Heaven`s Beloved (RI Fanfic)

After he spoke, he reached for the top of the crucible and the vision of the young man became trained on him. He watched as his muscular father struggled to lift the cap before it slid off. The sound produced was like two stones grinding against each other. Inside laid a large gu worm that looked like a large, bloated bladder. It let out silent bubbles that popped before they escaped its large mouth. When its beady eyes turned towards his father, a large bubble escaped its mouth, and he saw the man draw in a deep breath before the bubble wrapped around his head. He was about to burst it but his father stopped him.

His interest was picked when the bubble alternated from color red to green before settling to green. This caused his interest to be piqued. He watched as the bubble popped and the gu worm produced another bubble. This one was transparent and didn't pop. What did pop was the gu worm. The bubble was left floating before it was guided carefully to the table and his father popped it. Five gu worms fell down from the bubble. "Are those yours?" the question caused his father to look at him as if he were an idiot.

"I told your mother that I would take you away from this island the moment you were accepted by her inheritance. We have twelve months for me to turn you into a competent Gu master" He handed the gu worms to his son. "Those are a standard arsenal for a rank 1 Gu master. The one that has red stripes is the fire man gu, it turns the one who activates it into an ever healing flame. Severed limbs can`t be healed but every other wound that doesn't separate a part of your body from you can be healed. Remember every wounds can theoretically be healed but it will take time. The one with warts on its body is the frog wart gu. It is a defensive gu that forms wart like shields around any place you want it to. This can block most rank 1 attacks but anything else will go through. Don't keep the warts active for a long time or else the wart will become permanent. The next one, the one with the markings is the lightning feet gu. It will give you the ability to run at the speed of lightning in one direction, any direction but for a few seconds. It will deactivate and you will come to a stop, however, if you hit anything more durable than you in those seconds you die. The next two are attack type gu. The one that looks like a broken mirror has been spread around it`s body is the broken mind gu. It causes the thoughts of the one attacked to break down causing them to think slowly. This gu is difficult to feed, when you refine it will choose one line of thought and consume it. Pray that it consumes something unimportant since whatever is consumed can never be thought of again. I hate to give you this but with your low cultivation rank, you will need to use some trickery to survive. The last is a simple fire wave gu. It produces a wave of flames that can be condensed to increase power and improve control or dispersed to deal damage to more opponents." He explained the gu one by one and after he finished he pulled a stone from the crucible. "This is a storage gu, its rank 3 so I will keep it but it holds the food for all those and my gu."

After they were done, he turned to look out through the window and saw the pale moon. "Go to sleep since from tomorrow we shall start preparing you for the horrors that you will experience at sea." He said to his son as he himself went to sleep.

A few months passed by and the new water lilies had their buds full. The land they grew on was flooded with water and only the buds showed above the ground. At another corner, away from the wet ground were two men. One was shorter and younger than his counterpart, with tightly packed muscles that vibrated with every kick or punch he threw. His hair was fluttering in the salt scented wind while his eyes remained trained on the man before him. Every punch he threw was deflected easily by the older and taller man. "Again." With every mistake the younger man made a gruff voice rang out. They both seemed to be focused on the spar and with each move the boy made he seemed to be improving, but not enough to win against his partner.

Under the heat of the island sun, they continued at some point removing the sweaty shirts they wore to reveal even more muscles. The man watched as his son grew into a capable fighter but he knew that this would only help him fighting the unexperienced Gu masters or mortals. He watched as his son threw punches that while ingenious and hard to counter would fail to place any respectable Gu master in a tight position. "We will stop for a few minutes and then we shall continue but this time, use the gu worms you have refined." His voice caused the Tian Zheng to pause. He retracted his arm from the punch that had already been thrown. Tian Ho watched as his son went into the house but a few minutes his head peaked from the door. "Do you want something to eat?" A nod was shared and a few minutes later the young man walked out of the house carrying a bowl of meat and another filled with brown rice.

While the two were eating in silence, one looking at the ever changing clouds while the other was planning their upcoming adventure. "Where are we going to live?" Tian Zheng asked after he got bored with the clouds. He looked at his father who tore his eyes from his food, which was barely touched. "I have a place. Its where I used to live before I came to live here." He paused to swallow saliva or food before continuing. "It`s far enough from anything important for anything to happen and from there we will see." He answered while pointing at the sea.

