Fei Cai stepped into his house with an exhausted expression. The whole time— from the beginning of spar until setting up transaction— Fei Cai held the initiative in his own hands using his 'innocent' nature by acting a little crudely. As a ten-year-old, Fei Cai's ability to form excellent deals would be more suspicious than leaving a few trails that could be improved. These trails were explicitly left to lure a particular person. Fei Cai did not doubt that the moment he set up the transaction with Fei Cang Yin, the news would travel fast enough to reach him—
"Come, sit, son."
— this body's blood father, Fei Qing.
"Father."
Fei Cai greeted softly, not even trying to 'hide' his injuries and exhaustion as he slumped in front of his father in a pathetic performance. That, combined with Fei Cai's tender age, instantly softened Fei Qing's expression as he pointed his index towards Fei Cai with a stream of orange glow leaking out and covering Fei Cai's body. "Bear with the ich," Fei Qing stated sternly and already accustomed to his healing gu worm, Fei Cai clenched his jaws and controlled his urge to scratch all his injuries bloody. Gu worms have mystical effects, but usually, they are not omnipotent. Especially healing type gu worms. Since Fei Qing's gu worm was ranked higher than Fei Cai's yellow tongue gu worm, his injuries got better in a few breaths.
"Let your body take care of the rest."
Sensibly, Fei Qing did not restore Fei Cai's body completely as it would affect his future growth, and at this moment, Lo walked in and quickly served the food. Before Lo, it was usual for Fei Qing and Fei Cai to enter the food camp and purchase something for themselves. It tasted better than Lo's cooking, but to Fei Qing, as long as he got enough nutrition even in less delicious meals, it didn't matter. The only time Fei Qing allowed himself to eat lavishly is when he hosts a special guest. Over the dinner, Fei Qing and Fei Cai remained silent.
After the father-son pair concluded the meal, Fei Qing looked at his son with an unnatural gaze and sized him up.
"Son, I heard your... deal with junior Cang Yin. Why did you do that?"
In the Northern Plains, brawn was easy to train and refine. This made many Gu Masters' parents hesitant from interfering. But whenever their child took a step towards the path of using their mind and accumulated the wisdom of life, the elderly felt a profound responsibility to interject and guide. In reality, the same parenting technique was prominent and on Earth, and Fei Cai simply used his understanding regarding parents and used for his benefits.
Hearing Fei Qing's inquiry, Fei Cai finally managed to pull a sheepish grin that he used to show whenever he failed in the tasks assigned by his father.
"Father, I am assigned 50 primeval stones as my monthly stipend. After opening my aperture, I implored to borrow a gu worm with my stipend utilized as interest. This was merely an empty thought that I managed to convey after gathering my courage," Fei Cai began. He had already set a level of wisdom his father could expect from him, and if Fei Cai suddenly devolves, the situation would be too strange in Fei Qing's eyes. Fei Cai had already taken a risk when he suddenly changed his mannerism after opening his aperture. That event allowed Fei Cai to share the blame, and now, each of his actions should contain a similar hint of wisdom. And only in a few extreme cases could he act 'impulsively.'
"My spar with Senior Cang Yin inspired me and pulled this scene from my mind. Senior Cang Yin wants to get stronger. I want to earn more primeval stones. If we both try to interact, can't we both get better mutually?"
Hearing Fei Cai's reasoning, Fei Qing's body trembled, and he closed his eyes.
Overwhelmed!
That is what Fei Qing was.
The concept of mutual benefit Fei Cai 'innocently' tossed in his reasoning allowed Fei Qing to understand that even if his son was a little naive in his reasoning, Fei Qing didn't dare comment or mold Fei Cai's 'nascent' understanding of benefits and losses. Instead, Fei Qing recollected his composure and decided to give his son pointers on his current mistakes, which, to Fei Qing's unawareness, were intentional.
"Your reasoning is correct, little Cai."
Fei Qing stated softly. He then thought for a moment and inquired.
"I heard that you set allowed junior Cang Yin to pay 40 primeval stones to use the gu worm for a session of one hour. Usually, the wolf strength gu worm would take five sessions to be used completely. Now, little Cai, do you know the mistakes you made within this agreement with Cang Yin?"
Fei Qing inquired while Fei Cai frowned and intentionally hesitated.
"M-mistake?"
"Yes. Let me start from the beginning."
Fei Qing crossed his arms and continued, "First, when you lend a gu worm, always gain high collateral. In your case, you could have made Cang Yin pay 180 primeval stones up front and then collect the remaining payments during each session."
Fei Cai nodded. Internally, however, he felt uncomfortable. According to his estimation, taking 160 primeval stones upfront was already a lot. But the next moment, Fei Cai instantly realized that this amount could increase based on his father. In fact, instead of taking only 180 primeval stones, Fei Cai had already hatched another plan, but for this scheme to be successful, he would need to have a proper reputation based on this trade.
