Volume 1: Welcome to the Gu(n) World
The rain fell quietly on the Qing Mao Mountain, soft and steady.
In the Mo family's villa, rain gathered in the crevices of the courtyard's paved walkways, forming small puddles. Above, the stars shone cold and clear.
Gu Yue Mo Bei stood inside his room, looking out the window. He didn't speak or move.
It's been a while already, so he felt he had to stop struggling against his new reality. He was no longer who he was before.
Now, he inhabited the body of Gu Yue Mo Bei – a disposable side-character in the world of Reverend Insanity.
Perhaps because he also received the original's memories, he had accepted his new situation quite easily.
His face was expressionless and eyes focused as he gazed at the night sky outside. His heart was filled with a growing ambition to make use of his knowledge to become someone powerful.
However, there was something that made him feel strange and uneasy, and it was not Fang Yuan.
There was more to his transmigration than just taking over Mo Bei's body. Something else, something stranger, had come with him.
He looked down at his right hand.
On top of it, there was a black tattoo of a gun.
Not a sword. Not a beast. A damn Glock.
As he had done it a few times already, he sent his will into the tattoo.
As a result, a metallic gun materialized in his hand, as if growing out of his palm.
It was a fairly small-sized black Glock.
A Glock 19, Gen 5. To be precise.
The transmigrator's equivalent of: 'Good luck, you'll need it.'
Because nothing says 'I am lost and terrified in a new world' like a concealed carry.
'This is ridiculous…'
What he summoned was a manifestation of Rank 1 Gu - Gun Gu. It was something that he found on himself after transmigrating.
He didn't have an Aperture yet, nor any Primeval Essence, but he knew this much: once he became a Gu Master, he could use this Gun Go to fire bullets using Primeval Essence.
Gu Cultivators got flying moonblades and swords of ice, he got 9 mm of American freedom and 15+1 rounds of faith.
Was this still cultivation or Call of Duty: Qing Mao Ops?
From the beginning, Mo Bei felt as if he was being trolled by the universe.
He also thought that he might be dreaming, but he already ruled out this possibility.
His Gun Gu – it was something quite ridiculous, but here it was. A Rank 1 Gu that looked like a small metallic worm – something that had no business existing in this world.
A Gu that could fire metal bullets and kill from a distance – if he looked at it this way, then perhaps it wasn't something ridiculous anymore. It was just a ranged attack Gu worm that used a gun's barrel to focus its firepower.
It was just the idea of wielding modern-day guns in a Cultivation World that was ridiculous…
However, Mo Bei found it hilarious at the same time!
He gripped his gun and looked at it with a poker face as if he was the Terminator from the future in a backwards world.
He wanted to laugh out loud.
Rank 2 Gu Masters? Rank 3 Elders? Giant Lightning Wolves? Just shoot them in the head!
Things got even better when he factored in the fact that he now had an extensive knowledge of guns – both existing ones from the modern world and the theoretical knowledge of Sci-Fi weapons that were not yet invented.
And he instinctively knew - he was a Gun Path Grandmaster. In his head, there were already ideas blooming on how he could evolve his Rank 1 Gun Gu in the future.
So just like other Gu, his Gun Gu could rank up too. Defensive Gu could not stop him!
One day, maybe he'd refine a rifle Gu. A shotgun. Or a goddamn minigun.
'Yeah… It's my transmigration perk, huh? It's a bit ridiculous, but I'll take it!'
He was a casual gun enthusiast in his first life. The idea of shooting down arrogant young masters and powerful elders with a Glock made him feel giddy.
Additionally, receiving something was naturally better than receiving nothing. Even if the Being that put him there thought of it as a joke, he was lucky! Probably.
Transmigrating as Mo Bei was also not too bad. His Aptitude should be good, and his face was fairly handsome and more western-looking than a Chinese man's oblong face – perhaps that's why Mo Bei was originally seen as 'horse-faced', but he did not complain. As long as he lost some weight, his figure and face should look quite nice.
He would also be supported by a major faction, so he might count on a bit of financial help.
Mo Bei watched the rain fall, having these thoughts, his gun resting against the window sill.
This world was cruel and primal, and he was just a nobody compared to the ancient monsters.
But he had to pull the trigger on the opportunity!
…
The next morning, the rain had long stopped.
The sun had not yet risen, but the sky was already filled with some light.
Mo Bei stood in front of a bronze mirror, adjusting his robe as a young maid helped him to dress up.
The face staring back at him still felt unfamiliar, but he no longer hesitated. This was his body now. Gu Yue Mo Bei. Not the protagonist. Not the villain. A minor character with no real future.
But he would change that. With his Glock and over 500 years of Gun Knowledge, he'll shoot out a gunpowder filled path for himself.
It was the beginning of the Gun Path!
His Gun Gu was already tucked away high on his upper arm, making the tattoo invisible at first sight.
As he began to head outside to participate in the Awakening Ceremony, he passed by the villa's lobby.
That's where he found his older sister Gu Yue Mo Yan, half-asleep and still in a nightgown, lounging on the sofa.
Upon noticing Mo Bei, Mo Yan's face brightened up. She got up and rushed up to him with a smile. "Little brother, you're up!"
"..."
