Following the saved Chapter 23 framework and the added reason for Fang Ming breaking away from his team.
Chapter 23: A Worthless Genius
Several months passed after Fang Ming copied the Red Steel Relic Gu.
During this period, many things happened in Gu Yue Village.
The first commotion came from Fang Yuan.
Not long after the caravan left, news spread that Fang Yuan had advanced to Rank 2 middle stage. Soon after, another rumor followed. Fang Yuan had sold part of his inheritance assets to buy the Red Steel Relic Gu.
For a time, many clansmen discussed him.
Some said Fang Yuan was decisive.
Some said he was short-sighted.
More people laughed at him, calling him a wastrel who sold the chicken that laid eggs just to eat 1 meal of meat.
To ordinary clansmen, inheritance assets meant long-term benefits. Selling them to buy a consumable Gu seemed foolish. A Red Steel Relic Gu could raise cultivation by 1 small realm, but once used, it was gone. In contrast, family assets could continue producing primeval stones.
But Fang Ming knew Fang Yuan's choice was not foolish.
Cultivation was the foundation of a Gu Master. In the coming wolf tide, a small realm could decide life and death. Fang Yuan had never been someone who failed to understand value. If he sold something, it meant he judged the result worth the price.
Yet before long, the rumors about Fang Yuan were overwhelmed by new rumors.
This time, the topic was Fang Ming.
After Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan both advanced to Rank 2 middle stage, Fang Ming seemed to have fallen behind.
An A-grade talent being surpassed by Fang Zheng was still understandable. Fang Zheng was also A-grade and had the clan leader's attention. But Fang Yuan was different.
Fang Yuan was only C-grade.
To many people, this was enough to wound Fang Ming's pride.
Soon, Fang Ming's behavior changed.
In the past, he had been arrogant, but his arrogance was restrained. He spoke little, acted sharply, and rarely wasted words. Now, however, his temper seemed to worsen day by day. His patience thinned, his words became harsher, and his pride appeared to twist into jealousy.
The first farce happened in the mission hall.
That day, Fang Ming's team had just returned from another mission. The mission was completed, but the journey had been long, and the team had consumed a great deal of energy.
In the mission hall, Fang Ming looked at the new mission record being discussed, and his expression sank.
"Again?" Fang Ming said. "We just returned, and you are already thinking of accepting another mission?"
The team leader glanced at him. "The clan has mission requirements. A team that does not take missions has no value."
Fang Ming laughed coldly. "Mission requirements? Or is this just your habit of dragging the whole team around like hired laborers?"
The team leader's face darkened. "Fang Ming, watch your tone."
"My tone?" Fang Ming looked at him with open disdain. "You keep choosing long, exhausting missions, leaving me no time to cultivate, and now you want me to watch my tone?"
Nearby Gu Masters began turning their heads.
The team leader suppressed his anger and said, "Everyone in the team needs to cultivates. Why are you the only one complaining?"
"Because I am different from you."
The team members expressions changed.
Fang Ming continued, "You are useless and talent less there isn't much to expect from you anyway, you guys can delay as much as you want, in your whole life you wont amount to much anyway, but I am different my time is precious."
The team leader sneered. "What, because you are A-grade?"
Fang Ming looked at him as if the answer was obvious. "So You know."
The team leader's anger finally rose. "You really think too highly of yourself. Fang Zheng is also A-grade, yet he does not blame others for his progress. Fang Yuan is only C-grade, and even he reached Rank 2 middle stage. You fell behind and now you want to blame the team?"
The mission hall quieted slightly.
Fang Ming's eyes turned cold.
The team leader did not stop. "What? Did I say something wrong? If others are better than you, then admit it. Do not act like the whole world delayed you."
Fang Ming stepped closer.
The team leader looked at him without retreating. "What, can't accept the truth? Fine. Go ahead. But no matter how much you deny it and blame others, both Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan are still ahead of you."
Fang Ming looked at him with disdain and said, "You speak very smoothly for someone who only reached Rank 2 upper stage after turning 30."
"Fang Ming!" the team leader shouted.
"Tell me," Fang Ming said, his tone growing even more disdainful, "you spent a whole 15 years cultivating just to reach this stage. What use does the clan even have for someone like you? Utter garbage. A talentless scum like you, whether you cultivate or run around for a few more years, the result is the same. You are a worthless, talentless fool who will spend the next 20 years trying to break through to Rank 2 peak stage, and that is all you will ever amount to."
