14 **Chapter 14: Advancement**

*Time Skip no jutsu – 2 Months 5 days*

*Whoosh*

*Crash*

The waves of jade green primeval essence slowly pushed against the walls of my Aperture. This would be a common occurrence if it were not for the thing I had planned today.

"That's right, I am breaking through to the rank 1 middle stage."

*Crash*

*Splash*

*Whoosh*

The waves continued as my Aperture would become a bit emptier through consumption. Then it would rise again with my natural regeneration, as well as the biggest factor, the primeval stones slowly turning to dust in my left hand.

*Splash*

*Crash*

*Splash*

Suddenly, my light Aperture wall shook violently, and then there was the white light I had never seen anything this bright before.

I did not let it distract me, though. I knew that this moment was crucial.

Willing all of the 50% of primeval essence I had left to attack the Aperture Wall at the same time, and hoping for success.

50%

37%

23%

And the blinding white light stopped all of a sudden.

With that, I knew I had succeeded and let out a bright smile.

"They are very beautiful, my Water Membrane Aperture Walls."

With 23% primeval essence left, this was easier than I expected.

"Oh look..."

23% was the amount of jade green primeval essence I had left, but it did not take long for me to notice that my Aperture was regenerating to get the level of primeval essence back to B-Grade.

But it was different this time, it was pale green, and most importantly, it was twice as strong as the beginning stage primeval essence.

"Hahaha."

This was my first step in a life that would be long and hopefully successful.

With that, I stood up to make my way to Elder Chen to get my rightful reward.

It was night again, and I noticed that the nights were getting colder. I was not used to the cold, as it was never cold during the day in the eastern sea; the night, on the other hand, was a different matter. I did not care though; my thoughts were on my prize.

This time there were no primeval stones, just Gu. Elder Chen also made it clear that the next race or competition that he would hold would not be for something like rank 1 upper stage. No, it would be for rank 2.

The prizes he offered this time would be proof of that, as the first prize was a Green Copper Relict Gu. Yes, the Gu that allows a rank 1 Gu Master to just skip a stage of cultivation altogether.

Nothing has to be said about it; this prize would give the winner an unreasonable advantage in the race to rank 2. But this world was never fair to begin with, and Elder Chen would not listen to the whining of the less talented of my classmates either.

This was not the prize I was after, though. Wei Li had gotten it about a week ago. The Advantage of A-Grade Talent was not something I, or anyone in the class, could make up for with hard work, it seemed.

Contrary to my expectations, he had not even thought about using it, too confident in his superior talent. On the other hand, he chose to sell it for 2000 primeval stones. This was an enormous amount of money; he would undoubtedly use it to get anywhere from 4 to 6 Gu depending on how he used it.

This was a big advantage in itself; it would be very difficult to catch up to him....

But my way to even overtake him involves the second prize, the liquor worm. This would allow me to cultivate with an efficiency that none could match.

This was my goal, but I was not worried; none of the other losers could match me in cultivation speed. I was planning to use it, as selling it would be foolish, albeit profitable. Thinking about it, I let out a big smile across my whole face.

With that, I arrived at Elder Chen's room, and before I could even knock on the door, Elder Chen opened it on his own.

"How is he already awake?"

"So I take it that you have reached rank 1 middle stage?" asked Elder Chen calmly.

"Yes, Elder Chen! I am here to get the reward."

"Let me check your Aperture." Without waiting for an answer, he placed his hand on my belly and injected his primeval essence.

"Very well, here you go." With that, Elder Chen handed over a Gu that looked like a spider that was secreting little drops of water from all its limbs.

"Elder Chen, there must have been a mistake. I am here for the liquor worm, not the Healing Water Gu."

"There is no mistake, Mu Bao. Zhen Wei came here 3 hours ago and claimed the liquor worm."

With that said he slammed the door into my face.

*---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*

*POV: Fei Yu Zhen Wei*

As I was leaving the bounds of the village, I was bored, so I took a look at the liquor worm swimming happily in my Aperture.

"Exactly the one I wanted."

"The one of the three rewards that I actually have a good use for. And it also fits my Path."

