A week after the incident with the Gu exploding. Xie Ling continued to perform experiments, going through Gu after Gu with each one ending exactly the same, a large explosion.
Holding a Gu in the shape of a human finger, he gently placed it in a vat of Buster Syrum. A weakened version of the Awakening Syrum, but with a higher success rate. This liquid's designated purpose is that of activating genes rather than mutating them.
Within moments of the Gu's body entering the vat, it began to vibrate and shake like it was being ripped from the inside out before exploding and covering the lab in Buster Syrum.
With a sigh, he sat down on his seat, reorganizing the information inside his head. "At first, I thought the problem was that I lacked the knowledge necessary to genetically modify bugs, so I bought Gu that possess the forms of various animals. Fish Bubble Gu is annoyingly difficult to obtain, however, my partner seems to have a method that allows him to get anything in the world. Although, it comes at an extensive price."
Turning his head to a large glass tube with a Gu inside, he commented, "Fiery Snake Gu found in volcanic areas, likes to swallow magma before swallowing other prey to help with its digestive tract. While my methods worked on the wolves of this world, just like they did on the wolves back on earth, they don't work on Gu for some reason. This brings more credibility to the theory of Dao."
Lifting a book in the palm of his hand labeled: 'Parting words for the next generation from Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable,' he recalled, "While mortal Gu contain meager traces of the Great Dao, their immortal counterparts contain fragments of the Great Dao, the amount of traces or fragment size is dependent on the Gu's rank and path. Therefore Gu are also known as the essence of heaven and earth, a uniqueness among all other living beings."
Bringing his attention to the window, he could feel sunlight peeking from the mountains. With a deep sigh, he stood from his chair while concluding, "Well, if experience is the only way to connect to this 'Dao', then technically experimentation is but another road to the same result."
⸻20 minutes later⸻
Sitting under a sign labeled: "A Free Primeval Shard for The Needy: Limit One Per Person." Xie Ling's mind was racing with the use of an information path killer move made by Hai Yi called 'Contained Mind'.
Contained Mind pulls the host's conscience into their head while giving them easy access to memories that would otherwise be too faint to remember. A particularly useful killer move if you're not worried about losing all your senses of the outside world while under its effects.
Inside his mind, hundreds of thoughts were all communicating idea after idea when suddenly they all paused. Xie Ling used his ability to will all of them into four main 'wills': the Scientist who enjoys the thrill of experimentation, the Hunter who patiently watches and observes the world with cold and calculating eyes, the Preditor who sees the world as something to be broken, and lastly himself, the intermediary between the group.
The reason for this was simple, multiple perspectives promote out-of-the-box thinking, which does two things: first, it removes outdated concepts. And secondly, it connects you to old experiences, which will, in turn, produce new ideas.
The Scientist started first by reciting information, "Dao is everywhere, it is the water that flows downward, the humans who perish from hunger, and the trees that thrive with the help of rain and fertilizers, all of these are dao. The Gu Masters harness the power of Gu to comprehend the Great Dao in its various forms, be it kindling fires, reversing the flow of rivers, summoning lightning to strike their foes, and even heal injuries. All of these are dao."
"Humans nurture, use, and refine Gu, they are making use of the Gu to display the might of heaven and earth. Across generations, they accumulate experiences and insights, ultimately grasping the laws of the world. Once they become Gu Immortals, their apertures transform into immortal apertures with dao marks carved into them. One could say that Gu Masters are nurturing "dao" when they nurture Gu, they are using "dao" when they use Gu, and they are refining "dao" when they refine Gu. There are Gu Masters of all sorts of paths, cultivating all the different aspects of the Great Dao."
Listening, the Hunter surmised, "Like the lizard that tosses away its tail when the predator gets too close, befuddling its prey. This Dao cannot be caught by chasing after it, but only by studying its environment, that way you can make a trap and capture the lizard in its entirety."
"Tch," the Predator clicked its tongue, before retorting, "Studying the entire world is impossible. It would be fastest to take the tail and first consume that."
The Scientist remarked, "But that would leave gaps in information, making the data incoherent."
"Tut, tut, tut," the Predator shook its head, stating, "This Dao is designed to fill in those gaps of information, therefor information is useless, no, it's worse than useless. It wastes both the gu master's time and the Dao's. It would be far faster to take the Gu and abuse its every function while deepening one's connection to the Gu, which in turn fosters their connection to the Dao."
The Scientist stood from his seat ready to brawl. However, Xie raised his hand, bringing a pause to Scientist's movements, before stating, "On one side science is used to understand the building blocks of the world, but on the other hand, no one in this world has been able to crack the code to this thing called attainment, and I'm not foolish enough to think of myself as some sort of god that can crack it."
A grin of victory began to grow on The Predator before it was quickly dispelled by Xie's next point.
"However, we have something this world doesn't, the Awakening Serum. And it would be foolish to toss away such a powerful method before even trying to integrate it with this world's already pre-existing methods."
At that exact moment, one of the wills standing watch outside received a Message Gu, informing him of an important meeting being held within a few hours.