4 Chapter 4 meeting Elder Du
Hello, author here. I hope you all are having a good day :)
here are some customary RI Fanfiction questions
Out of the Western Desert and the Northern Plains, which region do you think would win if they fought? The time period is the beginning of RI.
What do you think is the average price of a Rank 4 Gu?
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Zhao Wen POV
The information contained within the information path Gu worm was vast and comprehensive, to Zhao Wen it felt like the information he had received about how to refine, raise, manipulate, and feed different Gu worms surpassed all the fields of knowledge he was familiar with from earth. In his past life, he had been a newly graduated economist but his knowledge of economics paled in comparison to the wealth of information he now held on Gu cultivation.
Zhao Wen now knew about minute habits and subtle signs a Gu worm would exhibit when hungry or hurt, he knew the best ways to collect various materials needed for refinement and feeding, and he knew how to manipulate his primeval essence to better utilize Gu and how to use it to help in his Cultivation.
As he was preparing to start experimenting with his newfound knowledge he heard the interruption from outside. Pulling him out of his contemplation.
[why am I being interrupted now of all times? Couldn't whatever this is have waited until I have had time to properly go through this inheritance?]
Standing up from his previous sitting position, Zhao Wen started to worry.
What does Elder Du want? Could he have sensed it when I took out Phantom Vault Gu? What should I do now? I'm only rank 2 upper stage and besides that, I have no idea how to manipulate my primeval essence except by primitively forcing it to move.
Even then I only have rank 3 and rank 4 Gu, if I can even activate them it will probably take almost all of my essence to do so. Damn it, they took the rank 2 Gu I brought from the battlefield, I should have forcefully requested for them, at least then I would have Gu to defend myself.]
[No calm down, this summons might be to check on how my recovery is going. I shouldn't overreact, this meeting might have nothing to do with Phantom Fiend's inheritance.
And even if it is about the inheritance it is not like I can protect it, if the Ye Clan elders truly have their sights set on me because of the inheritance then I can only compromise and share parts of it with them. I can only hope that it has gone undiscovered so far.]
Going through his options Zhao Wen started to prepare for the meeting with Elder Du. While he was preparing himself physically he was pondering
[What am I going to do with the Gu? If I store them in my aperture then I run the risk of them being discovered if Elder Du wants to check if it has healed. Maybe I can store them in my Secluded Domain again?]
Placing the Gu back into Phantom Vault Gu Zhao Wen quickly focused and after some effort, he managed to pull the Gu back into his Secluded Domain. Having stored the Gu again Zhao Wen thought
[When this meeting is over I need to experiment and figure out how that process works, if I can figure out a way to pull Gu into my Secluded domain remotely wouldn't I be able to steal other people's Gu? The possibilities are truly endless.]
[ Anyway I need to rush to Elder Du´s House type Gu now, I don't want to annoy a rank 3 elder. If he is a petty person he might try to make my life difficult.]
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As Zhao Wen left the comfort of the rank 2 Tortoise house Gu, the fierce desert wind quickly started to slash at his face, frowning he pulled up the cowl and covered his face to protect him from the wind.
Covering the remaining part of his face with an arm, Zhao Wen walked along the length of the caravan moving towards the front where he could see the gigantic form of an Elder Tortoise house.
The Tortoise house and elder Tortoise house Gu worms were rank 2 and rank 3 respectively and served as mobile houses for the caravans of the Fang Clan and its vassal Clans. The Tortoise House Gu served as refuges from the desert environment and as strong points during battle as the Tortoise House Gu had a great defense.
However, this could be a drawback as if a caravan encountered an enemy they could not defeat they would be unable to run away with their goods and perhaps lose everything.
The slow-moving nature of the Ye Clan caravan had been partially the reason why they had been subjected to an attack by the Rock Python beast group.
Eventually approaching the Elder Tortoise house Zhao Wen greeted the rank 2 Gu master standing guard and after having his identity verified he was allowed to enter the Elder Tortoise.
