The cold wind of Qing Mao Mountain bit into Fang Yuan's skin, but he didn't flinch. He opened his eyes—those deep, pitch-black pupils that seemed to have witnessed the birth and death of stars.
"I am back," he whispered, his voice raspy but calm.
He looked at his small, pale hands. No longer the Sovereign Immortal Body that could swallow the heavens, but the weak, frail body of a fifteen-year-old mortal. However, inside that young skull resided the soul of a Rank 9 Venerable, a Supreme Grandmaster in Refinement Path, and the memories of over a thousand years of slaughter and scheming.
The Scene: The Awakening Ceremony
In the center of the Gu Yue Village, the Academy Elder stood by the muddy pond.
"Next, Fang Yuan!"
The teenagers whispered. Fang Yuan was a famous genius in the village for his poetry and wit. His brother, Fang Zheng, looked at him with a mix of admiration and hidden jealousy.
Fang Yuan walked forward. His expression was as indifferent as a frozen lake. To him, these elders and clan leaders weren't "superiors"—they were mere ants playing in the dirt.
He dipped his hand into the pond. The Hope Gu began to swarm toward him.
Fang Yuan's Internal Monologue:
"My current body has C-grade aptitude. In my previous life, I accepted this fate and struggled for centuries. But now? I am the Grandmaster of Refinement. If the heavens won't give me talent, I will refine the heavens themselves."
Instead of letting the Hope Gu enter his aperture naturally, Fang Yuan used a secret soul-vibration technique: "The Sovereign's Pulse." By vibrating his soul at a specific frequency, he forced the Hope Gu to condense. The pond water began to boil. The light didn't just glow; it turned into a blinding pillar of gold that pierced the clouds.
The Elder screamed: "The light... it's 99%! A Peerless Genius! No... it's even beyond A-grade!"
Fang Yuan withdrew his hand, his face showing no joy. He had manually widened his aperture walls using his soul pressure.
The Night: Refinement from Nothing
That night, Fang Yuan sat alone in his room. He didn't celebrate. He had a small Moonlight Gu in his palm—the standard Gu given to students.
"A Rank 1 Moonlight Gu... pathetic," he sneered.
With his Refinement Path attainments, he didn't need a refinement cauldron. He bit his finger and drew a blood array on his palm. He used a forbidden technique called "Blood-Stained Moon."
In less than ten minutes, the Moonlight Gu shivered and turned a deep, blood-red color. It had jumped from Rank 1 to Rank 2 instantly, fueled by Fang Yuan's sheer willpower and knowledge.
Suddenly, a shadow flickered outside his window. It was a spy sent by his Uncle and Aunt, curious about the "new genius."
Fang Yuan didn't even look up. He flicked a single drop of blood toward the window.
Killer Move: "Silent Crimson Thread."
The blood drop stretched into a needle-thin wire, decapitating the spy so fast that the body stayed standing for three seconds before sliding down.
"Resources," Fang Yuan muttered. "In this life, I won't play the 'good student' game. Tomorrow, I leave for the Bao Fu Mountain. The Bone Flesh Unity Gu is waiting, and I need it to accelerate my growth before Heaven's Will realizes I've cheated the Great Dao."