The question was what to do next. Fang Yuan knew of a few more potential subordinates that he could rope in.
The Wei Clan feud, if he remembered correctly, would conclude in a few months. But slaves were unreliable and to use them as beggars was also a waste. The three Xiong brothers were good enough to handle an organization of the scale of the current Beggar Sect.
There was Zhou Quan who he could easily suppress with his Rank 5 Gu Master cultivation. But that had to wait for the time being. As it was Zhou Quan's Rank 3 cultivation and skills were just icing on the cake to Shang Xin Ci currently, whose main claim to fame was the backing of Fang Yuan and to a lesser extent Bai Ning Bing.
"Fang Yuan, it's time for another attempt," Bai Ning Bing called out to him.
"Certainly," Fang Yuan said.
He and Bing Bing had tried to refine Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu once before, but had failed. Now, another set of refinement materials had just arrived from Feo Yang, and the Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu had recovered enough for them to attempt a second time.
Because it was a Rank 5 gu worm, it was difficult for the refinement to succeed without Fang Yuan. The main ingredient involved in the refinement of Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu was a Rank 5 Snowman Tear.
Snowmen only shed a certain number of tears in their lifetimes, and the quality of them as refinement materials could vary greatly, depending on whether they were from a mortal or Immortal Snowman. These were Rank 5 Snowman Tears, though, so they were still possible to obtain within the Mortal Realm with some difficulty.
Other than that, the other materials included Polar Bear Fangs, Glacial Fish Lord Scales, Purified Ice, and Condensed Frost. On their own, it would not be too hard to find each of these refinement materials, but collecting them together as a full set was quite hard.
"All right, let's begin," Bai Ning Bing said.
Fang Yuan complied, adding in the Snowman Tear first. Each step was done in a meticulous manner. But once the final crucial step arrived, requiring the addition of primeval stones, there was a loud bang as the refinement had failed.
Fang Yuan coughed up a mouthful of blood at the backlash from the failed refinement. However, there was a far greater concern than his own health: the Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu flew to the nearby wall, lifeless.
Bai Ning Bing was livid as she picked it up. "Fang Yuan, look at what you've done! Frost Arrow Gu is dead!" While she was waiting for the refinement of Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu, Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu had been instrumental to her ability to advance in the arena. Now not only was she without the Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu, but was also without Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu!
The entire refinement now had to start from the ground up. They needed another Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu.
"I hardly did it on purpose, Bai Ning Bing," Fang Yuan said, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Refinement always has a chance to fail, after all. You can't necessarily blame me for that."
They had actually managed to succeed on their first time around when they were refining it for Fang Yuan. However, they had failed while trying to refine it for Bai Ning Bing, and the key gu worm had died in the attempt. It might have just been sour grapes speaking, but Bai Ning Bing naturally felt as if Fang Yuan had cheated her.
Fang Yuan was also a bit taken aback by this outcome given the system had supposedly increased his luck, but at the same time he did not fully understand Luck as a concept either. It was possible he had used up most of it the first time around, or, there was some odd interaction between his and Bai Ning Bing's luck.
"Fang Yuan, how do you intend to compensate me for this again?"
"Oh, what compensation?" Fang Yuan asked.
Bai Ning Bing frowned. "You owe me another Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu, as well as the refinement materials once more, until you've given me Frost Lance Gu. Only then can it be said that you've repaid me."
"Actually, Bai Ning Bing," Fang Yuan said, smirking slightly. "If you'll read the details of our agreement, there's a tiny detailed when it comes to refinement failure."
Bai Ning Bing went to find their agreement. It had been very lengthy and verbose, as well as complex.
She went over it two times and found the section that Fang Yuan was talking about: in the event of something like refinement failure, despite a good-faith action on either part, they could renegotiate the price for the set ingredients or gu worms in question.
It did not clearly state that Fang Yuan did not have to return Bai Ning Bing a Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu but given the fact that he had done a good-faith attempt at trying to get her a new one, they could renegotiate that deal.
She also needed to take into account the fact that Fang Yuan had helped her with the refinement as well as two sets of refinement materials.
However, naturally, Bai Ning Bing was not satisfied with anything other than another Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu.
"Why do you want the Frost Lance Gu anyway?" Fang Yuan asked, stretching his arms. "As it is, it will be difficult for you to use even if you can use it somewhere with your Rank 4 primeval essence. In your greed, you managed to get rid of a Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu as well."
"Fang Yuan, that's not the point here," Bai Ning Bing said. "You were supposed to give that gu back to me."
"And I have tried to do so," Fang Yuan answered. "If I have failed, then you can only blame Heaven. What can I do about it, Bai Ning Bing..."
"I lost it because of your actions in the first place!"
"Hmm, I suppose you're right," Fang Yuan said. "We'll just have to continue discussing it."
The agreement had to be somewhat flexible, given the strict nature of Poison Vow Gu. Anything that was made too stringent could end up biting either party in the neck, which neither of them wanted. So in these cases, there was room for them to negotiate once again.
Bai Ning Bing just knew how crafty Fang Yuan was. He would, without a doubt, find some way to weasel his way out of this.
The main loophole she could find was that there was no set time limit for these renegotiations only what both parties felt was 'reasonable' something that was highly subjective. Fang Yuan could potentially drag his feet for a very long time. She frowned as the more she thought about it, the more it seemed that she had been cheated or was about to be.
"As it is, Bai Ning Bing," Fang Yuan said, "I would need resources in order to get another Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu. Another refinement attempt would not be possible until then."
"And what am I supposed to do until then?" Bai Ning Bing asked.
"Hmm, let me think about it," Fang Yuan said, moving to a nearby window. "Actually, I think the two of us should go ahead and give Bei Gu Mountain another visit. Perhaps we can obtain something from my clan."
"You already drained it until little more was left," Bai Ning Bing said. "Do you seriously expect to find anything there?"
Fang Yuan shrugged. "It can't be helped. I need other resources for the Beggar Sect as well. We can only do one thing, and that is to hunt."