Keeping Gu is like keeping a mistress

The sun had set.

The evening glow still burned at the horizon, and the distant mountains were covered with a thick layer of gray, gradually transitioning to black.

The day's lessons at the academy were over, and the students walked out in small groups.

"Today was really fun; we learned a lot. Especially mastering the use of the Moonlight Gu."

"Seeing the moon blades flying in the air was so cool. Unfortunately, my aptitude isn't high enough, so I can only become a logistics Gu Master and won't be able to fight on the battlefield," the boys chatted enthusiastically.

Some of them gathered in groups.

"Let's go eat together and have some rice wine, what do you think?"

"Sure, sounds like a great idea."

"You guys go ahead; I need to buy a straw dummy at the shop near the academy's Gu room so I can practice at home."

Fang Yuan walked alone to the Gu room.

The academy's Gu room housed many first-level Gu worms of various kinds, and Fang Yuan's Moonlight Gu had been chosen from there for free.

Periodically, the students had an opportunity to receive a Gu worm for free. If they wanted additional ones, they had to pay.

Fang Yuan had no intention of refining other Gu worms for the time being. He walked to the adjacent shop, a small establishment.

Seven students were inside, haggling with the shopkeeper over the price of straw dummies.

"It's my junior," said a first-level Gu Master in his twenties, who managed the shop. He greeted Fang Yuan while attending to his business.

Fang Yuan was slightly surprised to find that the Gu Master was Jiang Ya, the young Gu Master who had reprimanded the hunter at the inn.

"So, it's senior," Fang Yuan nodded, expressionless.

Jiang Ya handed a straw dummy to a buying student from behind the counter and smiled kindly at Fang Yuan. "Junior, are you also here to buy a straw dummy? Should I save one for you? It's only three primeval stones. They sell fast, and there are only seven left. If you wait, they'll be gone."

He treated commoners with arrogance, but he was very kind to Fang Yuan and the others.

Fang Yuan shook his head, amused: Jiang Ya was quite the businessman. The straw dummy made from the Straw Gu cost only about one and a half primeval stones, including the input of primeval essence.

"Senior, that's not fair. Why should he get priority?"

"Yeah, we were here first. There should be rules in business."

"Three stones it is. Here's the money, give me a dummy."

Hearing that only seven dummies were left, the students in the shop hurriedly stopped bargaining and took out their stones to buy.

Soon, the seven satisfied students left.

"Do you want to buy a straw dummy, junior?" Jiang Ya asked with a smile. "I said they were sold out, but I actually have an eighth one in reserve. If you don't buy it, you'll miss out."

Fang Yuan had no interest in straw dummies. He shook his head, took out a primeval stone, and placed it on the counter. "I'll buy ten moon orchid petals."

Jiang Ya was stunned for a moment and gave Fang Yuan a deep look. He took the stone, opened the drawer, and took out a paper packet. "Ten moon orchid petals, not a single one missing. Check it yourself."

Fang Yuan checked the contents, found them correct, and left the shop.

Gu worms need to be fed.

A Gu Master refines and uses Gu worms and also has to feed them.

Refining Gu is difficult and has the risk of backlash. Using Gu is not easy and requires a lot of practice. The art of feeding Gu is vast and profound because Gu worms come in various forms and their food is extremely diverse.

Some need to consume soil, some starlight, some tears, and others the essence of clouds from the Ninth Heaven.

For example, the three Gu worms Fang Yuan currently possessed: the Moonlight Gu required moon orchid petals, two meals a day, morning and evening, with two petals each meal. The Wine Gu needed wine; a jar of green bamboo wine could sustain it for four days. The Spring Autumn Cicada was even more peculiar; it drank water directly from the River of Time to sustain its life force.

The River of Time supported the operation of the world. It was not far away but flowed close, around everyone.

Every action of living beings needed the propulsion of time.

Time flowed like water, passing swiftly. The River of Time was invisible and colorless, and all living beings lived and existed in its waters.

After buying the moon orchid petals, Fang Yuan went to the inn to purchase green bamboo wine.

The Wine Gu could also drink some turbid wine or rice wine, but such inferior wines required a large amount, several jars a day. Fang Yuan calculated that it was more cost-effective to buy green bamboo wine directly, and it also wouldn't arouse suspicion.

"Master, you're here," the inn's attendant recognized Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan tossed him three primeval stones and said, "Give me a jar of green bamboo wine and some good dishes. Keep the change; we'll settle up at the end of the month."

Although he no longer stayed at the inn and had moved to the academy dormitory, he still ate at the inn whenever he bought wine.

"Sure. Please have a seat, the wine and food will be ready shortly," the attendant said, leading Fang Yuan to a table and diligently wiping it down before leaving.

As the attendant promised, the wine and food were served quickly.

While eating, Fang Yuan calculated his expenses. "One primeval stone buys ten petals. The Moonlight Gu consumes four petals a day. A jar of green bamboo wine costs two primeval stones and sustains the Wine Gu for four days. So, just feeding these two Gu costs nearly a primeval stone daily."

It seemed small, but it was actually quite expensive. A commoner family of three lived on a primeval stone a month.

