The Dormant Gu
Han Feng returned his attention to the small golden object.
The dormant Gu rested quietly on his palm.
At first glance, it looked almost like a sealed golden seed.
Its shell was smooth, yet countless hair-thin inscriptions covered its surface. They were so ancient that some had already faded, leaving only fragments of their original pattern.
Han Feng frowned.
He had discovered it beneath a layer of pale stone near the deepest part of the valley.
It had not been lying openly on the ground.
Half of the golden shell had been embedded inside the rock, surrounded by a thin layer of naturally formed spiritual crystals.
That alone had made him suspicious.
A Gu capable of surviving inside such a place for an unknown period of time was unlikely to be ordinary.
At first, he had assumed it was simply an ancient dormant Gu.
But now...
Han Feng's eyes narrowed.
The golden shell had begun to pulse.
Once.
Then again.
Very faintly.
He immediately stopped circulating his Qi.
The pulse disappeared.
Han Feng waited.
Nothing happened.
He slowly released a tiny amount of Qi.
The golden shell remained motionless.
Then he allowed a trace of Gu energy to flow alongside it.
Still nothing.
Han Feng's expression became thoughtful.
He carefully brought the Celestial Fragment closer.
The reaction was immediate.
The golden shell trembled.
A faint golden line appeared across its surface.
Han Feng's eyes sharpened.
"So it reacts to the fragment."
He did not touch them together.
Instead, he kept a small distance between the two objects and observed the change.
The inscriptions on the dormant Gu slowly illuminated one after another.
Not all of them.
Only three.
Han Feng memorized their shapes.
They vaguely resembled a broken circle surrounding a single point.
He had never seen the characters before.
Yet when he looked at them, an inexplicable sensation appeared in his mind.
Not recognition.
Something subtler.
A feeling that the symbols represented a direction that had not yet been chosen.
Han Feng's brows furrowed.
"What kind of Gu are you?"
There was no answer.
The golden shell returned to silence.
He carefully examined it with his spiritual sense.
Nothing.
Its internal structure was completely sealed.
Even the rank could not be determined.
That was unusual.
Most dormant Gu still possessed traces of identifiable energy.
This one was different.
It was as if the Gu had deliberately closed every pathway leading into its core.
Han Feng became even more cautious.
He tried another experiment.
He separated the Celestial Fragment and circulated only the Dual Chaos Larva Gu.
A tiny strand of chaotic energy entered his palm.
The golden shell reacted.
But differently.
Instead of glowing, one side of the shell became slightly darker.
Then Han Feng introduced a controlled amount of Gu energy through the Celestial Transmutation Gu.
The opposite side brightened.
Two completely different reactions.
Han Feng immediately stopped.
His mind raced.
"Opposing energies..."
He looked at the dormant Gu.
The Dual Chaos Larva had reacted to one side.
The Celestial Transmutation Gu had produced a response on the other.
And when the Celestial Fragment was present, both sides of the shell had reacted together.
Han Feng's expression became solemn.
Could this be connected to the principle of fusion?
He refused to jump to conclusions.
The phrase from the Celestial Fragment still echoed in his mind.
The key to ascension lies in the fusion of chaos and destiny.
Until now, he had assumed that "destiny" referred to some form of cultivation principle.
But what if it referred to something else?
A Gu?
A bloodline?
A law?
Or perhaps...
A method of controlling possibilities.
Han Feng's gaze became colder.
That possibility was dangerous.
If this Gu really possessed an ability related to destiny, even a weak version of such power could attract countless cultivators.
He immediately sealed his Qi.
The golden shell stopped reacting.
"Whatever you are, I won't refine you yet."
He placed the dormant Gu inside a separate jade container.
The container was not particularly powerful.
It was simply designed to prevent spiritual fluctuations from leaking out.
Before closing it, Han Feng hesitated.
He looked at the golden shell one last time.
"You're not ready."
Neither was he.
Trying to force the refinement of an unknown ancient Gu would be no different from gambling with his life.
He closed the container.
But as he placed it inside his spatial pouch, something unexpected happened.
The Celestial Fragment, already stored separately, gave a faint pulse.
Once.
The jade container responded.
Han Feng froze.
The reaction lasted less than a breath.
Then everything returned to normal.
He slowly narrowed his eyes.
That was not coincidence.
At least, he did not believe it was.
But he still had no idea what the connection meant.
For now, that uncertainty was useful.
A mystery he did not understand could not yet become a weakness others could exploit.
Han Feng stood and looked toward the valley entrance.
His expression gradually became calm again.
There were already too many people searching for the Celestial Pattern.
The last thing he needed was another reason for powerful cultivators to notice him.
He touched the spatial pouch.
"Sleep for now."
He turned away.
Behind him, hidden inside the jade container, the dormant Gu remained completely still.
But beneath its golden shell, an ancient inscription slowly changed.
One of the three previously illuminated symbols disappeared.
A fourth symbol appeared.
Han Feng did not see it.
The inscription resembled neither the symbols of the Celestial Fragment nor the markings of ordinary Gu.
It looked like a single path splitting into two.
And then—
the symbol vanished.
The Gu returned to silence.