Primeval Stones

Clans treat primeval stones as a resource that can found a settlement. The Gu Yue clan stayed on Qing Mao Mountain after finding a spirit spring in an underground cave, and that spring produces a large number of primeval stones as the village’s foundation. ^{ch. 4}

Form and two uses

Early narration shows them as oval, greyish white pieces that fit in a small bag. ^{ch. 9} They measure the value of commodities, and they are also condensed matter of the world’s essence, usable on a Gu Master and important for cultivation. ^{ch. 8}

Once someone is a Gu Master, they can extract primeval essence from a stone to replenish the primeval sea in the aperture. With enough stones, cultivation speed rises and a lower talent grade can be partly offset. ^{ch. 8} When a stone’s essence is fully retrieved, only powder remains. ^{ch. 50 ch. 98}

Fuel for advancement

Primeval stones are the driving force behind a Gu Master’s advancement. Without them, a Gu Master falls back on natural primeval essence recovery, which greatly slows cultivation. At the same time, without sufficient food, Gu worms starve. ^{ch. 91} Refining a Gu consumes a lot of primeval essence, so even family gifts of a few stones are framed as support for that first refinement. ^{ch. 9}

In practice the academy and the clan pay in stones. The first student to refine a vital Gu is promised twenty primeval stones, ^{ch. 7} and weekly allowance comes as bags of stones for feeding Gu under financial pressure. ^{ch. 26} During refinement itself, stones are the second way to refill a spent sea when natural recovery cannot keep up with a Gu’s resistance. ^{ch. 10}