What followed next in Fei Cai's life was a regular session of cultivation with Fei Qing. The man had explained that all the guidance he would impart about the gu paths of the world was supposed to be their bonding moment after he successfully broke into Rank 2 cultivation. But Fei Cai had shocked and raised his standing at a quick and reasonable pace that did not make Fei Qing uncomfortable. Geniuses were rare but still very real existences and Fei Cai had used his mature mentality and risk-taking nature to achieve the title. His acting skills and thick hide covering his cheeks came in hand too, he admitted.
While Fei Cai had olden knowledge in his palms, he listened closely to his father's words. "Gu is the essence of the world. The more we cultivate gu, the more we realize the profundities hidden within the world. But, each gu worm has its origin. We gu masters collectively call certain types of gu worms belonging to a single path. For instance, I cultivate the Enslavement Path. My gu worms are refined to enslave beasts and humans alike. I shan't delve further into this topic because you do not need to choose a path. It is your chance to experience the mysteries of the world and then set yourself down the path. However, you need to understand the difference between a real gu expert and a novice."
Sighing, Fei Qing whispered, "A real gu expert is a master in his path. In Northern Plains, there are enslavement paths gu masters better than me because they have refined their craft to a great degree. The actions I find trouble with are something these experts can achieve with a snap of their fingers. So, Cai'er, you need to remember that being a Chieftain of a tribe is never the end goal. There is always someone better than us and we have to strive for constant improvement."
Fei Cai nodded silently. It's been three days since the trials and he had recovered from his injuries quite a bit. Seeing his son's expression, Fei Qing smiled, "Did you buy the materials to refine a rank 1 enslavement gu?" Fei Cai nodded and replied with a cautious expression, "Father, I understand that a recipe is extremely important to a gu master. So, I have purchased a few irrelevant gu materials and made Lo collect a few others from outside the tribe. This way, I can still hide the Enslavement gu from prying eyes."
"Good, good!" Fei Qing exclaimed but soon reigned his emotions. He couldn't let his joy corrupt Fei Cai's train of thought. Still, Fei Qing couldn't help but feel proud of his son. If he could, he would reward his son with a green copper relic gu to raise his cultivation instantly but he knew that such an action would destroy Fei Cai's future. Cultivation is not only to cultivate primeval essence but also one's character and Fei Cai, with his genius, was destined to be great only if he had the character and mentality of being one.
"Now, off you go. The refinement techniques in the recipe are common but if you find any troubles, look for Fei Yang. She ought to return soon," Fei Qing said while sitting up. Once Fei Qing left Fei Cai's room, the young boy sighed. He was out of primeval stones and couldn't refine a gu worm even if he wished. To refine a rank 1 enslavement gu, he needed 70 primeval stones. That was the minimum requirement with 100 stones being enough to assure an almost 40% success rate if every other technique was used to a satisfactory level. But, Fei Cai planned to refine a gu worm still. He had specifically purchased other materials to refine a gu different from Enslavement Gu and made Lo travel into the dangerous wilderness to find a few common materials.
It was time that he finally made the best use of Instinct Gu which was in surplus. And after enjoying the sudden inspiration from instinct gu, a method of wisdom path, in reality, Fei Cai realized why the Demon Venerable focused on the Wisdom path in the first place. Suddenly, Fei Cai's thin physique shivered and he held his forehead. His head would ache on a few occasions after enslaving the terror horse. After consultation with Fei Qing, Fei Cai realized that this was a side-effect that affected a gu master's soul. Unable to understand, Fei Cai sought after more knowledge and realized that the soul path was invented after Thieving Heaven's time, which created a distinct gap in the knowledge factor for Fei Cai once again.
'If Fei Qing is correct, the irritation of enslaving the first beast would wear off from the soul after the first week. In the future, if I need to cultivate a few slaves, I would also need to refine or purchase soul path gu worms. What a troublesome situation. So many gu paths to cultivate, so many opportunities to find, and only a single person to achieve them.'
Thieving Heaven, though invincible in his time, wasn't omnipotent. He couldn't have predicted the rise of soul path found by the next demon venerable— Spectral Soul Demon Venerable! In terms of strength, theoretically, both the venerables should be equal but unlike the soul path which was used by many gu masters, Fei Cai was informed after a casual inquiry that Theft Path was quite mysterious. Public methods to the path still weren't known to this day!
After a moment of headache, Fei Cai closed his eyes and regained his bearings before mobilizing his primeval essence and pulling out three instinct gu worms. Back then, Fei Cai had decided to refine, or at least, try to refine a rank 2 Flare Instinct Gu worm. Unlike Rank 1 version, the Flare Instinct Gu would also affect his body passively and enforce his reflexive action but the wisdom path methods would vanish from this route of gu worm. This version utilized only two instinct gu worms and no extra resources.
Meanwhile, Rank 2 Shrewd Gu worm changed the very nature of its materials. Now understanding the 'feel' of Wisdom Path methods, Fei Cai leaned towards refining the rank 2 Shrewd Gu Worm which would make Fei Cai more concise in his actions and he would also be able to become aware of plots directed towards him. While this wasn't the case at the moment, Fei Cai could use the gu worm to figure out various methods to increase his gains without overtly alerting Fei Qing.
