Mystery

Sunlight bathed Ju Feng Mountain, the Wind Willows swayed around due to the strong winds forming an indescribable view, another normal day seemed to be on it's course for the traditional Ju Clan.... Only that... It wasn't normal at all.

Last night, they've been invaded, not only that, even hostages were taken! Inside the Elders Assembly building, Ju Yao Lao was fuming! He paced around in sheer nervousness and anger, his fists were clenched and his eyes bloodshot!

The Rank 3 Elders all sat in a long table, some had complicated expressions while others were simply stoic, none of them dare to utter a single word, even Shaxi or Old Man Feng, even though they were Heads of the two other noble families, Yao Lao still terrified them.

"Knock, Kno-". Before a Rank 2 Gu Master could even properly knock on the door to ask for permission to report, the Clan Head waved his hands, launching a gust of wind that forced the pair of doors open.

"Have you found him!?". Yao Lao's enraged voice and aura was enough to frighten anyone inside that room, not to mention a mere Rank 2 Scouting Gu Master.

The Scouting Gu Master's whole body trembled, his legs wavered but he tried to force words out. "C-Clan Head, we've found Wolf footprints around the middle section of the mountain which indicates that the invader have Transformation Pa—".

"If you haven't found him, then don't waste my time! If I'm forced to take action myself, all of you will be punished! Now scram!" Yao Lao's eyes were terrifying at that moment as he cut the Rank 2 Gu Master off, even Rank 4 Gu Masters like himself wouldn't want to mess with him in that state.

The Rank 2 Gu Master could only bow and hurriedly leave that place, one more in minute there and he felt like would most certainly faint due to suffocation, the atmosphere was unimaginably oppressive!

The Elders all murmured within each other, trying to find solutions to such a catastrophic event to they Ju Clan. After all, Yao Guang was the most talented of the younger generation, and was likely to be the future Clan Head.

"Why would there be a need for punishment, Yao Lao?". Out of all people, the Academy Elder suspiciously got up with a sinister grin on his face.

Yao Lao was about to lash out on him, but stepped back when he saw smoke coming out of the Elder's face!

"Hahaha Yao Lao! I know exactly where your grandson is!". Gu Dao's face was revealed, alarming the present Elders as they all got up from their seats.

...

Deep under the ground, one small torch illuminated what seemed to be an underground room, the floor was made out of Wind Willow leaves, imitating the effects of a carpet, the leaves were still intact, being a type of Gu refinement material, it would take longer for them to dry out and die.

Laid down on the floor was a black haired fifteen year-old youth wearing rags for clothing, his eyes were slowly opening. "What happened..? I'm alive?!". Memories of the recently unfolded events flooded his mind.

Shasi tried to get up but felt his whole body aching, specially his legs. "I can't even get up?". His vision was limited so he took out his Frost Arrow Gu and used it's light to illuminate the area around him.

When he tried to get up, the first thing that gave out was his right leg, now that he could see it clearly, his leg was now shaped like a noodle probably broken in several places, stabbing pains quickly surged all over his right as Shasi tried his best to suppress it but tears of pain still came out of his eyes. "This is still better than death!". Shasi kept telling this to himself in an attempt to calm himself down, his other limbs were also sore but not broken.

"I need to get my mind off this pain... What is this place anyways?". Shasi thought and moved his Gu Worm with his mind to brighten up other parts of the room.

It didn't take long before something caught his eye, a few small figures, they were all round shaped, except for one whose shape were quite odd... It was shaped like a Gu Worm! Shasi could feel it's faint aura! His eyes lit up as he completely forgot about the pain and crawled towards the Gu Worm.

It's body looked like a cocoon overall, round and cute. It was white, but the surface had a layer of enamel, giving off an oily glow.

Shasi was quick to examine it, holding it in one's hand, it was round and smooth, like a high grade porcelain vase. "Could this be...".

He rapidly put Frost Arrow Gu and the mysterious Gu Worm inside his aperture and began refining it.

"What?". Shasi exclaimed

His primeval essence had regenerated over night so he was back to 26% capacity, when he began refining the mysterious Gu, he expected it to take at least a week or so, as he also intended to use his remaining Primeval Stones to speed up the process, luckily for him, he hadn't lost his Primeval Stones sack while being "hunted", so he still had 8 primeval stones with him.

Just as Shasi infused 1% of his primeval essence, the refinement rapidly progressed by one fifth! "What's the meaning of this..? Maybe it's due to lack of feeding, this Gu is only Rank 1, but it has probably dropped Ranks throughout the time it has been confined here, thus, making it weak willed."

Shasi continued infusing Primeval Essence into it, shrugging off any suspicion he had about the difficulty of this refinement. It took five more minutes until the Gu had totally been refined by him, Frost Arrow Gu reacted to it's new companion by dancing around it, but the Mysterious Gu wouldn't move an inch, like it was dead.

"Rank 1 Bookworm Gu! I'm rich!". Shasi had read about this type of Gu before, it was among the most valuable kinds of Rank 1 Gu, it could be of use to him while performing certain tasks which required storing information, or he could just sell it and buy some other Gu to increase his battle strength! This was a huge gain for a Rank 1 Gu Master .

Shasi looked at his his new Gu with joyful eyes, it was a bit dried up due to the lack of food, but even if this was the case, so what? He could just buy it's food. If this was not a sign of the heavens favoring him, then he didn't know what would be. "I wonder if there's something stored inside...". Shasi thought as he put his consciousness inside the Bookworm Gu.

"If you're reading this, then you are now my inheritor! My name is Ju Shuang Xue, a former Elder of the Ju Clan, and this is my... Blood path inheritance!". A sinister aura came out of the Gu Worm

Shasi immediately dropped the Bookworm Gu. The infamous Blood path! He had found an inheritance of the Blood path!? "Is this a joke? For a nobody like me to find an inheritance can be said to be the accumulation of luck of my last 10 generations, even 100 generations! But out of all paths, why did it have to be the one shunned by both Righteous and Demonic path Gu masters!? One that condemns it's users to being persecuted their whole lives!". Shasi complained in his heart.

"Not to mention that the creator of this inheritance was an Elder of my Ju Clan? What's the relation between the Ju Clan and Blood Path..?". Shasi's mind was filled with questions he couldn't answer, maybe not even the Clan Head Yao Lao could answer.

Looking at the Bookworm Gu in front of him in fear and confusion, Shasi couldn't help but to feel a certain rejection towards it. He had been indoctrinated to despise the Demonic Path, so naturally he would have a low opinion towards Blood Path methods.

More and more doubts surged into his mind, until it consumed all his thoughts. "My Clan's Elder? Blood Path? Why? Who knows about this? How did this Elder die...? Does the Bookworm Gu hold such answers...? In a world were only the strong are respected does one's means to get strong really matter...? What does morals stand for anyways..?". For the first time, Shasi was tempted to read the Bookworm, his thoughts weren't the same from before, as if they were being influenced by someone or something.

Combined that with the fact that Shasi didn't have any methods to leave that place or heal his leg, he could only rely on the contents of the Bookworm to try and save himself... If there was no other way out... Then he'd learn about the vicious methods of the Blood Path! There was no shame to do everything in one's reach to survive.

With that thought process, Shasi picked the Bookworm Gu and quickly got immersed in his reading...