Patter, patter, patter...
Raindrops the size of beans fell in a dense shower. They struck the verdant bamboo building, producing crisp sounds.
In the pond before the building, raindrops lashed the surface. Fish darted joyfully through the water, while aquatic plants swayed along the pond bottom.
Dark clouds blanketed the sky, and the entire view was obscured by a thick, heavy curtain of rain.
In the somewhat dim room, the window stood open. Fang Yuan quietly watched the downpour and sighed inwardly. "It has already been three days and three nights."
Three nights ago, he had carried two jars of wine out of the village and continued exploring the surrounding area.
But by midnight, a torrential rain had begun to pour down.
Never mind that he had been drenched like a drowned rat; the key was that under such circumstances, he could no longer search everywhere.
The rain would quickly wash away the scent of alcohol. At the same time, if he stubbornly continued exploring beneath the rain, it would likely arouse suspicion.
Previously, he had disguised himself as a frustrated drunkard to conceal his true motives. But one must never underestimate the wisdom of others; only fools often believed everyone else to be foolish.
Thus, left with no choice, Fang Yuan could only halt his exploration.
And once this rain began, it continued without end. At times heavy, at times light; at times sparse, at times dense, yet it never stopped.
"With this, I won't be able to find the Wine Worm Gu anytime soon. To be safe, I can only begin refining the Moonlight Gu first. It would be best if I can find the Wine Worm Gu during the refinement process, but if not, I can only make do with this. Still, this matter is quite ordinary. Storms come without warning from the heavens. In this world, who could always do things with fair winds and smooth seas, perfectly and without flaw?" Fang Yuan's state of mind was calm. Five hundred years of experience had long washed away the little impatience that had originally existed in his temperament.
He shut the window and door, then sat cross-legged upon the bed. Slowly closing his eyes, he evened out his breathing before sinking his mind inward.
The next moment, the scene within his own Aperture was showcased in his mind.
Though the Aperture rested within the body, it was profoundly mysterious—infinitely vast, yet infinitely small.
Outside the Aperture was a layer of light membrane. The white membrane looked extremely thin, yet it truly supported the Aperture.
Within the Aperture was a sea of true essence.
The seawater was bronze in color, and its surface was still as a mirror. The water level was almost half the height of the Aperture. The entire Primeval Sea occupied forty-four percent of the Aperture's volume.
This was the Bronze Primeval Sea of a Rank 1 Gu Master. Every drop of seawater was true essence. It was Fang Yuan's life force, the condensation of Fang Yuan's essence, Qi, and spirit.
Every drop of true essence was precious, because it was a Gu Master's foundation and the source of power. Only by relying on true essence could Gu Masters refine and activate Gu worms.
Withdrawing his mind from the Primeval Sea, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and took out the Moonlight Gu from his robe.
The Moonlight Gu lay quietly in Fang Yuan's palm, like a curved blue moon—small and exquisite, crystalline and translucent.
With a thought from Fang Yuan, the Primeval Sea within his Aperture immediately churned. A stream of true essence burst through the sea surface, was drawn outside his body, and flooded entirely into the Moonlight Gu.
The Moonlight Gu suddenly bloomed with an eerie blue radiance. It trembled faintly in Fang Yuan's palm, resisting the influx of his true essence.
Gu were the essence of heaven and earth, the passwords of the Great Dao, the vessels of laws. They were also living beings, born free and unrestrained, possessing wills of their own. Fang Yuan now wished to refine it, which meant erasing its will. Sensing this danger, the Moonlight Gu naturally resisted.
The refinement process was exceedingly difficult.
The Moonlight Gu was like a curved crescent. As bronze-colored true essence entered the crescent, it first dyed the two pointed tips green.
Then, that bronze-green hue began to spread toward the middle of the crescent.
In less than three minutes, a hint of pallor appeared on Fang Yuan's face. Vast amounts of true essence continuously poured into the Moonlight Gu, causing waves of bone-scraping, marrow-draining weakness to assault his heart without end.
One percent, two percent, three percent... eight percent, nine percent, ten percent.
Ten minutes later, Fang Yuan's Primeval Sea had consumed a full ten percent of its true essence. Yet upon the surface of the Moonlight Gu, which resembled blue crystal, the two patches of bronze-green at the crescent's tips had expanded only by the tiniest amount toward the middle.
The Moonlight Gu's resistance was extremely tenacious.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan had anticipated this long ago and was not surprised. He persisted in pouring true essence into the Moonlight Gu.
Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent.
After another twenty minutes, only fourteen percent remained in Fang Yuan's Primeval Sea. The bronze-green on the Moonlight Gu had expanded by a thread; if the two green patches were added together, they covered roughly one-twelfth of the Moonlight Gu's entire surface.
As for the rest, it remained the Moonlight Gu's original pale blue.
"Refining Gu is difficult indeed." Seeing this, Fang Yuan sighed inwardly. He cut off the supply of true essence and stopped refining the Moonlight Gu.
