The surrounding stayed silent for a while before all the people turned their eyes on him.
"This is getting even more interesting." Fang Yuan silently smiled inside. In front of everyone, he had pa.s.sed the river and stepped onto the opposite riverbank.
In an instant, he felt a layer of pressure.
This pressure originated from deep inside of the spiritual spring. The overflowing primeval qi emitted by the spiritual spring was the cause of the pressure.
Quickly, the flower bush underneath Fang Yuan's feet started to release numerous light spots.
Those luminous spots were floating around and then covered Fang Yuan's entire body, intruding him.
"This is the Gu of Hope." Fang Yuan whispered inside. Although the one in charge did not say much, he had understood it clearly.
Each luminous spot was a thread Gu.
The Gu's name was Hope.
There was an ancient folklore about this Gu of Hope.
Legend said, at the moment when this world had just formed, it was an uncivilized world with wild animals going on rampages ubiquitously. When the first human kind appeared, he was the Ancestor of Human's - Ren Zu. He ate raw meat and fowl. Hence, he led a tough life.
Particularly with the existence of a group of wild animals called Predicaments. They loved Ren Zu's meat and always wanted to have a taste of him.
Ren Zu didn't have a st.u.r.dy body like a stone mountain or beastly sharp claws. How could he have fought with this Predicament beast? His sources of food were getting unstable. He hid the entire day. Being the lowest one on the food chain, it seemed as if his life was getting endangered.
However, at that time, there were three Gu's deliberately coming to him, they said, "If you use your life to support ours, we will help you surpa.s.s this obstacle."
Ren Zu was at his dead-end, he could only accept the demands of the three Gu's.
First, he used his own juvenile youthfulness to nourish the biggest one out of the three Gu's. That Gu then gave him power.
With power, Ren Yu's life had turned for the better. He started to have a stable source of food and was able to protect himself. He loved vigorous battles and had savaged many Predicaments. However, his pains came quickly. He then realized that the power was not omnipotent. Rather than using it recklessly, it had also needed recovering and training time.
Moreover, with the whole flock of Predicaments, he was just a small ent.i.ty.
After learning a painful experience, he decided to use his middle-aged vigorousness and youthfulness to nourish the prettiest Gu of the three.
Immediately, the second Gu had given him Wisdom.
Ren Zu had received the Wisdom and then started to acc.u.mulate experiences after learning about thinking and introspection. He realized that it was sometimes better to use his mind than using strength. Thanks to his wisdom and power, he achieved many things that he could not before, savaging many more Predicaments. He ate their flesh, drank their blood, and used this tenaciousness to continue living.
But pleasant hours flew fast; Ren Zu was old now. He was getting older and older.
This was because he had devoted his juvenile and middle-aged life for the Gu of Power and the Gu of Hope.
His body was withering as he got older. He could not feel happy anymore.
"You human, what can you give us now? You don't have anything left to offer us anymore." The Gu of Power and the Gu of Hope coldly left after realizing that point.
Ren Zu had lost his power and wisdom. He quickly got detected and was surrounded by the Predicaments again. He was old; he did not have enough strength to run. His teeth were also gone; he could not even chew on wild fruits.
He paralyzingly fell to the ground while numerous Predicaments were encircling him. In his heart, there was only depression.
Right at that time, the third Gu told him. "Human, consecrate to me, I can help you escape the Predicaments."
Tears were falling from Ren Zu's eyes; and he said, "Gu ah, what do I have left? Look, Gu of Power and Gu of Wisdom have all left me. And I only have old-age. Compared to my juvenile and middle-age, it might be unworthy. But if I offer you my old-age, then my life would instantly end. Even if I am surrounded by these Predicaments, I will still live even just for half a second more. I still want to live for a longer while; even a second is good enough. Thus, you should go. I can't consecrate to you anymore."
That Gu said, "Among the three, my requirement is the smallest. Human, you only need to give me your heart. That is enough."
"Even if I give you my heart, Gu ah, what could you give me?" Ren Zu said, "This is an impa.s.se. Even if the Gu of Power and Wisdom had both returned to me, they still could not change a single thing."
Compared with the Gu of Power, this Gu was the weakest. It was just a luminous spot. It was also the dimmest in contrast with the Gu of Wisdom. This Gu could only emit faint white light and did not have any bit of gorgeousness or magnificence.
However, after the human had offered his heart to the Gu, this thread of Gu suddenly burst out stunning light, illuminating the entire surroundings. The flock of Predicaments scarily yelled, "This is the Gu of Hope, quickly retreat. We Predicaments are most afraid of hope."
The group of Predicaments then terrifyingly ran away.
Ren Zu widened his eyes. From this moment onwards, he knew -- confronting those Predicaments, he just needed to give his heart to the Gu of Hope.
Concurrently, the Gu of Hope had gathered and turned into a group of light beams, intruding Fang Yuan's body.
Due to external pressure, they had quickly come together to Fang Yuan's stomach, stayed at three cun's[1] below his navel, spontaneously forming a cl.u.s.ter.
Fang Yuan instantly felt that the pressure was decreasing.
He started walking, keep heading forward.
With every step, one by one, the Gu of Hope continuously plunged up from the sea of flowers, gathered around his body and joined the group of light.
The cl.u.s.ter of light was getting bigger as well as brighter.
However, the person in charge on the opposite riverbank was frowning.
"The numbers of the Gu of Hope seems to be quite little." The elderly group who was focusing on Fang Yuan in the dark could not help but feel solemn when seeing this scenery.
The head of the clan had also furrowed his brows. This should not have been the situation that happened to the grade A apt.i.tude.
Under the pressure, Fang Yuan continued walking forward.
"Under ten steps is not having any apt.i.tude for cultivating. Ten to twenty steps is a grade D apt.i.tude. Grade C apt.i.tude ranges from twenty to thirty steps. Thirty to forty steps will be ranked at B grade while forty to fifty is a grade A apt.i.tude. Until now, I have walked twenty-three steps."
"Twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six. . . . . . twenty-seven." Fang Yuan silently counted inside. When he was at the twenty-seventh step, it was as if a loud BANG had resounded, the group of light inside his abdomen had reached its limit, abruptly fiercely exploded.
This explosion only happened inside of Fang Yuan's body. The outsiders could not recognize it. But Fang Yuan had felt an earth-shaking mystery at that time.
In a short while, the hair on his entire body had stood up; pores tightened up, his mentality was like a bow which was vigorously stretched, abruptly tautened.
Quickly after, his head was like a void while his body was getting feeble. It was as if he had fallen on a mountain peak that was surrounded by white clouds. The heartstrings inside of him started to loosen; his hair was getting down as the pores on his entire body were opened up.
Immediately, sweat began to pour out on his body.
This process was neither fast nor short. It came quickly, but also left abruptly.
Fang Yuan was dumbstruck but he seemed to have regained his consciousness just after a blink.
In the dark, he calmed his mind then went on sensing inside of his own body. He instantly discovered an aperture that had appeared out of nothing, laid between his two kidneys underneath his abdomen.
He had success in opening up his aperture!
This was his hope for an immortal life!!
[1] A Chinese's unit of measure. 1 cun = 3.33cm