Jian Long did not show the slightest reaction to the question.
In truth, he had expected it long ago.
He calmly picked up another piece of food and placed it in his mouth before replying:
"What exactly do you mean by that?"
"And why are you asking such a question?"
Zhou Quan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, come on."
"You're not fooling anyone."
"It is obvious that you're not really from Bai Clan."
Jian Long continued eating as though he had heard nothing unusual.
"And what makes you so certain of that?"
"The evidence is everywhere."
Zhou Quan leaned back in his chair.
"You don't belong to any clan."
"And despite supposedly being your clan's greatest genius, you know embarrassingly little about the cultivation world."
Jian Long shrugged.
"I was born into a poor family."
"In fact, I was a complete dark horse."
"No one expected me to possess A-grade aptitude."
"I grew up in ignorance."
Zhou Quan immediately snorted.
"And what does being poor have to do with your ignorance?"
"Don't tell me you've forgotten that clans provide free education to their members?"
"Children begin learning the basics of cultivation from the age of five."
He pointed a finger at Jian Long.
"So you're asking me to believe that after nine years of education, you learned absolutely nothing?"
Jian Long nodded seriously.
"What can I say?"
"My skull is as thick as a fortress wall."
"No matter how much knowledge people tried to pour into it, none of it could reach my brain."
For a moment, Zhou Quan was speechless.
Then he laughed.
"Fair enough."
"That is actually a surprisingly strong argument."
"It's difficult to debate someone who openly admits to being an idiot."
Jian Long raised an eyebrow.
"I'm glad you understand."
The smile on Zhou Quan's face slowly faded.
He leaned forward and looked directly into Jian Long's eyes.
"Enough jokes."
"Let's be honest with each other for once."
Jian Long met his gaze calmly.
"Fine."
"What do you think the truth is?Who do you believe I am?"
"Oh?"
A grin appeared on Zhou Quan's face.
"Are we playing a guessing game now?"
Jian Long shrugged.
"A little entertainment won't hurt."
"Fair enough."
Zhou Quan crossed his arms and began organizing his thoughts.
"Let's see..."
"You managed to fool even Yang San Mu into believing that you're a member of Bai Clan."
"That alone tells me that your knowledge of Bai Clan is extremely detailed."
"No outsider could possess that much information."
He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Which means you weren't completely lying when you claimed to be from Bai Clan."
"But at the same time, you're clearly not an actual clansman."
"So my conclusion is that you were originally a mortal affiliated with Bai Clan."
Jian Long silently continued eating.
Seeing that he had not denied it, Zhou Quan became even more confident.
"But that raises another question,How did you become a Gu Master?"
His eyes narrowed.
"Did Bai Clan get destroyed during the beast tide, giving you an opportunity to enter their Spirit Spring?"
"Or did you stumble upon some fortunate encounter that allowed you to awaken your aperture?"
Jian Long finally put down his chopsticks.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Actually...The story of how I awakened my aperture is quite interesting.And I do intend to tell it to you someday."
He paused briefly before adding:
"In fact, I may even need your help regarding it in the future."
The curiosity in Zhou Quan's eyes immediately intensified.
"Oh?Now you've really caught my interest."
"But there is still one question that has been bothering me."
Zhou Quan said as he placed his cup on the table.
"Ever since the first battle I saw you fight until now, there is something I have never been able to understand."
Jian Long raised his head and looked at him.
"And what is that?"
Zhou Quan narrowed his eyes.
"Your primeval essence."
"How does it never run out?"
"I've seen you use Gu worms repeatedly in battle, yet you never seem to suffer from any shortage of primeval essence."
He paused briefly before adding:
"Do you possess some special Gu worm that helps you recover primeval essence?"
"Or is it related to the fortunate encounter ?"
Jian Long looked at him silently.
In truth, he had always assumed that all Gu Masters knew the reason behind this phenomenon.
In fact, he had been considering asking someone about it himself one day.
But apparently, it was not as common as he had thought.
So he answered honestly:
"To be honest... I don't know."
Zhou Quan froze.
"What do you mean you don't know?"
Jian Long shrugged.
"I genuinely don't know the reason."
"All I know is that my primeval essence aptitude is one hundred percent."
Silence filled the table for an entire second.
Then Zhou Quan's eyes suddenly widened.
"One hundred percent? Is that even possible?!"
Zhou Quan abruptly rose from his seat.
"Hmm... let's go ask the Researcher."
There was a rare look of excitement on his face.
It had been a long time since he had encountered something about the cultivation world that he did not already know.
Jian Long looked at him in confusion.
"The Researcher? What's that?"
Zhou Quan paused for a moment before remembering something.
"Oh, right. Of course you don't know."
"It doesn't really exist outside the territories of the super clans."
He gestured for Jian Long to follow him.
"Come with me. I'll explain on the way."
Jian Long glanced regretfully at the table full of seafood.
"But I haven't finished tasting all the dishes yet."
"We don't have time for that."
Zhou Quan grabbed him by the arm.
"Come on."
...
As they walked through the streets of Yanmen City, Zhou Quan explained the concept of the "Researcher."
Through his explanation, Jian Long gradually came to understand.
The Southern Border was unimaginably vast.
Its total area was said to be more than eight times the size of Earth itself.
Because of this, the various super clans of Southern Border had spent countless generations building a joint project.
A massive network of Information Path Gu Houses spread throughout the entire region.
These Gu Houses were linked together, allowing information to travel across enormous distances with astonishing speed.
Messages that would normally take months or even years to deliver could be transmitted almost instantly through the network.
But communication was only one of its functions.
The network also stored vast quantities of information.
Knowledge, records, maps, histories, cultivation experiences, commercial data, and countless other pieces of information were continuously collected and preserved within it.
As long as a person had the necessary permissions and could pay the required fees, they could retrieve information from nearly anywhere in the Southern Border.
After hearing the explanation, Jian Long quickly understood the concept.
In simple terms...
It was the Gu World's version of the Internet.