Section Twenty-Three: Raising Gu is Like Keeping a Mistress

The sun had set.

Yet the evening glow still burned on the horizon. Looking out at the distant mountains, they were all covered in a thick layer of gray, transitioning into black.

The day's classes in the academy had ended, and the students walked out in twos and threes.

"Today was really fun, I learned a lot. Especially learning how to use the Moonlight Gu."

"The Moon Blade flying in the air was so cool. It's a shame my aptitude isn't good enough, I'll only be a logistics Gu Master in the future and won't be able to go to the battlefield." The youths chatted with great interest.

Some people called out to their friends.

"Let's go eat together, and have some rice wine, how about it?"

"Sure, that's a great suggestion."

"You guys go ahead, I need to go to the shop by the academy's Gu room to buy a Strawman Puppet, so I can practice at home."

Fang Yuan went to the Gu room alone.

The academy's Gu room stored quite a few Rank 1 Gu, with many varieties. Fang Yuan's Moonlight Gu was chosen for free from within.

Every so often, students would have a chance to receive Gu worms for free. If they wanted to obtain additional Gu worms, they would have to pay.

Fang Yuan had no intention of refining other Gu worms for the time being. He walked to the shop next to the Gu room, which wasn't large.

There were seven students in the shop, haggling with the owner over the purchase of Strawman Puppets.

"It's a junior student." The Rank 1 Gu Master in charge of the shop, who looked to be in his twenties, saw Fang Yuan and greeted him proactively while making a sale.

Fang Yuan was surprised and realized this Gu Master was Jiang Ya. The young Gu Master who had disciplined the hunter in the inn.

"So it's a senior student." Fang Yuan nodded, his expressionless.

Jiang Ya took out a Strawman Puppet from behind the counter, handed it to a purchasing student, and smiled friendly at Fang Yuan, asking, "Is junior student also here to buy a Strawman Puppet? Shall I save one for you? It's only three primeval stones. These sell out quickly, there are only seven left now, if you're late, they'll be gone."

He was arrogant and rude to mortals, but his attitude towards Fang Yuan and the others was very friendly.

Fang Yuan shook his head, finding it amusing: This Jiang Ya was quite the businessman. Strawman Puppets were made from Strawman Gu, and including the true essence invested, the cost price was no more than one and a half primeval stones.

"Senior student, that's not fair. First come, first served, why should you save one for him?"

"That's right, we've been here for a while. You need to follow the rules when doing business."

"Three is three, here's your primeval stones, give me the puppet."

The youths in the shop heard that there were only seven puppets left and became anxious. They stopped haggling and took out their primeval stones to buy.

Soon, the seven people left, satisfied.

"Does junior student want to buy a Strawman Puppet?" Jiang Ya asked with a smile. "I said they just sold out, but actually there's an eighth one, hidden at the bottom. If junior student doesn't buy it, you'll miss a great opportunity."

Fang Yuan had no interest in Strawman Puppets. He shook his head, took out a primeval stone, and placed it on the counter: "I'll buy ten Moon Orchid flower petals."

Jiang Ya was stunned. He looked at Fang Yuan deeply, took the primeval stone, pulled open the drawer of the counter, and took out a paper packet: "Ten Moon Orchid flower petals, not one less, count them."

Fang Yuan checked them on the spot and found them to be correct before leaving the small shop.

Gu worms needed to be fed.

Gu Masters refined Gu, used Gu, and also had to raise Gu.

Refining Gu was difficult and carried the danger of backlash. Using Gu was not easy and required a lot of practice. The art of raising Gu was even more profound and extensive, precisely because Gu worms were so varied, and their food was also strange and varied.

Some needed to swallow soil, some needed starlight, some consumed tears, some absorbed the qi of the nine heavens.

Take the three Gu worms Fang Yuan currently possessed, for example. The Moonlight Gu needed to consume Moon Orchid flower petals, two meals a day, one in the morning and one in the evening, two petals per meal. The Wine Bug, on the other hand, needed to drink wine. A jar of Green Bamboo Wine could sustain it for four days. As for the Spring Autumn Cicada, it was even more peculiar; it directly drank water from the river of time to maintain its vitality.

The river of time supported the operation of this world. It was not far away, but close at hand, flowing beside everyone.

Every action of all living things required the push of time.

Time flowed like water, passing quickly. The river of time was formless and colorless, and all living things actually lived and survived in the water of time.

After buying this packet of Moon Orchid flower petals, Fang Yuan went to the inn to buy Green Bamboo Wine.

The Wine Bug could also live on some turbid wine or rice wine. However, once it was this inferior wine, it would need a large quantity, several jars every day. Fang Yuan calculated that it was better to buy Green Bamboo Wine directly. Not only was it more cost-effective than buying inferior wine, but it also wouldn't arouse suspicion.

"Young master, you're here." The inn's waiter already recognized Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan directly threw him three primeval stones and said familiarly, "Give me a jar of Green Bamboo Wine, and get me a few good dishes. No need for change, leave it here for now, and we'll settle it all at the end of the month, with refunds or additional payments as needed."

Although he no longer lived at the inn and had moved to the academy dormitory, he would still eat there whenever he bought wine.

"Certainly. Young master, please have a seat, the wine and dishes will be ready soon." The waiter responded, led Fang Yuan to a seat, and then took out the rag on his shoulder, diligently wiped the table and stool, before leaving.

As the waiter had said, the wine and dishes were served quickly.

