Inheritance

Shasi religiously read through the whole content inside the Bookworm Gu, whenever he thought about taking a break, his head would start to ache, as if he was being forced to fully absorb the knowledge left to him by Shuang Xue.

He read all about his biography and about the Blood Path methods Shuang Xue came up with after inheriting a part of Blood Sea Ancestor's legacy, Shasi had read about this person before. "The embodiment of the Demonic Path!", some would say, and know, Shasi was technically his inheritor...

At first, Shasi would be shocked by some of the Gu Refinement methods he read about, but would be just as shocked by the results! "Blood Path, Blood Path? This is a miraculous Path! Unimaginable effects were produced with such small costs! This... This is perfect! Perfect for me!".

Shasi was in awe, even a low Aptitude Gu Master like himself could be successful if he followed the Blood Dao, on the other hand though, how could he a mere Rank 1 Gu Master could show up using Blood Path methods, forget Rank 1, even a mighty Rank 3 like Shuang Xue would probably be killed by the Clan when his methods were exposed!

Shuang Xue's demise wasn't specified inside the Bookworm Gu, but Shasi could assume he was chased away and fatally injured by the Clan, thus not having enough time to prepare a proper inheritance ground and also making it inside Ju Feng mountain, all he could leave behind was his knowledge and three Gu Worms.

Shasi still sat down on dirt and leaves, his leg was totally numb at this point, by his side were three slightly differently shaped rocks, all black colored with glowing specks of red. "According to the Bookworm, these petrified Gu Worms were those left as inheritance by Shuang Xue...".

"I wonder what he meant by saying that a perfect inheritor would be one with his same bloodline...". Shasi murmured as he picked a more oval shaped rock in his hand and tried to examine it.

"The Bookworm explained a method of opening petrified Gu Worms with zero chance of damaging the Gu". Shasi reminded himself and looked at his thumb. There were no other way, he either hoped there was a method to help him leave, or he would eventually die due to thirst and starvation.

With no other choice, Shasi grit his teeth and bit the tip of his thumb, he held the oval stone with his other hand and lightly infused it with his Primeval Essence. With his now bleeding thumb, he dipped it in the dirt he was sitting on and began rubbing on the strange rock.

Instantly, parts of the rock fell out of it, as if it was it's carcass, if there was no more blood, then Shasi had to bite his thumb and draw even more blood, until the solid carcass completely fell off.

Mere seconds later, a strange red bone was revealed, probably belonged to some type of beast. Shasi confusedly looked at it. "What is this...?". The strange bone emitted a sinister Blood Path Aura.

Shasi immediately picked the Bookworm Gu again and ran through a list of refinement materials and recipes. "Hmm... the only material related to beast bones are the Bladewing Blood Bat's Wing bone! Ju Shuang Xue probably used some strange method to make it harden into a rock... Why would he leave a refinement material behind, maybe...".

Shasi checked the Gu refinement recipes this time, he had a clear goal, "Found it! Blood Arrow Gu!". His eyes widened while he read it's description and requirements. "Blood Arrow Gu: It's appearance is similar to the regular First Arrow Gu, only with a slightly reddish tone in it's color. It also launches the same Frost Arrow, but it has twice the power and half the consumption".

Shasi obviously wanted to refine his Frost Arrow Gu into a Blood Arrow Gu, they even had similar effects and would be undetectable by the Clan's higher ups... It was as if Shuang Xue though about all this when leaving his inheritance behind.

"Could've at least made a... Safer entrance, well, I guess all Demonic Path inheritances have some degree of danger after all... As for my Vital Gu... Should I really try to refine it?". Shasi feared a potential failure, in his current state, it could easily kill him!

"To do it or to not do it...?". Shasi deeply considered but ultimately, decided to check what was inside the other two rocks before doing anything rash.

He used the previous blood path method to open the next rock which had a slightly cubic shape, layer by layer, pieces of rock fell on the ground and a small figure took shape, it was the size of a finger, it's Heas was small while it's body was thick, almost as if the Gu Worm had grown overweight.

What shocked Shasi the most wasn't it's shape though, but it's aura! It was a Rank 2 Gu Worm! Just by looking at it, Shasi recognized it, this was the Rank 2 Blood Qi Gu, an essential Gu for all Blood Path Gu Masters as it was used to replenish any blood lost by them. This type of Gu Worm was extremely valuable in the Mortal World.

"This...". If someone checked his aperture and found this Gu inside it, it would certainly cause a ruckus, even if they found it out of his aperture but somehow related it to him. if he was going to take it to the Clan with him, he might as well let it solidify into a rock again and hide it, after all, he wasn't confident in refining a Rank 2 Gu Worm with his D-Grade talent and Rank 1 Initial Stage Primeval Essence.

Contrary to the normal method of opening Gu Worm rocks, this didn't infuse the Gu with any Primeval Essence, so it didn't show any signs of awakening, as soon as Shasi let go of it, it began solidifying again.

Once again, Shasi admired Shuang Xue's shrewdness and planing, once again it seemed like he had prepared for every possible outcome, the only thing that bothered Shasi was Shuang Xue's beliefs, not because he felt like they were wrong, but because it made too much sense!

He felt reluctant and somewhat unwilling to share the same mindset as a Demonic Path Gu Master, the type of people he had been thought to despise his whole life, even if he saw logic behind Shuang Xue's critics of the Clan's system, he decided to lock these thoughts deep inside his mind, not wanting to be influenced by them.

Shasi wanted to inherit Shuang Xue's Gu Worms and knowledge, not his ideals! at least that's what he told himself.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Shasi felt his mouth dry, if he didn't got out of there soon, he'd die in a couple of days! This fear of death made him pick the last rock and open it as fast as he could, inside this rock was a strangely shaped Gu Worm, it looked like a skull and was filled with blood... "Could this be?".

Shasi rapidly flipped through the Bookworm Gu and went to Ju Shuang Xue's creations section, there, he read something about a Blood Skull Gu, which was used to increase one's aptitude using the blood of family relatives! It was said that Shung Xue could never buy one or refine a perfect one, but what he managed to come up with was even more shocking!

A Rank Three Blood Skull Gu! Normally, this Gu would be at it's lower form, a Rank 4 Gu, but what Shuang Xue Created was a consumable type Rank 3 version!

Shasi looked at the skull in his hands and didn't sense any will in it, as if it was dead, but he could clearly feel the energy being exhaled by this Gu Worm, it was filled with blood and it's Aura was sinister.

Out of all the Gu Worms he had encountered, this one was certainly the most shocking! "I get a chance to increase my aptitude by ten percent! No wonder Shuang Xue wanted his inheritor to be a Ju Clan clansmen!". Normally, Shasi would feel at the very least a bit disgusted, after all, how many people must've been killed to fill that skull with blood?

It seemed that ever since he came in contact with Shuang Xue's inheritance, his personality had been gradually changing to that of a ruthless man, who only cared about his own gains! Shasi knew the method to use the Gu Worm and without any hesitation he raised the Blood Skull over his head, instantly activating it, the skull's eyes glowed red as it's mouth opened, releasing a red steam over his body.

At that moment, Shasi let out a never seen before devilish grin, it was as if he began looking more and more like Shuang Xue.

After letting the Skull release the steam over him, Shasi put his consciousness inside his aperture and was in awe! He observed as his aperture grew in size right in front of him!

27%!

30%!

33%!

36%!

His talent actually grew by ten percent!