"What, you don't believe me? Then answer me this: what is alcohol, if not a poison?"

...

"Thought so."

All I see is forest; the houses have stopped about half an hour ago. I was tired but did not let it affect me, time once wasted would never be recoverd..

"It can't be that hard to find something that wants to kill me in this damn forest. I cannot believe that I have walked in this forest for this long without a wild bear, boar, fox, or wolf to attack me."

'The damn Gu masters of my clan have done a little too good of a job killing every beast in this forest...'

All of a sudden, I see a few red dots about 200 meters to my left.

"So the Heat Vision Gu works fine…"

It was one of the three Gu I had collected but not identified.

One, two…. five in total.

"From the size, they are bears… I will have to find out their rank."

Sneaking up on them, I did not dare to make a noise, so I had to be careful of where I stepped to not accidentally make a sound by stepping on dry leaves or a stick.

With my paranoia, it took me 15 minutes before I had a clear view of the family of bears, this time with my own eyes.

"One rank 1 and four mortals."

"Perfect!"

Now, why do you ask am I risking my life out here to fight some bears? Well, there are two reasons: one, I need combat experience, and not the one I can get from my trainers. And second, I realized that it was a very dumb idea to test all of my poisons underground.

Someone has to clean more often than not, and it is not going to be me; this is bad as it could expose my secrets. Also, the chance to poison myself underground is way higher. It is not as risky as before I had used the Poison Resistance Gu.

"So you will have to die, my bear friends, what a pity. But I am going to have to test my Gu still."

With their deaths decided, I put some primeval essence into my new gu, and all of a sudden, a snake that was about 1 meter long appeared on my shoulder.

*Hiss.*

I pet it and then take a small sample of poison out of my robes, 1P4, the most dangerous rank 1 poison I had at my disposal.

Instantly, its eyes focused on my hand, or to be more specific, on the poison in it.

*Swoosh.*

It darted at my hand; I could have stopped it, but I did not. As it devoured the poison, its color changed from the pure dark green to a lighter shade with yellow spots.

"I will never get sick of watching this."

After about 15 seconds of this, it just stopped and looked at me.

*Blink.*

*Blink.*

"This Poison Snake Gu does not seem that smart, I think... No, it's just that its rank is too low, and my control over it is too bad." With that, I point my finger at the group of bears.

It seemed to get it, as it opened its mouth and breathed out a cloud of yellow-green poison.

"The range is satisfactory..." As all the bears that were about 5 meters below and 20 meters before me were swallowed in a cloud of poisonous gas.

Waiting for the cloud to settle, I fed my Poison Snake Gu another one of my unholy concoctions, this time it was more venom than poison.

As the cloud of poison lifted, I saw that the four mortal bears had died directly, and the rank 1 bear did not look good too.

'This Gu definitfly makes the poison weaker that if i were to use it on its own...'

"Well, if it is that weakened, I can try my other Gu." Thinking so, I jump down the five meters from the tree I have been observing from. Halfway down, I activate my Poison Strength Gu as well as the Poison Skin Gu.

I run up to the rank 1 bear, which looks like it is about to die every second, and kick it in the head.

As it was poisoned, it could not react and lost some of its teeth through my violent action. I would have normally not been this strong, but the Poison Strength Gu gives me that power. The only downside is that it poisons its user, but with my resistance, I can last 30 minutes with this Gu without feeling any negative effects from it.

*Roar.*

It tries to bite me, but I shift my feet and dodge narrowly. It bites the empty air, and the force of that propels some of its blood and saliva into my face.

It did not seem to mind that it had missed and tried again, before it just stopped and froze.

"Seems like the Poison Skin Gu has taken effect."

'Half a minute to paralyse a beast of the same rank, not bad...'

Normally, that was a defensive Gu that made one resistant to physical attacks to a certain extent, but that was more of a side effect. The real deterrent was how everyone that touched me with this Gu on would get poisoned and paralyzed.

In this case, I did not use it as intended and just applied it with my kick.

"Now to get you out of your misery..."

*Shwoosh*

One bite from the Poison Snake Gu was all it took for the Venom to enter its body.

*Thud.*

Instant Death.

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