After night had fallen, Jian Long pushed open the apartment door, staggering from sheer exhaustion.
Every muscle in his body ached after spending the entire day carrying heavy crates around the warehouse.
The moment his eyes landed on Zhou Quan, who was lying comfortably on his bed, he shouted angrily,
"You bastard... I'm going to kill you!"
Zhou Quan didn't even bother replying.
He simply picked up a pillow and tossed it at him.
The pillow struck Jian Long square in the face.
The instant its softness touched his skin, it was as if all the fatigue he had been holding back throughout the day crashed down on him at once.
He staggered forward a couple of steps before collapsing onto the pillow, falling asleep within seconds.
...
The next morning.
"Wake up, Sleeping princess."
Zhou Quan said as he poured a little cold water onto Jian Long's face.
"Ahhh!"
Jian Long sprang to his feet in alarm.
"Wha... what's going on?!"
Zhou Quan chuckled and shook his head.
"You sleep like the dead."
Then he added with a teasing smile,
"I bet someone could kill you a hundred times before you even woke up."
The moment Jian Long heard those words, he remembered everything that had happened the previous day.
Anger immediately flared in his eyes.
He lunged at Zhou Quan, trying to grab him.
But Zhou Quan effortlessly sidestepped the attack.
He smiled smugly.
"Hmph An ant trying to catch a dragon."
Then he shoved a bowl of breakfast into Jian Long's hands.
"Eat your breakfast we're already running late."
After Jian Long finished eating breakfast, Zhou Quan sat down cross-legged in front of him and said,
"By now, you should know that Gu cultivation consists of three fundamental aspects."
He raised three fingers as he counted them.
"First: feeding Gu worms."
"Second: using them."
"And third: refinement."
He lowered two fingers, leaving only one raised.
"You already understand the first two, so the only thing left for you to learn is refinement, and that's what we'll be practicing today."
He pointed toward one corner of the room.
There, two Gu worms rested on a porcelain plate, with a number of refinement materials neatly arranged beside them.
"Yesterday, I went to the Refinement Market and bought the recipe for the Rank Two Lightning Speed Gu, along with all the materials needed to refine it."
Then he added calmly,
"By the way..."
"I paid for all of it out of my own pocket."
"So you'll be paying me back later."
Jian Long smiled sarcastically.
"Of course... of course."
But the moment he finished speaking, his eyes met Zhou Quan's.
The cold, razor-sharp look in Zhou Quan's eyes was enough to send a chill down Jian Long's spine.
Zhou Quan spoke slowly,
"You are going to pay me back...you little bastard or I'll kill you."
Jian Long immediately raised both hands in surrender.
"Yes, yes! I'll pay you back, I promise!"
Deep down, however, he couldn't help thinking,
"Damn... he becomes a completely different person whenever money is involved."
Zhou Quan returned to the subject as though nothing had happened. He placed the two Gu worms and the refinement materials in front of Jian Long before asking,
"Can you identify these two Gu worms? And do you know what each of them does?"
Jian Long looked at them for a moment, recalling the knowledge he had obtained from the Book Gu.
"Of course."
He pointed to the Gu on the right.
"This is Lightning Steps Gu. It greatly increases the user's speed."
Then he pointed to the other one.
"And this is Lightning Transformation Gu. It transforms your body into lightning for one second, allowing enemy attacks to pass right through you as if you were nothing but a bolt of lightning."
As he finished speaking, Jian Long felt a sense of pride.
Being able to recognize Gu worms at a glance made him feel that he had truly become part of the world of Gu Masters.
Zhou Quan nodded.
"Good."
Then he handed Jian Long a small sheet of paper.
"Take a look at the refinement recipe."
Jian Long accepted it and began reading.
"Combine Lightning Steps Gu with Lightning Transformation Gu, then add one drop of Lightning Tears, followed by two primeval stones and one petal of Purification Grass. Repeat this process three times, leaving a thirty-second interval between each repetition."
After finishing, he looked up in surprise.
"That's all?It seems incredibly simple."
A faint smile appeared on Zhou Quan's face.
"Naturally you're only refining a Rank Two Gu."
Then his expression became more serious.
"But don't let the simplicity of the recipe fool you ,refinement is still a difficult process."
"You may fail several times before succeeding, and you might even destroy one of these two Gu worms during the process. If that happens, we'll have to buy a replacement."
He adjusted his posture and continued,
"Before we begin the refinement, we first need to understand this recipe... and how it works."
"And to understand that, we must first understand the anatomy of a Gu."
He picked up one of the Gu worms between his fingers.
"A Gu is a living organism composed of three primary organs the first is the Absorption Organ."
"It absorbs primeval energy. If the Gu is wild, it absorbs it directly from the environment. During refinement, however, it absorbs the Gu Master's primeval essence."
He then pointed to the middle of the worm.
"The second is the Conversion Organ this organ converts primeval energy into the energy of the path in which the Gu specializes."
"In our case, since these are Lightning Path Gu worms, it converts primeval energy into lightning path energy."
Finally, he pointed to the front of the worm.
"The third is the Release Organ, also known as the Output Organ It is responsible for releasing the Gu's effect into the outside world."
He placed the worm back onto the porcelain plate and looked directly at Jian Long.
"But the part that concerns us right now...is the second organ the Conversion Organ."
Then he asked,
"Tell me, why do you think every Gu worm feeds on only a single type of food?"
Jian Long rested his thumb against his jaw as he thought.
"I don't know... could it have something to do with the fact that every Gu worm has only a single effect?"
Zhou Quan smiled.
"Correct."
"The effects we see from Gu worms are nothing more than the result of the fusion between the Gu's food and primeval energy inside its Conversion Organ."
He picked up one of the Gu worms and continued his explanation.
"When a Gu worm feeds, it breaks its food down into its most basic components. It then refines and combines those components in a specific way to extract the substance responsible for its unique effect."
"When the Gu is activated, the Conversion Organ draws a portion of that refined substance from the stomach, where the digested food is stored, and fuses it with primeval energy."
"The result is the Gu's unique ability."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"Every type of Gu possesses a stomach capable of breaking down and refining only a single type of material to produce a single corresponding effect."
"That is why a Gu cannot digest any other kind of food."
He then gave a familiar example.
"Take the Lightning Moon Gu that the Bai clan used while you were still living with them."
"It feeds on Lightning Bamboo."
"Throughout its lifetime, Lightning Bamboo absorbs the lightning bolts that strike it from the sky, storing lightning essence within its stalk."
"When the Lightning Moon Gu consumes it, the bamboo is broken down inside its stomach, and the lightning essence is extracted."
"Later, when that essence is fused with primeval energy inside the Conversion Organ, the primeval energy itself is transformed into lightning energy."