Competition

Shasi gazed at the full moon as he chewed a piece of fried fish which he had just caught, it was already dark but the constant winds of Ju Feng mountain still hit his body, that day, he had already refined his Gu and went to the class, but didn't claim any rewards.

He was hesitant and afraid... Afraid his father may force him to give up his inheritance when he heard that Shasi was already done refining his first Gu. "What to do..?". He scratched his head in confusion, he couldn't trust any Elder to ask about how to proceed in this situation, he feared he might be exposed and be forced to bear even worse consequences.

While warming his hands on a small bonfire he had made, he carefully thought of every possible outcome but couldn't come up with anything that would save him from losing his inheritance.

His father had told him he would get nothing when he died due to his brothers being in front of him on the line of succession, but Shasi didn't fully believed that, he thought the inheritance would probably be split equally between he and his brothers when his father died, otherwise there wouldn't be such a change in treatment and his father wouldn't be so generous as to offer such a beneficial deal.

"Sigh...". Shasi deeply sighed and took another bite of fried fish, if he was going to lose anyway, he might as well go claim the prize and rub it on his brother's face.

"This injustice... I shall remember it". Shasi murmured as he stood up and kicked a chunk of dirt onto the fire to put it out. Clenching his jaw, he once again dashed toward the Academy holdings.

It was already dark, so there's wasn't many people on the streets, that paired with Shasi's dark set of clothes made him almost invisible as he rapidly approached the Academy gates.

Guarding the gates were two broad-shouldered servants armed with long spears, they glanced at Shasi approaching but didn't pay too much attention since they had already gotten used to him coming in and out of the academy, what they didn't expect though, was Shasi to stop right in front of them and say. "I've finished the assignment given by the Academy Elder, I'm here to collect the reward".

"Assignment...? Ah! Right, that whole Gu Refinement thing I suppose? Hate to be the one to give you the bad news but right about 10 minutes ago, another kid came by to claim the reward". One of the servant guards leaned down a bit and answered Shasi, he was a head and a half taller than him.

Shasi's expression instantly sank, his face showed a bitter smile and just nodded in response, bypassing the gate, he headed to his dormitory, were the heavens playing him again?.

"Hold it!". An aged voice came from afar.

Shasi immediately looked over his shoulder and saw the Academy Elder approaching him with a youth by his side, this youth was none-other than Yao Guang, the Clan Head's grandson! Behind them was one of the bulky gate guards, he made a positive sign to Shasi and smirked while heading back to his post.

"The gate guard told me you've already finished refining your Gu Worm, is it true? I find it hard to believe since you're merely a D-Grade talent and normally it'd take at the very least one month for you to refine your first Gu, may I have a look?". The scholar-like Elder suspiciously inquired.

Shasi simply nodded and let the Elder approach him, but he couldn't help but to find this whole situation a bit odd, why would that gate guard bother trying to help him? It was strange to him since people rarely showed him any kindness.

Meanwhile the Elder extended his arm reaching toward Shasi's belly. "Hmm... Interesting, an ordinary Rank 1 Frost Arrow Gu, completely refined! Interesting! I wonder what change must've occurred...". The Elder was mildly suspicious but decided to ignore it.

Yao Guang stood by the side with a stoic face the entire time, but on the inside he was a bit impatient. "What's with all the wait? I've finished my task first! Just give me my damn reward already!". He complained in his mind but didn't move a single facial muscle.

"Shasi, with your D-Grade Aperture you've managed to completely refine your Gu in about the same amount of time as a B-Grade talent such as Yao Guang... Impressive, if only you had gotten here a few minutes ago, I would've happily rewarded you, but unfortunately, Yao Guang beat you in that regard... Yet! Your merits are not to be underappreciated... So I'll propose a small competition between you two, how about that?". The Elder spoke with excitement, as if he was no longer an old man but a teenager.

The initially stoic Yao Guang could not hold it in anymore, and now had a slightly ugly expression, he obviously felt that this decision was a total loss to him.

But before he could express any of his opinion with words, the Elder spoke again. "I've been lacking food for a few of the Gu inside the Gu storage house... Actually, it's mostly a shortage of Wind Flowers, to be precise.... How about this then, the one who brings me the most Wind Flowers by dawn, wins, that shouldn't be too much of a challenge for you right? Yao Guang, since tou're a B-Grade talent going against a mere D-Grade, plus I'll be paying for each Wind Flower you bring back, how does it sound?".

Yao Guang pondered for a while and nodded, he even seemed to be satisfied in competing with Shasi for the reward, he was the grandson of the Clan Head after all, a future Clan Head himself!

As for the Elder, was a cunning Old man, he knew that messing with Yao Guang's pride would make him enticed to accept this "competition", plus he even offered to pay for the Wind Flowers, as for his true reason behind all this... only the Elder himself knew.

Shasi's eyes lit up when he heard he'd be paying for the Wind Flowers, it was an opportunity to make even more money, the Wind Flowers were almost never sold within the Clan since anyone could just collect them, so having someone to sell to was a good opportunity.

For a moment, Shasi stopped thinking about losing his heritage and thought about the green colored Wind-Flowers he has previously seen on a few books about the Clan's flora.

In case he lost to Yao Guang, he'd risk exposing his real intentions to his father and ask the Academy Elder to not tell the rest of the class that he had already refined his first Gu. Unlike Yao Guang, Shasi wasn't that easy to fool, he realized the Elder was helping him for no apparent reason, so he didn't believe he'd inform his father about such a request.

"What about you Shasi? Do you agree?". The Academy Elder asked with a characteristic weird smile. Shasi also nodded, his eyes showed excitement. Such money making opportunities were hard to come by as a Rank 1 Initial Stage Gu Master, even more so for a mere student like him.

"What are you waiting for then? Just remember, stay on the middle section of the Mountain, the lower section has all types of mortal beasts and I don't want my promising students to die without fulfilling their potential... Now go". The Elder walked past them after he finished talking, and headed toward his chambers.

Yao Guang instantly dashed ahead of Shasi who was caught distracted, but rapidly chased after him, the two boys began descending the huge Ju Feng mountain, going toward it's legendary Wind Willow forest.

"Kekeke, foolish children... this time, I've made a huge gain!". The Academy Elder talked by himself inside his chambers, suddenly, smoke came out of his face, revealing a hideous face full of scars with a long and wide nose and a broad chin.

"This transformation path killer-move can't be used for more than 30 minutes, past that time, my true appearance is revealed...". The strange man thought as he glanced at a half open giant chest, snoring sounds came out of it, an Old Man laid there deep asleep, it was none-other than the Academy-Elder!

"Infiltrating was a breeze, with a little more effort, our hostages will be secured and so will my money... good! To think that the grandson of the Clan Head would deliver himself to me that easily!". The strange man excitedly mumbled and picked an ear-shaped Gu Worm from inside his aperture, he brought it close to his mouth and said. "They're heading down the mountain, quickly intercept and subdue both targets".

Laid on a Willow Wind tree while stepping on the body of a dead Gu Master, a red haired man with the bottom half of his face covered in bandages heard a message from an ear shaped Gu and replied. "Understood!".

"Let's roll!". His legs seemed to have magically turned into the legs of a wolf, three other people with wolf legs also followed him from behind.