vrcanaries Chapter 471 - 471: Gu Right's Activism
Chapter 471 - 471: Gu Right's Activism
'What should I do?' Wang Tian thought to himself. Should he go ahead and try to kill this person in order to keep the secret of the spring hidden? Even as he considered it, he found that his stomach churned at the idea of killing another person. No, there was no way that he could do something that cruel and vicious. Although Wang Tian had seen quite a bit of violence in his life, he did not want to be one of those who perpetuated violence against others.Deciding to instead scare the person away or convince them to not give out the secret of the spring, Wang Tian bolted out from where he was hidden. The person, once they noticed him, fell back, shocked. Wang Tian glanced at this person and noticed their Rank 1 Gu Master aura. 'So, this is another Gu Master,' Wang Tian thought to himself. 'It might be easier to negotiate with them on those terms.'
"Hello, my name is Wang Tian. There's no need to be so alarmed," Wang Tian said, holding his hands up as a sign that he was not carrying weapons. Though, now that he thought about it, if one was a Gu Master, holding up one's hands to show that one had no weapons really didn't mean much if they still had gu worms within their aperture. "I, uh, have no intention of harming you," Wang Tian said.
The boy got up; he was about Wang Tian's age. He was dressed in makeshift clothes which were much tidier and nicer than Wang Tian's own.
"Oh, hello. I didn't expect to run into another Gu Master here, let alone one who is Rank 2," the boy said. "My name is Bai Xiao. I noticed this primeval spring, and curious, I was drawn towards the primeval stones I could find here."
"Oh yes, there are a lot of primeval stones here," Wang Tian said. "Far more than I can just use on my own. If you want to collect a few of them, as well as refine a few gu worms for yourself, you can go ahead and do so."
"Refine? Oh, I couldn't possibly do so," Bai Xiao said. "I would never refine a gu worm."
"You couldn't refine a gu worm?" Wang Tian asked. "But aren't you a Gu Master?"
"Well, I've opened up my aperture, yes," Bai Xiao said, shaking his head. "However, the thing I've realized is that gu worms have a life of their own. They are living creatures just like us, and I do not think that it is morally correct to refine them and take their will away. After all, being fellow living creatures, we should respect their rights and intelligence."
Wang Tian was momentarily stunned by this line of thinking. It was true - when one refined gu worms, one was wiping out another creature's independent, freely thinking will with one's own. It was making a slave of another creature. As Wang Tian thought of his days while being a slave, he couldn't but feel a pang of sympathy for them. At the same time though, there seemed to be some flaws in Bai Xiao's thinking that he couldn't wrap his head around. "I don't know who said this," Wang Tian said. "But I overheard another Gu Master say that - Man is the spirit of all things, and gu are the fragments of the Great Dao. If they really are fragments of the Great Dao, certainly there should be no problem with us using them?"
"You're not wrong," Bai Xiao said. "We should have no problem when it comes to using them. But using them and refining them are completely different things. We can go ahead and make symbiotic relationships with gu worms instead." He released a gu worm from his aperture. "This is Rank 1 Water Spout Gu. It can drink up and store a large amount of water, and it only needs clean water or water from a primeval spring to function." The gu worm began eagerly drinking the water from the primeval spring.
"So I take it that it is your Vital Gu then?" Wang Tian asked.
"No, no," Bai Xiao said. "Like I've said earlier, I don't want to use gu worms in that way. I think that it is immoral for humans to take away the free wills of gu worms and use them for their own selfish gains. I have instead made a sort of agreement or pact with this gu worm in question. I take it around and shelter it, and it drinks water and stores it for me. Like that, humans and gu worms can live together in harmony. After all, we humans have everything that we need in this world. Abundant food and water, and practically no predators whatsoever. What is the need to impose upon other living creatures our own will and force them to do our bidding?"
Wang Tian had never heard this kind of line of thinking before. "But where is the rest of your clan or tribe, Wang Tian?" Bai Xiao asked, looking around.
"That well... they all died," Wang Tian said. "What about you?" Wang Tian glanced around but couldn't' see anyone.
"I'm sorry to hear about that," Bai Xiao said. "As for me, my tribe used to live some distance away. Did you see the large yellow cloud that hovered over the land?"
"Yes, I do remember seeing that," Wang Tian said.
"Well, my tribe had to go into hiding because of that," Bai Xiao said. "But most of us survived. And from the rain, a lot of gu worms fell to the ground. Most of my tribe was against Gu Masters initially, but given the number of gu worms a group of us split off from the others and then later defeated them using our gu worms. The same thing happened to a lot of other groups as well. And for a while, I was happy that we could use gu worms... but then I saw how everyone else was treating them." He reached down to the Rank 1 Water Spout Gu and tenderly patted it on the head like he would a pet dog. "Seeing how much gu worms have to suffer because of Gu Masters... gu worms often times die after being used too much. That, or they die during refinement. I don't think that this is right for Gu Masters to do. The others made fun of me, so I ran away and was looking for a new place to stay."
While Wang Tian was weighing the merits of what Bai Xiao was saying, if Fang Yuan could listen in on this conversation (he was too busy meditating upon other aspects of his aperture at the moment) he would no doubt start crying tears of blood at the massive stupidity that seemed to infect the people living on Fang Yuan Continent day after day. 'Why can't they just be normal and use gu worms?' he'd think, rather than having all of these odd beliefs. If they were going to keep going on like this, he'd think, I may as well toss them into the sea and use them to refine the Human Sea. Or just use them as refinement materials or sell them on Yellow Treasure Heaven as slaves.
"Well, I don't know how much I agree with that," Wang Tian said. He was still a novice when it came to Gu Master cultivation, and he knew very little about the outside world. So while Bai Xiao's words did seem to be a little odd to him, he still was willing to somewhat consider them. "But in the meantime, if you want to stay here, I think that's fine."
"Thank you," Bai Xiao said.
Like that, the two friends began working together taking care of the primeval spring as well as each other.