"Did you really use a gu worm to save that fawn?" the hunter asked Fang Yuan. He was a mortal and did not have a deep understanding of Gu Master cultivation, but could comprehend that Fang Yuan had paid a rather high price to save the deerling. Although the hunter had been moved somewhat as well, he would not have paid a fraction of the price needed for a gu worm just to save it.
"Don't worry," Fang Yuan said. "I myself was orphaned at a very young age. Given that, my heart was greatly shaken upon seeing another abandoned child who had been separated from its parents. Seeing myself in it, I couldn't help but want to save it."
The hunter lowered his head. He had done so many times in the past to Gu Masters out of fear of retaliation, but this was a bow of genuine respect. "Truly! In all of the five regions and two heavens, I do not think that there is anyone as righteous as Young Master! If it would please you, may I know your name?"
"Gu Yue Fang Yuan..."
"Ah, Young Master Fang Yuan," the hunter said, committing the name to memory.
Fang Yuan easily returned to the lodge after that. No one had really missed him, but he had been gone for some time. The moment he walked in someone came in with a small issue - if he had been just five minutes late, they likely would've noticed how long he had been gone for.
Was this the effect of luck? Or had the system anticipated this?
Regardless, he put a sign outside his door stating that he was refining his second gu worm and to not disturb him unless there was an emergency.
By now his primeval essence had completely recovered, filling in 59% of his aperture. The Liquor Worm began doing its thing, essentially turning it into 118% effective essence which began to nurture his aperture.
'I'm close - very close to reaching Rank 1 Upper Stage!' he thought.
Fang Zheng, on the other hand, was feeling rather delighted when someone told him that Fang Yuan was still working on refining his second gu worm.
'At last- I'm finally pulling ahead!' he thought.
He had been working on his novel for some time, and by now, he was almost done with the outline for the first draft.
He saw that the others were similarly done, and decided to take a look at what some of them had written.
Zhang Long waited outside of the auction house, knowing that his special ingredient was soon to arrive.
"Here it is," Fairy Jin Zhen handed a bottle filled with clear liquid to him. It was very small and only had half a mouthful of liquid, but to Zhang Long it was extraordinarily precious. Zhang Long handed her ten thousand primeval stones and accepted the bottle.
Fairy Jin Zhen was a bit embarrassed which was why this transaction was done quickly and in a darkened alleyway, though there were still those who were watching from the shadows.
'What did that vial contain that could cost ten thousand primeval stones?' they thought.
If they knew that the vial contained Fairy Jin Zhen's bathwater, who knows what kind of expression they would have?
Fang Zheng stopped reading at that point, nearly choking on his own spit. "Bathwater... what's going on?" What was the context behind this paragraph?
"Oh," the writer of said novel said. "In my novel, the protagonist has a special talent. He can use the bathwater of beautiful girls to create powerful alchemical solutions which greatly boost his cultivation. The more beautiful the girl, the better his talent. My working title is 'I Can Use Girl's Bathwater To Make SSSSS+ Ranked Alchemical Potions.'"
Fang Zheng was greatly shook. Was this what they were all working on?
The guy read Fang Zheng's work and said, "This is good - but I think you need to add more 'S''s to the title somehow. The more of those you have, the better your work, you know."
Fang Zheng lost all ambition for working on novels at that point and just chose to give up. After all, it looked like he was winning against Fang Yuan when it came to cultivation, which was what really mattered.
The next day, nothing of note really happened, though Yu Sai and his gang finally managed to retrieve the Audio-Visual Gu they had planted on the women's side the day before. While it was not easy for someone to pass through the barrier between the sides, a small gu worm could do so easily.
"Alright, this is what we've been waiting for," he said excitedly, about to activate it. What kind of exquisite scene were all of them about to see? Their hearts were pounding in anticipation at the wonderous sights the Audio-Visual Gu must have captured.
They were gathered in a room a bit out of the way of the lodge, which made sense given what they were doing.
Before Yu Sai could activate it, however, a voice spoke to him. "So you are the people who planted that gu worm there..."
They all turned around to see a Rank 2 female Gu Master glaring at them. "You kids think that you're real slick? You're not the first ones to try something like that... and you're not the first ones to be caught. Did you really think that we wouldn't have methods for dealing with such?"
Several of them began to sweat. This was a Rank 2 Gu Master- she could really hurt them, but she only smiled. "Don't worry- I won't touch a hair on your heads. Otherwise people will complain that I'm bullying students." Her smile twisted. "But they don't have such restrictions."
She had been blocking the door, their only hope for salvation and also their only escape route, but now moved to reveal pretty much every single girl in the academy glaring at them, while cracking their knuckles.
Using gu worms was still prohibited in for fighting, but with such a numerical advantage over the boys (Yu Sai had only been able to recruit six of them to join him on his 'righteous crusade'), their fists were more than enough.
Needless to say, Yu Sai and the others had learned their lesson by the time the girls were done. They explained their bruises away as the consequence of sparring with each other, something no one believed but no one did anything about either. Fighting was somewhat encouraged in the academy, and this would've been seen as just 'boys being boys.'
Yu Sai thought that the worst part of the whole ordeal was the fact that they had destroyed the Audio-Visual Gu. So not only did he not get any eye candy, he had completely wasted his chance to get a second gu worm from the academy. As someone with bottom-of-the-barrel aptitude, he would not have many chances to buy one later on in the future.
And squandering his opportunity here would negatively affect him given how important having a variety of gu were for a Gu Master. He was now the only person in the class who just one gu worm. And though his prospects were low, it was not like he would be able to do nothing at all- but without more gu, his usefulness had dwindled even further.
As it was, the boys had learned their lesson, and Yu Sai could do nothing but nurse his injuries.
And so, the hot springs retreat ended. The academy elder had wanted to set it up so that the students could interact with each other and strengthen their bonds, with a particular focus on Fang Yuan.
Needless to say, the endeavor had basically pretty much failed in all aspects of what it was trying to achieve. Perhaps you could say that Yu Sai and his gang were closer after their ordeal, or that the girls were closer after beating them up, but that was not intentional on the academy elder's part. Oh well, he would have other plans in the future.