"Big brother, why are you…" To have his inner thoughts revealed out loud so suddenly, Fang Zheng felt a surge of panic, feeling rather unprepared.
But at the same time his heart was assured. The one thing he was worried about the most did not come true.
Seeing Fang Zheng not replying, Fang Yuan pretended to frowned and said, "Love is very normal, be more honest. There's no use hiding away. Of course, if you don't want to exchange, then that's fine."
Fang Zheng was anxious on the spot. "I'll exchange! Why would I not exchange. But the primeval stones on me are not enough for six anymore."
As he said this, he took out his money pouch, his face red all over.
Fang Yuan took the pouch and found six pieces in it, but one of the stones among them was smaller than a normal primeval stone by half size. He immediately knew that Fang Zheng had absorbed the primeval essence from this stone to speed up the process of refining his Moonlight Gu. After all the more natural essence gets absorbed from the primeval stone, the smaller the stone becomes, and its weight will also become lighter.
Even though it was just five pieces and a half, Fang Yuan knew: These were all the primeval stones that Fang Zheng had in his possession right now. Fang Zheng had no savings on his own, and these six primeval stones were what Aunt and Uncle had given to him not long ago.
"I'll keep these, you can go now." Fang Yuan's expression was cold as he tucked the bag away.
"Big brother…" Fang Zheng wanted to say more.
Fang Yuan raised his eyebrows slightly, speaking in a slow and leisure manner, "Before I change my mind, you better disappear from my eyes."
Fang Zheng felt his heart tighten. He gritted his teeth, and finally turned and left. But very quickly he felt hot as he thought of Shen Cui, and that dreamy night. "I can finally have you rightfully as mine, Cui Cui." He did not look back, and walked out of Fang Yuan's sight.
Fang Yuan stood expressionless, after seeing Fang Zheng left he sat down and continued his meal while also continuing secretly cultivating.
"What! Your older brother really said that?" In the hall, Uncle frowned, his voice cold. Aunt sat aside, looking speechlessly at the fresh red handprint on Fang Zheng's cheeks.
"Yes, when I met big brother, he was at the inn eating breakfast. The entire thing went like this," Fang Zheng replied politely.
Uncle's frown deepened, all condensed into 3 black lines.
After a few breaths he sighed and said in a solemn tone, "Fang Zheng my child, you must remember this. The maidservant Shen Cui is not Fang Yuan's personal property; we assigned her to him. How can he use her as a trading item? If you wished for it, you should have told us earlier on. We would just assign her to you."
"Ah?" Fang Zheng was stunned as he listened to this.
Uncle waved his hand. "You can take your leave. You gave all your primeval stones to Fang Yuan, so I'll just give you another six. Remember, use them properly on refining your Gu and seize number one. We will be very proud of you when you do."
"Father, your child is ashamed…" Fang Zheng was suddenly moved to tears. Uncle sighed and replied, "Just go, hurry back to your room and refine your Gu. You don't have much time left."
When Fang Zheng took his leave, Uncle's face revealed a ferocious and angry expression.
Bang!
He hit the table with his palm using great force, hissing, "Hmph, this damn bastard. He actually took our workers to do an exchange, he's really cunning!"
Aunt advised, "Husband, calm your anger. It's just six primeval stones."
"What do you understand, woman! This Fang Yuan is only a C-grade talent, if he wants to refine the Moonlight Gu he would need primeval stones. With his weak experience of a first timer, six primeval stones won't be enough to refine it. But now that he has twelve pieces, it will be more than sufficient." Uncle was so furious he gritted his teeth.
He added, "A Gu Master's cultivation will very swift as long as there are enough resources and no obstacles. In two or three years, the clan will be able to produce a Rank two Gu Master. The lower Fang Yuan's cultivation rank, the smaller his hopes of trying to seize the family inheritance one year later. Right now he is still young, just starting to cultivate. We shall hinder him and let his starting process fall behind those at his age. The academy resources are always awarded to excellent students. With his latent talent, once he falls back he won't be able to get any resources. Without the help of resources his cultivation will fall even further. With this vicious cycle, I would like to see if he has the ability to inherit the family inheritance a year later!"
Aunt did not understand. "Even if we do not stop him, he would at most be at Rank one Middle stage a year later. Husband, your cultivation is at Rank two, why are you still afraid of him?"
Uncle was so angry he stomped and said, "Woman, you really are a case of 'long hair but short insight'! With just my identity as the senior, should I really beat down the younger generation? If he wants to get back the inheritance, it is reasonable and cannot be stopped directly; I can only fight back using the clan rules. It is stated in the clan rules: To be head of the house at sixteen years old, the person must have at least Rank one middle stage cultivation. Otherwise it means that Fang Yuan will have no right to waste the clan resources. After I have said this, do you understand now?"
