223 RI
Several days later.
A Gu Immortal was flying above white crane sea area.
This Gu Immortal wore a green shirt and had a young appearance, his nose was sharp and his face was wide, his eyes were shining like stars.
Rank seven aura emanated from his body, his name was Qing Yue Zhi Cheng, he had a huge origin, being a Gu Immortal from the Eastern Sea super force Qing Yue clan, he was the bloodline descendant of the first supreme elder, Qing Yue An.
"This is?" Seeing the barren state of white crane sea area, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's expression sank.
He had affection towards Qin Bai He, even though he knew she was into women, he could accept it.
Even though he could accept Qin Bai He, she did not accept him.
It was truly a one-sided affection, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was rejected from the start but he had never given up, he had persevered for the last decade.
Even though Qin Bai He disliked him, she did not want to be on bad terms with Qing Yue clan, thus, she always replied to Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's letters, albeit half-heartedly.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng would write her a love letter once in a while, but Qin Bai He would only reply with one word – read, or okay.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was satisfied with receiving 'read', but if he got 'okay', he would be smiling for the next few days.
Humans were not emotionless, even Gu Immortals had lust and feelings of love towards others.
But recently, he had not been getting any responses to his letters.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng tried to contact her but they all failed.
He had a bad feeling in his heart, he could not wait any longer, he directly came to white crane sea area.
Once he saw the barren state of white crane sea area, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's brows became tightly locked.
In the past, white crane sea area had a serene environment with flying white cranes, it was filled with vitality, but now, it was robbed bare, there was literally nothing left.
"Fairy Bai He, where are you?" Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's bad feeling was getting worse, he immediately dived into the sea.
He had been here many times, even though Qin Bai He did not welcome him, he often found many appropriate reasons to find her.
This time, after entering the sea, the image that he saw was far different from the image in his mind.
He saw a huge trench with countless crevices and broken rocks, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's heart sank to rock bottom: "Oh no, looking at the situation here, this place was robbed!"
After checking for a while, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was filled with rage.
"They have such guts!"
"They dare to rob Fairy Bai He's sea area, the great history iron and egg crystal rocks were all plundered, this person is so arrogant."
"Fairy Bai He, you must be safe!!"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng thought of the person he loved as he felt shocked and scared.
He looked around but did not find that rank six Immortal Gu House Bai He Palace.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was unresigned, he used his investigative method to look at the surroundings again.
He found nothing.
Qin Bai He seemed to have vanished into thin air, Bai He Palace was missing too, and even more strangely, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng could not find any traces of battle in this place at all!
Fang Yuan did not kill Qin Bai He or You Chan here, that was in dragonfish sea area.
But even if Qing Yue Zhi Cheng went to dragonfish sea area, he would not find any traces.
Fang Yuan's methods to erase traces were simply too outstanding! And the battle was even conducted in the battlefield killer move purple star broken life.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng could not find anything, he felt suspicious.
"Fairy Bai He is an expert among rank seven Gu Immortals, it is unlikely that anyone can kill her stealthily. Unless it is a rank eight Gu Immortal..."
"But rank eights usually govern a domain and restrict each other, any movement from them would cause a huge commotion, how could they come to kill Fairy Bai He without reason? Hehe."
Thinking of this, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's worries lifted.
But soon, his expression turned stiff: "Don't tell me Fairy Bai He got sick of me and decided to change locations and moved all her resources with her?"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng thought about it, the possibility was slim.
White crane sea area produced a lot of resources, how could Qin Bai He give up on it? Even if she found a better area, there was no reason to leave this place alone.
"Unless, she encountered an unbeatable enemy? Against such a strong foe, she had no choice but to give up and retreat?"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng had another thought.
But soon, he shook his head: "If she met with a strong enemy, why would Fairy Bai He not seek help? With her network, with just one word, she would receive a lot of help from various Gu Immortals."
"So what happened exactly? Why did Fairy Bai He vanish so mysteriously?"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng frowned deeply.
He did not think that Qin Bai He was dead, firstly, he did not want to think in that direction, secondly, that possibility was too bizarre.
Qin Bai He was a famous person in Eastern Sea's Gu Immortal world, her strength was not weak, she was rank seven.
Who could easily kill such a person?
Like what Qing Yue Zhi Cheng had said, unless it was a rank eight Gu Immortal.
But this possibility was even slimmer.
The five regions have been in peace for too long, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng subconsciously felt that such a cruel murder would not occur, and it would definitely not happen to his beloved fairy.
But after his investigation, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng had a conclusion.
"Regardless of what happened, Fairy Bai He must be in trouble, I need to find her and help her!"
At once, the thought of the hero saving the beauty appeared in Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's mind.
"If there are no clues here, I will find the nearby Gu Immortals and ask them." You Chan's name soon appeared in Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's mind.
You Chan's dragonfish sea area was famous too.
And in terms of distance, You Chan was closest to Qin Bai He.
They were basically neighbors.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng moved with lightning speed, he immediately left white crane sea area and spent some effort to reach dragonfish sea area.
Dragonfish sea area was in a worse state than white crane sea area, this place used to have countless dragonfish swimming about in millions per group, it was one of the most amazing sights in Eastern Sea, but now, it was empty.
A breeze was blowing as the seawater became turbulent, waves were created endlessly.
"What is happening?"
"Even dragonfish sea area was robbed?!"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was tongue-tied, he expressed shock in his eyes.
Qin Bai He and You Chan's sea areas were in such states, who was the one who caused this?
After all, both You Chan and Qin Bai He were powerful rank seven experts, they were not weak at all!
This time, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng not only felt suspicion, he felt fear.
He came extremely alert, he went deep into the sea to investigate, but the sad thing was he found out nothing.
"How can this be? What happened exactly? Not just Fairy Bai He, even Fairy You Chan also encountered this. Wait, the dragonfish business, treasure yellow heaven!"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's body shook as he connected to treasure yellow heaven.
You Chan's dragonfish business was famous in all five regions, she definitely had her will in treasure yellow heaven to manage the dragonfish business.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's consciousness entered treasure yellow heaven as he quickly contacted You Chan's will.
Once they conversed, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng found out that You Chan's will had no idea what happened!
"You Chan and her will communicate quite frequently, the interval is at most three days each time. This means that in the last three days, she and Fairy Bai He have encountered a mysterious attack!"
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's felt sweat dripping off his forehead.
The more he investigated, the more he uncovered the truth, it was mysterious and terrifying.
Be it You Chan or Qin Bai He, they would not take away the resources randomly and run away. All this showed that they had met with an unstoppable threat!
An intense worry filled Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's heart.
"No, I need to get home and get help from the Gu Immortals in my clan!" Qing Yue Zhi Cheng looked at the empty dragonfish sea area as he felt a chill down his spine, he quickly returned and did not dare to stay any longer.
Qin Bai He's and You Chan's murder was exposed. Even though there was no evidence pointing to the two fairies' deaths, with Qing Yue clan's great strength, they quickly unveiled a portion of the truth.
Meanwhile, the culprit behind this murder case was scot-free, flying casually in Western Desert.
After leaving Eastern Sea, Fang Yuan did not go to Northern Plains, instead, he went past Southern Border and arrived in Western Desert.
Above the clouds, Fang Yuan's consciousness entered the sovereign immortal aperture as he inspected his gains from Eastern Sea.
After killing You Chan and Qin Bai He, Fang Yuan's gains were huge.
He gained a large number of dragonfish, the scale far surpassed dragon scale sea area, they were living all over Mini Eastern Sea now.
He also got a high quantity of great history iron and egg crystal rocks.
There were also two rank six Immortal Gu, Fang Yuan had already started arranging their food.
Qin Bai He's wood path immortal aperture was left in Eastern Sea, he could not annex it or bring it with him. You Chan's water path immortal aperture was already annexed, he gained a huge sea area and a large number of water path dao marks!
But these gains were far inferior to City Well.
Indeed, the secluded domain of heaven and earth, City Well, was now in Fang Yuan's sovereign immortal aperture.
After Fang Yuan went to Eastern Sea, he first went to turbulent flow sea area and moved the City Well that was left there into sovereign immortal aperture. After that, he went to dragonfish sea area and killed You Chan and Qin Bai He.
Secluded Domain of Heaven and Earth — City Well!
Fang Yuan had wanted to get City Well long ago, but back then, pulling mountain Immortal Gu was ineffective against it, he could not relocate it into his immortal aperture.
