12 Black Banner Troop

Northern Plains: The Fiery Lava Pit

It was late in the night, and the Black Heaven had already taken over. A cold breeze blew through the silent quarry, accompanied by the howls and screams of distant predators.

In the Eastern Campsite, lights shone from multiple tents and Gu houses. Among them was one inconspicuous tent still awake, like the others, but the owner of this tent was rather famous among the people in the campsite.

Rumors had circulated since dawn among the newly awakened Gu Masters about a certain boy in his twenties who was found to possess legendary Extreme Talent. So, most of them behaved rather well in the surroundings of that inconspicuous camp.

Inside the tent, Yan sat in cross-legged meditation. The first thing he did upon entering the tent was cleaning himself in a tub at the corner. After a relaxed bath, he wore the new clothes the attendant gave him: a neat black and red uniform with the Hei Tribe's symbol on it—a uniform representing his position as a recruit and the younger generation of the Hei Tribe.

Normally, at this time, Yan would have already fallen asleep. But in a Gu Master's cultivation, sleep is only secondary.

Splash, splash, splash…

Inside his Aperture, the green copper primeval sea was in chaos, with tides racing against each other, rushing towards the surrounding aperture walls.

Like crashing on a reef, most of the primeval essence would break into emerald ripples and fuse back into the sea.

A small amount of primeval essence was expended, turning into a small hint of invisible energy, penetrating the white-colored light aperture wall.

Yan opened his eyes after completing the 10th round of nurturing. His primeval sea had already been reduced to 50%.

"Can't believe it's already night," Yan sighed faintly. He didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but no matter how much had passed, for cultivation, it felt like the time wasn't enough.

"It's rather… interesting," he thought. He had expected cultivation to be boring, but contrary to his thoughts, interesting was the only word to describe his experience.

The ability to manipulate Primeval Essence, which is essentially the condensation of his essence, vitality, and soul, was rather interesting. It felt easier than moving a limb.

"Now is the real interesting part!" He muttered with slight excitement as he took three square boxes containing three Fire Path Gu Worms.

The first box contained the Rank 1 Fire Gu, a fire-shaped Gu with a cute appearance.

Even before he could take it in his hands, the Gu Worm flew from the box and landed on his palm. The flames around it shook gently, as if greeting him.

"Hmm, as expected. What should be grotesque is cute here." Controlling the twitch in his lips, he entered his primeval essence into the Gu.

Puff!

The happy-easy-going Fire Gu suddenly shook. As if dropped in a bucket of water, it let out a shrill of smoke and tried to resist him with its will.

But, before it could even release its will, an aura of a behemoth landed on it, making it stiff on the spot.

Boundary Gu.

"Hehe, be obedient, little bug!" Yan sneered at the Gu and fully refined it in one fell swoop.

A feeling of mysterious connection formed between him and the Fire Gu. While it wasn't close to the level of what he had with the Boundary Gu, it still felt close to him.

After playing around with it, he retracted his primeval essence, and the Gu worm entered his Primeval Aperture, diving and jumping around in the Primeval Sea.

'Now.'

Whoosh!

A red flame mark formed in his palm before a blazing red-orange flame engulfed his palm entirely.

"According to the Hei Jiao, Fire Gu is the most common, at the same time uncommon, among Gu worms of the fire path. Its power varies by the amount of primeval essence I use…" This may be a disadvantage for C grade, D grade, even B grade talents, but for those of A grade, this is a perfect Gu of versatile offense. Not to mention an Extreme Talent with Fire Path physique.

He deactivated the Fire Gu immediately, not wanting to garner attention. The rookie mistake of exposing how fast he could refine a Gu may warrant unwanted suspicion, even if it's a Fire Path-related Gu Worm.

"I'll use you openly after a week!" Yan smiled faintly as the red flame mark in his hand faded away.

He then stored the other two Gu Worms within his chest pocket, intending to refine them by the end of the week.

A week passed like this.

Yan refined the Fire Barrier Gu and Fire Discharge Gu, completing his week-long task even though he could finish it in an instant. While he did refine it yesterday in an instant, the rest of the week, he cultivated non-stop. Other than for his daily needs, he never exited the tent, and no one disturbed him either.

"I wonder what this guy planned for my task." Outside the Gu House of Hei Jiao, Yan stretched his muscles thoughtfully.

Even though the week felt like bliss for him, deep down he knew without power, he's just a fish on the chopping board for these arrogant Gu Masters.

In fact, during this week, instead of just cultivating, he did a mental layout on how to proceed from here on out, taking the maximum benefits he could from the opportunities present without alerting the Heaven's Will or Venerable's.

"While I couldn't really hide from all your eyes forever, I should be fine till my ascension." Yan's eyes were like a pair of glowing embers, shining under the sun's might.

He already knew what he ought to do for the next few years; "I'll stay in your little tribe till I become a Gu Immortal."

Creak—

The doors of the Mushroom Gu opened as Hei Jiao walked out alongside a burly man in his fifties. He wore the same clothing as Hei Jiao, displaying his high position in the Tribe.

"Hehehe, Little Yan, you're here!" Hei Jiao turned toward Yan and spoke in an amicable tone.

Yan nodded his head and bowed while greeting both of them; "This junior pays respect to the esteemed seniors."

"Hahaha, Brother Dan, this is the new junior I spoke about." Hei Jiao accepted his greeting and introduced him to the other man.

Hei Dan nodded at Yan and spoke gently; "Very good, you have a great bearing, junior, as expected of my Hei Tribe member. If you need anything, don't hesitate to find me in the 'Fiery Field'."

Yan nodded sincerely, even though he didn't know what Fiery Field was.

Soon, Hei Jiao bid farewell to Hei Dan and brought Yan to the western direction of the Resource Point.

Along the way, Hei Jiao looked at Yan and questioned; "Do you know why this resource point is one of the main sources of our Hei Tribe?"

Yan ignored the 'our' and responded curiously; "From my own understanding, it seems this place is a Natural Resource Point, Sir Hei Jiao. Other than that, my meager self couldn't understand anything."

In fact, he was really curious about this place lately.

Hei Jiao smiled faintly and said, "Indeed, you are right in a way. This place is a resource point formed from the battle and corpses of two beasts."

"The Fiery Lava Pit is divided into four areas. The East is our settlement, the South serves as the entrance, the North is where Gu materials and Gu worms are raised, also called the 'Fiery Field', and lastly, the West is where our Hei Tribe's strongest and most prestigious Troops are currently based."

"The Black Banner Troops!"

Hei Jiao said the last line with proud and arrogance. He immediately looked at Yan to gauge his reaction, only to find nothing. Embarrassment filled him at that moment.

He awkwardly thought, 'Maybe this brat doesn't know about our strongest troop?'

Yan's curiosity instantly waned, feeling disappointed if that was all there was to this place.

Hei Jiao coughed twice and dropped a bombshell on Yan immediately, "Very well, brat, listen here… this place produces Rank 5 Gu every decade, and there is also the minute possibility of there being a legendary Immortal Gu!"

Yan's eyes widened at the mention of the last sentence. Besides shock, questions filled his mind: 'Why the hell isn't this taken or guarded by a Gu Immortal then?' He was sure this wasn't guarded by a Gu Immortal because this guy himself mentioned that there is only a Rank 4 Peak stage Gu Master guarding this place, Hei Qi Sheng, an Enslavement Path Gu Master.

Hei Jiao felt inner peace after getting a reaction from this junior and smiled happily.