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 rembered 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 ti 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 fa was the backing of Fang Yuan and to a lesser extent Bai Ning Bing.
"Fang Yuan, it's ti 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 refinent materials had just arrived from Feo Yang, and the Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu had recovered enough for them to attempt a second ti.
Because it was a Rank 5 gu worm, it was difficult for the refinent to succeed without Fang Yuan. The main ingredient involved in the refinent of Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu was a Rank 5 Snowman Tear.
Snown only shed a certain number of tears in their lifetis, and the quality of them as refinent 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 so 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 refinent 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 ticulous manner. But once the final crucial step arrived, requiring the addition of prival stones, there was a loud bang as the refinent had failed.
Fang Yuan coughed up a mouthful of blood at the backlash from the failed refinent. 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 refinent of Rank 5 Frost Lance Gu, Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu had been instruntal 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 refinent 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. "Refinent always has a chance to fail, after all. You can't necessarily bla for that."
They had actually managed to succeed on their first ti 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 outco given the system had supposedly increased his luck, but at the sa ti he did not fully understand Luck as a concept either. It was possible he had used up most of it the first ti around, or, there was so odd interaction between his and Bai Ning Bing's luck.
"Fang Yuan, how do you intend to compensate for this again?"
"Oh, what compensation?" Fang Yuan asked.
Bai Ning Bing frowned. "You owe another Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu, as well as the refinent materials once more, until you've given Frost Lance Gu. Only then can it be said that you've repaid ."
"Actually, Bai Ning Bing," Fang Yuan said, smirking slightly. "If you'll read the details of our agreent, there's a tiny detailed when it cos to refinent failure."
Bai Ning Bing went to find their agreent. It had been very lengthy and verbose, as well as complex.
She went over it two tis and found the section that Fang Yuan was talking about: in the event of sothing like refinent 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 refinent as well as two sets of refinent 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 sowhere with your Rank 4 prival 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 ."
"And I have tried to do so," Fang Yuan answered. "If I have failed, then you can only bla 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 agreent had to be sowhat 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 so way to weasel his way out of this.
The main loophole she could find was that there was no set ti limit for these renegotiations only what both parties felt was 'reasonable' sothing that was highly subjective. Fang Yuan could potentially drag his feet for a very long ti. She frowned as the more she thought about it, the more it seed 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 refinent attempt would not be possible until then."
"And what am I supposed to do until then?" Bai Ning Bing asked.
"Hmm, let 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 sothing 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."
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