Fang Yuan knew that many of them were contemplating just how to extract as many of the Immortal Essence Stones as they could from him. Their faces might be painted with kindness, but that only hid the ugliness within their hearts.
There might be some among them who were genuinely righteous; those who had likely grown up within Paradise Earth's Grotto-Heaven since birth did not harbor evil intentions. They had lived their lives in a sheltered bubble where they didn't need to compete with resources or fight others in order to survive.
But Fang Yuan could see it within the eyes of some of the others.
He could see the marks of envy from personal experience.
Naturally though, those who had such desires concealed them well. Immortals, even if they were lucky, were quite astute otherwise they wouldn't rise to their positions.
They were without a doubt thinking of how to get their hands on some of Fang Yuan's Immortal Essence Stones.
Among those present, perhaps only Lu Wei Yin could really hide his intentions from Fang Yuan. Fang Yuan couldn't get a read on the man at all.
"We congratulate our newest member, truly."
"Now that we have a thirteenth member, this is quite a lucky day for all of us indeed."
Just like that, many of them congratulated Fang Yuan.
Then, one of them piped up: "I'm sorry for noticing, Junior Brother Fang Yuan, but what has happened to your right eye?"
Fang Yuan's right orbit had been torn out. Currently, the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will was contained within it, attempting to refine a Rank 9 Gu worm. Fang Yuan had hid it with an illusion that could fool mortals and even some Rank 6 Gu Immortals to a small extent.
This would not stand up to scrutiny in front of other experienced Gu Immortals; however, the refinement of a Rank 9 Gu was not something that anyone other than a Venerable or someone highly skilled in investigative methods could detect. So all they saw was that Fang Yuan's eye was empty and he was hiding it with an illusion.
"Well, this was an injury that I unfortunately sustained during my ascension..."
"That's terrible!" one of the other members of the council interrupted. "In such a case, why don't you let us heal you?"
"Thank you for the offer," Fang Yuan replied. "However, the loss of my eye is actually within the scheme of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable. Paradise Earth caused me to lose my right eye - and this was likely by his design - he also does not want me to heal it. Instead, there is a deeper plan for this."
Many of them could not fathom these words. Why would Paradise Earth demand someone lose an eye as part of an inheritance? Unless Fang Yuan had somehow been tricked by a demonic inheritance; they could imagine no such scenario. Paradise Earth was gentle towards all forms of life - why would he treat his inheritor with this kind of malice?
"That is quite peculiar," Lu Wei Yin admitted. "Fang Yuan, can you tell me more?"
"I'm sorry, but Paradise Earth requested I keep this information with myself until the right time arrived," Fang Yuan said. "However, don't worry; the injury doesn't do anything other than cause me a minor inconvenience. I can still see with the aid of gu worms."
"That may be so, but it would be a relatively easy thing to fix right now rather than waiting for later," someone countered.
In the world of Immortals, healing was not as easy as it was with mortals.
If one had a large number of dao marks inscribed upon their body, they would resist not just the attacks, but also the healing methods of other paths. Because of this, only healing methods of a matching path would work effectively, especially as one went up in rank and had obtained more dao marks.
The natural assumption was that Fang Yuan, being Rank 6, would have fewer dao marks and thus resist healing path methods to a smaller degree. The longer he waited for healing, however, the more resistance his body would put up towards healing as he gained more dao marks.
Ordinarily, that might be true.
But Fang Yuan had access to Human Path methods that did not suffer from dao mark conflicted.
If Fang Yuan wanted, he could have healed his own eye socket with ease.
"If it is a matter of money, do not worry, for junior brother we can do it for free," someone else eagerly said. They had the right intentions, but Fang Yuan still had to deny them.
"Thank you for your offer. However, due to certain reasons, I must leave it like this."
There were baffled looks from all around, but Fang Yuan could not blame them. Who would choose to remain injured? Even Lu Wei Yin seemed to be perplexed, though he did not push Fang Yuan on the matter.
"I see. Well, are there any matters which need to be taken care of, or which should be put to a vote in the meantime?" Lu Wei asked. "This is not a regularly scheduled meeting, but now that we are all here, we may as well speak. Is there an issue which requires the help or attention of the council?"
There was one small issue brought up: the production of Six Star Flowers had somewhat declined, and a Wood Path method was needed to fix them. Some people volunteered in exchange for contribution points, and the matter was settled rather quickly.
Since the Paradise was such a safe and overall wholesome place, the various council members readily agreed to help one another.
Much like Paradise Earth would have wanted.
"If there is nothing else, the meeting will conclude," Lei Wu Yin said.
With that, although the meeting was technically over, the members still lounged around to speak to each other. Naturally Fang Yuan, being a newcomer, was the center of attention of such conversation.
Fang Yuan spoke with them with practiced ease.
Many felt that Fang Yuan was easy to talk to and get along with. Those who had grown up their entire lives within Paradise Earth's Paradise were quickly enamored with Fang Yuan's manner of speaking and thought that he was quite trustworthy, while those who were more experienced naturally held some degree of skepticism.
"Ah, Junior Brother, is there something bothering you?" one asked. "If so, let us know. We know that cultivating as a new Immortal is not easy."
"Indeed - to go overnight from being the head of a chicken to the tail of a phoenix is not easy. Especially with no one to guide you."
"Well..." Fang Yuan said shyly. "There was one thing bothering me..."
"No need to be shy, what exactly is it?"
Fang Yuan spoke up. "A few things actually. First and foremost, I was wondering if there was a Soul Path method available in order to repair my soul."
There was silence all around after Fang Yuan said this. Even Lu Wei seemed to give him an odd look. It was well known that Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable had been the enemy of Spectral Soul and had greatly suppressed the Soul Path.
It was like walking into a temple and trying to solicit one of the priestesses to spend the night with you for money like you had walked into a brothel.
And yet, despite all of these factors, here Fang Yuan was, asking for Soul Path methods. It seemed extremely bold or extremely naive - so naive it was hard to believe.
After all, Fang Yuan had supposedly become a Gu Immortal on his own; anyone who could do that was a dragon among men. How could he be so simple?
In other words, Fang Yuan was simply quite brash!