The aperture was a thing of surpassing mystery. Though it was lodged within Fang Yuan’s body, it did not share the same space as his internal organs. You could call it infinitely vast, and you could just as well call it infinitely small. Some called it the Purple Palace. Others called it the Flowery Pool. Most, however, called it the Primeval Sea Aperture. This was what the Hope Gu had become: burst apart, then drawn together into a single layer of light. It was precisely this membrane of light that held the aperture together and kept it from collapsing.
Within the aperture, naturally, lay the primeval sea. The water lay smooth as a mirror, a sheet of jade green, yet viscous beyond any water, and it carried the sheen of bronze. This was the bronze primeval essence that only a Rank I Gu Master possessed, condensed together. Commonly, it was called the bronze sea. The surface of the sea did not reach half the height of the aperture. It stood at only forty-four percent. This too was the limit of a Grade C aptitude. Every drop of that water was primeval essence. It represented the condensing of Fang Yuan’s essence, qi and spirit, and it stood for the vital potential he had accumulated over fifteen years.
It was with this primeval essence that a Gu Master drove his Gu worms. Which was to say, from this moment on, Fang Yuan had formally stepped into the ranks of Rank I Gu Masters. The aperture was open. No more Hope Gu flowed into Fang Yuan’s body. Fang Yuan withdrew his attention. He felt only that the pressure ahead was as thick and solid as a wall, and that he could not advance another step.
“Just as in my previous life.” He gave a faint, indifferent smile at the result.
“Can you go no further?” The academy elder called from across the river, still clinging to that one chance in ten thousand.
Fang Yuan simply turned and walked back, answering him by action. At that, even the youths finally caught on. At once there was a rising buzz, and the crowd erupted.
“What? Fang Yuan walked twenty-seven steps?”
“So he only has Grade C aptitude?!”
“Unbelievable. A genius like him, only of Grade C?”
An uproar swept through the crowd.
“Brother…” In the crowd, Gu Yue Fang Zheng raised his head and stared in shock at Fang Yuan wading back across the river. He could not believe the scene before him. His own elder brother was only of Grade C?
He had always believed his elder brother would be of Grade A aptitude. No, not only he. His uncle and aunt, and many others in the clan, had believed the same. And yet now, this was the result!
“Damn it. Only of Grade C!” The Gu Yue clan leader clenched his fists in secret and let out a deep sigh. His disappointment was plain beyond any words.
Among the elders watching in secret, some knitted their brows, some lowered their heads in discussion, and some tipped their heads back and let out a long sigh.
“Could there be an error in the test?”
“How could it be? The method is accurate beyond compare, and with us watching throughout, even cheating would be difficult.”
“But then how do you explain his earlier performance, and his talent?”
“The higher a youth’s primeval sea aptitude, the more he will indeed display qualities beyond the ordinary. Intelligence, comprehension, memory, strength, agility and so on. But the reverse does not hold. Those qualities do not mean the aptitude must be high. In the end, the test result is what decides.”
“Haa. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The Gu Yue clan grows worse with every generation.”
* * *
The icy river water soaked through his socks, cold enough to bite at the bone. Fang Yuan walked on, his face as expressionless as ever. The distance closed, and he could see clearly the heavy look on the academy elder’s face, and could feel keenly the eyes of more than a hundred youths fixed on him. In those eyes there was astonishment, there was shock, there was mockery, there was delight at his misfortune, there was sudden understanding, and there was cold indifference. The scene was identical, and it drew Fang Yuan’s thoughts back to his previous life.
Back then he had felt as if the sky had come down. He had missed his footing crossing the river and gone sprawling, soaked through and out of his wits. And not one person had put out a hand to him. Those disappointed, indifferent faces and eyes had been like sharp knives slicing his heart away piece by piece. His thoughts had run wild, and a dull ache had spread through his chest. It was like falling from the clouds to the ground. The higher one stood, the harder one fell.