The team leader clenched his fists in fury.
Fang Ming did not give him room to respond.
"You are a worthless nobody whose time has no value. How dare you judge the value of my time by your standards? What makes you think you are qualified to delay an A-grade talent like me by making me run around doing your worthless, endless bidding? How dare you?"
The team leader's voice became heavy. "Enough."
Fang Ming leaned slightly forward. "Not enough. Your crime is not being mediocre. Your crime is delaying me, the hope of the clan."
The team leader's expression twisted.
"You arrogant brat. Without the team, what are you? Without the team protecting you, how many times would you have died outside already?"
Fang Ming laughed. "Protecting me? The likes of you? Know your place, scum."
That laugh was more insulting than a curse.
The team leader could no longer endure it. He stepped forward and grabbed Fang Ming by the collar.
"Say that again."
The moment his hand touched Fang Ming's clothes, Fang Ming's eyes sharpened.
"How dare you."
Before the team leader could react, Fang Ming's fist struck his face.
The sound was heavy.
The team leader staggered back, but Fang Ming did not give him distance. He stepped in, grabbed him, and drove him into the ground.
The mission hall erupted.
"Fang Ming!"
"Stop!"
"Pull him away!"
Fang Ming pressed the team leader down and punched him again.
"You dare touch me?"
Another punch landed.
"A scum like you dares to touch me?"
The team leader struggled, but Fang Ming's strength was too great. His body had been strengthened by White Boar Strength Gu before, and his natural strength was already unusual. Even among Rank 2 Gu Masters, few expected this kind of brute force from him.
Fang Ming's fist fell again.
"Then stand up and teach me."
2 team members rushed forward and grabbed his arms. Fang Ming shook 1 off and drove an elbow into the other's chest, forcing him back.
A 3rd Gu Master tried to restrain his shoulder.
Fang Ming twisted and threw him aside.
The nearby Gu Masters finally understood that ordinary pulling would not work. More people rushed in.
It took nearly 7 Gu Masters to restrain Fang Ming and drag him away from the team leader.
By then, the team leader's face was swollen and bruised, his mouth bleeding, and his clothes had been torn during the struggle.
Fang Ming was still trying to move forward even while being held.
The team leader glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
Fang Ming looked back at him and smiled disdainfully.
"Next time, do not touch me unless I give you permission."
The mission hall was silent.
Everyone understood that this matter had become serious.
The matter spread through Gu Yue Village before nightfall.
Fang Ming had beaten his own team leader in the mission hall.
This was not a private fight in some alley, nor a small argument between academy students. It had happened in the mission hall, in front of many Gu Masters.
By the next morning, several Gu Masters were already discussing it near the mission hall.
"I heard his team leader's face was beaten really badly. It swelled up completely."
"That bad?"
"Worse. His mouth was bleeding, and his clothes were torn. If people had not pulled Fang Ming away, who knows how far he would have gone?"
"He actually dared to hit him in the mission hall? Does he have no regard for clan rules?"
"Fang Ming has always been arrogant, but not like this."
"That was before Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan both reached Rank 2 middle stage."
At the mention of Fang Yuan, the nearby Gu Masters exchanged glances.
A C-grade Gu Master reaching Rank 2 middle stage so quickly had already caused a commotion. Even if many people mocked Fang Yuan for selling his inheritance assets to buy Red Steel Relic Gu, cultivation was cultivation. He had indeed advanced.
Fang Ming, on the other hand, was still Rank 2 initial stage.
Someone laughed softly. "No wonder he went mad. Fang Zheng surpassing him was already too much for the arrogant Fang Ming to handle, but at least Fang Zheng is also A-grade and has the clan leader's attention. But Fang Yuan? A C-grade surpassing him must have damaged his ego so badly that he lost control and went completely berserk. Serves him right for always acting arrogantly and looking down on the rest of us."
"Talent is not everything after all."
"That is easy for you to say, but if that arrogant brat heard you, your face would end up like his team leader's."
Another Gu Master shook his head. "Still, beating his leader in public is too much. A team has rules. If every young genius acts like this after getting surpassed by his peers, how can missions still be carried out?"
"Surpassed by his peers?" someone sneered. "Their team has been taking missions one after another, nonstop like madmen. Maybe Fang Ming really had no time to cultivate."
