Fang Tian tried his best to steady himself, but his stiff movements did not escape Wu Ji's eyes.
"Oh? Could it be that this bastard has some problem with his guts? Wait!"
Wu Ji shifted her gaze from the stiff Fang Tian to the elder who was about to order the Gu Masters to bring in the evidence. It was as if her drunken state had vanished without a trace. She shouted in a righteous tone:
"Elder, there is no need for us to see the evidence!"
Wu Ji clasped her fists toward Elder Wang Hui and spoke loudly, drawing the attention of the entire hall. Even the stiff Fang Tian slightly turned his head and glanced at her with an unfathomable look.
"Little one of the Wu Clan, I admire your trust in us, but my words must carry credibility for my request to be reasonable and not place the juniors in a difficult position."
Elder Wang Hui quickly recovered from the situation, thinking that Wu Ji was using this to evade the matter. After presenting such costly gifts to forge a relationship with them and have them fight on behalf of his clan, would he really let them slip away so easily?
"No, Elder Wang! Your sincerity has carved deeply into our hearts. We have eaten your food and accepted your gifts—how could we still ask you for proof?… From the moment you made your request of us, I had already intended to accept whatever the elder asks. I repay kindness with kindness, and hatred with hatred, Elder!… I do not think my companions differ from me. Only, we still have clan missions as our priority, but I promise you that I will return and help as much as I can, together with my companions here!"
Elder Wang Hui laughed at Wu Ji's righteous tone, but he had already obtained what he wanted, so he did not embarrass himself or Wu Ji by insisting further.
"Splendid words, young lady!… The Wu Clan truly has great prospects with you!"
Wang Hui praised Wu Ji, leaned back into his chair, and drank an entire cup of wine.
At the end of the table, Fang Tian exhaled deeply and cast a grateful glance toward Wu Ji. She had done him a favor in a situation where he could not have done anything. In his heart, he felt a strange sense of gratitude.
The rest of the banquet proceeded smoothly and ended smoothly as well. Fang Tian returned to the wing prepared for him, and so did the members of his group. After returning to his quarters, Fang Tian lay down on his soft bed and fell into a deep sleep.
After all, he was extremely exhausted. Traveling for several consecutive days, resting only a few hours each day, and having to overexert himself while remaining vigilant at all times. Now that he had fallen asleep, it did not take long before the sound of his snoring rose.
That night, he had a long dream. He was still at Mount Ju Xian, yet he possessed Rank three cultivation and was cultivating in silence and bitterness inside Li Hua's inheritance cave. He asked himself a question he had long wanted answered:
"When will I find my path? At the end of this inheritance, I broke through the third hall and strengthened my soul. In the fourth hall, I solved Li Hua's riddle. But the fifth hall relies entirely on brute force… Be strong or submit—so that is what you are telling me, isn't it?"
No reply came to his question, so he continued cultivating in silence. The pressure on his aperture had already reached the point where it should have exploded, yet he had found a useful solution within Li Hua's inheritance. However, the dream ended the moment he thought of that solution, and he forgot what it was.
When he awoke in the morning, he gathered with his group outside the small city of the Yin Clan, having decided to depart. However, Gao Yun kept grumbling about Wu Ji's promise to help the Yin Clan.
"Wu Ji, you shouldn't have said that. That old man Wang Hui is a crafty fox. He wants us to fight on behalf of his clan and drain the Yan Zu Clan. But from what I heard last night, the Second Elder of the Yin Clan suffered severe injuries from the Yan Zu Clan and almost died… So our intervention won't change the situation at all."
"It was just empty words. He gave us such generous gifts— even you find them tempting. Why not give him some face and flatter him a little?"
"That's true, but…"
Wu Ji laughed, bringing the argument to a halt. Jun Yun stepped forward with a frown and led the group away from the Yin Clan. He did not stop until they reached the mountain foothills, then took out a Gu that looked like a brown silkworm and handed it to Fang Tian.
"Fang Tian, use the Floating Silkworm Gu. Since you possess a support-type Gu that grants you massive reserves of primeval essence."
The secret that Fang Tian possessed a support-type Gu that allowed him to hold an enormous amount of primeval essence was already known within their small group. Contrary to the envy he had expected, there was instead a sense of relief From His Group.
"Alright."
Fang Tian nodded and poured his primeval essence into the Gu worm, causing it to gradually swell into a giant brown silkworm. Fang Tian mounted the silkworm, and the group followed, each taking a position and sitting down.
The silkworm slowly rose into the air, carrying their small group out of Yin Jin Mountain and continuing their journey toward the northwest. Fang Tian took the position at the head of the silkworm, with Wu Ji sitting behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder and running her fingers along the silkworm's skin.
He had already grown accustomed to her strange behavior and did not pay it much attention. He focused on injecting his primeval essence into the silkworm while barely maintaining awareness within his aperture, refining the Gu worms he had received as gifts.
Each of them had received three Rank three Gu worms, and each set was different. For example, Fang Tian had received Primeval Elder Gu, Grass Puppet Gu, and Condensed Cloud Gu.
These Gu worms belonged to paths different from Fang Tian's original path, except for Grass Puppet Gu, which shared the wood path in common with the enslavement path. Meanwhile, Condensed Cloud Gu was a movement Gu of the cloud path.
Fang Tian had already refined Primeval Elder Gu and Grass Puppet Gu. Only Condensed Cloud Gu remained. There was a stubborn Gu Master's will inside it, preventing Fang Tian from refining it easily, resulting in a prolonged battle of wills. This battle would not end anytime soon.
"Injecting primeval essence into this Gu worm while focusing on my aperture and refining Gu worms is excellent training in multitasking. When I refined Gu before, multitasking was a fundamental requirement rather than a secondary one. But throughout these days of travel, I've been injecting my primeval essence into a Gu worm while doing other things."
"What are you doing?"
Wu Ji knocked heavily on his shoulder as she asked impatiently. Fang Tian opened his eyes and glared at her with displeasure.
"Can't you see? I'm refining the Gu worms. Those idiots from the Yin Clan gave me a Gu worm but didn't cooperate with me in refining it."
"Oh? Really? From what I see, you should be able to refine it soon… By the way, why were you tense when Elder Wang Hui wanted to present the evidence he planned to use to pressure us into fighting for his clan?"
Wu Ji looked at Fang Tian with a serious expression, while Fang Tian's expression remained unchanged.
"I think that's none of your business."
With that, he returned to refining the Gu worm, while Wu Ji stared at his back with a frown.