"A wisdom path gu master, you say?"
"Yes, master," Lu Zuan Feng replied softly in a dark chamber illuminated with phantom-purple flames burning around his body. A charred stench suffocated the small chamber even when the flames did not touch any part of the renowned Divine Thief's body. Soaked in cold sweat, Lu Zuan Feng endured the pain of the impurities in his soul burning away using the phantom path gu while maintaining an indifferent expression. It was extremely challenging to prevent himself from enjoying the sensation as his lips twitched slightly.
"A pity. Did you investigate that child's disappearance? Any clues?" The voice of Lu Zuan Feng's master, rank 7 Old Man Yue Xia, inquired from within Lu Zuan Feng. Fang Zheng had been wise in not believing Divine Thief's claim of being unable to seek his master's counsel ever since they left Southern Border in fear of retaliation from Shang Clan.
"I couldn't notice anything. It's like he disappeared into thin air." Lu Zuan Feng exhaled hotly, almost loosing his control over the gu worm to refine his soul. It was one of the drawbacks of enjoying pain—that it could drive the subject beyond the edge.
"He might be dead, but a wisdom path gu master must never be underestimated." Old Man Yue Xia cautioned. "It's been a while since Shang Clan calmed down. Are you sure you wish to stay in Central Continent instead of returning? My will won't last long inside your body. Sustaining my will was one of the reasons you tried bargaining with Fang Zheng for more of his wisdom path inheritance in the first place."
Lu Zuan Feng ended his cultivation session as he licked his dry lips.
"No." He insisted. "Fang Zheng truly cannot be underestimated, but I believe he… encountered something unfortunate. He knows I'm a natural ally, so he will contact me sooner or later if he's alive. Through Fang Zheng I'm now allied with Wang Nu. She is still useful master, especially her hatred for Lo Jik. Furthermore, she can be my opportunity to gain Guts Gu! Returning to Southern Border will not grant me such advantages. As for your will… sigh. I couldn't get most of Fang Zheng's mortal wisdom path inheritance, but what I have is enough to pose as a wisdom path gu master. It's enough to… swindle others."
Yue Xia's will fell silent before he hummed slowly.
"My main body left one instruction for you should you remain in Central Continent with the intention of extending your stay. It might be challenging to communicate with the main body unless you advance to rank 6. Listen carefully, disciple. This will be important—prioritize the advantage to be gained in the future through this information."
Lu Zuan Feng listened intently.
"Yao Clan's second supreme elder once owed my main body a great favor. He later paid this favor by telling my main body about several secrets. One particular secret spoken in whispers among several super clans in Southern Border is that the regional qi walls will disappear in the near-future."
Lu Zuan Feng's eyes widened briefly.
"You are an otherworldly demon, disciple." The voice continued. "Nobody can predict your true potential or your actual place in this world. This… might be an opportunity meant for you. All these super powers kept this secret to themselves to make the most of this opportunity. Loners like us can only find out about it through luck."
"Master…" Divine Thief gulped. "What will happen when the regional qi walls disappear?"
The will was silent for a moment before he remarked softly.
"The start of another great era."
"What?" Lu Zuan Feng nearly lost his composure. Not even hours of contemplation on the matter aided with wisdom path gu worms could have allowed him to reach this conclusion.
"The debt that supreme elder owed me was nothing short of a debt of life, disciple." Yue Xia's will snickered coldly. "Mortals like you can only think of this opportunity as the beginning of a great war swallowing the gu world whole. However, this war will have a greater purpose. An old prediction states that this war will nurture and birth countless heroes and the beginning of a dao unheard before—dream path."
"Dream path… dream path… does it have anything to do with the prophecy of Great Dream Immortal Venerable?" Lu Zuan Feng questioned after swallowing thickly.
"All clues point to the emergence of the eleventh venerable, disciple."
"And how do I gain advantage from this information?" Lu Zuan Feng couldn't help but blink.
"Are you not listening to me, Feng'er?" Yue Xia laughed. "Dream path! It might not be a properly established path but its presence is everywhere. Follow these clues. One of the reasons my main body wanted you and Fang Zheng to flee into Central Continent was to follow these clues and locate this inheritance. Main body deduced it's most likely a dream path inheritance! Getting this inheritance might allow you to be one step beyond the current generation!"
