"Ah, and here it is," Genesis Lotus said as a notification popped up in Fang Yuan's mind.
Critical issue detected!
The Spring Autumn Cicada is going to damage the host's aperture.
There is a sealing method to contain the Spring Autumn Cicada, but it has its drawbacks. Is the host willing to-
Before it could even finish, Genesis Lotus chose for Fang Yuan, picking 'yes.'
Initializing protocol to seal the Spring Autumn Cicada.
"That is all for now, Fang Yuan," Genesis Lotus said. "I mean this truly when I say that I wish you luck for what comes ahead. Perhaps when we meet again we will discuss things further."
Paradise Earth sighed. "Fang Yuan, I'm returning you to your village now."
As the assault on Fang Yuan's mind subsided, the scenery around him shifted as he was now back near the village.
He immediately attempted to use a cultivation blessing to make the Spring Autumn Cicada a guaranteed success and activate it.
The sealing process is already in motion and cannot be interrupted.
A light emerged in his aperture around the Spring Autumn Cicada, and encased it as it then flew out of his aperture, sinking through to the soil of Qing Mao mountain effortlessly.
Spring Autumn Cicada has successfully been sealed within Qing Mao mountain.
Warning: As stated earlier, host cannot move too far away from the location where the vital gu is sealed off, else host will suffer backlash from losing their vital gu. In the case of a Rank 6 Immortal Gu, this will almost certainly be fatal to a mortal!
Fang Yuan grit his teeth.
He was now faced with several problems.
The first was that his cultivation had advanced to Rank 4 Initial Stage, which to anyone else, would've appeared like it happened overnight. No doubt many people would question how this happened, with the most obvious explanation being that he had found some kind of inheritance.
When questioned, how would Fang Yuan explain it away? It was the kind of secret that many would be ready to kill for.
The best thing would be to run away from Qing Mao mountain now, but thanks to Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable, he couldn't do that.
Worst of all was the fact that he was only at Rank 4 Initial Stage, and this was likely also planned by Genesis Lotus as well. He was just weak enough that he might end up not only being suppressed by his own clan head, but if word of a Venerable inheritance got out, by the other two as well. The mere whisper of there being the existence of a Venerable inheritance would be more than enough for the three clans to put their differences aside for the time being.
Were Fang Yuan Rank 5 instead, he would have nothing to fear and could go about as the king of Qing Mao mountain, but he was not at that level yet and would not reach it for a very long time without the assistance of something like Yellow Gold Relic Gu.
Even worse was the fact that he did not have a full set of Rank 4 gu worms yet, and so could not demonstrate the full strength of a Rank 4 Gu Master.
The loss of his vital gu meant that he could not take in a new one, on top of which, he could no longer use the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura to refine gu worms. Until his aperture advanced to Rank 5, he also could not risk retrieving it to see if he could activate it and thereby reduce its burden afterwards. Even now, with it being sealed, he could still sense a faint connection to it slumbering in the depths of Qing Mao mountain. It was good that it was sealed and buried so deep, else not only would it attract all kinds of supernatural phenomenon,
System evaluating host's current predicament.
Rank 4 Training Weights Gu (x 1) has been added to host's inventory.
Fang Yuan retrieved this new gu worm- it had the appearance of a cylindrical block of steel that could've easily been mistaken for just another rock. Thankfully like everything else from the system, it came pre-refined.
As he placed it in his aperture, he found that it had an immediate effect.
Fang Yuan now felt as if he had wandered from the Southern Border into one of the other Four Regions. His cultivation was suppressed by a major realm- going from Rank 4 Initial Stage to Rank 3 Initial Stage.
To someone who had seen Fang Yuan leave earlier, it would be as if his cultivation had not changed at all.
Thankfully, his gu worms were not suppressed at all. Strangely enough, to add to this, it seemed as if his aperture was still generating Rank 4 primeval essence, and it was the Training Weight Gu that was diluting it- effectively doing the opposite of the Liquor Worm. However, because Rank 4 Initial Stage primeval essence was 16 times more concentrated than Rank 3 primeval essence, the essence that filled up Fang Yuan's aperture was nearly 16 times as fast as it would've otherwise been.
'What a strange gu worm... why would anyone use something ? Or can it be used offensively in some matter?' Fang Yuan thought. If there was a way to give it to an enemy, it would greatly cripple their battle strength. However, from the name it seemed to imply that there was an upside to doing so to oneself.
Rank 4 Training Weights Gu only needs primeval essence to feed itself.
That was all the information that Fang Yuan could extract from the system.
Truth be told, there was also a qualitative difference between primeval essence of various ranks, not just quantitative. Although it could be said that Rank 4 essence was worth 16 times the value of corresponding Rank 3 essence, when it came to using Rank 4 gu worms it was not so simple and one would end up using 20-30% more corresponding essence. On top of which, the effect of the Rank 4 gu worm would not be as effective as it would be otherwise.
That was why, despite the increased rate of primeval essence recovery, this was still not equal to being at Rank 4 and there was still a matter of this gu worm greatly suppressing his strength.
'Even if it doesn't need feeding, it wouldn't be worth keeping around normally,' Fang Yuan thought. 'I thought when the system had a solution it would be something to hide my cultivation, not actually suppress it.'
The other drawback was that with this gu worm in his aperture, he couldn't cultivate like he normally could.
For now though, it was time to head back home and consider what his next move would be. Without a doubt, Genesis Lotus had done something that had ultimately hindered him despite the advance in his cultivation rank.
The Spring Autumn Cicada was sealed away and unusable to him right now, and he had a new secret to deal with, forgetting whatever it was that Genesis Lotus said that he would have to deal with in the future.