Jia Fu and the merchant caravan left a few days later, picking up a few new members from the Bei Clan and the surrounding clans before going on a slight detour and back on their normal route.
Fang Yuan and the Gu Yue clansmen, on the other hand, watched as the Moon Orchids began blossoming on the back of the Earth Eating Eel. This was not a permanent solution because the Earth Eating Eel would need to be moved every one year in order to be fed, and that could only be done off the mountain given the huge mass of soil involved. Afterwards, the Moon Orchids would need to be replanted. However, so long as they were careful, the moon orchids would not go extinct, and they would be able to continue using their Moonlight Gu.
Although the Bone Spear Gu and variants were plentiful here, naturally the Gu Yue clansmen preferred those gu worms they were familiar with.
***
Meanwhile, in Gu Yue Village, Fang Zheng held the Moon Harbinger Gu in the palm of his hand as it began glowing, as he added in two Moon Glow Gu. Following this, several moon orchid petals were added, as well as a large amount of monkey wine.
It began to glow as he tossed in primeval stones. He held his breath.
This was his third attempt at trying to refine it, and this was his last amount of monkey wine. If it failed, he would only be able to try in the future. But he tried to put that out of his mind, as the ball of light did not explode, but instead contracted, and a single gu worm fell to the ground.
"Seven Fragrances Liquor Worm!" Fang Zheng said happily, as he put it into his aperture, turning the Rank Three Upper Stage essence to Rank Three Peak Stage essence.
"Soon," he thought to himself, "I'll be able to advance to rank four."
Putting this valuable worm away, he went out to supervise the rest of the village.
Those two other clans must have noticed that something was off on the Gu Yue Clan suddenly shrunken in size. They had not done anything earlier because Fang Yuan was still there.
But now, without a doubt, they would be asking questions soon, especially since both of them had agreed to come under the Gu Yue Clan. But Fang Zheng knew he could deflect their lines of questioning for now. He ensured that Crimsonhoof Deer was well fed as he waited for his brother to return.
***
The primeval spring had been cleared up so that Fang Yuan could 'inspect' it.
In reality, he wanted everyone gone so he could try refining the Righteous Virtue Physique once again.
Fang Yuan took out Charity Gu, and thousands of Hope Gu began entering it, far more than last time. He hoped that this meant the recipe had a higher chance of success. He had been up all night using Equality Gu to obtain Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique dao marks to improve his chances.
Doctor Gu tossed in primeval stones into the glowing ball, but as Fang Yuan felt he was going to succeed, he spat out a mouthful of blood as it failed yet again.
"Young Master," Doctor Gu said, rushing over. "People often say 'better out than in' though not when it comes to blood..."
Fang Yuan glared at Doctor Gu as he said, "Just a small joke, Young Master." Fang Yuan felt better instantly, though the fatigue that was placed on his soul still remained. A good rest would fix that, however.
'It looks like I still can't refine it... why not? What am I missing? Paradise Earth did not give any further instructions, only that the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique would help - but I still failed this time,' Fang Yuan thought.
If this didn't work, the backup plan was to try and find a way to get the Ancient Moon Desolate Yin Physique, but he had even less good of a chance of getting that than this.
He went outside and made sure the surrounding beasts knew to fear him - and when he was satisfied that things were stable, he and Bai Ning Bing set out for Gu Yue Village.
"Brother, you've returned!" Fang Zheng said. "The Bai and Xiong clans are getting antsy."
"Then let's tell them," Fang Yuan said.
There were still a number of things that had to be moved, but Qing Shu had managed to improve on the prior map that they had. All in all, Fang Yuan estimated that it would still take two more trips to complete the clan's migration.
The Crimsonhoof Deer would travel with them during the last trip, staying as a deterrent withing the village itself.
The biggest issue, however, was moving the Dollhouse.
No one aside from Fang Yuan, Fang Zheng, and Bai Ning Bing knew of its existence. It was too eye-catching to move; they could not rely on someone being unable to see it if it flew above the ground. It would most absolutely catch the eye of some Immortal who would decide that it was for the best of the Gu Yue clan to 'donate' it to them.
At the same time though, it was too valuable to leave behind. It could not be stored within a gu worm; and the painting that Fang Yuan had taken it out from had crumbled to ash.
'If traveling in the sky won't work... how about underground?' he thought, having a flash of inspiration.
He still had the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider - it could tunnel a path to Bei Gu Mountain which the Dollhouse could follow. It was inconvenient and not nearly as useful as flying, but was far more discrete. It had an additional benefit, that while doing so, Fang Yuan could also remain closer to the traveling caravan than he could otherwise.
Fang Yuan announced the situation of their primeval spring the next day - mentioning that they already had a base in another one, as well as what supplies they needed to take with them.
The Xiong and Bai clans were taken aback by this - but there was little they could do. Were they going to strike out on their own, without a primeval spring? Of course not!
The second trip would involve all three clans, and so took time to arrange.
During that time, Fang Zheng was nurtured by Fang Yuan until he reached Rank 3 Peak Stage - making the Seven Fragrances Liquor Worm he had just so painstakingly refined useless now.
"Don't think of it as useless," Fang Yuan told him. "You can still advance it further afterwards."
To Fang Zheng's knowledge there was no way to advance it in a meaningful way further, but at least it had helped him somewhat.
Fang Yuan was adamant on milking Qing Mao Mountain for everything it had. He told the clansmen about the jade eye stone monkeys and the stones that they could stockpile for future use. It was a nice training ground, many commented - a shame that it had to be abandoned.
Other such resource points were taken and every last crumb of value that they possessed was drained out of them before the mountain would be abandoned. Perhaps, in a few hundred years, the essence around the mountain would condense once more and new primeval springs would emerge - but the clans would not be around to see that day.
Fang Zheng traveled along with Fang Yuan during this trip, with the two of them moving underground while Fang Yuan continued to help Fang Zheng cultivate. Any obstacles that they ran into were dealt with the Dollhouse's own defenses, which trailed behind them in the dirt. It was an extremely odd thing to see, but an idea that worked nonetheless.