5
Fei Cai observed his aperture. Aside from the Aperture Nurture Gu that spun a web for its ease, a dung beetle silently floated on over the surface of primeval essence sea. This was rank 1 Wolf Strength Gu. The Northern Plain was a chaotic region with deaths occurring at every corner. Fei Cai needed to step up on his milestone of becoming a self-dependant Gu Master, and for that to happen, he first required individual strength. Fei Cai now only had forty primeval stones left. While he took eight primeval stones to refine his vital gu, he now had a better understanding of how to handle the energy and how to deal with the mental burden that came alongside the act of refining a gu worm.
Fei Cai finally channeled his primeval essence into the lethargic beetle and made it cover itself with a layer of a warm glow. Fei Cai, too, felt warm. This was a strange experience that he couldn't express completely. The beast strength gu worms allow the Gu Master to permanently gain the strength of the beasts the gu worm represents. This time, Fei Cai activated the wolf strength gu and felt his body getting nurtured under the effects of the gu worm. This is a gradual process, and Fei Cai simply couldn't obtain the strength befitting a wolf in a single session. But, he had taken his first step, and after one hour, when he felt bloated, Fei Cai finally stopped. The gu worm continued its relaxed swim while Fei Cai opened his eyes and exhaled deeply.
The night was young, and Fei Cai did not want to stop right here. He had one of the most coveted rank 1 gu worms within his aperture, and he intended to exploit its use naturally. After fifteen minutes of plain meditation to recuperate, Fei Cai dived into his aperture once again. This time, he gazed at the jade green sea before channeling a continuous stream into the Aperture Nurture Gu worm. The path of Gu Masters was divided into five major realms— from Rank 1-5— and four minor realms— lower, middle, upper, and peak. Right now, as a beginner Gu Master, Fei Cai was a Lower Rank 1 Gu Master, and the only way to move forward in the art of cultivation was to nurture the walls of apertures surrounding his primeval essence.
As he mobilized the Aperture Nurture Gu for the first time, the spider-shaped gu worm let out glowing threads from the spinner and started weaving over the entire surface of his aperture. When less than 4% of his primeval essence remained, the gu worm had finally layered the surface of his aperture with blue threads and lazily descended on the tiny lake of primeval essence to dip in it and consume its food. A Gu Master had to utilize his primeval essence for a lot of things. It was used to use a gu worm, sometimes feed the gu worm, refine a gu worm, and finally, nurture the walls of the aperture. The interior of the aperture is layered with multiple walls of varying thickness and only be nurturing them, and breaking them can a Gu Master advance his rank and ascend the ladder of cultivation.
The use of Aperture Nurture Gu was to enhance the capabilities of nurturing the walls of the aperture. The misty walls were layered with glowing threads, and now, when Fei Cai would recover his primeval essence and let the tides of his primeval essence impact against the walls, the thread would increase the effect by a 100%! In essence, Fei Cai would receive double the result with the same amount of training as anybody else. Alas, training at the same pace as anybody else never flashed within Fei Cai's consciousness. Even with the body of a child, he remained a calculative youth.
This world barely card for weakness. Fei Cai had already seen how the mortal humans are 'reared' within the tribe, and the slaves are treated even worse. Like his father said, if he doesn't want to fill Lo's shoes, he needed to work hard, work hard, and work hard. He had an excellent gu worm right from the start, and he intended to capitalize on it to gain merits and earn more gu worms so that he can complete his first objective in the long list of mental goals. Instead of utilizing his primeval stones to refill his essence to the fill, he used three stones and let the remaining portion of his primeval essence fill up naturally. The thread form the Aperture Nurture Gu lasts for 12 hours, so Fei Cai wasn't worried about the effects of the gu worm wearing out.
Once his primeval essence was restored, he spent all of it by continuously manipulating the sea into forming tidal waves that collided against the walls of his aperture. With each collision, a wisp of his primeval essence would get absorbed by the aperture itself, and the impact of it grew by 100%. At first, Fei Cai wasn't extremely proficient in forming waves to strike against the thread-layered walls, but with constant manipulation of primeval essence, Fei Cai soon started to get the hang of it. For the next few hours, Fei Cai continued to cultivate and only stopped once he depleted his primeval essence. Dawn had already touched the sky, but no matter how less of an amount of sleep he gets, it was a must. He was far more inclined to skipping his bath and 'morning crispiness' to compensate for the extra time he devoted for his cultivation and only dip in the water when it was absolutely necessary.