"Second, did you ever consider if your gu worm is stolen or destroyed out of ill intentions?"
Gu worms are incredibly fragile. An infant could snap even the gu worms that provided inhumane strength. Thus, the matters of dealing with gu worms are extremely delicate. Fei Cai, of course, knew this. Such basic information is taught to even young Gu Master, but they cannot understand its implications. Fei Cai could. He didn't need to leave such a giant loophole exposed, but for Fei Cai to control the topics of lectures he would have to listen from Fei Qing, the young otherworldly demon let it be. Still, Fei Cai did not reply. Instead, he lowered his head with an anxious expression.
"Little Cai... sigh. Don't worry. It is good that you have committed mistakes in your first transaction. Cang Yin is an honorable Gu Master and would not covet your gu worm. In your next transactions, be sure to learn from these mistakes."
Fei Cai's eyes glowed. What did Fei Qing mean? It was a subtle hint of support. Although Fei Qing felt that this support was something Fei Cai earned, the youth knew better. This feeling of supporting one's offspring is present in most parents. Of course, a father like Fei Qing inherently has a higher standard of expectations from Fei Cai. But this change is a qualitative one. If Fei Cai's contribution to the Tribe by presenting the earth lizard house gu worm could be attributed to fortune, then today's transaction is definitely a product of an incomplete, yet wise mindset.
"Yes, Father!"
Fei Cai spoke a little louder as he felt Fei Qing patting and stroking his head.
***
Fei Cai sat on the crude mattress with his legs crossed and his brows locked in deep meditation. Within his aperture, the jade-green sea of primeval essence turned into a gushing stream that kept infusing with the aperture nurture gu. The spider continuously weaved light blue webs that covered the surface of Fei Cai's aperture and glowed softly. These webs did not disperse even after coming into contact with the green sea and finally covered the entire sphere.
Meanwhile, a thin stream of primeval essence stretched out of the primeval stone in Fei Cai's hand and gradually infused into his aperture, restoring the lost primeval essence. This was a long process, but not willing to stop here, Fei Cai manipulated large waves of the jade-green sea that crashed against the walls of the aperture. The bluish web consumed wisps of primeval essence, but the effect on the aperture was exactly the double!
To gain higher results with the same intensity of cultivation!
Fei Cai's thoughts gradually condensed as he continued to dual-task the process of nurturing his aperture and absorbing the primeval stones. No matter how demanding this task was, once Fei Cai got the hang of it, the probability of failure had long receded to the bottom. His existence wasn't ordinary. As an adult, his thoughts and experience were more complex, and the hurdle of dual-task of primeval essence was conquered with mild training.
But, after gaining one of Thieving Heaven's true inheritance, Fei Cai understood a cruel fact.
Not even a training 100 times more intense than the current one is enough. As a Venerable's entire journal acting like a teacher for Fei Cai, even the multi-task dividing his concentration by more than 10 times could only be considered as an entry-level achievement.
The rank 1 computer gu worm was also the reason why Fei Cai did not feel apprehensions in using the wolf strength gu worm as his source of establishment. The strength path of this world was slightly flawed, and dabbling without enough preparations would severely limit his growth.
Instead, gu worms that can conjure mystical fireballs or water blades were far more effective for a rank 1 junior like himself.
"Huff."
Fei Cai only stopped when his mental burdens reached his tolerance and gazed at the crumbled primeval stone. With all the essence extracted, the powdered stone was extremely dull. Dusting his hands, Fei Cai slowly lay down on the mattress and closed his eyes to sleep. After all, for the next few days, Fei Cai's morning is going to be quite early.
***
As expected, Cang Yin held his part of the agreement. The elder is supposed to meet Fei Cai in the Chieftain's house and used Fei Cai's wolf strength gu for an entire hour.
Wild gu worms are required to be refined by the Gu Master before they can be used. This is to flood the Gu Master's will within the gu worms. Now that the wolf strength gu worm was already under Fei Cai's will, he could potentially lend the gu worm and allow another Gu Master to use the gu only if he wants to. This way, if the other party tried to take advantage of the situation and use the gu worm for a longer time, Fei Cai can stop the process with ease. If he wants to, Fei Cai can also destroy the gu worm within a moment by just 'thinking.'
This reality of gu worms further signified the natural fragility of these precious treasures.
Once Cang Yin used the gu worm for an hour, he left while presenting Fei Cai with 40 primeval stones. Now, Fei Cai had a total of 57 primeval stones after reducing the consumption of the last night's cultivation session.
For the next four days, Fei Cang Yin visited the Chieftain's house daily, and on the fifth, the moment he entered the hunt with his team, he instantly started to ravage the resources with bare hands of his.
The act of mad hunting increased the desire of various gu masters towards strength type gu worms, and with their prices extremely high, they looked towards Fei Cai's direction with countless thoughts.