something important right now," Fang Yuan said, using soul-searching methods on Li Wei's soul.
Was this just a random attack?
Or was it something more calculated?
Fang Yuan had to know.
Li Wei's soul screamed out in agony as Fang Yuan was none too gentle examining it.
"Hmm... it looks like he really did no nothing," Fang Yuan muttered. "He was just extremely stupid, thinking that since I lacked the strength of a full Immortal, that I could be bullied? Hmph, frog in a well."
"Mama!" Fang Ling yelled out as Xie Han Mo was called.
"Oh, Ling'er, what happened? Don't you know how much mama was worried?"
"Um, it was kinda fun, but I missed you, Mama!" Fang Ling had not entirely understood the fact that he had been 'kidnapped' until the end, just assuming that Li Wei was one of Fang Yuan's subordinates. "Can we play some more Mama? Papa said he's busy..."
"Well, are you lonely, Ling'er? Don't worry, because you'll soon have someone to play with," Xie Han Mo said, smiling.
Fang Yuan turned at this news. "Wait - you don't mean?"
"Yes," Xie Han Mo said. "Fang Yuan, I'm expecting another one. Can you imagine? Ling'er will soon have himself a younger brother or sister!"
"Yay!" Fang Ling yelled out.