The soft *pitter* *patter* sound of drizzle over the tents echoed as a bloodied youth slowly made his way into the Fei Tribe. He let the cold rain drench him and wash away his filth. Under the cleansing, the muddied face turned slightly fairer but still gave off a healthy complexion. Rains were rare in Northern Plains. In fact, in some of the smaller regions, no tribe could experience rain. Only in a valley's ecology could the Fei tribe enjoy such moments. The plain-faced gu master with drenched shoulder-length hair finally entered a slightly better tent without any patched holes.
Taking off his wet boots, the Gu Master looked at a small girl sleeping under the warmth of a blanket. She had bushy hair and a cute round face.
'It was just like this when we first met,' Fei Sau recalled with a sad smile. The circumstances were the same. It was raining, the world was dark, Fei Sau was reliving his agony under the rain while poor Fei Jun was sleeping outside of one of the tents, her little body shivering with only a wet blanket on top of her. It was the day when Fei Sau heard the demise of his elder sister and Fei Jun was cast out of by her aunt once the death of Fei Jun's parents was announced.
It was almost instinctual that Fei Sau decided to stop feeling the pain and help the poor soul in front of him regardless of cost. For the first time, his deeply rooted arrogance against female shifted. He lost the most important woman in his life, after all. And the things he regretted was not the loss but how he treated his elder sister despite her accommodating nature. So picking Fei Jun in his arms, Fei Sau returned to his tent and nurses her back to health. They became each other's family.
"Umm, ah, Brother, you have returned..." Fei Jun's soft yawn echoed as she slowly sat up with the blanket still wrapped around her. She drowsily rubbed her eyes while Fei Sau snickered, "Oh, Jun'er. You slept without eating again? You're a woman. When will you learn to cook?" He sighed with mocking grumpiness while using a towel to dry himself. Hearing Fei Sau's words, Fei Jun wriggled in embarrassment.
"Oh," Fei Jun suddenly exclaimed while Fei Sau began changing into a dry tunic, "Brother, a Lord Gu Master helped me today! That smelly Kai came to pull my hair but Lord Fei Cai sent him running!"
Fei Sau's action grew slower. Fei Cai had left a deep impression on Fei Sau. While Fei Sau had continued to work hard and slowly raise his battle strength to the level of rank 2 gu masters before even breaking into the realm, Fei Cai had managed to tame a terror horse with peak rank 1 strength in just a single month of cultivation. Hard work in face of genius talents felt a little short and slighted. Fei Sau didn't care for the fame Fei Cai gathered, but he cared for the completion he might face in the future.
"Tell me everything that happened," Fei Sau sat in front of Fei Jun, his little sister, and stated seriously.
Nodding her head, Fei Jun drafted the entire scenario with wild 'oohs' and 'waahs' as Fei Sau understood the entire situation. Fei Cai might have wished to purchase something from Mad Hong but came to find Fei Jun being bullied and helped her. But helping a mortal girl? Fei Sau's impression of Fei Cai couldn't help but improve drastically. To Fei Sau, it wouldn't have mattered if Fei Cai had assisted someone else but when it came to Fei Jun, Sau cared a lot. She was all he had left, after all.
'Fei Cai... this debt, Fei Sau will carve in his heart!'
---
"When you manipulate your Primeval Essence, the most notable aspect to understand is that our primeval essence's quality is based on our minor realm. When our aperture wall is misty, the primeval essence in each rank is harder to control due to the free-flowing nature of the aperture. At middle-stage, the aperture wall is like flowing water, which reduces the chances of the control getting incorrect. Similarly, at high and peak stage, the aperture wall is more solid and requires even less intention to control Primeval Essence," Fei Yang's voice was extremely soft and soothing as she sat in front of Fei Cai. After Fei Qing had made sure that Fei Yang didn't have demonic intentions, he retreated back into his room while letting Fei Cai learn from Fei Yang.
While Fei Cai's results have been extremely appeasing, his eagerness to learn by approaching Fei Yang had improved Fei Yang's and Fei Qing's moods simultaneously. Fei Yang, obviously, because she wants to get closer to Fei Qing's 'weakness' while Fei Qing, because, he did not want his son to lose such a wonderful opportunity.
"In the refinement process of Lizard Mouth Gu, you usually fail at the fourth step, that is related to the manipulation of Primeval Essence," Fei Yang commented after hearing Fei Cai's 'problems'. In fact, Fei Cai's manipulation ability is the only thing that is advancing rapidly. But since he can easily fake mismanagement in the control, Fei Cai selected the very spots that required impeccable control as his choices of failure so that he could reveal a weakness, which, in fact, wasn't a weakness. And the spots with manipulation had the lowest quality of backlashes, making Fei Cai's situation far better than other refiners.
"I will work on my control," Fei Cai nodded with a grateful expression, while making sure to not overly show a sense of gratitude to keep making Fei Yang remain on her toes and not too comfortable with him. Smiling softly, Fei Yang brushed a lock of her dark hair behind her ear and revealed slightly more of her neck and collarbone. If she wore a buttoned shirt, she might have lost the top button, too, but unfortunately, she couldn't. Her eyes narrowed and her body leaned forward slightly, once again, making Fei Cai aware of her tantalizing scent.
