Fang Yuan, while this was going on, had been busy trying to cultivate. But he had no doubt noticed the commotion outside the clan head's pavilion. He terminated his session earlier than he normally would have and walked outside, frowning. "What on earth is going on?"
Out in the distance, he could finally see what all the hullabaloo was about. There were a number of Gu worms, carriages, mortals, and Gu Masters near the base of the mountain. The way they were walking and the way that they were carrying goods on their backs, this was not an invasion.
"The rchant caravan ca now!" a Gu Master exclaid in a loud voice.
"But why are they here?"
"This is way beyond the ti they would normally co. We thought that they wouldn't co at all," another one intoned.
"Just be happy that they're here."
"They don't seem to be as nurous as they were before," soone else noted. The caravan did not even seem to be one-fifth the size of what it would normally be when it reached Gu Yue Village.
Regardless of the reason for why the caravan was here, since everyone had given up hope that they would visit Gu Yue Mountain, the villagers were all in a cheerful mood now. The absence of the caravan had ant that many things had gone unsold and many products that the villagers needed were unobtainable. Whether they were Bai, Xiong, or Gu Yue clansn, all of them were in high spirits.
Fang Yuan descended from the clan head's pavilion and went out to greet the rchant caravan. The snow had completely lted away by this point, and the mud had dried up under the sun. Most areas were safe enough for travel up the mountain, although there were one or two mortals who succumbed to accidents along the mountain trail. The rchant caravan stopped before the walls of Gu Yue Village.
Jiang He dismounted from the head of the rchant caravan line. The number 'four' was still inscribed on his plate. He looked far more haggard compared to how he had in the prior tis he had co to the village.
He looked like he had lost so weight, and he had signs of injuries which had only been partially healed. He looked like a man who had erged from a war zone, Fang Yuan noted, as he walked towards the head of the caravan.
"Clan head of the Gu Yue clan Gu Yue Fang Yuan greets you," Fang Yuan said with a gentle smile.
Jiang He was a bit taken aback to see Fang Yuan there.
Fang Yuan had not been the clan head the last ti he had dropped by.
While the changing of clan heads was sothing that happened every now and then, what was even more jarring was the fact that Fang Yuan was now rank five.
That technically put him on higher footing than Jiang He and almost equal footing with his father, the head of the Jiang Clan. Jiang He was almost approaching 30, and yet Fang Yuan was already at rank five while he was still only a rank four.
He was, of course, distracted from his cultivation because it's not easy to cultivate while running a rchant caravan and traveling across half the world. But even if he had been free all the ti, he felt he may not have been able to do what Fang Yuan had just done. Was there so secret behind Fang Yuan's teoric rise? He moved these thoughts to the back of his mind, recognizing that he needed to address Fang Yuan.
He cupped his hands and said, "Jiang He, greets you, Brother Fang Yuan." He did not add 'junior' or 'senior' before the brother title - he was used to calling Fang Yuan 'junior brother' but could no longer. But should he really be talking to him like an equal? When the words left his mouth, he felt that calling Fang Yuan "senior brother" might have been the right option.
Fang Yuan did not care, however. "I have been well enough." He then looked over at the rchant caravan with concern. "However, Brother Jiang He, you seem to have encountered so trouble along the way. This is not the normal ti that you would drop by us. Did sothing happen along the way?"
Jiang He's face paled at the mory of what had just happened. "To say that we ran into misfortune is an understatent, Brother Fang Yuan," Jiang He said. "First of all, we ran into a Wailing Fog, which completely disoriented our sense of direction blinding us and also interfering with out sense of sound. Then there was an attack from a Lightning Panther, which would have killed all of us if I had not managed to fight it back and force it to retreat at the last mont. When the fog had cleared and this beast had been taken care of, we found that we were 20 li off course, and stuck in a swamp. Moving through that took us over ten days with all of the cargo we had, and we were constantly assailed by various kinds of venomous beasts and insects. Once we left, it turned out that two demonic Gu Masters had disguised themselves and joined our caravan. They wreaked havoc before stealing a large amount of our goods and leaving. Then, as if things could not have gotten worse for us, we were attacked by a large cloud of mites. The mites by themselves did not do much damage. However, they carried with them a plague which rapidly slew most of the mortals and many Gu Masters as well. Then there was a dust storm which damaged most of our wheels and other implents." He shook his head. "I do not exaggerate when I say I think we ran into more difficulties during this one trip than I have in my entire career combined."
"My heart pains to hear it," Fang Yuan said. In reality, the rchant caravan's misfortune was Gu Yue Village's great fortune, because now they actually had a chance to sell their wares and buy several things. In addition to that, Fang Yuan was already cooking up a sche in his mind, adjusting for the changing situation.
Most rchant caravans were not headed by a rank four Gu Master, but a rank three one. If Jiang He had not been rank four, however, it was clear that their rchant caravan would have been completely wiped out, instead of barely managing to limp on towards Gu Yue Village.
"Coming to my attention, allow to toast to you," Fang Yuan said. Jiang He graciously followed behind him.
"I had heard that there was an attack by a demonic Gu Master on Qing Mao Mountain," Jiang He said.
"Indeed," Fang Yuan said. "It's a very long tale. I can tell you about it once we sit down there."
The thing that the rchant caravan was most starved for was food. When even Jian He looked like he had lost weight, how worse off were the others? The mortals had sunken cheeks and stared greedily at anything they could devour even if it were a lone blade of grass. The Gu Master's gu worms had hardly fared better, many of them only had one or two as the rest had starved out and died.
Although the clan's food supplies had sowhat recovered, it wasn't like they were swimming in grain either. However, many in the rchant caravan were willing to pay three tis the normal price for food. And Fang Yuan even ordered so portion of the clan's own storage to be sold. After all, milk could sustain them for quite a while if all went according to plan.
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