*Smash*

Fei Sheng smashed a letter onto the table with veins bulging over his forehead. Right now, he did not have a temperament of an elder and showed an ugly expression over his face. The letter, meanwhile, turned into a small earthworm before crumbling apart. With the nature of his actions, the orders Fei Sheng received from Ma Tribe, the real force in the shadow plotting Fei Tribe's downfall, was from an expendable rank 1 earth digging letter gu worm. 

"As expected," Fei Sheng thought darkly, "The failure of controlling Fei Mang has reduced my value in the eyes of the young tribe leader. Hehe, after all, why would the other Ma Tribe Elders joining in on this conspiracy want me to succeed?" Fei Sheng had lived a long life and as an Elder, he was clear on the thoughts of other elders. Ma Tribe was one of the strongest large-scale tribe. Even stronger than Fei Tribe. Needless to say, their force would also have internal friction. Elders would compete against each other and try to gain more resources for their cultivation.

If Fei Sheng manages to bring down the entire Fei Tribe using his schemes and under Ma Leader's support, he would have gained a large contribution. Many Ma Elders were unwilling to see this but the situation stopped them from interfering with the task. Now, after expending so much on Fei Sheng, the Ma tribe has only faced losses so it was easy to realize that the Ma tribe wished to cut Fei Sheng loose.

"Hehe," even in danger, Fei Sheng couldn't help but snicker, "I have already sided with the tiger that is now Ma Tribe. I'll either be devoured or tame the situation. The Ma Tribe won't just expose my identity. It is too beneficial after all. Even if they have shown a strong front, when trying to take down the Fei Tribe, they will make use of me and might even threaten to expose my identity as a Ma Tribe spy."

To defeat Fei Tribe, Ma Tribe would have to go through a lot of losses which, of course, poked into the benefits of the Tribe Elders. However, if the Ma Tribe use Fei SHeng at that moment and cause an internal conflict of any form, the Fei Tribe won't be able to cope with external threats and internal, losing their grounds and their tribes eventually.

"But the current situation is harsh. To try and control Fei Mang, I have used up my rewards from both sides. It seems like I need to brave dangers in this age to gain benefits once again."

Due to his wish to quickly bring down the Fei Tribe, Fei Sheng had not only lost the opportunity of leading the refinement team which would have brought him great benefits and he also lost the beast strength gu worm lending business to Fei Dan. Fei Sheng's own business did not net him enough resources necessary to fulfill the need of a rank 4 gu master.

"If I choose to lead the expedition towards the Poor Ice Immortal's inheritance, I will face Ma Tribe but at that time, I cannot show any weakness. The team would be filled with new gu elders who are waiting to make a contribution to the tribe and if the sniff even the slightest doubt regarding my allegiance, I will be in deep trouble!"

Thinking of this, Fei Sheng couldn't help but feel a little younger. Political conspiracies failed him despite his experience and the thought of exchanging moves using rank 4 strength filled with him vigor once again. The vigor that he lost to Fei QIng on the fateful day where he slaughtered the old tribe leader.

---

"Success!" Fei Cai's shoulders trembled with excitement. It had been weeks since he started to develop his hands-on experience in refinement. He compared the recipes he had obtained from various sources and continued to change the ingredients, techniques, and many things. It was a trial and error method of refinement but he had been fortunate. First, he was a rank 1 gu master so the gu worms he can refine in this method safely are also rank 1. Second, he had a theoretical advantage over others and Fei Cai felt the need to develop on this advantage. Third, since the gu worm being refined was rank 1, the backlash during the failure was not fatal in nature. And fourth, he had a lot of merit points. These were not used to finance rank 2 gu worms but fund his refinement process. 

Not to mention, his gains during hunting would always overcome the expenditure, which steadily increased his total number of merit points.

Presently, a thumb-sized horse doll floated in front of Fei Cai. Rank 1 horse enslavement gu!

Fei Cai had managed to refine a gu worm based on the alterations brought to the recipe by himself. It was by no means, a large step, but it wasn't a small one either. Unlike young gu masters who would have to spend years to develop necessary cognition to understand the conversion of gu materials, Fei Cai was able to skip that step and begin the phase of familiarization using his own methods. The refining recipes inherited from Thieving Heaven were extremely precious. In the same rank, these recipes held notes and more efficient refinement techniques but the materials in most of the recipes were extinct if not rare. Meanwhile, the gu recipe received from the dead gu master and Fei Qing held common materials in comparison.

