Failure like this wasn’t something I was usually afraid of.
After all, the only failures that mattered were those that negatively affected others in a severe manner or ended one’s life for good.
Anything less remained as mere minor setbacks meant to test one’s degree of perseverance.
Even then, I felt regretful at having failed the refinement process.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been too hasty as I surely would have succeeded had I made more preparations…
Yet even that could not be guaranteed.
After all, refining Gu was like giving birth to a child in that the risk of failure never completely went away even with all the preparation that one could make in this world.
Furthermore, I had suffered a backlash as my mind struggled to compute anything of significant value and my soul felt like it was being squeezed like a lemon.
The fortunate thing was that this was only a Rank 1 Dream Path Gu I had failed to refine.
Had this been a Rank 2, 3, or higher, I would have likely incurred some actual soul damage.
It was not a complete loss, though, as my other self succeeded where I had failed.
Michizane grinned as he held up an unusual creature.
At first, I thought it resembled a crab, but the upper part of this crab’s body was that of a teapot, so it actually looked more like a teapot with crab legs.
Inside the opening of its teapot-like body was an assortment of sharp teeth as its mouth was situated on top of its body rather than on its front.
It had a tongue as well, which spun continuously in order to stir the blood-red clear liquid contained within its mouth.
The ethereal scroll reappeared as it explained the details of this Gu.
[You had successfully refined the Blood Essence Tea Gu!]
[Despite the ‘Blood’ in its name, this Gu actually belonged to the Food Path.
However, it did contain some Blood Path profundities]
[It fed on Magical Energy and produced Blood Essence Tea on a regular basis]
[Blood Essence Tea replenished a Gu Master’s Aperture with Blood Essence once consumed.
Since you didn’t have any Primeval Stones, this was the best substitute you could manage]
[In addition, you could have it produce more batches of Blood Essence Tea than its daily yield by providing it with fresh blood]
[Though in that case, the quality of the final product would not be fixed, but rather fluctuate and correspond to the quality of the blood used in its concoction]
Now this was massive.
One of our most detrimental weaknesses was our lack of Primeval Stones.
In Reverend Insanity, those stones were used to replenish a Gu Master’s Primeval Essence reserves.
This not only aided in cultivation, but could serve to turn the tides of a battle should one side run low on Primeval Essence.
Primeval Stones were natural resources produced by Spirit Springs.
Unfortunately, there were no Spirit Springs in this world and the only hope I had of one existing would be if I somehow made it myself.
This would probably be possible by the time I reached Rank 5 or above, but for now, it remained only a pipe dream.
Unfortunately, the tea it produced replenished Blood Essence instead of regular Primeval Essence, which was yet another setback for me.
Some Gu like the Blood Skull Gu and Man-Beast Life Burial Gu provided downright unbelievable benefits once used.
However, they came at the cost of temporarily turning the Gu Master’s Primeval Essence into corrupted Blood Essence.
This Blood Essence could be utilized for the nourishing and shattering of one’s Aperture walls without any issues.
The real problem manifested itself when one tried to use it to activate a Gu’s ability.
The only Gu Worms capable of absorbing Blood Essence were naturally those of the Blood Path, and perhaps a few special exceptions like the Blood Essence Tea Gu due to its interaction with Blood Essence.
On the other hand, if a Gu belonging to another Path was exposed to this Blood Essence, it would detonate on the spot!
Even if one were to completely drain their Primeval Sea, impurities originating from the Blood Essence were likely to remain.
This was akin to how certain substances would leave behind residues on a glass bottle if one did not use soap.
Although in this case, the only soap capable of purifying my Aperture would be a specialized cleaning Gu like the Cleansing Water Gu mentioned in the original novel.
For a Blood Path specialist like Michizane, this wasn’t anything to be especially concerned about, but for me, it meant I couldn’t use this Gu to its maximum potential before I figured out a solution to combat its main drawback.
[The Blood Essence Tea Gu’s refinement method was directly inspired by your training together with the Onmyoji]
[Alongside brushing up on your academics, he had you learn the basics of Magical Energy manipulation, both inner and outer, through the way of deep meditation]
[In particular, he would provide you with cool tonics to reinvigorate you once your Magical Energy was depleted as well as miraculous elixirs that strengthened your physique.
