Every moment that Fang Zheng was not actively cultivating, the walls of his aperture were repairing themselves. Within a few hours, the walls would be back to their pristine state before he had even started - he could not keep up with it any longer and any further attempt on his part would only be a waste of time and resources. Resources that his brother had given him and which he felt he could not waste.
"It is no matter," Fang Yuan said, waving his hand. "Go and do your other duties. We'll definitely find some way to get you to Rank 3, don't worry."
He was a bit disappointed by this result and the waste of resources and time that it had caused. However, failures and success are familiar parts of life. He had attempted to forcefully break through to Rank 3 back during his old life once he had accumulated thousands of primeval stones once, but much like Fang Zheng, had been met with failure. He had cultivated for six days nonstop, but as he was almost done, his body had given out.
It had only been when he had paid a great price for an aptitude-raising gu worm that he had managed to finally break through to Rank 3 after a century of cultivating.
As such, Fang Yuan knew the importance of aptitude more than anyone else. Even a small fluctuation in it, especially at the higher levels, could mean the difference between success and finding out that you had potentially wasted nearly ten thousands of primeval stones. Fang Zheng had missed the mark by only a small percentage fraction, but there was no point in lamenting a near-miss.
While Fang Zheng had failed, but it wasn't like he had not managed to accomplish anything.
Based on Fang Yuan's estimation after he examined Fang Zheng's aperture, Fang Zheng had actually come rather close to being able to actually succeed.
But there were a number of issued holding Fang Zheng back. The most glaring one was simply Fang Zheng's lack of ability to continue with the dual cultivation.
His pain tolerance was far lower than Fang Yuan's and Bai Ning Bing's, and so they had been forced to terminate their dual cultivation session using Equality Gu prematurely.
Fang Yuan thought that if it was him in Fang Zheng's shoes, and he had been able to get this kind of help, that he would have been able to break through to Rank 3 stage with his focus. However, Fang Zheng was not him, and there was a limit to his current tolerance to both pain as well as ability to focus.
Additionally, Fang Yuan himself was not Rank 5 yet, and he could not use Equality Gu to its full power. 'Rather than trying to help Fang Zheng break through to Rank 3, I should try to break through to Rank 5 myself first,' Fang Yuan thought.
He had considered the fact that it might have been easier to do the former rather than the latter, simply because of the gap between breaking through to Rank 3 and breaking through to Rank 5.
However, it wasn't like the situation was not going to change at all. He did have one advantage, and that was in Human Path dao marks. Every month, as he continued to be clan head, he would gain 150 Human Path Dao Marks.
That raised the effectiveness of Human Path Gu worms by an additional 15%, which included Equality Gu. It might be possible for him to maintain the Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique within himself for a longer period of time.
The more Human Path Dao Marks he inscribed upon himself, even if he didn't break to Rank 5, his usage of Equality Gu would only improve with time.
Additionally, with the village's situation stabilizing, he no longer needed to watch it as closely as he had to before. He had not been able to arrange for some time for a few days in succession to enter closed-door cultivation.
But Qing Shu was about to break through to Rank 3 Middle Stage soon, and many of the smaller matters regarding the village were already being handled.
Fang Yuan anticipated the time when he could finally break through to Rank 5 initial stage would soon come in about two months or so.
In the meanwhile, he had wanted to see if he could raise Fang Zheng to Rank 3, but now it was clear that it would happen later rather than sooner.
Speaking of matters regarding the village, Fang Yuan had good news for the villagers. A few days after the mass burial, "It is with great pleasure that I'd like to announce to everyone," Fang Yuan said, "that the Moon Orchid fields have finally recovered."
There was a large amount of cheering at this announcement.
Many of them had been worried as to how they would feed their Moonight Gu worms and their derivatives without the Moon Orchid Petals, and with the fields having recovered to eighty percent, they could very well once again meet the needs of the village and continue to replenish them without a risk of them going extinct.
As for the Moon and Stars Support Vine Gu, it would soon no longer be needed and free up some additional hands around the village.
Several of the Gu Masters' gu worms were near starvation from lack of Moon Orchid petals. When push came to shove, the clan had to prioritize the feeding of the elders' gu worms over that of the ordinary rank-and-file soldiers. However, that had now finally changed. "Given this, I will be giving every Gu Yue Gu Master a small reward of ten Moon Orchid Petals over the coming week."
There was even more cheering at this. Ten Moon Orchid Petals was not much to an elder. However, to an ordinary Gu Master, it could take care of the feeding of their gu worms for over half a month or even more.
With the village no longer in dire straits as before, such an allowance could be made.
It was also a way of motivating them further.
"I hope that this will put a dent in those people who are scalping and hoarding Moon Orchid Petals in order to sell them for high prices," Fang Yuan said. Yu Sai wasn't the only one who happened to have a few Moon Orchid Petals lying around in storage, and there were others who had been punished for price gouging while trying to sell Moon Orchid Petals on the black market.
This even led to people buying from the black market only to resell them once again. While many Gu Masters wanted to complain; they did need the petals to feed their gu worms and felt helpless to do anything other than pony up the high prices.
Until now that is.
"As clan head," Fang Yuan continued, "it greatly wounds me to see that there are people who would prioritize their own personal profits above the collective needs of the clan. To think that such shameless people walk among us is truly terrifying." The only reason Fang Yuan wasn't doing so was because there was no need given he had direct access to the source of primeval stones itself. "However, with our increased resources now, we can very easily stop the rationing of Moon Orchid Petals. Additionally, for the next few months they will be sold at a ten percent discount compared to their normal price in order to help with the rebuilding efforts!"
There were even more shouts from the crowd. Some of them, Fang Yuan noted, had mixed expressions - likely those who had either been hoarding them recently or had recently paid through the nose for Moon Orchid Petals.
"Truly, the clan head is just!"
"Finally! I can feed my Moonglow Gu!"
"To think someone was asking for thirty primeval stones for a single petal recently..."