As Fang Yuan continued to ponder this and work upon managing the resources within his aperture, the formation set up by Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable activated again.
A man wandering the shores on the other side of the continent, opposite to Wang Tian City, suddenly felt as if a ghost had descended upon him, and his memories were wiped away. The man was part of a small tribe that mainly subsisted via hunting. Fang Yuan descended upon this newly transmigrated individual, drew out the man's blood, and created a corpse to leave behind that looked like it had been mauled by a wild animal. He then took the person in question toward the southern isles where he kept the other otherworldly demons.
High up above, the formation created by Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable suddenly self-detonated. Only a few gu worms remained, the majority were destroyed including several Immortal Gu.
Fang Yuan sighed. This was a part of Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable's methods. Thieving Heaven would only allow him to steal three otherworldly demons; Thieving Heaven was not about to condemn every single additional otherworldly demon in the entire gu world ad infinitum to what was essentially slavery within Fang Yuan's aperture. Not to mention having any more than three otherworldly demons would definitely negatively affect the Integration Formation. As such, all that was left of the formation was the bare minimum that Fang Yuan would need in the future.
Fang Yuan had expected something like this, but what really made him sigh was the fact that the formation had consisted of several Immortal Theft Path Gu which he could have made brilliant use of. Then again that was probably why Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable didn't want to leave them for Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan left the newly transmigrated man down at the isle. He turned toward Sun Lei, who had grown up considerably and was now able to cultivate and create Rank 0 Gu worms for him.
"You," Fang Yuan said to the girl, referring to the man he had brought with him, "explain to him exactly what's going on and what to do."
Fang Yuan then left.
The man in question had been temporarily paralyzed by Fang Yuan while being transported here to ensure he didn't start screaming or causing some other commotion like AE-3048-195 had.
Now, he was able to speak.
"Wow," he said, glancing down at his hands and feet. "I've really transmigrated into another world, haven't I?"
"So you already know what transmigration is like," Sun Lei asked. "Well, that makes things easier to explain. Yes, you've transmigrated into another world."
"Yeah, I know what transmigration is like," the man answered. "It's just like what happens in some of my favorite novels that I've read, like Ascent of the Strongest Lolimancer and In Another World With My 'Old Enough to Count, Old Enough to Mount' System."
Sun Lei narrowed her eyes. Perhaps there was something wrong with the way things were being translated because he had just transmigrated here, but the names of those novels seemed kind of suspicious.
"So do you know what it is like to cultivate?" Sun Lei asked.
"To cultivate?" the man asked. He went through the memories of the person whose body he inhabited. "Sort of. It involves using these small little bugs called gu worms in this world."
The man in question was not a cultivator simply because he had not opened up his aperture, coming from a place that Gu Master cultivation was shunned.
"Yes, it is," Sun Lei said. "Over there is a primeval spring and a bunch of Hope Gu. You can use it to awaken your aperture and start cultivating."
"Oh, that's great," the man said, eyes sparkling. This was exactly what he had expected upon going into another world: he would be able to grow stronger and more powerful, eventually becoming the protagonist and having a massive harem of his own! Preferably with a lot of legal lolis.
"What's your name, by the way?" he asked the young girl.
"My name is Sun Lei," she said. "I come from another world just like you. This island is where we've been gathered by the Immortal who rules over this world. If you know what's good for you, you should just shut up and listen to whatever he says. But before that, what's your name?"
"Well, back where I come from," the man answered, "My full name was Aximillion-Terraboth-Esmerald-Ishtarview-Halgrr'oth."
"That's quite a mouthful," Sun Lei said.
"Yeah, all names are like that back where I come from," the man said. "However, it's okay. The person whose body I'm inhabiting was called Ruo Dei. You can just call me that if my original name's too complicated."
"All right then, Ruo Dei," Sun Lei said. "So basically, the reason that you've been brought here is because the Immortal that rules over this world wants us to continue making things called Rank 0 gu worms. We are being kept here, forced to do that day in and day out. As long as you follow the rules, everything will be fine. If you don't, though, you'll end up like him."
She pointed toward AE-3048-195.
"Why, what's wrong with him?" Ruo Dei asked. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the guy.
AE-3048-195 glanced toward him and said in a strange, monotonous tone, "I just love working for our master, Master Fang Yuan. Master Fang Yuan is incredibly benevolent and kind. I wish to dedicate my entire life to making him as rich and powerful as possible. We should go ahead and try to serve Master Fang Yuan with all of our lives and every fiber of our being."
"Uh, okay... I still don't understand what's wrong with him," Ruo Dei said. There was definitely something weird about his gaze and what he was talking about, but Sun Lei made it sound like the guy was being punished for something.
"He's been hit with Enslavement Gu and has been forced to obey Fang Yuan completely," Sun Lei answered. "And if you don't follow orders, that's what's going to happen to you."
"Wait, hold on a minute," Ruo Dei said. "I've heard stories in which cultivators are sent to a higher realm, but then they're just forced by the people of the higher realm to work in the spirit mines for several thousand years. Is that what's happened to all of us? I thought I was going to transmigrate to another world and become invincible. Are we just out here working in the mines for this Fang Yuan fellow?"
"Basically, yes," Sun Lei answered, sighing. "Although it's not as uncomfortable as working in the mines, you could think of it as that."
"That demon!" Ruo Dei said. "How dare he do this to all of us? Doesn't he have any kind of sympathy or compassion? And why are you so accepting of all of this? Why haven't you tried to escape yet?"
Sun Lei glared at him. "Do you think I haven't thought about escaping or trying anything? Every single thing I've thought of hasn't worked. You have to understand, this place that we're in," she said, pointing all around her, "is a world constructed by that Immortal. It's a part of him. As in, he controls this entire place. There's no way that you're going to be able to deceive him while you're in here. We're completely at his mercy, so again, if you don't want to end up like that man over there, just keep quiet and obey."
"No, I refuse to believe that," Ruo Dei said. "I'll go ahead and cooperate for the time being, but don't worry, I'll eventually cultivate to defeat this demon lord and escape this place. Then I'll become invincible." He smiled toward Sun Lei. "You don't need to worry. This is exactly how all the stories go, isn't it? The evil, wicked demon lord who seems all-powerful is defeated by the upstart hero using the power of love and friendship."
Sun Lei stared at Ruo Dei. Initially she only suspected that Ruo Dei was an idiot, but after listening to him speak she felt that was now confirmed.
"Now, let me go ahead and awaken my aperture." He walked over toward a primeval spring which had been created on the island by Fang Yuan. It generated a vast number of primeval stones for the workers there to use in order to create Rank 0 Gu worms. Ruo Dei walked into it, opening up his aperture.
"Hey, I have a 60% full aperture," he said. "So now what do I do?"