Although it had been only a few hours outside, a few days had passed within Fang Yuan's aperture.
Wang Tian continued to live, barely scrounging by in the wilderness. 'Life here is really hard,' he thought to himself. He could collect berries or mushrooms using Gather Gu, but the problem was that there weren't many of them around this area to find in the first place.
There were, of course, plenty of spaces with food, shelter, and water within the Fang Yuan Continent.
The problem was that most of them had already been seized by one group of humans or another. Wang Tian had nothing he could use to negotiate with them, and most tribes were extremely xenophobic and hated interacting with outsiders.
If they found out he was a Gu Master, they would be even more wary of him.
Even if they were very small groups, such as just a few dozen in number, there was no way that Wang Tian could deal with them.
As such, Wang Tian could only live on the fringes of the wilderness trying to scrape by.
He already felt like he was going to be losing a considerable amount of weight in just a few weeks.
With that said, life on the Fang Yuan Continent, even though it felt exceptionally hard for him, was certainly far easier than it would have been in the outside world. In the outside world, someone like Wang Tian wouldn't have survived for five minutes before being attacked by some kind of wild beast or wild gu worm.
If there was a silver lining, it was the fact that he could now focus on his Gu Master cultivation without having to worry about being found as much.
He was a bit hesitant to send his primeval essence at the crystal walls of his aperture, but as he continued to do so, it dawned on him that this was not an error; rather, this was what he was supposed to be doing.
There was no further way to wash the walls of his aperture, only to destroy them, and they regenerated. Based on his own intuition, he figured that he needed to break them before they could fully regenerate.
'If I can break the crystal walls of my aperture, I think after that I can get to Rank 2,' he thought. He was mostly sure that this was correct, but at the same time, he didn't want to take that kind of step in case he was wrong and ended up irreversibly damaging his aperture.
The problem was that it wasn't like he had many sources of information to rely upon. He knew that Rank 2 existed, but nothing much beyond that. He was completely clueless on how to get there.
Even if he could find another group of friendly humans, they may or may not actually have Gu Masters among them to confirm what one needed to advance. Even if they had Gu Masters, they might only be Rank 1.
As such, despite having 95% aptitude, he was stuck at Rank 1 Peak Stage for the time being - surviving on small animals like rats and sleeping within the depths of dark caves.
Despite trying for a while, he hadn't managed to come across any other gu worms. He could only try to continue hanging on to life and hope that things eventually got better.
***
Fang Yuan had some time to rest and think over what to do about Fang Zheng. He needed to train him.
The problem was finding someone actually capable of fighting with him on a level that would improve his skill. He could drop Fang Zheng off at the Shang Clan Arena, but he also needed someone to handle affairs in the village for now. Fang Zheng was also strong enough to the point that he might not even get that much of a challenge with most fights in the arena.
Not to mention, at this point, there was the chance that Fang Zheng might end up dying, which he wanted to avoid. The ideal thing would have been to train Fang Zheng within his aperture; however, because of the Integration Formation, he could not do so.
'I'll have to think about it later,' Fang Yuan thought as Qing Shu arrived.
"Ah, Supreme Elder Fang Yuan," Qing Shu said, bowing his head. "If you had needed me, you could have called upon me at any time in the middle of the night."
Qing Shu was someone devoted to the clan and would have come running like a dog if the Supreme Elder called. Forget that, Fang Yuan being Rank 6, any elder within the village would come to his call regardless of the time.
"It's no matter; this was not something super urgent," Fang Yuan said.
He was sitting alongside Fang Zheng, who still looked guilty after the events of last night, feeling like he hadn't put in enough effort into training. He had barely been able to touch Fang Yuan a few times, and even then, Fang Yuan had seemed unfazed.
'Is Big Brother also a Strength Path cultivator, or are Immortals really that strong even when it's not their main path?' Fang Zheng wondered.
There was a gap between mortal and Immortal, without a doubt, but even then, Fang Zheng found it hard to comprehend just how big that gap was.
"What is the matter then, Big Brother?" Fang Zheng asked.
"The matter is regarding the future of our clan," Fang Yuan said, turning towards Qing Shu. "Qing Shu, the day will soon come when you will have to become the clan head of Gu Yue Village."
Both Fang Zheng and Qing Shu were shocked. Fang Zheng spoke first. "B-But Big Brother, I'm still around!"
Even though Fang Zheng felt that being clanhead was not all he had thought it would be, he didn't want to give up the position. Additionally he felt that Fang Yuan was saying he wasn't good enough anymore.
"I know that you're currently Clan Head," Fang Yuan said, "but in the future, I'm going to be helping you cultivate and advance in Rank. There will be times that I will need you in other places, not just in the village. You will remain clan head for now, but the time will eventually come when you will no longer be around to help with the village."
Qing Shu understood that there was a deeper meaning behind these words. "Supreme Elder, will you be leaving us soon?"
"Indeed, I will be departing for Shang Clan City soon," Fang Yuan said.
"When are you going?"
"Later this evening."
"But Big Brother, you just barely arrived and you're already leaving..." Fang Zheng muttered.
Even Qing Shu was disappointed. The elders had done a complete one-eighty on their position of whether or not they wanted Fang Yuan around and now wanted Fang Yuan to chill around the village.
"Such is the nature of the world of Immortals," Fang Yuan said. "If you go to any other clan, you will also see that Immortals rarely make their faces shown. Immortals have their own problems and issues. Because of that, I cannot stay here if I hope to advance further. I intend to return to the Shang Clan immediately, but I also intend to help Fang Zheng advance in the future. If I am going to borrow Fang Zheng at one point, I need a suitable replacement ready in order to keep the village running. Naturally, the next best leader for the clan is you, Qing Shu."
Qing Shu bowed his head. "I am very honored that Supreme Elder thinks so. However, I am just a B-grade talent and have little hope of reaching Rank 4. I'm not sure if I would be the best candidate."
Fang Yuan held up his hand. "There's no need to worry about your aptitude. Several aptitude-raising gu worms exist which I can give to you once I get my hands on them. It will be a mild problem, but I can find a way to obtain a few." More than aptitude, Fang Yuan needed someone at the helm of the clan who wouldn't betray him and would also work like a horse if asked to. Aptitude was something that he could very easily fix now.