'When will this end?' Fang Yuan ground his teeth inwardly, his face still a perfect mask, as he helped Shang Guai Li when it came to the tea ceremony.
"What about this? Do you think that this can be perfected further?" the man asked.
Fang Yuan glanced at it. He had some experience as an Immortal when it came to tea ceremonies, but this was limited. In the future, after all, during the Chaotic Era, there was very little time for tea ceremonies, given how much people were busy fighting with each other.
Still, he had learned quickly, and some of his ideas did, as a matter of fact, help with the tea ceremony. With that said, though, this was only a minor fraction of a help - nothing that would give any major benefit to Shang Guai Li when it came to this feud with the Tie Clan and tea ceremonies.
As far as Fang Yuan could tell, the whole thing was extra pointless as this wasn't even a feud between clans just between Shang Guai Li and another Tie Supreme Elder who was far too invested in tea ceremonies.
Shang Guai Li was thought of as wise and confident, but he kept changing his mind, asking Fang Yuan questions before answering them himself, and nothing ever was good enough even as they kept working. Given how much the man's thoughts were in disarray he could only wonder whether or not a Wisdom Path move had been used upon him.
The cherry on top of the icing was that Fang Yuan was forced to waste even more time attending the tea ceremony himself, Shang Guai Li refusing to dismiss him just in case he happened to be useful at one point. "You never know when you could use an extra set of hands."
Fang Yuan was not useful at any point.
He left as quickly as he could, Shang Qing Qing then caught up to him.
"Thank you for helping out, Fang Yuan. Now, regarding your first earthly calamity - since you've helped out, I think I can help you with it... at a discount even," she said, batting her eyelashes, as if she was doing Fang Yuan a great favor and hadn't just wasted a great deal of his time.
Of course, there was no way that Fang Yuan was going to take her help. He couldn't let anyone within his aperture, or else they would figure out his secret.
"No, thank you. I think I can handle it on my own. But I will remember Senior Sister's words in the future," Fang Yuan replied.
"Is that so?" Shang Qing Qing asked. "Well, if you don't happen to have the money, I can help you out anyway. I'm feeling generous today. Just pay me back later. I won't even ask for interest so long as you repay me in three month's time."
She figured that Fang Yuan simply didn't have the money to pay her, even if she did give him a discount, for helping him deal with his earthly calamity. He was just a poor, lone Rank 6 cultivator after all.
"No, truly, it's fine," Fang Yuan said, shaking his head. "I'd prefer - like you said, the first earthly calamity isn't that dangerous. I'd prefer to save any money I have for some later time."
Shang Qing Qing pressured him a little bit more, but then soon gave up, saying, "All right then. Thank you for your help, Fang Yuan. The Shang Clan will certainly remember what you've done for us."
"All right then," Fang Yuan said, inwardly grinding his teeth even as he gave her a bright smile, cursing his own luck. He had been delayed quite a bit because of this.
Speaking of luck, he had used Rank 5 Weighing Luck Gu on her. Much as he had expected, Shang Qing Qing's luck was greater than his own. He could only frown inwardly. He had gotten several bonuses from the Goody Two-Shoes System that were meant to bolster his luck. And yet compared to other Rank 6 Immortals, his luck was on the lower end. Forget about people like Shang Guai Li who was Rank 7 and too strong for Weighing Luck Gu to work on it.
For that matter, the strain was beginning to show on Weighing Luck Gu just using it on Shang Qing Qing, and Fang Yuan had to quickly abandon the effort else it would've detonated.
Still, interestingly enough, Shang Xin Ci's luck was far stronger than Shang Qing Qing's. Fang Yuan still had the kernel of an idea to try and exploit her luck, but it would have to work.
He made his way posthaste to the regional wall.
The Gu World consisted of five major regions: the Northern Plains, the Southern Border, the Central Continent, the Western Desert, and the Eastern Sea. It was not a spherical, round world like Earth was, but rather it was more like a giant flat plain surrounded by the regional walls with the two Heavens above.
If one went extremely far south of the Southern Border, they would not suddenly appear in the Northern Plains, for example. In order to get to the Northern Plains, they would have to either go through one of the other three intervening regions first and then into the Northern Plains.
Fang Yuan, though, didn't want to go that far and simply wanted to go to the Western Desert, and he appeared near its wall quickly enough.
The wall started from the base of the ground and went up towards the Heavens, but did not completely encroach upon the Heavens. If Fang Yuan was stronger, at Rank 8, he might be able to travel through Black Heaven or White Heaven and completely avoid these walls in their entirety.
The regional wall around the Southern Border was called the Miasma Regional Wall, it was a deep purple in color. The regional wall around the Western Desert was called the Raging Flame Regional Wall and was a deep shade of red. The Saint Regional Wall surrounded the Central Continent and was white-golden. The Blue Water Regional Wall was a deep shade of blue around the Eastern Sea. Fang Yuan could to to any of those areas from the Southern Border, but the green Licorice Regional Wall around the Northern Plains would involve traversing one of the other three regions first.
In the future, these boundary walls would eventually break down completely, allowing free travel between all five regions. This would lead to a Chaotic Era in which each region could invade the other. At least, theoretically that was true. In reality the fighting was mainly one-sided; the Central Continent invading all other regions. Only the Northern Plains had the fortitude to invade them back.
Right now, the regional walls' existence meant that it was hard for a Gu Master from one region to travel to another. This greatly limited the ability of one region to wage war with the other. For mortal Gu Masters who were Rank 5 and below, their cultivation would be suppressed by one major rank whenever they passed from one region to the other. And if they were at Rank 1, they would simply be suppressed to Rank 1 Initial Stage. Their gu worms likewise would also be suppressed by a single rank.
A Gu Master could adapt to a new region; however, their Gu worms would continue to be suppressed by one rank. That was suppression when it came to mortals. But immortals had their own suppression as well.
For one, while passing through the regional walls, it would damage their apertures. The stronger they were, the greater the damage, with this being one of the few points where Rank 6 immortals had an advantage over Rank 7 and Rank 8. Of course, if one was Rank 9, they would be invincible, able to pass through the regional walls without any issue whatsoever.
There was a second aspect which prevented immortals from crossing from one end to the other for long periods of time: that their apertures needed to absorb the Heaven and Earth Qi from whatever region they had ascended in from time to time. Fang Yuan, as an example, needed to absorb the Heaven and Earth Qi of the Southern Border from time to time. He had just done so before setting out; meaning that he could remain in the Western Desert for some time before he had to place his aperture down in the Southern Border once again.