Since refining the Gu worms, it had been sixteen days. Feeding the Gu worms alone had cost Fang Yuan fourteen and a half primeval stones.

"I found the Flower Wine Inheritance, took a bag of primeval stones from Fang Zheng, and received the first-place reward, bringing my primeval stone total to forty-four and a half. But refining the Gu worms cost six and a half stones, feeding the Gu worms fourteen and a half, and living expenses half a stone. I should have twenty stones left."

Fang Yuan took out his money pouch and opened it. Inside were primeval stones, grayish-white and oval-shaped, the size of duck eggs.

He counted them; indeed, there were only twenty left.

That meant, with no additional income, his remaining primeval stones would only sustain him for half a month. Unlike his peers, who had family and friends to support them, especially students like Gu Yue Mo Bei and Gu Yue Chi Cheng, who never lacked primeval stones, Fang Yuan had to rely on himself.

"My uncle and aunt have cut off my living expenses, but the academy provides a three-stone subsidy every weekend. It seems I should perform well in the moon blade assessment in three days to win that ten-stone reward," Fang Yuan thought as he ate.

At his age, he was in the prime of his growth years. Unconsciously, he had eaten all the food.

Picking up the unopened jar of green bamboo wine, Fang Yuan stepped out of the inn.

"Sir, sir," the inn's attendant called after him, "I have something to tell you. In less than a month, a trade caravan will be coming to the village. As usual, they'll buy up all our green bamboo wine. You particularly favor this wine and come every week to buy a few jars. The shopkeeper asked me to inform you about this. Our stock of green bamboo wine is limited, and once we sell it to the caravan, there won't be much left."

"Is that so?" Fang Yuan frowned slightly at the news.

With five hundred years of experience, Fang Yuan could easily discern between genuine and false words. Though the attendant and the young Gu Master Jiang Ya had similar messages, Fang Yuan could tell that Jiang Ya's words were insincere, whereas the attendant's were truthful.

This posed a problem. Fang Yuan needed to feed the Wine Gu, and in the long term, the amount of green bamboo wine required was substantial. If the inn ran out of stock, he would have to use a large amount of inferior wine to feed the Wine Gu. He couldn't drink several jars of wine a day without arousing suspicion.

After some thought, Fang Yuan took out ten primeval stones. "Then I'll buy five more jars. Help me carry them to the academy dormitory."

"Yes, sir," the attendant quickly took the primeval stones.

Without proper storage methods, moon orchid petals could only be kept for five days, so Fang Yuan only bought one package each time. However, green bamboo wine could be stored for a long time without such issues.

Several attendants followed Fang Yuan to the academy dormitory and placed the wine jars under his bed before taking their leave.

Looking at his suddenly deflated money pouch, Fang Yuan sighed.

Refining Gu was tough, and feeding Gu was no easier.

This was despite his five hundred years of past life experience, which meant he didn't need to practice using Gu worms, thereby saving a significant amount of primeval essence and expense.

Unlike his peers, who needed to practice using the Moonlight Gu, consuming primeval essence to increase proficiency. With high primeval essence consumption and slow recovery, they had to supplement with primeval stones. Even buying a straw dummy cost three primeval stones. All this required money.

"Fortunately, my Spring Autumn Cicada consumes the River of Time instead of other food. Otherwise, I would have gone bankrupt long ago and couldn't support it," Fang Yuan thought, feeling relieved.

The higher the grade of the Gu worm, the more it consumed or the rarer and more expensive its food, making it harder to feed. A second-level ordinary Gu worm's daily consumption could reach one to two primeval stones.

Being able to buy food was considered lucky. Some Gu worm food was so rare that it wasn't available on the market.

The Spring Autumn Cicada's food, the River of Time, was even more precious.

As the saying goes, "An inch of gold can't buy an inch of time."

No matter how much money you had, you couldn't buy time!

Theoretically, there was no limit to the number of Gu worms a Gu Master could refine. If they could refine them, they could have ten, a hundred, or even a thousand. They could refine as many Gu worms as they wanted.

But in reality, a Gu Master typically only had four or five Gu worms.

Why?

The main reason was that they couldn't afford to feed them.

The higher the grade of the Gu worm, the more expensive it was to feed. This often left Gu Masters financially strained and troubled.

Another reason was that they couldn't afford to use them.

Activating the Moonlight Gu to launch a moon blade attack consumed ten percent of one's primeval essence. A C-grade Gu Master could only launch three to four attacks before their primeval essence was depleted.

Feeding many Gu worms without being able to use them would be pointless.

Therefore, there was a saying among Gu Masters.

Feeding Gu worms was like keeping mistresses.

Having a mistress required buying food, clothes, and a house, which was very costly. Keeping too many would be prohibitively expensive for most people.

Even if one could keep that many, a man's energy was limited, and he couldn't fully utilize them. Would they just be kept around for appearances?

As a Gu Master's level increased, the food standards for Gu worms also rose. So, despite the lack of limits on the number of Gu worms a Gu Master could refine, most Gu Masters only kept four or five Gu worms of the same level.

Any more, and the Gu Master would go bankrupt!