On Qing Mao mountain, there was a layer of white colour over it. Many branches were naked with no leaves, except the evergreen pine trees and Qing Mao bamboo, which had retained their original colours standing proudly in the snow.
A group of five people ran in the snow.
The leading person was neither short nor tall, bearing a sickly yellow skin — it was Gu Yue Jiao San.
As he ran, he turned towards the quiet Fang Yuan, smiling gently with kindness, "Fang Yuan, don't be nervous. Although this is your first clan mission, the contents are simple. Just follow us and learn along the way."
"Yes," Fang Yuan lightly replied, staring forward with a solemn expression.
Running on the snow, the chilly winter winds were even more intense. Every breath was like eating snow dust, chilling his entire chest.
Fang Yuan's face was originally very white, and now that the snow shone on it, it appeared even paler. In the process of running, the snow kept falling on his short black hair, his shoulders and forehead.
What was different than before was that Fang Yuan had changed his clothes.
This was a dark blue coloured battle attire.
The attire had long sleeves and long pants, with bamboo sheets tied on his legs as wrappings, and bamboo shoes adorned his feet. On his head there was a bright blue headband, and the headband fluttered in the air as Fang Yuan ran.
On his waist, there was a loose belt.
The belt was navy blue with a bronze plate on it, carved with the number "1"; it was very much eye-striking.
This was a Gu Master's attire, showing Fang Yuan's status as a Rank one Gu Master.
The youngsters had to stay a year in the academy and graduate before they were allowed to wear this.
This attire had much meaning. Once worn it meant that one has transcended the realm of mortals, leaving the lowly life and stepping into the upper society, being the middle class of the entire human race. Even if Rank one Gu Masters were the bottom of this tier, from now on any mortal had to give way to Fang Yuan and pay respects to him.
Gu Yue Jiao San's gaze continued to shine. This battle attire when worn by Fang Yuan, coupled with his cold expression, showed the atmosphere of a cool and collected person.
While running, he continued asking Fang Yuan, "We are out on a mission, and normally we would have to rush when travelling, so running is a common thing. Are you used to it?"
"I can cope." Fang Yuan's words were precious like gold, using the corner of his eye to look at Gu Yue Jiao San.
Gu Yue Jiao San looked at the sky, saying, "The sky's getting dark, our mission this time is to collect 'permafrost decayed soil'. Although it is easy, it consumes too much time. We have to speed up, everyone follow me, try not to get left behind. Fang Yuan, if you are unable to keep up, just inform us. Don't worry, you are a newcomer, we will take care of you."
Gu Yue Jiao San smiled very amicably.
While, Fang Yuan nodded silently.
The other three members exchanged glances. The sky was actually still bright, Jiao San had no need to say this. In reality, he wanted to give Fang Yuan an initial display of authority.
The three knew this deep down, but did not expose him.
In actuality, these kind of authoritative displays were common. When a new member joins, the older members would usually exert their authority to get rid of the younger member's arrogance so that it would be easier to command and control them.
"Let's go." Jiao San said lightly, taking huge steps and being the first to rush out.
Fang Yuan's gaze shone, heading out with the same speed as the other three, following closely behind.
The bamboo shoes stepped on the snow, leaving behind traces of footprints.
The mountain road was full of obstacles, being difficult to manoeuvre. Especially with a layer of thick snow, it was even easier to fall down. At the same time, due to the snow cover, who knew if underneath it was sharp rocks or pitfalls?
If one stepped into a hunter's trap, they would be even more unlucky.
Living in this world was tough. Travelling seemed easy but in fact it had much to do with experience. Many newcomers suffered due to this.
Only through a long period of training, having gone through much hardship, a Gu Master that has accumulated much experience would be able to avoid these obstacles.
The chilly winter winds blew directly towards their faces as Fang Yuan strode through the snow.
At times he took small leaps, at times he ran long distances. Sometimes he sidestepped, sometimes he climbed, following closely behind Jiao San.
The entire Qing Mao was covered by a layer of snow coat, and many of the trees had naked branches, without a single leaf.
At times, squirrels or wild deer were frightened by these people and ran away quickly.
Thirty minutes later, Jiao San stopped in his tracks as he had reached his destination.
He turned over his head, looking at Fang Yuan, smiling, and praising, "Good job! For not following behind me and not losing your pace once."
Fang Yuan smiled silently.
The two stood on the spot and waited, until the remaining three members arrived.
Puff, huff, puff...
