Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 96 - 95: Worship

The pen spun in her hand, but her thoughts were wavering.

An unspeakable thought flashed through Lu You’s mind.

"Gu Ming..."

She stopped herself as soon as she began.

’I can’t write this!’

But if she said she didn’t find Gu Ming special, she would only be lying to herself.

After all, she was a woman too. She dreamed of a prince on a white horse who would appear when she needed help most and pull her from her sea of troubles.

But she knew all too well that Gu Ming was simply too dazzling. She was not worthy of standing by his side.

She was like a mouse hiding in the shadows, watching him from behind as he forged ahead. She could only admire him from a distance, not daring to let her thoughts wander.

Because of this, she had no idea what to write in the letter.

In the end, she suddenly came to her senses and found a single sentence already written on the paper: "Gu Ming, thank you..."

That was right. It was a heartfelt thank you.

’But if I keep writing, it might turn into something else. This is enough.’

’I hope Gu Ming doesn’t mind.’

...

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Three crisp sounds of a head hitting the floor echoed.

Lu You stood before the Gu Family’s ancestral tablets, watching Gu Ming piously paying his respects.

She couldn’t help but feel that this whole situation was rather strange.

’Gu Ming is kneeling and bowing. Shouldn’t I?’

’Isn’t it a bit rude if I don’t?’

Out of politeness, she followed his lead and bowed a few times as well.

Then, as Gu Ming had instructed, she handed the letter over.

Gu Ming took the letter immediately. He waited for a moment, looking at the ancestral tablets, and soon the system updated with new information:

[You discover this is a letter your grandfather left for you. It contains the whole truth, including the real cause of your parents’ deaths.]

[After opening and reading it, you are filled with deep regret, and two streams of clear tears flow down your face.]

’So, what are the contents, exactly?’

Gu Ming didn’t feel any regret.

He had no idea what the letter said, and the system wasn’t telling him.

After all, these were events he hadn’t experienced, so it was hard to empathize completely.

He just wanted to use this opportunity to avoid the potential pitfalls of the future.

He opened the letter in his hand, only to see a line of small text that read: "Gu Ming, thank you."

Without a doubt, this wasn’t his grandfather’s handwriting; it was Lu You’s.

The letter hadn’t changed.

Gu Ming could only place his hopes in the system and see if it would update the plot further:

[At the end of the letter, you see that the family has left you an inheritance to help you make a comeback.]

[You need only stain the letter with the blood of a member of the Gu Family and place it in the ritual brazier to see the location of the inheritance.]

’This is the inheritance Grandpa left for me!’

’To think Grandpa still had the means to leave an inheritance.’

After reading this message, Gu Ming didn’t think about the old couple at all.

Instead, his mind went to how spirited his grandfather had been in his youth as a Beastmaster.

However, those were just stories he had heard as a child.

Besides, his childhood had been turbulent. They moved frequently, so he didn’t get to hear his grandfather’s bedside stories every year.

Because of this, he had jumped to the conclusion that his grandfather was a washed-up Beastmaster who had failed in life, utterly defeated and leaving behind no assets related to Beast Taming.

But the system indicated that not only did his grandfather have assets, but there was likely a substantial amount. Otherwise, there would be no talk of "making a comeback."

The old couple weren’t Beastmasters, so those "things" naturally couldn’t be used to their full potential.

Now that Gu Ming’s generation had produced a Beastmaster, his grandfather had probably been planning to give him these things after he started university.

Thinking of this, Gu Ming suddenly understood why he had insisted on returning to his old home to train during the final sprint of his senior year of high school.

’It was Grandpa’s arrangement!’

’Teacher Zhang was just going with the flow. After all, he couldn’t go against the Gu Family’s wishes.’

It all clicked into place!

’It’s just a shame that the ’him’ from the system’s timeline went down the path of borrowing money, wasting too many chances to turn over a new leaf.’

At this thought, a wave of sadness washed over Gu Ming. He felt sorry for his grandfather.

Gu Ming silently folded the letter, not attempting to check on the inheritance on the spot.

The letter hadn’t changed, which meant that even if he dripped blood onto it and threw it into the ritual brazier, it might all be for nothing.

The system might describe the outcome in text, but what if nothing actually changed?

Gu Ming decided to hold onto it for a while and check in a few minutes to see if the letter had changed.

