Duped

An irrepressible joy welled up in Hu Fangyuan's heart. This was the first Gu worm he had refined in his life, and he had succeeded on his first attempt, producing one of exceptional quality. He could clearly feel a close mental connection between himself and the little Gu worm, as though they were linked by blood. It could clearly sense his every thought.

With a thought, the Moonlight Pearl Gu fluttered its forelegs and slowly rose from the water, passed through the curtain of water, and drifted toward him before settling gently in his palm.

It felt cool yet warm to the touch, fine and smooth, like a piece of warm jade polished to perfection. It had none of a living creature's roughness, resembling instead an exquisitely carved jade ornament.

Hu Fangyuan gently touched the Gu worm's back with a fingertip. The little creature seemed quite comfortable and curled up slightly, the seven starry specks along its spine brightening a little.

He could clearly sense the power inside the Gu worm: pure, gentle, and filled with the aura of moonlight. Compared with the ordinary rank-one Moonlight Pearl Gu recorded in the Gu Canon, his had a noticeably richer aura and more distinct starry specks. Its quality was at least a full grade higher.

This was naturally thanks to the Heaven Refining Furnace.

From nurturing the materials to gathering spiritual energy with the water curtain, then condensing the essence and bringing it to life, every step had been bolstered by the Heaven Refining Furnace's power. Not only was the process several times faster, but the quality also far surpassed that of Gu worms refined through ordinary methods.

Traditional Gu Masters had to prepare the materials three days in advance to refine a Moonlight Pearl Gu, choose a suitable location, wait until the night of the full moon, and then perform their arts all night. Even then, their success rate was only sixty or seventy percent, and the resulting Gu might not even be high-grade.

From beginning to end, Hu Fangyuan had taken less than two hours and produced a high-grade Gu on his first try. The gulf between the two methods was beyond measure.

After Hu Fangyuan played with it for a while, the Moonlight Pearl Gu in his palm seemed a little tired. It lay motionless in his hand, with only the starry specks along its spine still flickering faintly. He knew that, having only just come into being, its power was still unstable and it needed to be nurtured for a time.

With a thought, he summoned the Heaven Refining Furnace's suction, and the Moonlight Pearl Gu in his palm turned into a streak of silver light and flew into its internal space. The Heaven Refining Furnace had developed its own Gu worm space, ideally suited to nurturing newborn Gu worms. Keeping it inside was far better than leaving it outside.

Only after finishing all this did Hu Fangyuan slowly withdraw his Soul Power. Without its support, the water curtain before him gradually thinned, finally turning into motes of blue-green light that dispersed into the air. Not a trace of water remained on the ground, as though the curtain had never existed.

He stood up, stretched his slightly aching limbs, and looked up at the bright moon overhead. The moonlight remained clear and luminous, spilling over him with a faint chill.

Before tonight, he had merely been a rank-twenty-one Soul Master with the Heaven Refining Furnace Martial Soul.

After tonight, he was a true Gu Master, possessing his very first Gu worm.

This was only the first step. The Moonlight Pearl Gu was merely a rank-one Gu worm; above it were rank two, rank three, and even higher ranks.

Those recorded in the inheritance, such as the Heavenly Essence Treasure Imperial Lotus, Years Flow Like Water, and Myriad Self Gu, each possessed power that could shake heaven and earth.

Hu Fangyuan clenched his fists, a glimmer of anticipation flashing through his eyes. The road was still long, but he had already taken the firmest possible first step. With the Heaven Refining Furnace and the complete Gu Canon inheritance, the road ahead would only grow broader.

The courtyard returned to its usual silence, broken only by the rustling of wind through the leaves and the faint calls of insects in the distance.

The night was still long, and Hu Fangyuan's path of Gu Refining had only just begun.

"What?!"

Hu Fangyuan stared at Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and Gu Yue in shock, asking incredulously, "What do you mean, we're the weakest academy?! Isn't Eastsea City the second-largest economic hub in the East Sea Region?"

