25
Fei Qing made his way towards the refining spot in a hurry. From afar, he could already see a giant lizard intimidating a group of horses but with a single use of a controlling gu worm, he calmed the situation and after a few moments, reached the spot where Fei Chang rested. Fei Yang was tending to an injured gu master, possibly a backlash from refining the gu worm but Fei Qing's gaze remained focus on the rank 3 Earth Lizard House Gu worm. "Elder Fei Chang," Fei Qing nodded as a pleases smile remained plastered on his younger cousin's face, "Lord Chieftain. We managed to pull through and perfect the recipe by a small margin. Please, refine the first gu house of the tribe."
Fei Sheng and other elders were arriving at the spot at a quick pace, their gazes trembled at the sight of one of the most deprived sections of their tribe finally being completed. A house gu worm! With such a gu house, even traveling would become easier and the living conditions for the gu masters would rise by a notch. "Considering our resources, we can refine eight more gu houses despite the failures," Fei Chang informed while Fei Qing refined the gu worm with a curious expression. "Keep it to six," Fei Qing informed, "The gu house will only be presented to the elders who have passed through the Elder's Trial. The remaining rank 3 gu masters who are appearing now would need to purchase the gu worm from Elder Fei Chang. Will you be able to commit to such a task?"
Fei Sheng arrived only to hear this and almost coughed blood. A tinge of regret entered his stomach even when he recalled the recent arrival of a batch of rank 4 gu worms from his mysterious supporter. Meanwhile, Fei Chang knew that this was Fei Qing's way of putting the matter of Fei Cai's rash action to a closure. In all rights, Fei Cai was not at fault but Fei Mang was put to a fatal risk nonetheless and while Fei Qing would never compensate the brash junior, he would keep the 'leader' of the opposition happy enough and loyal to the tribe.
"I am extremely grateful, Lord Chieftain," Fei Chang stood and bowed slightly. By this time, the gu worm was already refined as Fei Qing looked back, "Where is Elder Fei Nai?"
Fei Dan chuckled, "Elder Fei Nai has followed Elder Fei Kao to see to the scouting methods. He wishes to keep a note of external threats."
Fei Qing nodded. Fei Kao now had the support of Fei Nai and in a manner, had pulled Fei Nai into the Chieftain's faction. This did not displease Fei Chang, in fact, made the man happier. Fei Chang had already imparted his methods to his eldest son and Fei Nai needed opportunities to make use of those methods and grow with the experience. Opportunities he would find plenty within the scouting team. Not only that, but Fei Kao now also had control over a rank 3 slave which made his team stronger by a considerable margin.
Besides Fei Yang stood another rank 3 slave, Fei Chang's slave. He wished to communicate with Fei Yang privately but the man only found defeat in the endeavor for Fei Yang did not give him any face. She knew the man to be quite the fighter but discretion was never his strongest suit, something Fei Qing kept in mind before enslaving him. Unlike Fei Yang, the other two rank 3 slaves were mediocre and the only reason Fei Yang breathes is due to the rank 3 gu house now moving under the Fei Qing's control.
"Fei Yang, enter the gu house," Fei Qing ordered as the dark-haired woman followed the instructions while the Chieftain turned to other elders and spoke up, "It would not be effective to plant the gu houses at our previous camps. I shall move my horse groups further into the valley and the spot near the Red mushroom shrubs will be the new location for the housing of the elders as they receive the gu houses. Elder Fei Chang is now responsible for the refining of gu worms and we will discuss the further matters tomorrow." He stated plainly for all the young gu masters and gu elders to hear before whistling, a shrill echo making the horses neigh and roar in obedience as they moved into the deeper section of the valley.
---
Fei Cai and Lo returned on the back of the terror horse. Lo was allowed to sit only because his basket was full of game and quite heavy which made the return travel a bit difficult. Under the surprised and slightly fearful gaze of the terror horse, Fei Cai stopped in front of the resources tent and dropped down, making Lo hand him the basket and silently entered the tent. To his surprise, another young fellow was already present there. Fei Mang.
