There were whispers all around Fang Yuan as he said this. "The Insane Reverend? That's the name of our Sect Leader?"
"Well, good thing that all of you are up to speed now," Fang Yuan said. "In the coming week, we will continue recruiting members using certain aggressive tactics, after which we will start distributing sect resources to our members."
The dogs withdrew from the square, and the food was left for them to consume as Fang Yuan left. However, as many of them walked forward, they felt like it didn't taste quite right in their mouths. Perhaps it was only something they were feeling psychologically, but something seemed off about the food. It didn't taste the same as when Shang Xin Ci distributed it, as if they had a tight knot within their stomachs before and while eating it.
Of course, Fang Yuan wasn't the kind of person who would stoop to poisoning them; so it had to be all in their heads.
Fang Yuan, with a small army of his dogs, continued recruiting other members around the city until he had about 2,000 staff working under him. It was then that the core tenets of the Beggar Sect were established.
"The first rule is that you will uphold chivalry," Fang Yuan said. "Of course, we are a righteous sect. You would greatly displease me if I saw any of my members behaving in a way that would shame the name of our glorious sect. That means no stealing, attacking, robbing, or maiming."
These noble words of the virtuous hero Fang Yuan were deeply engraved within all members.
"Rule number two is that we will not cause any disruptions or inconvenience our patron, Shang Xin Ci, and will work under the regulations of the Shang Clan."
What this meant was that there were certain areas they had to beg around, and could not enter restricted areas.
From Shang Xin Ci, Fang Yuan was able to get a somewhat detailed map of the Outer City. He quickly marked several areas on the map which he considered to be acceptable. This was distributed for all members to see. Several of the areas were marked in red, some in blue, and very few in green.
"The green areas are prime places for foot traffic and riches alike," he said. "And can be considered to be prime spots for begging in the city."
Those people who had not agreed to join the sect soon found themselves constantly harassed by the 'wild' street dogs and were forced to leave these prime begging spots. These areas, given the heavy foot traffic, were handed off to the more loyal members.
Those who were slightly lower on the hierarchy were sent to other areas marked in red and blue. However, those who were sent to the more prosperous areas had to donate more funds to the sect, which the others were not taxed as highly or not at all. This rule only applied to primeval stones, food could be consumed on the spot, making it one of the prime things those in the Beggar Sect grew to ask for.
In this way, balance was maintained among the members while still allowing them to maintain a portion of their earnings.
This arrangement was for those who were part of the "dirty clothes faction," so to speak. They were the ones who were actually sitting at street corners with a bowl in hand, asking for a fraction of a primeval stone or something to eat.
To identify themselves among each other, these members each carried a blue pouch beneath their tattered clothing.
For those who were Rank 1 Gu Masters and above, Fang Yuan had other plans.
They were employed in the transportation of goods around the city, using Shang Xin Ci's name for business purposes. In reality, these were all low-quality goods, but it gave them a well enough excuse to wander around the city and its alleyways, snooping around for information.
There was a third, developing division within their sect. Those who were part of a new business initiative under Fang Yuan. These were all Rank One Gu Masters, and were chosen for their intelligence - or to be more accurate, lack thereof.
Many of them sat in a circle, reciting the words on paper that they had been handed. "Skibidi... Ohio... Sigma...?"
This research endeavor was started from Fang Yuan's experiences dealing with Guo Lian in the painting. He had been able to rather reliably generate Stupidity Gu, and Fang Yuan wanted to find a way to do the same.
He had these phrases jotted down from his memories in the painting, and was now trying to re-create Guo Lian's success.
The problem was that either the words were not correct, they were not arranged properly, or perhaps simply that they had to be spoken with a certain intention in order to work. Fang Yuan had forgotten most of Guo Lian's poem. He had considered this to be a boon, but it seemed to be a drawback now.
'If only I'd noted the words down before...' Fang Yuan thought.
As it was, there was no point in fretting over it now.
They did make some slight headway in determining how to refine Stupidity Gu, however.
Firstly, it was easier to refine the dumber the person was at baseline. For this reason, several people from the 'Dirty Clothes Division' were given the chance to try and become Gu Masters for the purposes of refining Stupidity Gu.
Secondly, when Stupidity Gu was refined, it would be at the rank of the Gu Master in question. Because of this, refining anything about Rank 1 Stupidity Gu was rather difficult.
Thirdly, once a Gu Master had already refined a Stupidity Gu they could not refine another one while it was still in their aperture. Fang Yuan wasn't sure if this was an absolute rule, or it was simply harder to refine another one to the point it was extremely unlikely, but this meant that once a Stupidity Gu was refined it had to be removed from the Gu Master's aperture.
Stupidity Gu had a peculiar appearance. It looked like a dung beetle with two massively enlarged eyes, as if to give a vacant expression. It also had a mildly filthy smell. It was easy enough to feed as it fed on human stupidity - which was infinite in a place like Shang Clan City with so many people.
Its main use was in refinement recipes. It was said that the legendary Wealth Gu mentioned in The Legends of Ren Zu needed it as its ingredient, but that was an Immortal Stupidity Gu, not the Rank One that they could produce.
Quickly enough though, Stupidity Gu became the signature product of the Beggar Sect - much like how Moon Orchids and the Moonlight Gu were for the Gu Yue Clan.
The main drawback was because the refinement material was a certain process and speaking a few words, it was difficult to keep this a secret from outside forces. The Beggar Sect was also new and its members had no strong ties to each other, meaning that their loyalty was highly suspect. This was exacerbated by them being a sect, and not a proper clan with blood ties to each other.
The chances of Fang Yuan's painstaking research into Stupidity Gu leaking out were very high. All one would need was a couple of idiots in order to make a Stupidity Gu-producing factory.
With that said, they could at most produce Rank 1 and very rarely Rank 2 Stupidity Gu. This was not really worth paying that much attention to, and for the time being Fang Yuan had a monopoly on Shang Clan City's dummies.
If he spent a bit more time himself, he could potentially create a refinement route and recipe list much like the Flesh Bone Lord had done for Bone Path gu worms, but this would take too much time and was of limited use to him.
Right now, sales from Stupidity Gu could only provide for about twenty percent of the Beggar Sect's expenses. By Fang Yuan's calculations, they could at most get this to about forty percent with some more testing. The rest of the shortfall had to be met with begging, or donations from Shang Xin Ci. This was fine with him for the time being as it let him steal further virtue from her in anticipation of once again trying to refine the Righteous Virtue Physique.