"Fang Zheng is dead. Why didn't you tell me about it before?" Lu Zuan Feng sighed deeply.
"Because you are still not a gu immortal and I'm about to disappear. The condition of this revelation was fulfilling a few conditions—that is why my main body left me as a specialwill. How you use these clues, ultimately, is up to you. Fang Zheng was a preferable candidate because he has a decent mindset. But you can use anyone else."
"Is it necessary to bring a companion?" Lu Zuan Feng noticed his master's insistence of exploring this inheritance with someone else.
"You noticed it correctly. It is one of the conditions to explore this mysterious inheritance. Now listen closely to all the clues."
<<<>>>
"What?" Wang Nu hissed as she regarded the cloaked Lu Zuan Feng with a guarded glare. "We have an information path contract. You cannot change the terms—"
"Ordinarily, yes." Lu Zuan Feng cut her off with a chuckle as he leaned against a tree. His arms crossed above his chest. "However, the terms bound all three of us together. Forest Mask was not a despicable gu master, but he also left contingencies to preserve his interests should something happen to either of us. The contract bound us three… or none of us. As you can see, Lord Forest Mask is nowhere to be seen. He is dead or he found a way to get rid of the terms of your agreement."
"That's illogical," Wang Nu spoke hastily in Fang Zheng's defense. "Why would Lord Forest Mask do something like this? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for him to maintain his cover and continue working according to the agreement even if he found a way to get rid of the effects of Poison Vow Gu?"
"Yes, it is more beneficial this way." Lu Zuan Feng shrugged. "That's why I say he's probably dead."
Wang Nu took a step back as her body shuddered.
"No…" Her lips parted slightly.
"I'm sorry." Lu Zuan Feng added sincerely as he coldly observed Wang Nu's reaction. Her adoration for Fang Zheng was as obvious as her hatred for Lo Jik.
"What now?" She hardened her features and glared at Lu Zuan Feng. The difference in their abilities couldn't be more obvious as the latter rank 4 gu master masked her fear with cold determination.
"Now?" Lu Zuan Feng smiled. "We continue. Our agreement does not need to change at all and we will share profits from completed missions among the two of us."
Wang Nu narrowed her eyes suspiciously. It took a while of hesitation before she nodded slowly.
She retrieved another Poison Vow Gu.
Only after the duo formed another contract did Wang Nu felt slight relief before guilt snuck up on her. Meanwhile, Lu Zuan Feng turned to leave.
"He knew."
Lu Zuan Feng suddenly spoke as he stopped and looked over his shoulder.
"What?" Wang Nu frowned again, unable to understand the masked and cloaked figure.
"He knew." Divine Thief emphasized knowingly before leaving as Wang Nu's lips parted again.
'He knew…' She finally understood what the noble Lord Forest Mask's despicable partner meant. He knew.
'Where did you disappear to, Senior?' Wang Nu looked up at the night sky and found black heaven's starry canvas blurred. Tears slowly slid down from the corner of her eyes.
<<<>>>
Qing Lao stared at the night sky with a look of fascination.
His surroundings changed in a blink of an eye as a dark forest replaced the previous farm land on Central Continent's mortal village.
'I succeeded.' He stopped admiring the sky and looked around. His ability to investigate was severely limited as he was merely an inner disciple and not someone who had an access to ungodly wealth like gu immortals.
However, he came prepared.
He had spent the last of his wealth to achieve a single objective.
'First, rank 4 Empty Cube Gu.'
Qing Lao retrieved a familiar space path house gu. Soon, he started setting up a formation around Empty Cube Gu. Other inexperienced gu masters might mistake it for one of the inheritances held in the sect's mortal Inheritance Hall. However, Qing Lao introduced subtle changes to the formation as it took the form of three layers before concealing Qing Lao and camouflaging and blending with the surroundings.
Exhaling softly, Qing Lao started arranging another formation. The entire process lasted for nearly three hours and required the inner disciples to revise each step at least five times to ensure he didn't overlook even the tiniest detail.
This new formation took form of a dull-grey plane of light as the component gu worms flew into the light and melded with it perfectly. A rare look of satisfaction reached Qing Lao's paling face.
