The sunset was a red hue setting over the east.
The sky was still bright, but everything seemed to be covered by a shade of gray. Overlooking the window, the mountains in the distance were gradually drawing towards a heavy black color.
The light in the living room was dim. Aunt and Uncle sat high in their chairs, their faces enveloped in shadow, their expressions hard to discern.
As he saw Fang Yuan carrying the two jars of wine, his Uncle Gu Yue Dong Tu's eyebrows twisted into a knot. He opened his mouth and spoke, "In the blink of an eye, you are both 15 years old now. Since you both have the talents of a Gu Master, especially Fang Zheng, your aunt and I are proud of the both of you. I will give you both 6 pieces of primeval stones, take it. Refining your Gu consumes a lot of primeval essence, so you'll need these primeval stones."
As he said this, some servants came over and passed Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng each a small bag.
Fang Yuan took his bag silently.
Fang Zheng immediately opened his bag and looked inside to see 6 pieces of oval shaped, greyish white primeval stones. His face lit up with gratitude at once and he stood up from his seat, facing his aunt and uncle. "Thank you Aunt and Uncle, your nephew does need primeval stones to replenish my primeval essence! You have both raised me until today, this gratitude is engraved into my heart, I shall not forget it forever!"
Uncle smiled and nodded. Aunt hurriedly waved her hands and said warmly, "Sit down, sit down! Although you both are not our children directly, we have always raised you as our own. You both are able to gain a future, and we are proud of that. Alas we do not have children of our own, and sometimes we thought that if you both could really become our children it would be the best."
Her words brought deep meaning. Fang Zheng did not understand it, and Fang Yuan was still emotionless.
Uncle cut in and said, "I have discussed this with your aunt. We thought of adopting you both and become a genuine, real family. Fang Zheng, I wonder if you are willing?"
Fang Zheng was stunned for a second, but the look on his face quickly emerged a joyful smile and he said, "To be honest, every since both my parents died I have longed very much for a family of my own. To be able to become a family with Aunt and Uncle, this is too good to be true!"
Aunt's expression loosened and she laughed, "Then you are our good son, shouldn't you stop calling us Aunt and Uncle?"
"Father, mother." Fang Zheng in a state of realization changed his statement.
Aunt and Uncle laughed heartily. "What a good son, not a waste of us husband and wife to raise you since you were five years old. And we have raised you for ten whole years," Aunt wiped her tears.
Uncle looked at the silent Fang Yuan and said gently, "Fang Yuan, how about you?"
Fang Yuan shook his head without saying a word.
"Big brother." Gu Yue Fang Zheng was about to advise him, but Uncle, whose tone was unchanged, stopped him. "If that's the case, Fang Yuan my nephew, we won't force you. Since you are already 15 years old, you need to start being independent, this way you will also easily carry on your Fang bloodline. Uncle here has prepared 200 primeval stones for you as financial support."
"200 primeval stones!" Fang Zheng's eyes opened wide; he had never seen so many primeval stones in his life. He couldn't help but reveal a jealous expression.
But Fang Yuan still shook his head.
Fang Zheng was puzzled, while Uncle's expression changed slightly. Aunt's face had also turned cloudy.
"Aunt and Uncle. If there is nothing else, then your nephew will take his leave," Fang Yuan did not give them any chance to speak again. After he finished his sentence he took his wine jars and left the hall immediately.
Fang Zheng rose from his seat and said, "Father, Mother. Big brother is not thinking straight, how about you let me advise him?"
Uncle waved his hand and deliberately sighed, "Alas this matter cannot be forced. Since you have the heart, as your father I am already very content. Servants, take care of young master Fang Zheng treat him well. "
"Then your son will take his leave," Fang Zheng retreated, and the living room fell into silence.
The sun set below the mountain, and the living room became darker. In a while from the darkness Uncle's cold voice emerged. "Looks like this brat Fang Yuan has seen through our plot."
"Luckily we managed to win over Fang Zheng, and Fang Yuan only has C grade talent," Uncle heaved a sigh, feeling joyful.
"Then husband, if Fang Yuan decides to go independent at 16 years of age, what do we do?" Aunt's tone was hysterical as she thought about the inheritance.
"Hmph, since he is acting undisciplined, then he can't blame us. As long as we catch him committing a huge mistake before he leaves us and expel him from our family, it will be counted as snatching away his right to inherit the legacy," Uncle explained coldly.
"But the brat is very clever, how would he make a mistake?" Aunt asked, puzzled.
Uncle rolled his eyes immediately and whispered angrily, "You are really stupid! If he won't make a mistake, can't we frame him instead? Just let Shen Cui seduce Fang Yuan and scream assault, we catch him on the spot, fabricate a story about him acting wild while he was drunk. Surely we can expel Fang Yuan?"
