On Bei Gu Mountain, a couple sat overlooking the bony perimeter of New Gu Yue Village.
The man in question had long black hair and deep black eyes. His name was Fang Zheng, and he was gazing longingly over the village he was presiding over. Ever since Fang Yuan had left, things had stabilized. Although people were still scared that the emotional fog might reappear - which had definitely caused a few... incidents - things had mostly calmed down. The other clans made no antagonistic moves against him, and internally within Gu Yue Village, there was no one other than Bai Ning Bing who was able to contend with him and she was long gone so there were no issues on that front.
As for living on the mountain itself, it took some getting used to but eventually people adapted. Certain people who were lactose intolerant had died out, and people were becoming accustomed to this new life. In fact, Fang Zheng felt that if they suddenly decided to go back to Qing Mao Mountain after discovering a new primeval spring there, most people would find that change back to their old way of life unacceptable.
The village was lit by small gu worms that let out a pale white light, reflecting off the bones scattered everywhere. In a way, it was quite picturesque. As Fang Zheng glanced at the girl sleeping on his shoulder, he couldn't help but feel that the gentle light illuminated her features to make her look even better than the scenery before him.
The girl in question was Gu Yue Yao Le.
Fang Zheng had initially assumed that Gu Yue Yao Le was simply trying to get close to him because of his position.
"Lord Clan Leader, do you happen to need help with anything?"
"Lord Clan Leader, I managed to find a way to solve lactose intolerance!"
"Look, Lord Clan Leader, see? I've managed to create a new Rank 2 healing Bone Path gu worm!"
Despite Fang Zheng giving her the cold shoulder more often than not, Gu Yue Yao Le was persistent. When pressed about this once, she simply said, "Lord Clan Leader, I'm not sure if I should say this openly, but you seem... strangely alone and distant, and I just wanted to make sure that you were all right."
Fang Zheng did feel alone and distant. Most of his friends and the people he knew were dead. Fang Yuan was off somewhere several tens of thousands of miles away for all he knew. As for his feud with Qing Shu, it was no longer a hostile relationship; they could get along, but it was more of a collegial relationship than anything.
Once more, he felt how cold it was at the top.
Was this how the old clan leader had felt? Was this all his life was leading up to? He had thought that being clan head would finally give him purpose, and it did in a small way. Everyone looked up to him with respect, but that respect came with expectations - expectations that Fang Zheng felt deep down he was certainly not going to be able to live up to.
How could he possibly compare to someone like Fang Yuan?
Even when comparing himself to Qing Shu, other than cultivation level, Fang Zheng felt like he didn't really have anything over the man. Even glancing down at Gu Yue Yao Le, who had dozed off sitting next to him, he had to admire her talent.
She had managed to create two new healing Bone Path gu worms from their resources. And what had he done? He managed the affairs of the village and tried to improve his Strength Path capabilities, but that was all.
Yet despite that, no one seemed to blame him. Everyone still looked toward him with respect. Fang Zheng internally found this sort of admiration difficult to digest. A part of him told him that some of them must definitely be laughing behind his back or poking fun at him when he wasn't listening, but at the same time reality told him that couldn't be the case.
Looking at Gu Yue Yao Le, he felt that some of the admiration might actually be genuine.
'She does look quite cute,' Fang Zheng thought, glancing down at her.
The two of them hadn't planned for a rendezvous here; he had simply found her collecting bone path resources late in the evening, and they had started talking. Then one thing led to another, and she had dozed off next to him.
'She works too hard,' Fang Zheng thought, stifling a yawn.
Seeing her face made him think of the present he had gotten her a while back.
It was something he had bought on the fly from a wandering merchant in a neighboring village: a stuffed animal of sorts though it didn't entirely resemble an actual animal, being greatly anthropomorphized with a red ribbon tied around its neck.
The man in question called it a 'teddy bear'. "All the young girls love it," the man told Fang Zheng.
Fang Zheng thought it looked cute and had considered giving it to her, but he had never found the right opportunity.
"Mmm..." Yao Le said, shivering slightly. Fang Zheng placed his coat around her.
"Sorry, is it a bit too cold?" Fang Zheng asked softly.
Yao Le gently opened her eyes, seeming slightly confused, before noticing that she was lying down on Fang Zheng's arm. "Ah! Lord Clan Leader, I-"
"How many times do I have to tell you that you can just call me Fang Zheng?" Fang Zheng said, shaking his head. The happiness from being called 'Lord Clan Leader' had faded after about two days on the job, and quite frankly, he was fine if people just called him by his ordinary name.
"No, I couldn't," she said.
Yao Le was still at Rank 2. Perhaps if she were an elder herself, she would have felt a bit more comfortable speaking to Fang Zheng on casual terms, but right now, she couldn't imagine what people would think if she addressed him so informally. "If the elders see me call you that, they may end up losing all respect for you. Or even worse, they may think that I'm some sort of insolent villager!" she said.
"Well, there's no one around right now," Fang Zheng noted.
"Oh, right," Yao Le murmured, glancing around before looking back at Fang Zheng. The two of them were still close - so very close to each other. "The village does look quite pretty right now, doesn't it, Lord Clan Leader?" she asked, trying to find a topic of conversation.
"Indeed," Fang Zheng said, not looking away from her face. "Though not quite as lovely as you."
Yao Le's eyes widened slightly at what he said, though she didn't deny it.
Fang Zheng gazed at her soft eyes and her full, gentle face as it seemed to sparkle while observing him in turn.
The two of them leaned closer; there was a magic in the moment that neither of them could explain, their lips about to touch...
But right at that moment...
"Fang Zheng! There you are!"
Both of them yelped and drew away from each other at the sound of the crisp, loud voice. They had thought they were alone away from the peering eyes of the village which is why they had gotten comfortable in the first place, yet they were clearly not as alone as they thought.
"Look up," the voice instructed.
Both of them looked up to see a man floating several feet above them - a man with long black hair whose features strongly resembled Fang Zheng's.
"Brother! You're here!" Fang Zheng said, immediately pulling away from Yao Le and forgetting what he had been about to do.
"Ah! Supreme Elder!" Yao Le said, kowtowing immediately, her forehead brushing against the soil.
"Relax, both of you," Fang Yuan said. "I've come back from a rather long journey, but there are important clan matters to go over. Fang Zheng, fetch Qing Shu tomorrow and meet me in the clan head's pavilion. I'll be going to my usual room."
Although Fang Zheng was technically the clan head and the pavilion belonged to him, Fang Yuan was the clan's Supreme Elder. Naturally he had a room maintained for himself within the clan head's pavilion at all times.
Being Supreme Elder, he could depose the clan head at any moment he wished. Even if Fang Yuan never stayed in that room, no one would dare leave it uncleaned.
"As you wish, Brother," Fang Zheng said.
As Fang Yuan flew off toward the pavilion, Fang Zheng glanced toward Yao Le. But the moment was already broken, and the two of them simply looked at each other awkwardly.
"Ah... Lord Clan Head, I, um... have your coat," she stammered.
"Yes, I gave it to you because I thought you would be cold," Fang Zheng said.
"Well, thank you very much," she whispered.
It was hard to tell in the low light, but Fang Zheng thought her face was as red as a tomato as she rushed off toward the medicine hall. Fang Zheng, however, quickly forgot about his romantic worries and instead thought about what Fang Yuan wanted from the two of them.