Soon a week passed.
"Humans are above all creatures, Gu are the essence of heaven and earth. In this world there are thousands of species, countless number of Gu. They live everywhere around us – In the soil, in the bushes, even on the bodies of wild beasts."
"As humans continue to propagate and grow, the scholars of the past gradually uncovered the mysteries of the Gu. Those who have opened the aperture, using their own primeval essence to feed, refine and manipulate these Gu – people who have achieved these various purposes are what we call Gu Masters."
"And all of you have successfully opened your aperture in the Awakening Ceremony 7 days ago. With the coagulation of the primeval sea, right now you are all Rank one Gu Masters."
In the village academy, the academy elder spoke with assurance and poise. Before him sat 57 students, all focused and listening intently.
The mystery and power of a Gu Master had long been ingrained in the minds of the youth. As a result, the students were deeply intrigued by everything the elder taught and said.
At this moment a young teen raised his hand. With the elder's permission he stood up and asked, "Elder sir, I've known this since I was small. There are Rank one Gu Masters, Rank two and so on, can you explain in more detail to us?"
The Gu Yue teacher nodded and waved his hand to ask the young man to sit down. "Gu Masters have 9 ranks, from bottom to the top – Rank one, Rank two, Rank three all the way up to Rank nine. Every rank is considered a big realm, and it is divided into 4 small realms – initial stage, middle stage, upper stage and peak stage. You have all just become Gu Masters, so all of you are Rank one initial stage."
"If you all work hard in your cultivation, your cultivation base will naturally advance to rank two, even rank three. Of course, the higher your talent the bigger your chance of promoting."
"For D-grade talent, the primeval sea takes up ab…"
As the academy elder continues to teach the students, Fang Yuan who was leaning against the window at the corner was pretending to sleep soundly over at his desk.
"Six days ago, I went to the Flower Wine Monk inheritance cave and caught the Liquor worm and a bag of primeval stones containing 15 pieces. With the Liquor Worm, my cultivation speed is doubled, but so is my expenditure on primeval stones. I have no choice but to use the Liquor Worm sparingly; this will slightly reduce the amount of food it requires, but this will affect my cultivation speed not to be doubled—just above average. Fang Yuan had already gone to the cave to retrieve the Liquor worm and the primeval stones but he manages to stopped the video left by the Flower Wine Monk, as he needed it to be played for another time."
Although Fang Yuan brought the Liquor Worm with him to class to cultivate, he was 90-95% sure that he wouldn't get caught. The only way to detect a Gu worm inside someone's aperture is through a direct examination.
"As for Gu Masters who are Rank 6 and above, they are all legends. I am not clear about the specifics either. In the Gu Yue clan, there has never been the appearance of a Rank 6 Gu Master, but Rank 4 and Rank 5 Gu Masters we have had before."
After the academy elder had finished speaking the teenagers' ears perked up, their eyes gleaming with excitement as they listened intently.
Many of them couldn't help but glance at Gu Yue Fang Zheng, sitting stiffly in the front row. After all, he was an A-grade talent. Their gazes were filled with envy and jealousy. At the same time, some were fixated on the corner in the back row of the classroom looking at Fang Yuan.
"Look, he's still sleeping," someone whispered.
"He's been sleeping continuously for a week, yet he's still not awake?" Someone cut in.
"There's more. I heard that he was up all night, wandering about at the edge of the village."
"There's been people who've seen it more than once, apparently he holds a wine-jar at night, dead drunk outside. Luckily these few years the village surroundings have been cleared clean, so it's safer." The fellow schoolmates whisper here and there, letting all kinds of small gossip spreading around quickly.
"Ah well, the blow was just too big. Someone hailed as a genius for so many years unexpectedly ending up to be a C-grade talent in the end, hehe."
"If only it was just the case. Of all the people his own little brother was pronounced an A-grade, right now being the center of attention, enjoying the best treatment. The younger brother soars up to the sky, while the older brother falls to the ground, tut tut…"
As the discussion amongst the students got louder and louder, the academy elder's brow deepened into a frown. In the whole classroom all the teenagers were sitting respectfully, showing liveliness. This made Fang Yuan who was sleeping on his table stand out so much that it hurt the eyes.
"It's already been a week, yet he's still so dispirited. Hmph, initially I must have been mistaken by him, how could someone like this be a genius!" The elder thought disgruntledly. He had spoken many times to Fang Yuan regarding this matter, but to no effect – Fang Yuan still did whatever he liked. He would sleep through every class, making the elder in charge of teaching have a very frustrated headache.
"Forget it, he's just a C-grade. If he can't even withstand this sort of blow, fostering him with that kind of temperament will just end up wasting the clan's resources, nothing good will come out of it." The elder's heart was filled with disappointment towards Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan was just a C-grade, compared to his younger brother Fang Zheng who was an A-grade talent, now this was someone worth the clan spending an amount of effort on raising!
Fang Yuan, who had heard all of that, continued to pretend to sleep and went on with his daily cultivation. He cultivated nonstop, whether he was in class, at the cave, eating, or resting. The only time he stopped was when he ran out of primeval essence or needed to sleep. Cultivation could not replace sleep.
The current classroom is currently taking about the Flower Wine Monk and the Fourth Clan leader. Not knowing that the classmate they have just insulted was the successor of the Flower Wine Monk and knew about the truth about the story.
Beneath the vast blue sky and fluffy white clouds, the lush mountains stretched endlessly into the horizon. Nearby, a bamboo grove stood, home to Qing Mao Mountain's distinctive spear bamboo, each stalk perfectly straight, with tips as sharp as spearheads.
Not far off, the woods were already turning a vibrant green. Tender new shoots emerged, blending into a sea of yellow-green. Now and then, colorful sparrows would land on the branches. The spring breeze blew, carrying the fresh scent of the mountains and rivers, scattering it throughout the world.
Without knowing it, the class was almost over. The academy elder finally informed, "This week I have taught you all how to contemplate and check your own aperture's primeval sea, and how to meditate and shift around the primeval essence inside your body. Now is the time for you all to refine your vital Gu. After this class ends, you will all go to the academy's Gu room and pick a Gu worm. After choosing your Gu, please go home and focus on refining it. When you have finally refined your Gu, then you can come back to the academy and continue attending class. At the same time, this is your first assessment. Whoever can finish this assessment first will be rewarded a generous sum of 20 primeval stones."
Unlike the others, for Fang Yuan this Gu will be his third Gu as the first is the Spring Autumn Cicada, second is the Liquor Worm.
Luckily for Fang Yuan the Spring Autumn Cicada feeds on the water of the River of Time and the Liquor Worm which feeds on wine or liquor. Fang Yuan initial saving has been used to feed the Liquor Worm, but he had already took the Flower Wine Monk primeval stones which gave him 15 primeval stones, enough for him to buy a few jars of the green bamboo wine.