Refining Gu!

A week they had passed since Fang Yuan had awakened his aperture.

"Over the course of this week I have taught the basics of a Gu Master's path to all of you. Now that you are ready, I will send you all to the clan Gu Room so you can choose your first Gu Worm." The academy elder had his hands behind his back as he explained dignifiedly to all the students in the room.

"Remember to choose your first Gu worm carefully as they will be a crucial factor in your future, your first Gu worm is the most important and the core of the path you want to follow in the future." The elder firmly insisted on making clear the importance of Vital Gu for a Gu Master.

All the students in the room nodded thoughtfully as they had already thought about which Gu to choose for themselves, while others had already decided which path they wanted to take.

Seeing that all the students realized the importance of their choices, the academy elder decided to continue: "As soon as you choose your Gu Worm, I want you to go back home and fully focus on refining your Gu. You won't be able to return to classes until you finish refining your Gu, and to motivate you, the academy has decided to give a reward of 30 Primeval Stones to the first one to refine your Gu Worm."

All students were euphoric with the news of the reward in primeval stones that the first place would win. Some had already given up on winning the reward as they looked at the talents sitting in the front row of the room, but others had a fire of ambition in their eyes as they felt motivated.

In the front row were this year's top talent, Fang Yuan and Fang Zheng, as Grade A talents, sat on the left side of the room next to each other, while on the right side were Mo Bei and Chi Cheng, as Grade B talents.

They were the top talents of that year in the academy and the top heirs of their respective factions. This year's Gu academy was sure to have a lot of competition and rivalry, which the elders approved with all their vigour.

The elder looked at the four young talents sitting in front of him and let out a satisfied smile as he thought, "The clan certainly received a lot of good seedlings this year. Especially the Fang brothers, where they are extremely focused and well-behaved. Especially the eldest who is always at the top when it comes to talent and knowledge."

"Hoho, that Bai Ning Bing to Bai Clan can't wait to be crushed by our new talents." The elder thought of the main genius of the Gu Yue clan's rival.

Soon, the elder dispersed everyone from the classroom and guided everyone to the place where everyone would choose their main Gu worm.

Arriving in front of a room of approximately 60m², the students were excited as they were impatient to choose their Gu worm until the academy elder brought order to the place and asked everyone to organize themselves.

"Everyone calm down and form a line!" The elder raised his voice as he waited for all the youths to organize themselves. The youths organized themselves and stood in order in front of the Gu room door, which was protected by two large guards.

Fang Yuan was the first one to be invited into the Gu room, so he didn't stand on ceremony and entered the room while observing Everything around him.

It was a strange room, where all four of its walls were full of holes of various sizes and shapes with some items inside. Some had clay pots in the centre, others with porcelain plates, and some with vessels of an unknown material.

But what they all had in common was that a Gu worm lay dormant inside each of these containers; some were like insects, some were like grass, and some looked like stones and minerals.

It was a magical place and incredibly full of life, as some of these Gu made some strange sounds as if they were really insects. Some hissed, chirped, rustled, and some even snarled like wild animals.

All the gu in this room were Rank 1 Gu, and Fang Yuan already knew that and took advantage of the Nexus to acquire all the Gu in this location at once.

"Nexus, scan every Gu in this room!" Fang Yuan started to walk around the room, assessing all the Gu in that room while waiting for Nexus to complete the procedure.

[Understood Sir!]

[Starting Analysis...]

Fang Yuan saw many Gu that were familiar to old Fang Yuan's memories. As he paced the room, he thought of his plans for the afternoon.

"Sigh! Of the three Gu I acquired from the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance, the only one I can currently use is Liquor Worm. The White Boar Gu and Jade Skin Gu are very weak and need to be fed to use them." Fang Yuan sighed as he spent the last six days finding a way to feed his Gu worms without attracting attention from others.

"The jade Skin Gu is the hardest to find food in the village without attracting attention, but thanks to the Flower Wine monk's inheritance, this is the easiest to feed currently. I only need one attack, Gu, so I can start hunting the jade-eyed stone monkeys." Fang Yuan thought that as long as he was careful, he could hunt these Stone Monkeys.

"The real problem is White Boar Gu." Fang Yuan's main problem was with the White Boar Gu because that was the Gu he wanted to use as soon as possible, just like the Liquor Worm, but the Gu Worm was too hungry to use effectively.

To feed this, Gu required a lot of fresh boar meat, and he couldn't buy this large amount of boar meat without drawing the attention of others, so he spent the last few days laying the groundwork for his next plan.

Fang Yuan knew that the best boar hunter in this village was old Wang, but he also knew about his son, who became a Level 2 Demoniac Gu Master. As he worked out his plan, he would always have the chance to run into Wang Da while hunting the boars.

