Mid Stage

Night curtain descended.

The moon hung among the clouds like a silver platter. Sparse stars dotted the sky around it.

Gu Yue Mo Bei stood in the courtyard, head raised toward the moon, his eyes shining brightly.

"Little brother, I heard you were injured today." His sister Gu Yue Mo Yan's voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Big sister, are you worried that getting beaten until I vomited blood today left a shadow in my heart?" Mo Bei turned around, the corner of his lips curling up.

Mo Yan looked at her smiling brother and immediately let out a breath of relief. Though she truly had been worried, she said, "Of course not. Your sister understands you best. Good brother, you possess an indomitable fighting spirit. You are the future ruler of our Mo family—how could such a minor injury possibly frighten you?"

"Heh heh heh, I knew big sister loved me the most." Mo Bei scratched his head and grinned.

"Do you know, big sister?" Under the bright moonlight, the fifteen-year-old boy's eyes gleamed brilliantly. "Although I failed again this time, during the fight, I heard that fellow Fang Yuan breathing heavily. Before, I would be knocked flat in just two or three moves, while he was always calm and composed. His breathing already revealed his weakness. He is absolutely not as powerful as most people imagine. One day, I will defeat him fair and square!"

"Good! Worthy indeed of a fine man from my Mo bloodline!" Mo Yan laughed heartily, rubbing her brother's head. Concern appeared on her face. "But you suffered internal injuries, so do not practice your fists and kicks for the next few days."

"Big sister, stop touching my head like that. I'm already grown up." Mo Bei shook his head a bit and said with slight dissatisfaction, "I know all that. I already have a plan. I can use these days to nourish the four walls of my Aperture and complete my promotion from the initial stage to the mid stage. First, I'll seize the position of class leader and suppress that fellow Fang Yuan's limelight. I'll let him know that what truly matters in Gu Master cultivation is aptitude!"

"Since you think that way, your sister can rest easy. Your sister was only ever the deputy class leader. If you become class leader, it will count as making up for your sister's regret."

"Big sister, just wait and see. I will definitely take the class leader's position!"

At nearly the same time, in the Chi Family.

Inside the secret chamber, there was only a single torch, lodged in a groove in the blue-stone wall.

The fire burned fiercely, illuminating the small secret chamber.

Gu Yue Chi Lian, one of the two ruling family elders, faced his own grandson, Gu Yue Chi Cheng. The two sat cross-legged on prayer mats, their shadows cast upon the ground and constantly swaying with the dancing flames.

Gu Yue Chi Lian extended his large hand and pressed his palm tightly against Chi Cheng's lower abdomen. Strands of Silver True Essence flowed backward into Gu Yue Chi Cheng's Aperture in accordance with the old man's will.

Gu Yue Chi Cheng wore a full face of tension. His entire mind was focused within his own Aperture as he tried with all his might to suppress the fluctuations of his primeval sea.

In this world, no two leaves were alike. Likewise, no two Gu Masters possessed completely identical True Essence.

Once Exotic True Essence entered an Aperture, it would naturally provoke resistance from the original True Essence inside.

If Gu Yue Chi Cheng did not suppress it and allowed the True Essence to resist, it would inevitably lead to a collision of True Essence. The violent fluctuations caused by that collision would damage the Aperture.

The Aperture's primeval sea was the foundation of all Gu Master cultivation—the most important thing of all.

Once an Aperture was injured, one's cultivation would decline at best; at worst, one's aptitude would be lowered. Once an Aperture completely shattered, the Gu Master would die outright.

After quite a while, Gu Yue Chi Lian finally slowly stopped pouring in True Essence and gradually withdrew his hand.

Gu Yue Chi Cheng immediately let out a long breath, his tense body relaxing. "Thank you, Grandfather. You have to pour True Essence into me every three days to nourish my Aperture. I've made you work hard!"

