It was still very early in the morning; the sun had yet to rise, and yet Yuxuan was sitting at the table in his kitchen.
He had a warm plate of food in front of him as well as a cup of water; similarly, his servants were also sitting at the table with the same setup.
He was looking at them with an inquiring gaze.
The guard – Ah Niu – was sitting there with his gaze facing the plate of food; he had a busted lip and a black eye as well as various bruises across his body. Thankfully there were no fatal wounds or any that would limit his ability to function.
Yuxuan's eyes shifted to Jing Xiao – she was also injured. Even though hers were not as severe as the others', her cheek was bruised and swollen as if she had been slapped.
Yesterday, when Yuxuan had started to cultivate from early in the morning, he did so continuously for the next twenty-four hours. The natural recovery rate of his A Grade Aperture was very fast – extremely so, at a rate of 12% per hour – and being supplemented with the essence stones, he was able to keep up the process for the full day and full night.
He would have continued to cultivate if the system had not given him a warning to stop in order to not incur suspicion from his 'superiors'.
Right now, Yuxuan was a kid from the mortal branch of the village and had no one to teach him – the fact that he was not in class meant he should not have known how to nurture his aperture.
He also needed to keep some of the primitive stones to make a few purchases, and he had already used the copies that he had made.
Yuxuan was glad that the system could speak to and advise him because he felt that he would not have stopped cultivating till all 20 of his primaeval stones were used up and his progress would be noted by the academy elder – the sovereign immortal body's insane ability to generate thoughts extremely fast and its incredible stamina and lack of need for food and water allowed Yuxuan to cultivate almost constantly.
The fruits of his labour had paid off ever so slightly. The light membrane wall of his rank-one initial stage had been significantly nourished and broken down. If Yuxuan were allowed to spend entire days and nights constantly cultivating, it would take him a short amount of time.
If one wanted an estimate, they would look at the other A Grade talent – Fang Zheng.
Fang Zheng took roughly 2 days longer than Fang Yuan, who took roughly 40 days to reach rank 1 middle stage – he had been cultivating diligently to get over his feelings of inferiority over his brother. Estimate he spent 8 hours doing his daily tasks and attending school, 8 hours sleeping and the other 8 hours cultivating them.
Meaning that over 42 days of cultivating for 8 hours, he was able to reach rank 1 middle stage with his 80% aperture with a significant amount of primaeval stones, which he procured from his aunt and uncle.
If Yuxuan were to cultivate for only 8 hours a day with only 5 primal essence stones used daily, it would take him roughly 32/33 days.
If he were to maintain the cycle of cultivating for twenty-four hours a day with 10 primaeval essence stones, he could reach rank 1 middle stage within a maximum of 12 days.
It was just unfortunate that right now he did not have one hundred and sixty primaeval stones to use right now, and the Essence stone Gu, according to the system, still had 28 days left before it produced the primaeval and immortal essence stones.
But that was besides the point; he had a different concern right now. Gazing at his servants who were sitting at the table as well, Yuxuan had started to interrogate them.
"Why are you 2 hurt?"
There was no response.
Yuxuan was starting to feel a little irritated.
Earlier, when he had come out of the trance of cultivating, he had stepped out of the bed and stretched, groaning in the satisfaction of his body stretching.
It was most likely that groan that had alerted Jing Xiao that he was awake, so she had come to inform him that the warm water for his bath was almost complete. Even though she kept her head down, Yuxuan was able to see her bruised cheek.
After questioning her, she had used the excuse of the food in the kitchen going to burn and that he should go wait in the bathroom for her to bring the water.
Jing Xiao had most likely expected him to do what he had done yesterday – bathe, enter the room and ask not to be bothered; he definitely put up the image of someone who wanted to be left alone.
So when he walked down the stairs and came into the kitchen where she was speaking to Ah Niu, her eyes opened widely.
"I asked you a question."
His tone was a lot harder this time, and both servants felt a chill in their bones as if the being in front of them was not a human but a wolf waiting to strike.
Actually, in their eyes he was probably worse.
News spreads very fast in Gu Yue Village, especially when the news is about the new A-grade talent of the clan who was also the clan head's disciple.
The 'life he lived' as a mortal was investigated, and many things were unearthed, and one of those things was how he had turned 15 at the start of this year and hunted a wild boar on his own as a mortal young boy on his own.
That was a task that several mortal adult men needed to work together to do.
Jing Xiao was a woman, a very delicate one at that – she also had no combat skills, and if she angered Yuxuan, he could simply kill her.
Ah Niu may have been larger and stronger and even had combat ability, but so did Yuxuan, especially if he could solo hunt a wild boar, but even if he could kill the Yuxuan who had no Gu worms
What life would he have after? None
Killing a talent of the clan who had the ability to rise to the position of clan head would not only guarantee his death but may even result in a torture session before he died.
"Forgive us, young master. Yesterday, when you went to rest, 2 of the academy guards were sent to escort you to your classes."
He stopped talking, sending his gaze to the ground, and Jing Xiao continued.
"We told them that you were resting, but they insisted you were called... and you asked to not be interrupted, so I used the excuse that you were cultivating, but they..."
It was not difficult for Yuxuan to determine what had happened even through their cryptic words.
What happened during the first week after the children awakened their aperture?
They had to attend the academy for lessons on how to control their primaeval essence. This was an extremely important aspect to understand, as it would allow one to refine GU and use GU.
It was especially more important for an A-grade talent like him.
It was just unfortunate that the academy elder did not know that Yuxuan already knew how to move the essence in his aperture through natural understanding and advice from the system.
'I should have gone to class...'
All of those facts meant nothing at all, seeing as how the academy leader and the clan as a whole did not know that – to them it seemed that their clan's highest talent simply wanted to sleep, and the mortal servants he had were preventing them from teaching him, and the boy even had the guts to lie and say he was cultivating when he didn't even know how to move his essence.
