The sky was distinctively blue, so pure that it seemed as if it had been washed.
The sun was golden and radiant.
Flocks of white clouds drifted by, and a group of colorful sparrow parrots chirped, forming an arrow formation under the blue sky and white clouds, flapping their wings and soaring.
This kind of colorful sparrow parrot only appeared in large numbers during spring. Their bodies were covered in multicolored feathers, and their size was akin to an eagle's. Their heads and beaks were those of a parrot, while their tails were like an elongated peacock's tail.
About ten days had passed since Fang Yuan took first place in the vital Gu refinement assessment.
The spring breeze blew the mountain grass green, wild flowers bloomed in competition, and swarms of bees and butterflies flew intermittently. It was a wonderful spring scene full of surging vitality.
The breath of spring was so rich that even the tall bamboo walls surrounding the martial arts arena could not cover it.
This martial arts arena covered an area of three mu, with flat ground paved with a layer of thick and wide blue-grey stones. Green spear bamboos were transplanted all around. These vivid green bamboo poles stood close to one another, straight and upright, forming a circle of high green walls.
Although the base of the wall was also paved with stone bricks, clumps of green grass had already sprouted in many places. Between the bamboos, wild roses drilled in from the outside and even climbed to the top of the wall.
Fifty-seven fifteen-year-old youths were standing in the martial arts arena at this moment, forming a half-circle and watching the academy elder in the center.
This was a class to teach the youths how to use the Moonlight Gu.
"The Moonlight Gu is the signature Gu insect of our Gu Yue clan, just like the Xiong family's Bear Strength Gu and the Bai family's Stream Gu. The vast majority of people here have chosen the Moonlight Gu as their vital Gu. Watch carefully, next I will personally demonstrate how to urge the Moonlight Gu to attack. For the students whose vital Gu is not the Moonlight Gu, you must also concentrate. This classic long-range attack method can be applied to other Gu insects and has a very wide range of applications."
Saying so, the academy elder stretched out his right hand, spread his five fingers, and lowered his palm so that the youths could all see his palm.
"First, use your mind to mobilize the Moonlight Gu and transfer it to the center of your palm." Following his words, the crescent mark representing the Moonlight Gu moved along the elder's arm to the center of his palm.
"Then, mobilize the primeval essence in your aperture and pour it into the Moonlight Gu." A trace of silver-colored primeval essence surged out from the elder's body, almost imperceptible to the eye, and entered the Moonlight Gu in his palm.
The academy elder was at the Rank 3 realm, and only the primeval essence condensed by a Rank 3 Gu Master was silver in color.
The primeval essence of a Rank 1 Gu Master was commonly known as green copper primeval essence, while that of a Rank 2 Gu Master was known as red iron primeval essence. Only at Rank 3 did it become silver primeval essence.
Absorbing this trace of silver primeval essence, the crescent mark in the center of the elder's hand immediately grew brighter and brighter, emitting a mass of bright light blue radiance even in broad daylight.
"So amazing!"
"How beautiful." Witnessing this scene, the youths could not help but let out gasps of surprise and admiration.
The light blue light, clear as water, flickered faintly in the elder's hand. At first glance, it looked as if the academy elder was holding a handful of moonlight.
The academy elder smiled slightly: "Watch closely. The final step is to launch it out like I am doing."
As he spoke, he slowly brought his open five fingers together, then raised his arm, slowly stretched it straight forward, and finally waved his palm in a gentle chopping motion.
The entire movement was steady and forceful.
Swish.
A soft sound reached the youths' ears.
Following the academy elder's movement, the light blue, water-like light condensed on his palm was flung out just like that.
The light formed a small moonblade in the air. The eerie blue moonblade was only the size of a palm, just like a crescent moon in the night sky. It drew a straight line in the air, and then struck a scarecrow puppet ten meters away.
With a hiss, the thirty-centimeter-thick neck of the scarecrow puppet was cut off by the moonblade. The puppet's body swayed, and its massive head suddenly fell to the ground.
After cutting this scarecrow, the moonblade immediately appeared dimmed. However, it still flew for another distance of about six meters in the air before the crescent gradually faded away and finally dissipated into the air.
Looking again at the neck of the scarecrow puppet, the cut surface was extremely flat, as if it had been severed by the sharpest sickle.
Almost all the youths widened their eyes, looking at this scene in surprise. A few of them involuntarily touched their own necks, astonished by the moonblade's attack power.
After a brief silence, exclamations rang out repeatedly. Some youths had shining eyes, staring at the scarecrow puppet, while others stared at the elder's palm. There were also those whispering to each other, discussing excitedly.
Only Fang Yuan was hidden in the crowd, his face indifferent, remaining calm and collected.
In his previous life, his cultivation reached Rank 6, and he founded the Blood Wing Demonic Sect in the Central Continent. With tens of thousands of sect members, he was hailed as a giant of the demonic path and had an illustrious reputation.
The academy elder was merely a Rank 3 Gu Master. This little trick was simply child's play and could not cause the slightest ripple in Fang Yuan's heart.
"Next, those who have refined the Moonlight Gu, step forward. One scarecrow puppet per person. Following the method I just used, urge your moonblades and practice attacking."
As soon as the academy elder finished speaking, over thirty youths stepped forward.
In this batch, there were over a hundred youths in the whole clan who participated in the Awakening Ceremony. Fifty-seven students had cultivation aptitude. Among them, thirty-five chose the Moonlight Gu. Through their hard work over these days, all of them had refined the Moonlight Gu.
The remaining youths were all of D grade aptitude. It was not that they did not want to refine the Moonlight Gu, but their aptitude was inadequate, so they could only retreat in the face of difficulties.
