"Put all the wine jars under the bed." Fang Yuan pointed and directed four workers from the inn. In each man's hands were jars of green bamboo wine. Right after Fang Yuan successfully extorted his peers, he went to the inn and bought twenty jars in one go.
Each jar cost two pieces of primeval stones, and Fang Yuan pumped in forty primeval stones for the sake of the Liquor worm.
The money pouch that had bulged out not long ago deflated by half in an instant, leaving thirty-nine pieces of primeval stones behind. However it was worth the money—these wine would be able to support the Liquor worm for a long time.
"Alright," the workers immediately replied. They would not dare to show any hint of disrespect to a Gu Master. Add on to the fact that Fang Yuan had bought so much wine, he could be said as the inn's big customer. With just a casual word before the innkeeper, the workers were able to easily put down their current activities and workload.
After the inn servants left, Fang Yuan closed the dormitory door and sat cross-legged on his bed.
It was already nighttime. The stars and moon in the sky were bright, and the night breeze flowed with a hint of scented fragrance.
There was no light in the room. Fang Yuan calmed his state of mind, letting his focus slip into the Primeval Sea.
The waves of the Primeval Sea rose and fell, the seawater giving out green copper coloured light. Every drop of seawater was the green copper primeval essence that a Rank one Gu Master specially had. The Primeval Sea took up 44% of the entire aperture; this was Fang Yuan's C grade talent's limitation.
The four walls of the aperture were a thin layer of white light, supporting and encasing the aperture. In the sky above the Primeval Sea there was nothing. The Spring Autumn Cicada had already hidden itself away under Fang Yuan's command, restoring itself under a deep sleep.
Floating on the Primeval Sea was a cute and chubby white Liquor worm. It frisked about with its heart's content on the seawater, sometimes diving into the sea, other times shaking its head and tail, splashing and splattering water droplets around.
Fang Yuan sent a thought through his mind, and the Liquor worm immediately responded. It stopped playing and curled up into the shape of a rice dumpling, leisurely floating into the air. It rose up to the middle of the aperture and out of the green copper sea.
"Go." Fang Yuan mobilized a tenth of his primeval essence, transforming it into a narrow flow, thrusting it all into the Liquor worm. The Liquor worm had already been refined by him, so this time it did not resist. It took in the entire jet of primeval essence and absorbed everything into its body.
Immediately the sea surface dropped by a small cut. The curled up Liquor worm turned the primeval essence into a driving force and began to radiate out white light. Inside the soft light, an enshrouding mist of wine fumes were gradually produced, finally converging into a pale white wine mist.
The wine mist was marvelous. It did not drift apart, instead enveloping around the Liquor worm.
"Rise." Fang Yuan gave a thought, transferring another 10% of his primeval essence. The green copper seawater dived into the wine mist; as the wine mist melted into the seawater, it gradually lessened, and eventually there was no trace of it left. As for that 10% of green copper primeval essence, it also lost its general volume and was left with 5%.
However this 5% of primeval essence was even more condensed than before. The original primeval essence was a jade green, giving out a copper luster. Right now although this new primeval essence had the same copper luster, the green was a darker shade—it was pale green.
Pale green coloured primeval essence was the primeval essence that only a Rank one middle stage Gu Master would have. The Liquor worm's use was to condense the primeval essence and increase it by a small realm rank!
A Gu Master had 9 great realms, from the bottom—Rank one, Rank two, all the way to Rank nine. Every great realm was split into four smaller realms, which were initial stage, middle stage, upper stage and peak stage.
Fang Yuan was only a Rank one initial stage Gu Master right now, but with the Liquor worm's help he had 5% of a Rank one middle stage Gu Master's primeval essence!
"If I want to condense out 5% of middle stage primeval essence I would need to use 20% of initial stage primeval essence. I want to convert all the 44% of my Primeval Sea into middle stage primeval essence, so I'd need to use around 180% of initial stage primeval essence. To reach this target as soon as possible, I'd need to borrow the help of primeval stones."
As he thought of this, Fang Yuan opened his eyes and took out a complete primeval stone the size of a duck egg from his bag. The primeval stone was a sort of ellipsoidal shaped, translucent grey stone. As the natural essence inside it is consumed, its size would continue shrinking.
His right hand slowly closed, the primeval stone tightly clenched in his palm. He absorbed the natural primeval essence inside the stone, continuously replenishing his own aperture. The level of the sea surface that had fallen in his aperture slowly began to rise.
The primeval stone was meant to be used. Fang Yuan was not stingy by one bit, and he would not save it up.
"I do not have someone to back me up, and I do not have support from friends and family, thus I can only rely on extortion and plundering. Today was just the first time, but after this, every seven days when the academy gives out the school allowance, I will continue blocking the academy gates."
