The core beast was still in the stage of formation. He had already stabilized both the blessed lands and had also spent time with Hu Mei Er and Chen Jiu to assure them everything was fine. While he could continue deducing a great many things, he left such tasks to his clone and passed his time reading <
<
<<<>>>
Luo Po Valley was a very wide and complex labyrinth. Ren Zu searched for Northern Dark Ice Soul but he got lost in the labyrinth himself. He did not find a way out even after several days.
He was extremely tired and had sprawled on the ground, his back leaning against the walls of the labyrinth.
A feeling of boundless loneliness quickly engulfed him.
This was because he had given his original heart to hope, right now, he only had a heart of loneliness left.
The feeling of loneliness was unbearable, Ren Zu was afraid of being lonely, he had once dug out both of his eyes and turned them into a son and daughter to accompany him.
But right now, he could only endure the torture of loneliness.
Amidst the loneliness, Ren Zu felt intense desolation, loss, and pain. Time seemed to have stopped, he was all alone in this world, there was nobody he could rely on, there was no fire that he could gain warmth from.
Ren Zu felt suffocation, but as time passed, he got used to the feeling of loneliness, he even started to savor it.
He started to feel that loneliness was not that scary.
In his loneliness, he felt serenity, peace, and quiet.
He talked to himself: "Oh human, what is the purpose of your existence? Struggling here in this world, rushing about everywhere."
Next, he heard a voice from beside him: "Oh human, you are the spirit of all beings. You are lonely, thus you wanted to be comforted, to be understood, to be recognized. Right now, the thing you want to do most is to find the way out of this damned place."
Ren Zu was shocked: "Who, who is talking to me?"
That voice laughed as it said: "I am a gu called 'Self.' If you look inside yourself, you will find me."
Ren Zu quickly inspected his heart of loneliness. As expected, in the deepest part of his heart, he saw a gu worm.
This gu looked very real, almost like himself, but it was many times smaller than him, like the size of an ant.
Ren Zu was curious: "Eh, you are a gu worm? Why are you inside my body?"
Self Gu said: "Ever since you gained life, I had been inside your body, you just did not discover me. It is not easy to find me. You will need to inspect your inner heart of loneliness."
"Is that so." Ren Zu had little interest. He was quite indifferent about this as his mind was entirely concerned with Northern Dark Ice Soul.
Self Gu saw Ren Zu's lack of concern and laughed: "Oh Ren Zu, you should be happy. You should know, finding yourself and understanding yourself, that is the most important thing in life. You yourself are the most reliable thing in the world, let me help you leave this place."
"You can help me leave this place? No way, can you bring me out of Luo Po Valley and travel in the Reverse Flow River?" Ren Zu was shocked and excited.
Self Gu laughed heartily: "Oh Ren Zu, why must you walk on this road? The Door of Life and Death's entrance and exit are the traces left behind by Fate Gu when it visited Fairness Gu. When you walk on this road, you will be under the manipulation and arrangement of fate. If you want to revive, to leave this place, you should walk on a brand new road."
Ren Zu was perplexed: "Isn't there only one road? Wisdom Gu had already told me that. Where can there be a second road?"
Self Gu said: "Oh Ren Zu, as long as you want to walk, there will be a road for you to step on."
Ren Zu was even more confused now: "Then how should I walk?"
Self Gu said: "Didn't I say it already, first, you have to 'think' about leaving."
"Think?" Ren Zu tried using his brain, thinking of how to move on.
He thought for half a day, his head was bursting, when finally, a Gu jumped out of his mind.
This Gu was an old friend of Ren Zu. It was Cognition Gu.
"Where there is cognition, there is me." Cognition Gu said: "Oh human, you seem to have gotten into trouble again, let me help you think."
Saying so, Cognition Gu gave off a bright light, enlightening Ren Zu.
Cognition Gu had an ability, that was to enlighten all beings. Any lifeform enlightened by Cognition Gu would gain wings.
Back then, Verdant Great Sun obtained the wings of 'self,' flying into the sky.
When the light dispersed, Ren Zu obtained a pair of wings.
This pair of wings was located at his heels. They were very delicate.
Cognition noted: "Mm, this pair of wings is called independence, Ren Zu, it will help you walk on a new road. You have to be careful, a new road is hard to walk on, Other Gu are unreliable, you can only rely on your Self Gu."
Saying so, Cognition Gu vanished.
Ren Zu was still very much confused: "How should I walk?"
"Walk ahead, and carve the path of your Road of Life. This is a road that is unique to yourself! Only you can walk on it!" Self Gu said excitedly.
Ren Zu took the first step forward.
Bam!
The next moment, his vision changed.
