The blades of the Moon dance

The sky was blue and clear, as if freshly washed.

The sun shone brightly, golden.

Fluffy white clouds floated, and a flock of colorful parakeets chattered, forming an arrow formation under the blue sky and white clouds, flapping their wings and soaring.

These colorful parakeets only appear in large numbers during spring. Their feathers are multicolored, their size is as large as eagles, their heads and beaks are like parrots, and their tails are long like peacock tails.

It had been about ten days since Fang Yuan took first place in the assessment of refining his life Gu.

Spring breezes turned the hills green with grass, wildflowers bloomed in competition, bees and butterflies danced in the air. It was a scene full of vibrant spring life.

The atmosphere of spring was so strong that even the tall bamboo walls around the training ground could not conceal it.

The training ground covered three acres, with a flat ground paved with thick and wide blue-gray stones. Around it, green spear bamboos were transplanted, standing close to each other, straight and tall, forming a circle of green walls.

Although the corners of the walls were also paved with stone bricks, many places had clumps of grass sprouting. Between the bamboos, there were wild roses creeping in from outside, even climbing over the walls.

Fifty-seven fifteen-year-old boys stood in a semicircle on the training ground, watching the academy elder in the center.

This was a class teaching the boys how to use Moonlight Gu.

"Moonlight Gu is the signature Gu worm of our Gu Yue clan, just like the Bear Strength Gu of the Xiong family and the Stream Gu of the Bai family. Most of you here have chosen Moonlight Gu as your life Gu. Watch carefully, as I will demonstrate how to activate Moonlight Gu for an attack. Even those who didn't choose Moonlight Gu should pay attention. This classic long-range attack method can be applied to other Gu worms, making it very versatile."

Saying this, the academy elder extended his right hand, fingers spread, lowering his palm so the boys could see his palm.

"First, use your mind to move the Moonlight Gu to your palm." As he spoke, the crescent moon mark representing the Moonlight Gu moved from his arm to the center of his palm.

"Next, channel the primeval essence from your aperture into the Moonlight Gu." A thread of silver primeval essence flowed from the elder's body, barely visible, into the Moonlight Gu in his palm.

The academy elder was at the third level, and only a third-level Gu Master's primeval essence was silver.

A first-level Gu Master's primeval essence is called bronze, and a second-level's is called iron. Only at the third level does it become silver.

Absorbing the thread of silver primeval essence, the crescent moon mark in the elder's palm became increasingly bright, emitting a bright pale blue light even during the day.

"Amazing!"

"So beautiful." The boys couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

The pale blue light was as clear as water, flickering in the elder's palm, making it seem as if he was holding a handful of moonlight.

The academy elder smiled slightly, "Watch carefully, the final step is to launch it like this."

As he spoke, he slowly closed his fingers, raised his arm, stretched it forward, and then swung his palm gently.

The movement was steady and powerful.

Swish.

The boys heard a faint sound.

With the elder's movement, the pale blue light in his palm was flung out.

The light formed a small crescent moon blade in the air, only the size of a palm, like a crescent moon in the night sky. It flew in a straight line, striking a straw dummy ten meters away.

With a hiss, the crescent moon blade cut through the straw dummy's thirty-centimeter-thick neck, causing the dummy's body to wobble and its large head to fall to the ground.

After cutting through the dummy, the moon blade dimmed. However, it continued to fly for about six more meters before gradually fading and finally disappearing into the air.

The cut on the straw dummy's neck was extremely smooth, as if it had been sliced with the sharpest scythe.

The boys stared in wide-eyed amazement, some instinctively touching their own necks, astonished by the moon blade's power.

After a brief silence, exclamations of admiration erupted. Some boys' eyes shone as they stared at the straw dummy or the elder's palm. Others whispered excitedly.

Only Fang Yuan remained unnoticed in the crowd, his face indifferent, showing no emotion.

In his previous life, he had reached the sixth level, founded the Blood Wing Demon Sect in Zhongzhou, with tens of thousands of followers, and was renowned as a major figure in the demonic path.

The academy elder was only a third-level Gu Master, and such a display was child's play to Fang Yuan, not stirring any emotions in him.

"Now, everyone who has refined the Moonlight Gu, step forward. Each of you will have a straw dummy to practice the moon blade attack as I demonstrated."

As soon as the elder finished speaking, more than thirty boys stepped forward.

In this generation, over a hundred boys participated in the aperture opening ceremony, with fifty-seven having cultivation aptitude. Of these, thirty-five chose Moonlight Gu. After days of effort, they had all refined the Moonlight Gu.

The remaining boys had poor aptitude and couldn't refine the Moonlight Gu, so they had to give up.

To the Gu Yue clan's boys, the Moonlight Gu was not just a Gu worm but a symbol of family honor.