So Fang Yuan decided that the best course of action would be to eliminate this hidden threat that is the Wang Da, so Fang Yuan spent the last six days sneaking into old Wang's house and making a copy of his map with the location of Wang Da with the help of the Nexus.

After getting the map, Fang Yuan needed to write down Wang Da's schedule and routine, so after a while of investigation, he realized that Wang Da goes to visit his father and brothers every other day and returns home at night. So now Fang Yuan just needed a decisive attack method that eliminated Wang Da without him being able to fight back.

And for the attack method, Fang Yuan decided to refine a Gu that was in his memory that has great attack power and low consumption of primeval essence, and it was a Rank 2 Gu that even a Level 1 Gu Master could use without any problems.

Sneak Attack Gu, a Thief Path Gu created by Thieving Heaven, the first Thief Path Gu he successfully refined. This Gu had a high attack power at a low cost. It was the perfect Gu for Fang Yuan's current situation.

And today, Fang Yuan got all the materials he needed to try to refine this Gu. All that was missing was the corpse of a newborn baby, which Fang Yuan had also already gotten last night while sneaking stealthily through the slave area.

Fang Yuan would get the rest of the materials needed for Sneak Attack Gu refinement today. But Fang Yuan would have to make sure to refine this Gu successfully on the first try, as he only has enough materials for one chance, and today is also one of the days when Wang Da is going to visit his family, so Fang Yuan wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.

[Ready, Sir!]

[I have successfully added all the Gu in that room to my database!]

[Even the Gu needed for our next refinement!]

Fang Yuan snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the Nexus notification and nodded, "Good, now I just need to head back home quickly and start the refinement!"

Taking a Moonlight Gu that was on a porcelain plate and leaving the room, Fang Yuan calmly waited for his little brother to choose his Gu worm and headed to his house to start putting his plans into practice.

As soon as the Fang brothers arrived home, a servant came towards them and led them across to the reception room where their uncles wanted to meet them. Fang Yuan simply nodded, knowing full well what they wanted, and went to greet his uncles. Fang Zheng, who was beside him, also followed.

The uncle and aunt looked at the twins with an expression that was difficult to discern and spoke to them, "I decided to refrain from bringing this conversation to you during your first week at the Gu academy, but now that you have already acquired your first Worm Gu and entered the true path of a Gu Master, we have decided to bring this matter forward."

Fang Zheng, who was standing on Fang Yuan's left side, tilted his head, not understanding what his uncles meant, but Fang Yuan, who was on his side, already knew exactly what matter his uncles wanted to bring up.

"I know that refining a Gu worm takes a lot of time, effort and resources, so first, I will give 10 Primeval Stones to each of you to help you refine your Gu." The uncle instructed a servant to hand over a bag of Primeval Stones for each of the brothers.

Fang Zheng picked up his bag of primeval stones with a goofy smile on his face as he beamed with joy, while Fang Yuan picked up his bag of primeval stones with a calm and slightly grateful smile.

"Thanks for the generous help uncles." Fang Yuan clenched his fists in a traditional Chinese thank you and bowed slightly with his characteristic smile on his face.

"Th-thanks too uncles!" Fang Zheng, who was on the side, was startled by his brother's thanks and thanked his uncles as well as he bowed.

"Now come here and sit down. I want to talk to you some more." Uncle smiled as he indicated with his hand to two seats next to him.

The twins soon sat in their respective chairs next to each other while listening to their uncle's speech: "You know, we are very proud of your accomplishments and talents, we consider them as our own children."

"So after talking with your uncle for a while we came to the conclusion that we want to adopt you two as our own children. What do you think?" The aunt took the lead and extended the invitation to the twins as she held her husband's arm with a smile on her face.

Fang Zheng, who was listening to all of this, simply burst into tears as he thought of the possibility of having a complete family again, so he quickly replied with hot blood: "Uncles, I am willing to be welcomed as your son!"

Fang Zheng was still very easy to deceive, and because of his need for attention and the warmth of a true family, he ended up giving in to his uncle's request and was happy to transform into their son.

"Good, good. Now you are our worthy son, so why are you still calling us uncles?" The aunt replied with tears in her eyes as she smiled at Fang Zheng like a mother looking at her most beloved child (or a bag of Money).

Fang Zheng fell to the ground and knelt down as he prostrated and banged his head on the floor of the floor with tears still in his eyes and said, "The son greets Father and Mother."

Fang Yuan, who was watching the theatre taking place in front of him, simply sighed as he thought of how needy his young little brother really was. To accept as parents those who tortured him so much just goes to show how broken this young man's mentality is.

"And you Fang Yuan?" Uncle furrowed his brows when he noticed that Fang Yuan was completely silent throughout the entire speech.

