Pat, pat, pat...
Densely packed raindrops fell like beans, striking the verdant bamboo building with crisp sounds.
In the pond before the building, the water surface was lashed by the raindrops. Fish darted merrily through the water, and water weeds swayed at the bottom.
Dark clouds gathered, and the entire view was veiled by a thick, heavy curtain of rain.
In the somewhat dim room, the window stood open. Fangyuan quietly watched the heavy rain, letting out a soft sigh in his heart: "Three days and three nights have already passed."
That night three days ago, he had carried two jars of wine out of the village to continue exploring the surrounding area.
But by late night, a torrential downpour had begun.
Leaving aside the fact that he was drenched to the bone, the crucial point was that under such conditions, further exploration was impossible.
The rainwater would quickly wash away the scent of the wine, and pressing on with exploration in the rain would likely arouse suspicion.
Previously, he had disguised himself as someone drowning his sorrows in alcohol to mask his true motives. Yet one must never underestimate the intelligence of others; usually, only a fool believes everyone else is foolish.
Thus, with no other choice, Fangyuan had been forced to suspend his exploration.
Once this rain started, it kept going—sometimes heavy, sometimes light, sometimes sparse, sometimes dense—without ever stopping.
"This being the case, the Wine Worm cannot be found anytime soon. To be safe, I can only start refining the Moonlight Gu first. During this refinement process, finding the Wine Worm would be best; if I cannot get it, I will just have to make do. Still, this is quite common—the heavens have unpredictable winds and clouds. Who in this world can always have things go smoothly and perfectly?" Fangyuan's state of mind was very calm; five hundred years of experience had long since washed away the impatience that had been so rare in his temperament to begin with.
He closed the windows and the door, sitting cross-legged upon the bed. Slowly closing his eyes and evening out his breath, he sank his mind inward.
The next moment, the sight of his own Aperture unfolded within his mind.
Though the Aperture resided within his body, it was extraordinarily wondrous, infinitely large yet infinitely small.
The outer layer of the Aperture was a membrane of light. The white membrane of light felt very thin, yet it truly and solidly supported the Aperture.
Inside the Aperture was an ocean of Primeval Essence.
The water was bronze-colored, the surface calm as a mirror, and the water level was roughly half the height of the Aperture. The entire Primeval Sea occupied forty-four percent of the Aperture.
This was the bronze Primeval Sea of a Rank One Gu Master. Every single drop of water was Primeval Essence—it was Fangyuan's vital life force, the condensation of his essence, Qi, and spirit.
Every drop of Primeval Essence was precious, for it was the foundation of a Gu Master, the source of power. It was solely by relying on Primeval Essence that a Gu Master could refine and urge Gu Worms.
Withdrawing his mind from the Primeval Sea, Fangyuan opened his eyes and took the Moonlight Gu from his bosom.
The Moonlight Gu lay quietly in Fangyuan's palm, resembling a curved blue moon—small, exquisite, and crystal-clear.
With a thought from Fangyuan, the Primeval Sea within his Aperture instantly churned. A stream of Primeval Essence broke through the sea surface, was mobilized out of his body, and surged entirely into the Moonlight Gu.
The Moonlight Gu abruptly burst into a deep blue radiance, trembling slightly in Fangyuan's palm as it resisted the influx of his Primeval Essence.
Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, the code of the Great Dao, and the vessels of laws. They are also living beings, naturally free and unfettered, possessing a will of their own. Now that Fangyuan wanted to refine it, he had to erase that will. Sensing this crisis, the Moonlight Gu naturally rebelled.
The refinement process was extremely arduous.
The Moonlight Gu was like a curved crescent moon. As the bronze-colored Primeval Essence was injected into the crescent, it first dyed the two tips of the crescent green.
Following that, this bronze greenish hue began to spread toward the middle of the crescent.
In less than three minutes, a trace of paleness appeared on Fangyuan's face. A massive amount of Primeval Essence continuously poured into the Moonlight Gu, causing wave after wave of weakness—as if tendons were being pulled and marrow cleansed—to relentlessly assault his heart.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes... eighty percent, ninety percent, one hundred percent.
Ten minutes later, Fangyuan's Primeval Sea had consumed a full ten percent of its Primeval Essence. Yet on the surface of the blue crystal-like Moonlight Gu, the two points of bronze green at the crescent tips had only expanded by the tiniest fraction toward the middle.
The resistance of the Moonlight Gu was extremely stubborn.
Fortunately, Fangyuan had anticipated this long ago and was not surprised, persistently channeling Primeval Essence into the Moonlight Gu.
Ten percent, twenty percent, thirty percent.
Another twenty minutes passed, and the Primeval Sea within Fangyuan's body had only fourteen percent left. The bronze green on the Moonlight Gu had expanded by a sliver; if the two patches of green were added together, they amounted to roughly one-twelfth of the entire Moonlight Gu's surface.
