Reverend Insanity - Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Raising Gu Is Like Keeping a Mistress

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The sun had descended.

The sunset was still blazing in the horizon. The mountain range from afar was muffled with a thick layer of ash. Moreover, it was getting darker and darker.

The classes for today had ended as groups after groups of disciples were leaving the schoolhouse.

“We had a great time today. We really did learn a lot. Especially how to use the Moonlight Gu.”

“The Moon Blade soaring in mid-air was really cool. It’s a pity that my aptitude is not enough. In the future, I can only be a logistic Gu Master, and can’t go on a real battlefield.” The youngsters were talking with each other excitedly.

Some people had immediately made some friends.

“Let’s go eat together, then grab some rice wine after, how about that?”

“Sure, it’s a great idea.”

“You guys go first. I have to stop by the store beside the schoolhouse’s Gu Chamber to buy a scarecrow to practice at home.”

....

Fang Yuan walked to the Gu Chamber alone.

The Gu Chamber consisted of many Gus, varying in species. Fang Yuan’s Moonlight Gu was chosen freely from here.

After a period of time, disciples could be able to have a chance to receive a Gu for free. If they wanted to acquire more Gus, there would be a price for it.

For the time being, Fang Yuan didn’t think about refining any other Gu. He went to the spacious store right beside the Gu Chamber.

Seven disciples were standing there, bargaining with the owner for scarecrows.

“Oh, it’s junior brother.” A level one Gu Master was taking charge of the store. He was around twenty-ish. Seeing Fang Yuan coming, he was selling on one side, while taking the initiative to greet Fang Yuan on the other side.

Fang Yuan had unexpectedly just found out that that Gu Master was Jiang Ya. The young Gu Master that had taught those hunters a lesson back at the tavern.

“So it is senior brother.” Fang Yuan nodded without changing his expression.

Jiang Ya took out a scarecrow from behind the counter, putting it in front of a disciple, but smilingly turned to Fang Yuan and genially asked, “Junior brother also came to buy a scarecrow? I will leave one for you for only for three Primeval Stones. This thing sells fast. I only have seven left here. There won’t be any left if you wait until later.”

He was arrogant and nasty toward ordinary humans. But to people like Fang Yuan, his attitude was much more friendlier.

Fang Yuan shook. He felt ridiculous inside: This Jiang Ya really knew how to sell stuff. A scarecrow was only made from the Scarecrow Gu. Including the Primeval Essence being put into it, the price should not be any more than one and a half Primeval Stones.

“Senior brother, you are not fair. First-come, first-served, why are you keeping one for him?”

“Exactly, we came here sooner. There are also regulations when it comes to business.”

“There it is then. I will give you the Primeval Stones, give me the scarecrow then.”

The young men standing at the store were all anxious after hearing that there were only seven left. They didn’t even bother to bargain anymore but took out the Primeval Stones one after another.

Quickly thereafter, seven people satisfyingly left.

“Does junior brother want to buy scarecrow?” Jiang Ya smiled and asked, “Although I said they were out, there is still one more left, I hid it. If junior brother doesn't buy it now, you won’t have another chance.”

Fang Yuan wasn’t interested in the scarecrows. He shook his head, taking a Primeval Stone out and putting it on the counter, “I will buy ten petals of Moon Orchid.”

Jiang Ya was dumbstruck. He intensely stared at Fang Yuan then took the Primeval Stones, pulled open a drawer under the counter, and took out a paper bag, “Ten petals of Moon Orchid, you can check it.”

Fang Yuan took a look at it. After discovering no flaws, he left the store.

Gu needed to be raised.

A Gu Master refined Gu, used Gu, but also needed to raise Gu.

Refining Gu was tough; one could be in a situation where they were caught off-guard by a dangerous backlash. Using a Gu was not easy, one needed to practice more. Knowledge for raising Gu was even more wide-ranging and profound because there were numerous types of Gu. Their food was also exceedingly strange.

Some needed to eat soil, or light, or taking up tears, or sucking the Qi of the Ninth Heaven’s Cloud.