Gu Yue Chi Lian's head was covered in sweat. He sighed and said, "There is no other way. Your aptitude is only C-grade. If you relied solely on your own strength, it would take a very long time to be promoted to the mid stage. That time is often twice that of B-grade and four times that of A-grade. If that happened, you would be exposed. So although this method is dangerous, we have no choice but to use it."

"This grandson understands Grandfather's painstaking intentions."

"It is good that you understand." The old man sighed again. "This method also has a major aftereffect. Your Aperture walls are nourished by my Silver True Essence. Although Silver True Essence has outstanding effects, it is ultimately Exotic True Essence to you. In the future, even if the Aperture walls turn from a light membrane into a water membrane, they will still be mixed with my aura. As more and more exotic aura accumulates, the Aperture will no longer remain pure. This is pulling shoots to help them grow—it will narrow the room you have for future development."

Gu Yue Chi Cheng pressed his lips tightly together. "Grandfather, for the future of our Chi Family, this grandson is willing to sacrifice his personal prospects!"

Gu Yue Chi Lian was immediately overjoyed. Nodding as he stroked his beard, he said, "It is good, very good, that you have such thoughts. However, Heaven's secrets always leave a thread of hope. You are not without hope either. If you can find a Clear Water Gu in the future, it can cleanse and refine your Aperture walls, dissolve all the exotic aura within the Aperture's primeval sea, and eliminate these aftereffects."

"Also, Grandfather has already called in favors to have people search everywhere to purchase a Wine Worm for you. During Rank 1 cultivation, this worm can help a Gu Master refine True Essence, raising it by one minor realm. The True Essence refined this way is your own True Essence, not Exotic True Essence. If used to nourish the Aperture, it carries not the slightest aftereffect or risk, and its nourishing effect is even better!"

Gu Yue Chi Cheng was overjoyed. "Thank you, Grandfather!"

"However, Wine Worms are difficult to find. Among Rank 1 Gu worms, Wine Worms, Boar Gu, Bookworm Gu, and the like are all the rarest Gu. Once they appear on the market, they are almost always bought up at the first opportunity. Of course, there are also some Gu worms in this world rumored to be able to alter a Gu Master's aptitude. But in more than half my lifetime, I have only vaguely heard rumors of them and never seen one with my own eyes." The old man's tone was distant.

The night wind blew gently through the window into the room.

Gu Yue Fang Zheng sat cross-legged on the bed, his eyes tightly shut, each hand gripping a Primeval Stone.

The Bronze Primeval Sea stirred into waves without wind, each surge washing against the white Aperture walls.

He had A-grade Aptitude, and his primeval sea occupied more than eighty percent of his entire Aperture. His own True Essence recovered at fully twice Fang Yuan's speed!

This heaven-bestowed advantage meant he was already close to Rank 1 Mid Stage.

After a long while, Gu Yue Fang Zheng exhaled a breath of turbid air and slowly opened his eyes.

Outside the window, the moon shone bright amid sparse stars, while jade-green bamboo buildings stretched away into the distance.

Everything was quiet and peaceful.

"Time always Passed incredibly quickly during cultivation. In the blink of an eye, it is already late at night." Fang Zheng's lips moved as he Mutered softly. He slowly loosened his hands, and two piles of grayish-white stone powder immediately spilled from them onto the floor before the bed.

Once the natural True Essence within a Primeval Stone had been completely absorbed, it would turn into a pile of stone powder.

Watching the powder scatter down, Fang Zheng frowned slightly.

He took out his money pouch from his clothes. The pouch had long since gone flat.

Opening it, he saw that only three Primeval Stones remained inside.

Every seven days, Fang Zheng received an allowance of three Primeval Stones from the academy, but Fang Yuan snatched one away, leaving only two in his hands.

Uncle and Aunt gave him a living allowance as well—three Primeval Stones every seven days.

How could those few Primeval Stones possibly be enough?