"Even if that is true, does that mean he can beat his leader like that?"
"Who knows? Geniuses always have strange tempers."
"Genius?" A Rank 2 Gu Master nearby snorted. "A real genius should know restraint. If he cannot even endure this much, what use is A-grade aptitude?"
The group quieted briefly.
Then someone said, "I heard that when they pulled him away, Fang Ming still told the team leader that if he dared to touch him again, no one would be able to save him."
"That arrogant?"
"He has always been arrogant."
"No. This is different. Before, he looked down on people but kept to himself. Now he does not even bother hiding it, as if he wants the whole village to know."
The Gu Masters laughed.
But the laughter carried more mockery than amusement.
By noon, the story had already changed several times. Fang Ming had become jealous because Fang Yuan caught up, he could not accept Fang Zheng being valued more by the clan, and his team leader had deliberately provoked him; each version had its own listeners, and each listener added another detail before passing it on.
Others said Fang Ming had finally shown his true nature: an A-grade talent with no patience and no respect for rules.
Whatever the truth was, one thing was clear.
The name Fang Ming was once again being discussed in Gu Yue Village.
Only this time, the tone was no longer admiration, but mockery.
Fang Ming was punished with 2 weeks of confinement according to clan rules.
Inside the confinement room, he sat cross-legged and cultivated quietly.
The walls were plain, the food was poor, and movement was restricted, but to Fang Ming, this place was not unbearable. He was someone who enjoyed solitude, and while the environment was not desirable, he did not dwell on such details. Fang Ming always looked forward, and there were also some advantages to being confined.
He could cultivate without interruptions, and while he was here, he had no obligations or missions.
After leaving confinement, Fang Ming returned to his team.
Many clansmen thought the matter should end there. After all, he had already been punished. Even if his temper was bad, the clan would not discard an A-grade talent so easily, and they would likely address the situation quickly, helping to fix things between Fang Ming and his team.
But not long after, another incident occurred.
During a mission, Fang Ming suddenly spotted a lone wolf in the distance.
Without waiting for the team leader's order, he chased after it.
"Fang Ming!" the team leader shouted. "Come back!"
Fang Ming ignored him.
The team leader cursed under his breath and chased after him. The others could only follow. Letting Fang Ming run off alone was not an option, especially after everything that had already happened.
At first, the others only thought he was being reckless again. But after chasing the wolf for nearly half an hour, they realised something was wrong.
They had already left the original mission route.
The lone wolf fled into a narrow forested slope. The team followed, and moments later, wolf howls rose from multiple directions.
Dozens of wolves emerged around them.
The team leader's expression changed.
The lone wolf had baited them into an ambush.
"Formation!" the team leader shouted. "Gather together!"
On the other side of the encirclement, Fang Ming was already close to the edge.
A moonblade cut toward the weakest side of the encirclement. The moment the wolves scattered, Fang Ming rushed through the gap and left the others behind.
He had already detected the ambush earlier.
Blazing Eyes Gu had been copied again.
Its orange vision had revealed the heat of the wolves hiding in the forest before the team stepped fully into the trap.
Fang Ming had no intention of helping them. In fact, he planned to circle around later and return to collect the dead wolves for his Rank 2 Wolf Strength Gu.
Whether the team survived or died would depend on their own ability.
Behind him, the team was forced into a bitter fight. They had to resist dozens of wolves while trying to break out. Several members were injured, and if another team had not passed near the perimeter and intervened, the result would have been worse.
This time, Fang Ming was reported again.
Internal Affairs Hall summoned him.
Inside the interrogation room, Fang Ming stood with a cold expression.
The elder in charge looked at the report, then raised his head.
"Fang Ming, your team claims you abandoned the formation during the mission and left them surrounded by wolves. What do you have to say?"
Fang Ming laughed.
"Formation? They call that a formation?"
The elder frowned. "Answer the question."
Fang Ming did not lower his head. "If that mess can be called a formation, then any group of frightened chickens running in the same direction can also be called a formation."
The injured team members' expressions turned ugly. Fang Ming had always been arrogant, and even after his temper worsened, he had mostly targeted the team leader. But lately, he had become a complete madman, targeting every one of them.
The team leader's face flushed red from anger. "You still dare twist words? If you had not suddenly rushed after that wolf like a mad dog, would the team have left the route? We followed because we had to stop you!"