Talking about the three Gus that Fang Yuan was having right now, the Moonlight Gu ate Moon Orchid’s petals, twice a day, one in the morning, and one at night. It would eat two petals per meal. The wine worm had to drink wine. A jug of Green Bamboo Wine could last four days. The Spring and Autumn Cicada was even more eccentric. It directly drank the water of the River of Time to maintain its vitality.

The River of Time supported the operations of this world. It was not as far as the horizon but was right under one’s nose. It flowed inside every person.

Every movement of each living entity needed the actuation of time.

Time was like flowing water, rapidly passing by. The River of Time was insubstantial and invisible while all living things were existing and living inside the river’s water.

After buying the Moon Orchid’s petals, Fang Yuan walked to the tavern to purchase the Green Bamboo Wine.

The Wine Gu could also drink unfiltered wine or rice wine to keep on living. However, once it had drunk such a second rated wine, the volume was much higher. It had to be several jugs a day. Fang Yuan had thought about it. It would be much better off buying the Green Bamboo Wine directly. Not only was it is more cost-effective compared to the second rated wine, but the others also wouldn’t find him suspicious.

“Young master, you are here again.” The tavern’s servant had already remembered Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan directly threw three Primeval Stones to him, familiarly said, “Give me a jug of Green Bamboo Wine, and some good food. Keep the change here; I will take care of the rest when the month ends. If this is not enough, I will give you more. If not, you keep the change.”

Although he was staying at the schoolhouse’s dorm right now instead of this tavern, he still came here for food whenever he went to buy wine.

“Alright. Young master, please sit over here. The wine and food will be served immediately.” The servant replied, leading Fang Yuan to his seat. He took out the towel on his shoulder, carefully wiped the table and chairs, then left.

It was like what the servant had just said. The wine and food were served immediately.

As Fang Yuan eating, he was also calculating inside, “One Primeval Stone could buy ten petals of the Moon Orchid which the Moonlight Gu consumes four of them a day. Whilst a jug of the Green Bamboo Wine just costs two Primeval Stones; it could have at least sustained the Wine Gu for four days. In other words, just to raise these two Gus, I will need to spend around one Primeval Stone each day.”

It looked little, but in fact, it was already quite a high rate of consumption. A typical family of four only needed one Primeval Stone to cover their living expenses for a whole month.

It had been sixteen days from the time that he had refined the Gu. Just for raising the Gu, Fang Yuan would waste fourteen and a half Primeval Stones.

“From the hidden legacy of Hua Jiu, then taking the Primeval Stone bag from Fang Zheng, and the reward for coming in first, the total Primeval Stones I have right now is forty-four and a half. However, I have used up six and a half of them in refining the Gu, another fourteen and a half for raising the Gu, and another half for living expense. Hence, I am left with twenty Primeval Stones.”

Fang Yuan took out his bag. As he opened it, Primeval Stones were being put inside.

These Primeval Stones were of an ash-gray hue. They were oval shaped which were about the size of a duck’s egg with similar volume.

After counting it really came out to be twenty that were left.

In other words, if Fang Yuan couldn’t find some money, he would only be left with enough Primeval Stones to last him half of a month. He was different from those at his age. They all had, more or less, assistance from their families or friends. Particularly for Gu Yue Mo Bei, and Gu Yue Chi Cheng, they have never lacked of Primeval Stones.

But Fang Yuan could only find a way by himself.

“Aunt and Uncle have cut off my living expense. However, the clan’s schoolhouse will give their students three Primeval Stones as an allowance each weekend. It seems like I should show off something at the examination in using the Moon Blade three days later to take the ten Primeval Stones reward.” Fang Yuan thought as he was eating.

He was at a growing age. Without knowing, he had eaten all the food.

Taking the sealed Green Bamboo Wine jug, Fang Yuan left the tavern.

“Young master, young master.” The servant chased after him, “I will tell young master this. Not more than a month later, a caravan will come to our mountain stronghold. Generally, they will collect all of the Green Bamboo Wine in our tavern. Young master only loves Green Bamboo Wine; you even come each week to buy several jugs. The owner has ordered me to tell young master this. We only have a limited amount of Green Bamboo Wine. After selling it to the caravan, I’m afraid that not much will be left.”

