News of Fang Yuan's return spread through Shang Clan City like wildfire. The moment that the guards had seen him a message had been quickly conveyed to Shang Yan Fei.
Shang Yan Fei accepted this message, but inwardly sighed. There was no shock or surprise on his features when he received word of it.
That was because Shang Yan Fei was one of the few people within Shang Clan City who knew the truth about Fang Yuan, at least, among those in the mortal world.
Shang Yan Fei knew that Fang Yuan was actually Rank 6!
'To think that he would manage to get to Rank 6 before me,' Shang Yan Fei thought while pacing around the inner chambers of his main office building. It was extremely spartan just like everything else in the Shang Clan's innermost city. There was barely any furniture for him to run into as he wandered around. 'I had so many plans to make use of him. And yet, this carp has leapt over the waterfall to become a mighty dragon! Now, I cannot risk offending him. How did he do this though? Who asked him to cultivate Immortality!?'
There was no one else in the room with him as he thought this. His face which was normally flat like a mask now showed his true emotions, a rare occurrence.
Shang Yan Fei took a few deep breaths before calming himself down.
There was a reason that the Supreme Elders had told him that Fang Yuan was an Immortal now. That was not because they highly valued Shang Yan Fei's opinion and felt that it was needed to keep him in the loop. It was because they didn't want Shang Yan Fei to accidentally provoke Fang Yuan and cause massive damage to the city.
And so long as Shang Yan Fei knew the truth, he would allow no one beneath him on the hierarchy to bother Fang Yuan. Most people wouldn't dare to someone who was Rank 5 Peak Stage anyway. But Shang Yan Fei was not 'most people.'
'The issue is Shang Xin Ci...' he thought to himself.
Shang Yan Fei loved his daughter but that was not enough to blind him. And anyone with eyes could see how much Shang Xi Ci loved Fang Yuan. The girl seemed to hang onto his every word like it was dipped in gold and his presence like a fragrant feast. Her desire to have him as her tutor stemmed from this. He, feeling sorry for her, had approached Fang Yuan and was even mildly surprised when Fang Yuan had agreed. Shang Yan Fei had no way to force Fang Yuan's hand and had expected a 'no' to this request, though much like Bai Ning Bing was at the time he too was quite surprised when Fang Yuan agreed.
Any Rank 5 Gu Master should've had far better things to do than teach a greenhorn. Even Shang Yan Fei wouldn't waste too much time guiding Shang Xin Ci, though he would hire tutors for that matter. And yet Fang Yuan had accepted the role almost immediately.
Despite this, it didn't seem that Fang Yuan was interested in Shang Xin Ci in the slightest when it came to romance. So what he gained out of teaching Shang Xin Ci, and later on helping her become a Young Master, was something he didn't fully grasp.
The natural thought was that Fang Yuan wanted to cozy up to him, but were that the case marrying Shang Xin Ci or outright accepting the role of External Elder when offered was the right thing to do. And yet Fang Yuan did neither of those things.
Despite Fang Yuan not reciprocating her feelings, Shang Xin Ci only seemed to grow fonder of him as time went on.
Shang Yan Fei didn't know how it was that Fang Yuan had cast such a spell upon her in such a short time. The first moment they met - when he had saved her and her caravan from destruction must've imprinted itself deeply into her heart. She had nearly fallen in love with him at first sight - something that strangely enough, reminded himself of his younger days...
It was because of this that he couldn't exactly fault Shang Xin Ci for her feelings. At the same time though, he had never let his own romantic feelings overcome him. That was why he had abandoned her mother in the first place, after all.
If Fang Yuan had allowed himself to become part of the Shang Clan's apparatus, he would've even blessed their marriage.
Now though, this prospect chilled him to the bone.
Fang Yuan could not longer be bound by the Shang Clan's hierarchy. Certainly not by someone like him. That meant that he could not protect Shang Xin Ci against Fang Yuan if he chose to act against her.
At first, when he had heard that Fang Yuan had disappeared from Shang Clan City without a trace, he had simply been slightly perplexed. He had reassured teary-eyed Shang Xin Ci that he would try to find him. After all, the Shang Clan had eyes and ears everywhere. Even if Fang Yuan had died, if there was a living soul who knew of the fact, he could find it out.
And yet, he had ended up empty-handed despite this spy network.
Shang Xin Ci had even requested a Flash of Inspiration Gu in order to find some clue on Fang Yuan's whereabouts, but that had led nowhere as well.
He understood why it had failed now though. How could he possibly have tracked an Immortal?
Shang Yan Fei wanted nothing more than to forbid Shang Xin Ci from seeing Fang Yuan again. It was for the girl's own good. While Fang Yuan had mostly shown himself as a righteous gentleman, Shang Yan Fei felt uneasy whenever he thought of his daughter with him. You could call it a father's intuition, but he felt that Shang Xin Ci's love for Fang Yuan could only end in ruin.
But he couldn't say so outright. No, he knew how the human heart worked. There was little it wanted more than what it could not have. If he were to forbid her from seeing Fang Yuan again, it would only drive her further into his arms. She had only just barely begun to see him as her true father - such an act would burn away any trust that he had managed to build with her.
'The best thing to do is simply hope that Fang Yuan chooses not to take advantage of this situation. There isn't much that Shang Xin Ci nor myself can offer him now - neither of us are Immortals. The people he would be trying to flatter are so far above us that I cannot even imagine,' he considered, his heart calming down now.
Yes, so long as he didn't do anything - things should've turned out fine.
Yet, that was far removed from how he did things. To sit around passively went against his nature.
Not to mention there were still two big questions he had. For one, how had Fang Yuan left Shang Clan City without him knowing? It was not impossible to do so - new smuggling routes were discovered all the time (Shang Yan Fei turned a blind eye to a few of them himself), but that was for someone who was ordinary. Fang Yuan had eyes upon him all the time and was quite famous. If not in the city, he would've been spotted somewhere else. Nor had he made any purchases of powerful gu worms that would betray any plan of escaping. The most important thing though was that Fang Yuan was hardly someone who was imprisoned in the city and could've walked out nearly anytime. He had gone back to Qing Mao Mountain several times before, but had always told them about his plans to leave. Why had he left in secret this time?
The second was his immortal ascension in the first place. Shang Yan Fei was sure that Fang Yuan had some trick else how would he have succeeded without a backer? There must've been some inheritance - an inheritance of an Immortal, no less, which had aided Fang Yuan. Shang Yan Fei's mouth watered at the prospect of obtaining something like that. After all, he was the king of the mortal world, but that little better than being a flea on a dog's back to an Immortal.
'If I could obtain that method somehow... but...' his mind trailed off, realizing he had nothing to bargain with.
Still, that didn't mean that he couldn't act and do something. He called out for Wei Yang to visit him immediately.