For the youths of the Gu Yue clan, the Moonlight Gu was no longer just a simple Gu insect, but a symbol of the clan's glory.
Soon, thirty-five youths stood in a row. Directly opposite each person, a scarecrow puppet stood over ten meters away.
Fang Yuan stood in the middle of the line, not drawing any attention.
The practice began.
The youths reached out their right hands one after another, transferring the Moonlight Gu to the center of their palms. Following the injection of green copper-colored primeval essence, the blue crescent marks emitted water-blue radiance one by one.
But when they swung their palms and chopped at the air, only seven or eight crescents flew out. Some of these crescents only appeared for a moment before dissipating quickly. Some only flew two or three meters before suddenly shattering into streams of blue light with a bang. Some flew far enough, but their direction was severely skewed, flying straight up into the sky.
The youths frowned one after another. Watching the elder demonstrate just now, it seemed quite simple. But when they practiced it personally, they realized the crux within. To fire a moonblade and also hit the scarecrow, it was truly not easy.
The elder watched and smiled slightly. He saw this scene every year and was not surprised.
The remaining twenty-two youths could only stand outside the field, watching with envy.
After practicing for five minutes, the youths were gradually able to fire moonblades. For a time, in the air above the martial arts arena, light blue moonblades were flying everywhere.
Some moonblades dissipated halfway, some unfortunately collided together, and some flew out of bounds, skewing in all directions. The ones that could truly hit the scarecrow puppets were only an occasional few moonblades. Of course, this belonged to the situation of a blind cat encountering a dead mouse.
The academy elder began to conduct individual tutoring.
He focused on looking after students with excellent aptitude like Fang Zheng, Mo Bei, and Chi Cheng, patiently correcting their posture mistakes and teaching his own insights. As for a C grade student like Fang Yuan, he only gave a slight pointer or two.
Fang Yuan constantly condensed the blue light in his hand, swinging his palm to chop at the air a few times, condensing without firing, just putting on an act. Seeing that the scene was chaotic at this moment and no one was paying attention to him, his mind moved, and he loosened his control over the Moonlight Gu. Tilting his palm slightly, he made a hand-knife chopping motion in the air.
In order not to attract attention, he did not aim at the scarecrow puppet directly opposite him, but aimed diagonally at one to his front-left.
With a swish, a moonblade swiftly flew out, passed through the chaotic area in the central zone, drew a straight line in the air, and accurately hit the neck of a scarecrow puppet.
The scarecrow trembled, and a large half of its neck was cut by this moonblade. But soon, the severed green grass stalks began to regrow anew, intertwining together, and the wound healed.
This scarecrow puppet was naturally not an ordinary scarecrow, but a Rank 1 Scarecrow Gu, which itself possessed the slight self-healing ability of the plant system.
Unless the scarecrow was cut into two segments at once, the wound would heal as before in a short while.
"Wow, look at this crescent!"
"So amazing, who fired it?"
Moonblades that could hit the scarecrow puppets were already scarce. Fang Yuan's casual strike caused the most significant attack effect so far, and it immediately drew gasps of surprise from the students off the field.
Even the academy elder's attention was drawn over, and he asked: "That crescent just now performed well. Did you fire it?"
With an inquiring gaze, he looked towards a C grade student. Because that puppet corresponded to him.
This male student blinked his eyes repeatedly, appearing somewhat at a loss in the face of everyone's sudden gazes. To tell the truth, the scene was too chaotic just now, with moonblades flying everywhere, and he didn't know if he fired it either.
"But, it seems like it probably might be?" The youth thought, and nodded subconsciously.
The surrounding youths immediately started to see him in a new light.
"Who is he? What's his name?" Some female students successively inquired from the people around them.
"If even he can fire a moonblade, I definitely cannot lose!" A trace of determination flashed across Gu Yue Mo Bei's eyes.
"So it wasn't fired by older brother." Gu Yue Fang Zheng inexplicably let out a sigh of relief. After his uncle and aunt's comfort, he had already recovered from the previous blow.
"Older brother, you got first place last time because of good luck, choosing a Moonlight Gu with a weak will. A Gu Master's cultivation cannot always rely on luck. I will win against you." Fang Zheng cheered himself up secretly in his heart.
"Well done. Continue working hard and grasp that feeling from just now," the academy elder patted this student's shoulder and encouraged with a smile.
The youth immediately nodded excitedly repeatedly, and a different kind of luster emerged in his eyes.
The elder took this opportunity to announce publicly: "Listen well, everyone. This is your homework. Practice well after class, and I will check your results in three days. Whoever has the best results will receive a reward of ten primeval stones. Did you all hear?"
"Oh!" The youths shouted loudly in response. Hearing that there was a primeval stone reward, they could not help but become more excited.
However, just three minutes later, the moonblades flying in the air became gradually sparser.
"Damn it, every moonblade consumes ten percent of primeval essence."
"The moonblade's consumption is too great. I only have C grade cultivation, and my aperture can only store thirty-eight percent of green copper primeval essence. I can only consecutively fire three moonblades."
The youths who had stopped their hands were all sighing.
The academy elder witnessed all of this, remaining calm and collected, but sighed emotionally in his heart: "This is the advantage of having high cultivation aptitude. To use the moonblade is nothing more than four words—practice makes perfect. For those with high aptitude, they store more primeval essence in their aperture, and their primeval essence recovers faster, so they have more opportunities to practice. If the aptitude is a bit lacking, one can also use primeval stones to compensate and strengthen the amount of practice. For those whose aptitude is not high and who have no primeval stones, even if they have the intention to practice, their strength will inevitably fall short of their wishes. Sigh, a Gu Master's cultivation is just this cruel. I should still take more care of those students with high aptitude."