The wind was howling.
Kao Dao Ji stood close to a bonfire in the middle of a snowstorm.
Consecutively and rapidly, he threw several materials onto the flames, whilst his arms kept spinning in an elliptical pattern.
From his fingertips, one could see Yin Qi brewing.
The tides of Yin Qi intensified with every movement.
Until finally.
Lighting befell the bonfire.
The flames sprouted in every direction, becoming white.
At the very epicenter, one Gu was born.
A white piece of ice.
But if one were to look at its insides, one would notice a spiraling black half-sphere continuously spinning around.
[Yin-Attractor Crystal Gu]
Kao Dao Ji activated the Gu with his Rank 2 Middle Stage Primeval Essence.
And as he did, there was a sudden resonance.
His whole body began to shine in a black light.
And as if there was a vacuum surrounding his body, the surrounding Yin Qi began to get pulled towards his body.
Kao Dao Ji lifted his arm and observed it.
It looked almost identical to that of an ink man.
With an oily black tone and a sense that the skin itself was liquid.
Yin Qi flew through his veins and body.
Unfortunately, the changes were mostly aesthetic; Yin Qi was like ink permeating and sticking to his flesh, yet it lacked the substance of a real object.
Which meant that even as a defense, it was far too subpar; it was as if he was covered from head to toe by paper.
But.
At the next moment, a second Gu, a third, and a fourth Gu were activated in sequence.
His body grew taller and taller, yet its width did not increase in the slightest; on the contrary, it turned skinnier and skinnier.
Elongated hands, larger than his head, could be seen, whilst his hips merely shrank, turning smaller than his torso.
The breasts also shrank slightly and began to hang like those of an old woman.
Whilst the stomach contracted.
Finally, the golden, lustrous hair had turned completely pale white and was floating mid-air.
More than the beautiful woman he had previously been turned into, he now looked like a ghoul.
The transformation rapidly receded.
Kao Dao Ji sighed down.
Just that slight show of force had consumed twenty percent of his Primeval Essence (of a maximum of 50). Whilst the transformation was very powerful, it was also very heavy in Primeval Essence consumption.
"The inheritance….Truly was bountiful; its potential is great, yet. Its lack of immediate power is too obvious, even now I am almost defenseless…" Kao Dao Ji muttered.
Taiji Shen's inheritance was unlike any inheritance he had ever seen.
First off, there was no trial. Or rather, entering into the inheritance ground itself was the trial.
Secondly.
There were no Gu Worms, or rather, every Gu Worm inside had long since perished of hunger.
The only ones who still lived were those creating the barrier.
But the barrier was too convenient to remove, and it was also a risky endeavor; hence, he did not dare to do so yet.
Fortunately. Taiji Shen foresaw that such a situation could occur, so the inheritance not only contained Gu but also contained every single Gu Recipe he had created and/or discovered, and it also contained several Mortal Materials.
Those materials ranged from Rank 1 to 3, and they were all covered in a deep layer of snow, preserving them.
Alas, the only bad aspect was the lack of immediate power and the fact that Kao Dao Ji's Refinement Attainment was rather weak.
But from another angle, this was also advantageous.
The Dream Realm was rather curious; many times the results were skipped, and he suddenly woke up days or even weeks later.
And sometimes he lived the entire day without missing a single second.
Kao Dao Ji more or less figured out why.
Dream Realms were biased regarding the subconscious memories of a person, as well as the emotions they felt during such times.
For example, in a Dream Realm, you'd rarely see yourself shitting in the bathroom, even though you did that every day.
But things like birthdays, weddings, and the like were preserved almost perfectly.
This was also why Dream Realms were by nature rather dramatic, because emotion was what gave them shape.
Still, as he said, this was not entirely bad.
While this Dream Realm did not give attainment like those of Fang Yuan, that did not mean he could not learn on his own.
Disregarding the skipped time, he had still spent quite a long time here.
During this period, his understanding of the Refinement Path had deepened greatly, and he had also devised several Yin-Yang Recipes and held plenty of inspiration.
One must not forget that he had only achieved Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang, but had yet to fuse both sides together.
And while Shung Mia Yin had failed at this, who said he would fail too? He had progressed rather rapidly and was now receiving the perfect Dream to perfect his vision.
Perhaps Yin-Yang fusion was the only way to get out of his predicament in the real world.
Unfortunately, this was not a training ground, but a Dream Realm.
And Dreams would sooner or later end, and so would the good times.
Kao Dao Ji sighed.
Food was an issue, and because the flora and fauna had basically all perished or ran away, there was very little food to be found.
Truth be told, whilst wasteful, he had actually consumed several Gu Materials by now.
After all, a Gu Material could be in the shape of meat, wheat, rice, and so on.
And while it satiated his hunger for a while, he was beginning to run out of stock.
And while the blizzard had already receded, that good news was not precisely ideal either.
His speed of Cultivation depended on finding cold places to meditate.
Still, the situation was not hopeless; even ignoring the blizzard, there were several icy locations on this continent, and many other locations were still heavily affected by the blizzard.
"The beasts are migrating once more. When the blizzard begins, they migrate to hotter locations or towards rivers.
But once it recedes, they once again return to their previous habitats.
While food will be more abundant, the danger will also skyrocket.
Without Rank 3 Cultivation, travelling will be very difficult.
And even hunting will become rather risky.
Of course, as long as I remain in the area, Rank 2 Cultivation should be enough, but even then, just to be safe, I should have Rank 2 Upper or Peak Cultivation." He bit his lips; he, of course, understood.
That no matter how much he wanted to, he still lacked the time.
Maybe if there was any Relic Gu, perhaps he could pull the miracle.
