With that, the elders of the other clans departed and the tea ceremony was over.
Fang Yuan went to go address the Gu Yue villagers once in order to boost their morale before leaving.
Fang Yuan gave a long, tearful speech to the villagers. In reality, it was nothing but hot air, yet the Gu Yue villagers gobbled it up with unquestioning fervor feeling that Fang Yuan had truly blessed them with his wisdom.
Before he could depart, however, he was informed by Fang Zheng that some people from the Bai Clan wished to petition him. Fang Yuan initially dismissed the request. "If it isn't emergent just tell them I am unavailable."
"It is a group of most of the Bai Clansmen," Fang Zheng insisted. "They said it was a specific request for you and not for me..."
Fang Yuan waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, whatever. Send them in."
The remnants of the Bai Clan's top brass walked in, looking less eager than before now that they were in Fang Yuan's presence. "What do you want? I am a busy man," Fang Yuan stated coldly.
"Lord Fang Yuan! We do not wish to waste your time," one clansman said quickly. "We simply wanted to inquire about Lady Ling Ding Ching. She was our foremost genius, and we were worried something had happened to her."
"Oh, her? No, she is still within Shang Clan City," Fang Yuan replied. "She will certainly come back to this village... as for when, that is entirely on her."
His words brought a visible wave of relief to the group, so they took their leave.
Fang Yuan could only laugh coldly at how much they trusted Bai Ning Bing.
For her part, Bai Ning Bing likely didn't care in the slightest for her fellow clansmen and really would see no reason to return. She would probably prefer staying in Shang Clan City. Still, she remained the strongest pillar of their community - something for them to rally behind, and they were concerned for her for that reason alone if nothing else.
'Speaking of Bai Ning Bing though, I need to go find her in Shang Clan City,' Fang Yuan thought. 'Perhaps the secret of the Dollhouse's Inheritance will be easier to unravel if I happen to have her...'
With these matters settled, Fang Yuan left New Gu Yue Village and set off toward Shang Clan City. Before that he wanted to check on the progress of the Pill Path and introduce a few new developments along the way.
"Good to see you here, Lord Fang Yuan," one of the Mushroomman village leaders greeted him as Fang Yuan descended from the sky.
'These people truly have no sense of danger,' Fang Yuan mused. Word of his existence had spread throughout the Blessed Land. Even when the inhabitants weren't certain it was him flying above, they would cheer and wave whenever they saw him flying overhead, overjoyed by his presence and return.
It would be so easy to slaughter all of them...
"I wanted to see how the development of the Pill Path is proceeding," Fang Yuan said.
After a brief conversation, it became clear that things were not moving in the direction he desired. The Mushroommen had concentrated most of their efforts on refining more Little Blue Pill Gu, which now accounted for nearly 80% of their total output regarding Pill Path gu worms.
"We are quite thankful to the Lord Immortal," the village leader said. "Thanks to these Little Blue Pill Gu Worms, there are quite a lot of 'happy times' going around the village hehe..."
Fang Yuan frowned. While this wasn't the technical progress he wanted, he hadn't come just to observe. "There are ingredients I need you to find. Go fetch them for me."
The Mushroommen complied, and Fang Yuan began refining several types of pills to demonstrate a few new developments he had thought of.
These were based on his deep understanding of Emotion Path. He made various Pill Path gu worms with ingredients and in varying colors, all of them having effects on one's emotions. They were in various colors and varied in rank from Rank 3 to Rank 4.
For example, he produced a tiny green pill that caused the consumer to become extraordinarily depressed.
"But why would anyone want to make such a thing?" the village leader asked when Fang Yuan explained their utility to him.
"For research purposes," Fang Yuan answered. He had derived these Depression Pill Gu by studying the Depression Millipedes. "But there are those for other emotions..."
"This is wondrous, Lord Immortal," the village leader said, holding a Happy Pill Gu. "However, I think your 'little blue pills' still make us happier than these."
Fang Yuan could only sigh and leave to work on the finalized version of what he was working.
Fang Yuan spent the next 18 hours within the Mushroomman Blessed Land putting his knowledge into practice. By the end, he had brewed a pot of tea that he deemed to be up to standard.
After a short rest, Fang Yuan flew toward Shang Clan City.
He needed to make contact with the Shang Clan, but as a Gu Immortal, he could no longer simply walk through the gates and into the city like he could before. He reached out to Shang Qing Qing via Treasure Yellow Heaven, inviting her to share a cup of tea. Though surprised to be hearing from him, she agreed to meet at the boundary of Shang Clan City.
Shang Qing Qing's surprise stemmed from the fact that she had only recently observed Fang Yuan when he had been only Rank 5. She had seen his fight against Liu Nan in the grand arena arranged for by Shang Xin Ci.
At the time, she wrote him off as someone who might become a "big shot" among the Rank 5 Gu Masters of the Southern Border in a decade or two.
She never imagined he would ascend to Rank 6 so quickly!
As far as she knew, he was a lone cultivator from a small, insignificant clan. She herself had only reached the status of Immortal with the full backing of the Shang Clan; for Fang Yuan to do it alone suggested he had stumbled upon a massive inheritance or had some other power backing him.
With that said, she was extremely curious as to what was going on with Fang Yuan, and so agreed to the meeting.
The two met atop the clouds over a peaceful prairie where sheep grazed below. Shang Clan City was visible from this altitude, appearing almost as small as Gu Yue Village.
Fang Yuan had never met with Shang Qing Qing back in his old life, but information had its way of moving around the Immortal world.
Shang Qing Qing was the one who had supported Shang Xin Ci when she finally became the head of the Shang Clan. Other than that though, all he really knew was that she was one of the lower-ranking Supreme Elders of the Shang Clan. She had no significant achievements, as per his past life's knowledge.
She wore a simple yellow robe and had tied up her hair in a bun with a flower. She was certainly over a hundred years old, but still had a youthful appearance.
"Well met, Lady Shang Qing Qing," Fang Yuan said, cupping his hands.
"Well met, Junior Brother Fang Yuan. My, it really is you," she replied. She recognized his appearance, though she now viewed him through a different lens given his rapid surge in strength.
"Thank you for taking time out and joining me," Fang Yuan said, pouring a cup of tea out for her.
"The pleasure is mine, Junior Brother Fang Yuan. I saw your fight in Shang Clan City. Even though you lost, you put up a brave front. I'm sure the people of Shang Clan City still talk about it and will for decades," she said. There was a bit of condescension hidden there - in the sense that she was saying 'the mortal world will remember your achievements, but now you're in the Immortal Realm! You may have been at the peak of the mortal world earlier but those things don't count for anything now, and you're back at the bottom of the rung of the hierarchy!'