Standing beside him, Lu You saw that Gu Ming’s eyes were slightly red, and she had no idea what was wrong with the letter she wrote.

"Sorry, I really didn’t know what to write..." Her voice grew softer and softer as she lowered her head.

Gu Ming shook his head and said,

"It’s nothing. I was just using the letter as a medium to interpret some things my ancestors showed me in a dream."

"This ancestor-summoning ritual is an old Gu Family tradition. It’s a bit complicated, and I can’t explain it all right now. Why don’t you... go take a shower first."

His typically oblivious guy logic actually made Lu You let out a big sigh of relief.

Of course she didn’t want to linger here. Every minute she stayed, she felt a little more uncomfortable.

In fact, she had started to regret following him by the time they reached the ancestral hall.

Thankfully, she could leave now.

However, after she left the ancestral hall, her heart could not find peace.

In the bathroom, as Lu You undressed and lathered soap to wash her body, her mind couldn’t help but drift back to the guilty look on Gu Ming’s face as he read that letter.

It tugged at her heartstrings.

She didn’t know what Gu Ming was thinking; she couldn’t read him at all.

But the look in his eyes when he read that letter didn’t lie.

...

Inside the ancestral hall, Gu Ming held a kitchen knife and made a small cut on his finger, staining the letter red.

The ancestral tablets were displayed before him, many of them belonging to ancestors he didn’t recognize.

Gu Ming picked up three of the incense sticks offered in the hall and lit them.

He knew his grandfather and the other adults were outside in the courtyard training their Pet Beasts. No one would notice what he was doing right now.

So, under the cover of the incense smoke, he boldly began to mutter to himself, putting on a very pious act.

He murmured,

"O, ancestors, if your spirits are in heaven, can you bless me so that I may know of the future inheritance?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he realized how disrespectful they were to his grandfather, who was still very much alive.

After all, talking about an inheritance while his grandfather was still living was terribly unlucky.

So, he changed his words mid-sentence.

"Ancestors above, your descendant Gu Ming begs for your blessing to smoothly find the Gu Family’s treasure."

After finishing his three kowtows, he placed the three incense sticks into the censer.

The fragrant smoke billowed, shrouding the ancient ancestral tablets and filling the room with a mysterious and profound haze.

’Huh?’

His heart stirred. He immediately sensed a certain profound Dao Charm in the room.

Immediately after, he activated his Spiritual Technique, and ripples spread across his Sea of Consciousness.

At this moment, Gu Ming followed this mysterious and profound feeling, activating the Cyan Pine Skill and performing a Visualization of the Cyan Pine in his mind.

The ripples in his Sea of Consciousness intensified, etching out Old Deng’s Health Array Pattern.

In an instant, the spiritual ripples expanded outward from him, enveloping the entire ancestral hall. Even the letter, which was within the range of his Divine Sense, was covered.

He felt as if the letter itself had truly become something mysterious and profound, wrapped in a wisp of incense smoke.

’Could it be... I succeeded?’

Gu Ming wasn’t entirely sure himself. In any case, acting on a flash of inspiration, he tossed the letter into the ritual brazier.

He actually wanted to open it and look, but the moment his fingers touched the letter, he felt a strong sense of separation.

He had a premonition that if he opened it, the letter would just revert to the one Lu You had written him. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

If he didn’t open it, the letter was like Schrodinger’s cat, existing in an unknown state.

Even though he had already opened and read it.

Yet, that mysterious and profound feeling he got while worshiping before the ancestral tablets made him feel as if time and space had warped right here.

His soul felt as if it had been transported thirty-two years into the future, where a white-haired version of himself kowtowed to the ancestors, filled with guilt and regret, and tearfully threw his grandfather’s last letter into the fire.

WHOOSH—the letter fell into the brazier and was instantly reduced to ash.

Then, Gu Ming saw a spiritual light flicker before him. The light was like the seed of a fire Elf; it rapidly unfurled, forming a map made of flames.

He only needed one look for the map to be firmly imprinted in his mind.

In the blink of an eye, the map marking the treasure of the inheritance vanished.

Yet, when he closed his eyes and recalled it in his Sea of Consciousness, he could still sense the existence of that flame-wrought map.

He was inwardly shocked.

’This is the inheritance from the future?’

’It actually traveled across time and space to the present—to the year 518.’