Both servants looked at the cold look in his eyes and shivered.
Would he punish them for showing their unsightly bruised appearances?
"...I will deal with this issue when I go to class; this won't happen again."
He spoke, taking a bite of the food Jing Xiao had prepared; Yuxuan was not Fang Yuan. He still felt towards others as well – return kindness 2-fold and enmity 10-fold.
It was a rule that even his past self had governed himself by
"Master, we are fine." - Ah, Niu blurted, "Please forget about this issue."
The greatest talent of the clan should not be defending mortal servants.
Yuxuan had already stopped listening to him and stood up.
'System?'
Yes? Do you want the update on your body?
'No, I have a few questions.'
What is it? I will try my best based on the knowledge I possess.
'How much would it cost to buy a jar of green bamboo wine?'
A jar of green bamboo wine is 2 primaeval essence stones per jar.
'And a grass puppet?'
The retail price of a grass puppet is one and a half immortal essence stones; it is recommended to purchase one now as the price will increase soon.
It took Yuxuan a second to realise why, with the competition involving throwing moonblades, the grass puppet gu would be coveted by the students, and so the shopkeeper would increase the price.
'How much would deer meat for 3 people, enough for 3 meals a day for 2 days, cost?'
Mortal deer meat will cost 2 primaeval essence stones.
Moving his hand to the white and blue pouch attached to the cloth belt of his outfit, Yuxuan pulled out five and a half primaeval essence stones and placed them on the table.
"I am not doing what I'm doing for you; attacking my servants is the same as disrespecting me – they also came here and caused a ruckus while I was cultivating, which, if you had not managed to deter them, could have allowed them to interrupt me – I don't think I need to say how dangerous that is?"
Both of their eyes widened slightly, and tears started to swell.
"This is five and a half primaeval stones – go to the shop and buy me a grass puppet, Gu. I also want a jar of green bamboo wine and enough deer meat for 2 days."
It was so odd speaking to another human being like this – but they were not cut from the same cloth; he was a gu master, and they were mortals.
They were worth as much as dogs.
"If someone questions you, tell them they are for me; they will not interfere with you if you are getting materials for the 'clan's future'."
Yuxuan started to walk out of the house located at the corner of the village.
He would have to go to classes from now on – he should have known to go in the first place; even Fang Yuan, with his 500 years of experience, still made sure to be present even if he slept in them.
He would also need to go there to get his goo in a week.
...
Yuxuan was standing outside the academy gates; his eyes were narrowed and his fists were clenched – the classes would begin in about 20 minutes, and students were walking here as well – a few of them were just a handful of breaths away from him.
He decided to come here early to make up for the day before and to deal with an issue.
Here in front of the gates, 2 of the guards were present, and they were currently looking at him with an odd expression.
"I asked you a question: were you the 2 who came to my house yesterday?"
The taller one of the guards decided to respond – "Yes, we were sent to bring you to your class yesterday, but we were told you were cultivating, so we left."
"You just left?"
The shorter one spoke this time – "Yes, we did not want to interrupt while you cultivated."
Yuxuan got a better handle on the situation.
These 2 bastards had decided to feel a little proud of themselves for being academy guards while Ah Niu and Jing Xiao were just servants, but they were his servants.
The other reason they didn't further push into the house was because, in the case that Yuxuan was cultivating and they had interrupted him, they could have caused the waste of an essence stone or even just his primaeval essence, and above all, injury – that was why they left.
"...So you did not attack my servants?"
They both seemed to freeze, sensing a bad premonition – "Ah, they had prevented us from checking on Sir, so we had no choice but to show a bit of strength."
Yuxuan simply stared with a blank gaze; the children gathered around were watching and listening to this odd conversation.
It was a shame that it did not stay a conversation for long.
Yuxuan moved to the tall one first, his leg shooting up in an arc, blasting the man on the head and dislodging the teeth on his left side.
He lowered his foot and watched the man fall to the ground unconscious.
Yuxuan didn't have any martial prowess, but with the sovereign immortal body and its innate insane physical strengths, he could easily make up for the gap in skill with pure strength.
There was a volley of gasps and whispers from the back.
"Do you think because you are an academy guard you can attack my servants? You are still as useless as a dog – just with sharper teeth."
He walked to the shorter one, stepping over the unconscious guard.
The man in his fear had taken out his sabre and gripped it tightly.
Yuxuan was not afraid in the slightest, but he did not need to act.
"What is happening here? You all will be late for class." - The academy elder spoke from behind the guard.
Yuxuan had a clearly angry expression on his face – "These 2 came to my house and beat up my servants."
"All this fuss about 2 mortals?" The elder responded with a curious expression.
Yuxuan had already thought of an excuse.
"I had taken yesterday to rest because I hadn't slept for 2 days in excitement for the awakening ceremony. I woke up and wanted food only to find my servant was too hurt to make my food, and I had to go hungry after waking!"
"Hoho, I see..." the elder laughed.
The guard stood still throughout the conversation; he knew what he did – he just raised a blade against an A-grade talent.
"Do you want their heads?"
The academy elders' voice gained a steely tone, and the voices in the back had silenced – were they going to see a person get killed?
"...No, they just slapped my servant and beat up the other. I want them to suffer the same pain."
The elder thought to himself, 'Fairness and mercy... good qualities for a clan's future.'
The elder raised his hand and slapped the man, his face contorted in pain, and he fell to the ground writhing as his jaw dislocated – the elder was old; he must have used a strengthing gu in his lifetime.
"Come, you missed out yesterday, so we will have to repeat yesterday's lesson."
Yuxuan did not respond; he simply followed.