A week went by since Bao Zhi and Jin Ju were enrolled in Brilliance Lotus Academy.

Teacher Tao stood before the class to make his announcement:

"Last week you all have learned the very basics so far. Now you know how to inspect your apertures and control your primeval essence. This is the fundamental requirement for you to refine gu worms. The first gu worm a gu master refines will become his vital gu. The vital gu has a special relationship to the gu master..."

The students were listening attentively, they felt the weight of these words. In their hearts the notion of a gu master was high and mighty, they wanted to cultivate and fulfill their desires!

Jin Ju was also paying attention, but he had already known these from Bao Zhi's explanation, he recalled it in his mind.

"It is important to choose the right vital gu as it is troublesome to change it later. The vital gu is easier to elevate in rank because the gu master and the gu worm's life are linked together. Even if the advance refinement fails the gu master would take some of the backlash and the gu worm would not perish."

Teacher Tao came to the end of his talk:

"With all that said, now all of you will have the chance to choose a vital gu for yourself."

Teacher Tao led his class towards a small secluded building on the academy premises.

The students' excitement was spurred, they weren't shown this building when they went around the academy.

"Let me go first! I'm going to choose the strongest gu worm."

"There is no strongest Gu worm in this world, only a Gu worm that is most suitable for oneself." - Bao Zhi thought to himself upon hearing the naive student in front of him.

"I don't know any gu worms, how will I know which ones are good?"

"Wood path, I will definitely choose a wood path gu worm."

Teacher Tao stopped before the inconspicuous small shack:

"Form into a line. You'll go in one by one and choose one gu worm for yourself." - He instructed the students.

The students headed in one by one. It was Jin Ju's turn now.

He went inside, there stood two guards like still statues on each side of a stairway leading down.

Jin Ju headed down and arrived in a cold underground room. His eyes needed a bit of time to adjust to the dimly lit gu storage room.

The walls were lined with rows upon rows of misshapen holes for the many kinds of gu worms they were housing. They were all rank one gu worms. Some were small some were as big as a plate. Most of the gu worms here were of wood path. Wood path was the mainstream cultivation path in this grotto heaven, but one could still find gu of other paths. Fire path was second in popularity due to its good match-up against wood path. But the resources were scarce for fire path, not to mention cultivating wood path was more prestigious in the eyes of people here. Unorthodox paths were mostly used by commoners or demonic gu masters.

Jin Ju went around and studied the gu worms curiously, he recognized a portion of them from his traveling merchant days under Xing Zan, but most of them were beyond his knowledge.

He stopped to look at one of the gu worms closely, his eyes glinted with excitement.

"Oh, this should be it. The description is matching."

He took the gu worm into his palm and inspected it closely.

The gu worm had a flat and oval body, its color was leaf-green with a tinge of grey luster.

"This should be the rank one Carve Wood gu." - He confirmed to himself and put the gu worm away.

Jin Ju emerged from the storage room with steady steps and a satisfied expression, this gu was exactly what his inheritance described. Before this, he was anxious, what if he couldn't find a relevant gu worm? Having a complete inheritance was like standing on the shoulders of giants, using the accumulated wisdom of predecessors. Having or not having an inheritance with gu worms was the difference between day and night later on.

Bao Zhi waited for his turn with a calm expression, over half the class has chosen a gu worm when it was his time to head down to the gu storage room.

He looked over the many rank one gu worms on display one by one. None of them caught his eye.

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"This is to be expected, they wouldn't hand out exceptional or rare gu worms. Whichever gu I choose, I'll have no use of it in the short term without an aperture... I might as well choose something easy to feed." - He thought to himself. He knew he couldn't decline to choose a gu worm, it would be too suspicious, why would anyone not choose a vital gu?

In the end, his choice landed on a common wood path gu worm. He took the gu worm in his palm, to inspect it quickly.

This gu worm was a defensive gu worm. It had a leaf shape with a rugged surface and jagged edges. This was the rank one leaf skin gu.

...

When all the students had their chosen gu worms, teacher Tao told them:

"With your gu worms in hand, you can now start cultivation. Go home and refine your chosen gu. The first one of you to refine his vital gu will receive three weeks' worth of primeval stones. Today's class is now over."

The students were in high spirits, they could not wait to start refining their new gu. They headed home.

* * * * *

Zhao mansion

Zhao Min was lying lazily on his bed. He was rolling an object on his fingers back and forth. He was playing with his gu he got from the academy today.

"What should I do with you?" - He asked the gu worm, not expecting an answer.

Zhao Min already had his cultivation path set for him, he didn't need to rely on the academy. To him, it was mostly a formality to attend the academy. For knowledge and cultivation resources he had the Zhao house to rely on.