<<<>>>
Lo Jik closed the booklet and turned his attention to Treasure Yellow Heaven.
He was in a great mood. All his accumulations and advantages were finally showing their effects. Not only did he gain a victory over Heaven's Will, Love Gu Worm's successful activation also revealed the true nature of Heaven's Will—a strand of tenacious, pure-white dao mark with an aspect of including all the other paths. This clue, shocking as it was, also happened to be the most insightful hint towards this entity.
"Hey. What's going on?" He contacted Feng Jin Huang. She didn't immediately answer him and appeared slightly restless, leading him to a strange stall attracting a small crowd of divine sense belonging to several gu immortals. The owner of the stall was selling immortal materials in the form of flesh of a desolate beast. Surprisingly, what should be an ordinary sight in Treasure Yellow Heaven ended up attracting a rather notable pillar of treasure light.
"Oh? There is such a thing?" Lo Jik played ignorant since he realized the true worth of the immortal material the moment he saw it. "It appears that this material is quite rare and is almost never circulated in the market. No wonder it gathered such an impressive treasure light. Do you want me to buy this immortal for you, honey?" His spoke with sickly affection as Feng Jin Huang rolled her eyes. Glancing around in caution, she transmitted secretly.
"This is a dream path immortal material, Lo Jik! So, yes. Be quick about if you plan on buying it."
"Dream path?" Lo Jik gasped lightly. He shook off all of his frivolity and questioned solemnly. "How sure are you? How can you sense it?"
Feng Jin Huang shook her head.
"I was browsing Treasure Yellow Heaven when I encountered this material. As for why I believe it's a dream path material? I questioned the stall owner about this immortal material. They revealed that it was the remains of a desolate beast from their earthly calamity. The description of the beast matched…" she paused momentarily before explaining the truth. "It matches the description of a desolate beast I saw… in my dreams."
"You are already using your Dream Wings Immortal Gu?" Lo Jik furrowed his brows but didn't truly concern himself over this matter. He had witnessed Feng Jin Huang's luck. Even her greatest tribulations displayed the trend of benefiting her ultimately. And it was better than doing nothing. Lo Jik's view on dream path had already shifted ever since he invaded Lang Ya Blessed Land and encountered Qin Bai Sheng.
A dream path extreme physique…
Yeah, dream path was not as undeveloped as he believed previously.
"I'm not using it irresponsibly. Don't worry," Feng Jin Huang answered curtly, fearing Lo Jik might make a bigger issue out of this.
'The flesh of Nightmare Demonic Colts is already here.' Lo Jik thinned his lips.
"I appreciate the heads-up about this material, Huang'er… but I'm busy with something else. I won't get time to invest in dream path. Instead, I'm more interested in your experience in using Dream Wings Immortal Gu. Maybe I could help you explore dream realms even more safely."
Feng Jin Huang raised her eyebrow and inquired candidly. "Does your matter have anything to do with you killing Old Sword Immortal and leaving Tian Ti Mountain?"
"Mm-hmm."
Feng Jin Huang nodded before adding.
"You might want to speak with Sun Yao when you get the chance. There have been some malicious rumors targeting you, stating that your acts were no different from a demonic gu immortal." She couldn't help but reveal her protective nature for Sun Yao in her tone. "She's taking this harder than expected. Yao'er isn't like us and has a truly kind heart."
"And I don't have a kind heart?" Lo Jik snorted in dissatisfaction.
"You do?" Feng Jin Huang acted shocked. "Since when?"
"Just purchase this material and fuck off!"
"I thought you were going to buy it for me," she teased while also questioning with thinly-veiled concern. "Or are you already at the brink of bankruptcy?"
Lo Jik rolled his eyes and casually purchased the material displayed on the stall before selling it to Feng Jin Huang for chump change.
"Huh." He had muttered near the stall owner, mentioning something to the seller casually. "This material actually has the same feel as those weird trees sold by Faceless Transformation Immortal. I wonder how they are connected."
His words stirred the stall owner slightly before the Fickle Consort Immortal retracted his senses from Treasure Yellow Heaven.
It wasn't long when he entered Treasure Yellow Heaven using another identity. He instantly sensed several messages and thoughts left behind at his stall by several reputable gu immortals. They all asked questioned about his lifespan extension method and the price to avail this service. It was none other than Faceless Transformation Immortal's stall.
Lo Jik couldn't help but smile slightly as he answered most of the questions. He was clear about the prices while the answers towards the origins of the so-called immortal gu house was vague at best.
'I can only use Recovery Coffin four more times before I'll have to replenish the immortal materials.'