Fang Ming glanced at him and laughed coldly.
"Stop me? Why stop me? Mind your own business. Did I force you to come to my aid? Not only am I safe and sound, but your intervention ruined my plans. You scared the wolf into running away, causing me to chase it unnecessarily for so long, and then you still ended up suffering losses because you wanted to steal my hunt. Now you want to call it my fault?"
"Fang Ming! You are spouting nonsense!" the team leader shouted, his fists clenched. "You abandoned the formation and left us surrounded!"
"Formation?" Fang Ming's tone carried obvious disdain. "A few dozen wolves appeared and all of you panicked. If I stayed with you, I would have been dragged down by your incompetence."
"Enough!" the elder shouted.
The room quieted.
The elder's gaze became stern. "Fang Ming, this is Internal Affairs Hall. You are not here to insult your teammates."
Fang Ming looked at him and said, "Then why am I here? To listen to them push their incompetence onto me?"
The elder's eyes twitched from anger. "You are here to explain why you ignored team rules, left the route, acted without orders, and abandoned your team during the crisis."
Fang Ming's expression did not change.
"Team rules? Orders? Elder, those things are useful when the person giving orders has the ability. This team leader could not even detect an ambush by a few elderly and sickly wolves, nor could he judge when to retreat. Following his orders is just waiting to die."
The team leader slammed his fist against the table. "You bastard!"
Fang Ming turned toward him. "What? Did I say something wrong? You clearly walked into the trap blindly after already seeing me explore the path and expose the danger for you. I escaped it, yet you, who had already been made aware of the trap, somehow still ended up surrounded and unable to escape, while the one exploring the path made it out easily. How useless can you be?"
The elder's voice turned colder. "Fang Ming, watch your words."
Fang Ming looked back at him.
"Elder, I am already watching them."
His tone was calm, but there was no respect in it.
"If I were not watching my words, I would have asked why the clan placed an A-grade talent under such a mediocre team in the first place."
The room froze.
The elder's face sank.
The team members looked at Fang Ming as if he had gone mad.
Fang Ming continued, "I fell behind Fang Zheng and Fang Yuan because this team kept accepting missions one after another. No time to cultivate, no time to stabilize my aperture, always running around the mountain following their stupidity. And now that they messed up, I am still supposed to take the blame for them?"
The elder said slowly, "So you believe none of this is your fault?"
"Of course."
Fang Ming pointed at the team leader.
"He has flawed judgment."
Then he pointed at the others.
"They have no brains to think for themselves, blindly following this team leader as he led them to their deaths."
Then he added, "When wolves surrounded them, they could not break out cleanly. In fact, if not for the grace of the second team arriving to lift the siege, they most likely would have died. They would not even be standing here throwing out these brainless complaints. This only proves how correct my judgment was to abandon them there and survive. It is neither my fault that they are dumbasses, nor is it my fault that they are talentless weaklings. I did what anyone would have done in that situation: I took the only path to survival. And now Internal Affairs Hall wants me to explain? Explain what? Why I chose to survive?"
The elder stared at him for several breaths.
"Fang Ming, talent is not a shield for arrogance."
Fang Ming's gaze swept across the injured team members before he replied with disdain.
"Maybe. But lack of talent is also not an excuse for incompetence."
The elder slammed the table.
"Fang Ming!"
Fang Ming stopped speaking, but his expression showed no remorse whatsoever.
The elder's anger was no longer hidden. "You disrupted the mission, ignored orders, abandoned your team, and showed no regret after causing severe injuries to your teammates. Since you are so proud of your judgment, you can spend another 2 weeks in confinement reflecting on it."
Fang Ming cupped his fists lazily.
"If confinement means I do not have to run missions with these dumbasses for 2 weeks, then I thank elder for the arrangement."
The elder's face turned even darker.
"Take him away."
Fang Ming turned and left with the guards, his back straight and his expression calm.
Behind him, the team glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
Fang Ming did not look back.
During this second confinement, Fang Ming finally used the Red Steel Relic Gu he had copied from the caravan.
Inside his aperture, the faint red primeval sea was calm. Moonglow Gu, Jade Skin Gu, Step on Wind Gu, Wolf Strength Gu, Heavenly Essence Treasure Seed Lotus, Bookworm Gu, and Blazing Eyes Gu rested quietly in different areas.
The Red Steel Relic Gu rose above the primeval sea.