As he was locked in his room, ordered by the patriarch himself, he didn't have the mood to refine the gu worm, he continued to play with it. He heard heavy footsteps approaching his door, he quickly put away the gu in his hand.

The door opened and a familiar old man entered.

Zhao Min got up and stretched his arms, he asked mid yawning:

"Grandpa, should you disturb someone who's refining gu?"

"Tsk, I have good news to tell you." - The patriarch dismissed Zhao Min's attitude. He knew his grandson's nature, Zhao Min wasn't cultivating, to begin with, but his good mood couldn't be spoiled just by this.

"Look at this my good grandson!" - Saying so he presented the modified inheritance he was studying for the past week.

"With this and your aptitude, our Zhao family will reclaim our number one spot! So cultivate diligently, and don't slack off. Our family can't bear another useless young master."

Zhao Min sighed, he knew he couldn't put off cultivating endlessly.

"Yes grandfather, I will do as you say." - He took the notes and cupped his fists in respect.

"Good, good. I won't disturb you any further. Make sure you have your vital gu refined soon. Let me know when you are done or have any questions." - With that said the patriarch left and closed the door on Zhao Min.

Zhao Min felt conflicted, he wanted to live a simple life, and he didn't want authority or to compete for resources. Not to mention, be the head of the family.

"Such a bother... But a wise man submits to circumstances. Maybe I really should cultivate. If I have power and authority, wouldn't I be free of these shackles?"

With this newfound motivation, he began to refine his vital gu.

* * * * *

Jin Ju was sitting cross-legged on his mat. He was focusing his attention on his newly acquired Carve Wood gu. He was using his green copper primeval essence to subdue the natural will of the gu worm.

Gu worms were creatures, they naturally had their own will inside them. Refining a gu meant replacing this will with the gu master's own will which was carried by the primeval essence. Of course, the gu worm would try to resist this process as much as it could. If a gu worm was not refined fully it would regain its natural state in a few hours or a day or so. Precisely because the refinement required a steady flow of essence, those with higher aptitude had a natural advantage in refining gu. Why was that the case? Someone with a higher aptitude could hold more primeval essence in their aperture and the rate of replenishment was also related to the aptitude.

This meant that someone with a C grade aptitude would need to use primeval stones to replenish his essence in time before the gu recovered, while an A grade talent could rely on his natural replenishment to win this war of attrition with the gu worm.

Jin Ju had some experience in refining gu, he has practiced it on the green copper relic gu over and over without refining it fully. Now he was already halfway there refining Carve Wood gu.

His only competitors in the class would be the B and A grade talents in refining their vital gu first. But Jin Ju had some practice while the only real A grade talent in the class, Zhao Min had a half-hearted attitude. This way Jin Ju had a good chance of coming in first if he didn't slack off.

At this moment he ran out of primeval essence, only one-tenth was sloshing around at the bottom of his aperture. He opened his eyes and stood up to take a stroll and stretch his sore limbs.

After his short break, he sat back down and took a primeval stone in his hand, and started to absorb it, accelerating the recovery of his primeval essence.

Half an hour later he was back again, assaulting the gu worm, slowly wearing its will down.

By midnight he was already on the cusp of success, only a sliver of the original will was remaining inside the gu but he ran out of essence again. The gu worm recovered some of its control while he rested.

After a short session of refilling his aperture, he continued the process and finished the refinement in the early dawn. He did not sleep at all this night.

"I did it! I refined a gu worm!" - He called out in excitement. This was a major achievement for a gu master, it made him feel proud and warm inside.

"Good work. You worked yourself hard. Your prize of first place will not be undeserved." - Remarked Bao Zhi as he stood in the doorway. He was anticipating this moment as well.

"Do you want some tea? It's strong, it'll help you keep awake."

Jin Ju took the cup of tea, his face was beaming with glee as he gulped the drink down.

...

Back in the academy, the students were baffled. When they went home and started refining, they quickly discovered the difficulty of the task. But precisely because of this, they didn't expect anyone to finish so quickly!

"I heard someone already claimed the prize. Who was it?"

"It should be one of the A grade talents, obviously, Zhao Min or Bao Zhi. My bet is on Zhao Min, he has a huge background so naturally, it is he."

"No, it wasn't either of them. I arrived early so I saw it myself. It was Jin Ju."

"What? How can that be? Are the A grade talents a joke nowadays? Damn, I lost my bet again."

Jin Ju was finding it hard to be the center of attention that day. He was praised for his hardworking nature and good cultivation prospects.

On the other hand, Bao Zhi didn't care to explain himself, how could a B grade overtake him? Thoughts of strangers were just that, thoughts. Simply, why should he care about them?

* * * * *