But now, using the light of wisdom, he created an immortal killer move using pulling mountain Immortal Gu as the core, to target and move City Well, after a long time of hard work, he succeeded!
-x-X-x-
The well was squarish on the outside, but it was circular on the surface inside.
City Well!
Fang Yuan thought about it, he placed City Well in Mini Central Continent.
After Dang Hun Mountain, Luo Po Valley, and Reverse Flow River, this was Fang Yuan's fourth secluded domain of heaven and earth.
Throughout history, there were few Gu Immortals who could achieve the feat of collecting four secluded domains of heaven and earth.
City Well was written in <
Right now, that mini city in City Well had been destroyed by Fang Yuan. Originally, Miniscule Mountain was inside it, but it had already been removed from City Well and destroyed in Northern Plains.
However, Fang Yuan's City Well was not empty, there were many blessed lands inside it.
The owner of these immortal apertures were the ones who were killed by Fang Yuan using City Well.
After the immortal aperture becomes a blessed land, it needed to absorb heaven and earth qi, the entrance had to be opened to connect to the outside world.
Fang Yuan had taken the chance to enter and explore these blessed lands.
Those without land spirits that could be ransacked were already looted. The remaining blessed lands had a lot of cultivation resources left behind, Fang Yuan did not take them yet.
"Now that I have blood light spirit suppression, I can suppress these land spirits, but without the upper extreme heavenly eagle, I cannot enter."
These immortal aperture's entrances were closed now, Fang Yuan could not enter for the time being.
"If I can annex these immortal apertures, and take all of their resources away, my dao marks will rise sharply and my immortal aperture development will also increase."
This was a huge amount of profits that Fang Yuan could not devour yet, but it was already his, so there was little chance of getting stolen, Fang Yuan was quite pleased.
"Other than these blessed lands, City Well has huge value, it cannot be underestimated."
With City Well, Fang Yuan could raise variant humans and even pure bred humans.
This was a good thing.
The Gu Immortal world classified the development of immortal apertures into seven levels.
The first level was establishing mortal resources, to produce mortal Gu, mortal Gu materials, and ordinary beasts and plants.
The second level was to have immortal material resources to feed Immortal Gu.
The third level was to raise and produce immortal beasts and plants, completing the ecosystem.
The fourth level was to use excess immortal materials, beasts, and plants to trade and earn profits.
The fifth level was to produce Immortal Gu naturally in the immortal aperture.
The sixth level was to raise variant human and humans, and produce Gu Immortals among them.
The seventh level was to produce lifespan Gu.
These seven levels were in order, they were the summation of the Gu Immortal world's experiences throughout time, until now, it was the golden rule of Gu Immortal cultivation.
It was not that Gu Immortals could not raise variant humans or humans in their immortal aperture from the start, but if they did, the results would not be optimal, and they would be wasting their own foundation instead.
These seven levels were in order, it was created by generations of geniuses in the Gu Immortal world for countless years. If one progressed using this template, their immortal apertures would be very stable and healthy.
Fang Yuan was currently at the third and fourth level, he was quite far from the fifth level.
But he had City Well now, he could directly jump into the sixth level of development.
City Well could allow a Gu Immortal to jump levels and raise variant humans and even humans easily.
What was the advantage of raising variant humans or humans?
The benefits were too immense.
Each variant human race has its own unique resources.
For example, snowmen had ice tears and snow lotus essence, rockmen had rock dragonx, while feathermen had freedom Gu.
If these resources were produced on a large scale, they would be sold in the market for huge profits.
Other than these unique resources, there was also one common resource.
That was — Human Qi!
Heaven qi, earth qi, human qi.
Balancing these three qi was the crucial point of immortal ascension.
During the process of immortal ascension, the higher the human qi, the greater the Gu Master's foundation, and the better the quality of the immortal aperture formed.
After becoming a Gu Immortal, human qi's usage would fall by a lot. The Gu Immortal only needed to balance heaven and earth qi, replenishing them once in a while to stabilize their immortal aperture world.
But that did not mean that human qi was useless.
Conversely, human qi was extremely important to Gu Immortals!
But the method to use human qi had been lost long ago. Qi path was created earlier than strength path, it was strong in the past, but had declined by now.
At the moment, there were quite a few methods to use human qi as a Gu material. Especially some qi path Gu Immortals with some exotic methods, even though these qi path Gu Immortals were quite rare already.
Be it variant humans or normal humans, they could produce human qi.
The higher the number and strength of the variant humans and normal humans, the higher quantity of the human qi.
Of course, under the same circumstances, the human qi produced by a variant human is lower in quantity than a pure bred human.
Other than human qi, there would also be a lot of 'special' immortal materials that would be produced by variant humans and humans.
For example, fan door wind.
This rank seven immortal material only grew on the doors of mortal houses, instead of in nature like forests or mountains. Whenever this immortal material is produced, the mortal's door would not be able to close, it could only stay open.
Such a special immortal material could not be found in the wilderness.
"And there is a hypothesis in Shadow Sect's inheritance."
"The more human qi one accumulates, the more likely that Gu Immortal can comprehend the profundity of human path!"
Thinking of this, bright light shined in Fang Yuan's eyes.
Human path!
This was the path created by Ren Zu.
Throughout history, some rank eight great experts or rank nine venerables would comprehend some of the profundities inside <
For example, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable studied <
Or for example, the Ancestor Chai Fu from Southern Border's Chai clan, he had created the human path killer move from studying <
Such instances were innumerable.
"In my situation, if I start raising variant humans and humans, it would only destroy my immortal aperture's environment, I would waste too much time and effort, my foundation would be expended."
"But with City Well, I will be able to raise them in isolation, it will not interfere with my immortal aperture development. Furthermore, raising variant humans or humans in City Well will be more effective than usual due to the special environment."
"Forget about humans, their intelligence is too high, and they expend too many resources. Now, I should choose one type of variant humans to raise in here."
There were ten variant human races in the Gu world.
They were: hairy men, rockmen, snowmen, feathermen, mermen, inkmen, eggmen, beastmen, miniman, and mushroommen.
Each had their own specialty.
"Which one should I choose?" Fang Yuan had not decided.
There was only one City Well, he could only choose one type of them to raise. Because variant humans needed different living environments, raising more than one would only result in losses to him.
"Forget about beastmen, they are extinct."
"Hairy men? I do need them to refine Gu for me."
"Rockmen? I had raised a batch before, with guts Gu, I can raise them very easily."
"Snowmen are good too, I am related to them by marriage now, the snowman tribe is supporting me."
"As for miniman, they are suited for this City Well to begin with, my immortal aperture development also needs these miniman to nurture my immortal plants."
"As for feathermen, mermen, inkmen, eggmen, and mushroommen... either one of them would give me huge benefits too."
Fang Yuan thought about it, by the time he reached his destination, he did not come up with an answer.
This problem was not urgent.
Because even if Fang Yuan considered it, he did not have the funds to start this huge project now.
His immortal essence stone storage was quite low now.
But thankfully, he had a lot of red date immortal essence, even though he had just fought against You Chan and Qin Bai He.
This was due to the sovereign immortal aperture's time flow, after being restored and further raised by Fang Yuan's time path method, the rate of time was much higher than one-to-sixty now!
Thus, Fang Yuan's red date immortal essence was accumulating rapidly.
"In this Eastern Sea trip, I collected City Well and killed You Chan. I have no rivals in the dragonfish business now, I am earning huge profits every day, that is certain. As long as I continue to sell dragonfish, my problem of low funds will be solved soon."
"The important thing now is Thieving Heaven's dream realm!"
Fang Yuan thought about it as he descended from the clouds, landing on the desert.
On the blazing desert, a Gu Immortal was standing and waiting.
He smiled as he cupped his fists at Fang Yuan: "Tang Fang Ming greets Lord Fang Yuan."
-x-X-x-
Fang Yuan met Tang Fang Ming again.
This person was not simple, in the five hundred years of Fang Yuan's previous life, he had become extremely famous during the five regions chaotic war, he was almost like the Ma Hong Yun of Western Desert.
Of course, now that Fang Yuan inherited Shadow Sect, he learned about many things.
During the five hundred years of his previous life, Spectral Soul Demon Venerable successfully revived and had sovereign immortal fetus Gu, he lurked in Heavenly Court and secretly controlled the five regions, plotting against the world.
Ma Hong Yun's rise was manipulated by Shadow Sect secretly.
Tang Fang Ming and even the rise of Tang clan were also due to the actions of Shadow Sect.