Fang Yuan ate while calculating in his mind: "One primeval stone can buy ten flower petals, and the Moonlight Gu consumes four petals daily. A jar of Green Bamboo Wine is worth two primeval stones and can sustain the Wine Bug for four days. This means that just feeding these two Gu worms costs nearly one primeval stone per day."

This seemed small, but it was actually very expensive. The monthly living expenses for a family of three mortals was only one primeval stone.

It had been sixteen days since he refined the Gu worms. In terms of feeding the Gu worms alone, Fang Yuan had spent fourteen and a half primeval stones.

"I obtained the inheritance from Hua Jiu, took Fang Zheng's bag of primeval stones, and received the reward for first place. My primeval stone assets once reached forty-four and a half. However, the initial refining of Gu cost six and a half, feeding the Gu worms cost fourteen and a half, living expenses half a stone, so now I should have twenty left."

Fang Yuan took out his money bag and opened it. The bag contained primeval stones.

These primeval stones were grayish-white, oval-shaped, all of equal volume, and about the size of duck eggs.

Counting them, there were indeed only twenty left.

This meant that without any income, Fang Yuan only had enough primeval stones to last him a little over half a month. Unlike other people his age, he had family and friends to support him, especially students like Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who never lacked primeval stones.

Fang Yuan, however, had to find a way himself.

"My aunt and uncle have cut off my living expenses, but every weekend, the family academy gives students a subsidy of three primeval stones. It looks like I'll have to show my stuff at the Moon Blade assessment in three days and win that ten primeval stone reward," Fang Yuan mused as he ate.

At his age, he was still growing. Before he knew it, all the food had disappeared into his stomach.

Picking up the unopened Green Bamboo Wine, Fang Yuan stepped out of the inn.

"Young master, young master." The inn's waiter chased after him. "I have something to tell you. In less than a month, a merchant caravan will be coming to the mountain stronghold. According to custom, they will purchase the Green Bamboo Wine from our shop. You, young master, are particularly fond of Green Bamboo Wine and buy several jars every week. The shopkeeper instructed me to inform you of this. Our shop's Green Bamboo Wine is limited, and after selling to the caravan, there might not be much left."

"Is that so?" Fang Yuan asked, his brow furrowing slightly.

With his five hundred years of experience in judging people and their words, Fang Yuan could discern the truth from the falsehoods, much like the young Gu Master Jiang Ya. He could tell that Jiang Ya had been speaking empty words, while the waiter was speaking the truth.

This was a bit troublesome. Fang Yuan needed to feed his Wine Bug, and in the long run, the amount of Green Bamboo Wine required was substantial.

If this inn ran out of stock, he might have to feed his Wine Bug large quantities of inferior wine in the future.

He couldn't drink several jars of wine a day; over time, it would arouse suspicion.

After some thought, Fang Yuan took out ten primeval stones. "Then I'll buy five more jars. Have them brought to me and carried to the academy dormitory."

"Yes, young master." The waiter quickly took the primeval stones.

Moon Orchid flower petals could only be stored for five days without a proper storage method, so Fang Yuan only bought one packet at a time. However, Green Bamboo Wine could be stored for a long time, so there were no such issues.

Several waiters followed Fang Yuan into the academy dormitory and placed the wine jars under his bed before bidding him farewell.

Looking at his suddenly deflated money pouch, Fang Yuan sighed.

Refining Gu was arduous, and raising Gu was not easy either.

This was despite his five hundred years of past life experience, which meant he didn't need to practice using Gu, thus reducing true essence consumption and saving a considerable amount of expenses.

His peers, for example, had to consume true essence to practice using the Moonlight Gu. To improve proficiency, they had to practice more. The true essence consumption was too high, and recovery too slow, forcing them to replenish with primeval stones. Even buying a Strawman Puppet cost three primeval stones. This was all money.

"Fortunately, my Spring Autumn Cicada feeds on time, not other food. Otherwise, I would have gone bankrupt long ago and wouldn't be able to support it," Fang Yuan suddenly felt very fortunate.

The more advanced the Gu, the larger its appetite or the more precious and rare its food, making it harder to raise. A common Rank 2 Gu could consume one to two primeval stones daily.

Being able to buy food was still good. The food for some Gu was extremely difficult to find and simply not available on the market.

Just like the Spring Autumn Cicada's food, which is time, this was actually even more precious.

As the saying goes, an inch of gold can't buy an inch of time.

No matter how much wealth you had, could you buy time?

No!

Theoretically, there was no limit to the number of Gu a Gu Master could refine. As long as you could refine them, ten, a hundred, or even a thousand were possible. You could refine as many Gu as you wanted.

But in reality, a Gu Master usually only had four or five Gu.

Why?

The biggest reason was that they couldn't afford to raise them.

The higher the grade of the Gu, the more expensive it was to raise. This often left Gu Masters struggling and troubled.

Another reason was that they couldn't afford to use them.

Activating the Moonlight Gu to unleash a Moon Blade attack consumed ten percent of one's true essence. A Gu Master with C-grade aptitude would have their true essence completely depleted after three or four attacks.

What was the point of raising more Gu if you couldn't use them?

Therefore, there was a saying in Gu Master cultivation:

Raising Gu is like keeping a mistress.

To keep one mistress, you need to buy food, clothes, housing, etc. It's very expensive, and keeping many is truly costly, beyond the means of ordinary people.

Even if you could afford to keep many, a man's energy is always limited, and he can't use it all. Is it just for show?

As the Gu Master's realm improved, so did the food standards for their Gu. Thus, although there was no limit to the number of Gu a Gu Master could refine, most Gu Masters generally only raised four or five Gu of the same level.

If they had more, the Gu Master would go bankrupt!