With a thought from Fang Ming, red light burst out from the Gu.
The glow spread through the aperture like a rising sun. It shone on the aperture wall, strengthening the foundation directly. The light membrane thickened at a visible speed, and the faint red primeval essence began to change.
The process continued quietly.
After the Red Steel Relic Gu exhausted its power, it disappeared.
A thread of denser scarlet primeval essence appeared in Fang Ming's sea.
Rank 2 middle stage.
Fang Ming opened his eyes.
His expression remained calm.
These teammates of his were really stubborn.
He had messed with them for so long, yet they still had not asked the mission hall to kick him out of the team. It seemed he would have to target the factions behind them instead.
Fang Ming closed his eyes again, a faint smile appearing on his face. His next role would be fun, and he would act it thoroughly.
When the news spread that Fang Ming had advanced to Rank 2 middle stage during confinement, the village stirred again.
Some people remembered his earlier complaint that frequent missions had delayed his cultivation. Now that he had broken through after being confined, those words seemed to gain some weight.
The elders quickly suppressed this discussion.
Fang Ming had already caused them enough headaches.
Some elders believed that after catching up to Fang Zheng, Fang Ming's ego would heal and he might finally calm down.
They were wrong.
Just a few days after leaving confinement and returning to missions with his team, Fang Ming came back from another mission and reported his team.
His accusation was simple.
The team had used movement Gu to leave him behind, causing him to have no choice but to return to the village alone.
When this report reached the team, they were furious.
From their perspective, the fact that they were still tolerating Fang Ming and had not reported him was already an act of grace on their part.
Fang Ming was the root of every problem.
During the mission, he had thrown moonblades at anything that moved: bears, wolves, snakes, and even harmless beasts that could have been avoided. Wolves were especially troublesome. Every time the team stopped to rest, Fang Ming would run around and bring a dozen wolves back to them. He had done this so many times over the past few missions that they were going mad. They had their own missions to complete, and hunting wolves was not part of them, yet Fang Ming kept attacking wolves and agitating them into attacking the team whenever he had the chance.
If not for the elders behind them asking them to tolerate him, they would have reported him again and again.
Fang Ming also stopped to collect materials whenever he came across something that interested him, sometimes even leaving the mission route entirely to do so, completely ignoring the urgency of the task.
The last incident Fang Ming reported them for was not entirely false, but it was not entirely true either. Fang Ming had provoked another group of wolves and brought them to the team to kill. They did not want to keep doing this, killing wolves just so Fang Ming could collect the corpses and sell them. So when only 5 wolves appeared, they refused to fight. Instead, they used their movement Gu to escape and left Fang Ming to deal with the wolves himself.
They were confident Fang Ming could kill them.
But Fang Ming did not.
Instead, he directly ran back to the village and reported them.
And this was not even the worst of his recent actions.
He kept provoking the team leader. Every sentence seemed to carry a hook, waiting for the team leader to bite. When the others finally had enough and decided to stand on the leader's side to force Fang Ming to back off, Fang Ming did not take them seriously at all. In fact, he was completely fearless, as if he was looking for any chance to start a fight with them.
They were under immense pressure from this teammate who kept sabotaging missions, provoking beasts along the way, and looking for fights at every opportunity.
In less than a week, they could no longer tolerate it. They went back to their elders and stated plainly that missions with Fang Ming were impossible to complete.
Fang Ming was a complete daredevil who seemed to fear nothing. Provoking beast groups in the wild was no small matter; every mistake could become a life-and-death risk. But Fang Ming seemed to enjoy the thrill of life and death, constantly doing these things without fear of the consequences.
He was also very cunning.
After being punished by clan rules twice, he seemed to have gained a thorough understanding of those rules. Now, he could easily avoid punishment while becoming even wilder.
This time, the elders finally understood that Fang Ming could not remain in this team.
If this continued, they might truly start killing each other outside the village.
Fang Ming had become a complete headache.
He owed fines from previous incidents and had not paid them fully. He had picked up drinking, and after missions, he often ended up in brawls. Sometimes he fought Gu Masters. Sometimes he even fought mortals who offended him while drunk.
Gu Yue Chi Shan tried to advise him once.
Fang Ming only looked at him and said, "You are only B-grade. How can you understand my grandeur?"
Chi Shan frowned and left.
Gu Yue Qing Shu also tried.
