by Swaminarayan
In the beginning, Heaven did not grant immortality. It granted hunger. The first cultivators learned this truth when they tore open the mountains searching for spiritual veins and instead found writhing life beneath the stone — creatures neither beast nor insect, neither spirit nor flesh. They fed on essence, drank fate, and whispered to the Dao through instinct alone. They were called Gu. And the world was never pure again.
