"Pill Path? I did not know you were skilled in that as well. It seems that Junior Brother Fang Yuan has a myriad collection of talents," Shang Qing Qing mused.
"Hardly," Fang Yuan waved it off. "I merely found a few recipes and decided to add it to the tea as a flavoring agent."
With that said, it wouldn't be a problem even if Shang Qing Qing thought that he had access to some kind of Pill Path methods. It would only make it easier for him to catch the Shang Clan's attention.
Fang Yuan's goal was simple: to ingratiate himself with the Shang Clan Immortals. Whether that was by establishing his skill in making elegant teas (something that the larger Super Forces were without a doubt curious about) or because of some supposed Pill Path methods, it made little difference.
There was a good reason that he had to put up such an effort in order to become 'friends' with the Shang Clan.
To enact his future plans, he needed to leave the Southern Border and wander the Western Desert. And to do that safely, he needed the protection of a Super Force.
The Great Paradise Alliance would simply not do for such a purpose - humans ruled the world, and variant humans could only hide in the corners or become their vassals.
As for venturing out to the Western Desert on his own and relying on his own strength - that was what Fang Yuan would've preferred to do, but he could not do so right now.
Despite his growth, Fang Yuan was currently in a vulnerable position when it came to his combat power:
The Human Path, which he was currently developing, lacked established offensive killer moves. He currently had over 12,000 Human Path dao marks on his body, and though the path had great potential he had not managed to weaponize it in any meaningful way as of yet. Right now the best thing that it was useful for was support and healing and not direct combat.
Emotion Path was similarly a supplementary path used for inference and subterfuge, not direct killing.
The sad part was that despite his access to greater resources, despite having multiple Immortal gu worms, and having greater attainment levels in various paths, Fang Yuan was actually weaker than he had been during his past life if it came to actual fighting.
That was because the Fang Yuan of his previous life had a large amount of Blood Path dao marks inscribed upon his body.
Each path had its own strengths and weaknesses. The Emotion Path had already displayed its strength right now, but he couldn't fight other people by brewing tea for them!
In his previous life, he had twice fought with Rank 7 Gu Immortals and was able to fend them off. There were contributory factors to his success, but that was a show of how good the Blood Path was at fighting.
His main weakness at the time was a lack of a Blood Path Immortal Gu, something that he lacked to this day. If he had a Blood Path Immortal Gu the numerous mortal killer moves he had developed could easily be escalated to Immortal killer moves - he would have very little to fear in an open fight if that could be the case.
But it wasn't.
Although the Emotion Path was the one he had the highest attainment in, he did not intend to make it his primary cultivation path. That meant that he could not rely upon dao mark amplification.
Additionally, he did not have an Emotion Path Immortal Gu either, limiting what he could do with Emotion Path methods.
Lastly, even as a Great Grandmaster in the Emotion Path, he still needed more time to develop a comprehensive set of killer moves. Even if he was just a Grandmaster of the Blood Path he had over two centuries to build upon it. On the other hand he had only been an Emotion Path Great Grandmaster for a few weeks. It was much the same with the Human Path as well in which he was a quasi-Great Grandmaster.
He had made great strides thanks to the higher attainment level he had in these domains, but still needed more time to make a comprehensive battle system. With a minor boost to his Wisdom Path attainment he was in general better at this as well, but he still needed time.
Adding to all of these difficulties was the fact that he could not use his Blood Path methods openly as he could back during his first life.
'I would be forced to flee if faced with my previous self,' Fang Yuan thought. That was still something he could do - fleeing was easy as a Gu Immortal so long as there wasn't a large difference in ranks. 'But even given my larger aperture, my higher accumulation of dao marks, and my Immortal Gu, to think I still cannot compare with my old self if it came to a fight...'
Fang Yuan was no stranger to relying on subterfuge and leeching off of someone else's strength if that was what was needed, but he had an extremely demonic nature. If given the choice he would always prefer to rely on his own strength rather than others.
The ideal thing would be to spend some time to form a comprehensive battle system that he could use and then go to the Western Desert on his own terms.
The problem was time.
The Three King's Inheritance would open up in less than eighteen months, and Fang Yuan also had his upcoming Earthly Calamities to deal with. Already, he could sense that the first one was looming closer and closer.
He needed to find these Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable's Inheritances before then and couldn't afford to dilly-dally.
Even though he had ascended to the rank of an Immortal, he felt the same pressure that was upon him when he had just regressed and was a fifteen year old mortal in the Gu Yue Clan. Back then he had been reliant upon the clan's structure for protection, and he was essentially back to square one in that regard now.
The best way of moving forward into the Western Desert was through the influence of the Shang Clan.
"Still, this tea truly was wonderful," Shang Qing Qing said. Although she hated to admit it, she had underestimated Fang Yuan's ability when it came to the field. "Though now that I've parched my thirst, I think that there is more to this meeting than simply drinking tea together?"
Shang Qing Qing was coming to the meat of the matter. Naturally, Fang Yuan was not handing her this tea for nothing.
She had already had a frame of thought in her head as to what was going on, which was why it was easy for Fang Yuan to fit into that mold and lead her as he wanted her to think.
That was the way of the Wisdom and the Emotion Path, and also a tactic which he had developed over the centuries anyway.
Shang Qing Qing did not know much of Fang Yuan as he was not a figure who was of much interest to her, but she could assume that he didn't have that strong of a backing if he was running to the Shang Clan and didn't mention any higher benefactor.
Most Rank 6 Gu Immortals struggled greatly with resources - she herself knew what the pain of that was like. The impending tribulations and calamities that were likely to kill them were more than enough for most Rank 6's blood to run cold. Who wouldn't want to have someone to rely upon in such a scenario?
So Fang Yuan had chosen to scrimp up the best mortal materials he had to make this tea and endear himself to her, so that he could join up with the Shang Clan and have an easier time gaining access to resources.