Fang Ming was even less polite.
"B-grade talent, yet you speak to me about patience and humility? If I had your aptitude, I might also want to lay down and wait for death patiently."
Qing Shu's expression remained gentle, but he did not continue.
Even a few elders tried lecturing him.
Fang Ming listened on the surface, then continued as before.
Soon, his reputation changed completely.
The former academy genius became a brute.
A drunkard.
A jealous fool.
A person whose pride had ruined his future.
Some said he had given up any chance of becoming a proper clan pillar. Others said Fang Ming had talent but no heart, strength but no restraint. More and more clansmen began looking down on him.
Fang Ming accepted all of it, this was the price had to pay to quickly break away from his current team.
To him, the team had already lost most of its value, and has become burden.
At the beginning, following a team had been useful. He could observe how experienced Gu Masters moved, how they arranged formations, how they used investigative Gu, movement Gu, healing Gu, and defensive Gu together. He had learned enough from them.
Now, continuing to stay inside a team only restricted him.
Fang Ming had too many hidden Gu. Step on Wind Gu, Wolf Strength Gu, Blazing Eyes Gu, White Jade Skin Gu, Heavenly Essence Treasure Seed Lotus — any one of them could increase his survival ability, but with teammates beside him, he had to suppress himself and fight with only half of his true capability. A Gu Master who could not freely use his own Gu was like a blade kept half inside its sheath.
There was also the matter of control.
The team accepted missions too frequently. This had indeed slowed his cultivation. Right now, Fang Ming could still rely on Red Steel Relic Gu to push forward, but later, when he reached Rank 2 peak stage and needed to break through to Rank 3, Red Steel Relic Gu would become useless. At that time, he would need to focus wholeheartedly on cultivating, not run around the mountain every few days because someone else had accepted another mission.
Most importantly, Fang Ming knew the clan elders would underestimate the wolf tide.
Many missions would look ordinary on paper, but once the wolves moved in greater numbers, those ordinary missions could become death traps. By the time the elders realised the problem and adjusted the mission system, many teams would already have perished.
With his team's habit of accepting missions frequently, Fang Ming did not doubt that they would eventually choose a death mission and drag him along with them.
He had no interest in following others around while waiting for death to find him.
Now that he could form his own team, he could choose his own missions, judge the situation himself, and avoid walking into traps caused by other people's ignorance.
As for mission requirements, he only needed to complete the obligatory 1 mission per month.
Fang Yuan had already shown how useful slacking off could be.
Fang Ming naturally did not mind learning from him.
Reputation was useful only when it could be used.
If losing reputation could exchange for freedom, then the price was acceptable.
More importantly, this role consumed less time than being dragged around by a controlled team to do missions every day.
He even enjoyed it somewhat.
Acting without restraint, watching others grow angry, watching elders try to reason with a person who had already decided not to be reasoned with — all of this was strangely amusing.
Habits cost primeval stones.
Drinking cost money, feeding Gu cost money, and fines also had to be paid sooner or later. More importantly, Fang Ming had almost stopped doing proper missions during this period, so from the outside, he had little visible income.
Of course, Fang Ming was not truly broke.
He still had primeval stones from selling Gu to the caravan, but that money could not be exposed casually. To anyone paying attention, Fang Ming's situation should look different. After weeks of drinking, fighting, causing trouble, and avoiding proper missions, it was only natural to assume that his funds were running dry.
Since others would think he needed income again, returning to the mission hall now would not look strange.
The second phase of his plan could begin.
Fang Ming went to the mission hall.
The mission hall originally planned to assign him to a mild team, one that could accommodate his temper and avoid conflict.
Fang Ming refused.
"I want to form my own team."
The mission hall Gu Master gave him a strange look. In his eyes, Fang Ming was nothing more than a drunkard who couldn't even take responsibility for himself, yet now he wanted to lead a team. But rules were rules.
Fang Ming was still Rank 2. His recent behaviour was unsightly, but he had completed many missions and possessed enough experience. According to clan rules, he did have the qualification to apply.
But the clan elders did not want him acting freely.
So he was given a difficult qualification mission.
The mission required him to obtain nature wood from a long-arm monkey territory.
Normally, this required strong defense. A Gu Master without a proper Rank 2 defensive Gu would find it difficult to force their way through.
The elders knew Fang Ming's public Gu.
Moonglow Gu.