As for the remaining portion, it was still the pale blue color inherent to the Moonlight Gu.
"Gu refinement is truly difficult," Fangyuan muttered inwardly at this sight, cutting off the supply of Primeval Essence and halting the refinement of the Moonlight Gu.
By this moment, he had been refining the Gu for a full half-hour, and the Aperture's Primeval Sea had consumed well over half, leaving only fourteen percent of the Primeval Essence remaining. Meanwhile, the Moonlight Gu had only just been one-twelfth refined.
Moreover, what was even harder to accept was that the Moonlight Gu still emitted a deep blue halo. Although Fangyuan had stopped refining, it had not stopped resisting, and it was still expelling Fangyuan's bronze Primeval Essence, letting it dissipate outside his body. On the surface of the Moonlight Gu, the bronze green at the two crescent tips was also slowly shrinking.
Judging by this rate of reduction, in about six hours, the Moonlight Gu would expel all of Fangyuan's Primeval Essence. When the time came to refine this Gu Worm again, it would be no different from starting the ritual all over again.
"Every instance of Gu refinement is like two armies clashing, fighting a positional war, a war of attrition. The Gu Worm has only been refined by one-twelfth, while my Primeval Essence has consumed a full thirty percent. When refining Gu, a Gu Master must simultaneously replenish the Primeval Sea's essence and continuously perform the ritual to consolidate their victory. Gu refinement tests not only the technique of mobilizing Primeval Essence, but also the patience for a protracted war."
As Fangyuan thought this, he took a Primeval Stone from his money pouch.
A Gu Master typically had two methods to replenish consumed Primeval Essence.
One was natural recovery. After a certain period of time, the Primeval Sea would automatically replenish its Primeval Essence. With an aptitude like Fangyuan's Grade C, it would replenish about four percent of the Primeval Essence every hour. In six hours, it could recover twenty-four percent of the total Primeval Essence.
The second method was to absorb the natural essence within Primeval Stones.
Primeval Stones were treasures of nature, condensing natural Primeval Essence that could be absorbed by Gu Masters.
Holding the Primeval Stone, Fangyuan continuously drew out natural Primeval Essence from within it, channeling it into his own Aperture's Primeval Sea.
The delicate luster on the surface of the Primeval Stone slowly dimmed, while the water level of Fangyuan's Primeval Sea steadily climbed at a rate visible to the naked eye.
After about half an hour, the Primeval Sea returned to its volume of forty-four percent. Reaching this level, the upward trend of the sea surface came to an abrupt halt. Although there was still space within the Aperture, Fangyuan could no longer store any more Primeval Essence. This was the limitation of his Grade C aptitude.
From this, the crucial role of cultivation aptitude was demonstrated.
The higher the aptitude, the more Primeval Essence stored in the Aperture, and the faster the natural recovery rate of the Primeval Essence.
For Fangyuan, to refine the Gu Worm and consolidate his gains, he had to absorb Primeval Stones because his natural recovery rate of Primeval Essence could not keep up with the Moonlight Gu's expulsion rate.
As for Gu Yue Fangzheng, who possessed Grade A aptitude, he could replenish eight percent of his Primeval Essence every hour. In six hours, he could recover forty-eight percent of his total Primeval Essence, whereas the Moonlight Gu could only expel thirty percent in those same six hours.
He did not even need external help like Primeval Stones; he could simply keep refining this way, resting a few times in between, and over the course of a few days, he would successfully refine the Moonlight Gu.
Thus, Fangyuan had known from the very beginning that in this test of refining the Moonlight Gu, he had no possibility of winning first place at all. This had nothing to do with strength; rather, aptitude was the primary factor here.
The secondary factor was Primeval Stones.
If one had abundant Primeval Stones and spared no consumption, a person with Grade Grade B aptitude might even surpass Grade A and seize first place.
"I only have six Primeval Stones in my possession, which cannot compare to people like Gu Yue Mobei and Gu Yue Chicheng who have elders supporting them from behind. My aptitude is only Grade C, which cannot compare to Gu Yue Fangzheng's Grade A aptitude either. This test never had a sliver of hope for victory to begin with; I might as well scatter my energy and go look for the Wine Worm instead. If I can refine the Wine Worm into my Natal Gu, it will be much better than the Moonlight Gu. Hmm? The sound of the rain outside has grown quieter, and it seems to show signs of stopping. This heavy rain has fallen continuously for three days and three nights; it is about time it stopped."
Fangyuan put away the Moonlight Gu and got off the bed, just about to open the window when a knock on the door sounded.
From outside the door came the voice of his personal maid, Shen Cui: "Young Master Fangyuan, it is this servant. With the rain falling continuously for the past three days, this servant has brought you some wine and food so that the young master can eat, drink, and dispel some of the weariness."