A Grave Threat

As Gu Guangzhi pondered about moving to a different location, he noticed he had another problem. Many of his gu insects of the Bamboo family require fertile soil as food. The areas in and around the water spring had rich fertile soil available. But if he moved away from the location, he would have difficulty finding large amounts of fertile soil in other parts of the mountain. The soil in other parts of the mountain wasn't as rich in nutrients as the soil near the bamboo forest.

This led him to another question. Why was the soil so fertile and aided in the growth of the bamboo forest here? There were other water springs in the mountain but not all places had such rich soil. As he began looking for answers, he found traces of a wild gu near the water spring. This was a Rank 1 Fertilizer Gu. It's effect was to improve the fertility of the soil. Gu Guangzhi caught this gu and refined for himself. He was beginning to understand bits and pieces of the Gu world. Some gu insects could be explained with the principles of nature that he knew, like the bamboo family gu and fertilizer gu. But there was still a lot he had to learn about the world of Reverend Insanity.

As weeks passed by, the food for his gu was becoming scarcer and scarcer. Gu Guangzhi had to go farther and farther from the water spring. He was on his daily hunting trip and was currently fighting a wild beast with peak Rank 1 strength. With a significant increase in his strength with his new gu insects, he was able to contest with the wild beast with minimal support from the water wolf. As he was about to defeat this wild beast, the water wolf stopped him and signaled to run away immediately. Gu Guangzhi paused for just a second, before running away. He had a deep trust in his water wolf. The wild beast was also confused for a while but it didn't give chase to such troublesome opponents. Then, after a while, they heard the screams of the wild beast in pain. Gu Guangzhi and the water wolf increased their pace and reached a safe hiding place.

After a few hours, the water wolf used its investigative type gu insect Rank 1 Wolf hearing Gu and determined there was no danger. All this while, Gu Guangzhi could understand basic things from his water wolf and battle well in synchrony but today he couldn't understand what kind of danger, the water wolf was trying to warn him about. Communication was going to be big problem.

As they made their way to the water spring, Gu Guangzhi felt very uneasy. The water wolf didn't detect any danger but he still felt that something was wrong. He felt that there were several eyes watching him but he couldn't confirm his suspicions. Then all of a sudden, death seemed to cast a shadow on him and his water wolf as they saw a Giant Blood Snake.

The Giant Blood Snake was not a wild beast but rather it was a Blood path steed type gu. Gu insects could be found in several shapes and forms. Many of them are fragile and looked small but there were exceptions. In fact, many storage type or steed type gu insects were huge. This Giant Blood Snake seemed to be of Rank 2 strength. Gu Guangzhi felt a grave threat, not because he was facing a Rank 2 gu but because of the gu master riding it.

He had learned that Blood path gu masters were the most vicious in this era from the insights he got as part of his inheritance. They required blood as the food for their gu insects so they usually slaughtered anyone in their path and thus were the most hated by the righteous path.

The Giant Blood Snake has used Cold blooded stealth gu to sneak up on them so his water wolf was unable to detect the danger. As the Giant Blood Snake was about to devour Gu Guangzhi, he used all his strength to strike the Giant Blood Snake's charge. However, before his fist and the Giant Blood Snake could collide, another punch landed on the Giant Blood Snake and it crashed aside. Gu Guangzhi was surprised to see his savior, a Rank 2 gu master.

The gu master that saved him smiled and said, "That punch had some good strength behind it. I am surprised that a kid like you is a gu master. I just thought you were a mortal and a good bait to catch this blood path gu master."

The Giant Blood Snake hissed in anger and it's gu master ordered it to retreat but his path of retreat was blocked by another Rank 2 Gu master using Rank 2 Fire cloud Gu. The blood path gu master finally got serious and unleashed a barrage of blood spears from his blood. The Giant Blood Snake was engaged in the fight with the Rank 2 strength path gu master.

As the fight grew more and more violent, Gu Guangzhi could only become a spectator. Gu Guangzhi thought of running away but he saw that the blood path gu master was trying to find an opening to kill him first. Perhaps, he was trying to absorb the blood of a gu master to increase his strength before finishing off the other gu masters. He made up his mind to help the fire path gu master for the sake of his own safety.

Though he didn't understand blood path at all, he decided to use his water wolf's Stream Gu to dilute the blood spears. Surprisingly, his plan worked out but the blood path gu master became angrier. Meanwhile the strength path gu master defeated the Giant Blood Snake.

Feeling cornered, the blood path gu master used his trump card to save his life. He flew towards Gu Guangzhi and got hold of his hand. Then he used Rank 2 Blood Leech Gu. Gu Guangzhi's blood was being sucked by the blood path gu master and he was recovering his vitality. Gu Guangzhi felt drained of his strength and couldn't throw off his attacker. He could feel his hand gradually becoming rotten and unusable. As the rot was spreading towards his shoulders, he grit his teeth and used his machete to cut off his entire right arm.

The strength path gu master and the fire path gu master were surprised by the courage shown by a ten year old kid and attacked the blood path gu master in unison. Due to the arm being cut off, the blood path gu master didn't recover enough to escape. Ultimately, he died and Gu Guangzhi went unconscious due to the loss of blood. The water wolf was whimpering using Stream Gu to wake him up but there was no response.

The fire path gu master used a healing type gu to stop his bleeding and then came to a decision. "I like this guy! Let's take him to the village."

The strength path gu master did not immediately respond to the fire path gu master's suggestion. After a short while , he said "I like him as well but we don't know who he is. He might be a demonic path gu master."

"So what? Your village is known to welcome demonic path gu masters to change back to righteous path in the past as well. Besides, he seems to be a good kid. I bet he is that Gu Yue Village kid that we heard in rumors who was expelled for awakening his aperture too early. He seems to have befriended a water wolf and is living in these mountains in harmony with nature. Besides, your village accepted an outsider like me."

"You have a good aptitude and so the clan leader made an exception." He proceeded to inspect Gu Guangzhi's aperture. "He only has a D grade aperture and a Rank 1 gu master at that. What good can he do to the village?"

"He may have a bad aptitude but he has a good heart. Don't tell me you village is so strong that it doesn't need D grade gu masters anymore."

As these two Rank 2 gu masters were arguing, Gu Guangzhi woke up to their discussions. He fell down as he unconsciously tried to use his right arm for support. The other gu masters saw this and were about to offer support. He brushed them away.

"I can live on my own in these mountains. I don't need any village that doesn't need me."

Both the Rank 2 gu masters were surprised by the statement of a ten year old. They understood his nature and liked him more. The strength path gu master spoke up, "The life of a gu master is always in peril. You got dragged into our battle and lost your arm because of it. You may live now in the mountains but what will you do when the next wolf tide hits in two years? You seemed to have grown well in this past year. Prove to me that you are strong enough by breaking through to Rank 2 before the next wolf tide. If you do that we'll gladly welcome you into Xiong village."

Gu Guangzhi understood that he made that challenge so as to not hurt his pride. He nodded and accepted the challenge. The fire path gu master approached Gu Guangzhi.

"It seems that you haven't enslaved this water wolf. I refined this gu long ago while experimenting with Mind Reading Gu. I never had any use for it but kept it with me regardless. I hope this will be of use to you." Saying so, he gave a Beast communication Gu to Gu Guangzhi. "Usually, gu masters use enslavement gu to communicate with their enslaved beasts but you can use this gu to communicate with any beast."

As they were walking away, the strength path gu master said in surprise, "I didn't know you had accomplishments in refinement as well."

"That was just a hobby of mine long ago. It amounted to nothing much other than depleting the little amount of wealth I had." The fire path gu master sighed as he reminisced his past.