Heaven Has Unexpected Storms, Gu Refining is Uniquely Arduous

Pat, pat, pat…

Large raindrops fell densely, striking the verdant bamboo building with crisp sounds.

In the pond before the building, the water's surface was agitated by the rain, fish darted happily through the water, and aquatic plants swayed at the bottom of the pond.

The sky was covered in thick clouds, the entire field of vision obscured by a dense, heavy curtain of rain.

In the somewhat dim room, with the window open, Fang Yuan quietly watched the heavy rain, sighing softly in his heart, "It's been three days and three nights."

Three nights ago, he had carried two jars of wine and left the mountain village to continue exploring the surroundings.

But by midnight, a torrential downpour had begun.

Being drenched like a drowned rat was one thing, but the crucial point was that under such conditions, he could no longer explore freely.

The rain could quickly wash away the scent of wine, and moreover, if he insisted on exploring in the rain, it would likely arouse suspicion.

Previously, he had disguised himself as a dejected drunkard to conceal his true intentions. But never underestimate the intelligence of others; only fools believe others are foolish.

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

And this rain had continued ever since, sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes sparse, sometimes dense, but never stopping.

"This way, the Wine Bug will be hard to find in a short period. To be safe, I can only start refining the Moonlight Gu first. If I can find the Wine Bug during this refining process, that would be best, but if not, I'll have to make do. However, such things are common; the weather is unpredictable. Does anything in this world always go smoothly, perfectly?" Fang Yuan's state of mind was very calm; five hundred years of experience had long since washed away the little impetuousness that was originally in his nature.

He closed the window and door, then sat cross-legged on the bed. Slowly closing his eyes, he regulated his breathing and then sank his consciousness.

The next moment, the scene of his own aperture appeared in his mind.

Although the aperture was housed within his body, it was incredibly profound, infinitely vast, and infinitely small.

Outside the aperture was a layer of light film. The white light film gave a delicate impression, but it truly supported the aperture.

Within the aperture was an ocean of True Essence.

The seawater was bronze-colored, the surface calm as a mirror, and the water level was about half the height of the aperture. The entire primeval sea occupied forty-four percent of the aperture's volume.

This was the Bronze True Essence of a Rank One Gu Master; every drop of seawater was True Essence. It was Fang Yuan's life force, the condensation of his spirit, energy, and mind.

Every drop of True Essence was precious because it was the foundation of a Gu Master, the source of power. It was with True Essence that Gu Masters could 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 embrace.

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

With a thought from Fang Yuan, the primeval sea in his aperture churned, a stream of True Essence broke through the sea's surface, was channeled outside his body, and poured entirely into the Moonlight Gu.

The Moonlight Gu suddenly emitted a faint blue glow, trembling slightly in Fang Yuan's palm, resisting the influx of Fang Yuan's True Essence.

Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, the code of the Great Dao, and the carriers of laws. They are also living beings, born free and unrestrained, possessing their own will. Now that Fang Yuan was trying to refine it, he intended to erase its will, and sensing this danger, the Moonlight Gu naturally had to resist.

The refining process was extremely difficult.

The Moonlight Gu was like a crescent moon, and the bronze True Essence injected into it first stained the two tips of the crescent green.

Then, this bronze-green hue began to spread towards the middle of the crescent.

In less than three minutes, Fang Yuan's face turned pale. A large amount of True Essence continuously poured into the Moonlight Gu, causing waves of bone-marrow-draining weakness to continuously assault his heart.

One percent, two percent, three percent… eight percent, nine percent, ten percent.

After ten minutes, Fang Yuan's primeval sea had consumed a full ten percent of his True Essence. However, on the surface of the blue crystal-like Moonlight Gu, the two points of bronze-green at the tips of the crescent had only expanded a tiny bit towards the middle.

The Moonlight Gu's resistance was extremely tenacious.

Fortunately, Fang Yuan had anticipated this and was not surprised, continuing to infuse True Essence into the Moonlight Gu.

Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent.

After another twenty minutes, Fang Yuan's primeval sea had only fourteen percent remaining, and the bronze-green hue on the Moonlight Gu had expanded by a sliver. If the two green areas were combined, they accounted for about one-twelfth of the Moonlight Gu's entire surface.

