Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing were sitting across from each other.
They had booked a hotel within the third inner city as neither of them wanted to go out and come back and only to have to pay the toll again.
Fang Yuan might be able to do so with his token, but there really wasn't anything outside of here that they needed. There were still several refinement materials that Fang Yuan wanted to purchase. He had not yet put his ultimate plan into action, however; that would start only whenever the Shang Clan head would realize that he was here.
The two of them were reading pieces of paper that they had each written down after much haggling with each other.
This was an agreement that they were signing. Bai Ning Bing and Fang Yuan had often clashed with each other. Fang Yuan held some leverage over her with the Yang Rotation Gu while she held some leverage over him with her access to the Dollhouse.
Both of them were unscrupulous demons, and both of them knew that, so their words could not be trusted in such a scenario. What else could they do but use something like Poison Vow Gu in order to seal the deal? What was written was the agreement that both of them were going to bind themselves with.
Bai Ning Bing, however, frowned a little when she read some parts of the page she had been given. Some of the lines seemed sort of strange to be with each other. 'Till death do us part?' She understood what the meaning was, to prevent each other from betraying one another. However, the way they were worded was unnecessarily flowery and even somewhat romantic if seen from a certain lens, which was unlike Fang Yuan, who tended to write things very sparsely and in a straightforward manner.
"Oh, it's just my way of writing things," Fang Yuan said. "Don't worry about it."
Bai Ning Bing snorted. The fact that he said "don't worry about it" only made her even more suspicious. Even after reading it over ten times however, she couldn't find anything that popped out at her.
Of course, she wouldn't be able to find anything that popped out at her because Fang Yuan had indeed done something to the agreement which she was unaware of - though not in any way that she would've been expecting.
What was that, you might ask?
Fang Yuan had included wedding vows in both of their pieces of paper. But these were not wedding vows that were used in the Southern Border.
No, they were from the Northern Plains. He had specifically chosen the Northern Plains because they had an interesting way of marrying.
There were several ways that one could marry someone else within that region.
However, there was a certain method which did not require the full explicit consent of the bride in question.
Woman occupied a very low status in society when it came to the Northern Plains. It was not uncommon for Gu Masters to kidnap women and then force them into marriage. As a matter of fact, this was even so common that it had solidified into a proper practice, something which Fang Yuan was doing right now.
Finding a maiden and then forcing her to marry you under the threat of Poison Vow Gu? That may not make you any friends within the Northern Plains, but it was still considered to be a binding marriage.
The Immortal Venerable - Giant Sun Immortal Venerable - had once been questioned regarding such a practice and what the rights of a woman would be during marriage in the Northern Plains. He had simply replied, "Enough. I've heard far too much nonsense about women's rights. Why don't we talk about women's wrongs and why they deserve less?"
He then went on to forcefully marry another two million young girls despite him being thousands of years old and then sequester them inside one of his sex dungeons (sacred palaces) scattered throughout the world.
Truly, he was a paragon of the righteous path!
Anyway, such was the thought process within the Northern Plains.
Of course, most Northern Plainswomen were not married off like this, but in a more proper way. While this was considered somewhat of an odd way to marry someone, if one was strong enough to be able to beat off the woman's brother, father, and anyone else who could come after them, why couldn't they do so?
Another benefit was that it didn't need to involve any witnesses whatsoever either. Poison Vow Gu was more than sufficient as a witness anyway.
Bai Ning Bing, of course, was ignorant to an esoteric piece of marriage traditions and rights from the Northern Plains and could find nothing off about this no matter how hard she tried. Sure, some of the wording was suspect but there was nothing that she could say was really a deal-breaker.
Bai Ning Bing and Fang Yuan both recited whatever was written on their pieces of paper as the Poison Vow Gu bit into each of their fingers, which meant Bai Ning Bing had now unwittingly agreed to marry Fang Yuan as per the Northern Plains tradition.
Main Mission Complete!
Bai Ning Bing Chilling
Then there was a pause as the next line came after some time.
...
...
The system feels that the host has cheated it with this sort of achievement.
...
...
No, the system is sure that the host has deceived and manipulated it!
...
...
However, this is technically considered fulfilling the mission. Host has married Bai Ning Bing and so will be rewarded appropriately, though the system is not happy about it.
Reward: Rank 6 Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu has been added to your inventory.
With that, Fang Yuan now had the following Rank 6 gu worms on him: Rank 6 Ambition Gu, Rank 6 Spring Autumn Cicada, Rank 6 Beauty Gu, and Rank 6 Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu.
In other words, he now had four Rank 6 gu worms!
If anyone had been told that a mortal had access to one let alone four Rank 6 gu worms, no one would have believed them.
Fang Yuan had gone through fire and brimstone in order to refine the Spring Autumn Cicada in his past life which had ultimately led to his downfall, and now he possessed three other Rank 6 gu worms!
His fortune was indeed far too good, and it was this which had made going along with the system worth it.
Additionally, he was pretty sure that Rank 6 Dreams of Love and Happiness was a Dream Path gu worm from its name. His investigation into the Dream Path had been limited in his prior life due to the lack of an appropriate Immortal gu worm. Now though, with his advanced 500 years of knowledge and this in his hands, he could quickly become the leading expert in the Dream Path throughout the entire five regions!
Ordinarily, after this short ceremony, the groom would be required to consummate the marriage with the wife. However, since he had already received his reward, and this was not technically necessary, there was no need to bother with such a step.
With this, Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing were both bound by Poison Vow Gu.
As per their agreement, Fang Yuan would hand over the Yang Rotation Gu after Bai Ning Bing had unlocked the secret of the Dollhouse, which likely required her to continue being a woman. In exchange, she would share the spoils of said inheritance between the two of them. As for custody of the Dollhouse, they would split it fifty-fifty between each other like they were already practically doing.
Then there were the lines about which were the marriage contract, which essentially solidified the fact that they could not attack each other, and one had to help the other if one was in need.
There were some miscellaneous items as well in the contract that they had ironed out.
Having this matter settled, they intended to go out and buy some other gu worms, when someone approached them. "Esteemed guests, Shang Yan Fei, the clan head of Shang Clan City, would like to meet with the two of you."
Fang Yuan smiled inwardly. Finally, his real plan was set in motion!
"Meet with us? Why?" Bai Ning Bing asked. This was an odd request - she had intended to visit the fighting arena later on, but it looked like this plan was derailed.
She could only think of one reason as to why this was happening - Gu Yue Fang Yuan!