Making of an Urban Legend

Gu Guangzhi didn't have a welcoming experience into the Xiong clan but he wasn't ostracized like he was ostracized in Gu Yue clan either. With some backing from Yu Wen Zi and Xiong Jin Bo, he made friends with some other gu masters with C grade and D grade aptitudes. The elites in the clan still looked down on him though. Under the guidance of Yu Wen Zi, Gu Guangzhi kept a low profile and concentrated on a wholesome cultivation of gu. The members of Xiong clan gossiped about him from time to time.

…

"Hey, did you hear about the newest external member to our clan? I heard that Yu Wen Zi is treating him like a disciple."

"Yeah. What's with that? I heard that he is only a D grade gu master. Clan resources are limited and if we accept anyone and everyone into the clan, it will only hinder the clan."

"That's true. But I heard he has a water wolf that is strong!"

"Hmm. Let's see. The wolf tide will soon be upon us. Let's see how effective his water wolf will be against a lighting wolf."

…

"Hey, did your team receive your evaluation report for this quarter? Our team did not perform well on a few missions and my team leader put all the blame on me."

"Well, you know how team politics work. Even my team leader is giving high evaluations to the female gu master in the group and reducing the evaluation grades for the rest of us. I wan't to fight for my fair share but he is a member of the Jiao faction. It'll only land me in more trouble to pick a fight with him. I wish I was in a neutral team without any faction members."

"Hah! You mean those weak teams! They are consistently the lowest ranked teams because they are never given good missions. Having a faction member in your team helps. By the way, did you hear about the team in which that new external member joined? I heard that their team got really hard missions one after the other. Maybe all the factions want to punish Gu Guangzhi for something."

"Really? But I don't see their team ranked last. Somehow they must've pulled together in those difficult missions. Gu Guangzhi even got an average rating. With his D grade aperture, getting such a score in his first year is note worthy."

…

"This year's wolf tide seems to be better than the last one. The last tide had three Thunder Crown wolves. This time there seems to only two."

"Yeah. A senior in my team told me that it probably means that the next tide will be much stronger. It comes and goes in waves. Anyways, I need to accrue more battle merits in this tide. I saw a Wolf crown Gu in the exchange list. I want to gift it to Lu Jing. She is trying to cultivate the enslavement path. It will become useful for her to store the enslaved wolves and it looks beautiful on her. With this gift I can finally propose to her."

"Oh man! It seems you're a step too late."

"What! No. Lu Jing and I have been childhood sweethearts forever. I refuse to believe someone can take her away from me."

"Haha. No. I meant that the Wolf crown Gu was already exchanged when I saw this morning. It must've been Gu Guangzhi who took it for his water wolf. It was getting wounded pretty bad in the fight against lightning wolves."

"That D-grade trash overtook me in the race to battle merits. How can that be!"

"I don't know the details but I've seen him fight before. He is pretty good at tactics. His Bamboo fire flower Gu may be useless against other gu masters but those wolves are pretty dumb. He was able to trap them easily. If only he had better aptitude, our clan would grow more."

"Hmph. We, of Xiong blood can't lose to him. Let's go. I want to beat him in battle merits before the tide ends."

…

"Hey! Did you hear? I heard that Gu Guangzhi is now trying to practice refinement? The clan does not want to sponsor him so he is constantly going on dangerous missions to collect rare materials on his own."

"Of course. How can he expect the clan to sponsor an external member like him? Refinement is a costly task in itself. If he were a gu master with a high aptitude, maybe there is a chance for greatness but with his D-grade aptitude how many gu can he refine for the clan?"

"Sigh! I heard that he successfully refined his Rank 1 Beast Skin Gu to Rank 2 Beast hide Gu. That gu gives good defense as well as good concealment among beasts. It is one of the difficult paths to take with Beast Skin Gu. He must've used up all his accumulated wealth in these past few years."

"Hmm. However, I heard that he refined his Mountain bear Innate strength Gu to Rank 2, not the Beast Skin Gu. Even though Mountain bear innate strength Gu is not as strong as a Black Boar Gu or White Boar Gu, improving a strength path gu to rank 2 means that a gu master can draw further strength from that gu. When we draw all the strength we can from a Rank 1 gu, we can no longer gain strength by cultivating with that strength path gu. It seems Gu Guangzhi had become stronger by raising the rank of his Gu. It is a good strategy for a D-grade gu master like him."

"Are you sure? I am pretty sure I heard that he refined Beast Skin Gu to rank 2. Well whatever. It's not like he can become the strongest in Xiong clan. Xiong Li with his Grand Bear Gu is still the strongest in our clan."

…

Gu Guangzhi was busy in his residence, cultivating with his primeval essence. Two years after he joined the Xiong clan. He finally broke into the middle stage of Rank 2.