“So it is like that?” As Fang Yuan listened to him as he slightly furrowed his brows.

Understanding the other’s implication, Fang Yuan had five hundred years of experience over this. The tavern’s servant and the young Gu Master Jiang Ya implied the same thing. However, Fang Yuan could naturally tell, Jiang Ya was lying while this servant was telling the truth.

This was quite troublesome. Fang Yuan needed to raise the Wine Gu. In the long run, the amount of wine he needed would be massive.

If this tavern didn’t have enough of that, later on, he could only use the second rate wine to raise the Wine Gu.

He couldn’t be drinking several jugs of wine each day. After a period, people would be suspicious.

Thinking about it, Fang Yuan took out ten Primeval Stones, “I will take five jugs. Bring it to the schoolhouse’s dorm with me.”

“Yes, young master.” The servant received the Primeval Stones.

Without proper storing methods, the petals of the Moon Orchid could only be kept for about five days. Hence, Fang Yuan only bought one bag a day. However, the Green Bamboo Wine could be kept for long. There would be no problems in regards to this.

A few servants then followed Fang Yuan to the schoolhouse’s dorm. As they put the jugs underneath his bed, they all took their leave.

Looking at the decreasing amount of money in his bag, Fang Yuan deeply sighed.

Refining Gu was tough but raising it was not easy as well.

He didn’t have to practice using the Gu thanks to his accumulated experiences from five hundred years ago. This meant his Primeval Essence wouldn’t be wasted. He could save a significant amount from this.

Those at his age would have to use their Primeval Stones to practice using the Moonlight Gu. Wanting to increase their proficiency, they would need to practice more and more. If their Primeval Essence was being wasted much, and if their recovering speed was too low, they could only replenish it by using the Primeval Stones. Buying a scarecrow had already cost three Primeval Stones even. This was all about money.

“I’m lucky that my Spring and Autumn Cicada only eat time, but not any other food. If not, I would be broke soon. Basically, I won’t be able to bear the costs.” Fang Yuan suddenly felt incredibly lucky.

The higher the class that the Gu was, the larger its quantity of food would be, or it would be exceedingly rare, even harder to raise. A level two standard Gu would have used at least one to two Primeval Stones a day.

It was good that one could buy the food for it. There were some types of food for Gu that were incredibly hard to find. They basically weren’t sold on the market.

Like the Spring and Autumn Cicada’s food was time. This was even rarer.

There is an idiom that said money couldn't buy time.

No matter how much money you have, can you buy time?

You cannot!

Theoretically speaking, there was no limit to the number of Gus a Gu Master could refine. If you wanted, ten, a hundred, or even a thousand Gus were still possible. One could refine how many Gus as he desired.

But, in fact, a typical Gu Master only had around four to five Gus.

Why?

The biggest reason was that they couldn’t raise them all.

The higher the quality of a Gu was, the more expensive the cost of raising them would be. This would always cause too many troubles for the Gu Master.

Another reason was that they couldn’t use them all.

Urging the Moonlight Gu to release a Moon Blade attack had already wasted ten percent of Primeval Essence. A grade C aptitude Gu Master could only activate the strike for three to four times before using up their Primeval Essence inside the vain apertures.

Raising numerous of Gus but being unable to use them, then wouldn’t it be useless?

Therefore, a quote was being spread among the Gu Masters.

Raising Gu is like keeping a mistress.

Keeping a mistress, one would need to buy food, clothing, houses, etc. It was incredibly costly. A normal person wouldn’t be able to keep many.

Nonetheless, even if they could, a man’s energy was limited. Hence, they wouldn’t be able to use them all. Being addicted to raising one for no intentions?

The level of a Gu Master was enhanced, carried along the quality of food for his Gu. Hence, don’t say a Gu Master didn’t know how to restrict their Gu’s quantity. Typically, a Gu Master would only raise four to five of the same-level Gus.

If it were more than this, the Gu Master would soon be broke!