Fang Yuan found himself back in the Misty Marionette, his soul severely injured. He had made very little progress in solving this dream realm.
'What else can I do?' he thought, checking his aperture once more. There were his usual gu worms, but they were not particularly useful in this scenario.
There was some amount of Black Oil, but he had been unable to get anyone willing to potentially side with him last time around even when he had offered it as payment. He did not think that this time would be any different.
It was not easy to bully one's way out of something in a dream realm, and he had not gotten much new information from his recent failure. Certainly, there was a merman behind it, but Fang Yuan still did not have the tools to deal with him. He didn't even know his enemy's gu worms.
As he pondered this predicament, suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration.
Perhaps he had been approaching this whole situation wrong?
He did not need to fight his enemy directly.
He left the Misty Marionette, and much like the prior times, the Flying Fish Messenger Gu appeared. He found himself moving towards Shark Peak. Just like he had during his last attempt he chose to climb up to the shark's 'mouth' in order to hide.
He hid there, waiting behind the shark teeth, until it was the same situation as the last round.
Much like he had done last time, he heard the sound of the attack before it came. Fang Yuan activated his defensive gu, but he released something from his aperture, dropping it down into the water below. He then crouched down to the ground, hiding himself.
It was the corpse of a fish he had killed while coming here - a carp nearly as big as a pig - which had been wrapped in Fang Yuan's clothes. To any bystander, it would appear like Fang Yuan had been struck and fallen into the water.
Fang Yuan had seen the carp each time he had gone to this location before, but had ignored it, as it did not even have the strength of a Hundred Beast King. Now though, he saw its use.
As expected, the merman approached this 'corpse' floating in the water. Fang Yuan then activated one of his storage-type gu worms, releasing its contents. The merman had laid aside Xie Han Mo while going to examine Fang Yuan's corpse, so that in case Fang Yuan really was alive, he would not be encumbered by carrying her weight.
It looked like this little ruse had fooled the merman in question, at least temporarily. So this meant that his investigative-type gu worm had a drawback after all.
However, he had not anticipated Fang Yuan's storage-type gu releasing a massive amount of Black Oil!
"Black Oil, argh!" the merman yelled out as it covered a good portion of his body. "What kind of an attack is this!?" Unless he had something specific to deal with this, he would be done for. That was unlikely as most Gu Masters did not or rather could not carry superfluous gu worms with them. And this was not an area of the sea where one could find Black Oil.
Even if he did have some way of combating it, it would still take some time for the merman to recover, and Fang Yuan took this opportunity to dive down into the ocean.
He was bereft of most of his clothes, the cold water assaulting him as he moved, the low temperature almost as deadly as any knife were it not for his gu worms. Even with them Fang Yuan had no hope of outmaneuvering him. The opposing merman was also a Rank 3 Gu Master and would have the advantage in water being a merman - he probably had better gu worms than Fang Yuan when it came to moving in the water anyway.
But, the Black Oil clung to his opponent like a massive ball of slime, hampering his movements.
Fang Yuan was not interested in dealing with him. Rather, he went towards Xie Han Mo, untying her, assuming that this was the clearing condition for the dream realm.
'No one in real life would do something like that with Black Oil,' Fang Yuan thought, and for good reason. The amount that he had released as an 'attack' was worth a small fortune and would not have been likely to succeed except in this specific circumstance.
"Mo'er! It's so good to know you're safe-" Fang Yuan said.
As he finished untying the woman's hands, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. The woman had stabbed Fang Yuan in the stomach!
As she lifted her head out of the cloth tied around it, Fang Yuan saw that it was most definitely not Xie Han Mo.
"Who are you? This was a trap from the beginning?!" Fang Yuan managed to blurt out. His soul by now taken severe damage, and he did not think that he would be able to handle another attempt at this dream realm.
He became even more confused as to what he was supposed to do.
The merman also approached him, striking him in the back, piercing Fang Yuan's chest.
Fang Yuan began to drown, staining the surrounding water in a crimson hue.
The Black Oil trick, though clever, would not be able to work even with the foreknowledge that this lady was not Xie Han Mo.
What to do then, even if he survived for another attempt? This dream real was far too complex to unravel without any help. Is this what Heaven's Will had intended from the beginning?
Was it finally Xie Han Mo'ver for Fang Yuan?
As Fang Yuan felt his soul being damaged severely, a radiance began lighting up the sky as he lay there bleeding into the crimson tides.
He recognized it: a Gu Worm that he had seen only recently, one which had evidently tracked and followed him into the dream realm - the Rank 6 Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu!
Dream Path gu worms could manifest into dream realms with ease, particularly Immortal Dream Path Gu Worm.
It radiated with a gentle warmth as it illuminated the sky in a pink hue as if it was sunset.
The mermaid and merman who had attacked Fang Yuan did not deal the finishing blow, instead distracted by it.
"That's kind of pretty..."
"Like an aurora borealis..."
"Activate the gu worm!" a voice called out to him from beyond the veil.
'This voice... the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will,' Fang Yuan thought to himself.
Fang Yuan did not know what it did - but he did not have any solutions to this dream realm. The gu worm had already been pre-refined for him, he only needed to will himself to activate it.
A single bead of Grape Green Essence was lost as it was activated.
The Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu shone with dazzling brilliance as it was activated. The world was enveloped in a gentle pink light, consuming everything.
The pain that assaulted Fang Yuan's soul began to ease gradually as the gu worm began taking effect.
It had not been damaged too deeply - he still could go on for another round!
With that said though, his soul was barely hanging on by a thread. It was almost like Fang Yuan had not strengthened his soul at this point, being only equivalent to the soul of a single person.
If he didn't succeed in this next attempt, it would truly be the end for him.