A middle-aged man sat cross-legged on a purple mat with black accents, immersed in the contents of a black jade slip. His black robe with red embroidery hung loosely on his tall, slender frame. Pale complexion, long black hair, sharp eyebrows that gave him a sinister air. This man was Gu Wuji!
He was in a secret room, simply adorned with several finely lacquered alderwood tables. A small black cauldron hung from the ceiling and billowed with thin smoke.
"Senior Gu, they have arrived," a voice said respectfully behind the door after knocking a few times.
"Bring them, I'll be out in a moment to inspect," Gu Wuji replied, his voice a bit hoarse.
He had been working through the jade slip for several days non-stop.
He stood up and patted his clothes. As he walked out of the room the smoke coming from the ceiling seemed to whirl and follow the man out.
Gu Wuji then walked outside. The secret room was a cave abode on top of a mountain. A rough path led down the mountain, a young man dressed in black clothes similar to Gu Wuji's own was standing at the path respectfully waiting.
Gu Wuji and the young man descended the path to a clearing a few stories below his cave abode. Behind this clearing a large black door apparently led to some other building inside the mountain's lower level.
In the clearing, mortals decked with leather armor closed in with many other peasant looking mortals in tow.
"Greetings immortal master!" The men in armor kneeled and saluted Gu Wuji with fervor as he nodded.
A riot erupted, the mortals screamed and struggled as the armored men wrestled them into the cave. Gu Wuji heard none of it. His eyes swept the group as he scanned, quickly analyzing each mortal. Internally he sighed as he thought, "Neither quality nor quantity, at this pace I wonder if it would be ready on time."
As things proceeded Gu Wuji saw an elderly man scurrying through. His eyes narrowed with a frown, then with a slight smile he flashed a few one-handed incantations. Gray smoke billowed and swirled from under his feet, then strands of smoke flashed at great speed entangling the elderly man with ease.
Gu Wuji looked disapprovingly at a bulky armored man. The man threw himself to the floor in worship before jumping on the elderly man.
Gu Wuji started to turn around to leave when he saw the bulky man pummel the old man. He sighed, "Brutes, at this pace I will be left without a single specimen."
He then flashed an incantation. The smoke strand quickly wrapped around the bulky man's neck, choking him unconscious while wrapping and dragging the elderly man.
"If you break the merchandise I will need an explanation," he called out to the leader of the armored men.
He then walked back to his cave abode, leaving the mess behind.
As the sun set the young man knocked on his door again. "Senior Gu, the disciples have finished loading all the specimens. Senior can begin when he wishes."
Gu Wuji was sitting cross-legged meditating, thin smoke coming from the cauldron above swirled round his nostrils forming dragons as he inhaled them.
He snapped his eyes open upon hearing the news, then proceeded to take the black jade slip and walk to the back of the room.
After going through a narrow hall the space opened to a large black door. The door was adorned in strange faces, the faces looked ferocious, some had one horn while the most terrifying looking ones had two horns. The door seemed to be made out from some unknown metal.
Gu Wuji took the black slip. As he poured spiritual energy the slip floated and rotated, after emitting a series of slow hums, a black light shone from it, shooting at the door.
The door reacted by vibrating, slowly opening, making way to a large dark room.
As the door finished opening Gu Wuji entered the room. At the center of the room was a strange altar, a circular formation with eight black crystals surrounded the altar.
Gu Wuji arrived at the center of the altar and flashed a series of double-handed incantations. The black jade slip floated to a pedestal in the middle, inserting itself into a notch.
After this the whole cave trembled slightly, an almost imperceptible humming rang through. The walls of the room started to vibrate, as it did, a black substance slowly started to drip. Hideous inky black lines of liquid then made way for the formation at the center of the room.
A circle containing strange rune-like symbols flashed with black light as the liquid was absorbed by it, then a faint mist was released and absorbed by the floor.
Gu Wuji stood at the center of the formation. He took a cold breath as he looked at the activation. This formation was something his sect built hundreds of years ago, his master was in charge of it.
He was sent to supervise its activation. While some formations required things like artifacts or spirit stones, this sinister formation required human lives.
Gu Wuji left the formation room, returning to his cave abode. As he walked by the hall he could hear faint screams in the background.