But in this life, standing once more in such a scene, Fang Yuan was utterly calm. He thought of that legend. When predicaments come, entrust your heart to hope. And now that hope lay within his own body. It was not a great hope, but it was already better than those with no aptitude for cultivation at all. If others were disappointed by it, then let them be disappointed. What of it? What is the disappointment of others to me? What matters is that one keeps hope in one’s own heart!
Five hundred years of living had taught him one truth. What makes a life interesting is the pursuit of one’s own dreams. There is no need to demand that others withhold their disappointment, or grant their approval.
Go your own way, and let others be disappointed, let them disapprove!
“Haa…” The academy elder let out a deep sigh, then called again. “Next. Gu Yue Fang Zheng.”
No one answered.
“Gu Yue Fang Zheng!” The elder shouted, and his voice went humming and echoing through the karst cavern.
“Ah? Here, I’m here!” Fang Zheng tore himself free of his shock and hurried forward, only to stagger underfoot. He went straight over in a tumble and fell with a splash, rolling, as luck would have it, right into the river.
At once, laughter broke out across the whole cavern.
“The Fang brothers. Nothing more than this.” The Gu Yue clan leader gave a cold snort, and a certain distaste for Gu Yue Fang Zheng rose in him as well.
“Now I’ve really disgraced myself!” Fang Zheng thrashed hard a few times in the water, but he could not get to his feet at all, for the riverbed was slick. All his effort only made him look clumsier. Burst after burst of laughter reached his ears, and he grew more flustered still.
But just then he felt a great force yank at him, and his head came up out of the water at last. His body found its balance. He wiped his face in a sorry state and looked and saw that it was his elder brother Fang Yuan, gripping him by the collar and hauling him up.
“Brother…” He opened his mouth to speak and only choked on water, which set off a violent fit of coughing.
“Haha, the Fang brothers, a matched pair of wretches!” Someone on the bank jeered aloud.
The laughter grew louder still, and the academy elder did not step forward to stop it. He frowned deeply, filled with disappointment. Fang Zheng was at a complete loss, and then his elder brother’s voice came at his ear. “Go on. The road to the future will be interesting.” Fang Zheng’s mouth fell open in surprise. Fang Yuan had his back to the crowd just then, so no one on the bank could see clearly. But Fang Zheng felt his calm distinctly, and saw that as he spoke the corners of his mouth even curved faintly upward, letting slip a deep, savouring trace of a smile.
“He’s obviously only of Grade C aptitude. So why is my elder brother still this calm?” Fang Zheng filled with doubt in spite of himself.
Fang Yuan said nothing further. He patted Fang Zheng on the back, turned, and walked away. Still dazed, Fang Zheng walked toward the flower field.
“I’d never have thought my elder brother could be this calm. If it were me, I’m afraid…” His head was down and he walked on without thinking, not knowing that he was in the middle of staging a miraculous performance.
By the time he came to himself with a start, he was standing deep in the flower field, at a distance no one before him had reached.
Forty-three steps!
“Heavens, Grade A aptitude!!!” The academy elder cried out, all composure gone.
“Grade A? Truly Grade A?!”
“Three years! At last the Gu Yue clan has produced another genius of Grade A aptitude!”
The elders watching in secret cried out at the same moment, their dignity abandoned entirely.
“Mm. The Fang lineage split off from our Chi lineage to begin with, so this Gu Yue Fang Zheng will be taken in by my Chi lineage.” Gu Yue Chi Lian announced it on the spot.
“How could that be? What virtue, what ability do you have, Chi Lian, you old geezer? Hampering other people’s children is the one talent you do have. Better to hand the child to me, Gu Yue Mo Chen, to bring up.” Gu Yue Mo Chen reacted as if a jolt had gone through him, and roared at once.
“None of you will contend for him. No matter who grooms this child, none will do it as well as this clan leader in person. Anyone with an objection is opposing me, Gu Yue Bo!” The Gu Yue clan leader’s eyes were bloodshot, he had gone into a frenzy, his earlier disappointment and dejection were swept away.