7 A parent’s foresight

Gu Guangzhi and the water wolf made their way to the water spring in an uneventful fashion. It was really a beautiful place hidden from the rest of the jungle within a dense canopy of bamboo trees. Gu Guangzhi and the water wolf enjoyed the water spring and felt rejuvenated. There was a small cave near the spring that seemed pretty suitable for human habitation. He thought that this might've been his parents meeting spot and it seemed like they spent a lot of time here. He rested for a while and then thought about his future.

He was a gu master with a D grade aperture. From what he heard in the village, it might even take him more than ten years to break into Rank 2. There were several gu masters in Gu Yue village with a D grade aperture but he had never heard of a single one among them that could break into Rank 3. The clan leader was of Rank 4 and he heard that his ancestor even reached Rank 5. Who Gu Guangzhi was afraid of, wasn't those clan elders or the clan leader. He was afraid of Fang Yuan.

He knew that in the future, Fang Yuan would become extremely powerful and ruthless while facing against various forces in the world, like any other novel protagonist, from the memes he saw on Reverend Insanity message board. But he didn't know any details. Would Fang Yuan become a peak Rank 5 gu master and rule over Qing Mao mountain? Or was there a Rank much higher Rank 5 like those legends he heard about in stories from his mother? It's not as if he never had the idea to kill Fang Yuan when he was still a kid but punishing Fang Yuan for crimes he hadn't yet committed seemed wrong to him. For now, he just wanted to be strong enough to not die a dog's death. He couldn't take upon the role of an emissary of justice and fight Fang Yuan. He had to learn to pick fights he could win.

As he was wondering how he could get stronger, he noticed the water wolf trying to pull something from within the spring. It seemed to be a Rank 2 Bamboo culm Gu. Bamboo culm Gu was a storage type gu that could store items. It wasn't a naturally occurring gu. It was a a man made gu. It seemed like this Bamboo culm Gu was stored here by someone. Gu Guangzhi swam to the Bamboo Culm gu and sent his primeval sense to inspect it. As he guessed, it was refined by his parents and he could easily refine the Bamboo culm Gu without any resistance. This was meant to be their inheritance to him. Perhaps, their parents didn't trust the clan enough to leave the matter of their inheritance to them and left it here in the water spring.

Bamboo culm Gu had a storage capacity similar to Rank 2 Tusita Grass Gu and it could store common items, primeval stones and even some similar type gu insects. But its main disadvantage was that it had to be carried around like a common item around the waist. It couldn't be stored in the aperture, thus it wasn't an ideal storage type gu. Even though it was a Rank 2 gu insect, Gu Guangzhi could operate it by expending a larger amount of his Rank 1 green copper primeval essence. There were about 3000 primeval stones, some common necessities like clothing, tools and medicines in two sections of the Bamboo culm gu.

In the third section, there were some Bamboo related gu present. Bamboo culm gu could be used to store other types of gu insects as well but their feeding would become a problem. If left unfed for a long time, any gu would die or regress in its rank. However, if Bamboo related gu were stored in it, Bamboo culm Gu would feed the other Bamboo related gu stored inside, making it ideal to preserve them for a long time. This Bamboo culm Gu was placed at the bottom of the water spring where it could feed upon the nutrient rich soil and water. So it was able to preserve all its contents well.

Gu Guangzhi was most surprised to find a Rank 3 healing type Bamboo stalk Gu inside. Both his parents were Rank 2 Gu Masters. This might've been their biggest treasure that they managed to hide from the clan. There were also a few Rank 2 bamboo related gu that covered attack, defense and movement of a gu master. There were also quite a few Rank 1 Bamboo paper Gu with many insights and teachings about gu cultivation.

As Gu Guangzhi was going through the contents of one such Bamboo paper Gu, his eyes moistened for a bit. This seemed to be a letter from his parents. They congratulated him for finding the inheritance but also apologized for giving him such a tough life. They suspected that their clan would discriminate against him in the future, so they arranged an inheritance for him in this place to progress his cultivation smoothly. Gu Guangzhi could imagine how badly his parents had to endure insults from the clan that they had the forethought to arrange such an inheritance. He thanked his parents for their help and vowed to teach his clan a lesson.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, Gu Guangzhi kept on training and cultivating diligently. Every morning he would hunt together with his water wolf and train his body. As he stepped out every morning to face these beasts with his Rank 1 Bamboo cane gu, he would push himself to the limit using hit and run tactics. His water wolf would heed his calls and attack and block the enemy in synchronization. Whenever it became too dangerous, they would flee without hesitation.

After returning from the hunt, he would cultivate diligently till the night to train his primeval essence in the aperture. Since the water spring was surrounded by thick bamboo trees, his cultivation wouldn't be disturbed by the dangerous beasts in the mountain. Unlike the gu masters living in a city, he had only one use for primeval stones. To progress his cultivation!

He only had one Gu worm, his vital gu, Rank 1 Bamboo sprout Gu. It didn't need much in terms of food. With a small amount of fertile soil and water, it could survive. His other gu insects, were still kept inside the Bamboo culm Gu as he couldn't use them till he reached Rank 2 and it was placed at the bottom of the water spring so it could feed itself. Thus, his cultivation rose at a great speed and within three months, he spent 350 primeval stones and reached the middle stage of Rank 1.