001. Escaping into a Cave, Coincidentally Opening the Aperture; Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Appears in the Spring
"Am I going to die here? No... I can't die here! Since Heaven brought me to this world, how can I resign myself to dying like this, devoured by a wild boar!"
A youth dressed as a hunter desperately dodged and weaved through the purple woods. More than twenty steps behind him, a wild boar madly pursued, letting out furious roars from time to time.
Fortunately, one of the boar's legs seemed heavily injured, slowing it down and making it poor at turning, so it hadn't caught the youth yet. However, if this continued, the youth would inevitably be caught due to exhaustion.
Perhaps fate decreed the youth should not die. During his hurried escape, he stumbled and unexpectedly discovered a cave entrance less than half a person tall. The entrance was covered in weeds, clearly uninhabited by beasts. The youth used all his remaining strength to squeeze inside.
The wild boar caught up, but the entrance was too small for it. Helpless, it could only roar furiously outside the cave.
"Safe for now!" The youth sighed in relief. His name was Qitian, the adopted son of a hunter from the village below the mountain, relying on his father for survival.
He had another identity: he came from Earth, a transmigrator, a so-called Otherworldly Demon. He had already discovered that this world was the one depicted in the novel "Reverend Insanity". He knew deeply that in this dog-eat-dog world, only strength mattered most.
He had shown early intelligence as a child. At the age of twelve, he gained his father's consent to accompany him on hunts, and three years had passed since then.
Not long ago, his father sacrificed himself during a hunt. Qitian, needing to survive, hunted alone. Unfortunately, this time, the trap was broken free by the mountain boar; he almost died trying to protect himself.
"It seems in this world, without becoming a Gu Master, one is forever an ant, unable to even protect family. Although I've gained much survival experience these past three years and become quite agile, I still lack any real self-preservation strength!"
Increasing his self-preservation ability was precisely why he started hunting with his father early on, showing precocious intelligence to gain his father's approval. Although young and lacking strength, he was quite agile and innovative in setting traps.
"Looks like I need to become a Gu Master soon. I'm already fifteen; children in the clan villages can already undergo the Awakening Ceremony. But being born in a village, I don't have that opportunity."
"Bang, bang, bang..." The sound of the wild boar ramming the cave entrance made Qitian, who had just relaxed, tense up again. He instinctively crouched and moved deeper into the cave. After about a hundred steps, he reached the end. As Qitian leaned against the stone wall to rest, unexpectedly, the wall moved.
Qitian then realized he had accidentally triggered a mechanism. Perhaps there was a Gu Master inheritance inside! At this thought, Qitian's heart couldn't help but race.
Stepping through the stone door, the space opened up dramatically. Seeing the scene inside, Qitian was instantly thrilled. It was actually a primeval spring! Around the spring was a patch of flowers, and among the flowers, points of light occasionally flew about... These were Hope Gu!
Excitedly, Qitian walked towards the primeval spring. He immediately felt an invisible resistance and pushed forward against it.
One step, two steps, three steps...
With each step, more Hope Gu flew out, entering his body and joining the ball of light within him. The light cluster grew larger and brighter.
"Forty-one, forty-two... forty-six," Qitian silently counted in his mind. Upon reaching the forty-fifth step, he seemed to hear a loud 'boom'. The light cluster between his kidneys in his abdomen, having accumulated to its limit, suddenly exploded violently.
Instantly, his entire body broke out in a light sweat.
Qitian came back to his senses. Secretly focusing his mind inward, he discovered that below his navel, between his two kidneys, an aperture had appeared out of thin air.
Aperture opening successful!
"Below ten steps means no cultivation aptitude. Between ten and twenty steps is D grade aptitude. Between twenty and thirty steps is C grade aptitude. Between thirty and forty is B grade aptitude. Between forty and fifty is A grade. And I... am precisely A grade aptitude!"
"It seems my luck isn't bad, opening an A grade aperture as an ordinary mortal."
The entire aperture was spherical. White light flowed across its surface – a light membrane. This was the layer of light formed from the explosion and condensation of the previous Hope Gu.
Within the aperture, naturally, was the primeval sea.
The sea's surface was smooth as a mirror, a rich turquoise green, yet incredibly dense, carrying the luster of copper.
Green copper primeval sea filled up to ninety percent; this was the advantage of A grade aptitude.
The aperture was open. Qitian had formally stepped into the ranks of Rank 1 Gu Masters.