"Is there anything else I can help you with?" She inquired almost as if cooing.
"No, this is all," Fei Cai looked away with a slight change in his expression and that was what Fei Yang needed to see before she left. The moment she walked out of the door, Fei Cai's expression turned impassive once again as he stood up. His body was, of course, attracted to Fei Yang's methods. He got his first erection, today, too. But Fei Cai paid it no heed. Instead of cultivating of using Shrewd Gu, Fei Cai went through his storage and marked every ingredient he had to his mind. He then tried to revise as many ingredients and gu worms from the computer gu for a complete hour before starting a quiz once again. This time, the results were worse. Only 5 correct answers out of a total of 60 questions.
But Fei Cai knew that to truly understand and learn from his mistakes, he would first need to memorize the entire library of the inheritance, which was a monumental task in itself.
Once the quiz was completed, only then did Fei Cai began using his Shrewd Gu and started to calculate as many factors as he can.
---
1 Month Later.
"Haa! Finally, the refinement tasks are completed! I had to go through so many backlashes but... it was all worth it! I have completed my gu worms set! The treasury of our tribe is amazing! Back then, I had a single rank 2 gu worm but the fortunate selection in Elder Fei Chang's team had helped me greatly!"
"Hahaha! Exactly! Those hunters used to laugh at our strength but we managed to surpass them easily!"
"Not to mention, this time, we were exposed to learn many things. That is the greatest treasure!"
"Psst, hey, look. That's Fei Cai!" One of the gu masters grew silent as an innocent-faced young boy walked towards the exit of the valley.
"I heard he has achieved the quotas eleven times! They all call him refining mad youth. Once, I saw him coughing blood but still refining without any stops. In the end, even the veins of his nose popped!"
"That's it? Did you forget the time when a backlash caused his fingers to tear only for him to accidentally use his blood and refining a rank 2 Frenzy Lizard Venom Gu? He even sold it to the merit board after earning permission and gained almost 1200 merit points!"
"Ha! I'd say that Fei Cai has earned the most. His fame! Everybody knows about him now! He's the talented son of Lord Chieftain, after all!"
Fei Cai walked out under the appraising gazes of the tribesmen. His expression was calm and still while he calculated in his heart. The greatest gain for Fei Cai this month wasn't the total savings of 26,071 merit points, neither was it the refinement exposure. It was actually the success in getting used to the Shrewd Gu! Wisdom Path was hard to cultivate and Fei Cai had it harder. He started straight from the Shrewd Gu but now, his thoughts were under his control. Not only that, but he had even memorized slightly over a hundred recipes but he needed to revise them every other day.
The use of merit points came greatly when he needed to feed his gu worms but today, the rocketing increase of his merit points would come to an end. The quotation for Rank 3 Earth Lizard House Gu was finally met and the refinement team was disbanded. However, Fei Chang had the mind to note down a few rare talents and invite them for a small chat, assuring that if such an opportunity ever reveals itself, the group of talented refining masters would be asked first and that is the meeting Fei Cai came out from.
Instead of hurrying to the merit board, Fei Cai returned to the gu house. He needed to freshen up and take a bit of rest. As he continued to walk, within a few moments, he came across a pleasantly smiling Fei Yang. Seeing her, Fei Cai 'had' to smile. "Why are you waiting here, Yang?" Fei Cai inquired. One month was a long time and after determining to play around with Fei Yang, the relationship of the two grew seamlessly. But that was only an external point of view. The more he understood Fei Yang, the more cautious Fei Cai became.
Fei Yang held high ambitions which she accidentally 'spilled' in front of Fei Cai 'carelessly'.
Last week, while teaching Fei Cai, Fei Yang proclaimed how he would grow to be a wonderful gu master, just like his father, and how she wished to have such a man in her life. Of course, the woman then acted and instantly kowtowed, begging Fei Cai to not tell Fei Qing she said such a thing. Ordinarily, Fei Cai would have thought that Fei Yang actually made a mistake. Taking Fei Cai for a child and letting her guard down but after a few moments of consideration did Fei Cai understand what was hidden beneath her actions.
Fei Yang had stopped seducing Fei Cai, the change was noticeable as Fei Yang seemed to truly appreciate Fei Cai. The act of professing her romantic thoughts wasn't to make Fei Cai aware of her interest but to measure him. Fei Yang wished to find if Fei Cai was deeply controlled by his father or not. This was a breakthrough in their relationship that Fei Cai needed. If he showed that he needed to go to Fei Qing every time he was confused, such as the time when his father's slave accidentally professed emotions for him, then Fei Yang would try a different approach.
However, Fei Cai earned slight respect from the mature gu master enslaved by keeping her actions a secret from his father. This was a handle that Fei Cai needed. Now, Fei Yang had started to teach some important things to Fei Cai every odd day. However, she kept many of her tribe's secret closely guarded but it was only a matter of time before Fei Cai would be able to excavate them, too.
