Li Ran was a bottom-tier Gu Master who was not remarkable in any way. He also participated in the Battle Arena but tended to lose almost as much as he won, and whatever he did tend to win, he would gamble or drink away. It was said that he was such a loser that he had even abandoned his wife and son and no longer supported them.
Since Li Ran was the one who had originally found the All-Out Effort Gu according to Fang Yuan's memories, he figured that there had to be something more to the story than had been let on in public. Up until now, though, no result had come to fruition, even though the beggars were trailing him without being noticed, blending into the crowd as they would normally do, Li Ran did nothing out of the ordinary.
Fang Yuan wanted the All-Out Effort Gu in order to prepare Fang Zheng for the potential future Three King's Inheritance, which would happen in about sixteen months.
Of course, if he truly became an Immortal by then, there would be better ways to train Fang Zheng for this intended purpose. He would not lack All-Out Effort Gu. It was extinct in the mortal world and hard to obtain, but in the aperture of any Strength Path Gu Immortal it would start appearing naturally.
"Thank you," Fang Zheng said, accepting the gu worm.
"There are some other refinement materials that I would like to put in the clan's treasury," Fang Yuan said. These were from his recent kills, and although he would not hand over the most precious parts, he did have to give up something or the other to show that he was not keeping the clan at an enormous deficit.
Additionally, he and Bai Ning Bing would depart the next morning and hunt down some Myriad Beast Kings on Bei Gu Mountain, thereby accumulating Bone Path resources to further the Gu Yue Clan's advancement in that area.
Right now, about three out of four Gu Yue clansmen still relied upon the Moonlight Gu and its derivations. However, Fang Yuan estimated that within five years, this number would change to half, and more likely than not, within twenty years, the Moonlight Gu might be entirely forgotten by the Gu Yue Clan in favor of the Bone Path gu worms of Bai Gu Mountain.
As for the Bei Clan, they had established a small foothold on the mountain, but it would still take them time to settle down fully near the second primeval spring. They were creeping closer to the Gu Yue clan's territory. However, Fang Yuan's presence was enough to dissuade them from trying to court any kind of conflict.
Bai Ning Bing would then go to the Dollhouse in order to see if she could uncover any of its secrets.
"Senior Sister, Senior Sister, you're back!" the House Spirit said, leaping up to go greet her. "I was so worried about you, and so lonely, too! Please don't-" She got no further before Bai Ning Bing kicked her across the room.
"How many times have I told you not to call me Senior Sister!?"
While Bai Ning Bing did this, Fang Yuan went over the current state of the clan. It was mostly going as he had expected. It could not be said to be quite promising. Other than Gu Yue Fang Zheng, the Gu Yue Clan would likely not produce a Gu Master of note or have the resources to train them for at least fifteen years, as per his estimates.
Fang Yuan went over the information that Liu Nan had given him several times, building upon it using his knowledge of the Human Path and the Blood Path as an idea began to form in his mind.
There was a clan by the name of the Chai Clan, and an ancestor of this clan in the past had managed to devise a Human Path method in order to allow for multiple geniuses to appear within their clan.
The first generation Gu Yue Ancestor had done something similar in trying to evoke someone with the Ancient Moon Desolate Yin Physique within the Gu Yue Clan over time. Although this method was quite primitive compared to the Chai Clan's, the Gu Yue Clan tended to have more Gu Masters than one would ordinarily expect, with about six out of ten having the talent to cultivate.
"I would like to see the Crimsonhoof Deer," Fang Yuan said, being led to the Blood Path beast and examining some of the Blood Path gu worms which had newly developed upon it.
Using these gu worms, Fang Yuan began jotting down his own plan for creating the Ancient Moon Desolate Yin Physique within the Gu Yue Clan.
Once he had a rough outline, he could only frown, as it would take several months for him to perfect this idea. It would then take years for those descendants to eventually grow old enough to manifest the physique in question.
As for improving the Gu Yue Clan's general aptitude, he had ideas on how he could try to attempt to do so. Once again, time was the great limitation here. Most of those methods were inferior to just using someone like Fang Zheng as a breeding horse in order to breed those with high talent.
"Either my attainment or my gu worms within the Human Path have to improve for such a thing to be possible," he thought to himself.
For now, he would attempt to refine the Righteous Virtue Physique once more.
Fang Zheng had kept aside his share of primeval stones from the Spirit Spring; Fang Yuan had not credited himself for those during the fight at least.
Fang Yuan began tossing them toward himself as he activated Charity Gu and Steal Virtue Gu in an attempt to once again refine the Righteous Virtue Physique within himself.
"Senior Brother, are you all right?" the House Spirit asked. He was doing so inside the Dollhouse, wondering if being surrounded by Human Path Dao marks might make it easier, only to spit out a mouthful of blood. The refinement had failed for a second time. Doctor Gu approached him and patted away his wounds.
Fang Yuan took a look at Steal Virtue Gu. It had survived, however, every time he failed the refinement, it lost some of the virtue he had stolen. He had managed to accumulate a bit more from Shang Xin Ci after the first failed refinement.
Now, though, with the amount dwindling, it looked like the chances of him succeeding with the next attempt were going to be lower than before.
That is, however, until he suddenly had a flash of inspiration. 'Wait a moment,' he thought to himself.
Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had given him Accumulate Virtue Gu and Steal Virtue Gu in order to compensate for his lack of virtue. Naturally, Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable had used the basis of the Theft Path, being the path that he was most familiar with.
However, Fang Yuan had a new idea in mind. Using his foundation in the Blood Path, Human Path, Refinement Path, and some of the information that Liu Nan had left him, he thought about the problem for five days and five nights while his soul recovered.
Finally, a plan crystallized in his mind. An alternative way to use Steal Virtue Gu, and hopefully obtain the Righteous Virtue Physique.