The Gu Clan Estate. Nightfall.
The sun had dipped below the western mountains, painting the sky in bruises of purple and black.
While the servant quarters were shrouded in darkness and silence, the Main Hall of the Gu Clan was brilliantly lit up with hundreds of spirit-oil lanterns hung from the high ceilings, casting a golden glow over the festivities.
The Gu Clan, in fact more like Gu Chen has thrown a big banquet for Chen Long, the cousin from the Chen Clan that has been supporting the Gu Clan in the Poison Valley Town.
Gu Fan stood behind a decorative pillar, adjusting the collar of his coarse grey servant uniform. He was going to serve the younger generation of the Gu Clan.
Just as she promised, Madam Li managed to pull her weight when Gu Fan asked her.
Steward Wang was left utterly bewildered when the Matriarch ordered him not only to leave Gu Fan alone, but to also arrange for him to serve wine at tonight's welcoming banquet.
Wang didn't understand why the Matriarch suddenly had a use for the crippled trash, they had enough servants to serve at the banquet.
But no one dared question the ruler of the inner court of the Clan. In some ways, the inner court could be more brutal than the men in the clan. And he was not going to offend the most powerful woman of the Clan.
Meanwhile, the banquet was an event Gu Fan remembered clearly from his author's knowledge. It was a gathering of the younger generation, welcoming Chen Long and other visiting young masters from the Chen Clan.
Now, Gu Fan could use this opportunity by playing the harmless servant to get close to his target, Chen Long.
Chen Long was a walking-talking loot box. He was younger than Gu Ling, and currently at the peak of the Body Tempering realm, the 9th Stage on the verge of breakthrough.
But a high cultivation talent didn't make him immune to stupidity.
From what Gu Fan could remember from the original novel, Chen Long carried a Storage Ring containing about 5000 Low-Grade Spirit Crystals, 150 Medium-Grade Spirit Crystals, an Earth-Tier Spirit Sword, and three vials of Aphrodisiac Potions that he needed to perform.
Gu Fan wasn't really keen to slip into the banquet and risk getting ambushed by hundreds of Gu Clan or Chen Clan younger generation who might be stronger than him.
But the System gave offered him something he did not want to reject.
[System Notification: New Quest Generated!]
[Objective: Steal Chen Long's Storage Ring and sabotage his plot to sleep with Gu Ling.]
[Reward: 50000 Yin Cultivation Units, 2x Random Spins, 1 King-Tier crate.]
"I already had a fortune from the morning rewards, but leaving free loot on the table will be a sin," Gu Fan thought to himself.
"I already have the perfect countermeasure."
"I can use the 'Bone-Softening' Poison."
Bone-Softening Poison is a slow-acting agent. It would take a full three hours for the poison to completely take effect. And once the poison takes full effect, the bones go limp, and the flesh begins to rot.
But after the first two hours, it would silently seal away one-third of the victim's strength with every passing hour.
By the time Chen Long would realise something is wrong, he wouldn't even have the strength to stand.
"I should take care of this fast," Gu Fan thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched a line of servants carrying heavy trays of roasted meats into the hall.
And with that Gu Fan grabbed a tray and carried pitchers filled with wine and slipped through the servants.
Meanwhile the atmosphere inside the banquet was stifling.
Since this was a celebration of the younger generation, the Clan Elders decided to stay away from the main hall.
But to make sure "nothing unexpected" happens, Madam Li had suggested that she was gong to oversee the banquet.
And so, right now she was sitting at the top of the dais next to the seat of her husband and the Clan Patriarch.
Madam Li sat there elegantly, swirling a glass of wine as her eyes followed Gu Fan with a subservient warmth as he moved around the banquet hall serving wine.
Her heart pained to see him like that, but she could do nothing to stop him. Gu Fan in the letter he slipped at afternoon explicitly told him not to meddle with him at the banquet no matter what happens.
So bearing the throbbing pain in his heart, she was going to just watch as a mute spectator.
But away from the painful love story that was brewing, the main attraction of the banquet, Chen Long sat with one leg propped up on the table, tearing into a leg of lamb with grease running down his chin.
Compared to Gu Fan and Gu Chen, Chen Long was a large, chunky and loud one.
He was wearing purple robes embroidered in gold. Thick gold chains dug into the rolls of his fat neck, glinting in the lantern light.
His bloated face was flushed red from drink, and his eyes swam with arrogance and lust as he watched the clan's dancers twirl in the centre of the room.
And opposite to him sat Gu Chen.
If Chen Long was a fat, ugly pig, Gu Chen was like a soaring, majestic crane.
In face of the crudity of Chen Long, Gu Chen sat perfectly straight, his white robes spotless. He held a porcelain teacup with delicate fingers, sipping his wine slowly. He looked every bit the transcendent genius of Gu Clan, calm, polite, and detached.
Gu Fan moved from table to table, filling cups for minor guests, but he always remained close to Cu Chen and Chen Long as his ears were tuned to the conversation at the main table.
"Cousin Chen," Chen Long bellowed, spraying bits of meat onto the table, "This wine is so weak! Is the Gu Clan so poor you have to water down the drinks? In the Chen Clan, we drink Fire Python Blood Wine!"
The insult silenced the nearby tables. The Gu Clan disciples glared, their hands tightening on their cups.
Chen Long noticed the glares and scoffed loudly, pouring another cup of the "watered down" wine down his throat.
"What are you all glaring at? Do you trash disagree? Look at yourselves! The so-called 'proud' younger generation of the Gu Clan."
"Yet barely a handful of you have even reached the 7th Stage of Body Tempering!"
"If you were in my Chen Clan, you wouldn't even be qualified to carry dung!"
A few hot-blooded disciples half-rose from their seats, their faces flushed with rage, but the oppressive aura of Chen Long's 9th Stage Body Tempering cultivation slammed down on them, forcing them back into their chairs.
"Sit down, trash," Chen Long sneered, tossing a bone at them, "It's no wonder your clan is slowly losing control of Poison Valley Town to the Bai Clan."
"Chee! Weak men, weak wine, and..." His drunken, lecherous gaze swept across the female disciples in the hall, his lips curling in sheer disdain, "...ugly women. With faces like these, you couldn't even warm my bed as dual-cultivation cauldrons."