Cold moon, barren mountains.
Two pig-headed beastmen carried Fang Yuan one after another as they climbed up the mountain.
Fang Yuan sized them up repeatedly but didn't act rashly.
"This body I'm in belongs to a Fourth Transformation Gu Master. The Empty Orifice is still there, and I have True Essence, but not a single Gu Insect."
"On top of that, I'm severely injured and extremely weak. Even if I were in perfect condition, without any Gu Insects, I wouldn't be a match for these two pig-headed beastmen."
"However, once we reach the cliff edge, these two pig-headed beastmen will throw me off. At that height, without any Gu Insect's help, I'm dead for certain. Unless I had the Supreme Immortal Body."
"So my only hope of survival lies in the journey up the mountain?"
Immortal Killer Move — Dream Unravel.
After analyzing to this point, Fang Yuan began employing his trump card.
The Dream Unravel killer move took effect immediately.
He felt that in this instant, he had recovered some strength. To put it in an analogy, it was like before he was a traveler dying of thirst in the desert, about to perish. But now, a few drops of water had suddenly fallen into his mouth.
"The effect comes right away, but the strength I've recovered is far too little, isn't it?"
Left with no other choice, Fang Yuan used Dream Unravel again.
This time, he noticed that some of the smaller wounds on his body had scabbed over in an instant, and the pain throughout his body was considerably reduced.
However, the deep wounds on his chest and back — several that went all the way to the bone — showed no sign of improvement whatsoever.
Dream Unravel.
Dream Unravel.
Dream Unravel.
Fang Yuan had no choice but to keep activating this Immortal Killer Move. The deep wounds eventually improved too, though they hadn't formed scabs. At least the endless bleeding had stopped. He recovered a fair amount of strength, and his body gradually regained a trace of warmth from its previous bone-chilling cold.
But none of this gave Fang Yuan any meaningful combat power.
His current state was still that of an ordinary mortal — he had True Essence but nothing else. In a one-on-one fight, he couldn't possibly beat a single pig-headed beastman.
And it wasn't just one. It was two.
"What's going on?"
"Why has the Immortal Killer Move Dream Unravel become so ineffective?"
"I used it five times in a row just to achieve this much?"
Seeing himself about to be carried to the cliff edge once more, Fang Yuan gritted his teeth and made his decision: "Forget it — I'll make my move first!"
He sprang his entire body outward like a lobster.
The two pig-headed beastmen, caught completely off guard, were thrown off.
Fang Yuan crashed to the ground. The hard mountain rocks struck his wounds, and the pain nearly made him black out.
By now the two pig-headed beastmen had recovered from their surprise. They howled and lunged at Fang Yuan.
Drawing on his extraordinary combat instincts, Fang Yuan dodged and turned to flee downhill.
The two pig-men shrieked and gave chase.
Before long, they caught up.
Squelch.
Two gleaming white boar tusks stabbed deep into the wounds on Fang Yuan's back and punched through a short distance out his front.
Fang Yuan froze in place, mouth agape, blood gushing out in spurts.
Then his vision plunged into darkness.
Fang Yuan opened his eyes again. Before him stood a grand hall.
He had returned to reality once more, expelled from the dream.
His face was pale, his soul damaged. But what concerned Fang Yuan more was this strange dream itself.
"This dream is probably the most difficult one I've encountered here."
"Although it leans toward a realistic type of dream, the difficulty is absurdly high."
"So far, I haven't even uncovered the bottom of the first act. Just this path up the mountain has killed me who knows how many times."
"The Dream Unravel killer move's effectiveness is terrible. What's going on?"
This question genuinely baffled Fang Yuan.
He mulled it over from every angle but couldn't reason out an answer. He had to shelve it for now and focus on how to deal with those two beastmen and escape alive.
"The pig-headed beastmen are huge. If I could get into a forest, things would be much easier. Unfortunately, this barren mountain is completely bare — no woods to speak of, barely even a cluster of jagged rocks."
"Dream Unravel can be used at most five times. Beyond that, it has practically no effect."
"It can help me recover more strength and stabilize my injuries, but the results are truly insignificant. A single Gu Insect would be far more effective."
"And even with Gu Insects and a forest, my stamina is extremely limited — I can't run far at all."
After this analysis, Fang Yuan finally had a realization: "Could it be that the trajectory of this dream is simply meant to send me falling to the bottom of the valley?"
He entered the dream once more.
This time Fang Yuan didn't act rashly. He kept Dream Unravel running in the background at all times to maintain his strength and stamina.
When they reached the cliff's edge, the two pig-headed beastmen wound up their arms and hurled him straight into the valley.
But this time, while still in midair, Fang Yuan began adjusting his body, pressing close to the cliff wall.
After falling for several breaths, jagged protruding rocks began appearing on the cliff face, jutting outward. A few scattered trees also showed themselves, displaying their tenacious grip on life.
Thud.
A muffled impact — Fang Yuan landed on the rocks, his bones shattering on impact. He died on the spot.
"The descent speed is too fast and my injuries too severe. Landing on the rocks means instant death. It seems the trees are my only option."
Into the dream again.
Armed with this knowledge, Fang Yuan fell and landed on a tree.