He sat cross-legged and began recuperating while using primeval stones to recover what little of his essence he could as gu masters of higher cultivation were better off relying on the natural rate of their aperture's primeval sea's regeneration unless they possessed rare gu worms to enhance this aspect.
Qing Lao possessed no such gu worm despite his influence and wealth. Some gu worms were simply too precious and even inner disciples like him had to compete fairly—a competition that they ended up losing most of the time.
The grey light illuminated his surroundings dimly.
He moved four hours later as he noticed the sky brightening!
Blessed lands possessed a fixed sky. Hu Immortal Blessed Land did not have nights and similarly another blessed land with nights would not change into daylight.
However, a grotto-heaven displayed such astronomical phenomena. Qing Lao retrieved a gu worm as he bathed in the early morning rays. It was a rank 1 enslavement path gu meant to store an enslaved beast.
From within emerged a regular brown rat.
It was no beast but a simple animal.
The rat scurried forward under Qing Lao's silent command. It stopped under the illuminating plane of grey light.
Qing Lao retrieved another enslaved beast. It was a falcon, a common animal and not a beast yet again. He clearly felt the rat's instinctive fear against its natural predator alongside the falcon's hunger.
Again, the falcon flew and landed on top of the glowing screen of light. The falcon did not pass through the light but remained steady as if the plane of light was tangible.
The screen of light flickered under Qing Lao's manipulation as it extended from the corners and curved down onto the ground. The four lengths of light met right under the still rat before extending from their sides and connecting every empty space and hiding the rat from Qing Lao's view.
Then four lengths of grey light grew out of the balloon shaped structure covering the rat and enveloped the falcon, too.
Qing Lao stepped around the strange structure of light and started adding gu worms. His actions were no longer smooth and cold sweat started dripping from his temples. It was clear the next string of actions was much too complicated for him as he even began adding a few mortal materials. Any formation path expert would scoff at his current work. Using materials to create a formation was a complicated task much too advanced for mortals and said materials needed to be of great value! How could one add mortal materials so foolishly?
However, Qing Lao didn't stop here.
He slashed across his left palm and let his blood soak the glowing structure until the flickering grey structure took on a deep-red shade.
The surface of the structure fluctuated and Qing Lao's introduced strange waves that flowed from down to up. Each completed cycle caused a bloody scent to grow more intense. It wasn't long until Qing Lao healed his palm and restarted the process of adding materials and gu worms into the wavy structure of bloody light.
It became even more complicated as Qing Lao studied each cycle of the wave and deliberately changed the position where he added newer materials and gu worms based on the current wave's position.
The upward wave grew more intense before the bloody light expanded wildly. Flat lengths of blood light shot out of the structure and wrapped itself until it looked like an egg.
*Phew*
Qing Lao breathed in relief and waited calmly.
He had already lost his connection with the two enslaved animals and kept a cautious eye on the glowing red egg.
*Twitch*
His ears perked as the egg started twitching left and right from the top as something struggled to break free!
The egg lost its previous luster and looked like an actual egg. Cracks started forming from the top and slowly spread across its entire surface.
*Tuc*
Something broke free.
*Chiiiiii*
A strange creature burst forth, shooting straight up before hitting the invisible formation's surface as the egg disintegrated into motes of red light which transitioned back into flickers of grey glow.
Meanwhile, Qing Lao observed his creation.
Replacing the rat and falcon was a red-feathered bat-like winged creature with a falcon's wings and talon alongside a bat's head!
It was an animal that never existed before!
*Chiiiiiiiiii*
The mutated creature let out a sharp screech as Qing Lao locked his brows in slight discomfort. However, a mortal civilian would experience their ear drums burst as the strange bat could deafen them.
*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* *Clap*
The bat suddenly plunged on the ground, paralyzed.
Shocked by the change, Qing Lao froze and mechanically turned sideways. Next to him stood a ragged man with shaggy white hair that covered his eyes. The old man was a dwarf who barely reached the gu master's knees.
He couldn't move—not with the strangely awe-inspiring heavenly force restricting him in his position.
"First Condition—create a mutant." The old man started coarsely as he snapped his fingers. The falcon-winged bat disappeared from its spot and appeared in the strange individual's hands. He caressed the feathered bat gently.