His mind set, Fei Cai took to the task. A middle-stage rank 1 Gu Master refining a rank 2 gu worm was a harsh task but Fei Cai hadn't failed in any gu refinement until now and he had his confidence built due to the series of achievements.
Manipulating the three gu worms, Fei Cai slowly made them move in a round shape in front of him while injecting more primeval essence to create a thin layer of primeval essence in the circular region marked by the gu worms. Next, Cai began to carefully toss the gu materials needed for refinement within that film of primeval essence acting as a refining agent for the process. In between, many times, Fei Cai had to prepare the materials using his primeval essence and this required a high control of primeval essence, which he could barely cover at the cost of exhausting himself thoroughly, making him realize the long-lasting benefit of getting better control of primeval essence.
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"Did you hear? Fei Cai finally left the tribe to hunt again. It is said that the Chieftain rewarded him with a horse enslavement gu worm to take control of the horse he tamed. Not only that, he succeeded on his first try! We all know how hard it is to enslave a terror horse!"
"Is that it? Didn't you see Fei Cai's slave collecting refining materials? Not only that, Fei Cai frequented within the treasury tent, too. He might not have ousted Fei Sau but Fei Cai has become a rising star!"
"I just saw that terror horse up close. Sigh, I hunted with Fei Lu yesterday and she told me the entire story. Fei Cai activated his beast strength and struck at a critical point but instead of killing the beast, he proclaimed that he would tame it! Do you know what he did if the Terror Horse wouldn't obey? Kick the damn beast in the balls! The horse squealed and writhed in pain but only submitted after the seventh kick! According to Fei Lu, the beast was already bleeding down there but I looked at their group from far and found it perfectly healthy. Surely, Lord Chieftain has mysterious methods."
Now saddled and properly equipped, Fei Cao could be seen outside the tribe with his Terror Horse. The injuries caused to the horse were healed just enough and similar to Fei Cai, the horse was going through a period of weakness. The effect of enslavement gu allowed Fei Cai to easily will the horse to commit to his commands. Honestly, Fei Cai felt exhilarating and the feeling was much more pronounced than having Lo as his slave. Not only did the horse have a rank 1 battle strength, but it was also an experienced member of the herd. Fortunately, it wasn't as experienced as enduring the good ol' kick to the balls but Fei Cai enjoyed riding the horseback slowly with Lo following behind. From a higher viewpoint, Fei Cai knocked his bow with a reinforced arrow, attacking yet another lucky python and made Lo retrieve the game and the arrow once again.
While Fei Cai's situation might look appeasing and envious, even without the newly refined rank 2 gu worm fixed within his brain, the youth could understand that he had entered into a period of stagnation. He did not have Primeval stones to continue his fast pace of cultivation. There were 3-4 ways to acquire large amounts of primeval stones once again. First, to sell a gu worm by stating he found it in the wilds, which would now be plausible due to the impending tribulation and shift in nature. The other method was to hunt regularly and accumulate primeval stones while netting it out with the feeding cost of the gu worms which had already reached an atrocious 20 primeval stones a week. The next one was unorthodox and would disrupt Fei Cai's reputation. To lend gu worm again but this time, it would be the aperture nurture gu. However, Fei Cai did not entertain this choice too much. The last option was to strike an enemy gu master found deeper into the forest but again, Fei Cai did not play with this thought too much.
Sending a sliver of primeval essence to the rank 2 Shrewd Gu, Fei Cai coughed in exhaustion once again. Wisdom Path and Enslavement Path were complicated gu paths that required countless support gu. Just as the first enslavement caused side-effects to Fei Cai's soul, the use of Shrewd Gu without proper supporting gu worms to stabilize his mind, Fei Cai would feel his strength sap temporarily.
The wisdom path was divided into three sections— Thought, Will, and Emotion. Thoughts are created by a human being which clashes against each other to form a decision. In the Gu world, this process was quite literal while using gu worms. Fei Cai needed to personally utilize gu worms related to will and emotion before he could understand them but the use of Shrewd Gu, Fei Cai mastered it to some extent due to his mature mental mindset.
The shrewd gu will process the current ongoing thoughts. Lacking a thought gu worm, Fei Cai couldn't store his thoughts for later use and needed to use the rank 2 gu worm whenever he felt like being a few steps away from the inspiration. The thoughts regarding the primeval stones trouble clashed again, giving rise to new, mutated thoughts that may gain the advantages of the previous paths or turn out to be worse than before.
After a few minutes, Fei Cai sighed silently. He still didn't gain much from the use of gu but that wasn't the gu worm's problem. It was Fei Cai's situation. He knew little about the tribe and only knew Fei Qing's nature and emotions regarding him. But what about others in the tribe? What effects would his actions bring? How could he possibly know all of this if he didn't know about the concerned Gu Masters in the first place?
Gu worms were tools for Gu Masters. Even the famed Wisdom Path Gu Masters needed to work hard and gain more experience to predict a person's heart based on their actions and for Fei Cai, that troublesome road had just begun.