"Fang Yuan, how could you deny the wishes of our founding ancestor?" the clan head asked.
"I did not outright reject him," Fang Yuan said. "I merely said that such a thing would involve me challenging you, and how could I possibly repay the kindness that you have shown me by attacking you and attempting to seize your position by force? You have raised me almost like a parent- what child could possibly usurp their parent? Would heaven forgive a prince who overthrew his father? When I said this, the first-gen ancestor simply acknowledged my loyalty and said that when I was ready, then I would become clan head, and he dropped the matter for the time being."
"Still, Fang Yuan!" the clan head said. "You shouldn't have done something like that. You should have accepted the position, and I would have stepped down right away." He then sighed. "However, I suppose that can be dealt with later. It is good that you met with him and found a way to control the detonation of one of the Ten Extreme Physiques."
"However, there is one other thing that I would like to report."
"Oh, and what is that?" the clan head asked.
"It is the fact that there is a Lightning Lycan King among the wolf tide."
"A Lightning Lycan King?" the clan head asked, shocked. "Are you sure?"
The clan head did not know about this right now. It would only become apparent in about two week's time when a scouting regimen they would send out would be completely annihilated.
The presence of the Lightning Lycan King completely changed the equation when it came to how the villages would deal with the wolf tide. Before, they only had to deal with three Thunder Crown Wolves, but now they had to deal with the Lightning Lycan King as well. On top of that, it was not simply a matter of power. The Lightning Lycan King's intelligence was also something that they could not ignore and made the already precarious situation one that threatened the foundations of each village itself.
"I also happen to know the vague area where the Lightning Lycan King will be," Fang Yuan said. "I managed to find this out today while I was chasing Bai Ning Bing from the Bai clan. Although he got away, I was able to deduce this and escape." He then paused. "The reason why I was forced to escape and not able to kill the Lightning Lycan King was because I lacked the required set of Rank Four gu worms. If I had them, then I would have been able to deal with him. I know the general area where this Lightning Lycan King might be, and I would like to request a group of Gu Masters to accompany me while we go to hunt this creature. If we can catch it off guard and kill it before it can rally up a force, it will make dealing with the wolf tide ultimately much easier.Of course. What I am also requesting is access to the clan's Rank Four Gu worms and Gu recipes."
"I was going to give you access to a single Rank Four Gu worm regardless," the clan head said. "And I also think that your allowance needs to be increased. Beyond that, though, Fang Yuan, it is rather difficult for me to justify things..."
"In that case, let a few elders accompany me in this mission," Fang Yuan said.
Fang Yuan currently occupied a unique position among the villagers. He was the only other Rank Four Gu Master other than the clan head. None of the other two clans had an extra Rank Four Gu Master.
As such, there is no real use in leaking the information to one of the other villages and having them coordinate an attack. Only a Rank Four could deal with a Lightning Lycan King. However, the clan heads themselves could not head out, of course. They had to defend the villages, and if one of the clan heads was killed, who would defend the village? Because of this they were limited in how they could move out and were tied down to the village.
In that case, whichever village managed to kill the Lightning Lycan King would only make it easier for another village to conquer them. However, Fang Yuan was not restricted by that. As an analogy, if each clan was a chessboard, then each of them had a single queen before which had to remain to guard the king. However, the Gu Yue clan had gained another queen which could freely move. The advantage that this gave them did not need to be stated. "All right, then, I will consider your proposal," the clan head said.
Fang Yuan then went to the merit board. "It was here last time," Fang Yuan thought. "I'm sure I would be able to... there it is."
It was a gu worm from the Bai clan which he wanted: a Rank Three Gu worm. Nonetheless, it would be hard to obtain it ordinarily.
However, he had something that the Bai clan would want: the Rank Three Stone Aperture Gu. They might call him shameless for essentially trading away something he had stolen from Bai Ning Bing in the first place. But all Fang Yuan had to retort when they asked him about this was, "Do you not want it back? Is it more important to call me shameless or to help Bai Ning Bing!" The Bai clan eventually agreed to the trade despite complaining all the way. Bai Ning Bing was one of their geniuses after all, and he badly needed the gu worm.
'Heh- even if you use the Stone Aperture Gu, it will not be enough to withstand the power of the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique when it bursts,' Fang Yuan said, already plotting for when this event would occur.
Fang Yuan took his new Gu worm and went to pay the Crimsonhoof Deer a visit.
Once he was done, like last time he went to take the Lightning Lord Wings Gu from the cavern. This would still be as helpful as always, as well as looking at certain recipes.
There were other things that he wanted, but those could wait until he became clan head properly.
He tried examining the paintings that Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable had given him. They had not come in handy whatsoever with the last run of things, and he had half a mind to throw them out or destroy them given he didn't exactly trust Genesis Lotus, but found that he was unable to as whatever attack he launched at them just sank in.
For now then, they would remain in his storage gu.
Now, he wanted to go ahead and explore the dream realm while the strike force was prepared to attack the Lightning Lycan King.
Just like last time, Fang Yuan had Fang Zheng guarding him while he took the dream realms out.
He needed to do this before he became clan head, because otherwise there was no way that he would be able to get three days' worth of time alone with the wolf tide raging.
This time, his soul had been strengthened with the help of Guts Gu and he also had Guts Gu stored away from the daily quests in case his soul got injured.