Recovery Coffin was an extremely unusual immortal gu house. It was constructed using mortal gu worms and rare theft path immortal materials. Since he used immortal materials, it was natural that using the gu house's killer move expended the dao marks within the materials. In essence, such immortal gu houses could be compared to consumable-type gu worms.
But Lo Jik now possessed a theft path immortal gu worm.
What's more, it was the rank 8 Steal Life Immortal Gu!
'This immortal gu worm has Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's arrangement on it and can only be used three times. But this arrangement should be limited once used in a gu house.'
Of course, a demon venerable's methods wouldn't be effortless to bypass ordinarily but Lo Jik was not ordinary, was he? He had a great confidence in achieving his goal without needing to play by Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's rules.
Using this immortal gu worm, Lo Jik hoped to construct a rank 8 immortal gu house. Not only could he extend other's lifespan, but he also wanted to threaten his enemies using Steal Life Immortal Gu's ability to steal lifespan!
And now that Lo Jik possessed the immortal gu worm and the recipe for immortal gu worm, he also deduced recipes for the rank 5 Steal Life Gu Worm. Unlike the immortal gu, the mortal version of this gu were one-time expendable gu worms. When activated, they would steal fifty years of lifespan from all organisms in the range of five-kilometer radius before disappearing. As such, even the user of the gu worm would be affected negatively.
Lo Jik perused through the list of offers and selected a few gu immortals. He replied to these gu immortals positively and began negotiations.
Lifespan extension was an awfully popular and attractive business. Every gu immortal had a limited lifespan and they sought means to elongate their lives as much as possible.
There were even several offers and questions about few of the rare items Faceless Transformation Immortal displayed at his stall. Much to other gu immortal's annoyance, however, Faceless Transformation Immortal would not even discuss these rare materials unless the other party knew about it from the beginning. He insulted and shooed away prospective buyers who did not have knowledge about certain materials but wanted to purchase them out of personal curiosity.
"How much for these Spring Dream Fruit Trees?" A divine sense approached Faceless Transformation Immortal's stall and inquired quickly. A batch of strange trees floated near Faceless Transformation's divine sense. These trees were ordinary apple trees. The treasure light they summoned in this grotto-heaven surpassed rare rank 5 materials. The height of their treasure light individually was of the same level as a rank 5 Purple Crystal Relic gu worm.
"Oh? Friend, you are…" Lo Jik inquired with a welcoming smile. He didn't chase away this divine sense as it lingered around the batch of trees.
"I'm Nine Winds Immortal," introduced the gu immortal. He stared at the batch of apple trees and asked again. "How much for these Spring Dream Fruit Trees?"
'These trees are actually already named?' Lo Jik mused. These were the trees he collected from the dream path resource point in his human path blessed land. The trees themselves were ordinary, but the dream path dao marks on the mountain nursed special kinds of trees that were attached to these regular apple trees. In fact, the mountain in Lo Jik's blessed land did not only have an orchard of apple trees. There were many other types of trees that shared one similarity—they were all fruit-bearing trees.
The illusory trees growing atop these fruit-bearing trees could only be investigated and witnessed using dream path methods. The dream path trees also bore succulent-looking pink fruits, something Lo Jik's group of Nightmare Demonic Colts loved to consume. These fruits were all dream path mortal materials.
"Well, friend Nine Winds Immortal, you are quite aware about these materials. That's a pleasant surprise. As such, you must also be informed of their value." Faceless Transformation smiled thickly. "But I will give you a special discount since you are the first customer to identify these Spring Dream Fruit Trees. This batch of ten trees can be sold for a 100 immortal essence stones."
Nine Winds Immortal was shocked and scared speechless. He couldn't help but reply with a furious tone.
"What kind of special discount is this? You are clearly a swindler. Hmph! You are out here fishing for information about valuable materials you acquired through chance encounters."
"Ease your anger, friend. You will realize I'm not a swindler if you think carefully about the fact that I was not only capable of gathering these trees, but I also managed to acquire these trees without harming their special traits."
Nine Winds Immortal fell silent after hearing Faceless Transformation's words and thought carefully.
Indeed.
Spring Dream Fruits and Spring Dream Fruit Trees were fragile and could be destroyed easily. These trees were special and did not have a material body. They existed in dreams. Spring Dream Fruit Trees require living fruit-bearing trees in the real world to live for a long time in dreams. Cutting the trees in the real world destroyed this dream path resource.
Faceless Transformation Immortal was skilled enough to bring the trees into Treasure Yellow Heaven. He also did that without harming the actual Spring Dream Fruits growing from Spring Dream Fruit Trees. Nine Winds Immortal had already used his methods to deduce the true nature of these trees.
"Are you sure it's the same trees as the ones we own in our dream path resource point?" Fu questioned Fang Dang Land Spirit nervously. He couldn't help but pace around as Fang Dang Land Spirit nodded. The so-called Nine Winds Immortal was this land spirit itself.
