Master

Gu Guangzhi was busy exploring the streets of Jia city. He had been to some other places when was a Rank 2 gu master as part of some dangerous missions but he had never really come to a merchant city like Jia city before.

"Hehe kid! Don't be so amazed at his! If you enter Shang city, the biggest merchant city in Southern border, you will come to know how limited your experiences are.", said Yu Wen Zi.

Gu Guangzhi retorted, "You can say whatever you want! I still don't understand how you have such vast amounts of knowledge as if you roamed the whole world. However, this is my first time coming to a city like this. Let me enjoy this."

There were several mortal gu materials of different paths available for sale in the shops and he could feed his starving Hellrise bamboo bird Gu again. He had lost his Bamboo wings Gu due to starvation. Though he could refine the gu insects with limited difficulty again, he stockpiled on food for all his gu insects as he learnt his lesson. However, he spent a significant chunk of his primeval stones for this. He still wanted to buy several other materials needed to refine transformation path gu insects.

"You still haven't given up on transforming into a bear?", asked Yu Wen Zi as he saw Gu Guangzhi looking for refinement materials.

"What you said was true. I was indeed in a rush but now we are safe for the time being. I collected several remains of the bears from our last battle. I could even collect the corpse of the Ground ruler bear. It is a good earth path gu material. If I could create a transformation path gu insects that could help me transform into a Ground ruler bear, it would benefit my earth path cultivation. Moreover, transformation path dao marks do not conflict with other path dao marks and can even transform into those paths to strengthen them. Thus, it is a good choice for me to refine them.", explained Gu Guangzhi.

"Alright then. But what about the recipe for those gu insects? You maybe proficient in creating bamboo family gu insects but do you want to experiment till you find the recipes of bear transformation gu insects?"

"This… how do I explain this? Lately I have been thinking a lot about these transformation gu insects and I feel like I am getting answers from my intuition. I am not sure why but I have a strange confidence in the recipe I deduced. I may not succeed in the first try but may be, with only a few attempts, I will succeed in creating the gu insect."

Yu Wen Zi was surprised as he listened to the answer, "Your refinement has already reached the level of intuition?" His face carried a jubilant smile as he said the next words, "I guess I no longer need to be your teacher anymore. The student has now become a master!"

"Huh! What are you suddenly speaking about teacher?", asked Gu Guangzhi in confusion.

"Gu Guangzhi, there are several levels of efficiency to gu cultivation. They are master, grandmaster, great grandmaster and supreme grandmaster. You've heard about how incredible the venerables were during their time, right? That is not just due to their Rank 9 strength. That is also due to their level of attainment in their path. They are supreme grandmasters of their path, meaning that they are unrivaled in that path during their time. Most gu masters can't even become a master in their chosen path of cultivation after spending all their life in that path. But you… you've gained the intuition in refinement after only eleven years. You are still in the beginning stages of Rank 3. Why don't you switch to refinement path from earth path. Though I'm a refinement master as well and I can't guide you further in this path, with your natural talent, I'm sure you will become very proficient in refinement on your own!", explained Yu Wen Zi with a look of expectation in his eyes.

Gu Guangzhi understood the intuition that he felt these days was a sign of attainment. He pondered for a while and replied, "I'll have to refuse teacher. I still remember the dangers I faced for all these years during refinement. I can't just chalk up this attainment to having a talent in refinement. My relentless struggle was a part of it as well. I'm sure I can excel in earth path if I work hard."

Though Gu Guangzhi said that, both Yu Wen Zi and Gu Guangzhi knew that it was not the truth. Having a natural talent towards a path is a wonderful thing and was akin to having an A grade aperture as opposed to having a C grade aperture in normal terms. But in Gu Guangzhi's view, refinement path was a niche path with no practical attack and defense prowess. If he wanted to grow strong for the sake of revenge, how could he switch to such a path? He could perhaps refine gu insects for other gu masters and have them attack the Xiong clan in his stead but right now he didn't have trust in anyone. So how could he willingly rely on others for his revenge?

"Sigh… I guess each person has his own path in life.", said Yu Wen Zi as he felt dejected. However, he made up his mind to support Gu Guangzhi in whatever path he chose. He spoke up, "Alright, tell me whatever materials you need for refinement. I'll buy them for you as a gift for attaining master level."

Gu Guangzhi was delighted but also slightly embarrassed. He said, "Teacher, the materials I need cost several thousands of primeval stones. I was planning on finding some work in this city to slowly gather the amount required for those materials. You don't have to spend such a huge sum for me."

"Huh! It's only thousands! As you grow in rank, your expenditures will obviously grow as well. Don't mind the amount.", said Yu Wen Zi as he showed a Primeval Elder Gu that had an expressionless face. Gu Guangzhi was shocked as he knew that a Primeval Elder Gu could store up to a million primeval stones and based on the expression of the elder's face on the gu insect, he could estimate that Yu Wen Zi had more than five hundred thousand primeval stones on him.

'Teacher, why do you have these many primeval stones on you?', Gu Guangzhi wanted to ask this question but he knew that Yu Wen Zi would just avoid giving an answer so he kept silent. Instead he went on a shopping spree and purchased several high quality gu materials needed for the refinement going well over his primary estimate.

As he was finishing up his shopping, he came across an area where the rapid construction of an arena was going on. He wondered why it was being built so fast. Upon seeing Gu Guangzhi nearby, a messenger from Jia Fu reached him and informed him that his master wanted to meet with him. He then hurriedly left as if he had several other gu masters to relay the same message.