But frankly, it was already impressive enough that he had reached Rank 2 Middle Stage this quickly.
"What do I do? Do I remain in the cave risking my life hunting down beasts or…I go back to civilization?"
That was a question that plagued him.
Northern Plains were a dangerous place, especially for a beautiful woman with limited cultivation.
"That is right…For a beautiful woman." Kao Dao Ji's eyes shone.
In that moment, he had another idea.
Once more, he activated [Yin-Attractor Crystal Gu], but he decreased the output.
And then barely sustained it.
His skin had turned almost completely black, but not in an unnatural way.
It looked like that of a very, very black person.
"…I am not racist." Kao Dao Ji muttered to himself.
"But. The people of this world are. If I turn my skin black, fewer people will be interested in me." Then he turned his glance towards his golden hair.
While several Gu and methods employed long hair in the inheritance, long hair was often associated with women.
He also did not feel compelled to look attractive to the masses.
And so, after returning to the cave, he took a dagger and directly slashed the hair.
Cutting it down almost entirely.
…
The Dream Realm distorted itself.
Kao Dao Ji stared at his reflection.
Through minimum output, his skin looked brownish; he could sustain the effect for at least a couple of hours, and it was very hard to perceive that he was using a Gu Worm to achieve this, as the energy required to sustain it was lower than the activation of a Rank 1 Gu.
He was wearing long robes and even a grey hood to cover most of his face and body.
He also padded his clothing to look fatter.
After all those preparations, he felt ready to return to civilization.
Before setting out to travel, he refined three Rank 1 Gu.
And then prepared.
He noticed footsteps from other people dating back some weeks, and he followed them slowly.
…
The Dream Realm changed.
He appeared before a merchant caravan.
The disguise he was wearing was almost flawless, and the long robes made his presence rather inconspicuous.
A Rank 2 Gu Master walking at a caravan, one among many.
Nothing special.
Kao Dao Ji sighed; perhaps he had been too paranoid.
From his Aperture, he summoned three Rank 1 Gu.
And he began to shout.
"I am selling three Gu. Yin Qi Gu, Nail Projectile Gu, and Cold Wave Gu. I will only accept Primeval Stones for this exchange, and I will only accept the highest bidder. Those interested, please give a price."
Many people remained uninterested, but a few raised their voices.
Especially a lewd-looking man whose Cultivation was of Rank 3.
"What a melodious voice! And yet…It came from someone like you, what a waste." He shook his head in disappointment after staring at his skin tone.
Another man snickered.
"What are you hiding your face for? Afraid of being raped? But who will do so, a monkey in heat?"
Kao Dao Ji clenched his fists and lowered his head.
"You are so fucking lucky we are in a dream realm, and I don't have my powers…" He thought, whilst concealing his hatred.
Still, despite the disturbances, there were quite a few people interested.
"What does Nail Projectile Gu do?"
"Oh? As its name implies, it shoots your nails towards your target; their speed and piercing power are exceptional. But the only downside is that, if not supplemented by other Gu, you can only wait until your nails grow again before being able to use it."
"Is that so?" "What about…"
They kept discussing at the market; in the end, Kao Dao Ji managed to get over a hundred Primeval Stones after a successful trade.
Then he strolled through the market, and he prioritized mainly for food.
But after buying enough food to last for over a month, he then pursued Gu Materials, especially those of lower Ranks.
Due to all the recipes he held, which were very optimized, and the fact that he had shown a decent control over the refinement process, he believed he could turn a profit by refining mortal Gu.
Whilst not amounting to much, perhaps it would enable him to sustain his Cultivation needs for several years.
Finally.
During this time, he also asked for the location of very cold places, which had yet to unfreeze.
…
The days, weeks, and months passed by.
His 50% of Aptitude together with the almost triple speed of Cultivation (minus the expenditure of Warming Gu to not die of frostbite) made his speed of Cultivation surpass even those with a Rank A Aptitude.
The only downside was that he could not travel as freely as he wished to.
Furthermore, he had to be more and more cautious as more and more beasts began to appear, but that was not devoid of a positive effect.
At the very least, he was able to hunt down plenty of meat during this period.
His life was, despite everything, relatively stable.
During this period, he even reached Rank 2 Upper Stage.
…
Like many other times, he followed the traces of a merchant caravan, and once more he joined the crowd.
"Oh? Miss Gui Hui?" Several people turned their faces as they saw the robed figure approaching.
Initially, Kao Dao Ji was rather cautious, merely selling Rank 1 Gu and selling only a few on each occasion.
But as he repeated the process over and over again, soon people understood that he was actually a Gu Refinement Expert.
Despite this, not many were interested in stealing from him.
Even though he sold Gu, he did so rather unfrequently; clearly, he was the kind of mediocre Refinement master who barely broke even and who merely kept refining Gu with the hope of one day becoming good at it.
Of course, the truth was rather different.
Kao Dao Ji made use of those materials; many were useful at enhancing the cold environment at a location, whilst other objects were merely stockpiled.
Stored until he reached Rank 3 and began to refine Rank 3 Gu, or simply bought to pretend to be worse at refinement than he truly was.
"I am selling the Rank 2 Gu, Heat Dissipation Gu, and Yin Qi Gu."
Many people looked interested in his wares, and after a short discussion.
He sold those Gu.
He bought a few of Rank 2 Materials and then left.
Unlike the previous times, he did not waste his money, but instead planned to use the stones as fuel to nurture his ascension.
Unfortunately.
This time, he had been too ambitious.
Selling two Rank 2 Gu at once crossed too many lines.
From a distance, four Rank 2 Gu Masters followed his footsteps silently.