How could robbing and blackmailing once satisfy Fang Yuan's appetite? In a Gu Master's cultivation, the primeval stone was the most scarce thing. As for the consequences of his plundering actions, Fang Yuan was not the least worried.
This world was not the same as Earth.
On Earth, schools would always prohibit fights to mainly stabilize harmony. But in this world, fighting was the main theme.
No matter a Gu Master or common mortal, they would fight for survival. Sometimes it would be a fight with a scary wild beast. Sometimes it would be a battle against the raging weather, and other times if could be a fight against other Gu Masters over resources.
As a result, moderate fighting was instead encouraged and advocated by people.
From young to old, from simple brawls to battles determining life and death, this was the portrayal of most of the human lives here.
This surface of this world was boundless. Just the Southern Border alone that Fang Yuan stayed in now, it was bigger than seven to eight times the entire surface of Earth itself. The living environment here was hostile and cruel, so humans would often construct mountain villages in the form of clans, holing up together.
Every now and then there would be waves of beasts, or perhaps extremely bad weather assaulting a village. The Gu Master would become the core force of a village's protection, and every year the situation of attrition would become more serious.
Surviving requires men with strong fighting will. A clan needs battle Gu Masters, there is never too much. Moreover, Fang Yuan's attacks were within the proper limit.
He never attacked the lower jaw, as this would easily cause the skull to fracture and cause the loss of a human life. He also never struck the back of the head. When fighting he did not use his fists or elbow, or even jabbing with his fingers, but he used his palm. The number of kicks he used could also be numbered.
The students that fell were not heavily injured; at most they were lightly wounded.
Fang Yuan was not bloodthirsty, he just treated killing as a type of means.
Every time he acted, he would have a clear goal. Whatever the type of method, whichever would let him reach his goal the fastest, he would use it. In other words, he was unscrupulous in doing things.
…
The clouds floated over, covering the moonlight. A shadow enveloped over the Gu Yue village.
The watchman banged on his clappers, prompting people to know that it was already deep in the night—Be careful of fires, be on guard of beast assaults, as well as the possibility of foreign Gu Masters sneaking into the village.
There were still a lot of lights in the village.
In the Chi family branch home, Gu Yue Chi Lian stayed in his study, the lights radiantly bright. This high authority old man spoke with a gentle tone, expressing sympathy as he asked his own grandson Gu Yue Chi Cheng, "I heard you were beaten up by that Fang Yuan today?"
Gu Yue Chi Cheng had a black right eye, and he angrily said, "Yes, grandpa. That Fang Yuan was just a petty C grade, yet he dared to act so arrogant. He blocked us all at the entrance, not caring about the friendly sentiments of his classmates, and he robbed us of our primeval stones. What's more, the academy just opened one eye and closed one eye over the incident.
It was only when Fang Yuan strode away that the guards hurried over. Grandpa, this time you have to help me expel this angry resentment of mine!"
Instead Gu Yue Chi Lian shook his head. "This is between you and your juniors. You were blackmailed to lose a piece of primeval stone, and you did not suffer heavy injuries—Grandpa cannot act without any justifiable excuse. Even if you were heavily wounded, I will not stand up for you, do you understand why?"
Gu Yue Chi Cheng was stunned. He struggled to think, and after a long while he hesitatingly said, "Grandpa, I think I understand your meaning. You are hoping that I will rely on my own strength to find my way, right?"
"You only understood one aspect." Gu Yue Chi Lian nodded his head and added, "You must remember, you are not just an individual representative, but you are the image on behalf of our Chi family branch. For many years we have confronted the Mo family branch, and your every move will represent the hope of the future of the Chi family branch.
Grandpa may help you in the shadows, but you must stand up and erect a self-reliant and strong image. Otherwise the elders who are supporting our family will not see the hope for our future, and they will abandon the Chi family."
As he said this, Gu Yue Chi Lian heaved a sigh. "This is also why grandpa helped you to cheat and let you impersonate a B grade talent. Our Chi family needs a strong successor to hold on to those who are supporting us."
Gu Yue Chi Cheng was then enlightened. "Grandpa, I understand now."
Gu Yue Chi Lian shook his head. "Just understanding won't do any good. You must work hard. Fang Yuan is just small trouble; next up you must study hard and train diligently on your basic martial arts and get your dignity back. At the same time do not forget to work hard on cultivating, promoting to middle stage as soon as possible.
The best you can do is to win the position of class monitor, this will be great honor and a kind of help to our Chi family."
"Alright, grandpa!" Gu Yue Chi Cheng replied loudly.
"Heh heh heh, this spirit is how the heir to our Chi branch should be like. Grandson, you must work hard, I will do my best to help you."