Once in his meditation room he took out a jade plate, setting it on a table, he inserted some small spirit stones and flashed an incantation. The plate vibrated and flashed with soft white light.
The plate emanated a milky light that floated on top. After a while the light started to take shape, a face of an old man materialized. The face looked very detailed, you could see every wrinkle and hair on it, however, it was completely white.
The face finished materializing, then it opened its eyes.
"Gu Wuji greets master!" Gu Wuji cupped his hands to the figure and saluted respectfully.
"Did you manage to activate it?" said a hoarse voice coming from the elder man's head.
"Yes master, I managed to activate the formation and I'm refining more materials right now as we speak."
"Good, notify me as soon as you have a puppet seed. I will send you a suitable control seal," said the head, then it audibly sighed. "You do not have much time, how is the Dao Incense technique going?"
"Yes master, I'm at the peak of the Grey stage, I'm on the verge of breakthrough. At this pace I'm 90% sure of getting to White stage and 60% sure of achieving Clear before its time," said Gu Wuji respectfully.
The head let out a laugh. "Most practitioners only get to Grey in their lifetimes, some barely cultivating the Black stage after decades... It seems this technique suits you very well," the head said.
"Thanks to master for bestowing me this technique. Junior would not have been able to achieve this without master's help." Gu Wuji cupped his hands again with gratitude.
The head chuckled. "This is your last chance, of course I would go all out." The expression of the head softened, then it closed its eyes as the light dissipated.
Gu Wuji held his hands cupped for a little while after the light disappeared. After lowering his hands his expression hardened. "Heaven breaking pill..."
"If I reach at least White level and successfully refine a Foundation Establishment level puppet, I'm 90% certain to win the contest and obtain it..."
He sat back to meditate and practice the Dao Incense technique.
Time passed. Gu Wuji cultivated silently, only a few faint screams could be heard from time to time. However, after some time the room was fully silent.
Then a knock on the door interrupted.
"Senior Gu, the current batch is finished," the voice of the young man guarding his door sounded. "Senior, it seems we may have two seeds this time," he said after a pause.
Gu Wuji who was cultivating opened his eyes, a grin plastered on his face. This was the seventh batch he had processed but the first one to actually produce seeds.
He immediately stood up and exited his cave abode. "Senior Gu!" A young guard clasped his hands and bowed to him outside.
"Junior brother, take me to check the specimens you spoke of." They walked the path down the mountain, then entered a large cave door. This door took them to a large room that ended in a set of stairs that appeared to go into a dark pit.
As they descended the stairs they reached a door. Behind the door rows of cells decked a hall, at the end of the hall another door seemed to go deeper into this prison.
Most cells contained nothing but remains of prisoners. Over the bones and tattered clothes swirled a thin black mist which circulated through the floor under each cell.
At the end of the hall a guard was waiting. The guard showed them a cell. This cell contained two figures sitting at the back.
Gu Wuji peered into the cell. He saw two figures sitting against the wall. One seemed to be completely purple with patches of skin falling off from its face. However, it was alive and breathing while sitting calmly.
Gu Wuji looked at it closely, then flashed a double-handed incantation. Gray smoke billowed under him, thin strands of white threaded through the gray as the smoke swirled like snakes, reaching out to grab the purple figure.
The smoke wrapped it and brought it close to Gu Wuji who examined it attentively.
After the time it takes for a breath, Gu Wuji sighed. "It is not the level I need." He flicked his wrist without looking. The smoke flung the purple figure crashing against the wall. He did not catch a single glance as his eyes turned to the other one.
The other was an elderly man who had only a few small purple patches. Most notably was a large hump growing on its back.
His pupils shrank when looking at the hump. He could sense it pulsating with cold Yin spiritual energy.
He then flashed some incantations to bring it closer with the smoke. It struggled as the smoke restrained it.
Upon close inspection Gu Wuji let out a laugh. "Top quality seed! With materials like this a Foundation Establishment puppet is possible!"
After completely restraining the hunchback, Gu Wuji instructed the disciples to bring it to the deepest level of the prison for refinement. He then dashed back to his cave abode to go into the secret formation altar.