The sky was a brilliant blue, clear and pure as if freshly washed. The golden sun shone brightly overhead.
Puffs of white clouds drifted lazily by, while a flock of vibrant peacock parrots chirped merrily as they soared beneath the azure sky. They flew in a V-formation beneath the clouds, their wings cutting through the air with grace.
This particular species of colorful parrots only gathered in large flocks during spring. Their plumage shimmered in a spectrum of rainbow hues, and their size rivaled that of an eagle. With parrot-like beaks and long, flowing tails reminiscent of peacocks, they were a breathtaking sight to behold.
It had been ten days since the day Fang Yuan managed to get the number one spot in the test to refine the vital Gu. The spring breeze swept across the mountain's lush green grass, while wildflowers bloomed eagerly, their colors vibrant. Bees and butterflies fluttered about, dancing in the warm air. Life surged everywhere, a testament to the beauty of the season.
The essence of spring was so strong that even the tall bamboo walls surrounding the training grounds seemed unable to contain it.
The training field spanned 2000 meters², its flat surface covered with a thick layer of grey graphite. On all four sides, green spear bamboo grew in tightly packed rows, standing tall and straight, forming a towering circle of green walls.
At the base of these walls, stones lay scattered, with patches of green grass pushing up from the earth. Wild roses also grew between the bamboos, some even climbing up the walls, their delicate flowers adding splashes of color.
Fifty-seven young teens, around fifteen years old, stood in a semi-circle in the center of the field, their attention focused on the academy elder standing before them.
This was a lesson on how to use the Moonlight Gu.
"The Moonlight Gu is our Gu Yue clan's symbolic Gu, just like the Xiong House's Bear Strength Gu, and the Bai House's Stream Gu. The majority of you on the field have chosen the Moonlight Gu as your vital Gu, so you must all watch properly. Soon I will demonstrate personally how to use the Moonlight Gu to attack. Students whose vital Gu is not the Moonlight Gu must also concentrate on me, as this classical long-distance attacking method can also be used on other Gu; the spectrum of methods one can use is very wide."
As he spoke, the academy elder stretched out his right hand, his five fingers opening wide. He lowered his palm so that the young teens could see the center of it.
"Firstly, you use your mind to mobilize the Moonlight Gu, moving it to the center of your palm." Following his voice, the crescent mark that represented the Moonlight Gu moved down the elder's arm and into his palm.
"Then, you mobilize the primeval essence in your aperture, pouring it into the Moonlight Gu." A thread of white silver coloured primeval essence gushed out from the elder's body, so fine it was almost impossible to see. It entered the Moonlight Gu in his palm.
Once it absorbed the thread of white silver primeval essence, the crescent-shaped mark in the elder's hand instantly glowed brighter and brighter. Although it was daytime, it still issued a brilliant pale-blue light.
"That's awesome!"
"How beautiful." The youngsters could not help but let out praises of surprise and amazement when they saw it.
The pale blue light was clear like water. It flickered faintly in the elder's palm. At first glance it would seem as if the academy elder's hand was scooping a handful of moonlight. The academy elder smiled a little. "Now watch carefully, the last step is just like how I will do it, launching it out."
As he spoke, the academy elder's fingers, initially spread wide, gradually closed into a fist. He then raised his arm and extended it forward, keeping it straight. With a final motion, he flicked his palm in a slicing gesture.
The entire action was smooth and deliberate, yet filled with power.
Swoosh.
The young students heard a soft, fleeting sound beside their ears.
In perfect sync with the elder's motion, a pale blue light, shimmering like water, gathered in his palm and shot out.
The light morphed into a small moonblade midair. It was faintly blue, only the size of an outstretched hand, shaped like a crescent moon in the night sky. It flew in a straight line and struck a grass puppet positioned ten meters away.
A sharp tearing sound echoed as the moonblade sliced through the grass puppet's neck, which was about thirty centimeters thick. The puppet's body wobbled before its massive head fell to the ground with a thud.
After severing the puppet in half, the moonblade dimmed instantly. Yet, it continued its flight for another six meters before the crescent shape gradually faded and vanished into the air.
