First contact with an immortal Gu

Zhang Bei Yun is probably dead as a person already and can't even do much anymore to resist my control. Maybe I went a little too harsh on her there. Nah, I can't be having these thoughts, she is an enemy and I got benefits out of her. Attainment is attainment, even if it is small and useless.

Let's forget that and focus on another thing. She had quite a bit of information about the local geography and even informed me of something very interesting. A famous mountain called rotten ground mountain is a couple days of journey to the northeast area and it is controlled by Ni Clan, which apparently has an all-knowing immortal Gu.

I want to check it out and see if they can provide any insight or anything for my refinement path cultivation. Getting attainment is fun, especially when the attainment is for a really useful path.

"Alright everyone, we are going to be taking a slight detour and visiting Ni Clan. Miss Zhang has told me they have a rare way to refine really powerful Gu worms and I would like to meet up with them and study their refinement physique."

I am basically the head hanco here and even Chun Jack, the strongest of us, listens to me. This detour isn't necessary, but I am here to enjoy the sights and the journey to immortality, not just suddenly become god. Fang Yuan can chase his dream of immortality, while imma go and smell the sweety flowers on the side.

It is quite nice really. I was desperate for strength before, but now I can survive and grow along peacefully, while we travel.

Ya right! I am not even walking. I am sitting in a meditative position on Chun Jack's shoulder and cultivating. This world is terrifying! We have already met like 5 different ten myriad beast king armies and barely escaped!

What kind of world is this? Why are there so many strong creatures? Aren't they supposed to be rare? How the fuck did the Gu less Bai Ning Bing survive in this wilderness, much less with Fang Yuan as a side-burden.

I need to get stronger as fast as possible... Using relic Gu ain't an option here, so I need to up my cultivation game! I hope we at least don't need me to come and step in during the journey.

...

A couple days have passed and my cultivation really skyrocketed! It took a week for me to reach rank 2 middle stage with both my apertures and now I have rank 2, 200% scarlet red primeval essence between my two apertures. It really is this easy with heavenly essence treasure monarch lotus. It generates 25k% light red primeval essence, which is more than enough for me to continuously cultivate for days.

It isn't making any money, but my cultivation speed is unheard of! Even in the worst case scenario, I will have 2 rank 3 initial stage apertures by the time we reach Shang Clan city, which isn't exactly a good thing, as I might die from it, but it is what it is! Who am I to complain about free strength, especially when I literally asked for this to happen.

For now I need to stop cultivating, as we have arrived at rotten ground mountain, Ni clan's residence. I hop down from Chun Jack's shoulder and great the elder. "Good day Ni clan's elder. My name is Kai Nem and am an aspiring refiner. I may be young, but I am quite famous as the youngest master refiner of my clan. This beautiful woman next to me is my body guard, Mi Aka Lifa. She is quite cold and ruthless, but she is good at her job."

Tell my worth and then show my guns. Quite an effective way to prove yourself and create an obvious barrier of high society. They think we are esteemed representatives of a clan on a journey to help me gain worldly experience, so they won't mess with us.

The old man leaned in for a handshake and I acted a bit confused. The elder looked at me with a surprised gaze and motioned me to shake his hand. I laughed a bit and shook it. He was confused and I elaborated. "In my family we usually great elders with a grandfatherly hug and shake hands with our peers. Seeing an elder offer a handshake really surprised me and I didn't understand the gesture."

The elder laughed it off as an interesting custom and guided me into the clan. I used my saved up funds to buy a big house in this small town and settled my family there for a while. I am going to go around and look for the immortal Gu worm.

From what I remember about Fang Yuan's interaction with Spring Autumn Cicada, a rank 6 Gu, which are apparently called immortal Gu, can't be kept in a person's aperture. The elder here isn't that high of a rank, so there is no way he can handle an immortal Gu inside his aperture. Why are they called Immortal tho? Do they like stop needing food or something? why are they called that?

Anyway, that is why I am absolutely confident it is somewhere outside, meaning I need to find it and turn it into Gu points. After that is done, I will have enough capital to keep going and become much stronger!

I think the elder has it on his body, but I need to get him within 1 meter range of my heart to properly check his body. For some reason, Baby Dao Alchemist took residency within my heart and doesn't feel like coming out, so ever since a couple months ago, the boy has been chilling there.

I can't see him or feel him, but the range at which this "system" powers work is about 1 meter radius from my heart.