Jade Skin Gu.
A Rank 1 Jade Skin Gu was useful, but against long-arm monkeys, it was not enough. They expected him to fail and return to a team arrangement.
Fang Ming accepted the mission.
A few days later, he returned injured but successful.
His explanation was simple.
He had provoked a wolf group into clashing with the long-arm monkeys, then used the chaos to steal the nature wood.
The plan sounded reckless, but it matched Fang Ming's current image.
In truth, he had indeed provoked a wolf group into clashing with the long-arm monkeys, but the wolves were very smart and quickly retreated instead of remaining entangled for long, unlike the way he described it. Fang Ming had relied mostly on White Jade Skin Gu.
This Gu had been copied from Fang Zheng during these months, when Fang Zheng was sent to advise him to change his ways.
As for the injuries he sustained they were indeed real, but from fighting wolves as he took a tour on his way back to hunt some wolves to increase his strength using wolves strength gu.
When the mission result was confirmed, the elders had no choice but to approve his request.
At least Fang Ming was returning to missions.
At least he was no longer drinking and fighting every day.
As for forming a team, the elders still had their own thoughts. Once Fang Ming created his team, they could insert Gu Masters they controlled. Even a team leader had to listen to teammates. There were many ways to influence a Gu Master.
Unknown to them, Fang Ming had no intention of forming a normal team.
He wanted to be a 1-man team.
Not every mission suited 1 person, but that did not matter. He would choose only the missions suitable for himself.
Time passed, and Fang Ming finally improved his behavior slightly. Although he was still as arrogant as ever, at least now he was picking up missions and going to sleep after returning to the village, unlike before, when he spent his days idle and his nights drunk, picking fights.
The elders finally sighed in relief.
It seemed this guy was finally returning to the right track.
The only problem was his mission record, which left them speechless. Fang Ming basically picked only 1 mission every week. Compared to other Gu Master teams that worked diligently, Fang Ming was one of the laziest. But at least he was no longer causing trouble.
Sometimes, when expectations for someone were low enough, any improvement, no matter how minor, was worth celebrating.
Surprisingly, the elders were satisfied with Fang Ming's current behavior and output despite it being far below average. To them, as long as Fang Ming kept this up and improved slightly, it was still good enough, so long as he did not return to drinking and fighting again.
As for having team mates, for the time being, the elders decided to leave Fang Ming alone.
If he insisted on being a 1-man team, let him try.
Sooner or later, he would understand the helplessness of a lone Gu Master. With the wolf tide approaching, missions would only become harder. No matter how good his aptitude was, no matter how much talent he had, he would eventually need comrades.
That was what the elders thought.
Time passed quickly. A whole 4 months had passed since Fang Ming started his act to break away from his team.
By July 15th, another matter appeared in Gu Yue Village.
The Rank 5 toad crisis completely pulled the elders' attention toward it.
Meanwhile, Fang Ming sat cross-legged in his room, examining his recent actions and gains.
In these 4 months, he had copied several important Gu.
On March 10th, Fang Ming copied the original Red Steel Relic Gu from the caravan, then kept it so he could copy more of it and use them later.
The 2nd was another Red Steel Relic Gu, used in April to reach Rank 2 middle stage.
In May, the 3rd was Blazing Eyes Gu, copied again and later used to create the wolf ambush incident.
In June, the 4th was White Jade Skin Gu, copied from Fang Zheng and used to complete the qualification mission.
And now, in July, the 5th was another Red Steel Relic Gu.
Fang Ming's aperture had been tempered enough.
It was time to use the newly copied Red Steel Relic Gu to advance to upper stage.
Inside his room, Fang Ming sat cross-legged.
The second Red Steel Relic Gu floated above his primeval sea.
His Rank 2 middle-stage scarlet primeval essence moved slowly below it. Compared to his initial-stage essence, it was denser and more useful. Over the past months, he had cultivated steadily whenever he had the chance, and the foundation of his aperture had already become stable enough.
Fang Ming activated the Gu.
Red light spread again.
The aperture wall absorbed the power of the Relic Gu, thickening and transforming under the continuous glow. The process was familiar this time, but the effect was still direct and formidable.
Time passed quietly.
When the second Red Steel Relic Gu exhausted its power and disappeared, Fang Ming's aperture changed again.
Rank 2 upper stage.
Fang Ming opened his eyes.