Eastern Sea, Ancient Clan's Blessed Land.
A grand palace dominated the land.
It radiated a faint orange-gold glow, its carved beams and painted rafters, pavilions and towers all magnificent and resplendent — this was an Eighth Transformation Immortal Gu House: the Dragon Palace.
Inside the Dragon Palace, dreams swirled. Any other Immortal Gu House would never dare do this. But though the Dragon Palace was a Slave Path Immortal Gu House, it contained a Dream Path Immortal Gu, so it had nothing to fear from dream encroachment.
Before the dreamscape, Fang Yuan's clone Wu Shuai sat cross-legged, eyes tightly shut.
His physical body was here, but his soul had plunged deep into the dreamscape before him, ceaselessly exploring.
Within the dream, Wu Shuai had taken on the role of an apprentice at a medical clinic, seeking to steal the master's craft through observation.
A young man with a wolf's back and a wasp's waist, exuding heroic vigor, strode into the clinic.
The young man was clearly wealthy or noble, and the clinic's owner — an elderly physician — personally attended to him.
"Doctor, ever since my last arena bout, though I ultimately won, something has felt off about my body," the young man said.
The old physician chuckled: "Come, let me take your pulse."
"Take my pulse?" The young man furrowed his brow, his expression confused.
The old physician spoke slowly: "This is a unique diagnostic method from my homeland, capable of detecting ailments. The human heart beats ceaselessly, blood flows constantly, forming what we call the pulse. Through my original Gu worm treatment technique, I can read this pulse to diagnose your condition."
The young man's respect deepened immediately: "Truly worthy of being a senior physician. I have heard that Heaven has heavenly veins, Earth has earthly veins, and humans have human veins. Could it be that this pulse-reading technique is about grasping the human veins, and thus prescribing the right remedy?"
"Ha ha ha, exactly so. Please extend your wrist." The old physician smiled.
The young man extended his wrist. The old physician placed his fingers on it, closed his eyes, and carefully probed.
After a moment, the old physician slowly opened his eyes: "There is indeed an ailment, but its symptoms are not obvious — extremely insidious. You have been struck by a Void Path technique."
The young man nodded repeatedly: "Senior is absolutely correct. My opponent in the arena was a Gu Master who specialized in the Void Path. I was hit by his technique. There are no visible wounds, but something has felt wrong ever since. At night, when I used to be able to spend time with over a dozen concubines, now I can barely handle one per night before feeling utterly exhausted. I also frequently experience lower back soreness, dry heat, profuse sweating during sleep, and sometimes dizziness and tinnitus."
The old physician nodded: "This Void Path technique is extremely insidious, targeting your kidneys. In short, you have — kidney deficiency."
"The Void Path really is troublesome. What should I do?" the young man asked urgently.
The old physician replied: "I'll prescribe you several doses of medicine. Take them for one month. During this month, you must abstain from sexual activity."
The young man looked troubled: "Old senior, can't you use your healing Gu worms to cure me directly? A full month without — truly unbearable."
The old physician shook his head: "Void Path techniques exist between truth and falsehood, part real and part illusory. They demand patient, grinding effort to overcome. The medicine I prescribe, though not Gu worms themselves, are not far from a complete Gu recipe. They will guarantee a cure. Without this approach of mine, nothing else will work. Unless you encounter a physician more skilled than I, perhaps then your problem could be solved."
The young man sighed: "Old senior, you are the greatest healing master I have ever encountered. I will follow your method of treatment."
The dream dissipated — successfully conquered.
"Human veins..." Wu Shuai's soul returned to his body, still savoring the true essence within the dream.
This dream had primarily provided him with the true essence of two paths. One was the Void Path, the other was the Human Path.
Fang Yuan's Human Path realm had already reached Grandmaster, but his Void Path was extremely ordinary. Fang Yuan's main body still held the corpse of a Heavenly Court Gu Immortal, which contained a void orifice. But previously his Void Path realm had been too low — even with the Zhi Hui Gu, he had been unable to decipher the mysteries of the void orifice.
After the Battle of Fate, all remaining dreams had been handed over to Wu Shuai to conquer.
These dreams were all ones Fang Yuan had seized from Yi Tian Mountain. Though some had been lost during the Battle of Fate, more than half remained.
After leaving Heavenly Court, Wu Shuai had returned to the Eastern Sea and settled within the Ancient Clan's Blessed Land. Apart from going out to open his Blessed Land and commune with Heaven and Earth qi, he simply entered seclusion, ceaselessly exploring dreams and extracting their true essence to assist his main body in advancing the realms of various paths.
"Right now, the main body needs progress in the Human Path. This dream exploration, though it didn't yield much growth in the Human Path — still Grandmaster level — should still bring new benefits to the main body."
Wu Shuai began a brief rest before launching into his next dream exploration.
"Hm?" He noticed a mortal Message Gu from the Ancient Clan's patriarch sitting in the great hall.
"The Ancient Clan's patriarch would not disturb me over something trivial. Something important must have happened." Wu Shuai retrieved the mortal Message Gu and sent in his spiritual sense.
"Oh? An Eighth Transformation Snowman Gu Immortal, calling himself the Ice Crystal Immortal King, is coming to cause trouble for the Mermaid Royal Court?"
The message stated that the three Mermaid immortals were willing to reward Wu Shuai handsomely if he would step in and teach this unwelcome guest a lesson, making him retreat on his own. The Ancient Clan's patriarch also expressed, in characteristically tactful and indirect language, his hope that Wu Shuai would lend his assistance.
"Of course I will step in." Wu Shuai smiled faintly.
Fang Yuan possessed five hundred years of memories from his previous life, and a portion of those memories had already been transmitted to him.
Wu Shuai now knew that during his main body's previous five-hundred-year life, the boundary walls had disappeared, the five regions had unified, and qi tides had wreaked havoc as well.
All Gu Immortals across the five regions had been forced into seclusion and recuperation. During that power vacuum, the grotto-heaven forces from the two heavens had mobilized, running rampant for quite some time.
"To think such an opportunity has come — a chance to make direct contact with these grotto-heaven forces. This is a golden opportunity! For the sake of the main body's grand strategy, I must give my utmost."
*Boom.*
The Dragon Palace's great doors swung open, and Wu Shuai strode out, head held high.
At the banquet, fine wine filled the air with its fragrance, but the atmosphere was exceedingly heavy.
The three Mermaid immortals wore cold, expressionless faces, while the Ice Crystal Immortal King wore a faint smile.
The singing and dancing had long since ceased. The great hall was deathly silent.
The Ice Crystal Immortal King took a sip of wine: "I wonder whether the three of you have decided upon your strategy for the final round?"
The Mermaid immortals' expressions darkened another degree. Just then, they received intelligence, and a gleam of pleasant surprise flickered across each of their faces.