While he was waiting for his father, who had excused himself when he was finally finished eating, he started looking at his aperture. He saw the water membrane walls and also the few gu worms swimming inside his red steel primeval essence. He had successfully advanced and had already crossed a small realm. He was now in the middle stage. He pulled upon the fire wave gu and a small flame formed between his open palm. It glowed a bright orange and the air around it had started being distorted by the heat. He had, in the past months tried to trained his primeval essence and gu worms to the point of being able to feed the fire wave gu enough essence to form a small candle like flame that had the power of a wave of fire. He gave another command and saw as the fire man gu and he watched as flames started appearing on his body and before they could form fully he directed them towards his hand and then with a burst of will directed to the two gu worms he made the two flames merge together.

This caused the once deep orange flame to have some parts change to red and start to weaver. It followed a non-existent wind and it took all his concentration for the two flames to keep being merged. He continued feeding the two primeval essence and finally, with a phantom click the two gu merged their flames to create a red and orange flame. It wasn't as hot as the purely orange flame but it didn't need to be. What Tian Zheng had in mind was something else. After one of the lessons his father gave him, he spoke about the methods of combat that those more powerful and knowledgeable than him used. He called them killer moves and from what he understood, they were formed from the merging of effects by two or more gu.

His father had warned him that if he tried to merge the effects and they didn't work then it could lead to the death of the gu worms, or if the intent behind the killer move was something destructive the Gu master could get hurt. That is what led to this. Something that Tian Zheng had worked hard on for countless nights, even burning himself at times when he failed to make the two effects of the gu worms to merge and complement each other. "I`ll call it the Flames of Rebirth." His voice rang out while in his mind he was hoping he could be able to advance this killer move to a day where it would finally live up to its name. 'Maybe at some point I could be able to revive myself and others with this killer move.' His thoughts wandered and his hand grabbed his hair. 'Maybe I can add a new gu to the killer move.' Tian Zheng wondered as his mind sunk into his aperture looking over his gu. In a corner of his aperture he noticed a small worm with glowing blue markings. He looked at it and an image formed in his mind. A healing flame thrown towards someone injured and reaching them in a flash. Even before the blood from the wound could touch the ground, the wound would already be healed.

He didn't even think of any other gu worm, he activated the gu worm and tried to fit in the lightning fast speed that it provided and apply it to the healing. However, while some weak currents of lightning started to appear around the flame and he felt that it was possible, the melding of the effects didn't work. Like a castle built on sand the healing flame fizzled out of existence and the lightning feet gu`s effect was applied abruptly to his feet causing him to shoot away. His body was flung un naturally to wall and if not for the constant practice with the gu worm he would have crashed into it, breaking a few bones and adding a few new bruises to his body. he managed to stop the gu worm before he could crash into the wall of their house.

When he came to, his heart was still beating fast due to the effect of the gu worm while his mind started thinking about why the combination failed. However, he didn't think for long because his already tired mind gave up and shut down causing the young man to plop down against the wall. He didn't stay awake long enough to theorize his mistake or oversight and he certainly didn't see the proud eyes of Tian Ho looking at his from a hidden corner. Tian Ho walked towards his sleeping son and picked the child up and under the glorious pale moonlight placed him on his bed while he also went to sleep.

Early the next morning, a very pained groan escaped from Tian Zheng`s mouth. He could feel a pain deep in his aperture and even somewhere deeper. His mind was fractured and he felt empty. As he rose from the bed like a dead man from his grave, he saw his father watching him from his door. He held a gourd. He took a slow sip from the dirt colored gourd and then let out the smile he had been holding. "How do you feel young one." His voice was filled with a sort of sick joy he had never seen his father show. He had seen it, in between those cold grey eyes, but it was only for a moment before the cruelty was hidden. He had never shown it to the world and especially not to him. "Don't look at me like that, I'm just happy that I didn't have to teach you what happens when you play with gu worms." He took another sip, this one greater and he held it for longer. Tian Zheng could see the purple liquid flow from the side of his lips. "Remember that feeling, that is what I like to call a soul bruise. Happens when your soul is hit hard by something and for people who have especially weak souls like you it hurts a lot. Now, get up. We have gu training to continue with."

As Tian Zheng was struggling to get up from his bed he heard a moan of annoyance from his father before his name was called. "Here, take this. Make sure you drink it always, you will no longer drink water but this." His father said to him as he threw the gourd to him. "This will make sure that you never experience a soul bruise again, but only if you continue to take it. Don't, and all that you will have accomplished will come back to you." His voice seemed to be filled with dulled anger. Like a memory that brought him undeniable rage but one he had accepted had been relayed in his mind. When his father had left him, Tian Zheng opened the gourd and found a deep purple liquid and his nose scrunched up when he sniffed it. It had the scent of the strongest alcohol he had ever smelt. He remembered what his father had told him and as he was about to close the gourd again he felt the pain that shook his mind with any minute movement of his body. "What do I have to lose? Its not like he would ever lie to me." With his mind made up, he took a small sip of the purple drink.