Fang Zheng desperately wanted to surpass his older brother Fang Yuan, so he had approached Uncle and Aunt several times to ask for Primeval Stones.

After it happened too many times, Aunt spoke with him and told him that the family was currently impoverished, expenses were difficult to meet, and they had no spare money.

Fang Zheng had then been too embarrassed to ask again.

"Father and mother have already done everything they could to support my cultivation. I cannot make things harder for them by asking them for Primeval Stones again. Only three Primeval Stones remain, so I must use them even more sparingly. One each day. That way, they can last three days."

"I have a feeling that in three or four days, I will definitely be promoted to the mid stage! I just wonder what progress my brother has made?" Thinking of this, Fang Zheng subconsciously looked outside the window toward the academy dormitories.

"I have A-grade Aptitude, while my brother is only C-grade. His progress certainly cannot be faster than mine. This time, my brother will absolutely not be my match! Brother, I will let you know how formidable A-grade Aptitude is!"

Thinking this, Fang Zheng could not help clenching both fists.

The academy dormitories.

Fang Yuan's door was shut tightly.

In the darkness, he had not gone to sleep. Instead, he sat cross-legged on his bed.

Gu Master cultivation could not replace sleep. At this hour in the past, Fang Yuan would already have lain down and fallen asleep.

But during his cultivation just now, he had felt that he was only a Hint Of away from stepping into the mid stage.

"Then I simply won't sleep tonight. I'll charge straight for the mid stage!" A hint of determination flashed in his eyes.

Afterward, he closed his eyes and directed his mind into his Aperture.

The forty-four percent Bronze Primeval Sea had just been refined by the Wine Worm into jade-green Mid-stage True Essence.

"Rise." With a thought from Fang Yuan, the tranquil Bronze Primeval Sea immediately rippled in wave after wave.

The ripples grew more numerous and larger, forming surging tides.

Crash, crash, crash...

The tides charged forward one after another, crashing toward the Aperture walls on every side.

Like waves striking reefs, most of the True Essence shattered into emerald-green sprays that splashed high into the air before merging back into the sea.

A small portion of the True Essence was consumed, turned into strands of marvelous invisible force that seeped into the white light-membrane Aperture walls.

"Rise again." Fang Yuan stirred his mind, and the jade-green billows grew increasingly vast. The earlier tides had at most been like dogs and rabbits racing after one another; now, they were like herds of horses charging toward the Aperture's light membrane.

Horses like dragons, waves soaring to the heavens!

True Essence was consumed violently, and the water level continuously fell.

Crash, crash, crash!

The tides rolled on without end, until quantitative change finally triggered qualitative change.

The white light membrane suddenly trembled. Its originally gentle white radiance abruptly burst forth with an aggressive, dazzling brilliance.

At this sight, Fang Yuan was overjoyed. Knowing that the critical moment had arrived, he hastily drove his True Essence onward, continuing the relentless washing.

The white light grew brighter and brighter. The rays twisted and tangled together, giving an increasingly viscous impression.

After a dozen or so breaths, streaks of light appeared upon the membrane. They resembled streams of water flowing endlessly, colliding without cease.

During the collisions, they continually merged and grew, forming white currents of light.

At last, the currents connected into one whole, completely covering the light membrane.

The white radiance dimmed. The white light membrane that had originally lined the Aperture walls vanished, replaced by a spherical layer of white water membrane.

The surface of the light membrane had been smooth and without impurities. The water membrane, however, was clearly thicker, with shimmering light flowing across it, flickering between brightness and darkness.

The True Essence sea returned to calm, with two-tenths of the seawater remaining in the Aperture.

"Advanced to the mid stage!" Fang Yuan laughed aloud and opened his eyes.

Bright sunlight slipped through the cracks in the window.

Without realizing it, the night had passed, and it was already morning.

Suddenly, the dormitory door was violently kicked open, and two guards walked in.

"Fang Yuan, you skipped class without cause. The Academy Elder wants to see you. Come with us!"