With the departure of Feng Yin, a profound silence descended upon the grotto, broken only by the soft bubbling of the essence spring. For Meng Ru, this was not silence, but the sound of opportunity.
He sat on the stone bed, the three new Gu worms and the pouch of primeval stones laid out before him. There was no excitement in his eyes, only the focused intensity of a craftsman preparing his tools.
First was the refinement.
He picked up the Wood Charm Gu. A sliver of his silver-white primeval essence, thin as a needle, flowed from his fingertip and enveloped the leaf-like Gu. The Gu trembled, its innate will resisting the invasion. It was a contest of wills, a battle fought on a microscopic scale within the Gu itself.
To an ordinary disciple, this would be a struggle, a brute-force process of overwhelming the Gu's will with their own. For Meng Ru, it was a dissection.
'Its will is rooted in the concept of growth and resilience,' his mind analyzed with detached clarity. 'A direct assault is inefficient. I will not conquer it; I will offer it a superior host.'
His will did not attack. Instead, it wrapped around the Gu's will like a nurturing vine, projecting a sense of boundless vitality, of an aperture that was not a cage but a fertile ground for growth. The Gu's resistance faltered. The struggle that should have taken hours was over in less than the time it takes to brew tea. The Wood Charm Gu shuddered once, then became still, a deep connection forming between it and Meng Ru's soul.
He repeated the process with the Stone Aperture Gu. Its will was stubborn, dense, and unyielding, like the mountain itself. Meng Ru's approach shifted accordingly. He did not offer it vitality, but permanence. His will became a mountain, vast and eternal, making the Gu's own stubbornness seem insignificant in comparison. The grey, beetle-like Gu submitted.
With the two Gu refined, he sent them into his aperture. The Wood Charm Gu settled on the wall of his primeval sea, drawing in essence and forming a faint, green film of light. The Stone Aperture Gu burrowed into the aperture wall itself.
Immediately, a deep, grinding ache spread from his center. It was not a pain of injury, but of forceful expansion, like a blacksmith reforging steel. He could feel the very walls of his soul's foundation being chipped away, polished, and fortified by the Gu's power.
'The process is crude but effective. It will increase my aperture's capacity by one-tenth part in the coming month. The pain is a minor, acceptable side effect.'
He ignored the ache, his focus absolute. He took a primeval stone from the pouch. It was cool to the touch, its facets gleaming in the jade light. He held it in his palm and activated his cultivation technique.
The world outside vanished. His entire consciousness was his aperture. The primeval sea, a silver-white ocean, churned as he drew in the pure essence from the stone and the surrounding grotto. The rich energy, three times denser than anything he had experienced before, flooded his being. It was a torrent, a blazing path of power that would have overwhelmed a normal disciple, risking damage to their meridians.
But Meng Ru's control was absolute. He guided the torrent with flawless precision, each strand of essence flowing in a balanced, perfect cycle. He was not just absorbing energy; he was weaving it into his foundation, strengthening his primeval sea, and pushing his cultivation forward with relentless, terrifying efficiency.
Days blurred into a seamless cycle of cultivation. He did not eat or sleep. The primeval stones were consumed one by one, turning to dust in his hand. The bubbling spring was his constant companion, its sweet, rich essence a fuel for his ascent.
One month later, the last of the one hundred primeval stones crumbled to dust.
Meng Ru's eyes snapped open. The grotto was the same, the light was the same, but he was not. The pressure emanating from him was vastly different. The silver-white essence in his primeval sea was no longer a placid ocean; it was a roiling, condensed sea, filled to the very brim. The walls of his aperture, fortified by the Stone Aperture Gu, felt tough and resilient.
He had not just reached the peak stage of Rank one. He had solidified his foundation to a degree that was unheard of for his level.
He stood up, his movements crisp. The blazing path of his initial cultivation was complete. Now, the true test began: the breakthrough to Rank two. He knew Feng Yin would be watching, and failure was not a variable he would ever entertain.