Fang Yuan gently smiled with eyes moist with fake tears and clenched his fists as he replied, "I deeply appreciate uncles' consideration towards me and my brother. But unfortunately I will have to decline your generous offer, I already have a father and a mother and I do not intend to replace their image in my heart."

Fang Yuan feigned regret as his eyes were slightly moist, hinting that he might cry at any moment. Fang Zheng, seeing his brother's expression and his lines, suddenly felt a little uncomfortable as he thought of his former parents.

"Brother-" Fang Zheng tried to speak to his older brother but was immediately stopped by the older brother, who simply smiled at him and patted his head.

"No need to worry Fang Zheng, deep down you will always be my little brother in my heart. But since you've accepted new parents, I'll be the one to keep our parents' names alive." Fang Yuan lightly smiled as he answered and soothed Fang Zheng's thoughts.

The uncles were slightly worried about Fang Yuan's actions, but they didn't show it in their expressions and simply kept their gentle smiles on their faces.

"I see, I understand you want to keep your family name alive. Therefore, I have prepared a good amount of 500 primeval stones as financial support so that you can form your own family without any worries." The uncle nodded and asked a servant to bring the large bag of primeval stones.

Fang Yuan wiped his smile from his face and showed a fair expression as he denied the primeval stones, "I can't accept this from uncles. You've already done enough for my brother and me, I can't brazenly take your primeval stones like that."

"This…" Dong Tu frowned and didn't know what to do now that Fang Yuan had refused his two plans; if Fang Yuan accepted the primeval stones, he could claim that Fang Yuan had left his family behind to form a new one. And with that, even if Fang Yuan had Grade A talent, he couldn't forcibly claim the family inheritance, and even if he did, he would have to throw away his reputation.

Reputation in such a small clan is as important as Master Gu's own life; few people would be willing to throw away their reputation in the village, and those who chose to throw away their reputation were ostracized by the system.

That's why Dong Tu was confident in one of his plans because, for a Grade A talent like Fang Yuan, reputation is what he should cherish and protect the most. If Fang Yuan agreed to be adopted by him, the Fang family inheritance would go directly into Dong Tu's hands, and he would no longer have to worry about losing it.

But now that Fang Yuan had his plans, he would have to come up with a plan to stop Fang Yuan from claiming the inheritance without incurring the clan's wrath, for the clan would protect a Grade A talent like Fang Yuan tooth and nail.

"If that's all, then I wanted to say goodbye to the uncles." Fang Yuan wiped her expression away and returned with her face calm and serene as she said goodbye to her uncles and went to her room.

Fang Zheng stood there, not knowing what to say at that moment, and simply bid farewell to his new parents as well: "Father, Mother. This son will retire to his room to refine his Gu."

"Fine, go and focus on your refinement." Uncle said as he sighed lightly and sent Fang Zheng to his room and dismissed the servants from the room.

Once the uncles were alone, they threw away their fake smiles and tears and showed a cold face of anguish as they thought about Fang Yuan's actions today.

"And now. What are we going to do husband? What if Fang Yuan wants to claim the inheritance for himself?" The aunt was already worried about the possibility of losing her life of luxury.

"I don't know. Hey, I need more time to think, but at least he still needs to be 16 and complete the clan quest to claim the inheritance." Dong Tu tried to calm his wife as he rubbed his forehead in concern.

"Fortunately, we still have Fang Zheng who is also a Grade A talent." The aunt nodded and brightened as she remembered that Fang Zheng agreed to be adopted by them.

"That's true, but Fang Zheng is still too naive and soft so the clan head will definitely give preference to Fang Yuan who has already shown his intelligence from a very young age." Dong Tu sighed as he thought about his problems.

"Fang Yuan, that cunning brat, he easily saw through our intentions." Dong Tu felt a shiver run down his spine as he remembered that closed-eyed smile that Fang Yuan gave while listening to their proposal.

"It's like he's feeling sorry for me and he's looking at me like a kid playing in the sand." Dong Tu felt that all of his years of experience could be easily seen through Fang Yuan's eyes.

...

Fang Yuan entered his room slowly and firmly locked the door and began to change into a darker set of clothes.

Fang Yuan then made sure no one was watching him before jumping out the window and discreetly heading towards the inheritance cave. Fang Yuan was no fool, and he knew that refining a Gu worm would attract people's attention, so he was planning to refine his Gu safely inside the inheritance cave.

It was about 4 p.m., and the sun was still high in the sky, but it was already showing signs of setting.

Once he arrived at Fang Yuan's inheritance cave, he asked Nexus to replicate the Gu needed for refinement with the Dao Marks he had stored.

[Everything is ready, Lord!]

[Do you want to start the simulation?]

"Yes, start the simulation now." That was the main reason why Fang Yuan was confident in refining Sneak Attack Gu on the first try. Nexus had the ability to simulate possible events during refinement.

[Starting Simulation!]

