Lesson
'Goodbye Wang Cheng you could have been a pebble on my shoes.' Wang Wei inwardly said his farewells while imagining the possible scenarios.
'A shame I keep relying on luck. I should avoid it as much as possible.' Wang Wei once again thought of Han Li. He was smarter than Ma Hong Yun, but he kept relying on luck and eventually bit more than he could chew. 'Me a rank 1, giving an excuse to the rank 5 clan leader to investigate the Wang Clan by killing a B-grade talent. That's biting more than I can chew right?'
Wang Wei moved his arms and hands, ready to twist and break Wang Cheng's neck, before stopping himself.
'Oh, what an idiot. Breaking the neck doesn't cause an instant death Wang Hao or someone with a decent healing Gu worm can save him.' Wang Wei thanked the mortal doctors he killed while wrapping his arms around Wang Cheng and grabbing the back of his head with his right hand in an iron-like grip and bending his knees lowering himself like a crouching tiger.
'I need to kill more acrobats, their skills always come in handy.' Wang Wei made a mental note before pouncing forward wielding Wang Cheng with both hands like a spear aiming for the edge of the 10th step that wouldn't be too suspicious.
Crack!
A bam resounded on the stairs followed by a loud sound of a cracking bone.
The blow not only contained the weight of both Wang Wei and Wang Cheng, the former put his whole strength slamming the latter's left side of the skull onto the sharp stone edge of the step.
Unsurprisingly Wang Cheng's skull cracked open painting the step red, pink, and white with blood, brains, and bones.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
Both youngsters kept falling down the stairs, with Wang Wei twisting his body like a cat with each hit, lightening his damage while using Wang Cheng as his meat shield and ax, viciously slamming him on the stairs.
Bam!
Both youngsters reached the end of the stone stairs with one last hit they fell on the hard stone floor covered by a colorful carpet providing little protection to Wang Cheng's mangled corpse.
Crack!
After using Wang Cheng as a cushion for the last time Wang Wei let go rolling for a few moments before stopping leaving a trail of blood behind.
'Just what was Wang Hao thinking when making the stairs?" Wang Wei remained sprawled on the ground looking at the long stairs that had more than 100 steps.
'Not that I'm complaining, it's perfect for accidents like these... Hmm, Wang Ming, I knew there was a reason for your passiveness, but I never expected you to plan such a risky move.' Wang Wei went through the information he got from Wang Cheng.
'Being a rank 3 elder wasn't enough for you to think during your travels with the clan's caravan you managed to find a rank 5 blood path inheritance possessing a method to allow a rank 3 peak stage Gu master to advance to rank 4 using a blood relative with rank 4 peak stage cultivation… isn't it too convenient?'
Wang Wei started questioning what he just learned. 'Why would he tell this to Wang Cheng and risk being exposed? How did Wang Ming, a middle stage d grade rank 3 get the inheritance of a rank 5 demonic cultivator?'
Countless questions passed through Wang Wei's mind. He even suspected heaven's will being involved or the thing that brought him to the Gu world, the blue transparent screen that remained in front of him, hindering his vision.
Step
Step
Wang Wei put his thoughts on the back of his mind when he heard light steps coming from above.
Wang Wei looked up, noticing Wang Hao looking down at them with his opium pipe still in hand. He looked small about 3 feet from so far away.
Swoosh
Wang Hao activated a Gu worm, winds raised him from the air and slowly carried him down as if he had all the time in the world despite seeing his great grandsons covered in blood wounds and bones sticking out of their bodies.
Huff
Wang Hao exhaled a cloud of smoke before landing softly in front of Wang Wei.
"I'm disappointed. I thought you'll think of a better scheme to kill Wang Cheng." Wang Hao said before activating Healing Winds Gu and continuing.
"Even if this really was an accident, it can still be used by higher-ups as an excuse to execute you or, at the very least, spread rumors that will affect your reputation."
Wang Hao advised while taking out Blade Aptitude Gu, a small stone with a rusty sword stuck on it.
"It might not have been the ideal way, but it's the fastest way. You still have much time left to improve." Wang Hao extended his hand offering Blade Aptitude Gu.
"I still have much to learn." Wang Wei nodded, taking Blade Aptitude Gu and refining it in a few seconds with Wang Hao's will cooperating.
Wang Wei placed it inside his aperture and activated it as soon as it entered.
"Sigh, you are too impatient, but I respect your lack of hesitation." Wang Hao quickly gave Wang Wei a primeval stone and once again explained how to absorb it.
Swoosh
The sword pulled out of the stone on its own and traveled up 20 percent, which the aperture lacked. Then it turned 90 degrees and evenly cut, tracing a line across the aperture sphere shape until even its handle was dissolved.
The stone that previously hosted the sword fell and sank on the bottom dissolving in the primeval essence and causing the primeval essence to violently swirl around as if it was being drained but instead was pushed upwards the line marked by the sword greedy drank the leftover 25 percent middle stage essence of Wang Wei and began devouring the new primeval essence supplied by the primeval stone.
