Why were people so afraid of gu worms?
Fang Yuan had wondered the same while observing the Fang Yuan Continent. Actually, it was not necessarily the fact that they were afraid of gu worms - or even that being afraid of gu worms was that odd.
Gu worms had mystical properties, naturally humans were wary of them. But at the same time, these mystical properties could be turned into tools of their own.
It was easy enough to understand - even a rock was technically dangerous if it fell on your head, but could also be launched as a projectile.
At least, that was how Wang Tian thought of it. But as he pondered it further, he wondered if it was really fear of gu worms that drove people to hate them, or fear of Gu Masters?
People said that if Gu Masters became too strong, they would suppress everyone else.
This might also be partially rooted in jealousy, as there were always those who could not cultivate.
'This is against the principal of equality,' many people said.
Equality.
That was an important thing to keep in mind in the village. Everyone was supposed to be equal.
At least, that was what people said.
Even if Wang Tian did not find the appropriate amount of berries, they wouldn't let him starve. He could go to the village's communal inn and get dinner like everyone else.
All resources were gathered together into a central reservoir and then distributed by the clan head. It was a small commune of sorts, one of many that existed in this part of the world. All of them were sheltered under the large umbrella of the people who had chosen to spur Gu Master cultivation. If any commune was in danger or was at a loss of how to sustain itself, the other communes would then lend it a hand.
It was this way of life that had sustained them for as long as many people could remember.
It was a mixture of herbs and a small amount of meat. Although it was no different than yesterday's menu, it still made his mouth water.
Cultivating made one lose track of time, and also lose track of when to eat.
Many people ate together, though Wang Tian had no one to share his meal with.
His parents had died at a young age, leaving him an orphan. He did not have any siblings.
Maybe he could've made some friends, but that was hard. His body was smaller than everyone else's, to the point where some people still thought he was only thirteen or fourteen. Because of this the girls didn't want to talk to him. He couldn't keep up with the boys and their games, because of his weak frame. Because of that he didn't get along with them either.
'Equality huh...' he thought to himself as he found his house, a small but decent enough hut where he sat down and began wolfing down his meal.
He certainly hadn't been born equal to anyone else in the village. How were people equal, anyway? Was it just on what they were served out?
No, he had figured. Everyone didn't get the same amount of food, that was ridiculous. It was parceled out according to your height and weight. No one would feed a baby and an adult the same.
It was distributed equitably, not equally.
Not to mention he knew that the clan head occasionally took a bit more than was 'fair' for either herself or her children. No one really said anything, but that was because she was clan head.
Not that he felt sorry for himself.
He knew of children who never made it past five. Or those whose parents had died, like his.
Were they equal?
With that said, his ability to cultivate was also something that was unequal. That was why it was suppressed.
But while they could prevent him from cultivating, they couldn't make the other people weaker or less beautiful or less smart, could they?
It felt that people were 'equal' but in the aspects they were unequal, he had drawn the short end of the stick.
With his meal done, Wang Tian did something that he would normally not do - that was to cultivate.
It was not easy to cultivate in the village. He could be interrupted at nearly any point of time, but unlike in a regular village people would not turn away from doing so. Many of the huts were made so that it was easy for other people to walk in unless large families lived there - privacy was not something that many were used to.
Wang Tian was not skilled enough to cultivate in nearly any position like someone like Fang Yuan could. He had to meditate and if he did so too often, people would catch on.
But, he couldn't help himself right now.
The walls of his aperture had turned to crystal, and he wanted to know what that meant for cultivating.
He launched his deep green primeval essence at the walls of his aperture, but instead of being nurtured or washed, they broke.
For a moment, he paused.
Was this supposed to happen?
Were Gu Masters supposed to break the crystal walls of their aperture? He found that any attempt to nourish the walls ended up cracking them instead.
Even as he thought of this the crystal walls began patching up together.
This was another thing that Wang Tian did not know what to make of.
By the time he had stopped, he felt the crystal walls repair themselves completely to the point where it was like he hadn't started at all.
He frowned.
Was this also normal?
Had he done something wrong by trying to break the walls? Why did they repair themselves?
His cultivation had slowed down to a crawl because he had only a few hours each day. There was no way that he could find enough time to break through the crystal walls of his aperture.
Not that he knew of this, falling asleep as exhaustion took over him.
Tomorrow, he would try to go back to that place and really experiment with the crystal walls of his aperture. He had not had enough time to deal with it tonight under the watchful gaze of the rest of the clan, but he would be able to get more information when he could really focus, he figured.
***
And he was woken up almost instantly. At least, it felt like it was instant. He didn't know what it was that had woken him up, only that his heart was pounding.
And then he heard the screams.
He got up slowly, mind still in a daze, as he scanned the interior of the hut for something, anything, that he could use as a weapon. But there was nothing like that other than a small stick he would sometimes use to chase the annoying birds away.
Even his gu worm was useless if it came to a fight.
As he crouched and glanced outside his hut, he saw the silhouettes of people wandering around. There were angry shouts coming from everywhere.
At first, he thought that perhaps some kind of disaster had struck like an earthquake or a flood.
But if that were the case, why were so many of the houses on fire?
This was no ordinary fire either, the village was made so it was hard for a fire to spread like that. The houses were separated in a way that the wind wouldn't transport the embers between them too easily.
And if that were the case, there would be people milling about to put out the flames, not running at each other.
No, they were being attacked!