Aunt was enlightened.
Uncle narrowed his eyes, a glint in his gaze. He shook his head a little, sighing as he said, "Fang Yuan is just too smart, too cunning. He could even see through a power play. What kind of intellect is this? Scheming and calculating at such a young age, how terrorizing! Initially I was going to continue plotting against him, yet he moved out straight away. I wanted to further rely on Shen Cui to monitor and trouble him, but in the end he went away and even earned six primeval stones."
"Alas, if he could be as stupid as Fang Zheng, that would've been great. Oh right, from today onwards you must treat Fang Zheng better. He is an A-grade talent after all. Not to mention I can see that he has feelings of dissatisfaction and unhappiness towards Fang Yuan. These emotions are a good thing; they must be guided properly. I have a sort of feeling that he will become the best tool to deal with Fang Yuan in future!"
In the blink of an eye, two days have passed.
Inside the secret cave, "Only a few more days needed for the rock wall to shaved off." Fang Yuan calculated in his heart.
"Looking at the time and date now, it should be time for me to claim the top prize." Fang Yuan knew that the time was right; he placed the Liquor worm inside the secret cave and held out to the academy.
Thirty minutes later, in the clan academy.
The academy elder had long gone to bed, but in his dreams he could vaguely hear the sound of somebody knocking on the door. He was awoken by the noise and he opened his eyes, rather displeased. "Who is it outside there in the middle of the night?"
Instantly a voice replied in a respectful tone, "Reporting to sir elder! It is a student from this year's batch; he has already finished refining the Moonlight Gu. You have instructed your subordinates earlier to report to you the very instant the first name appears, no matter what time it is."
"Well… Its true that happened." The academy elder frowned, and then he got off his bed. As he put on his robes he asked, "Which student is it that got number one this year? Is it Gu Yue Fang Zheng?"
The subordinate outside the door replied, "It seems so. The moment I heard the news I hurried over here to tell you about it, sir. It seems to be someone from the Fang family branch."
"Hehe, counting the time, it is probably him." The academy elder laughed lightly, confidently saying, "Who else could it be besides the A-grade talent genius? All those B-grade talent students would still be worse even with the help of primeval stones. Or else why would the grade of cultivation talent be so important?"
As he said this he pushed the door open and came out. Outside the door, his subordinate respectfully bowed, moving two steps backwards. "Sir is right," he echoed.
In the hall, ten candles or so burned together, brightening up the hall. The man who had received Fang Yuan had already cleared up all doubts by now. Under the bright light of the candle fire, his face showed a stunned expression. "Wait, what did you just say? You are called Gu Yue Fang Yuan, not Gu Yue Fang Zheng?"
Fang Yuan nodded. At this moment the elder walked in from the entrance. Fang Yuan and the man stood up and turned around to greet.
When the academy elder saw Fang Yuan, his face was full of smiles. He strode over and stood in front of Fang Yuan, patting his shoulder in a friendly manner. "You did well, Gu Yue Fang Zheng, you did not disappoint me. You are indeed an A-grade talent – genius! All those B-grade, C-grade peers of yours will never compare to you no matter how hard they try. Ha ha ha."
Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng were twin brothers; their outer appearance was similar to a fault. Even the academy elder was mistaken.
Fang Yuan was neither haughty nor humble. He took a little step back, letting his shoulder free from the academy elder's hand. He stared at the academy elder, his hands folded behind his back. Then he said with a faint smile, "Sir elder, you have been mistaken. I am Gu Yue Fang Yuan, Gu Yue Fang Zheng is my younger brother."
"Huh?" The academy elder opened his mouth slightly, his expression startled. He glared at Fang Yuan doubtfully, his brow turning into a frown. After a few breaths, he finally spoke. "You are Gu Yue Fang Yuan?"
"Correct sir," Fang Yuan replied.
"You have refined the Moonlight Gu?" The academy elder was extremely surprised. His two eyes glared firmly at Fang Yuan's crescent mark on his forehead. His eyes were shining; he was asking the obvious.
"Indeed, that is the case," Fang Yuan said.
"Then, you are first of your batch?" The academy elder was asking stupid questions, but he was not entirely at fault. After all, this situation was entirely out of everyone's expectations.
One must know that he had been in charge of the academy for decades and is extremely experienced. He had seen C-grade talent students contending for number one before this, but it was never this early. Not to mention that in this batch there were peers with A-and B-grade talent.
"If there is no one earlier than me…" Fang Yuan pretended to be in deep thought, then he rubbed his nose and continued, "Then it seems like it."
The academy elder: "....."