Qitian, now a Gu Master, was in high spirits and began to examine the primeval spring.
He saw a crystal wall.
Behind the crystal wall, there was water.
Within the water, streams of greyish-white currents spiraled, rotating independently, like miniature tornadoes, constantly appearing and disappearing, endlessly regenerating.
Immediately after, he noticed something else within the primeval spring behind the crystal wall. A blue and white flower bud floated leisurely in the spring water.
"This... This is actually the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus!" Qitian's heart trembled!
Looking through the crystal wall now, observing carefully, he discovered that this flower bud actually only had eight and a half lotus leaves. One leaf was damaged, with only half remaining, falling short of the complete nine-leaf state. This was nearly identical to what Fang Yuan saw in the Flower Wine Monk's inheritance. It was only because he had read the novel "Reverend Insanity" that Qitian could recognize it.
"Could it be that a senior possessed the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus Gu recipe, discovered this primeval spring, and used it as a material to refine the Lotus, but failed to complete it due to some accident?"
"The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus must have nine lotus leaves before it can be picked. With only eight and a half now, if I want to harvest it, I must throw primeval stones into this spring!"
"According to Fang Yuan's experience in the book, this half-leaf probably requires over fifty thousand primeval stones. How could I possibly gather that many primeval stones?!"
"Huh...?"
Qitian suddenly caught sight of a small mountain-like pile of primeval stones beside the spring, numbering at least a million.
Although the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus condensed most of the primeval spring's essence, the spring still produced primeval stones. Because of this, its foundation was continuously consumed, dwindling over time. Consequently, the Treasure Lotus gradually reversed this, supplementing the spring's consumption. Suffering losses itself, it ended up with a damaged leaf.
Thinking this, Qitian stopped dwelling on these thoughts. He began tossing primeval stones towards the crystal wall. The wall seemed nonexistent as the stones passed through it, quickly sinking into the spring water and hitting the illusory image of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus.
The blue and white flower bud of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus instantly rippled like water. Almost instantaneously, that primeval stone was absorbed by the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus.
He continued tossing in primeval stones one after another. Vortices in the primeval spring rose and fell. The lotus flower, like an illusion, flickered in and out of existence within the spring. As stones were continuously added, the form of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus became clearer and clearer.
By the time fifty thousand stones were used, the ninth leaf was complete.
"Unfortunately, I am only Rank 1 now, unable to refine this Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus."
Just then.
The complete Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus floated out from behind the crystal wall. Puzzled, Qitian didn't overthink it. Grasping one end of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, he expelled primeval essence, attempting to refine it. Unexpectedly, the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus offered no resistance and was directly refined.
Just as Qitian was about to complain about how unscientific this was, a voice abruptly echoed within the cave, startling him.
"I am the Talented Scholar of Many Gu. I usually enjoy refining Gu. I coincidentally obtained the Heavenly Essence Gu recipe and saw that this cave contained a natural primeval spring, wishing to refine it here. Unexpectedly, the cave's original owner, a Mountain Drilling Mouse, returned from hunting. We fought. I killed it, but suffered heavy injuries and my life is short. The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus remains unfinished. I am unreconciled."
...
"Successor, since you were able to come here and complete the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, it proves you have an affinity with me. You may receive my inheritance. My remnant will shall assist you in refining the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus. I hope you will make good use of it."
After repeating three times, the light wall shattered, revealing a human corpse and a rat corpse. Nestled in the human corpse's embrace was a journal containing insights on cultivation and Gu refinement.
"It seems this is the inheritance of a Rank 4 Gu Master. The assets of a Gu refinement quasi-master should be considerable. I wonder what Gu worms he left hidden underground in the Earth Treasury Flower Gu."
Inheritance (Yí Cáng), is different from a Heritage (Chuán Chéng).
An inheritance refers to the things left behind when a Gu Master dies. The discoverer often obtains everything on the corpse at once.
A Heritage, on the other hand, is set up by a Gu Master before death—perhaps because they don't want their school to die out, wish to benefit future generations, want to leave a final mark on the world, or for other reasons. They actively set up trials to test successors. If a successor can pass these tests, they can obtain various benefits. The person who passes the final test signifies that he (or she) has received the complete heritage.
In comparison, although an inheritance is easier to obtain, its value is generally less than that of a heritage, especially for a newcomer like Qitian who lacks cultivation experience.