"Even though Heavenly Court lacks manpower now and seems unable to cope, once the dream realms expand and the five regions get into war, all sorts of people will awaken in Heavenly Court, they will shake the world once again."
Heavenly Court's foundation was too deep, even Shadow Sect could not contest it.
Fang Yuan was starting to understand why Shadow Sect reacted in that way.
He was now following Shadow Sect's old path, Ma Hong Yun was killed but Tang clan was still around, he had to support it.
Fang Yuan had decided on this long ago. Back then, when he and Tang clan interacted and worked together, he was not just trying to use their tributary of the River of Time, he also wanted to work with them sincerely.
Heavenly Court was now aggressively plotting for the future, when the great era arrives.
You Chan and Qin Bai He were almost used by Fairy Zi Wei as pawns, therefore Fang Yuan had to eliminate them.
Be it for the dragonfish business' profits, or the situation of the future.
To contest with a powerhouse like Heavenly Court, Fang Yuan's schemes needed to be elevated to encompass all five regions, he needed to plot against the world!
Tang Fang Ming was extremely happy that Fang Yuan had arrived.
The last time Fang Yuan left Western Desert, he was escaping, Tang Fang Ming did not expect him to return so quickly.
"Bring me to Thieving Heaven's dream realm." Fang Yuan spoke directly regarding his goal.
"Lord Fang Yuan acts quickly, I am in deep admiration, please follow me." Tang Fang Ming led the way.
The two flew for a while before arriving on top of an unassuming desert.
Tang Fang Ming stopped and stretched out his finger as a crack opened in the air, immortal aura permeated from it.
Fang Yuan was a formation path grandmaster, he had deep foundations, after seeing this immortal formation, his eyes shined as he praised: "What a good immortal Gu formation!"
This immortal formation's concealment was incredible, even if Fang Yuan had his investigative killer move active, he could not detect it.
"Lord Fang Yuan, follow me." Tang Fang Ming entered the crack first.
Fang Yuan did not hesitate, he followed.
After entering it, Fang Yuan found out that the space created by this immortal formation was like a grassland.
His field of vision was very wide, there was lush greenery all around, and the most attracting thing was Thieving Heaven's dream realm at the center of the plain!
Thieving Heaven's dream realm was huge, like a mountain.
It was emitting a blue eerie light, radiating the entire formation path space.
The five regions chaotic war had not started yet, but this dream realm of Thieving Heaven was uncovered earlier and found by Tang clan, they secretly kept it and had been researching it.
Even though Tang clan obtained this precious treasure, they were clueless about dream path, their progress was very slow in it.
And this progress was already built on Tang Fang Ming's great talent and ingenuity.
Even so, he nearly died in the dream realm, if his sister had not given up the clues to Paradise Earth's true inheritance and got help from White Sea Shatuo, Tang Fang Ming would have died.
And White Sea Shatuo was a split soul of Spectral Soul, during the Battle of Yi Tian Mountain, he led the Western Desert Shadow Sect members and died in the battlefield.
Fang Yuan did not mention the incident with White Sea Shatuo to Tang clan or Tang Fang Ming, the clue of Paradise Earth's true inheritance was also in Fang Yuan's hands currently.
Paradise Earth's true inheritance was not Fang Yuan's focus now, he was looking at the huge dream realm of Thieving Heaven now.
This blue and dazzling dream realm was very dangerous!
Because it contained heaven's will.
Heaven's will could invade dream realms, Fang Yuan had suffered from this during the Southern Border dream realm incident.
Long ago, when he explored the dream realm of Starry Sky grotto-heaven, he also met with heaven's will. Heaven's will appeared in Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's form to advise him, and allowed him to outwit Spectral Soul during the Battle of Yi Tian Mountain.
As the saying goes, people learn from mistakes, an old demon like Fang Yuan drilled this lesson into the depths of his heart.
"Once the dream realm manifests for too long, heaven's will would invade it, that happened in Southern Border's giant dream realm, Thieving Heaven's dream realm, in Western Desert, has been around for even longer, I'm sure heaven's will has already completely taken over." Fang Yuan's eyes shone with an eerie light.
"If it were before, I would need to avoid it. But now... hehe." Fang Yuan's lips curled up as he stretched out his arm, aiming at Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Immortal aura surged as Fang Yuan's body was covered in a grey-white light.
His palms were also enveloped by this grey-white light.
Fang Yuan took a step forward and let both palms approach the dream realm, eventually, the grey-white light came into contact with Thieving Heaven's dream realm while Fang Yuan's palms were merely an inch away.
Fang Yuan had the sovereign immortal body, not Pure Dream Reality Seeker Physique. If he really touched it, his soul would be trapped inside the dream realm. He was very vigilant about that.
The grey-white light flowed like water, entering Thieving Heaven's dream realm without obstruction.
The grey-white light continued to permeate as it spread out towards the surroundings from Fang Yuan's palms as the center.
This phenomenon lasted for a while, it was as if the mountain-like dream realm was covered by a grey-white light.
The light continued to expand, but Tang Fang Ming only watched quietly by the side.
He could not tell what it was, but he knew it was an immortal killer move.
"Lord Fang Yuan is truly formidable, he actually created an immortal killer move against the dream realm! Compared to him, I have only created several dream path mortal Gu. There truly is a mountain above a mountain, a man standing above another man!" Tang Fang Ming felt deep admiration, he felt how unfathomable Fang Yuan was.
Fang Yuan was expressionless, but he was quite nervous internally.
He was activating the immortal killer move, heaven's will dissipation! Even though it was not his first time, this was his first attempt at using it on a dream realm.
Heaven's will dissipation used heavenly secret Immortal Gu as the core, it could eliminate heaven's will. He had used it against Spring Autumn Cicada earlier, now that he was using it on a dream realm, who knew what would happen.
Time passed, ten minutes went by quickly.
The grey-white light had expanded quite a lot, not only on the surface, but also into Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Thieving Heaven's dream realm was like a mountain, but one-tenth of it was already covered by grey-white light.
Just when Tang Fang Ming thought that the grey-white light was going to expand further, it stopped moving as multicolored eyes started to appear from the grey-white light.
These eyes were very special, they changed colors with each blink.
The number of multicolored eyes increased rapidly, after a few breaths of time, they went from tens to hundreds, and to thousands in a flash.
After several tens of breaths, there were millions of multicolored eyes, they filled the grey-white light, not only on the surface, but also inside the light itself.
"There is an effect!" Fang Yuan was excited internally but remained expressionless, Tang Fang Ming could not sense the fluctuation of his emotions.
The multicolored eyes continued to blink as Fang Yuan's red date immortal essence was expended rapidly. The heaven's will in Thieving Heaven's dream realm was also getting wiped out along with it.
The multicolored eyes blinked for several times before vanishing, but new eyes would grow in their place.
Heaven's will was rapidly destroyed, after a while, there was no heaven's will left in the grey-white light.
At this time, the grey-white light would expand as the multicolored eyes moved in for more destruction.
Fang Yuan activated heaven's will dissipation for three days and nights.
Eventually, in Thieving Heaven's dream realm, there was none of heaven's will remaining.
Fang Yuan continued to activate the killer move and kept a veil of grey-white light around Thieving Heaven's dream realm at all times. This way, as long as heaven's will tried to invade it, it would be destroyed by the multicolored eyes in the white light.
And now, Thieving Heaven's dream realm was finally safe!
"Next, I will explore this dream realm." Fang Yuan let out a breath of air, he was filled with joy in his heart.
-x-X-x-
Ying Wu Xie, Hei Lou Lan, White Rabbit, and Fairy Miao Yin came out of Fang Yuan's sovereign immortal aperture.
"Next, I will personally explore the dream realm." Fang Yuan turned around and said to Tang Fang Ming.
Tang Fang Ming's heart shook, but he soon understood Fang Yuan's words, he smiled bitterly: "Fairies, please come with me."
This immortal Gu formation that concealed Thieving Heaven's dream realm was controlled by Tang Fang Ming. But now, Tang Fang Ming was giving up a portion of the control to Shadow Sect's immortals, so that they could control it along with him.
This was part of the content of Fang Yuan's and Tang clan's alliance agreement.
When Fang Yuan explores the dream realm, his soul would leave his body and enter the dream realm, his body would be left unguarded.
That was quite a dangerous situation.
Thus, Fang Yuan brought out Shadow Sect's Gu Immortals, they were in charge of protecting him.