As for the rest, it remained the faint blue color of the Moonlight Gu itself.

"Refining Gu is difficult," Fang Yuan sighed inwardly upon seeing this, cutting off the supply of True Essence and ceasing to refine the Moonlight Gu.

By this point, half an hour of refining had passed, his aperture's primeval sea had consumed more than half, leaving only fourteen percent of True Essence. And the Moonlight Gu had only been refined by one-twelfth.

What was even more unacceptable was that the Moonlight Gu still emitted a faint blue glow. Although Fang Yuan had stopped refining, it had not stopped resisting, still expelling Fang Yuan's bronze True Essence.

Fang Yuan could clearly feel that the True Essence poured into the Moonlight Gu was being expelled bit by bit by the Moonlight Gu, dissipating into the outside. On the surface of the Moonlight Gu, the bronze-green at the two crescent tips was also slowly shrinking.

Estimating the rate of decrease, it would take about six hours for the Moonlight Gu to expel all of Fang Yuan's True Essence. By then, refining this Gu worm again would be no different from starting from scratch.

"Every Gu refinement is like a battle between two armies, a war of attrition, a war of position. The Gu worm has only been refined by one-twelfth, while my True Essence has been consumed by a full thirty percent. Gu Masters must replenish their primeval sea True Essence while continuously refining and consolidating their gains. Gu refinement tests not only the skill in mobilizing True Essence but also the patience for a protracted war."

As Fang Yuan thought this, he took out a primeval stone from his money pouch.

There were typically two methods for Gu Masters to replenish consumed True Essence.

One was natural recovery. After a period of time, the primeval sea would automatically replenish True Essence. For Fang Yuan, with his C-grade aptitude, it would take about an hour to replenish four percent of True Essence. In six hours, he could recover twenty-four percent of his total True Essence.

The second method was to absorb the natural primeval energy from primeval stones.

Primeval stones were treasures of nature, condensing natural True Essence, which could be absorbed by Gu Masters.

Fang Yuan held the primeval stone, continuously drawing out natural True Essence from it and channeling it into his aperture's primeval sea.

The fine luster on the surface of the primeval stone slowly dimmed, while Fang Yuan's primeval sea water level rose at a visible rate.

About half an hour later, the primeval sea's volume recovered to forty-four percent. At this point, the rising sea level halted. Although there was still space in his aperture, Fang Yuan could no longer store any more true essence. This was the limitation of his C-grade aptitude.

From this, one could see the importance of cultivation aptitude.

The higher the aptitude, the more true essence could be stored in the aperture, and the faster the true essence would naturally recover.

For Fang Yuan, to refine the Gu and consolidate his achievements, he had to absorb primeval stones because the speed of his true essence's natural recovery was slower than the speed at which the Moonlight Gu expelled true essence.

However, for Fang Zheng, who had A-grade aptitude, he could replenish eight percent of his 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 of the true essence in the same six hours.

He didn't even need external help like primeval stones. If he just kept refining it, taking a few breaks in between, he could successfully refine the Moonlight Gu in a few days.

Therefore, Fang Yuan knew from the very beginning that he had no chance of getting first place in this assessment of refining the Moonlight Gu. It had nothing to do with strength; aptitude was the primary factor.

The second factor was primeval stones.

If primeval stones were abundant and used without regard for depletion, even someone with B-grade aptitude could surpass an A-grade and take first place.

"I only have six primeval stones, which is not as good as Gu Yue Mo Bei or Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who have elders supporting them. My aptitude is only C-grade, which is also not as good as Gu Yue Fang Zheng's A-grade aptitude. I had no chance of winning this assessment from the start, so I might as well focus my energy on finding the Wine Bug. If I can refine the Wine Bug into a life Gu, it would be much better than the Moonlight Gu. Hmm? The rain outside has lessened, it seems to be stopping. This heavy rain has been falling for three days and three nights; it's about time it stopped."

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

Shen Cui, his personal maid, spoke from outside the door, "Young Master Fang Yuan, it's this servant. The rain has been continuous for these three days, so this servant has brought you some food and wine. If you eat and drink some, Young Master, it will help relieve your fatigue and boredom."