Tang Wulin was equally bewildered. He had not known any of this either, though it did not seem to have much to do with him. As long as he could attend school, that was enough.

Xie Xie rubbed his nose. After all, he was an Eastsea City native. "Within the Skysea Alliance as a whole, Eastsea Academy actually hasn't done that well in developing Soul Masters."

Hu Fangyuan turned to Gu Yue in disbelief. "You knew too?"

Gu Yue nodded.

"Then why did you come to Eastsea Academy?!"

Hu Fangyuan clutched his head with both hands, feeling rather shattered. He had thought he had found an excellent platform and was ready to show what he could do. "One of you is a rich young master, and the other throws money around like water-a young lady with some background too, I'd imagine. What were you doing coming to Eastsea Academy when you had nothing better to do? Seeing you two, I thought I'd picked the right school!"

How could Hu Fangyuan not fall apart?

What did they mean, his Class Five was the weakest class, and the academy wouldn't give it any preferential allocation of resources?!

What did they mean, Eastsea Academy ranked at the very bottom of all the Soul Master Academies in the East Sea Region?!

What did they mean, they didn't care about that little bit of resources and had just picked any school to attend?!

I care!

Watching Hu Fangyuan squat in a corner questioning his life, Xie Xie's mouth twitched. He asked Gu Yue, "Why's he reacting so strongly? Isn't the Intermediate Division of a Soul Master Academy the same wherever you go?"

Gu Yue shook her head. "I don't know him well. We just happened to meet yesterday."

Only Tang Wulin went over, crouched down, and patted Hu Fangyuan on the shoulder. He bore no grudge whatsoever over being thoroughly beaten by Hu Fangyuan yesterday, and instead comforted him. "It's all right, Fangyuan. Teacher Wu said that if we stand out enough in the Class Promotion Tournament and fight our way up, we'll get funding and rewards from the academy! Lots of Federation Coins!"

Hu Fangyuan glanced at Tang Wulin and pushed his hand away, not wanting to bother with this fellow who had seen so little of the world.

What use were Federation Coins?! They were only useful if you could actually spend them!

He had Federation Coins on hand right now!

But if he wanted to buy spiritual herbs for cultivation, Soul Beast meat, or even access to the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Ascension Platform, could he actually spend them?

True cultivation resources had never been something money alone could buy.

Hundred-year-old Soul-Congealing Grass, processed Soul Beast meat that could strengthen the body, and eligibility to reserve high-grade Soul Spirits-which of these was not held firmly in the hands of the major Soul Master Academies and powerful families?

Even with money in their hands, children from ordinary families could not so much as find a way in.

Hu Fangyuan had chosen to come to Eastsea City precisely because he wanted the academy's resource quotas and access to cultivation opportunities.

Yet after coming all this way, he had gained nothing and even willingly entered a bottom-ranked class. This was completely different from what he had envisioned.

Xie Xie raised an eyebrow, walked over, and crouched beside him. "Come on, is this really necessary? So the academy ranks a little low. If you really want to cultivate, what difference does it make where you do it? My family's prepared enough cultivation resources to last me through the Advanced Department. I honestly don't think much of the academy's little offerings."

Hu Fangyuan gave him a sidelong glance and snapped, "You were born with a golden spoon in your mouth. Of course your back doesn't ache when you stand there talking. For someone from an ordinary family like me, if I don't rely on the academy's quotas, am I supposed to rob people of spiritual herbs in the street? Do you think medicinal solutions and spiritual elixirs are plain water you can drink whenever you want? Do you think a Mimicry Cultivation Room is your own backyard, where you can walk in whenever you please?"

The more he spoke, the more frustrated he became.

He had thought that once he entered an academy in Eastsea City, he would gain access to a proper Soul Master cultivation system and a steady supply of resources, allowing him to improve his Soul Power steadily while studying his Gu Refining arts on the side.

Now he was being told that this academy was a bottom-ranked outfit with pitifully few resources. Hadn't half his previous efforts been wasted?