This immortal Gu formation could not be left under the control of outsiders, thus, Shadow Sect's Gu Immortals had to take part of the control of this formation.
This way, be it Shadow Sect or Tang clan, they could restrict each other, neither could do anything vicious to Fang Yuan's body.
Fang Yuan always did things with utmost caution.
After the formation was half controlled by Shadow Sect, he went out of his body and entered Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Tang Fang Ming did not blink, he watched in concentration.
"This is the truly important method!" His breathing became rough, his mind was filled with thoughts of learning.
But what crucial technique could he learn from just watching Fang Yuan like this?
"Where... am I?" Fang Yuan entered the dream as his vision changed.
He found himself in a young male body, he was inside a tattered tent.
The tent was very simple, it was merely a tattered tarp.
Wind blew and the tent shook, a cold chill could be felt as Fang Yuan's vision shifted towards the hole on the tent.
The tent was torn.
"Damn this guy, not only did he beat me, he even tore my tent!" The young man that Fang Yuan was acting as gritted his teeth as he muttered to himself.
Next, this young man lowered his head, inspecting his injuries.
Fang Yuan's vision was turned again as he looked at his dirty and tattered clothes, he was really pitiful and poor, his chest was covered in blue-black wounds.
The young man touched the injuries on his body, waves of pain could be felt by Fang Yuan.
"To think that I, the great Ben Jie Sun, would end up in this ridiculous world, growing up as a kid again, and being bullied by a bunch of youngsters. This is too much!"
"This world is absurd, humans actually control Gu worms to gain mysterious powers, this is just like a nightmare."
"Sigh! If this was really a dream, why have I not woken up after more than a decade?"
Fang Yuan listened to the young man's words, his heart shook.
He knew of many secrets, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was an otherworldly demon like him, he had transmigrated from another world.
"Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's name is Ben Jie Sun. That means that in this dream, I am acting as Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable himself! But he is still a mortal youngster now, he has not started his Gu cultivation journey." Fang Yuan understood.
At this moment, the young man muttered again: "But thankfully, the tribe will open the sacred land tonight. Once I enter it, I will be able to awaken my aperture and start cultivating, I will gain Gu Master powers."
"Oh! I hope this power can allow me to escape this place and return to my homeland!"
The young Thieving Heaven said this as he felt pain, he gritted his teeth and stood up, moving towards his tent flap as he walked outside.
Fang Yuan was like a will attached to this young Thieving Heaven, he could only watch but could not manipulate his actions.
This was a rare situation even for Fang Yuan.
After trying all his methods and failing, Fang Yuan could only watch as an observer as the dream realm went on.
Young Thieving Heaven went out of his tent.
Immediately, in Fang Yuan's vision, he saw a green oasis under the moon.
It was night time, the round moon was high in the sky, its pure moonlight raining down on the entire oasis.
This oasis was very small, there was a pond at the center, with many tents surrounding it.
These tents were of varying sizes and colors, most were grey and white, some were yellow, gold, and purple.
These tents with brighter colors were usually larger, signifying the higher status of their owners.
Young Thieving Heaven looked at the area with admiration, before turning around to look at his own tent.
His tent was tiny and ugly, it was covered in black soot, there were even holes in it, cold wind blew in at night.
The young Thieving Heaven frowned as arrogance flashed in his eyes, he snorted: "After tonight, I will not stay in such a horrible place anymore!"
Saying so, he walked towards the central tent.
Along the way, many youngsters came out of their tents.
They had stiff expressions, nobody dared to say a word.
Today was the most important day of their lives, it was the most sacred moment, according to Western Desert's customs, all of the youngsters had to be reverent and not speak unnecessarily.
Whoever spoke too much or showed too much emotions, either joy or sadness, would cause the ritual to lose its elegance, they would be severely punished and even exiled by the clan.
Once they were exiled, any mortal youngster would die without doubt.
The severity of the punishment was evident.
More and more youngsters gathered towards the center of the oasis, a crowd was forming.
Along the way, young Thieving Heaven naturally met the youngsters who beat him.
Fang Yuan turned to look, they were all tall and muscular, their bodies were much larger than the surrounding youngsters, their clothes were also evidently more expensive, showing that they had extraordinary background.
These youngsters also saw young Thieving Heaven, even though they did not dare to speak, their fierce and provocative gazes were clearly seen.
Young Thieving Heaven snorted, feeling no fear.
Both sides walked with fierce gazes until they arrived at the pond in the middle of the oasis.
There were common reeds growing around the pond, these white reed were flowering, swaying along with the night winds, while moonlight poured down warmly, all of the wild hope Gu were living in the reed, there were countless hope Gu here based on the number of flickering lights.
This made Fang Yuan remember the scene of his awakening ceremony back on Qing Mao Mountain.
Even though Western Desert's traditions were different from Southern Border's, they were both using hope Gu to awaken the aperture, the process was quite similar.
One by one, the youngsters walked into the reed field as wild hope Gu flew around in shock.
Their apertures awakened one by one, they were worried, sad, happy, and depressed respectively. For most mortals, the aptitude of the aperture decided their life's achievements.
But different from Southern Border's heated atmosphere, Western Desert had a solemn and quiet atmosphere during this ceremony.
Even if one felt immense joy or sadness, they had to control themselves, their expressions could distort, they could shed tears, but they could not make a sound.
Soon, it was young Thieving Heaven's turn.
He could not wait, he went into the reed the moment permission was granted.
But the aptitude that he had was only the worst D grade. D grade aptitude Gu Masters had only twenty to thirty percent primeval essence in their apertures, most could become rank one but few could reach rank two.
Gu Masters with such aptitudes had basically no potential or future.
It was basically confirmed that Gu Masters with D grade aptitudes would end up being at the bottom of the Gu Master hierarchy in their lives.
"How! How can I have D grade aptitude?" Young Thieving Heaven screamed immediately.
"Shut up!" The Gu Master in charge of the event immediately captured Thieving Heaven and sealed his mouth.
Young Thieving Heaven struggled intensely, the Gu Master snorted coldly and chopped with his palm.
Young Thieving Heaven immediately fainted.
Fang Yuan's field of vision also turned dark.
He found that he could not do anything, even unravel dream had no effect.
"The larger the dream realm, the more restrictive power it has. However, unravel dream had no effect likely because this dream realm that I am in is very special."
Fang Yuan estimated.
He tried again and upon seeing no effect, he had to helplessly wait for the next scene.
-x-X-x-
In the vast darkness, Fang Yuan's soul was suffering.
This dark space had an immense corrosive effect on his soul. This was something Fang Yuan had never seen when exploring dream realms.
Fortunately, Fang Yuan's soul foundation was extraordinary, he was over ten million man soul, he could endure the corrosion of the dream realm.
Time in the dream realm could not be estimated.
He only felt like a long time had passed before a white light appeared in the vast darkness.
The white spot extended into a white line, before the line expanded up and down, light burst out as it filled Fang Yuan's vision.
Young Thieving Heaven gradually awakened.
The white light was the blazing sun.
Young Thieving Heaven quickly used his hand to shield his eyes.
"Why am I here?" He soon found himself lying on the desert, night had already passed, it was noon now.
Young Thieving Heaven's doubts did not last long because soon, he found some information in his mind.
This information was left behind by the clan's Gu Master.
The content was that Young Thieving Heaven had defied the clan rules and was exiled as punishment. But because he was young and ignorant, he only needed to stay in this desert for three days, as long as he returned to the clan after that, he would be able to join the clan again and live there.
"F*ck!" After understanding what had happened, young Thieving Heaven cursed as his saliva shot out.
"I had merely said a few words and you guys exiled me, this is abusing children, you simply disregard lives!"
"You bastards! I curse you..."
Young Thieving Heaven raised his middle finger but he did not know where to point.
He did not even know his directions now, he did not know where the clan was at.
This discovery made young Thieving Heaven lose all his vigor.
He sat on the ground: "What do I do now? Even though I became a Gu Master, I have no Gu worms. I have no water or food, by night time, without any warm clothes or tents to shield me from the wind, I will freeze to death!"
"No, I must live."
"I will survive in this accursed world and find a way home!"
Young Thieving Heaven gritted his teeth, two flames of ambition were burning in his eyes.
At the same time, Fang Yuan felt his body relaxing, the restraints on him vanished suddenly.
When he moved his arms and legs, young Thieving Heaven also moved his arms and legs.
"Oh? I can control it now?"
"It seems that I need to take the place of young Thieving Heaven and survive in this desert."
Fang Yuan immediately realized.
