"And that is correct," the Bei Clan head said. "However, there is a more pressing issue. Some of them have been stating that your clan has been rumored to be working with a Blood Path cultivator. And because of that, you were being investigated by the Tie Clan."
Fang Zheng realized that was technically true, as per what Fang Yuan had told him. The Tie Clan had moved on from their investigation however.
However, the people who were most likely to know about that and create a rumor about it at the same time were sitting right in front of him right now.
In other words, the Bei Clan were the most likely culprits!
'How did they know?' Fang Zheng thought to himself. It was easy enough to imagine that they could have gotten the information from one of the Gu Yue clansmen who had seen first gen Gu Yue in action.
Although the connection was tenuous, during this time period, Blood Path cultivators were extremely despised. It was not like the chaotic times in the future when Fang Yuan had thrived.
That could very easily paint a target on the Gu Yue Clan's backs. Of course, all such evidence had been destroyed, so this was nothing more than a rumor - just an attempt to riled them up.
If there was actual evidence, there would've been far greater suppression.
The biggest issue, however, was that this was a true rumor to some extent. The Gu Yue Clan had used a form of the Blood Guillotine from time to time, though that had been scrubbed from their own internal records after they had moved.
What was a bigger problem was the Gu Yue Clansmen who had seen first gen Gu Yue in action and knew what he had been capable of. Naturally Fang Zheng couldn't silence all such people.
"Well, such rumors are obviously false," Fang Zheng said. "The Gu Yue Clan is not even remotely connected to any kind of Blood Path cultivator. It makes me wonder, though, why such things would be going around. They must have a deeper motive."
"I think that the other clans plan on making a move on the mountain," the Bei Clan head responded.
"As if they could possibly do so," Fang Zheng countered. "My brother is Rank 5. They wouldn't dare."
"That may be true," the Bei Clan head responded, "but I fear that they may be trying to rope in righteous path members of Rank 5 to aid them. Either that, or make it harder for your clan to deal with others through these kinds of means."
If people thought that the Gu Yue Clan had associations with some kind of demonic cultivator, that could limit trade opportunities. Given their clan was dependent on trade now that they were upon Bei Gu Mountain, that was a headache in and of itself.
"Well then, so long as they continue to be rumors, I can't think of a reason to be concerned," Fang Zheng said with a bright smile.
Inwardly, he had quite an ugly expression, but he knew the value of keeping up a brave front in the face of adversity. He brushed off this allegation like it was nothing; pretending it was not even worth bothering with.
As it was, half of their strength was in blustering and theoretically being able to rope Fang Yuan into the fight.
Most righteous path fights were like this - posturing and roundabout maneuvering were far more important than actual strength.
The meeting concluded quickly enough after that, with Fang Zheng cupping his hands as he and his party departed.
Once the three of them were back in the confines of Gu Yue Village, using gu worms to ensure that they weren't being spied upon, they began discussing in ernest.
"Did the Bei Clan leak this rumor? Or was it really some other clan?"
"I don't know much about the Xia, He, or Ye clans," Fang Zheng said. They had very little interaction with them, so he did not know their capabilities very well. "More likely than not this is the Bei Clan's doing."
"Yet, why undermine us? If we go down, they must know that we will certainly take them down with us."
It was true - one of the reasons the Bei Clan hadn't been attacked was because they had the vague protection of having allied with Fang Yuan, a Rank 5 Gu Master. Now this treaty was extremely tenuous but even that was more than enough to dissuade most attacks.
The Bei Clan, if they were the ones behind this - were also undermining themselves.
"I think," Fang Zheng said after considering the matter, "that they want to draw us into a conflict with these other clans and hope that we will eliminate them, or at least, weaken our own resources dealing with them. That will allow them to stay out of the confrontation while reaping benefits later."
"I concur."
"So then what do we do?"
"The best things is to do nothing."
"Nothing?"
"Either that, or reach out to the Xiu, He, or Ye Clans. I've heard the Ye Clan's food resources are running out - we might be able to reach a trade agreement with them."
"Hmm... not a bad idea, but what say you, Lord Clan Head?"
Fang Zheng however, did not answer.
"There's something go around near the street," he said, wandering out to the balcony where it seemed a mob had materialized.
"What are they looking at?"
"I'm wondering the same thing-"
At that moment, they all stopped speaking.
Because every single Gu Master there could sense what was going on.
"Is that?"
"An Immortal Aura?"
"No, I'm not mistaken - this is Rank 6 Immortal Aura!"
"Where is it coming from?"
"An Immortal Gu?"
"No, an Immortal Cultivator!"
Fang Zheng's eyes widened in shock.
To the mortal realm, Immortals were but a myth.
In the thousand years that the Gu Yue Clan had stood, they had not had a single cultivator who had reached Rank 6, and only three who had reached Rank 5.
The clan had not even been big enough to get the notice of a single Rank 6 Gu Master, let alone produce one.
And yet, there was a Rank 6 aura emanating down at them, washing over the entire village.
Whoever this aura belonged to, they had wanted to make their appearance known to the villagers, else they would have never even detected it.
That meant that it was likely not an attack. That was good, because they had no means of defending themselves from an Immortal.
"Where is it coming from?" Fang Zheng wondered, as he lifted his eyes to where everyone was looking.
There, against the setting sun, was a dark figure flying in the sky effortlessly, robes flowing in the wind.
It was a man.
A man with long black hair and the demeanor of a chivalric hero.
If someone were to look at that man and then at Fang Zheng, they would instantly notice the similarities between the two of them.
Even with the residual sunlight casting somewhat of a glare upon his eyes, Fang Zheng could instinctively tell who it was.
The person who was actually the greatest Gu Yue Gu Master in the clan's history!
Someone who had now just stepped into the realm of Immortals, beating out even the Fourth Generation Clan Head!
In other words, the greatest prodigy of the Gu Yue Clan!
His elder brother - Gu Yue Fang Yuan was finally here!
Not only that, but he was at Rank 6!
Fang Zheng hadn't even realized that he was holding his breath, and so took a greedy inhalation as the figure lowered himself, approaching the ground and then walking towards the gates of new Gu Yue Village.