"Yes, master. The main body didn't have a deep dream path foundation and only developed a mortal killer move to investigate these trees after a long period of hard work."
Fu worked his jaw.
"Then this Faceless Transformation Immortal is even better. Not only can he investigate this dream path material but he can also move it. It is possible that he possesses dream path gu worms and killer moves."
He couldn't help but feel pressured by circumstances around him.
'Nu has fallen into a deep sleep due to that dream path immortal gu worm. God forbids she dies… but if she does, Fang Dang Land Spirit will refuse to consider me as its master. The two of us are its masters collectively. Earlier, Fang Dang Land Spirit would only listen to the commands we agreed upon together. With her in a deep sleep, I can temporarily command Fang Dang Land Spirit as a singular master. But that's only possible because Little Nu is unconscious and not dead.'
'Only dream path methods can help me save Little Nu. These Spirit Dream Fruit Trees are a secondary concern. What I need the most is dream path research. I need to cultivate dream path.'
He ordered Fang Dang Land Spirit and the Nine Winds Immortal in Treasure Yellow Heaven stirred, acting hesitant.
"It is too expensive," Nine Winds urged. "How can mortal materials be worth so many immortal essence stones?"
"So what if these are mortal materials? Look around, Nine Winds Immortal. Do you dare believe I can sell these mere mortal materials for not a hundred immortal essence stones but a thousand of them if I reveal the simple fact that these are dream path materials? I told you, didn't I? This is a special discount only for people who know about it."
'Doesn't this kind of discount expose Faceless Transformation Immortal's ownership of even more Spring Fruit Dream Trees? Could he be like us and possess a dream path resource point?' Fu guessed in his heart. He was wary of this Faceless Transformation Immortal and didn't want to reveal their trump cards. But it would be impossible to trade for more dream path knowledge without sharing one's own foundation.
Fu gritted his teeth and made a decision in his heart once he thought about his younger sister. In reality, Fang Dang Land Spirit just sold a portion of the flesh of a Nightmare Demonic Colt. This portion was sold for an immense price, but they never revealed it was the flesh of a dream path desolate beast.
Why?
Because revealing that it was a dream path material would create a great commotion. It will attract countless gazes and deductions from every side. Fang Dang Land Spirit feared their location getting exposed and it jolted Fu from daydreaming about selling dream path materials and getting rich quickly. They merely sold one portion of the flesh to regain some funds.
So, they sill had a huge leverage in this trade.
"Eh? You actually have such a good thing?" Faceless Transformation Immortal exclaimed in surprise. "Do you really possess dream path immortal materials?"
"I do." Nine Winds Immortal nodded. "But not only do I want to purchase your stock of Spring Dream Fruit Trees, but I also want the method of retrieving them and planting them. I will also pay for more information about dream path using dream path immortal material."
Fu expected Faceless Transformation Immortal to negotiate fiercely but he truly seemed too enamored by dream path to care. He quickly agreed to the trade, barely able to contain his excitement.
The trade ended in a flash.
Fu sold two complete Nightmare Demonic Colt corpses for a pitiful collection of dream path research that was incomparably valuable to Fu.
Fu accepted the information path gu worm and activated it eagerly.
What happened next was horrifying to Fang Dang Land Spirit.
"Master! Someone is invading the blessed land. What space path formation is this?!"
"I know," Fu replied eerily. "Stand down."
"Master?!" Fang Dang Land Spirit was shocked as Fu barked angrily.
"Stand down!"
'Fixed Travel Entry Formation, a success.' Lo Jik stepped past the jade-green light without bothering to use his stock of theft path materials to conceal his invasion.
'To think I would get so lucky. It's because of my most recent victory against Heaven's Will. Heaven's Will was like a formless force suppressing me, and consequently, my luck. The most recent victory not only revealed several crucial clues, but it also weakened Heaven's Will's influence in my life temporarily, allowing my luck to surge to the point of helping me discover this blessed land.'
'Discovering Nightmare Demonic Colt's flesh in Treasure Yellow Heaven wasn't the effect of Feng Jin Huang's luck but my own luck setting things in motion. But how could have I snatched this opportunity if not for my methods and preparations.'
Lo Jik looked around the slightly ruined battlefield.
Fu appeared before him alongside the wary Fang Dang Land Spirit.
"Hmm. Bring me to your sister," he said. "I will save her," he lied.
***
Join the discord through the link in the synopsis.
Read 60 chapters ahead @ Patron and Subscribe Star (Links in the synopsis.)
Support the Fanfic through comments, likes, reviews and such (if the published site allows it.)