"Oh, enjoying your new terror claw horse? You should be, right? After all, that damn horse almost killed me!" Fei Mang hissed, his eyes slightly hateful as he gazed at Fei Cai. To blame someone else for their failure is common human behavior and in Mang's case, Fei Cai did use the boy for his goals so he didn't mind the indignant tone. "I've heard that your father gave you a rare rank 1 defense gu, Ice Palm gu. That is probably because you got hurt in the trials," Fei Cai replied, making Fei Mang silent for a moment before the youth snorted and left the tent. His exclamation rang the moment he walked out, most probably due to a terror claw horse at the entrance but Fei Cai didn't hear anything else.
Moving forward, he presented the basket to the old gu master.
"Oh? Struck a nest of Earth Diggers, did you? Hmm, let me see... one mother, 16 eggs, and 28 hatchlings. Good condition, too. You have grown into a better hunter. If this was your first hunt then these precious resources would have been completely butchered for their meat," the gu master commented casually while finally putting several primeval stones in front of Fei Cai. Instead of accepting the payment, he used all of the stones for food for his gu worms. There were still three days remaining to the feeding time but he stocked them into the basket anyway. The remaining Primeval stones were utilized to complete the refining materials for enslavement gu, a half of which he had purchased previously, and finally, he purchased seven completely different materials, of different paths at that.
His purchases didn't make much sense to the old Gu seller but it wasn't his place to question the rising star of the tribe. Walking out of the tent with an even heavier basket. With a little over ten Primeval stones, Fei Cai left the tent on the back of the Terror Horse. He was pleased with the purchase because he had finally decided to go down the path of theft to break through his stagnated situation. Thieving Heaven created the theft path which made all the gu master cower for their gu worms and that was exactly the reason for Fei Cai's hesitation in approaching the theft path.
A single clue leading to him would destroy almost everything and raise countless suspicion. Thievery of gu worms, after Thieving Heaven's disappearance, was a major threat to all the gu masters and it didn't help that the theft gu worms were artificial and created bu gu masters using recipes. But most of all, who wouldn't want to steal other Gu Master's gu worms? Fei Cai mulled over the topic silently but after every passing moment, he felt more determined to take this risk, too. Gu masters aren't the only ones with gu worms. Rare beasts within the forest may have them, too.
His thoughts were put to an end when he saw the tent house removed with a silent Fei Yang waiting for him.
"What is going on?" Fei Cai inquired as she looked at the basket full of gu materials with a slightly widened gaze. "The tribe has gained its first Earth Lizard House gu worm and Master has shifted himself into the gu house. He is waiting for your return," she replied softly as Fei Cai nodded and pulled the basked from Lo's hands, snuggling it in the front and making Lo walk alongside Fei Yang as she led him slowly. With the area full of stranger gu masters, Fei Yang didn't try to continue her methods, fearing that a single word to Fei Qing might actually end her poor life. But seeing the basket full of gu materials, she did grow calm by a small margin. She is supposed to guide Fei Cai through refinement procedures and from the looks of it, she would have some time alone with Fei Cai, after all.
"Haha! Cai'er, come!" Fei Qing laughed and welcomed his son with a hug. Pulled and wrapped by those thick arms, Fei Cai felt stifled but he endured nonetheless. It wasn't every day that Fei Qing showed his emotions to such an extent but after giving Fei Cai a tour of their new home, Fei Qing allotted a personal room to the boy, it was bigger than the old one and for sure, the space is bound to help Fei Cai in refinement sooner or later.
"Son," Fei Qing smiled while Fei Yang continued to settle the room with a mattress and other belongings packed from the old tent house, making Fei Cai feel relieved by the thought of his personal belongings only within the basket and Lizard Mouth Gu worm. "I want you to understand that this house... is built based on your effort and luck. If you hadn't reported the almost dead gu worm at the start, our tribe would not have recovered from one of the most major deficits that many tribes grow upon. So, for today, I'll fulfill another one of your wishes. Ask if you need help with anything."