Looking closely at the puppet's neck, one could see the cut was flawlessly smooth, as if it had been sheared off by the sharpest of sickles.
The young students stood in stunned silence, their eyes wide in disbelief. Some even touched their own necks, still in awe of the moonblade's power.
Soon, a murmur of exclamations filled the air. The teenagers' eyes sparkled with excitement as they stared at the grass puppet, some gazing at the elder's palm, while others whispered eagerly to each other.
Among them, only Fang Yuan remained still, hidden in the back of the crowd with a cold expression, his demeanor calm and unshaken.
The academy elder was just a Rank three Gu Master. This small trick was just child's play to him; it would not cause any ripple of emotion in Fang Yuan's heart.
"All those of you who have refined the Moonlight Gu, step out. Each one of you shall take a grass puppet and follow the way I just did it, throwing out the moonblade, practice attacking."
Once the academy elder was finished, around thirty students stepped out.
In this batch the entire clan had a hundred young teens joining the Awakening Ceremony. Those who had cultivating talent were around fifty-seven. Among these students, those who had chosen the Moonlight Gu numbered around thirty-five. After going through these few days of hard work, they had all refined the Moonlight Gu. Those that were left were all D-grade talents. It was not because they did not desire to refine the Moonlight Gu, but it was due to the inability of their talent, so they could only withdraw after learning of the difficulty.
To the youngsters of the Gu Yue clan, the Moonlight Gu was not a simple Gu worm, but the symbol of the clan's glory.
Very quickly thirty-five of them stood in a row. Each of them faced forward, standing ten meters away from a grass puppet on the opposite.
Fang Yuan stood in the middle of the row, but he did not garner any attention. The practice began. The elder had a faint smile as he watched. He saw this scene every year, and was not surprised. The remaining twenty-two students could only stand outside the field, watching jealously.
For a time in the training ground, pale-blue coloured moonblades flew about everywhere.
A few moonblades would fade halfway, a few unluckily crashing into another. Some flew out of the training field, twisting around. Those that were able to hit on the grass puppets were just a small few. Of course these were all due to sheer luck.
The academy elder started to tutor and guide each one personally.
He focused greatly on Fang Zheng, Mo Bei and Chi Cheng and those others with good latent talent. He patiently corrected their postures, teaching them his experience. Towards those C-grade talent students like Fang Yuan, he only mentioned two sentences.
However after a few minutes later, the moonblades that flew about in the air started to thin gradually.
"Damn, every single moonblade takes up 10% of primeval essence."
"The consumption of the moonblade is just too much, I am just a C-grade talent, my aperture can only hold 38% of green copper primeval essence. I can only throw out three moonblades."
Those that stopped all sighed.
The academy elder was calm as he witnessed everything, but his heart sighed, "This is the benefit of those with high cultivating talent. To use the moonblade, it is simply just three words – Practice makes perfect. Those with higher grade talent are able to hold more primeval essence in their apertures, and the rate of recovery is faster, so they have more chances to practice. Those with poorer talent can also use primeval stones to make up for it, strengthening the number of practices. But those with low grade talent and have no primeval stones, though they have the mind to practice they will still be powerless. Sigh, the Gu Master's cultivation process is just so cruel. I had just better take care of those high grade talent students."
The sun had already set.
The sunset glow was still burning in the sky. The mountains far away in the distance were covered in a thick layer of grey ash, gradually turning to black.
In the academy, a day's class was over. The students walked out from the academy in groups of twos and threes.
"I'm really happy today, I learnt quite a few things. Especially how I got to learn how to use the Moonlight Gu."
"The way the moonblade flies in the air looks so cool. It's too bad that my talent isn't enough, so in the future I can only be a logistics Gu Master, I won't be able to go onto the battlefield." The young teenagers happily chatted away.
A few of them called their friends over.
"Let's go and eat, we can drink some rice wine while we're at it, what do you think?"
"Sure, that's not a bad suggestion."
"You guys go on first, I need to go to the store beside the academy's Gu room and buy a grass puppet. It will be easy to practice at home with it."