"Husband you really have a way, what an ingenious plan!" Aunt was overjoyed at that moment.
...
The dark clouds in the sky were getting heavier, and the night was getting darker. In the night sky most of the stars were covered away by the clouds, leaving a few shining with faint light, blinking away in the sky.
"Aunt and Uncle must be plotting on how to expel me from the house right now." Fang Yuan sneered in his heart as he walked along the streets. The people who were monitoring him has also stopped following after he left home.
Noticing this, he held the two jars of wine and walked towards the outskirts of the village.
The night deepened and the dark clouds obscured the star light, the mountain breeze blew, growing stronger gradually.
The mountain rain was coming. After all, the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance was the only thing that he could get his hands on in the short run.
Fang Yuan's thin clothing could not stop the mountain wind, and he could not help but feel a cold chill. He simply opened the wine jar, drinking a small mouthful of wine. Although it was turbid wine, but after swallowing it he felt a warm feeling rising up.
This was the first time that he actually drank wine in these few days. All the wine he bought was stored in a hidden place for the day he would obtain the Liquor Worm.
Then, Fang Yuan leisurely ran in the direction of the deeper part of the bamboo forest.
The moonlight was gentle, the breeze slow and steady. In the bamboo forest that was like a clear pond, the stalks of green spear bamboo flashed past before his eyes, quickly falling behind him. The ground was a green carpet of grass, riddled with blossoming wild flowers. There were small stones with moss growing, and the yellow shoots of bamboo.
Light and shadow moved frequently, like he was galloping in water filled with seaweed.
A quiet mountain stream paved with pebbles, the gurgling water surface reflecting the spring moon in the night sky; with a few splashes Fang Yuan waded across, creating thousands of silver coloured ripples.
Going upward the mountain stream, he could already hear the sound of a waterfall. Fang Yuan's eyes lit up and he stopped in his tracks.
This place is a shallow benchland.
Pebbles of various sizes covered the ground, the river surface barely covering over the small stones. There were also blocks of gray boulders scattered freely in the area.
Behind Qing Mao Mountain was a huge waterfall. The flow of the waterfall varied with the weather; it plummeted down to the earth, pounding out a deep pool. Beside the deep pool was the Bai Clan Village, a clan with powerful influence that was comparable to the Gu Yue village.
The waterfall branched out to many smaller branches, and it was apparent that Fang Yuan was facing one of the many branches of a branch.
In his previous life, due to the recent heavy rainfall that went on for three days and three nights, a shallow stream formed here.
But today, there was no such stream. There was only a huge boulder and after a considerably long time it has formed a crevice in the middle of it.
Fang Yuan walked to the boulder and he rushed in headfirst.
The boulder gap was rather large, and two adult humans could walk side by side in it with no problems. What more to say with Fang Yuan, who was merely a 15-year-old teenage boy?
As he walked a few dozen steps, the space in the fissure also began to shrink, and Fang Yuan could only walk sideways.
His ears were filled with the roaring of the water, the top of his head was a sheet of white, and deeper into the boulder was a black darkness.
Still, he continued forward by walking sideways, slowly edging into the darkness. The stone walls were covered in moss, grazing against his skin, feeling slippery. Soon he was swallowed by the darkness, and the stone crevice became narrower, squeezing around him. Gradually even his skull could not rotate freely. Still Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and continued forward.
After walking another twenty more steps, he realized that there was a red shade of light in the darkness.
This realization made him renew his spirit.
He continued walking for another fifty to sixty steps, the red light growing brighter. In his eyes the light slowly expanded into a long, vertical and fine seam.
He stretched out his left arm, suddenly feeling that the wall in front had bent away.
With another few steps he finally rushed into this light seam.
His eyes were greeted with the sight of an approximately 80meters² wide enclosure.
"I have been walking for so long. With this distance I'd have long passed the boulder, so I should be in the heart of the mountain cliff right now." As he sized up this hidden space, he moved his hands and legs about, stretching his limbs.
The entire room was filled with dim red light, the stone walls were damp and covered in moss, but the air here was very dry. On the walls there was also a few withering vines. The vines intertwined with each other, weaving across half of the wall surface. There were even a few withering flowers growing on the vines.
Fang Yuan gazed at the withered flowers and leaves, a faint sense of nostalgia stirring within him.
This was his seventh life or maybe eighth, but these blossoms brought back memories of someone he had long forgotten—Jia Jin Sheng.
Jia Jin Sheng!
Back then, when he had killed him, his blood had soaked the flowers. In his haste, he had uprooted and burned them to erase any trace of what had happened.
Yet Tie Xue Leng had discovered the truth, and in the end, Tie Xue Leng had met his demise at the hands of First Gen Gu Yue.