"Thank you for meeting with me on such short notice," Fang Yuan said to Fang Zheng and Qing Shu the next morning.
"Do not be ridiculous, Supreme Elder," Qing Shu said, bowing his head. "We are at your beck and call. If it truly were urgent, you could have called us in the middle of the night and I would have come running."
"Indeed, Brother," Fang Zheng agreed.
"This is an important matter, though not an emergency," Fang Yuan explained. "It concerns the future of the clan, however. Have either of you heard of the Three Kings Inheritance?"
Fang Zheng shook his head, glancing toward Qing Shu, but the man also seemed perplexed. "I've heard the name 'Three Kings' before, Supreme Elder, but beyond that..."
"The Three Kings were children of the Wang clan," Fang Yuan explained. "The Wu clan attacked their village and slaughtered everyone, but three children happened to escape. They later found themselves within a dead Gu Immortal's blessed land. The Three Kings were King Quan, King Xin, and King Bao. Within this secluded blessed land, they all cultivated to Rank 5 and then assaulted the Wu clan, annihilating them. Once their revenge was complete, these three felt they had no further reason to live and passed away. However, their inheritance has recently opened on San Cha Mountain."
"San Cha Mountain..." Qing Shu murmured, stroking his chin. "I have heard of that. Does it not border the Zuo clan's Leng Zhang Mountain and the Che clan's Fei Lai Mountain?"
"Indeed, it does," Fang Yuan said.
"So the inheritance is kept inside a blessed land?" Fang Zheng asked. The two of them knew about immortal cultivation and blessed lands thanks to Fang Yuan's prior explanations.
"Indeed," Fang Yuan nodded. "And there is something of utmost importance within this inheritance that our Gu Yue Clan must obtain at all costs. Therein, however, lies the problem. Currently, only Rank 3 and Rank 4 Gu Masters are making their way over to San Cha Mountain. As the inheritance goes on longer, more people will show up, and eventually Rank 5 Peak Stage experts will arrive."
That was exactly how things had gone in Fang Yuan's past life. It had taken over ten years for the Three Kings Inheritance to finally conclude.
"I would go there myself," Fang Yuan continued. "However, were I to show my face, that would without a doubt attract the attention of even more Gu Immortals."
Fang Yuan had not been a Gu Immortal during his past life at this time, so he hadn't been sure whether there were Rank 6 experts monitoring San Cha Mountain. Now that he was an Immortal, a preliminary inspection showed that no Gu Immortals were paying close attention to the inheritance... yet.
That was all the better for him, as it made it easier to act. Most Immortals believed the blessed land was old and decrepit - not worth their time - and were happy to let Rank 5 Gu Masters duke it out for the benefits within.
They didn't know what Fang Yuan knew: that an Immortal Gu was hidden within the blessed land. If word of that got out, it would quickly become a battlefield for Gu Immortals.
And here was the problem - if Fang Yuan went there himself, his current fame would attract unwanted eyes, and Heaven's Will might manipulate things behind the scenes.
Fang Yuan could not act directly.
"Since I cannot act on my own, I require the two of you to go there in my stead. Rest assured, you will have my full support. I have several gifts, including gu worms and refinement materials, for the two of you in order to bolster your strength. I also need you to understand that I cannot give you full details regarding everything at the moment. I will have to give you several orders and expect that you follow them without question; for the sake of secrecy I have to keep several details hidden even from the two of you. I only ask that you trust me for the time being and go along with what I say."
Qing Shu and Fang Zheng both nodded. By this point, the two of them had absolute, 100% blind trust in Fang Yuan - the hero who had saved their village many times over. If Fang Yuan wasn't telling them something, they would naturally assume that he had a good reason for keeping it from them.
"Brother, we will work hard for the glory of the Gu Yue clan!" Fang Zheng declared. "However, if both I and Qing Shu are absent, who will run the village?"
"There is no problem there," Fang Yuan said smoothly. "I will stay here and manage the village's affairs."
By that, Fang Yuan meant he would sit around and let the village elders handle daily business, only stepping in if necessary.
He needed to stay behind to deter threats to the village and to show the world that he was nowhere near San Cha Mountain.
