Aperture

Opening

In the Gu Yue clan the Awakening Ceremony is the usual path into cultivation. Youths walk the flower sea under pressure from the spirit spring, and Hope Gu enter the body as they advance. When enough Hope Gu gather, the ball of light between the kidneys explodes, and an aperture forms below the navel. ^{ch. 5} A child who cannot walk far enough leaves as a mortal, without that talent, for ordinary clan life. ^{ch. 4}

After the aperture opens, Hope Gu stop entering the body. ^{ch. 6} With the coagulation of the primeval sea, those students are rank one Gu Masters. ^{ch. 7}

Shape and contents

The aperture sits inside the body yet does not share space with the organs. It is spherical, described as endlessly huge and infinitely small at once, and many call it the Primeval Sea Aperture. ^{ch. 6 ch. 10} Its outer shell is a thin white light membrane left from the Hope Gu explosion; that membrane supports the aperture so it does not collapse. ^{ch. 6 ch. 10}

Inside is the primeval sea. Every drop is primeval essence, spent to refine and use Gu. ^{ch. 6 ch. 7 ch. 10} Gu that already belong to the owner can live in that sea: after Fang Yuan refines the Liquor worm, it plunges into his aperture and enters the green copper primeval sea. ^{ch. 20}

Talent and capacity

Talent grade sets how much of the aperture the sea fills. Fang Yuan’s C grade result leaves the surface at forty-four percent, named as the limit of that grade. ^{ch. 6} The academy elder restates the scale by layers: D grade fills about two to three layers, C grade four to five, B grade six to seven, and A grade eight to nine. ^{ch. 7} Higher talent also means faster natural recovery of essence. ^{ch. 10 ch. 22} Broader aperture and essence mechanics sit on aperture and primeval essence.

Forced awakening

Second aperture

Immortal aperture