They took deep breaths, their foreheads full of sweat, their faces red as they placed their hands on their waits, the last members plopping on the ground.
Jiao San harshly stared at them, barking, "Stand straight! Haven't you embarrassed us enough? Look at Fang Yuan, then look at yourselves. Hmph, after this mission, go back and reflect on yourselves."
The three immediately stood up straight, but lowered their heads. They were chided by Jiao San until they did not dare to raise their heads or rebuke him.
Only their gaze towards Fang Yuan changed.
"How strange, how can this Fang Yuan be so experienced? I did not see him fall even once!"
"Enough, buck up." Jiao San pointed forward, "This small-sized valley is our destination. Inside, there are large amounts of permafrost decayed soil for us to collect. Let's split up here and harvest the frozen earth. An hour later, we will gather here. Kong Jing, distribute the tools."
Jiao San had just spoken, and the male member called Gu Yue Kong Jing stood up.
He opened his palm wide and a yellow light shot out from the aperture in his abdomen, landing on his palm.
The yellow light dispersed, showing its true form. A frog with a golden back.
This golden frog was plump with a giant snow white belly, causing its entire body to look like a ball when inflated. The frog's mouth and eyes were all at the top of its head due to this belly, being squeezed into a spot.
Fang Yuan's gaze shone, recognising this Gu worm.
This was the Rank two Gu worm — Large Belly Frog.
Soon after, Kong Jing's hands emitted traces of red steel primeval essence, and were absorbed by the frog.
Ribbit.
The Large Belly Frog screeched, opening its mouth to vomit out a steel spade.
The steel spade flew in the sky, turning large quickly. In the blink of an eye, it landed on the ground, becoming a large steel spade half the size of a person.
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit...
It called for several times, throwing up a tool each time.
Eventually, the snowfield in front of everyone had five steel spades, and five wooden boxes. The wooden boxes all had two ropes for carrying.
Gu master feeding Gu worms was a large burden. Thus, Gu worms were limited in numbers. During the initial stages, it was hard to single-handedly deal with different environments, and with different intensity of troubles, Gu Masters thus often worked in groups.
In a small group, there was someone doing reconnaissance, someone for offence, someone in charge of defence, someone healing, and someone as logistics support.
The Gu Master who stood up, Kong Jing, was a logistics support Gu Master. He controlled this Large Belly Frog, which was a support Gu worm, where its belly had another space that could be used as storage space.
Of course, every Gu had its strengths and weaknesses.
The Large Belly Frog's weakness was that not only was the storage space limited, every time it vomited an item, it had to croak once, and this was irritating. Especially when a Gu Master is hiding in the battlefield, if handled poorly, it would reveal one's location.
Another thing was, the Large Belly Frog could not store Gu worms, and it was not immune to poison, unable to store poisonous objects.
After distributing the tools, each of the group members had a steel spade and a box in their hands.
"Let's set off," Jiao San waved his hand, leading the party into the valley.
Fang Yuan held the steel spade and carried the wooden box, choosing another direction.
"He is after all a newbie, rushing in like that. Hehe."
"Is the permafrost decayed soil so easy to harvest? If he cannot differentiate it, he might get normal frozen earth, wasting his efforts."
"The truth is, it is really difficult to differentiate. The permafrost decayed soil's colour is around the same as normal frozen earth, especially under the cover of all the accumulated snow, so newbies can only dig relying on their luck."
The three members seeing Fang Yuan's backview laughed internally.
An hour later, they saw that Fang Yuan returned with an entire box of permafrost decayed soil, and were all stunned.
Including Jiao San, all their wooden boxes were only half-filled with permafrost decayed soil.
Seeing Fang Yuan's wooden box, they were almost ashamed to show their results.
"It is all permafrost decayed soil!" A member observed carefully and was even more shocked.
"Fang Yuan, how did you gather so much frozen earth?" A female member could not hold in her curiosity and asked.
Fang Yuan's brows raised, and the snowlight shone on his iris, showing a clear and transparent gaze.
He laughed lightly, "The academy elder said before, the permafrost decayed soil is a fertilizer created when the snow freezes the swamp. It has a tint of purple in the blackness, and is actually very smelly, but because it is frozen by the snow, it cannot be smelled. It is the Smelly Fart Fatworm's food. At the same time it is also very fertile, often mixed in the soil to grow crops, fruits and vegetables. The clan sending out this mission, is probably because they want to use it in the underground cave and fertilize the moon orchid flowers."
