"The one who will obtain my inheritance is one whose heart feels no regret."
Xiang Xie read over these lines and thought about them several times. They had thrown him for a loop and he had been unable to find any deeper meaning to them. How could there be someone in this world who did not feel regret? The most demonic of cultivators still had regrets in their lifetimes; that was how Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable had been able to reform many of them.
Even the Thought Ruler Demon Lord was one who was clearly full of regrets. In the massive cavern beyond the entrance they had found, there were other inscriptions by him detailing parts of his life which he seemed to have regretted.
As Xiang Xie went to walk forward, he released the aura of one of his Rank 4 Gu worms from his aperture. Most of the Rank 1, Rank 2, and even some of the Rank 3 wild gu worms scattered. That didn't mean that he was completely safe, however. Rank 3 gu worms could respond in various ways. They would not be completely suppressed. They might end up either attacking or retreating. It all depended upon their temperament.
And so he had to be careful not to be attacked.
Thinking about that statement once more, there were two possibilities. One was that it was a requirement to pass through this stage of the inheritance- that one could feel no regrets. The other possibility was the fact that the Thought Ruler Demon Lord had deduced that in the future his inheritor would be someone like that.
If it was the second option, then there was little that they could do other than accept that they were not fated to receive this inheritance in the first place. If it was the first, however, there were gu worms that could mask emotions such as regret. The problem was that neither Xiang Zhi nor the Zhu nor Jun clans had anything like that.
Xiang Xie happened upon another one of the Thought Ruler Demon Lord's inscriptions.
"Despite trying to deduce for over fifty years in various ways, I still can't do it. I still can't do it. There is no solution. Death is the only result. To think that despite all my efforts and schemes nothing would come of it in the end! Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!"
The words "damn it" were then just written over and over and over again after that.
The Jun clan head had found this inscription and that was what Xiang Xie was looking for: more clues that they could hopefully piece together in order to get an answer.
This part of the demonic inheritance was, strangely enough, quite benign all things considered. Although the Regret Gu as well as some of the other Gu worms could be dangerous, after all, it was their oppressive aura which had led to the phenomenon on Dog Suicide Bridge - if someone was strong enough, they could ignore it and it was relatively difficult to die at this stage. The dogs, however, had been rather vulnerable to this change and had ended up victims.
That wasn't to say that dying was an impossibility. If someone had walked in here who had insufficient strength, some of the Rank 3 or even Rank 2 Depression Millipedes could have gotten to them, ending their lives if it was not properly treated.
Then again, there was probably a reason why this part of the inheritance was still somewhat gentle for a demonic inheritance. The reason being was that there was probably something worse lying beyond this. Either that, or this was not so much a test of grit, like many demonic inheritances were, but rather of wisdom.
An inheritance left behind by a person often reflected their own values; what they had treasured most during their lifetimes, and the requirements to gain it in a similar way were a reflection of who they were. It did not take a big leap in logic to assume that the Thought Ruler Demon Lord would have wanted someone who was already good at piecing clues together.
In other words, a Wisdom Path Gu Master.
Unfortunately, there was no one like that around. They did not know anyone whom they could rely upon. Wisdom Path Gu Masters were quite rare. And they were, by their very nature, quite crafty. If they ended up inviting one, who was to say that they would not be the ones on the losing end?
While thinking these thoughts, Xiang Xie finally found another piece of the puzzle: an inscription which the others hadn't found yet.
"I want to get to Rank 6. I want to get to Rank 6 so badly, but I've been stuck at Rank 5 for the last last ninety years. Even with the 80 years Lifespan Gu, what was the use of my lifespan in the end? Why did I even bother stealing this inheritance in the first place? I can go no further than if I'd just stayed on in the Northern Plains..."
Xiang Xie noted this information down in an Information Path Gu worm. This could be a useful clue if combined with other things.
He did not know what it took to get to Rank 6. Neither did the Zhu or the Jun clans. None of them had ever had any outstanding members at Rank 6 or higher. But it was said that to ascend to Rank 6 was a feat more difficult than going against heaven.
'But if there is a clue on how to get to Rank 6 here, that itself would be invaluable,' he thought to himself. Without proper guidance from an Immortal, it was difficult for mortals to even contemplate getting to Rank 6. Such knowledge was worth more than any material wealth in a Rank 5 inheritance, when viewed from a certain point of view.
From this, Xiang Xie could piece together something about the Thought Ruler Demon Lord. He had intended to go to Rank 6, but whatever process this involved, he had ultimately failed that, or at least his Wisdom Path predictions had told him that it would ultimately lead to his destruction if he tried. Because of this, he had ended up dying at Rank 5 not because of his enemies or because of cultivation, but because his lifespan simply ran out.
'Knowing this, what else can we try…?' Xiang Xie thought before a gu worm leapt out at him.
Rank 4 aura!
It must have felt threatened by his own Rank 4 Gu worms and decided to attack rather than retreating.
"Rank 4 Stupidity Gu!"
He nimbly avoided the gu worm's strike and retreated back a hundred paces. With him out of range, the gu worm withdrew, not finding it worth it to leave its territory.
Xiang Xie finally had to return back to the mouth of the cavern after a few more encounters like this and wandering around in circles; he had found nothing decisive. Most of his explorations had been like this. The clues that they had found did not seem to lead to anything.
The cavern itself was big and difficult to navigate, like a giant flattened pancake; however, it seemed to only have an entrance and no exit. It was likely the exit would only appear under certain conditions. They just hadn't figured out what those conditions were, and the hints scattered around had not helped.
The other clues that they had found were that the Thought Ruler Demon Lord, despite his identity as a demonic cultivator, did seem to regret leaving the Northern Plains. He had betrayed his clan in order to obtain his inheritance, and had found the last few decades of his life to be ultimately meaningless and pointless, simply feeding his Gu worms and waiting for time to take him, as he had never been able to advance any further.
No wonder he seemed to have died regretting many of his choices...