Soon, thirty-seven boys stood in a row. Each had a straw dummy ten meters in front of them.

Fang Yuan stood in the middle of the row, not drawing attention.

Practice began.

The boys extended their right hands, moving the Moonlight Gu to their palms. The blue crescent marks, infused with bronze primeval essence, emitted water-blue light one after another.

However, when they slashed their palms, only seven or eight crescent blades flew out. Some blades disappeared quickly, some flew two or three meters before collapsing into blue light, and some flew far but veered off course, heading skyward.

The boys frowned, realizing that while the elder's demonstration seemed simple, executing it themselves revealed the intricacies. Launching a moon blade and hitting the target was not easy.

The elder watched, smiling slightly; he saw this scene every year and was not surprised.

The remaining twenty-one boys could only stand outside the field, watching enviously.

After five minutes of practice, the boys gradually began to successfully launch moon blades. For a time, the air in the training ground was filled with pale blue moon blades flying everywhere.

Some moon blades dissipated halfway, some unfortunately collided with each other, and some flew out of the field, veering in all directions. Only a few moon blades occasionally hit the straw dummies, and even those were mostly by sheer luck.

The academy elder began individual guidance.

He focused on helping Fang Zheng, Mo Bei, Chi Cheng, and other talented students, patiently correcting their posture mistakes and sharing his own insights. As for students like Fang Yuan, who were of lower aptitude, he only gave brief pointers.

Fang Yuan had been gathering blue light in his hand, making a few air-slashing motions without actually launching the moon blade, just going through the motions. Seeing the chaos around him and noticing no one paying attention to him, he relaxed his control over the Moonlight Gu. His palm slightly tilted, he made a palm-strike motion in the air.

To avoid drawing attention, he did not aim at the straw dummy directly in front of him but instead aimed at one to his left-front.

With a swish, a moon blade swiftly flew out, passing through the chaotic central area, tracing a straight line in the air, and accurately hitting a straw dummy's neck.

The straw dummy trembled, its neck mostly severed by the moon blade. However, the cut green grass stems quickly began to regrow, intertwining and healing the wound.

This straw dummy was, of course, not an ordinary straw dummy but a first-level Straw Gu with slight self-healing capabilities.

Unless the straw dummy was cut into two pieces at once, the wound would heal in a short time.

"Wow, did you see that moon blade!"

"That's impressive. Who launched it?"

Moon blades that hit straw dummies were rare. Fang Yuan's casual strike resulted in the most significant attack effect so far, instantly causing an uproar among the students outside the field.

Even the academy elder's attention was drawn, and he asked, "That moon blade just now was well executed. Was it you who launched it?"

He looked inquiringly at a lower-aptitude student since the straw dummy corresponded to him.

The boy blinked rapidly, looking a bit flustered under the sudden attention from everyone. Honestly, the scene was so chaotic with moon blades flying everywhere that he wasn't sure if it was his blade.

"Well, it seems like it could be," the boy thought, and instinctively nodded.

The surrounding students immediately regarded him with newfound respect.

"Who is he? What's his name?" Some female students began asking around.

"If even he can launch a moon blade, I definitely can't lose!" Gu Yue Mo Bei's eyes flashed with determination.

"So, it wasn't my brother who did it." Gu Yue Fang Zheng inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. After being comforted by his uncle and aunt, he had recovered from the previous blow.

"Brother, you won first place last time because you were lucky and chose a weak-willed Moonlight Gu. A Gu Master's cultivation can't always rely on luck. I will defeat you," Fang Zheng silently encouraged himself.

"Well done, keep working hard, and hold on to that feeling," the academy elder patted the boy on the shoulder, smiling encouragingly.

The boy was instantly excited, nodding repeatedly, his eyes shining with a different light.

Taking this opportunity, the elder announced to everyone: "Listen up, this is your assignment. Practice well outside of class, and I will check your progress in three days. The best performer will be rewarded with ten primeval stones. Did everyone hear that?"

"Oh!" The boys responded loudly, becoming even more excited at the mention of a primeval stone reward.

However, within just three minutes, the moon blades in the air began to dwindle.

"Damn it, each moon blade consumes one-tenth of my primeval essence."

"The moon blade consumes too much. I only have a third-level aptitude, and my aperture can store up to 38% of bronze primeval essence. I can only launch three moon blades in a row."

The boys who stopped practicing sighed in frustration.

The academy elder observed all this without showing any emotion, but he sighed inwardly: "This is the advantage of having a high aptitude. To use the moon blade effectively, it's just a matter of practice. Those with high aptitude have more primeval essence stored in their apertures, and it recovers faster, giving them more practice opportunities. Those with lower aptitude can supplement their practice with primeval stones. But those with low aptitude and no primeval stones, even if they want to practice, lack the resources. Ah, the cultivation of a Gu Master is indeed cruel. I should focus more on the talented students."