The silence in the plaza did not last long. It broke like a dam, replaced by a roaring wave of noise. The villagers, whose faces had been faces of grim indifference, were now alight with a fervent, almost manic energy.
"A-grade! An A-grade genius in our Gu Moon Village!" "The heavens have not forgotten us!" "He will lead our clan to glory!"
The praise was a physical force, a suffocating tide of expectation. The same people who had looked at Meng Ru with suspicion and contempt now gazed at him with undisguised awe and a sycophantic greed. They were not celebrating him; they were celebrating the asset he represented.
The Elder was the first to move. His earlier shock had been replaced by a look of intense, possessive pride. He descended from the platform and walked directly to Meng Ru, his steps far quicker than his age would suggest. He placed a heavy hand on Meng Ru's shoulder, his grip firm and proprietary.
"Good. Very good," the Elder said, his voice thick with emotion. He turned to the crowd, his voice booming with newfound vigor. "From this day forward, Meng Ru is the hope of our clan! He will receive the best resources and the best guidance! Anyone who shows him disrespect will be showing disrespect to the entire Gu Moon clan!"
His eyes swept the crowd, landing pointedly on his own grandson. Gu Moon Bo stood frozen, his face a ghastly shade of pale. The triumphant smirk he had worn just moments ago had curdled into a face of pure, venomous hatred. He had been publicly eclipsed. The A-grade genius had not just stolen his thunder; he had shattered it. This was a humiliation that would fester into a deep and abiding poison.
Feng Yin stood apart from the crowd, her face a storm of conflicting emotions. The path she had so meticulously planned, the C-grade aptitude that was her ticket to a better life, now seemed like a pittance. She looked at Meng Ru, no longer as a fellow youth or a temporary asset, but as a towering mountain she now stood at the foot of. Her calculations had been rendered obsolete. The ledger was now infinitely more complex.
Meng Ru, at the center of this storm, remained unnervingly calm. He met the Elder's fervent gaze with the same placid, analytical eyes. He saw the pride, the hope, and the greed. He understood that his value had skyrocketed. The river rat had become a dragon overnight. But a dragon, he knew, was just a more valuable beast to be tamed and used.
"You will no longer stay in that hut," the Elder declared, his tone leaving no room for argument. "You will be given a courtyard next to my own. Feng Yin!"
Feng Yin started, her name cutting through her thoughts. "Yes, Elder?"
"You will personally see to it that Meng Ru's new residence is prepared. See that he has everything he needs." It was a direct order, a public declaration of the new hierarchy. The breath-best genius was now tasked with serving the first.
"Yes, Elder," she replied, her voice tight.
As the ceremony concluded and the villagers swarmed him with fawning congratulations, Meng Ru felt the true weight of his new status. It was not a weight of glory, but of chains. Golden chains, to be sure, but chains nonetheless. He was no longer a burden to be discarded but an investment to be protected, controlled, and exploited for maximum return.
Later, as he stood in the clean, spacious courtyard that was now his home—a world away from the damp, cramped hut—he looked down at his hands. The calluses from the axe were still there, a reminder of the life he had lived just that morning.
He had awakened his aperture. He had revealed his potential. He had rewritten his ledger.
But this was only the first entry. The path of a Gu Master was long and fraught with peril, not just from beasts and rivals, but from the very allies who now smiled at him with such hope in their eyes. The weight of genius, he understood, was a dangerous burden to carry. And he would have to learn to carry it quickly.