If the Supreme Elder was sitting peacefully in New Gu Yue Village, no one would suspect him as he manipulated events from afar. On the other hand, if he was close to San Cha Mountain, many would wonder just what it was that made Rank 6 Fang Yuan so interested in it to directly intervene instead of sending his subordinates.
Speaking of which, Fang Yuan could only sigh inwardly.
He secretly wished he had more capable subordinates. Qing Shu and Fang Zheng were loyal, but their skills were lacking. The two of them combined could not equal Bai Ning Bing when it came to raw fighting prowess, and he worried whether or not they could execute the more... unsavory aspects of the plan.
His initial plan was to send Fang Zheng alongside Bai Ning Bing, but that had to be scrapped and so he could only choose Qing Shu in her stead.
'It is a big problem that I don't have reliable subordinates of my own,' Fang Yuan contemplated.
It had been an issue during the competition for the Tian Ji blessed land when he was forced to bring Bai Ning Bing and so had resulted in a humiliating loss; and it was yet another problem that reared its head here.
Ordinarily, as a Gu Immortal he should have plenty of mortal lackeys willing to throw themselves into the meat grinder just for a chance to impress him. Such had been the case when he was the leader of the Blood Wing Demon Sect in his past life.
But in this life, Fang Yuan had developed too fast. He hadn't had the time to nurture proper subordinates.
He couldn't rely on the mortals within his aperture either; he was letting them develop at their own pace without interfering, and someone like Wang Tian didn't know enough about Gu Master cultivation or the wider world to be that useful yet even if Fang Yuan could rely on him.
'Should I try to re-establish the Blood Wing Demon Sect in this lifetime?' Fang Yuan pondered. 'Of course, I wouldn't call it that - probably something far nicer-sounding. Perhaps the Great Love Paradise Sect instead?'
As for the Beggar Sect, they were all beggars by nature and unreliable. He thought of Shang Xin Ci, but she couldn't be trusted for this expedition anyway as her gentle disposition would preclude much of what he needed her to do.
Fang Yuan spent the next month training Qing Shu and Fang Zheng for what lay ahead at the Three Kings Inheritance. Meanwhile, things developed slowly on San Cha Mountain as people probed the entrance.
During this time, Fang Yuan managed his aperture and used Space Path methods to travel quickly around areas like the Mushroomman Blessed Land and Shang Clan City. He paid a short visit to Shang Xin Ci, who was happy to inform him that their small investment into the rank one Gu worms required to enter the inheritance had paid off. He handed her information regarding the Three Kings Inheritance, which she could sell to her superiors.
"I'm not sure how I can thank you for this, Teacher," Shang Xin Ci said. She was currently at Rank 3 Peak Stage, she was planning to use Bai Ning Bing's help to get to Rank 4, but that was no longer viable. She would likely take a year or longer to get to that level without any significant help.
"Hmm, there is one thing I happen to need, if you can arrange it," Fang Yuan replied.
"Ah... my father would have to look into it..." she said.
Shang Yan Fei pondered the request. It was a steep ask, but given Fang Yuan's status, as long as he was willing to pay a premium, he could obtain it.
Within his immortal aperture, Fang Yuan experimented with refinement recipes.
He built a Refinement Cauldron using the schematics obtained from the An siblings and attempted to refine higher-ranked versions of Wealth Gu. He already had the recipe for Rank 3 Wealth Gu from Wang Tian, but it could only substitute for rank three materials. If he could advance it to rank four or five, it would be immensely helpful.
Unfortunately, he had no luck in that regard.
The original creator of the Rank 3 recipe was Wang Tian, who was currently busy screwing around -both metaphorically and literally - trying to build Wang Tian City while tending to his new wife. Fang Yuan decided to leave him be for now. He would've loved to nudge him to continue working on Wealth Gu, but he had to continue with his policy of non-interference for now.
Fang Yuan also put out requests on Treasure Yellow Heaven, offering immortal essence stones for any recipe to Wealth Gu that happened to exist.
When Shi Zong saw this strange person requesting recipes, he froze in panic - if someone managed to refine Immortal Wealth Gu before him, he would be ruined! He immediately resolved to buy more Ambition Gu and finalize his recipe before anyone else could.