Fang Yuan was not cultivating when he got home- he couldn't as a matter of fact so long as he was under the suppression of Training Weights Gu.
He could take it out and start cultivating during small periods, but this would reset the gu's timer which he didn't want. 78% aptitude was quite a decent threshold for moving forward- even making Rank 5 a possibility. Once that happened, he would be the king of Qing Mao mountain, and would not need to fear anyone.
So what if they thought that he had stumbled upon a powerful inheritance? Once he got strong enough, it would not matter- they would not dare try to find trouble with him.
With that said, to get to Rank 5 would still take him years at this rate. But he didn't need to reach that high- Rank 4 Upper Stage would be sufficient.
The three clan heads of each clan were either at Rank 4 Initial Stage or Rank 4 Middle Stage. At Rank 4, even the difference in a single minor realm could greatly impact the outcome of a battle. That was why Yellow Golden Relic Gu were so rare as to be nearly nonexistent in the market. It wasn't like super forces like the Shang or Wu clans did not have them, it was that they could not be given out casually. Even if they did sell them in mortal markets on occasion, the price could go astronomically high to the point that even Fang Yuan with his current assets could not dream of affording a single one.
'If you don't want others to find trouble with you, become so weak that no one would even want to step on you, or so strong that no one would dare find trouble with you,' Fang Yuan thought to himself again.
Earlier, when he had been at Rank 3, he was not worth trifling with for the clan leaders, and strong enough to deter anyone below them from attacking him without reason.
Now, at Rank 4 Initial Stage, he could still be suppressed by the clan leader. The worst case scenario would be the three villages teaming up against him for the sake of what they would think was a Venerable's Inheritance.
But if he was only a little bit stronger, he could dissuade anyone from attacking him.
He was at the awkward point where he wasn't strong enough to deal with all of the threats he might come up against, but not weak enough that his enemies might ignore him.
However, his heart was as calm as a sea set against a windless sky.
He had been in far worse predicaments than this.
His main goals at this time were to further his cultivation, and to refine a set of Rank 4 gu worms. The first goal was on hold right now, so that left targeting which gu worms he wanted to advance.
At Rank 4, the failure rate was not insignificant and nor were the materials needed easy to obtain. He had attempted to access some Rank 4 recipes in the underground cavern but the elder in charge of the same would only budge on that matter if Fang Yuan forfeited a number of contribution points, a number that might take him weeks to obtain. In ordinary times this would not even be feasible, it was only kudos to the wolf tide that he even had the opportunity.
The easiest for him to refine further was the Blood Moon Gu. Although part of the Moonlight Gu's evolution tree, the Blood Moon Gu could be used as a material for many Blood Path gu worm recipes. Being a Grandmaster in Blood Path, Fang Yuan could even easily deduce a few new Rank 4 gu worm recipes given enough time and some trial and error.
There was an even easier method than having to jump through all of these hoops. That was the Crimsonhoof Deer- once it fully matured it would be on par with a Myriad Beast King, and its body parts including its bone, skin, and flesh could all be used to not only refine Rank 4 but also Rank 5 Blood Path gu worms. That was the advantage of the Blood Path- it was very resource-efficient. He had even been able to refine the Rank 6 Spring Autumn Cicada thanks to this efficiency using only mostly mortal refinement materials.
However, the Crimsonhoof Deer was not fully mature yet. It would still take a few more months before it could display its full strength, and by then, the issue would be killing it.
'What to do...?'
If Fang Yuan revealed his Rank 4 cultivation, the clan would then easily let him access the Rank 4 recipes in the underground cavern. He might even be able to choose one to keep for himself. But how could he do that when the key issue was that he wasn't strong enough to reveal his true cultivation yet? It was like chasing his own tail with no solution in sight. Without Rank 4 gu worms, even if he managed to reach Rank 4 Peak Stage he would be at a grave disadvantage when it came to fighting other Rank 4 Gu Masters.
The Rank 4 recipes that he knew did not rely on the Moonlight Gu, and he did not have the base forms or ingredients for many of their refinements.
There was one solution- it wasn't necessarily an optimal one and relied somewhat on luck. He could go try to locate the Crimsonhoof Deer now and see if it had acquired any high ranking gu worms. In a few weeks, the time would be ripe for it to start having Rank 3 gu worms. If they were Blood Path, he might be able to salvage something from them.
The system had been awfully quiet throughout all of this- it had not offered him another cultivation blessing that might let him upgrade one of his gu worms.
Speaking of, nearly all of the daily quests rewards had now shifted from dao marks and luck to giving him Guts Gu.
Most of these quests involved saving mortals and occasionally Gu Masters from the wolf tide. An ultimately pointless endeavor as the mortals had nowhere to go afterwards and would succumb to the wolf tide sooner or later. Mortals died in large numbers, Gu Masters fewer still but succumbed as well.
Guts Gu was quite useful for strengthening the soul, the optimal resource for doing the same. That made him wonder if the system anticipated that he would need it in the future. It was not a bad thing to strengthen his soul - it was a fifteen-man soul already, but the applications of it were mainly for the Enslavement Path and for exploring dream realms - neither of which he was heavily invested in at this point.
There was another issue - what Genesis Lotus had told him. That there was something coming that Fang Yuan had to be prepared for.
Fang Yuan felt that he still had control over things for now, but who could easily rival the scheming of a Venerable, even after their death?
As he crushed the Guts Gu, removing it from his inventory, he knew that he had to find some other way to strengthen himself faster.
Regardless of what the future held, he could always ultimately only rely upon his own strength!
New main mission unlocked!
The savior's savior.
Description: Save Qing Shu from having to sacrifice himself to save the village.
Reward: Yellow Golden Relic Gu (x 1)