Struggling to survive in a desperate situation, Fang Yuan had experienced that many times, but he was in a difficult spot now.
There was simply one reason, he had nothing to work with!
Young Thieving Heaven had nothing on him, he only had twenty to thirty percent primeval essence without a single mortal Gu. Asking him to survive in the desert was harder than ascending heaven.
"The clan exiled him like this, they want him to die. No, more accurately, they do not care about a Gu Master like him."
Normally speaking, every Gu Master was precious, but Fang Yuan thought about the scene before, he realized the reason.
"The clan that young Thieving Heaven is in is not strong, they have few resources. Thus, even if they have potential Gu Masters, they need to nurture the talented ones."
Fang Yuan smiled bitterly, this discovery was useless for the problem he was facing.
Looking around, all he saw was sand, there was no greenery anywhere.
Immortal killer move — Unravel Dream.
Fang Yuan used it, but after a while, he saw nothing happening.
This useful trump card that had helped him countless times was completely restricted in Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Fang Yuan sighed deeply: "I can only test my luck."
He chose a direction and started moving.
One and a half days later, Fang Yuan encountered nothing, he died of thirst along the way.
After that, Fang Yuan's soul suffered a huge injury.
He was forced out of the dream.
The exploration of the dream realm failed, his soul was heavily injured and returned to the sovereign immortal body.
Fang Yuan felt dizzy and saw darkness, he quickly used guts Gu to heal his injuries.
"Guts Gu!" Tang Fang Ming saw this and had a look of envy.
He watched as Fang Yuan used many guts Gu to heal his soul rapidly.
Guts Gu was the best supporting Gu for exploring dream realms.
Fang Yuan went into Thieving Heaven's dream realm again as his soul left his body.
Arriving in the desert again.
Fang Yuan sighed, he chose a different direction and moved forward.
After walking for a day, there was still nothing in his vision, Fang Yuan was tired and thirsty, he felt his body reaching its limit.
"If Thieving Heaven was in the same situation in history, he had no way of surviving, he needed external help or fortuitous encounters."
"This means, one direction will have a fortuitous encounter. But my luck was bad, I did not encounter it."
"This round seems to depend on the explorer's luck. It is a pity my luck path methods cannot be used in the dream, unless I can combine dream path and luck path to create an immortal killer move or Immortal Gu of both paths, that will have effect."
Fang Yuan continued to analyze.
His second exploration failed again.
After resting, he started his third try.
This time, he chose a different direction, soon, he encountered a pit.
This was a quicksand pit, Fang Yuan was stuck and could not escape.
"Am I going to die again?" Fang Yuan was a little stifled, he could only watch as the sand devoured him.
But unexpectedly, before the quicksand covered his head, sand started to spew upwards like a geyser, shooting Fang Yuan towards the sky.
After Fang Yuan landed, the quicksand pit had turned into a hole, it was blowing out cold air.
It was a cool and comfortable breeze.
"This might work!" Fang Yuan quickly got close to the pit and saw that there were winged fish flying out of the hole along with the breeze.
These were not fish, they were mortal cool wind Gu.
Fang Yuan quickly wanted to subdue these mortal Gu, but the cool wind Gu were very fast, they ignored Fang Yuan.
The edges of the hole were blowing air and repelling Fang Yuan, pushing him away.
Fang Yuan had low strength and was very hungry, he could not get close to the hole and interact with these cool wind Gu.
But Fang Yuan was not dejected, he patiently waited.
Not long after, his chance appeared, a cool wind Gu was injured when colliding into its companions, it fell to the ground and left the cool air, landing at the fringe of the hole.
Fang Yuan quickly grabbed this cool wind Gu.
But in his excitement, he squashed it to death!
Fang Yuan was speechless, he could only wait.
Soon, his chance appeared again, two cool wind Gu flew out.
But before Fang Yuan captured them, they flew up again and went into the cool air tunnel.
Fang Yuan sighed, but he suddenly had an inspiration: "What if I use unravel dream at this time?"
He used immortal killer move unravel dream again, at the next moment, he saw an effect, a cool wind Gu flew out.
Fang Yuan grabbed it and before he refined it, a second cool wind Gu flew down and was quite injured, it tried to move its wings but could not fly.
Fang Yuan captured it as well and after some effort, he refined both cool wind Gu.
When the cool air vanished, these wild cool wind Gu flew with it and left Fang Yuan's vision, but he already had five cool wind Gu in his aperture.
"I finally have some methods."
Even though the issue of survival was not solved, this was a good start.
And most importantly, this quicksand pit was a sign that Fang Yuan chose the right direction.
And something that boosted Fang Yuan's morale was that unravel dream was not useless here, it had some specific uses in Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Fang Yuan continued past the quicksand pit and moved forward, not long after, he saw a small oasis.
There was a well in the oasis, even though there were some wild beasts guarding it, and the leader of the beasts even had a mortal Gu.
Fang Yuan was energized, he used the five cool wind Gu to fight this group of beasts.
Eventually, using the terrain and his schemes, he killed the beast group, and also subdued the wild Gu worm on the leader's body. This was a poison path Gu worm resembling a scorpion.
The battle was decided, Fang Yuan quickly came to the well, but to his disappointment, it had dried up.
But that was not an issue, the beast corpses here were precious provisions.
Fang Yuan drank the beast blood and ate some meat to fill his stomach. Next, he collected the stomachs of some beasts and collected all of their blood, he also pulled apart some meat and used the beast intestines to tie them onto his body.
By now, the dream realm was already at night time, the desert temperature was getting low.
Fang Yuan had a plan, he was not rushed or anxious.
He held the beast skins and bones that he had and came to the dried well, creating a structure with the bones and placing the skin above them.
These beast skins still had some fat layers on them, they were quite heat retaining.
After his arrangements, Fang Yuan entered the empty hole and carefully explored the well.
He placed his his feet on the sides of the well, preventing his body from falling down, he pulled on the beast skin and completely covered the hole on top.
Next, he slowly got down to the bottom of the well.
When he got to the bottom of the well, Fang Yuan wanted to survive a night in here, but he had a new discovery.
It turned out that there was a small hole at the bottom of the well, and there was quite the thing there!
Looking at the edge of the hole, it was man-made.
Fang Yuan's heart shook, he quickly entered this hole by controlling young Thieving Heaven's body.
Following this hole, after fifty to sixty steps, Fang Yuan came to a small underground space that was the size of a room.
This place was quite simple, but there was a bowl made from soil, and there was a spring, it was tiny, but clear water was accumulated there.
There was also a dried corpse on the ground.
"Don't tell me that this is Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable's true fortuitous encounter in his early days?"
Fang Yuan was intrigued.
-x-X-x-
Inspecting it carefully, Fang Yuan did not find any traps.
He slowly got closer to the dried corpse, when he was five or six steps away from it, a change occurred.
Fang Yuan cursed internally because he had lost control of young Thieving Heaven once more, he became a spectator again 1 .
The young Thieving Heaven muttered: "This person died in the well, was he trapped by the wild beasts and could not escape?"
Next, he came to the corpse, he lowered his head in respect before searching the corpse.
No unexpected mishaps occurred, it was an ordinary corpse, there were no harmful traps.
While searching it, Young Thieving Heaven found that this corpse was a Gu Master during his life, his rank was not low, he seemed to have a high status.
He had no Gu worms left, but within the clothes that he wore, there was a sheepskin map.
Young Thieving Heaven did not gain anything but the sheepskin map.
In this underground hole, light was quite dim, young Thieving Heaven only saw that the map had lines, but they were not clear.
He stored the map carefully and searched the area again, but he had no discoveries.
But young Thieving Heaven was very satisfied.
Because there was a precious water source here.
He was quite careful, he first checked the water quality and slowly drank a little of it after finding no problems with it.
This water source was deep underground, the corpse had spent a lot of effort to create it.
Young Thieving Heaven drank a mouthful of water, he felt a cold refreshing flow as the taste of blood in his mouth from consuming beast blood faded by a lot.
Young Thieving Heaven's gulped, this mouthful of water drew out his inner desire, he lowered his body and buried his face in the spring.
Gulp, gulp, after drinking several mouthfuls, he raised his head as water splattered everywhere.
He sat on the ground with a thud, young Thieving Heaven did not speak, his hands were supporting the ground, his eyes were shut, after a while, he sighed deeply.
After resting for a while, he stretched out his hand, wiping the water from his face as he stood up, returning to the bottom of the well.
Young Thieving Heaven shuddered, the bottom of the well was much colder than the underground hole.