Taking off his cowl as he entered Zhao Wen was approached by an elderly rank 1 Gu master
" Sir should wait a bit before entering Lord Elder Du´s conference room, lord is going through an important message from lord Second Supreme Elder. "
Hearing this Zhao Wen frowned
[calling me here urgently and then leaving me to wait at the door? Is Elder Du trying to show his importance?]
"When can I expect Elder Du to be available? I was called here on short notice interrupting my recovery. "
Hearing Zhao Wen's response the elderly rank 1 Gu master sneered internally thinking
[so the rumors are true, that brash and arrogant Zhao Wen truly suffered soul damage, having forgotten the face of the father whose son he beat for looking at him the wrong way. Hmph your parents are dead and you have lost your Gu, lets see how you will deal with all the people you have offended throughout your life.]
"Don't worry Sir it shouldn't be longer than half an hour, in the meantime can I interest Sir in some refreshments? "
" Yes, that would be great. "
Hearing Zhao Wen's response the Gu master left to bring the refreshments.
This left Zhao Wen alone in the entrance Hall, looking around Zhao Wen could see various paintings, vases, and exotic furniture decorating the room.
After Zhao Wen had absorbed the knowledge from Phantom Fiend's inheritance he could recognize that some of these decorations were made out of Gu refinement materials.
[Most of these materials can be used in the refinement of rank 1 Gu but some of them like the wood used in this table could be considered a rank 2 material. Is this display supposed to be a sign of Elder Du´s wealth? Well if nothing else it should intimidate those rank 1 and rank 2 Gu masters who have no realistic way of advancing further. ]
As Zhao Wen was calmly analyzing the decorations he was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and heard the hoarse voice of Elder Du.
"Brat you can enter already "
[Why is Elder Du being this informal with me? Did he have some relationship with the original or is this how he normally acts outside the public eye?
[Zhao Wen hesitated for a second or two before centering himself and walking to the door. If someone had found Elder Du´s entrance hall to be luxurious and wasteful they might pale at the sight of his conference room. Zhao Wen could scarcely see any furniture or decorations made out of rank 1 Gu refinement materials with the vast majority being made out of various rank 2 materials.
[judging by the quantity and quality of materials used in this room I think you can probably purchase a weaker rank 3 Gu for the cost of these materials. ]
"I never thought you could wait quietly for so long. Has your recent brush with death finally made you remember your etiquette lessons? "
Hearing Elder Du´s question Zhao Wen turned his attention towards the man. Elder Du was a short man only reaching 160 cm, his skin and hair were starting to show signs of his age with the latter already having turned grey a few years ago. As Zhao Wen turned his attention to Elder Du the man was slowly stroking his beard as he observed Zhao Wen intensely.
[Etiquette lessons? Is my previous conjecture correct and the original knew Elder Du somehow? Not that such a connection would be weird as far as I have gathered the Zhao couple were a part of the Second Supreme Elders faction as is Elder Du.
[Considering that this body originally had an aptitude of 78% it wouldn't be surprising if he was being nurtured to become an elder by the faction. But what should I say now? I have no idea about how the original would have handled this situation. Do I play dumb? Hmmm I should probably stay quiet and wait for Elder Du to reveal more information.]
Coming to this conclusion Zhao Wen dragged out a chair and sat down opposite to Elder Du, the entire time he kept looking down at the tabletop attempting to project a feeling of shame.
Seeing Zhao Wen's timid and seemingly ashamed behavior Elder Du frowned, he observed Zhao Wen for a while before asking.
" Has your aperture stabilized? How much essence can your aperture contain now? "
Hearing Elder Du´s question Zhao Wen hesitated for a few seconds before revealing the state of his aperture, if Elder Du wanted to know he could always forcefully check there was no need to hide something that would be revealed later anyway.
