Fang Yuan had not actually expected Liu Nan to leave like just that. Knowing Liu Nan's prior nature, he had expected the man to further even increase the price. He was not a person who liked hearing 'no' from what Fang Yuan understood.
He also did not expect for Liu Nan to leave him a 'gift', though he was rather wary about taking it. It was a Rank 2 information-type storing gu worm, though he would need to verify that it contained no traps before he would dare use it.
As it was, it did not matter how much of a price Fang Yuan was offered; the value of the Righteous Virtue Physique eclipsed that of a few million primeval stones and so he would absolutely not part with Charity Gu. What use were cultivation resources compared to securing one's future? Of course, it would be incredibly short-sighted to sacrifice long-term gains for short-term rewards.
"Fang Yuan, what is Charity Gu?" Bai Ning Bing asked, turning towards him.
"I haven't the slightest idea," Fang Yuan said.
"Why was he so adamant that you had it, though?" Bai Ning Bing pressed. "It seemed crazy to put down such a price if he hadn't been sure that you had it."
"Don't be ridiculous," Fang Yuan said. "He's probably just hallucinating something. You know how he is, no? He's rather deranged and, I think, not right in the head. One of his poison gu must have affected his brain somehow, leading him to these kinds of delusions."
Bai Ning Bing was 99% sure that Fang Yuan was gaslighting her, but trying to poke deeper into Fang Yuan's schemes was like wading into a swamp which only got deeper and deeper the further out one went. If one wasn't careful, they would drown within it.
"And what is in that information-type gu worm?" Bai Ning Bing asked.
"I haven't checked yet," Fang Yuan said. He needed a guinea pig to make sure it was absolutely safe though. "You can go ahead and take a look for yourself though, if you're that curious."
"No thanks..." Bai Ning Bing said, recognizing what Fang Yuan's scheme here was. "Let's just hope that you can pay me back in time." Bai Ning Bing turned around and focused on her own cultivation.
As it turned out, she would get a replacement for Frost Arrow Gu quite soon. Wei Yang came by to visit them, removing a gu worm from his aperture.
"It took a while for me to see if this could be obtained and I had to use some of my contacts, but I was able to get this," Wei Yang said, placing a Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu on the table in front of Fang Yuan.
Since Frost Arrow Gu could be used even at Rank 3 to some extent, given its limited primeval essence usage, it was a very expensive gu, difficult to find even if one had the appropriate amount of primeval stones.
Bai Ning Bing's eyes flashed as she saw it. As per her agreement, Fang Yuan had to give her back the Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu, not just Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu. However, this was the first step in obtaining the latter, and with this, her performance in the battle arena would greatly increase, allowing her to finally recoup some of her funds. After all, she had lost a good amount of primeval stones betting on Fang Yuan.
"I understand that Brother Fang Yuan is currently in need of primeval stones, so I can give this to you on credit," Wei Yang offered. There was a reason why he was being so generous: both Bai Ning Bing and Fang Yuan were potential external elders of the clan. He also felt somewhat guilty for misleading Fang Yuan like he had given how much of an upstanding person Fang Yuan was.
As it was, he was not offering Fang Yuan a massive favor; he was still asking for the amount to be returned. The only loss to him was the strings he'd had to pull to get the Frost Arrow Gu, but that could be compensated for by slightly increasing the price.
"Hmm, rather than trading in primeval stones, could you accept this as an appropriate trade?" Fang Yuan asked Wei Yang, giving him some of the Flesh Bone Lord's gu recipes.
Wei Yang went through the recipes. It contained only 10% of the actual recipes, and that too of mere Rank one and Rank two gu worms.
"I can assure you that there are Rank 3 and Rank 4 recipes in the final product as well," Fang Yuan said.
It was difficult to appraise gu worm recipes simply because one could not be sure about the authenticity or the completeness of the information before trading them when it came to mortal trades. When one became an Immortal, Yellow Treasure Heaven appraised the completeness of many recipes for people - but there was no likewise equivalent in the mortal realm.
But, the seller couldn't give the recipe away either for perusal before the sale. Thus leading to a deadlock in these situations, whereupon trust was important.
Wei Yang said, "This gu recipe list is worth more than Frost Arrow Gu." Frost Arrow Gu was valuable, probably worth about 100,000 primeval stones at most give or take ten or twenty thousand given the difficulty in obtaining it.
"That is not a problem so long as you can get me several sets of refinement materials for the Frost Lance Gu. Wait, let me write them down," Fang Yuan said.
Fang Yuan had obtained many of the refinement materials for Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu from the Bai Clan remnants within Bei Gu Mountain, who were currently under him with Bai Ning Bing acting as a mediator.
As long as he had several sets of refinement materials, he could always try to refine it again.
"Some of these materials are difficult to obtain, Fang Yuan, even for someone like me," Wei Yang said.
"Not a problem," Fang Yuan said. "You can give it to us in pieces and over time."
The agreement was simple: Fang Yuan handed him the gu recipes. Wei Yang would provide Fang Yuan with Frost Arrow Gu as well as six sets of refinement ingredients for Frost Lance Gu.
In this way, Fang Yuan bypassed Shang Ya Zi in selling those recipes.
With that, their business was concluded. Fang Yuan handed Bai Ning Bing the Frost Arrow Gu.
"Now, surely you're happy."
"What happy!?" Bai Ning Bing asked. "Fang Yuan, don't forget that I have shared profits from you selling these gu worm recipes as well as per our agreement. This cannot be said to atone entirely for everything! At minimum, even if you refine Frost Lance Gu again, you still owe me 200,000 primeval stones considering the price of the recipes you sold!" The ingredient sets were enough for several tries, but there was still a chance of the refinement failing. The 200,000 stones was considering the best-case scenario. On top of which was the 200,000 she had lost betting on him. Without a doubt, she was not in a good mood thinking of all of her losses.
"Bai Ning Bing, you are far too greedy," Fang Yuan said, shaking his head. "As it is, I've already given you Scouting Hive Gu as collateral. Just give me time, and I will, of course, pay you back. On that note, actually, Bai Ning Bing, I wanted to borrow some primeval stones from you, don't worry, I'll give them back to you," Fang Yuan said.
Bai Ning Bing's eyes flashed open, glaring at him. "You shameless-!" She would've said more before realizing there was no point to scolding Fang Yuan for his shamelessness. She took a deep breath before adding, "No way! No way am I lending you anything until you pay back your current debts!"
"Truly, I did not think that you'd be so small-minded, Bai Ning Bing," Fang Yuan said, shaking his head. "Does our relationship mean nothing to you compared to a few thousand primeval stones?"
"Small-minded? I know what kind of snake you are," Bai Ning Bing said. Even now she was half sure that Fang Yuan was taking advantage of her in some way or the other. She just didn't know what the scam was yet. She just knew that the more business dealings she had with Fang Yuan, the greater the likelihood was that she would end up losing if not getting outright scammed.