But young Thieving Heaven had his reasons to come here.
He looked up at the well, even though there were several beast skins as cover, the night winds were very strong, one beast skin had been blown away already, a gaping hole was created.
From the hole, young Thieving Heaven could see those stars shining high up in the night sky.
He sighed as he took some beast skin and wood, quickly creating a fireplace, next, he tried to start a fire by using friction on the wood, succeeding after several minutes.
The flame was not large, the smoke flew out of the well while the heat was retained, allowing young Thieving Heaven to stay warm.
Young Thieving Heaven first cooked some meat, before eating them when they were cooked.
After eating cooked food and filling his stomach, he felt very drowsy.
But young Thieving Heaven controlled his sleepiness and used the dim light to observe the sheepskin map that he had gotten.
"This sheepskin map must have existed for a very long time."
"Hmm? Isn't it pointing out my clan's oasis?"
Young Thieving Heaven was shocked.
The small oasis was the focus of this sheepskin map, there were even several Western Desert words on it.
The words were tiny and due to the effects of time, most of them were blurry already, only the first few words and some characters were still clear.
Young Thieving Heaven could barely decipher them, he said uncertainly: "Land of buried immortal... inauspicious... curse..."
"Strange!" After a long time of observation, he could not excavate more clues, he frowned tightly.
"I've been in this world for over a decade, I've heard about stories of immortals from the clan elders. But these are just legends, are there really immortals in this world?"
"This might not be impossible. Looking at Gu Masters, I can see the peculiarity and mystery behind this world, anything is possible."
"Land of buried immortal... don't tell me that the place where I live has an immortal buried there?"
"But why curse? And inauspicious?"
"This sheepskin map is really strange. This world has information path Gu worms to store maps and information. That corpse must have been a strong Gu Master back then, why did he use the sheepskin map instead of Gu worms?"
"This sheepskin map was sewn into the inner layer of his clothes, if his clothes were not torn, I would not have found it."
"He hid it so carefully, it must be very important, but this is too risky, it is far safer to store it inside an information path Gu worm."
Young Thieving Heaven muttered, his eyes flickering with deep thoughts.
Fang Yuan was watching by the side, he had thought of young Thieving Heaven's questions long ago, they were all suspicious, especially the sheepskin map.
"Forget about this now, this sheepskin map also points out the location of the well. If I follow it, I will be able to return to the clan."
Even though young Thieving Heaven had no sense of belonging to the clan, he knew that it was impossible to live alone in the desert.
Not only was it dangerous, nobody could tell where threats could come from, and in terms of food, young Thieving Heaven had a very limited amount of meat now.
This small oasis was too weak.
His eyes felt very heavy, young Thieving Heaven's vision soon blurred as he fell into deep sleep.
He was simply too tired, not just physically, but also the mental exhaustion of all that had happened.
Once he slept, Fang Yuan's vision went black.
In the darkness, Fang Yuan felt that the corrosion of the dream realm became several times stronger, his soul was rapidly expended.
Thankfully, Fang Yuan had experienced this before, he endured it until the darkness faded.
The time in the dream realm was hard to estimate, when the darkness faded, his soul foundation had been shaved by half!
When his vision cleared, Fang Yuan was shocked to find out that young Thieving Heaven was tied up at the bottom of the well.
And in front of him was an elderly Gu Master with a grim expression.
This elderly Gu Master had a wrinkled face, his hair was fully white, he was very old, right now, his crooked hands were holding onto a sheepskin map.
He used his hands to caress this sheepskin map as he showed heated and greedy emotions in his eyes.
His expressions made young Thieving Heaven shudder, he might have met a lunatic.
"Who are you? Why did you tie me up?" Young Thieving Heaven asked.
He felt very aggrieved, he woke up tied and was now a captive.
"You should be glad that I, Sha Xiao, have not killed you yet." The old man spoke with a hoarse voice.
He carefully placed the sheepskin map into his pocket as he looked at young Thieving Heaven: "Lad, you are a member of this clan?"
Young Thieving Heaven did not answer.
Because he understood that the elderly Gu Master understood the secret and value of this sheepskin map, he did not kill him but tied him up instead because he wanted to make use of him.
The elderly Gu Master saw that young Thieving Heaven was staying silent, his expression became darker as he floated towards young Thieving Heaven like a phantom.
"Lad, don't think that I do not know what you are thinking if you stay silent. Heh, you have probably never heard of my name, I will teach you a lesson first."
The elderly Gu Master laughed sinisterly as he kicked with his leg.
His leg landed on young Thieving Heaven's chest as the intense pain almost made him fall unconscious.
Young Thieving Heaven was sent flying like a rock, he crashed onto the wall of the well and fell to the ground.
But the pain had just begun, young Thieving Heaven started to scream.
Because the elderly Gu Master's kick was not so simple, young Thieving Heaven felt his entire body going numb, at the same time, his muscles and organs felt like they were pricked by countless icy needles.
The intense pain made young Thieving Heaven suffer immensely, soon, he was covered in snot and tears as he curled up like a cooked prawn.
"Lad, do you know how powerful I am now?" The elderly Gu Master smiled sinisterly.
He was very happy.
Young Thieving Heaven's screams and cries made him feel a deep sense of satisfaction.
-x-X-x-
The louder young Thieving Heaven screamed, the brighter the elderly Gu Master's smile.
But soon, young Thieving Heaven realized this and gritted his teeth, not uttering a sound.
"Eh? Brat, you still want to resist?" The elderly Gu Master was furious and stomped young Thieving Heaven's chest.
Crack!
Young Thieving Heaven's ribs immediately fractured into pieces which then pierced into his heart and lungs, immediately causing him to be on the verge of death.
But he still did not utter a sound, he had almost crushed his teeth with his intense grinding, and his eyes were opened wide with anger, but he did not scream.
"Hehehe!" The elderly Gu Master started laughing from anger, and directly used Gu Master methods against young Thieving Heaven.
This time, it was not as simple as a sharp pain, young Thieving Heaven felt a kind of numbing pain with all kinds of sensation attacking him in turns.
"Ahh—!" He could endure it no longer, he let out a piercing scream and started struggling fiercely, he rolled on the floor while crazily scratching his skin.
The elderly Gu Master laughed heartily: "Suffered enough? Actually daring to defy the great Sha Xiao, hmph, even if you have strong pride, you will still have to kneel before me. Beg for mercy, as long as you call me grandpa Sha, grandpa will forgive you, grandson, ahahaha!"
But young Thieving Heaven's heart was filled with nothing but fury.
Sha Xiao's words triggered his pride, he inwardly vowed that even if he died from the itch, died from pain, died by rotting, or died from numbness, he would not beg for mercy!
Sha Xiao waited for a while, young Thieving Heaven was still rolling on the ground, tearing his clothes and skin, crying out in deep pain, but he did not beg for mercy.
Until young Thieving Heaven could not endure anymore, a fierce light flashed past his eyes as he smashed head-first into the wall of the well.
"He actually wants to die?!" Sha Xiao was surprised, quickly moving to stop this.
Young Thieving Heaven's strength was useless, he could only let Sha Xiao manipulate him.
Sha Xiao not only saved him, but also healed him, soon, his heavy injuries had turned into light injuries.
"Kid, you have quite the backbone, even I am feeling some admiration." Sha Xiao changed his tone, green light flickering in his eyes.
He looked at the powerless young Thieving Heaven lying on the ground, and said with a soft and slow voice: "But if you die, what will your family do? I won't feel distressed about it, but what about your parents? What about your siblings? Hehe, do you have a girl you love, does she know your feelings? If you die, what about her?"
Young Thieving Heaven's expression began to change.
He had lived for over ten years in this world, yet he had a wanderer's mentality without any restraints. However in his original world, he had a family, healthy parents, and a beloved fiancée.
"I cannot die."
"I need to live on!"
"I need to find a way to leave this world and return home. There are people waiting for me there!"
Sha Xiao was an old schemer, the corners of his lips curling up slightly as he saw the change in young Thieving Heaven's expression.
Young Thieving Heaven fearlessly gazed at Sha Xiao: "You have not killed me because you want to make use of me. Speak, what do you want me to do?"
Sha Xiao laughed heartily, giving a thumbs-up to young Thieving Heaven: "Kid, you have guts, you actually dare to speak to me like that."
The moment he finished speaking, Sha Xiao's expression changed, his laughter was gone without a trace, replacing it was twisted fury.