Looking up and meeting the eyes of Elder Du Zhao Wen said
" The rifts in my aperture have completely closed, I can move my primeval essence again without any hindrance. As for how much essence my aperture can contain it has stabilized at around 68% primeval essence. "
Hearing Zhao Wen's response Elder Du´s mood seemed to increase slightly
"Good, good you're still a B-grade talent although it is unfortunate that your essence dropped by 10% you still have the capacity to reach rank 4. Brat, do you understand how worried you made us? Returning with a damaged aperture like that, do you have any idea of how much our faction has invested in you? "
[Faction? Investment? It seems that the original was quite important to Elder Du and perhaps this Second Supreme Elder as well. Do I respond to him? No, I need more information and it looks like Elder Du is venting.]
Seeing Zhao Wen remain unresponsive Elder Du sighed saying
"Brat I'm going to be blunt with you, your past actions had offended many of the elders of our Ye clan. Now that your parents are dead, multiple elders are scheming to take your parents' life work from you. I can already tell you that your family's businesses in the clan have already been ceased with the excuse of covering the losses to the material wagon."
Hearing this Zhao Wen thought quickly
[how do I respond to this? Do I burst out in anger? Do I cry out in sadness? Should I remain passive?]
Looking at Zhao Wen´s indecisive expression Elder Du frowned thinking to himself
[What is wrong with him? If I had said this to him before his accident he would have jumped off his seat, struck out at the heavens, and swore vengeance against the elders involved. Why is he acting so timidly now?]
Frowning Elder Du contemplated
[Don't tell me, he suffered so much soul damage that his personality was permanently altered? This is deeply concerning. Depending on how much damage he might have suffered we might need to abandon him and look for another clansman to nurture.]
Thinking this Elder Du decided to probe Zhao Wen, if he had lost his ambition and drive then no matter how many resources they gave him he would not progress.
" Hmph brat do you still remember the announcement you made after beating young lord Ye Xie Lian to the brink of death? Where is the youth who swore to become an immortal? Where is the youth who swore he would suppress everyone under the heavens?
Brat comparing you now to that youth you are like a tiger who has lost its teeth or a crane without a beak. Don't tell me, your brush with death has made you give up on your ambition.
I have told you that your parents legacy is being taken by others and you only stare at the table in silence? How can you look them in the eyes once you reach beyond the door of life and death when you are letting their legacy be stolen from you? "
" Of course, I want to stop them. "
" what? "
Looking Elder Du firmly in the eyes Zhao Wen repeated
" Of course, I want to protect my parents' legacy, if those thieves were before me I would of course strike them down but they are rank 3 Gu masters and I am only a rank 2 without any Gu.
For the moment my individual battle strength is insufficient to protect the businesses my parents owned in the clan, I can only borrow the influence of others to try and protect my inheritance while slowly cultivating until I get a chance to take my inheritance back! "
" Those things I said before, I still believe them with all of my heart! I definitely want to become an immortal, to suppress heaven and earth and to make my father and mother proud of me. "
Though internally he thought
[see my parents in the door of life and death? What a great joke, I know this time period is sometime in between the death of Paradise Earth and the appearance of Fang Yuan. The parents of this body have definitely already been eaten by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable.
Going by Elder Du´s description and by the account of Ye Mo Su the original Zhao Wen seems to have been an arrogant and conceited young master, solving all of his problems by the application of violence and the backing of his elders.]
" Elder Du, after reflecting deeply I have come to realize that my previous actions have caused harm to my parents and to Second Supreme Elders faction.
I implore Elder to please help this junior protect his inheritance. If the clan is using the excuse of reparations for the destroyed materials to claim my inheritance we must make sure that it goes to Second Supreme Elders faction members. "
[Greedy bastards, I know that Jia Shui the mother of this body was a rank 3 emotion path Gu master. I bet this entire thing is an excuse to seize that inheritance hmph, Second Supreme Elder is a rank 4 upper-stage refinement path gu master, i am sure he is one of the ringleaders of this plot.
It is unfortunate but I will need to sacrifice my inheritance to guarantee the support of Second Supreme Elders faction, with their backing I should be able to keep the majority of Phantom Fiends inheritance safe.]
" Wonderful, on the matter of Second Supreme Elder, I recently got an offer from him that I was told to present to you once you recovered, this is partially the reason I called you over. The offer is…
