"So the Man family wants to swallow our Ge family?" Ge Guang cried out in alarm.
The old Ge Family Patriarch let out a long sigh. "Alas, your sister is dead, and they have no interest whatsoever in listening to my explanation. Why? Because they want to use this as a convenient excuse to justify sending troops! But I brought Chang Shanyin to back us up. Chang Shanyin is a hero of the Northern Plains with immense prestige, and behind him stands the Chang family. Even Man Tu wouldn't dare resort to forceful rhetoric. That's why they reluctantly withdrew tonight."
Ge Guang was taken aback. "So there was such a twist behind the scenes? But Father, there's something I can't quite figure out. If you already saw through the Man family's intentions, why did you agree to this marriage and betroth sister to that monkey Man Duo?"
The old Ge Family Patriarch curled his finger and rapped it hard against Ge Guang's forehead. "Is there nothing growing inside this head of yours? Why agree to the marriage? Do you think your father wanted to wrong his own daughter? It's because the great blizzard is fast approaching! If we could form a marriage alliance with the Man family, we could take shelter in Red Flame Valley and protect our clan to the greatest extent possible! Sacrificing your sister's happiness alone would preserve the entire Ge family. This marriage was nothing more than a transaction. Alas, your sister ran away from the wedding and died in the Poison Rot Grassland!"
Ge Guang furrowed his brow and blinked rapidly. "Father, I'm starting to understand."
"No, you don't understand yet." The old Ge Family Patriarch knew his son all too well, and continued explaining with exasperation at the boy's slowness. "Tonight, the Man family father and son were ostensibly inviting Chang Shanyin along with us. In reality, their true goal was to deal with us, father and son. And your father pushed Chang Shanyin forward as a shield."
"That Man Duo brought out the Chasing Smoke Gu — his intentions were absolutely sinister! When you all suspected Chang Shanyin, your father swore to him that I believed him. Do you really think your father didn't suspect him? I'm not yet so old and muddled as that!"
The old Ge Family Patriarch stamped his foot, his voice carrying a bleak edge. "But your father didn't dare suspect him. The only reason we, father and son, can stand on equal footing with the Man family is because we have Chang Shanyin's strength behind us. If we suspect him, then the Man family father and son will have successfully sown discord between us and Chang Shanyin. If Chang Shanyin doesn't stand on our side, we might never have made it back from tonight's banquet."
Ge Guang's face was full of shock. "What? Are the Man family really bold enough to go that far — to want to kill us, father and son?"
"Hmph, you think it's a coincidence that you ran into so many Wind Wolves on your search expedition out there? In the Northern Plains, using beasts as borrowed knives to kill people is hardly uncommon! Though in tonight's situation, the Man family killing us outright would be going too far. But they would certainly have put us under house arrest. And then they would use the matter of Ge Yao as their righteous justification to annex our Ge family. With the Ge family失去 us, leaderless, the outcome would be dire indeed."
Hearing his father's explanation, Ge Guang finally grasped the true danger of the evening, and a look of lingering fear surfaced on his face.
"For the sake of the clan, for the greater good, even if Chang Shanyin truly is the culprit, we cannot afford to suspect him! Do you really think I forgot about the Traces Gu? How could I? But you just had to bring it up. What if it truly confirmed that Chang Shanyin was the killer — then what?" The old Ge Family Patriarch spoke with earnest gravity.
Ge Guang fell silent. After a long moment he spoke. "So that's why you gave the precious Fifth Transformation Traces Gu to Chang Shanyin — to mend the rift in our relationship with him and keep him on our side?"
The old Ge Family Patriarch nodded. "You're finally showing some understanding. Son, though your aptitude is outstanding and your cultivation is high, you still have a long way to go before you can become the new patriarch of the Ge family."
"Father, it's so good to have you here. From now on, I will learn from you as much as I can. The Ge family can do without anyone — but not without you," Ge Guang said with genuine conviction.
The old Ge Family Patriarch shook his head slightly. "Time spares no one. Your father has grown old, and in the future the Ge family will have to rely on you. Sigh... After this affair, I've come to truly see Man Tu for what he is. He's a greedy jackal — no amount of wealth could ever fill his heart."
"Now that your sister is gone, we've lost even the pretext to borrow Red Flame Valley. We can't exactly break apart the entire family and defect to the Man family, can we? No — the Ge family must not perish like this, or I would be the eternal sinner of our clan! After tonight, your father has made up his mind. We cannot stay here. Sooner or later, the Man family will find a way to harm us. In a few days, we set out for the Hero Assembly."
"Father, if we leave like this, will the Man family really let us go so easily?" Ge Guang asked with worry.
"Of course they don't want to let us go. But we'll be traveling with Chang Shanyin. Man Tu fears Chang Shanyin and wouldn't dare make a move." The old Ge Family Patriarch gave a low chuckle.
"Then us using Senior Chang Shanyin like this — isn't that a bit..." Ge Guang felt somewhat embarrassed.
"You fool! Why not use him? What's wrong with using people? A good hunter is skilled at using everything around him. When our own strength is lacking, we must compensate with wits. All of this is for the survival of the family!"
After delivering this rebuke, the old Ge Family Patriarch paused, a complicated expression crossing his face. "Still, this Chang Shanyin truly lives up to his reputation as a hero... Perhaps he's already seen through everything, yet he still stands on our side. Such uprightness and righteousness, such willingness to help the weak — that is the true model of the Righteous Path, a guiding light in this world. Son, count yourself lucky that our Ge family encountered such a person!"
...
Time flew, and several more days passed.
Inside the room, Fang Yuan watched the last Bone Bamboo Gu in his hand burn to ashes under the ghost fire, then exhaled a long breath of turbid air. "That was the last Bone Bamboo Gu."
Over the past days, he had trained diligently without rest, consuming all of the hundred-plus Bone Bamboo Gu from the gift box.
Thanks to his tireless repair work, the eight most severe gashes on the Battle Bone Wheel had all been successfully mended. Though the Battle Bone Wheel was still covered in scars, it had at least been pulled out of danger.
After returning the Battle Bone Wheel to his Empty Orifice, Fang Yuan began inspecting it.
His cultivation stood at the peak of the Fourth Transformation.
The four walls of his Empty Orifice were transparent crystalline membranes. His Yuan Sea was filled to ninety percent, all of it True Gold True Essence.
However, since Fang Yuan had only recently arrived in the Northern Plains and had not yet fully adapted, his True Gold True Essence was only equivalent to Pale Gold True Essence at the Initial Stage.
As a result, his current cultivation had temporarily stagnated. With Pale Gold True Essence alone, there was no breaking through the barrier to become a Fifth Transformation Gu Master.