He ruthlessly kicked young Thieving Heaven's face, and sent him flying.
He then pointed with his finger, a strange light shot out and struck young Thieving Heaven's body.
Chii Chiii Chiii...
A series of soft sounds echoed within this old well.
Young Thieving Heaven's expression rapidly changed as he felt intense pain all over his body, he tried to stand up but due to a lack of energy, he could only sit on the ground.
His face was bloody, his nose bridge had been smashed by Sha Xiao's kick.
Young Thieving Heaven started blacking out and almost fainted from the pain.
With his remaining consciousness, he squinted at his hand but immediately received a huge shock.
He saw his hand was festering and corroding like it had touched powerful acid.
Not just the hands, his face, his arms, his neck, his whole body was starting to rot.
Soon, young Thieving Heaven's eyes also started to corrode, losing his sight.
Sha Xiao's sinister voice floated to his ears: "You think I need you? Hehehe, it is your fortune to be used by me! You dare show me such an attitude, so what if you die? At worst, I will just find another puppet. Hahaha!"
"Now, this is your final chance! I shall give you one final opportunity, if you don't want to die, kowtow to me and call me grandpa, obediently follow my orders."
"Take your time. You have been struck by my killer move anyway, your whole body will continue to rot, in a dozen or so breaths, your whole body will rot completely and only your skeleton will remain. Hehe, I will give you a few kicks then and see how hard your backbone really is."
Young Thieving Heaven was silent.
Sha Xiao did not speak anymore after this, only looking at young Thieving Heaven with his sinister gaze.
Young Thieving Heaven was slumped on the ground, motionless like a statue.
The muscles on his whole body were beginning to rot, the stench of it had already filled the well.
The terrifying injuries, intense pain, and more importantly the entanglements in his heart, caused his face to distort.
"I, the great Ben Jie Sun, a noble army general, how could I beg for mercy?"
"But... if I die here, do I let my loved ones in the other world wait in vain?"
"Sigh!!!"
Young Thieving Heaven let out a heavy sigh inwardly.
He slowly adjusted his posture and knelt down, then he lowered his head till his forehead touched the ground.
He spoke with a weak and rough voice: "You win."
"Hahaha." Sha Xiao laughed wildly, his eyes opened wide as he stared at young Thieving Heaven: "Then what should you call me?"
"Gran... grandpa." Young Thieving Heaven gritted his teeth, his whole body shook and hot tears rolled down from his corroded eyes.
"Hehehe, my good grandson!" Sha Xiao was satisfied, his voice turned sharp like a crow's cry high above the graveyard.
Young Thieving Heaven reached his limits and completely fell unconscious.
Darkness descended upon Fang Yuan once again.
And the dream realm fiercely corroded his soul.
Fang Yuan passed this period with difficulty, his ten million man soul had already fallen to million man soul.
Exploring this dream realm of Thieving Heaven had an extremely high demand on soul foundation! Were it not for Fang Yuan cultivating his soul painstakingly before, he would not have the qualifications to explore this dream realm.
With the passing of time, the darkness disappeared, Fang Yuan could see once again.
The blazing sun was high in the sky, young Thieving Heaven was moving across the desert while dragging his extremely weak body.
Those terrifying injuries on him were all gone without a trace. But there were several new injuries which looked like lacerations inflicted by fangs and claws of wild beasts.
"Kid, listen properly, when you return to the clan, probe the situation for your grandpa."
"Wait, grandpa will bring a few desert wolves to you, hehe, if you are going to put on a show, you should go all the way. Grandpa will not help you, if you can't escape the wolves, you can only blame yourself."
"Oh, remember not to speak carelessly. Grandpa's killer move is in your body, you have already tasted the feeling of a rotting body. As long as I will it, your internal organs and your brain will immediately rot, hehehe, be obedient, grandpa won't mistreat you, my good grandson!"
Sha Xiao's figure was nowhere to be seen, but young Thieving Heaven's ears were resonating with his voice.
The moment his words finished, several desert wolves rushed out from a sand dune.
These desert wolves had short and thin fur, they were pale brown and not that big but were extremely ferocious. They howled to signal the attack as they rushed towards young Thieving Heaven.
Young Thieving Heaven did not budge as he looked at the distance between him and the desert wolves shrinking rapidly.
Fang Yuan was baffled before suddenly reacting, he cursed inwardly while quickly attempting to control young Thieving Heaven.
Just like he expected, he had once again gained control of this body.
Fang Yuan quickly ran while looking into his aperture to see if there were any Gu worms that he could use to fight.
A sandpit Gu, a chimney smoke Gu, and a clear water Gu.
There was only over ten percent of green copper primeval essence left.
Those cool wind Gu and other Gu he had gathered after painstaking efforts were all gone.
"Looks like Sha Xiao did not want to expose that small oasis and the well, so he destroyed all the relevant clues on Thieving Heaven."
"Damn it, clear water Gu is of no use here. Only sandpit Gu and chimney smoke Gu can be relied upon."
Just as Fang Yuan thought of this, he suddenly felt wind at the back of his head.
Without even thinking, he leaped to the left.
At the next moment, a desert wolf had pounced on Fang Yuan's previous location, it fell unstably to the ground, rolling some distance away.
Fang Yuan almost fell to the ground, if he fell down, those rushing desert wolves would definitely pounce at him and give him no chance to get up.
At the crucial moment, Fang Yuan propped his arms up on the sand and exerted strength on them to forcibly push his weak body forward, he barely maintained his balance and continued to run.
Not even a few steps later, another desert wolf had caught up to Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan quickly activated sandpit Gu, this rank one Gu expended five percent of his green copper primeval essence, instantly forming a pit in the desert.
The second desert wolf had just been about to exert strength on its legs to pounce at Fang Yuan's back, but a sandpit appeared out of nowhere as it stepped into it.
Because it had exerted too much strength, this desert wolf lost its balance and fell face flat on the ground.
But the third desert wolf quickly rushed over and had already leaped to the air. This desert wolf was extremely cunning, it had wild Gu on it which caused its movement to be without any sound.
Fang Yuan simply didn't have time to look back, but he saw the shadow on the desert's surface ahead.
The third desert wolf's shadow was pouncing at his shadow's head.
Fang Yuan gritted his teeth, there was no use in activating Gu worms at this moment and he also had no time to dodge.
However, his rich battle experience helped him make the most sensible choice at this moment.
Evading the worst!
Although he could not dodge properly, he had to evade the worst.
Fang Yuan intentionally inched his right shoulder to the wolf.
Puff!
The third desert wolf pounced at Fang Yuan, its sharp claws piercing through Fang Yuan's right shoulder and cutting out few pieces of flesh.
But Fang Yuan did not stop at all, he continued to run madly.
By this time, the first and second desert wolves had already regained their footing and caught up.
At this critical juncture, Fang Yuan put all his primeval essence in chimney smoke Gu.
This Gu worm was originally used to smoke food, but right now, it was being used by Fang Yuan to cope with this emergency and it furthermore produced a brilliant effect.
The dense smoke obstructed the three desert wolves' eyes and noses as Fang Yuan took this chance to pull apart some distance from the wolves.
But this was only a dying struggle.
The three desert wolves soon broke through the smoke and caught up to Fang Yuan.
"Am I going to fail?"
"This difficulty is too high!"
Fang Yuan was already at his wit's end, but right at this time, an electric chain brushed past Fang Yuan's cheek and struck the three desert wolves, instantly roasting them.
"The clansmen!" Fang Yuan was joyous as he recognized who had arrived.
But young Thieving Heaven was already at his physical limits, fainting once again.
The expected darkness did not appear, Fang Yuan surprisingly discovered his soul was floating in the air, out of the dream realm.
More accurately, this scene of Thieving Heaven's dream realm that had shrouded his soul had already disappeared.
"So it's like this, I successfully explored the first stage of the dream realm!" Fang Yuan was stumped before quickly realizing.
"Amazing, my theft path attainment has directly soared to grandmaster level!!"
Fang Yuan was overjoyed.
Although his soul foundation had greatly reduced, the harvest was similarly huge.
Indeed worthy of being Thieving Heaven's dream realm, just passing the first stage raised Fang Yuan's theft path to grandmaster level!
How terrifying would it be if he continued the exploration?
-x-X-x-
Inside the immortal Gu formation, Fang Yuan was sitting cross-legged with closed eyes, cultivating quietly.
Hei Lou Lan and the rest along with Tang Fang Ming were in control of this immortal formation.
Fang Yuan was calculating his gains and losses.
