Quiet time

The next few days after the auction were quite peaceful to Gu Guangzhi. To his surprise, all the elders who were pressuring him about marriage dialed it down a notch and some even acted arrogantly as if Gu Guangzhi had no choice but to join their faction. Betrothal gifts were never on Gu Guangzhi's mind when he wanted to marry and the elders previously used it as a bargaining chip to entice Gu Guangzhi, but now, it seemed that they were not interested in giving such gifts anymore. Previously , he was constantly bothered by the elders trying to set him up with their daughters and haggling about gifts. This change of pace actually made Gu Guangzhi quite happy.

Gu Guangzhi used this quiet time to focus on his refinement recipe for making explosive birds similar to that of Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu. Previously, when he tried to create a new gu insect, Bai clan members ambushed him in the mountains. This time, as he was not allowed to go out of the village, he made some arrangements within his residence so that no one disturbed him during refinement. He made use of several blood path mortal resources he obtained from Bai clan gu masters for the refinement and was finally able to combine, Grass Puppet Gu with hell rise grass and Quick swallow bird. The resultant gu insect could create tiny flammable puppet birds.

The birds created using this gu had a very short life span but they were very fast. By infusing more primeval essence into the creation of the bird, he could prolong the life span of the puppet bird. This in itself wasn't vey useful for Gu Guangzhi. He further tried to fuse this gu insect with Bamboo fire flower Gu so that he could set the bird on fire at any time he wanted. This process was extremely dangerous and he almost burned himself to death but Gu Guangzhi's water wolf helped him with Rank 3 Water veil Gu. He later treated his injuries with Bamboo stalk Gu but it was worth it because he now held Rank 1 Hellrise bamboo bird Gu in his hands.

The Grass puppet Gu he initially had was Rank 2 which could create grass soldiers capable of taking down peak mortals so refining Rank 1 Hellrise bamboo bird Gu was a downgrade. But with the explosive power of hellrise bamboo birds, he could do the same with even lesser primeval essence. Furthermore, it had similar characteristics of a Grass Puppet Gu, meaning, it could produce more powerful hellrise bamboo birds, if it was continuously supplied with primeval essence or if the hellrise bamboo birds were combined.

Yu Wen Zi came to Gu Guangzhi's refinement chamber after he heard the explosions. Gu Guangzhi tried to create an isolated chamber for his refinement but it was not a quiet affair. So gu masters nearby heard the muffled explosions as well. However, most of them were afraid of Gu Guangzhi's water wolf so they didn't go in to investigate. Yu Wen Zi on the other hand was not hindered by the water wolf.

"You need to be more discreet about your refinements. If other gu masters learn about your refinement methods, it will become troublesome.", said Yu Wen Zi looking at Gu Guangzhi who was sipping medicinal wine from Bamboo stalk Gu.

Gu Guangzhi smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry about that. I made a small breakthrough in my recipe and wanted to try it. By the way, I've always wondered, why is my refinement technique so different from other gu masters? I understand that it is more economical but it is more dangerous as well. I have more primeval stones now. Why won't you allow me to learn normal refinement techniques like the other gu masters?"

Yu Wen Zi's face became stoic. He curtly replied, "I don't like the other methods. You think you have a lot of money now? You'll learn that it is nothing after you fail at refinement a few times. It is better to stick to my techniques and spend your money on something more useful. You have a lot of gu insects to feed. Don't you?" Gu Guangzhi couldn't reply. Indeed, he had a lot of new gu insects to feed. Previously when he had only bamboo family gu insects, Bamboo culm was able to feed it with help from Fertilizer Gu. Now, he had several earth path gu insects that didn't fall into bamboo family of gu insects. He was spending a lot of money to easily obtain those foods from the clan and other markets.

Yu Wen Zi noticed Gu Guangzhi's silence and changed the topic, "By the way, do you know why all the elders are treating you differently these days?"

Gu Guangzhi shrugged his shoulders.

"They all think I helped you in breaking through to Rank 3 by infusing my primeval essence into your body."

"But external primeval essence is poisonous to one's aperture. Why would I do something like that? It can even cause my aptitude to decrease… Ohh… So that's why the elders were competing for that Cleansing Gu! They must think that they are now in control of my fate. It all makes sense now. Hahaha.", said Gu Guangzhi while laughing.

"Laugh all you want. But what will you do once the clan elder forces you to marry some random girl when no one is willing to give you their daughter?", asked Yu Wen Zi.

Gu Guangzhi calmed down. He said, "I think this happened for my own good. Marrying a stranger for the sake of benefits is the same as marrying a random person." Yu Wen Zi didn't know what to say now. His disciple's morals were sometimes too idealistic. But he didn't want to reprimand him for having such ideals.

Two days later, Gu Guangzhi was summoned to the clan pavilion. The clan leader now wanted an answer as to whom he would marry. It had been quite sometime since he asked Gu Guangzhi this question. Gu Guangzhi still hesitated. The senior elder who bought the Cleansing Gu was also nervous. He was afraid that he had pushed Gu Guangzhi too hard. If Gu Guangzhi wanted to defy him, risking the loss of aptitude, then it would be a lose-lose situation for him. The other elders were hesitant in offering marriage to Gu Guangzhi because even if they pulled Gu Guangzhi to their faction, if his aptitude dropped to the point that he was unable to control his water wolf anymore, he would become a useless elder in the future. Earlier, when this question was asked all the elders competed with each other. But now, no one even wanted to make eye contact with the clan leader. The clan leader knew why this was happening as well.

Then, a voice broke this stalemate, "Lord Gu Guangzhi. Please marry me!"