[1st try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

[2nd try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

[3rd try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

[4th try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

[5th ​​try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

Fang Yuan sighed as he watched the simulations go wrong one after another, "It seems this Gu is not that easy to refine."

While Nexus ran the simulations, Fang Yuan sat in a lotus position and began to analyze the cause of the previous simulations' failures and try to help Nexus with the simulations while taking the opportunity to learn more about Gu's refinement.

[9th try...]

[...]

[Success!]

After eight failures in a row, finally came the Success that Fang Yuan and Nexus wanted so much: "Nexus, save this simulation and make the next simulations based on this success!"

[Understood Sir!]

[1st try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

[2nd try...]

[...]

[Success!]

[3rd try...]

[...]

[Failure!]

Nexus restarted the simulations based on previous Success, and the success rate increased a lot. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan continued to study the simulations to help as much as he could.

It was already 5 p.m., and the sun was already starting to set, but Fang Yuan and Nexus had great success over the course of these countless simulations. Now, Fang Yuan was confident in refining the Sneak Attack Gu.

After an hour of studying Nexus simulations, Fang Yuan was confident that he had at least an 80% chance of Success in this refinement.

"Let's go then." Fang Yuan snapped his fingers as he arranged the materials and began refinement.

Fang Yuan took the materials and began to slowly process them with fire while melting the materials that had already been processed into a fireball.

With calm and patience, he soon managed to fuse all the materials into a ball of dark matter engulfed in fire and then slowly dimmed the fire to keep it under full control before continuing with the refinement.

"Uff! Now comes the hardest part of the refinement." Fang Yuan thought as he looked at the baby corpse beside his.

"I'm really sorry young man, but I have to do this." Fang Yuan took off the cloth covering the baby's corpse and apologized to him before hurling him into the ball of dark, flaming material.

Fang Yuan never liked to do harm to others, but if he had to choose between his life or that of a complete stranger, he would definitely choose his own life. That's what the current Fang Yuan is. He's not a hero or villain; he's simply a selfish human who lived longer than he really should.

He can see the beauty in the life around him, and he knows how to give the true value it deserves, but he also knows how cruel this world is, so he chooses to be decisive with his actions. So, for him to use a baby's corpse in refining a Gu worm is nothing but a minor setback for him.

Spending so much time 'in that' place would drive anyone crazy, but luckily, Fang Yuan managed to hold on to one thing and prevented himself from being consumed by madness. But unfortunately, this came with a price, as he now has his emotions extremely suppressed.

That's why Fang Yuan always walks around with a smile on his face and tries to help the people around him as much as he can; he doesn't do it out of kindness or benevolence. He's just a selfish 'Human' being like any other and just wants to feel his emotions rise again.

The refinement fire soon grew fierce after the baby's corpse entered it, and Fang Yuan had to use a lot of concentration to finally tame that fire before continuing with refinement.

Sandpit Gu

This was a very common Rank 1 Gu; it had the ability to turn a small part of the ground into fine sand.

As soon as Fang Yuan threw this Gu, it turned into dust as it was absorbed by the massive fireball.

Then the fire calmed down slightly, but it still showed signs of trying to riot and get out of control.

Fang Yuan grabbed the Chimney Smoke Gu that was on his side, activated it with his primeval essence, and redirected its smoke towards the fire.

Chimney Smoke Gu was another simple Rank 1 Gu. Its ability was to produce a smoke that was very useful for evading or disturbing the opponent's senses.

Soon, several layers of smoke began to cover the enormous fire. After a few seconds of waiting, the smoke finally consumed the fire and began to take the form of a flaming ghost baby.

It looked like this thing had come out of the deepest layers of hell, but Fang Yuan didn't let that affect him and simply hurled the Chimney Smoke Gu towards the ghost baby.

After the ghost baby finished devouring the Chimney Smoke Gu, Fang Yuan picked up the Clear Water Gu and hurled it at the ghost baby as well.

The fire then quickly subsided as the Clear Water Gu turned into a lump of emerald green water while fighting the fire.

And the answering fire turned from its intense red to a deep yellow-orange.

Fire and water circled around each other as they fought each other, intent on devouring each other.

Seeing that the Gu was in its final stage, Fang Yuan cut his hand while letting his blood drip onto the Yin-Yang circle.

After the Yin-Yang circle was hit by Fang Yuan's blood, it turned into a baby blue ghost that flew towards its aperture.

Fang Yuan allowed the blue phantom baby to enter his aperture to complete the refinement and finally allowed himself to relax a bit as he was completely covered in sweat.

Looking into its aperture, Fang Yuan saw a beautiful blue jade crystal in the shape of a baby floating in the middle of its aperture.

"Hehehe. I really did it on the first try." Fang Yuan felt proud as he took out the aperture Sneak Attack and watched him.