Mo Yan then rubbed his hair, saying, "Good luck!"
Mo Bei saw her smiling straight at him. In his daze, he just stood there.
Mo Yan chuckled. "Haha, little brother, you no longer like it when I rub your head. You always avoid it, but not today. It seems you're nervous before the Ceremony. But don't worry! I'm sure you'll have a good result!"
The two soon parted their ways and Mo Bei continued outside with a gentle smile, thinking, 'She woke up just to tell me that, to help me not feel nervous. That was nice…'
Because he inherited Mo Bei's memories, Mo Yan didn't feel like a stranger. In this world he was his caring elder sister that he always respected – a strong Gu Master and a capable group leader.
As a result, Mo Bei felt awkward, but he did not want anything bad to happen to her.
If his life was a fanfic, he could already feel the emo kids whining because he actually cares about a person in a Reverend Insanity world. But these were his true feelings.
'I guess, I could at least bring Mo Yan out of the village, before the disaster struck…'
He remembered the plot.
Even without Gu Yue Fang Yuan messing things up and without Rank 5 Lord Sky Crane visiting to annihilate the Gu Yue clan, the village would still be massacred by the Wolf Tide and Bai Ning Bing would finish it off. That's what happened in the first timeline.
However, since he transmigrated at the time when the novel plot begins, Mo Bei felt that the chances of it being the first timeline were low.
Today, Fang Yuan will also attend the Awakening Ceremony. That cunning, ruthless old monster in a young man's skin. No one knew his real nature yet, not even his family, brother or clan elders, but Mo Bei knew.
'Let the tiger sleep. For now, I'll just keep my distance and make up plans in the future. First comes opening my Aperture.'
Once he opened his Aperture, he could test his Rank 1 Gun Gu and know what to expect.
He stepped outside, alone.
Although the family had many servants, he was supposed to go out alone because from today onwards he was an adult - a 15-year-old adult.
He noted it was a tradition that the novel secretly followed, but the manhua didn't care. It threw in Shen Cui and another maid, to make things more interesting.
A slightly cold mountain breeze brushed against his face as he saw many people on the streets, clearly heading in the same direction as him, most in groups of twos and threes.
As he walked, two young boys approached him - as it seemed, Mo Bei's friends and henchmen.
Mo Bei had an apathetic attitude toward these two - as far as he was concerned, they were quite worthless in the grand scheme of things and just burdens if he wanted to make it in this world. The original Mo Bei had always only thought of them as his lackeys, so there weren't any strong feelings there.
The trio reached their destination together - the village's central area.
The central square was already filling up with people. 15-year-old children gathered around, forming small groups and whispering amongst each other.
He found himself a spot and stood there quietly.
As time passed, there was soon a commotion.
"It's Gu Yue Fang Yuan."
"The one who wrote the poems?"
"I heard he's going to be an A-grade genius…"
Mo Bei followed the majority's gaze and found two similar-looking young men entering the crowd.
A few steps ahead, one of the brothers walked with a straight posture. Calm like a pond, but deeper than the abyss.
Behind him, his twin brother quietly followed with slumped down shoulders, quiet and unremarkable.
'These are Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng. They look surprisingly ordinary.'
It was canon that Fang Yuan's looks were ordinary and that Fang Zheng was almost identical, but the impact was stronger in person - because they were both Chinese and very skinny, the two gave the feeling as if they were two side characters you'd seen in the background of a Manhua panel. Which couldn't be further from the truth.
'They're the protagonists of this world…'
The beings with the most monstrous growth rate in the story. Right now? They looked like background characters.
As time passed, an elder eventually came out of the temple in front, and the ceremony officially began.
The children were led into the clan pavilion, then went down a stairway inside.
Walking down the stone pathway, the underground cave's ceiling began to grow beautiful glowing stalactites.
Mo Bei walked along with the crowd, quietly observing everything that was happening. The youths were explaining in awe around him.
His heart thought, 'It's nice here.'
After they walked several hundred steps, the path got darker as the colorful stalactites disappeared and the sounds of water could be faintly heard.
Behind a corner, there was a shallow underground river – it emmited faint blue light in the darkness, like a starry sky. It had crystal-clear waters, with small fish swimming around, aquatic plants and sand lined the bottom of the river.
Across the river was a sea of flowers – the beautiful blue and pink colored petals were shaped like a crescent moon, radiating brilliant light.
"Wow, so pretty!"
"It really is beautiful!"
The teenagers marveled at the sight.
Mo Bei was also moved. It was a beautiful scene. This made him vaguely recall the novel's descriptions of the various beautiful Blessed Lands and other unique locations of this world - they'd all be even more stunning and fantastical places than this.
He looked forward to seeing those!
"Alright, listen as I call your names. Those who are called must walk through this river to the opposite bank. Walk as far as you can, of course the further you go, the better it is. Are you all clear?" The Academy elder said.
"All clear," the youths replied.
Mo Bei was silent. That much didn't need to be said; everyone else should have also known that the distance walked represents the degree of talent for cultivating as a Gu Master.
His only hope was that his aptitude would at least not be any worse than original Mo Bei's.
D-grade talent meant even Gun Path wouldn't save him. He'd be shooting blanks in a world that demanded cannons.
He hoped to be at least C-grade.