Chapter 39 – Everyone wanting to reach Middle Stage
Night had fallen. The moon hung in the sky like a silver disc, drifting among the clouds.
Scattered stars dotted the heavens, adding a gentle brilliance to the night.
Gu Yue Mo Bei stood quietly in the courtyard, head tilted upward, his eyes shimmering in the moonlight.
"Little brother, I heard you got injured today." Behind him, his sister Gu Yue Mo Yan's voice resounded.
"Sister, I didn't get that badly injured… I just lost again," Mo Bei said quietly to his sister.
Seeing her brother's dejected state, Mo Yan felt both sad and worried. Although she was truly concerned, she said instead, "Good brother, you have an indomitable will—you're the future head of our Mo family. How can you be shaken by such a small setback?"
"Hehehe, I knew Sister doted on me the most," Mo Bei said, scratching the back of his head with a sheepish laugh. Although he was somewhat depressed, being the young master of the Mo family had taught him a few things.
"You know what, sister?" Under the glow of the moonlight, this fifteen year old teenager's eyes radiated brightly. "Although I failed this time, I'll definitely win next time. I don't believe he's as strong as everyone thinks. One day, I'll defeat him fair and square."
"Good, as expected of a good man from my Mo bloodline!" Mo Yan laughed, patting her brother's head, showing concern on her face, "You might have suffered some internal injuries—go see a Gu healer to get checked."
"Don't touch my head, Sister, I'm already old enough." Mo Bei shrugged his head, speaking in an unhappy tone. "I understand what you're saying—I have a plan. These next few days, I'm going to nurture my aperture walls, completely break through from the initial stage to the middle stage, and take the position of class chairman to suppress Fang Yuan's dominance. I'll show him that what truly matters in a Gu Master's cultivation is still talent!"
"I'm glad you can think this way. I was only a vice chairman last time. If you manage to become chairman, it will fulfill my regrets too."
"Don't worry, Sister. The position of chairman—I absolutely must obtain it!"
At the same time, in the Chi family.
Inside the secret room, there was only one torch, attached to an opening in the limestone walls.
The flame burned on, illuminating this small room.
One of the two elders in power, Gu Yue Chi Lian, was sitting facing his grandson, Gu Yue Chi Cheng. The two sat on a praying mat with their shadows projected on the ground, wavering with the flickering of the flame.
Gu Yue Chi Lian stretched out his hand, using his palm to touch Chi Cheng's abdomen area.
Gu Yue Chi Cheng's face was full of anxiety, his mind entering his aperture, suppressing the ripples in his primeval sea with all his concentration.
In this world, there are no two identical tree leaves. Similarly, for Gu Masters, there is no identical primeval essence.
Once primeval essence from an external source enters the aperture, it will naturally be resisted by the original essence already inside.
If Gu Yue Chi Cheng does not suppress it and allows his primeval essence to resist, a clash will occur. Such an intense reaction could cause great damage to the aperture.
The aperture's primeval sea is the foundation and root of a Gu Master's cultivation, and is of utmost importance.
Once the aperture is damaged, at the very least, one's cultivation will fall. If the damage is severe, it can lower their talent permanently. And if the aperture completely shatters, the Gu Master would die instantly.
After a while, Gu Yue Chi Lian gradually stopped transmitting his primeval essence, slowly withdrawing his hand.
Gu Yue Chi Cheng took a deep breath of relief, his tense body relaxing. "Thank you Grandfather, for nurturing my aperture and transfusing primeval essence to me every three days. It has been hard on you!"
Gu Yue Chi Lian's forehead was full of sweat, and he sighed and said, "This is inevitable. Your talent is only C-grade, so if we rely on your ability alone to rise to middle stage, it'll take a long time. The time will usually be twice of a B-grade, and four times of an A-grade. In such a situation, your talent will be exposed. Thus, even if this method is dangerous, we have to use it."
"Grandson understands grandfather's intentions."