Under his guidance, you eventually formed a stable foundation of both mindset and muscle that you could build upon]
[It was after establishing this formidable foundation that he finally started teaching you proper Onmyodo]
The next sequence began with the splash of a waterfall as Seimei sat directly below one.
An invisible barrier seemed to extend from his body as not a single drop of water managed to hit him despite his current position.
“Onmyodo is the art of finding balance in one’s Yin and Yang,” Seimei explained, much to Michizane’s amazement as the latter stared at the Onmyoji with gawking eyes.
“Try shooting that blood spike attack at me.”
‘Oh, Michizane already told him about his Gu Master abilities?’ I thought as I gave a hum.
It wasn’t that surprising considering he had done the same to Mizukume.
That last scene also had taken place in the Onmyoryo building, and refining a Gu there would have been really foolish if he hadn’t already revealed his abilities by then.
Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean I couldn’t be annoyed at the Simulation Gu for not talking about it in the narration.
In fact, I was quite irritated.
Not that I could do much about that as I continued observing my other self and his mentor.
The two were in the nearby forest outside of Heian-Kyo’s walls.
Different from the forest of the Sugawara Clan’s territory, this forest was significantly more scenic as a large number of the trees were cherry blossoms and wisteria.
Various birds flew overhead as some descended, resting their feathered bodies upon treetops and boulder peaks as they watched the scene alongside me. This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Michizane himself looked a bit different as he had a much more developed physique that reflected his growing strength.
Given my meta knowledge, I would say he was well on his way to fully resembling the King of Curses.
The only thing missing was the iconic pink-red colour scheme.
The boy retrieved a clay gourd from his belt and uncorked it, revealing a disproportionately large amount of blood inside.
He spilled it into his hands and activated the Blood Spike Gu with a surge of his tainted Blood Essence, forming a small stake made of congealed blood.
Obeying his teacher’s previous instruction, Michizane hurled the stake straight in Seimei’s direction!
The moment it was about to make direct contact with his face, the blood stake abruptly stopped as it floated in the air, almost as though it could not cross the distance between itself and the Onmyoji’s face.
“No way!” Michizane exclaimed, thoroughly impressed as the both of us thought of a certain someone’s Infinity technique.
Yet this was not Gojo’s Infinity as Seimei explained what he did, “Yin and Yang can be found in all things, including humans like you and I.”
“As men, we have a lot of Yang in our bodies, but that doesn’t mean we do not have Yin.
Without it, we would never be able to remain still and be dominated by our Yang, catching on fire as a result.
Conversely, women have more Yin, but even they have Yang in conjunction to their potent Yin.”
“Some scriptures say that Yang represents good, whereas Yin represents evil.
However, this is not what reality tells us.
As Ommyoji, you will come to learn that Yang is simply presence and Yin is its natural opposite: absence,” he said as he lifted a finger and planted it on the sharp tip of the blood stake.
“The simplest application of this is movement as in order to move, all objects require present Yang, which I have just overpowered with my absent Yin!”
‘I feel like that’s just physics,’ I thought before shaking my head.
Right, this was Magecraft.
It was better that I did not think of it as potential and kinetic energy, but rather as actual Yin and Yang.
As long as I believed, anything should be possible in this world.
The Onmyoji then smiled as he flicked the blood spike away, ricocheting it back in the boy’s direction as he panicked and lifted both of his arms to protect his face.
It crumbled before it could hit him, melting back into steaming blood that splashed against his skin.
Michizane did not display any strong reactions to the blood’s boiling temperature as his body had probably reached a level where such heat no longer damaged him.
He did give a surprised look, however, which was understandable.
“Like I said,” Seimei continued with a chuckle.
“Put too much Yang into anything and it’ll burn away.
That’s how the Gods protect us from Heaven’s falling stars.”
“How fascinating.” Michizane muttered in amazement as Seimei beckoned him closer.
“Now you give it a try.
I want you to sit under this waterfall and meditate hard enough until you can even control the Yin and Yang of each individual droplet, redirecting their fall in the process.” He instructed as he stood up and patted the boulder he’d just sat upon.