Fei Cai only woke up a little after the late morning. His father had already made it clear that he would stop interfering in his matters from now on. The tribesmen of this world were reasonably straightforward. Fei Cai was on his own, and even if he had the backing of the chieftain in the tribe, it was merely paper glory. If he wanted to get access to the significant resources of the tribe, then he would have to build himself up carefully without overstepping his boundaries. Fei Cai stood up and, without caring for his appearance, donned his battle outfit and took Lo with himself to the hunting grounds of the tribe. Once they reached out, Fei Cai had Lo cut out the sac of the Lucky Python they kept from yesterday and smear it across a blade of grass before tying it over his waist. As they moved about, Fei Cai noted the apparent difference in his movements. His gait had unconsciously changed to match the slight enhancement to his physique.
Today, Fei Cai did not plan to linger in the grassland in hopes of encountering a Lucky Python but scout the area of the squirrels he had followed yesterday. It was a stringent task to locate the path once again, but eventually, they did come across one of the marks Fei Cai had lest and finally straightened their journey towards the nest of the rodents. Hare-squirrels were the kind of species that would have gone viral in his previous world and then gotten itself extinct pretty quickly, too. It was the perfect combination of a large squirrel, around the size of a human skull, with the features of a hare. However, in this world, that species was a game that would only get hunted sooner or later, and sooner Fei Cai wished.
Unlike the Lucky Python, the rodents were more profitable to kill due to materials of the species being popular for gu refining. While most of the gu worms condensed within nature themselves, most of the gu worm in the human world were refined by specific materials. This was called gu refinement. A Gu Master would follow a particular recipe and technique to combine various items and then refine a brand new gu worm. Needless to say, every Gu Master cared for their gu recipes as if their worth is higher than the gu worm itself. After all, with a gu recipe, a person can create as many gu worms as he wants as long as he has the materials and the skill.
Fei Cai and Lo finally reached the edges of the grassland that would extend out to a dense forest. At the edge of one of the trees closer to the grassland, Fei Cai noticed as a bush of petals. The flower was green in color, and the cores of all the flowers were empty with a thick tube descending into the ground.
"Hare-squirrels usually live in an underground forest lily. The tubes of the lilies are scented and attract the rodents while the tube leads until the stamen, which is warm and comforts rodents."
Fei Cai thought internally. The flowers were refinement materials for rank 1 gu worm, too, and would sell well to the tribe storehouse.
Fei Cai observed the surroundings while crouching and pushing aside fistful of the grass. He kept his gaze on the forest lilies for a while before he sent Lo out. Since this part of the forest was pretty much exposed, Fei Cai still had to understand why not a single wild beast present in the forest ruined the rodent's humble abode. With a determined expression, Lo stepped out. His burly feet landed on the twigs around the starting of the forest, producing a crisp sound only for the nondescript pebble with a slightly weird shape to let out a soft lull that made Fei Cai dizzy while Lo instantly slumped on the ground with a peaceful expression while his snores soon rang in the area.
After a few minutes, Fei Cai regained his bearings and looked at the source of the sound. It was the pebble nearest to the smallest of all lillies. This time, a slightly strange rodent crawled out. It had grey fur and dark green eyes. Its facial structure resembled a rat, but its size was less than a palm. This was a Shriek Rat. A type of rodent that affected the consciousness of living beings at a certain distance. The moment it saw Fei Cai looking through the gaps of the large grass, it let out a weird screech before digging back into the tube and hiding from Fei Cai. Meanwhile, Lo remained undisturbed.
"A wild gu worm."
Fei Cai exclaimed in his heart and looked at the pebble that did not affect the shriek rat at all. Picking one of the twigs near his feet, Fei Cai snapped it but failed to pull any reaction from the wild gu worm. It seemed like the gu worm had a specific range before it could detect the presence of what is considered a threat instinctively. Gu worms were living creatures and had the basic semblance of survival. The gu worms can identify what is harmful and what is beneficial even when it does not have any complex thoughts. And it seemed like Fei Cai was just outside the range of the gu worm, he then knocked an arrow and targetted the bak of the tree the gu worm was right next to and fired the first round.
Tuc!
A loud sound spread, but the gu worm failed to react once again, and with some thoughts in his mind, Fei Cai decided to count. After a full minute had passed from the moment, the gu worm mobilized itself, Fei Cai fired another arrow and once again, the gu worm let out a strange sound, but this time, Fei Cai had already covered his ears with a cloth and reduced the effect of the sound significantly.
Without wasting a single second, Fei Cai clocked in on the gu worm, but the moment he reached the area filled with shrubs, the pebbles sunk in and brought Fei Cai alongside him. The gaping hole enlarged enough to pull Lo in, and in a fluster, Fei Cai caught the gu worm before he lost it.