The weather is unpredictable, refined with difficult

Raindrops the size of beans pattered down densely, hitting the green bamboo building with crisp sounds. In the pond in front of the building, the water surface was struck by the raindrops, while fish happily darted through the water, and the aquatic plants swayed at the bottom.

Dense dark clouds covered the sky, obscuring the entire view with a thick curtain of rain.

In the somewhat dim room, the window was open, and Fang Yuan quietly watched the heavy rain, sighing softly to himself, "It's been three days and nights already."

Three nights ago, he had left the village with two jars of wine, continuing his exploration around the area. But in the deep of the night, a torrential downpour began.

Soaked to the bone and miserable, it wasn't just the discomfort that troubled him; in such conditions, further exploration was out of the question.

The rain could quickly wash away the scent of alcohol, and if he were to forcefully explore in the rain, it would surely arouse suspicion. Earlier, he had disguised himself as a despondent drunk to conceal his true intentions. But one must never underestimate the intelligence of others; only fools believe others to be stupid.

So, with no other choice, Fang Yuan had to stop his exploration.

The rain had been pouring continuously since then, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, but never stopping.

"With this rain, it's impossible to find the wine insect in the short term. To be safe, I'll have to start refining the Moonlight Gu first. If I manage to find the wine insect during this process, that would be ideal. If not, I'll just have to make do. But this situation is quite common; the weather is unpredictable, and in this world, who can always have things go smoothly and perfectly?" Fang Yuan remained calm, having already shed any remaining impatience through his 500 years of experience.

He closed the window and door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and slowly closed his eyes. After regulating his breathing, he sank his consciousness.

In the next moment, the image of his own aperture appeared in his mind.

Although the aperture resided within his body, it was extraordinarily mysterious, infinitely large and infinitely small.

The outside of the aperture was a layer of light membrane. The white light membrane seemed very thin, but it solidly supported the aperture.

Inside the aperture was a sea of primeval essence.

The seawater was a bronze color, calm as a mirror, with the water level about halfway up the aperture. The entire sea of essence occupied about 44% of the aperture.

This was the bronze primeval sea of a Rank One Gu Master. Every drop of seawater was primeval essence, the essence of Fang Yuan's life, the condensation of his spirit and energy.

Every drop of primeval essence was precious because it was the foundation of a Gu Master's power. It was the source of his strength, enabling him to refine and activate Gu worms.

Withdrawing his consciousness from the primeval sea, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and took out the Moonlight Gu from his bosom.

The Moonlight Gu lay quietly in Fang Yuan's palm, like a small crescent moon, exquisite and translucent.

With a thought, the primeval sea in his aperture began to churn, and a stream of primeval essence broke through the sea's surface, surging out and flowing into the Moonlight Gu.

The Moonlight Gu instantly emitted a deep blue light, trembling slightly in Fang Yuan's palm, resisting the influx of primeval essence.

Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, the codes of the Great Dao, and the carriers of laws. They are also living beings, inherently free, with their own will. Now, Fang Yuan had to erase its will to refine it. Sensing the crisis, the Moonlight Gu naturally resisted.

The refining process was extremely difficult.

The Moonlight Gu resembled a crescent moon, and as the bronze primeval essence was injected, the tips of the crescent turned green first.

The green hue then began to spread towards the middle of the crescent.

Within three minutes, Fang Yuan's face turned pale. The continuous infusion of primeval essence caused waves of weakness to wash over him, like cramps and bone marrow extraction.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes... eight minutes, nine minutes, ten minutes.

After ten minutes, Fang Yuan's primeval sea had consumed a full 10% of his primeval essence. However, the surface of the Moonlight Gu, originally like blue crystal, had only a slight green tint spreading from the tips of the crescent.

The resistance of the Moonlight Gu was extremely strong.

Fortunately, Fang Yuan had anticipated this and was not surprised, continuing to infuse the Moonlight Gu with primeval essence.

Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent.

Another twenty minutes passed, and Fang Yuan's primeval sea was down to only 14% of its original volume. The green hue on the Moonlight Gu had expanded slightly, covering about one-twelfth of its surface.