Fei Cai turned silent. Fei Qing was smiling but he had seen this expression before. This monster in a father's skin has always loved to test his son even before he became a gu master to cultivate his character, tests that the old Fei Cai did not understand at all, but the new one did. He was already rewarded for bringing in the gu worm. Right now, even if he demands something, Fei Qing won't deny the request but instead, concoct some other method to make this moment a lesson of not being greedy. He didn't care for the lecture, but did care for turning his hard work in regards to his image a waste and thus, held his hand. Anyway, with the theft path gu worm he was thinking of refining, he would soon find an end to his troubles, at the very least, for the moment.
Denying the need of gaining anything from the gu worm, Fei Cai shook his head, "Father, how can I be this shameless? You have taught me time and again that greed is a man's downfall. This gu worm came to life after the hard work of Uncle Chang and his methods. I cannot lay claim to someone else's credit."
Fei Qing's smile broadened at the words and nodded, "If that is what you want, so be it. Now, go on and rest. I'll get Lo to prepare a feast!"
With Fei Qing leaving, Fei Cai sat on the mattress and considered his options. There were two theft path gu worms he was extremely interested in. The first one was rank 1 Sneak Attack Gu and the second one, Rank 1 Invasion Gu. And the thought of both the gu worms made Fei Cai feel complicated. The world didn't know that Thieving Heaven was a low aptitude gu master who was enslaved early in his life. Not only that, falling from a high technology civilization that had invented Mechas to such a primal society confused Thieving Heaven for years. His morals were challenged at every step and that is why he turned to Theft Path and perfected it. So that he may simply steal surplus from others instead of committing horrific actions to achieve a goal.
Fei Cai couldn't judge any character in the world but himself and at this moment, he felt conflicted still. Originating from a greater society, a more educational one, Thieving Heaven was obsessed with completing his 'collection'. That is to say, even when he refined a gu worm of a greater rank, say 5, he would work for a few days to make a glossary and create recipes for rank 1-4. In this manner, right now, Fei Cai had an extremely precious collection of gu recipes since it didn't only contain theft path gu worms but from other paths, too. Now, out of these gu worms, only rank 1 Sneak Attack gu worm required a material that made Fei Cai a bit disgusted.
The corpse of a baby. It didn't matter if it was fresh or not and even Thieving Heaven admitted that the first time he invented the gu worm, it was out of dire straits, his conditions worse and materials even horrifying than the one he had modified. "Damn..." Fei Cai whispered, for the first time feeling a little confused after arriving in the gu world. He didn't have the same thought as held by gu masters. Instead, he was simply disgusted by the material itself. The rot, the stench, the thought of it simply made Cai's skin crawl.
Not to mention the fact that the northerners burned their dead, at least, the ones they could find bodies of. But the effects of sneak attack gu worm were amazing, not many gu worms able to defend against it and Fei Cai had all the materials except for a corpse. Similar to Sneak Attack Gu, the Invasion Gu also needed a material relatively hard to find. A dead gu master's body. The rank of the gu master was relative to the rank of gu worm refined.
"I can take a stroll to the slave farm and see if there was a miscarriage of sorts. The medical facilities of this world are not amazing, after all," He mumbled softly. He still had to make arrangements before trying to go for a baby. However, he could create a body of a dead gu master by himself. With his objectives set, Fei Cai called for Fei Yang. This was an amazing opportunity to show that he wanted some doubts cleared while avoiding any seduction from the woman's side. This will make Fei Qing give credit to Fei Yang's explanation once Fei Cai refined a rank 1 enslavement gu. But that still needed a few days worth of accumulation of primeval stones.
Now, Fei Cai needed to hunt!