His tongue was assaulted by the sweetest thing he had ever tasted, like a mixture of water Lillie sap, sugar and the purest of honeys. He hurriedly swallowed it and as it was in his throat it changed into the harshest of liquors. It burnt his throat and he was thinking of throwing it out of his mouth but it had already passed on into his stomach. He could feel it burn its way through out his throat and settle into his stomach. The heat disappeared only leaving a phantom of the feeling on his throat. He felt something different, he felt like he was whole. Like a part of himself that he didn't know he had lost had returned to him and it was this drink. He felt lie with it he could conquer the world but as soon as it came, the felling left. Like a dream that he couldn't remember the beginning or the middle only the end. The memory of the uncomfortable burning in his throat was all but forgotten and only a loopy smile was all that was left on his face. He tried to walk but with every step, he felt like something else was learning to walk using his legs. At the age of fifteen, Tian Zheng got drunk for the first time and he had fallen in love with the mystical drink.

When the sun was at its peak the drunk young man walked out of the house, with the gourd tied to his waist tightly. He saw his father, sleeping in the same chair and the same position with a green blade of grass in his mouth that he had been ever since Tian Zheng was a child. His father opened his eyes when his shadow obstructed the sun that was shining on his closed eyes. "We have a month before my friend comes to the island. For that month I will be teaching you how to refine gu worms by yourself and if we have time I will teach you a killer move I made when I was younger." When they were walking towards their regular training ground, he briefed Tian Zheng of the schedule they would follow for the next month. "but before we get to the refinement, I have to make sure you have the necessary will and soul strength to be able to follow this path without dangerous consequences." When Tian Zheng looked at the training ground he found various materials spread upon the ground with two larger crucibles laid before two brown mats. His father pointed towards one of the mats. "Now, I have taught you of the basics and true to the genius that you are the knowledge you have may rival those stuck up Earth pavilion elders." His tone was tinged with a mocking joy to the elders who held themselves so high but had been beaten in knowledge by a child who has only been exposed to the numerous paths of cultivation for less than a year. "What they best you at; is experience." His handed a wrapped cloth to Tian Zheng. "While they have been refining gu worms and have created or followed countless recipe for decades. For the next few weeks I will be giving you some materials and a nearly complete recipe. You will have the chance to ask three questions about it before you have to refine it with the materials I give you." Tian Zheng looked at the small packets that had been placed around the ground. He knew that they held the materials he would have to used and in every packet was a folded piece of paper.

Tian Zheng knew how hard it was to refine gu worms. It took a mixture of experience, knowledge, attainment and luck. He took the packet of materials and unfolded the recipe. On the top, in crimson ink was the name of the gu, fire mind gu #293. He looked at the number before it with a perplexed expression. He looked over the assortment of materials, they weren't many but two of them he had never seen.

A stalk of river coral, was a piece of coral that instead of being used for water path recipes held the ability to combust extremely fast and could last very long. It was also called the oil of the sea by mortals. A mortal leaf was another material he had only read about. While it wasn't rare, it didn't grow in their island. It was grown by a rival clan that had always been at odds with the Han clan due to them wanting to rule over it while their leader continued to refuse. At one point it had escalated to the point of both the clans waging an ocean war that only ended due to cascading casualties of the brown river bass. It was a fish only seen in these parts and for the many clans who survived on it, they couldn't wait and watch as their lively hood was destroyed due to two small clans were fighting. They interfered and this lead to the end of the war and signing of the river treaty that made all the clans in this section maintain peace. It had been years and the population of the brown river bass hadn't come back to what it had once been.

The mortal flowers only had one part of them that was usable to Gu masters while the petals were used by mortals as a drug that induced great pleasure and if spread across a wound it would heal it albeit slowly. The flowers however seemed to transform to a poison when they were touched by any amount of primeval essence. This led to a death filled by horrifying hallucinations. This was exaggerated further when the petals were fed to those who had enhanced their strength using any gu worm.

When the leaf is used in gu refinement, they gave the gu worm the ability to make those affected by the gu worm have temporary bursts of nightmarish scenes. It was very useful when used in battle. 'I wonder what could happen if I used the broken mind gu and a gu made from those leaves to create a killer move that caused one's mind to experience horrifying hallucinations and since they are thinking slowly they would be forced to spend more time experiencing the nightmares.' His mind raced with thoughts of how the killer move would work and from the limited knowledge he had of the mind, he thought of its applications before shelving the idea for when he would be free to experiment.