The main reason for my stupid actions is, that when I am done being here and study their boddies, the elder will probably hug me to comply with my "tradition". That is when I will scan his body and take the immortal Gu for myself!

Quite simple, easy to understand and very elaborate. All I need to do now is sit down and study these bad boys for a couple of days.

*Knock Knock

Guess the probe is here. Time to see if my act sold itself.

I open the door and see a young man only a a couple year younger than me. He offers a handshake and I graciously accept it. He smiles and says "My name is Ni Jian. I have heard from my grandfather about you being a master refiner and wanted to ask for your help."

I smile back and say "business is most welcome. As long as you are willing to provide most of the materials and pay the appropriate costs, I can guarantee success on any Gu worm below rank 4! I promise a 2X primeval stone payback if I fail to refine any Gu worm rank 3 and below. I can't promise the same for rank 4 yet, as I myself am not capable of refining a rank 4 Gu worm."

The young man nodded his head and said "Just what I needed! My uncle has just advanced into a rank 3 Gu master and I wish to gift him a rank 3 version of his favourite Gu worm, Sinking earth Gu. Do you think you can refine it?"

I nod my head in deep thought and say "It is quite possible. If you have a rough recipe, I can fix up the flaws depending on the recipe."

Can't give away my system by pretending like I know the Gu's recipe.

The young man handed me a piece of paper and said "Here it is. I hope sir can understand it and give me an ingredient list." Ya, ya. Privacy and incription poems, I know the stick.

"I'll need about 3 hours to figure this out. Come back by then and I will give you the recipe for the ingredients. If you gather them all, I will refine the said Gu worm."

Ni Jian cupped his fist and said "Thank you, master Kai. I will be back when the sun reaches high night."

I nodded my head and he left. Now, how do I make that Gu? I would need probably 3 rank 2 versions of it, a couple rank 1 water path Gu worms, rank 2 poison path Gu worms, maybe even add a sword path as a neutral mixtu- oh my, I got into rambling. I'll just ask for somewhat random ingredients and 50 rank 2 Gu worms, so I can use my system and turn a profit from refining. I'll just cultivate and wait for him to come back.

Sure enough, 4 hours later and I managed to make 130 Gu points and 3.7k primeval stones worth of profit. Quite good. I'll continue my trading for a couple of days and then switch to Shang Clan city for battle experience when I reach rank 3. Chun Jack can also go there to fight and become stronger.

I shouldn't dilly dally thought. If I want to meet Shang Xin Ci, then I need to first meet Zhang Xin Ci! I have some time before, Hei Tu, I think the name was, steals her from me. Shang Xin Ci is one of the most beautiful people in this world and I don't want to miss out on meeting her!

The idea of a youngster like me being a refinement master, much less a quasi-grandmaster, is quite amazing to these people, so the local refinement path masters have even challenged me. Their defeat will be crippling and embarrassing, which will make me all the more famous!

From Ni clan my fame as a refinement path master will spread and people will make wrong assumptions, among other things, which will only end up benefiting me in the long run.

Now, I wonder what the refinement challenge will be. It is today at high noon, so basically impossible to miss. I can't bring Chun Jack around, as he is my hidden dagger, so Mi Aka Lifa is my bodyguard here.

I walk towards the small battle arena near the clan leader's building and see an old man waiting for me there for me with a pile of ingredients next to him. He is smiling and I just jump up to him.

Now, I don't have that gentle and thin body Fang Yuan has. I am a literal 1.83 meter tall giant with more muscles on one of my arms than this old noob has on his entire body! This along with my golden eyes, long black hair tied in a tail and the huge grin on my face is intimidation of another level. Don't think I am some gentle looking femboy! I am a hardened fighter, with enough strength to rip a human in half with my bare hands!

This old man might look calm and collected, but I can see it in his eyes! My killing intent and intimidating aura is getting to him! I don't care if you are rank 3! If you think you can challenge me, first you have to not die from a heart attack, old bastard!

"I think it is about high noon. I apologize elder, but you are only superior in age and can only offer you a handshake. May the best from us win!" The elder shakes my hand and he has a surprisingly strong grip for his age. He should have been a decent martial artist in his prime.

I nod my head to show my respect to him and get going to my station. The competition is going to be mostly me making Gu worms and I highly doubt anyone wants to hear a refinement enthusiast rambling on for a while, so I'll mop the floor with this old coot and then get on with my journey.