"As long as you understand." The old man sighed, "This method also has another sequela. After your aperture has been nurtured by my silver primeval essence, although the silver primeval essence has a greater effect, it is still an external source of primeval essence to you. Henceforth, even if your aperture walls change from a light wall to a water wall, it would still be mixed with my energy. The more external energy there is, the more impure your aperture will be, and this will stifle your talent, limiting your development in the future."
Gu Yue Chi Cheng bit his lips, "Grandfather, for the future of the Chi family, I am willing to sacrifice my future prospects!"
Gu Yue Chi Lian was pleased, stroking his beard. "It is good that you have such thoughts. But the heavens always leave a glimmer of hope for you, for you are not hopeless yet. If we can find the Cleansing Water Gu, it will be able to cleanse your aperture walls and flush out all the external energies in your aperture sea, removing this sequela."
"In addition, I have also used my relationships to search for a Liquor worm for you. This worm is able to help a Rank one Gu Master refine their primeval essence and raise it by one small realm. In this way the primeval essence that is refined will be your body's own primeval essence and not an external one. Using this way to nurture your aperture leaves no repercussions and risks, it is a much better nurturing effect!"
Gu Yue Chi Lian was overjoyed. "Thank you grandfather!"
"However, the Liquor worm is hard to find. Among the Rank one Gu worms, the Liquor worm, boar Gu, and Bookworm etc, are all extremely rare Gu. Once they appear in the market they would be snatched up immediately. Of course, there are also some Gu in this world that are rumored to change a Gu Master's talent. But at this age, grandfather has never seen one, only hearing occasional rumors about them." The old man explained.
The night wind drifted softly through the window, carrying a gentle breeze into the room.
Gu Yue Fang Zheng sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed, holding a primeval stone in both hands.
Within his aperture, the green copper primeval sea surged violently despite the calm, crashing in waves against the white walls that enclosed it.
He possessed A-grade talent, and his primeval essence had already filled 80% of his aperture. His natural recovery rate was double that of Fang Yuan's.
With such a heaven-blessed advantage, he was already nearing the middle stage of Rank One cultivation.
Phew.
After some time, Gu Yue Fang Zheng let out a slow breath and opened his eyes.
Outside the window, the moon hung bright in the sky, scattered stars flickering around it. The rows of bluish-green bamboo houses stood quietly in the night.
It was a peaceful and serene scene.
"Time always flies when cultivating. In the blink of an eye, it is already late into the night," Fang Zheng muttered softly. He slowly opened his hands, and two piles of rock powder fell onto the floor in front of his bed.
Once the primeval stone had been fully drained of its essence, it crumbled into a pile of fine powder.
Fang Zheng stared at the powder, a frown appearing on his face.
He reached for his money pouch—it was nearly empty.
Opening it, he saw only three primeval stones remaining.
Every week, the academy distributed three primeval stones to each student, but because Fang Yuan always took one from him, he was left with just two.
His uncle and aunt also gave him a small allowance—three stones every seven days.
But with only these few stones, how could it possibly be enough?
Driven by his determination to surpass Fang Yuan, Fang Zheng had repeatedly gone to his uncle and aunt to plead for more primeval stones.
After several attempts, his aunt eventually sat him down for a serious talk, explaining how poor the family was, how tight their finances were, and that they had no extra money to give.
Since then, Fang Zheng had lost the will to ask again.
"Father and mother are already doing all they can to support my cultivation. I cannot make things difficult for them and ask for more primeval stones. I only have three left. I can only be more thrifty. If I use one piece a day, I'll have enough for three days."
"I have a feeling that in three or four days, I will definitely advance to middle stage! The only thing is, what is big brother's progress now?" Thinking so, Fang Zheng subconsciously looked towards to academy living quarters.
"I have A-grade talent, while big brother only has C-grade talent. His speed is definitely slower than me. Big brother is not my match this time! Big brother, I will let you know the true power of an A grade talent!"
Thinking of this, Fang Zheng clenched his fists.