The step Fei Cai had achieved was not towards the unknowing swamp of innovation that had devoured countless geniuses but the path of self-understanding. By altering and enhancing the developed recipes, Fei Cai was raising his foundational knowledge with a minimum risk. Innovation and creativity were necessary but without proper knowledge, who can innovate? Even poets learn to speak and write before reciting poems and scribbling them down. This theory also applied to the refinement of gu worms.

"To refine the horse enslavement gu worm using the method from computer gu would have cost me more than 600 merit points. This is a great loss. After all, the price of rank 1 enslavement gu fluctuates from 70-90 merit points. Using the usual method received from Fei Qing, an estimate of 60 merit points would be used on material, and if I consider my own time and energy spent on refinement then the cost would increase once again, making it more beneficial to purchase the gu worm itself."

"But now, I have used only 25 points worth of materials. Most of the process needed a relatively complex refinement technique but this is a viable method to refine and sell the gu worms to the merit board. I can use the excess to finally purchase a large number of primeval stones without touching the earning from hunting, saving the larger amount of merit points to purchase gu materials to refine rank 2 gu worms when I advance."

Fei Cai thought deeply. The benefit of this method was that he wouldn't raise suspicion. The advantage of his reputation of being a refining madman came crystalized at this point. 

Even if he continues to refine gu worms all day long, nobody would raise an eyebrow and credit this to one of his presented quirks. 

"But this method will only profit me for a little time. Merit Board is based on information path gu worms based on transactions. In the entire tribe, aside from a few gu masters who enslaved a beast or two for convenience, only Fei Qing and I would need to enslavement gu worms. The more I sell, the greater the stock of gu worm stored inside the merit board and the lower the price will fall before crossing the threshold of break-even point and forming losses."

As a businessman in his previous life, Fei Cai knew the ins and outs of the changes in price brought by demand and supply of a specific product.

"But I can still earn up to 3000 primeval stones with this method," Fei Cai decided to give this method a go. His aptitude had already reached 99% so the quicker he earns the resources, the greater advantage he would gain in cultivation until it starts to snowball,

With this in mind, Fei Cai began refining rank 1 horse enslavement gu using his improved method. He already had materials for 4 batches so he could refine 3 more if he didn't face any backlash.

The next day, Fei Cai walked over towards the merit board with a plain expression. A few gu masters looked towards him before avoiding Fei Cai's gaze as they went on to complete their tasks.

"Elder Cousin," Fei Cai bowed slightly towards Fei Nai who had a mild expression but refrained from answering Fei Cai. Until today, nobody had seen Fei Mang. Many spoke that he was being severely punished but none knew the truth except for Fei Chang and Fei Nai. But after indirectly snatching the rank 5 Polished jade Gu worm from the cousin family, Fei Cai had inadvertently caused irreparable damage to their relationship.

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to reply, Fei Cai didn't pursue the thought and focused on the gu worm presented by Fei Nai to go through the merit board. He had delayed his hunting for this purpose since the merit board is usually clamored with gu masters early in the day. Storing three enslavement gu worms for 78 merit points each, Fei Cai exchanged for 150 primeval stones and took his leave under Fei Nai's gloomy stare.

Rank 5 gu worms are extremely precious. Many newly advanced rank 5 gu masters wouldn't even have a single rank 5 gu worm not to mention a gu worm as heaven-defying as the polished jade gu worm. But even if Fei Cai knew that he would cause such damages, he would demand the same gu worm again.

This world was already different where Fei Cai only had to regard other's thoughts about him when it benefited him. Why would he care about Fei Nai's anger? Can his anger increase Cai's aptitude?

Laughing coldly in his heart as he felt Fei Nai's stare behind him, Fei Cai made his way towards the exit of the tribe where Lo and his beast group with a single hundred-beast king which was going through a weakened phase would be waiting for him. However, the moment Fei Cai walked out of the entrance, he heard a loud and melodious shout.

"Fei Cai, marry me!"