His words caused the four to be frozen on the spot.
"These theories are obviously learnt in the academy. But theory and reality are very difficult to be linked. Has Fang Yuan collected permafrost decayed soil before?" The three members looked at each other in shock.
Gu Yue Jiao San's gaze shone, saying, "Good job Fang Yuan."
As he praised, his usual warm and kind smile became a little forced.
Jiao San turned around, saying to the rest, "This way, our mission is completed. Everyone pass your spades and boxes to Kong Jing, and let's return."
When they got back to the village, it was already afternoon.
The five walked out of the internal affairs hall, Jiao San distributing the six primeval stones they earned. He got two pieces, while the rest of the members got one.
The primeval stones were so easily earned, so the members all broke into a smile.
Fang Yuan kept his primeval stone in a bag.
"Alright, the permafrost decayed soil's mission has just been completed. Next, I accepted a wild deer hunting mission. The danger is low, so it is suitable for you to practice." Jiao San said to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan laughed coldly in his heart, but said, "Thank you for your concern, group leader."
Inwardly, he thought, "Firstly, the clan missions, each Gu Master must complete at least one a month. The more you complete and the more perfect it is, the higher your evaluation."
"Secondly, the missions are distributed by the internal affairs hall or the external affair hall, each Gu Master can only accept one. Once accepted, they must complete it."
"Thirdly, under special conditions, a Gu Master may choose to abandon a mission, but that will cause their evaluation to fall greatly. At the same time, Rank one Gu Masters have no rights to give up, and only Rank two Gu Masters do. But they can only abandon one mission a year."
"Fourth, the clan's evaluation is very important. It concerns your future in the clan, and the higher your evaluation, the greater your future and the brighter it is."
"How amusing for him to use the same trick!"
Gu Yue Kong Jing immediately followed up, "Little brother Fang Yuan, you should really properly thank the group leader. Although simple missions are easily completed, they have a small reward. The group leader's actions are to take care of you."
The other two female Gu Masters also spoke, "Yeah, yeah, little brother Fang Yuan, action speaks louder than words. Why don't you thank the group leader by treating him to lunch."
"Little brother Fang Yuan, you just left the academy, society is complicated. Human relationship is very important. If you don't know anything, just ask us during lunch."
Gu Yue Jiao San laughed, purposely waving his hand, "Don't put him in a spot, he just left the academy, he must be tight on primeval stones."
"How can he reject it for such petty reason" A female Gu Master purposely said.
"Group leader, you've mistaken our little brother Fang Yuan. How can he be so stingy. Am I right, little brother Fang Yuan?" Gu Yue Kong Jing laughed heartily, as if he was very happy.
Another female Gu Master got nearer to Fang Yuan, as if they had a close relationship, saying, " Little brother Fang Yuan, a word of advice. You can choose not to suck up to us, but the group leader, you have to. You know, our group's evaluation has a portion written by the group leader. If he says you're outstanding, you're outstanding. If he says you performed badly, it means you really performed badly."
"That's right, that's right. Evaluation is very important to us Gu Masters, we need at least an outstanding evaluation to be noticed by the higher-ups. In the future where we have sufficient achievements, we would be able to work for several years less!" Kong Jing immediately followed up.
Throughout the entire process, Gu Yue Jiao San was smiling and watching.
Finally he waved his hand with a kind expression and laughingly said, "Ah, don't speak nonsense. I am always impartial when writing my evaluation, and will not be easily bribed by you. But don't worry Fang Yuan, you are a newcomer, so now that you're in our group, I will take good care of your evaluation."
If it were a normal teenager, they would've been led by the nose by these few people, feeling touched secretly. They are bullying a newcomer's ignorance and naivety.
But Fang Yuan's iris was calm as the sea.
Group leader being involved in the member's evaluation, that was the truth. This is the clan's system, giving the authority to the group leader, so that they can manage each small group.
But it is not as severe as these people said.
For the clan evaluation, the group leader's evaluation is only a very small portion, and it is still mostly attributed to the clan's internal affairs hall.
Or rather, even if the group leader had a great influence on it, so what?
Fang Yuan didn't give a damn about the evaluation.
Fang Yuan had only joined their group for one reason — to slip away from the watchful eyes of the clan leader.
A dark glint flashed in his eyes as his thoughts turned inward.
"Heh… I'm preparing something far greater than they can imagine. Not just for the clan… but for the entire mountain."
"A gift so unforgettable, they'll remember it... for eternity.."