"Second Condition—the mutated creature must have an ability." The old man plucked a feather from the bat and used it to tickle its cute little nose. He chuckled kindly.
"Lastly, the third condition—to achieve the conditions of inheriting this grotto-heaven without knowing said conditions at all."
Qing Lao had difficulty breathing as the old man reached out and planted a hand on his right knee.
"So," he addressed Qing Lao, "my newest immigrant. Answer this honestly. Did you know about the conditions necessary to inherit me?"
The disciple knew what fate awaited him if he lied… or the honest answer failed to satisfy this old man… this heavenly spirit.
"N-No! I did not!" Qing Lao stuttered his words as the heavenly spirit slowly looked up. He could finally see the glowing purple eyes through the shaggy white hair on the heavenly spirit's aged face.
The old man broke into a wide smile.
"Aha! I see. It's nice to see you, my master. I'm the heavenly spirit of this grotto-heaven, the Immemorial Desolate Grotto Heaven! I'm Old Man Desolate."
Qing Lao blinked as the pressure around him dispersed.
A grotto-heaven…
His jaw hung open.
He… he inherited a grotto-heaven!
"Please, Old Man Desolate!" Qing Lao suddenly bent and grabbed the heavenly spirit's shoulder. "You have to help me!"
"Anything you wish is my command, Master!" The old man reassured Qing Lao as he grinned brightly. "Lay it on me. I'll surely do my best."
"Thank you!" Qing Lao hugged the old man.
"A-Ah, master! Please not in the forest… I mean, if you really want to…"
"No, you disgusting thing." Qing Lao made a face and nearly kicked the old man before regathering his composure.
"I want you to create this space path formation."
Old Man Desolate let out a sigh of disappointment and glanced through the formation. His eyes brightened soon enough.
"Oh… this space path transportation formation is quite the thing. But this old man can improve the formation—"
"No improvements." Qing Lao shook his head. "And no changes. Its sub-formation is already created elsewhere. I want you to connect the main formation with the sub-formation."
"I see. Consider it done, master. I already have the necessary materials and immortal gu worms. But… don't you want me to show you around?" Old Man Desolate inquired hopefully.
"Nope." Qing Lao rejected coldly. "I want you to arrange this formation as soon as possible and keep it activated until I say otherwise."
Old Man Desolate pouted and nodded.
"As you wish, master."
The heavenly spirit and Qing Lao teleported to a clean marbled hall under the former's act as Qing Lao watched the old man merely wave his hands.
A stream of colorful lights and aura of multiple immortal gu worms shook Qing Lao as everything was assembled in a few seconds.
"Done, master." Old Man Desolate shrugged.
"Really?" Qing Lao rubbed his eyes. "I couldn't even understand that formation. Are you sure you didn't make any mistake?"
Old Man Desolate would have beheaded the individual who dared ask such an insolent question. However, he merely laughed proudly.
"Of course, I made no mistake, master. This is a formation path grotto-heaven. How can I make errors with such a simple formation? It's merely a rank 6 immortal gu formation."
Qing Lao nodded slowly.
"Activate it."
The formation was activated.
"What next, master?" Old Man Desolate inquired curiously.
"We wait," Qing Lao replied.
"And?" The heavenly spirit blinked.
"That is the extent of my meaning of life, Old Man Desolate," Qing Lao answered grimly. "I'll wait."
***
Alternate Title: Freaky old spirits of gu world; Wang Nu's one-sided unrequited affection; Divine Thief's fortune; The next great era; Lo Jik: It's going to be a great war! One piece! *Meanwhile, Gu Immortals: Trying to locate and groom the next venerable*; Yue Xia's scheme; A new contract; The masochist otherworldly demon; No wonder bro kept comparing himself to cat woman; Qing Lao's formation; Mutating animals; A grotto-heaven; Down bad heavenly spirit; Old Man Desolate can do it in forest if his master so desires; Check Old Man Desolate's knees; The freaky desolate; Little Heavenly Spirit; Arranging an immortal gu formation with a snap of fingers; A formation path grotto-heaven; Qing Lao's meaning of life? *Heaven's Will sweating somewhere*; Lo Jik: Hmm… more inheritance and recipe *Looks at the next chapter in Legends of Ren Zu*
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