"The gains from exploring Thieving Heaven's dream realm were huge. Not only did I test heaven's will dissipation and obtained a satisfactory result, my theft path attainment has soared to grandmaster level!"
"But, I had to pay a huge price for this. My ten million man soul has now fallen to million man soul, the loss is great."
"I had thought I would use unravel dream frequently, but who could have expected unravel dream to not provide me much help in this dream realm."
From this dream realm exploration, Fang Yuan realized one point.
He might have unravel dream, but this method was not all-powerful.
"Unravel dream was used very few times, so my immortal essence expenditure is little, but my guts Gu expenditure has instead increased enormously!"
Thinking of this, Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes and took out guts Gu, using them on the spot.
"So many guts Gu!" Tang Fang Ming's eyes opened wide, revealing clear envy and desire.
He had also explored the dream realm many times, knowing the outstanding advantage of guts Gu. He was barely able to purchase some guts Gu as supply was lower than demand, but now he was looking at Fang Yuan using guts Gu as casually as eating candy.
"Oh, he is the sole guts Gu seller after all." Tang Fang Ming lamented inwardly.
At the same time, his gaze landed on Thieving Heaven's dream realm.
Thieving Heaven's dream realm was enormous like a mountain and was still letting out eerie blue radiance, but right now, a large piece of the base of this mountain had disappeared.
This was the result of Fang Yuan successfully passing through the first stage.
Tang Fang Ming heaved a sigh.
He had already explored and researched this dream realm of Thieving Heaven for hundreds of times, maybe even a thousand times, but his accumulated achievements were not even a fraction of Fang Yuan's one exploration.
Tang Fang Ming was recognized in Tang clan as a pioneer of exploring dream realms, he had a lot of accomplishments, creating many dream realm mortal Gu. But compared to Fang Yuan's achievements, he paled in comparison.
Tang Fang Ming felt ashamed, but beyond that, he felt even more admiration towards Fang Yuan.
After a moment of stillness, Fang Yuan suddenly opened his eyes!
A sharp light flashed past his dark eyes.
By using guts Gu without regarding the expenditure, Fang Yuan's soul foundation once again rose to ten million man soul.
He previously had nine million man soul, but with the corrosion from this dream realm, his soul quality had risen once again and gave a slight feeling of being even more condensed.
"Looks like the dream realm's corrosion of the soul has some supplementary effect in soul cultivation. But if it is examined carefully, the effect is not high, and is far inferior to Luo Po Valley."
Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley were the two sacred lands of soul cultivation proclaimed by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, they were not resources that ordinary things could replace.
But it did not matter, Fang Yuan had brought Luo Po Valley with him in this trip to Western Desert!
Before he made this trip from Eastern Sea to Western Desert, he had considered everything properly. With his astute nature, how could he not make ample preparations?
"As for Dang Hun Mountain, there is treasure yellow heaven to transport guts Gu, it is the same whether I bring it or not."
Actually, it was not that Fang Yuan did not want to bring it.
But it had a huge demand on heaven and earth qi in the immortal aperture.
Currently, his sovereign immortal aperture had Reverse Flow River, Luo Po Valley, and City Well, every three days, he had to devour large amounts of external heaven and earth qi to replenish his expenditure.
If they were not replenished in time, the sovereign immortal aperture's foundation would weaken, causing a reduction in resource production, including time and space aspects. In severe cases, it might even cause sovereign immortal aperture to crumble.
"The difficulty in exploring Thieving Heaven's dream realm is too high, the first stage is already so troubling, the second stage will definitely be even more difficult." With this comprehension, Fang Yuan decided to first increase his soul foundation by another level before he continued exploring the dream realm.
As such, over the next period of time, he quietly concentrated on cultivating soul path.
Because of the continuous supply of guts Gu, Fang Yuan's soul foundation rose rapidly.
Just as Fang Yuan was cultivating soul path in preparation for exploring the second stage, in Eastern Sea, Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was meeting Qing Yue clan's first supreme elder to request for help.
"Zhi Cheng, looks like you are really determined to take the risk for Qin Bai He." The old first supreme elder looked at this descendant who he was rather fond of and said with a sigh.
"Yes, I have made up my mind, I hope first supreme elder can help me!" Qing Yue Zhi Cheng said firmly.
But first supreme elder slowly shook his head: "It is not yet the time for me to be involved in this matter. Moreover, the truth is not out yet, even if I make a move, I won't be able to give you much help."
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng felt strange, how could first supreme elder, a grand rank eight Gu Immortal, be unable to give much help in this matter?
But first supreme elder told him of something which immediately made him understand.
"Junior thanks first supreme elder for the guidance, I shall now go ask for help." Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was joyous.
"Go, go." First supreme elder chuckled, waving his hand.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng immediately flew out of the clan's headquarter and moved towards Nan Gong clan's territory.
Qing Yue clan's first supreme elder had told him that whether Qin Bai He and You Chan were alive or not was unclear at this moment, what situation they encountered was also unclear, so what he should do was to find a wisdom path Gu Immortal to help investigate the truth. Only by knowing what happened to these two female immortals could they find the culprit and take revenge.
And the wisdom path Gu Immortal who was most suitable for this was none other than one of the three current wisdom path experts, the one hiding in Nan Gong, wisdom path Gu Immortal Hua An. This person had a close relationship with You Chan, if You Chan was in trouble, he would definitely help.
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng felt first supreme elder's analysis was correct, he immediately moved to request help from Hua An.
But midway, he came across a rank six Gu Immortal of Nan Gong clan.
This Gu Immortal brought a message from Hua An: "Young master Zhi Cheng, Lord Hua An already deduced that you would look for him, so he sent me to welcome you. He is waiting just ahead."
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng was overjoyed while also sighing in admiration of Hua An's ability.
After a while, the two met.
Hua An spoke: "I will be honest with you, Fairy You Chan came to request my help not long ago, but unfortunately I was unable to be of help."
Hua An and Qing Yue Zhi Cheng exchanged information, and naturally, their first suspect was Fang Yuan.
Because with You Chan's death, Fang Yuan, who was in the dragonfish business, would benefit the most.
Unfortunately, they did not have Heavenly Court's guidance, and only knew that mysterious Gu Immortal who was selling dragonfish in treasure yellow heaven was the most suspicious and had motive as well, but they did not know this person was Fang Yuan.
"I have been continuously deducing the past few days, I am afraid You Chan and Qin Bai He's situation is less than optimistic." Hua An said with a heavy expression: "This time, I am going to request help from the other two wisdom path experts, we will combine our strength and attempt to deduce the culprit."
Qing Yue Zhi Cheng however shook his head at Hua An's words.
"No, I believe the two fairies are still alive, they are not dead! Lord Hua An, please think carefully, the two fairies are rank seven experts, who could easily kill them?"
Hua An understood Qing Yue Zhi Cheng's feelings and mood, nodding consolingly: "Your words are also reasonable."
He then changed the topic and said: "I have a plan, we might as well spread news about the deaths of the two fairies. If they are still alive, they will definitely know we are looking for them and want to help them. If they are being hunted by the culprit, once these rumors spread, the culprit will be confused and will turn his attention towards us."
"Great plan!" Qing Yue Zhi Cheng clapped his hands and praised.
Time passed, soon, half a month went by.
Fang Yuan's soul foundation had increased to ninety million man soul, only a slight distance away from hundred million man soul.
In this period of time, he did not practise any immortal killer moves, instead spending his energy and time mainly in soul path cultivation. With this, his progress was naturally much higher than before.
Although guts Gu were being constantly expended, causing him to lose huge profits and also wasting his capital, Fang Yuan's financial situation was instead slowly turning better.
The reason for this was the dragonfish business.
Fang Yuan killed You Chan and Qin Bai He, even if Heavenly Court wanted to stop his progress, they were powerless to do so for some time.
In treasure yellow heaven's market, Fang Yuan was now the number one overlord in terms of dragonfish business, no one could rival him.
Thus, his dragonfish business was becoming increasingly bustling, especially the silver dragonfish which spurred crazed sales, the individual price was increasing at an alarming rate.
"The noteworthy thing is that news of You Chan's and Qin Bai He's deaths has already spread in Eastern Sea, looks like someone is plotting from the shadows."
"Forget about it, the important thing now is Thieving Heaven's dream realm."
With ninety million man soul, Fang Yuan was very confident. After resting for one more day, he entered the dream realm again to explore the second stage of Thieving Heaven's confusing dream realm.