By this point, he had refined Gu for a full half hour. More than half the Primeval Sea within his Aperture had already been consumed, leaving only fourteen percent of its true essence. Yet the Moonlight Gu had only been refined by one-twelfth.
Moreover, what was even harder to accept was that the Moonlight Gu still emitted an eerie blue glow. Although Fang Yuan had stopped refining it, it had not stopped resisting. It was still driving out Fang Yuan's Bronze True Essence.
Fang Yuan could clearly feel that the true essence that had entered the Moonlight Gu was being expelled bit by bit, dissipating outside his body. On the Moonlight Gu's surface, the bronze-green at the two crescent tips was also slowly shrinking.
Judging by this rate of reduction, in roughly six hours, the Moonlight Gu would be able to expel all of Fang Yuan's true essence. If he refined this Gu worm again by then, it would be no different from starting the refinement anew.
"Every time one refines Gu, it is like two armies at war—a battle for ground, a war of attrition. The Gu worm has only been refined by one-twelfth, yet I have consumed a full thirty percent of my true essence. When Gu Masters refine Gu, they must replenish the true essence in their Primeval Sea while continuously refining it, consolidating the fruits of victory. Refining Gu tests not only one's skill in mobilizing true essence, but also the patience for a prolonged war."
As Fang Yuan thought, he took a Primeval Stone from his money pouch.
Gu Masters generally had two methods of replenishing depleted true essence.
One was natural recovery. After a certain period of time, the Primeval Sea would automatically replenish true essence. With C-grade Aptitude like Fang Yuan's, he could recover four percent of true essence every hour. In six hours, he could recover twenty-four percent of his total true essence.
The second method was to draw upon the natural primeval energy within Primeval Stones.
Primeval Stones were treasures of nature, condensed with natural true essence that Gu Masters could absorb.
Fang Yuan held the Primeval Stone in his hand and continuously drew natural true essence from it, channeling it into the Primeval Sea within his Aperture.
The delicate luster on the Primeval Stone's surface gradually dimmed, while the water level in Fang Yuan's Primeval Sea steadily rose at a visible rate.
About half an hour later, the Primeval Sea returned to forty-four percent of its volume. At that point, the rising trend of the sea surface came to an abrupt halt. Though there was still space within the Aperture, Fang Yuan could no longer store any more true essence. This was the limitation of his C-grade Aptitude.
From this, the importance of cultivation aptitude could be seen.
The higher one's aptitude, the more true essence could be stored in the Aperture, and the faster true essence would naturally recover.
For Fang Yuan, if he wanted to refine the Gu worm and consolidate his gains, he had to absorb Primeval Stones, because his natural recovery rate was not as fast as the Moonlight Gu's rate of expelling true essence.
But for Fang Zheng, with A-grade Aptitude, he could replenish eight percent of true essence every hour. In six hours, he could recover forty-eight percent of his total true essence, while the Moonlight Gu could only expel thirty percent in those same six hours.
He did not even need external aid like Primeval Stones. He could simply keep refining it, rest a few times along the way, and after a few days, he would successfully refine the Moonlight Gu.
Thus, Fang Yuan had known from the beginning that in this assessment of refining the Moonlight Gu, he had absolutely no chance of taking first place. This had nothing to do with strength; aptitude was precisely the foremost factor here.
The second factor was Primeval Stones.
If one had an abundant supply of Primeval Stones and did not begrudge the expenditure, even someone with B-grade Aptitude could surpass A-grade Aptitude and seize first place.
"I only have six Primeval Stones in hand. I cannot compare to people like Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who have elders supporting them behind the scenes. My aptitude is only C-grade, and I cannot compare to Gu Yue Fang Zheng's A-grade Aptitude either. There was never the slightest chance of winning this assessment. I might as well spread my attention and search for the Wine Worm Gu. If I can refine the Wine Worm Gu into my Destined Gu, it would be far better than the Moonlight Gu. Hmm? The sound of rain outside the window has softened. It seems there are signs of it stopping. This heavy rain has already continued for three days and three nights. It should be time for it to end."
Fang Yuan put away the Moonlight Gu, got down from the bed, and was about to open the window when a knock sounded at the door.
The voice of his personal maid, Shen Cui, came from outside. "Young Master Fang Yuan, it is this servant. The rain has been falling for three days straight, so this servant has brought you some wine and food. If Young Master eats and drinks a little, it may also ease some of your boredom."
(PS: Thanks to classmates Fan 789, Blue Wave Demon, Decadent Wudi, Donut Phenomenon, and q62552217 for their rewards. Thanks to classmates Fan 789, Blue Wave Demon, and the others for their full-score evaluation votes. Thanks to the friends who have continued casting recommendation votes. Our popularity is returning, and more old friends are coming back. Our strength is slowly recovering. A new book is like an infant, like a young sprout—it needs the watering of clicks, favorites, and recommendation votes in order to grow strong and flourish. I ask you all to please water and support it with all your might!)
Before you continue