"I appreciate walking with my master's son home. And with the refinement team's task completed, I would be stuck into the gu house so I wished to enjoy spending time with the genius of the tribe," she stated in a jesting tone.
A few rank 1 gu masters would nod towards Fei Cai whenever he passed them. Seeing this, Fei Yang's smile broadened as they both returned to the gu house. Once they returned, Fei Yang bowed to Fei Qing and retreated while the large man looked at Fei Cai fondly.
"If I were your age, I would have hurried to merit board and exchanged rare gu worms. It is good that you returned instead. Go on. Rest. I have something to discuss with you."
Fei Cai nodded and hurried on. Taking a bath and then falling asleep for almost three hours before waking up, night already descending as Fei Cai met the strange expression of Fei Qing.
"Sigh, you must be more tired than I anticipated. Still, a fresh mind is better to digest information than a haggard one. Sit, I have much to tell you."
As Fei Cai sat down in front of Fei Qing, released a gu worm. Fei Cai knew this one. The silent domain gu worm. Next, Fei Qing revealed a small gu worm with the aura of rank 1 revealed. Holding Fei Cai's hand, Fei Qing placed the gu worm in his palm and allowed Fei Cai to activate the gu worm.
"Good. This is a rare rank 1 gu worm. Pair talk gu. The true form of gu worm is 2 different bodies and can only be used once the two parts are in different gu masters. Using a bit of primeval essence, we can talk and our voices would reach in the other's mind."
Fei Cai expressed his surprise and used the gu worm. "Father, what do you want to tell me?"
"I want to reveal the origin of our Fei Tribe. We weren't always such a simple tribe. In fact, hundreds of years back, we were once a super-force of the Northern Plains. You are too young to understand the implications of being a super-force but there are other things you need to know. Father has tried everything but aside from Bai Tribe, none will ally themselves with us. So, we have to grow stronger at a quicker pace. Traditions cannot follow the trend and I want you to be able to survive the war because it might be Fei Tribe's last."
Fei Cai's eyes widened slightly as he listened intently.
"Cai'er, I will now bestow you a the first half of my inheritance. This is a test for you. This inheritance has gu worms and gu recipes but you have to be able to pass a condition before I reveal you the second and final portion of the inheritance."
At Fei Cai's nod, Fei Qing revealed a book gu worm. Taking it from Fei Qing's outstretched arm, Fei Cai used the gu worm and in fact, refined it for his own use once Fei Qing permitted him. Within the book gu worm, Fei Cai found several gu recipes of soul path, wisdom path, and enslavement path. Most of them only reached as far as rank 3 but in the end, the condition of the inheritance was to enslave a beast group within the next three months. In fact, the beast group needed to have a total of 10,000 beasts!
Unable to finally hide his shock, Fei Cai looked towards Fei Qing, waiting for an explanation. After all, this was an extreme move from the usually stable Chieftain of the tribe.
"Son, sigh, I wish I could tell you more. If you pass the condition, I will also tell you the origin of the Fei Tribe and what lies beyond. Now, I will give you the gu worms I received when I first inherited these recipes."
Saying this, Fei Qing waved his finger as two green copper relic gu, five rank 1 horse enslavement gu, two rank 2 horse enslavement gu, one rank 1 galloping thought gu, and one rank 1 soul mist gu appeared. Fei Cai now felt numb from shock. Looking at Fei Qing's encouraging expression, Fei Cai soon refined all these gu worms and left the house in the dark, stating that he still needed to clear his thoughts and check on the merit board.
---
Once Fei Cai left, Fei Qing leaned back against the leathery wall of the lizard house gu, heaving a deep sigh while the voice within his head belonging to Horse Monk encouraged his disciple. "You did well, Qing. It took me three weeks to deduce that Ma Tribe has the support of equally monstrous existence as other super-forces. The debt of you killing the young clan leader's father at your youth might even implicate your son. But you cannot squander the inheritance. Giving this harsh test was the best method. Your son is a talent in refining gu worms but enslavement path demands a different form of talent."
"Also, I have hope for your son. For such a young age to endure so many backlashes but still refine with a tough will, hehe, he has far more demonic qualities than my original body's at his age!"
"I understand," Fei Qing whispered while his lips twitched, "Looking in the face of death countless times, I have lost my fright but my son... I want him to live and explore the world. If Fei Tribe does not survive, I still want Cai'er to be able to see and experience the mysteries of the gu world. The elders do not know that Ma Tribe will not take gu master slaves but..." Fei Qing sighed again.
"On that note," Horse Monk stated somberly, "My will has shrunk past my original body's bottom line. I cannot deduce the mole hidden in your tribe. You'll have to deduce all of it yourself."
"I understand," Fei Qing's gaze glimmered cruelly. Tonight, he will take the final step but he has to keep it as a trump card to surprise the demonic Ma Tribe and the mole hidden within the tribe!
***
A/N: The fact about Fei Tribe being a super force is not made up but real. In the raws, it is revealed but I won't spoil much.