After all, why else would a Rank 5 Gu Master want something to do with them?
Fang Yuan, however, seemed to be as surprised as she was. Then again, that was no guarantee of anything from what she had seen.
"How could I possibly know anything about this, Bai Ning Bing? Perhaps you did something along the way that offended him?"
Bai Ning Bing snorted.
She still never would have made a connection between the young girl whom Fang Yuan had dropped off and the head of Shang Clan City. They were led into the innermost city, not having to pay any primeval stones, and were asked to wait within the courtyard.
"Lord Shang Yan Fei will be here to meet with you soon," they were told.
And so the two of them sat down and waited... and waited... and waited...
"It's been three hours. What's going on here?" Fang Yuan said, pacing around angrily. Bai Ning Bing stared at him with a single raised eyebrow.
'It's not like him to be this agitated.'
"Doesn't he know that I'm also a Rank 5 Gu Master? Does he think he can keep us here just based on his authority?"
The Gu Master in question who had approached them had been named Wei Yang, who had already left, saying that there would be refreshments waiting for them.
However, there was nothing in the garden to eat; not even clean water to drink. For that matter, this place within the innermost city was rather spartan in nature and had been made more for practicality rather than exuberance. The third inner city, which is where they had been coming from, had been more extravagant than this.
This would've been an excellent opportunity to test out Scouting Hive Gu. The issue was that he had not as of yet refined it.
Since it was a Rank 5 gu worm, the Spring Autumn Cicada could no longer completely suppress it and it was not refined for him like the Ink Dragon Gu was by the system. It was the first time since he had come back 500 years in time that he had run into this problem yet again, and it was quite tiresome.
Refining Rank 5 gu worms was not easy and would often take up a significant portion of one's time - the Empress Wu Ji had spent eleven years in order to refine a Dragon Strength Gu, as an example.
While the Spring Autumn Cicada could not fully suppress it; it could still weaken its will to fight to some extent making the process easier. But the baseline will of a Rank 5 gu worm could not be underestimated; refining it was far more exhaustive than that time he had tried refining the Liquor Worm back in Gu Yue Village initially before he had realized he still had the Spring Autumn Cicada. Even weakened, it was quite the drag to refine it.
Additionally, for Fang Yuan at Rank 5 Initial Stage and having 76% aptitude most of the time it was not an insignificant hurdle given most Rank 5 Gu Masters had much larger reserves than he did. Equality Gu did help somewhat, but not by much. And were he to ever falter, it would eject all of the essence in it out and he would have to restart the process all over again. The Purple Crystal Relic Gu in his inventory could speed up the process somewhat if he were to use it, but there was a reason he was keeping it in reserve for now.
There were services in Shang Clan City that could help with refinement, but for a Rank 5 gu worm not only would they not necessarily be that effective, but they would also cost an arm and a leg.
For now, he had to put off refining the Scouting Hive Gu as he had other plans that would consume too much of his time.
With that said, there was a way of looking around that didn't require any gu worms - just peering around the place. It would also not attract the ire of the Shang Clan - if he were to use an investigative gu worm here it would almost be akin to drawing weapons in the emperor's presence.
"This place is empty. Should we go?" Fang Yuan said.
At that moment, the Gu Master Wei Yang, walked up towards the gates. "Esteemed guests, my deepest apologies," he said, bowing his head. "But the clan leader was unable to meet with you today. We can only cancel this meeting."
"So, you expect us to simply leave?" Fang Yuan asked. "After having wasted so much time?"
Wei Yang replied, "No, of course not. The two of you are esteemed guests. Although the clan leader cannot be here in person, he sends his regards, and I have already arranged for a banquet at Shi Tian Restaurant. Will you give me the honor of hosting?"
"All right then," Fang Yuan said. Shi Tian Restaurant was one of the best in all of Shang Clan City, located in the third inner city. Forget about the prior restaurant they had been at, it could not hold a candle to this.
Bai Ning Bing tried to get some insight into this situation by asking Wai Yang, however, they got nowhere. Fang Yuan, however, seemed to be mostly unconcerned, and instead was making as big a fuss as possible.
"All right, then allow me to attend to the two of you tomorrow once more," Wei Yang said once they were done.
"Thank you for the banquet," Fang Yuan said. "However, it's not like we're sitting around twiddling our thumbs here. We have things that we need to get done."
"Without a doubt, whatever it is that you need done, feel free to rely on me," Wei Yang replied sharply, "we can go ahead and have them done tomorrow."
"My companion here wanted to try out the Battle Arena," Fang Yuan said, pointing towards Bai Ning Bing, who stared at him, giving him a weird look. Why did he drag her into this? It was true that she did want to go see the arena. She lived for thrills, and where else could one find that as well as the potential of great profit other than there? She also wanted to test out a new set of rank four Gu worms that she had assembled.
However, it wasn't like she was in a crazy rush to do so.
"All right, then we will make that our destination tomorrow," Wei Yang said.
He reported back to Shang Yan Fei afterwards.
"Well? Your impression?"
"The two of them are rather... odd for righteous path cultivators. This Fang Yuan is said to be the Supreme Elder of his clan, though he is out here and not with his clan. It would make sense if he were only here for a short stay, but something about him makes me think that he wants to make this an extended trip. Same thing for Lady Ling Ding Ching - she is an external elder and would also be someone normally expected to be with her clan."
Shang Yan Fei nodded.
"And there is..."
"There is what?"
"It is a small thing, but I noticed when I went to fetch them that they had several paintings on their walls," Wei Yang said. "This would be nothing out of the ordinary, but one of them seemed to be depicting a street in Shang Clan City - namely, the reaction of a crowd to a man emerging from a ball of fire."
Shang Yan Fei was slightly perplexed. "The two of them were not there at the time... one can always paint things from a perspective, that is understandable, but to have done so this fast?"
"Could it be that he has already figured out the connection between you and your daughter?"
Shang Yan Fei didn't really see how that could be - but it was not impossible for news to travel and for a reasonable person to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Fang Yuan's behavior was an oddity, without a doubt - if he were truly a righteous leader he wouldn't have been as brazen as he was. That said, if he was used to being a big fish in a small pond it could be seen how he'd develop such a temperament. But in such a case, his behavior could all very well be an act. They would need to focus more on the lady then. "Let me know how they do at the arena."
He would've liked to investigate them further, but if Fang Yuan was behaving like this, with him being Rank 5, he would have to accelerate his plans.