After a minute, it was done, and the aperture was filled up to 79 percent, 20 percent more than previously.
Wang Wei put back Soul Blade Gu and liquor worm in his aperture and looked at the remaining primeval stone in his hand a round pebble the size of a grape still containing 2 percent primeval essence.
"Never rush things before fully understanding them." Wang Hao warned Wang Wei while explaining and inspecting his aperture, confirming it had increased by 20 percent.
"Blade Aptitude Gu consumes your current full primeval sea to raise your aptitude by 20 percent. The process can damage your Gu or even kill them. If there's primeval essence lacking you would have wasted Blade Aptitude Gu for nothing. Thankfully it could be solved quickly." Wang Hao took a puff of his pipe calming his nerves before adding. "If you had wasted Blade Aptitude Gu I might have killed you in a fit of rage."
'Then why didn't you say how it worked?' Wang Wei inwardly thought while remaining silent waiting for Wang Hao to continue.
Huff
"What are you waiting for? Claim your spoils or did they die in the fall?" Wang Hao asked before sending winds to take a small box from Wang Cheng's robe and bring it to him.
"Go to your room and get ready for the academy. I'll handle this. " Wang Hao handed Wang Wei the box before adding. "I'll go with your plan of a stairs accident. You'll have to handle the consequences of your impatient decision. The hate of Wang Ming for starters."
"If I steal his Gu Worms I'm sure my explanation wouldn't work." Wang Wei extended his arm offering the box back to Wang Hao.
It wasn't that he didn't want them, but if they were missing, people would suspect.
'Even if Wang Hao says he took them back, I'll need to purchase their food. It will be obvious I have them, and selling them is out of the question. The merchants aren't reliable. They'll sell me out if it benefits them with more reason. If their necks are at risk of being cut.' Wang Wei thought of the risks in a second.
"Good, you can still think under pressure." Wang Hao took the box before adding. "But you must remember there are no absolutes. Instead of taking it or leaving it, you could have negotiated or sold them to me. Even if I take fifty percent and only give you 1000 primeval stones, you'll still double your savings."
Wang Wei nodded, but before he could open his mouth, Wang Hao interrupted him. "Didn't you hand them to me for free?"
"When did I say for free?"
Thus a round of negotiations began, Or more accurately, Wang Hao stealing Wang Wei blind.
"I gave you the idea I'll take 10 percent more from the 50 percent."
"Wasn't your suggestion out of good faith? A grandpa teaching his grandson? And when did we agree to the 50 percent?" Wang Wei asked only for Wang Hao to respond immediately.
"These are stolen goods. Now that I think about it, I might get in trouble if I'm discovered. I'll take another 10 percent. I know the secret you murdered Wang Cheng killing a clansman, and even more, a family member is a grave crime punishable by death. I should take them away, but since you are my favorite grandson, I'll only take another 10 percent for my silence and…" Wang Hao kept adding more and more reasons to keep reducing what he would give to Wang Wei.
"You owe me 300 primeval stones. We should break even if I take your allowance of 300 primeval stones away for this week. Or would you like to pay in installments? In that case, I'll give you a month and it will be triple."
Wang Wei: "..."
"You don't like this deal? Then I'll just charge you 1300 primeval stones." Wang Hao turned around.
"Wait what was the point of all this?" Wang Wei asked, feeling his great grandfather was showing his true self.
A troll.
Wang Hao stopped and answered. "To make you see, the Gu worms still have my will in them. They are mine."
Wang Hao elaborated further. "Not all of the ideas your seniors give you are useful. You need to make your judgment of what fits and doesn't fit your needs. Don't be a puppet following their every word. You can't know if they have hidden intentions unless you carefully see the full picture."
Wang Hao put back the Gu Worms in his aperture and activated a Gu worm. A lump of wind with the shape of a tiger head appeared next to Wang Hao.
"You shouldn't fully trust in anyone. Even those who act as your friends can betray you at the drop of a hat if it benefits them."
Swoosh.
From the tiger's mouth fell 2 sacks Wang Hao purposely amortiguated their fall with his gu worm. One was 3 times as big as the sack Wang Wei received. He guessed it had 300 primeval stones. The other 1000.
'How am I going to carry them without attracting attention?' Wang Wei was confident of carrying them. He guessed the smaller one was 42 kilos and the big one 140 kilos. The problem was their size.
The small one was a third of Wang Hao, the big one was bigger than Wang Hao.
"What I said was merely my teachings. Here, take one or both; as long as you can carry them, they are yours," Wang Hao spoke plainly, smoking while his eyes openly mocked Wang Wei.
"I'll take my allowance." Wang Wei grabbed the sack and placed it on his shoulder.
"Good good." Wang Hao nodded, finishing testing Wang Wei. "You made the right choice. You have some tolerance towards slight insults. Now go and sleep. The academy might be useless for you, but it's needed to build connections, and you can't build them if you are falling asleep."
'Why do I feel his teachings are going to get way more demonic?' Wang Wei gave his typical farewells before leaving and thinking about the point of the lecture on his way to his room. 'Don't bite more than you can chew.'
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