The rest of it remained the Moonlight Gu's original light blue color.

"Refining Gu is really difficult," Fang Yuan sighed, cutting off the primeval essence supply and stopping the refining process.

By now, half an hour had passed, and his aperture's primeval sea was more than half depleted, with only 14% of the primeval essence remaining. The Moonlight Gu had only been refined by one-twelfth.

Moreover, the Moonlight Gu was still emitting a deep blue glow. Although Fang Yuan had stopped the refining process, the Gu was still resisting, expelling his bronze primeval essence.

Fang Yuan could clearly feel that the primeval essence he had infused into the Moonlight Gu was being gradually expelled, dissipating into the air. The green hue at the tips of the crescent was also slowly shrinking.

At this rate, in about six hours, the Moonlight Gu would have completely expelled his primeval essence. At that point, refining the Gu would be like starting from scratch.

"Every time one refines a Gu, it's like a battle between two armies, a war of attrition. The Moonlight Gu has only been refined by one-twelfth, while my primeval essence has been depleted by 30%. A Gu Master must continually refine a Gu, consolidating the gains while replenishing their primeval essence. The process of refining Gu tests not only the skill in manipulating primeval essence but also the patience for a prolonged battle."

As Fang Yuan pondered, he took out a piece of primeval stone from his money bag.

To replenish depleted primeval essence, a Gu Master generally has two methods.

One is natural recovery. Over time, the primeval sea will automatically replenish primeval essence. For someone like Fang Yuan, with a B-grade aptitude, it takes about an hour to replenish 4% of his primeval essence. In six hours, he could recover 24% of his total primeval essence.

The second method is to absorb natural primeval essence from primeval stones.

Primeval stones are natural treasures, containing condensed natural primeval essence that can be absorbed by Gu Masters.

Holding the primeval stone, Fang Yuan continuously absorbed the natural primeval essence within, channeling it into his aperture's primeval sea.

The fine radiance on the surface of the primeval stone slowly dimmed, while the water level of Fang Yuan's primeval sea rose visibly.

After about half an hour, his primeval sea returned to its original 44% volume. At this point, the rising trend of the sea surface stopped. Although there was still space in the aperture, Fang Yuan could not store any more primeval essence. This was the limitation of his B-grade aptitude.

This illustrated the importance of aptitude in cultivation.

The higher the aptitude, the more primeval essence the aperture can store, and the faster the natural recovery rate of primeval essence.

For Fang Yuan to refine the Gu and consolidate his progress, he needed to absorb primeval stones, as his natural recovery rate of primeval essence couldn't keep up with the Moonlight Gu's expulsion rate.

But for someone like Fang Zheng, with A-grade aptitude, he could replenish 8% of his primeval essence every hour. In six hours, he could recover 48% of his total primeval essence, while the Moonlight Gu could only expel 30% of the primeval essence in the same time frame.

He wouldn't even need the help of primeval stones. By continuously refining with occasional breaks, he could successfully refine the Moonlight Gu within a few days.

So, from the beginning, Fang Yuan knew that he had no chance of taking first place in this Moonlight Gu refining assessment. It wasn't a matter of strength, but aptitude was the primary factor.

The second factor was primeval stones.

With an ample supply of primeval stones, even someone with B-grade aptitude could surpass someone with A-grade aptitude and take first place.

"I only have six primeval stones, which is nothing compared to people like Gu Yue Mo Bei or Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who have the support of their elders. My aptitude is only B-grade, not comparable to Fang Zheng's A-grade. I have no chance of winning this assessment, so it's better to focus my efforts on finding the wine insect. If I can refine it as my vital Gu, it would be much better than the Moonlight Gu. Hm? The sound of the rain outside has lessened; it seems to be stopping. This heavy rain has lasted three days and nights, it's about time it stopped."

Fang Yuan put away the Moonlight Gu, got off the bed, and was about to open the window when he heard a knock on the door.

Outside the door, the voice of Fang Yuan's personal maid, Shen Cui, could be heard, "Young Master Fang Yuan, it's me. The rain has been falling continuously for the past three days, so I've brought you some food and wine. Please have something to eat and drink to relieve some of the boredom."