章 16: Chapter 16 - Awakening Ceremony III

Listening to the discussion of the people around him Fang Yuan sneered.

He shook his head and cleared all unwanted thoughts. He knew that as soon as it was announced that he had C grade talent, he would be surrounded by enemies and suffer harsh, disdainful coldness for a long time. He knew all of it from the memories that he has inherited, as such he needed to prepare himself mentally to not be affected by this.

Fang Yuan turned his head to look at his younger brother and seeing the state he was in Fang Yuan sighed.

The scheming of his Uncle and Aunt created unhappiness in his younger brother's heart and caused a rift to form between the two brothers.

'If I take a step back and give in to him now, he will only keep stepping on my head, to unload fifteen years of unjust treatment that he suffered at the hands of aunt and uncle on me. This idiot will refuse to admit that the ones who wronged and used him are aunt and uncle, he will continue to suppress and vent his feelings on me. As such, there is no need for me to bother with this idiot and besides, soon after the awakening ceremony aunt and uncle will tell us that they want to adopt us, and this guy will agree to it in a heartbeat discarding our birth parents without a second thought not realizing that uncle and aunt scheme to swallow our parent's assets.' Fang Yuan thought. 'Since he wants a loving family then let him have it. As long as you don't get in my way, then you can scram, I won't care about you.'

Soon Fang Yuan reached the clan pavilion, there over a hundred youths in their late teens had gathered. The clan pavilion was in the middle of the village, it was five-storeyed and having sharply tilted roofs; it was heavily guarded. In the pavilion was the shrine of the Gu Yue ancestor memorial tablets. Every generation of clan heads had lived in the pavilion. With every major ceremony or big incident, the clan elders would gather and discuss meetings here as well. This was the entire village's authority central.

"Good, all of you are punctual. Today is the Awakening Ceremony; it is your life's great turning point. I won't say much, just come with me." The one responsible for the moment, the academy elder with his white hair and beard, was in high spirits as he led the youths in their late teens into the underground cave through the pavilion.

The underground cave was beautiful, stalactites sparkling with the colors of the rainbow shining on the youth's faces, making them let out surprised and amazing noises.

Hundreds of years ago, the Gu Yue clan came to Qing Mao Mountain and settled down after migrating from the central lands to the southern border. It was then they found a spirit spring in this underground cave. This spirit spring produces many primeval stones – it could be said that this was the foundation of Gu Yue village.

After walking for several hundred steps and turning a corner they came before a wide underground river that emitted a faint blue light, the river flowed from the dark depths of the cave.

Opposite the river was a sea of Gu Yue Clan's closely cultivated moon orchids. The moon orchid is food for a lot of Gu.

"Wow, so pretty." (Girl A)

"It is beautiful" (Girl B)

The new sight opened the young teenagers' eyes. Each one of them had a light radiating from their gaze with excited and anxious feelings.

"Alright, listen as I call your names. Those who are called must walk through this river to the opposite bank. Walk as far as you can, of course, the further you go the better it is. Are you all clear?" The elder said.

"All clear." The youths replied. The youths had all been told by their family members that the further they walked the better their talent will be and as such the brighter their future will be.

"Gu Yue Chen Bo." The elder held the name list and called out the first person.

Like this, the awakening ceremony started. As the academy elder called out the names the respective person would step out and walk through the river. Some youths had the talent and awakened as a Gu Master, while others failed and had to carry on with their lives as normal people.

Not everyone has the natural talent to be a Gu Master. It is not bad if five out of ten people have talent. In the Gu Clan, this ratio is higher, reaching six people. This is because the Gu Yue clan's ancestor – The first-generation clan leader was a famous, legendary, and powerful man. Due to cultivation reasons, his bloodline carried powerful genes, thus the average quality of talent in the Gu Yue clan was generally higher as they carried his blood in their veins.

Fang Yuan stood by the side and watched with indifference as some youths got their wish and awakened as a Gu Master and some failed and left dejectedly.

Soon the academy elder called out Gu Yue Mo Bei's name. The horse-faced youth walked out to cross the river and without much suspense reached 36 steps and became a B grade talent.

After Gu Yue Mo Bei, the academy elder called out Gu Yue Chi Chen's name. Same as Gu Yue Mo Bei, Gu Yue Chi Chen after walking straight for 36 steps stopped and became another B grade talent.

'According to the memories I inherited this Gu Yue Chi Chen cheated during his awakening ceremony. Let's make use of that in the future.' Fang Yuan decided to make use of this.

As he had swallowed the soul of the original Fang Yuan his thoughts and actions were influenced because of this and hence were quite like the original's when it came to reaping benefits and scheming.

As he was thinking about this, the academy elder called out his name "Gu Yue Fang Yuan!"