Fang Yuan found himself waking to the rhythmic rocking of a carriage being drawn alongside a merchant caravan. The dull joint pains in his arms and legs reminded him of who he was and where he was as he got up.
"Old man, you're finally up and at it," someone remarked as they passed by. "Thought that you'd keeled over by now..."
Fang Yuan got up slowly, his eyes narrowing as he inspected his own condition.
He was currently a Rank Two Peak Stage Gu Master with dark red primeval essence. His gu worms were scant; he had traded a large number of them for primeval stones, as the gu worms were of little use to him in his current state.
Fang Yuan was old. He had lived for nearly a hundred years, and age had begun to take its toll. 'Human life truly is brief, like a fleeting dream,' he thought to himself.
As the merchant caravan moved along, the passersby occasionally glanced at him. Some wore looks of pity, while others held expressions of pure disgust. Most people though were simply indifferent to his presence.
Many people died along these caravan journeys - it was simply a part of life. Mortals died in large numbers, and Gu Masters died in fewer numbers. That was the only difference.
No matter how long one lived, one could not escape the ravages of time. Did The Legends of Ren Zu not state as much?
Fang Yuan took out a waterskin and poured the contents down his throat, feeling slightly refreshed.
The caravan came to a halt for the day, and he stepped off the caravan, his movements stiff as his joints protested every step he took.
"Uncle Big Beard... I've persevered just like you said, but nothing has come of it," the Fang Yuan in the dream realm said to himself.
No matter how much Fang Yuan had struggled, his poor aptitude had limited him to Rank Two Peak Stage.
Fang Yuan sat there by the side of the merchant caravan, people moving around him like he was nothing more than a rock. His breathing was becoming haggard and he started coughing, though no one came to his side to help him.
He steadied himself when it passed, gazing up at the open sky. This world was so vast, and he had seen so little of it. Forget Eternal Life, he had not even managed to live beyond a mortal's lifespan. He was going to die her, by the roadside, like roadkill. Nothing had come of his years of struggle.
Despair began to assault Fang Yuan, both within the dream realm and within his reality.
This was the nature of dream realms: they exacerbated one's emotions. If a soul became too caught up in these feelings, they would soon become trapped, unable to escape.
At that moment, however, Fang Yuan's killer move took effect.
The Killer Move - Familial Emotion!
The sadness and despair that had engulfed him dissipated instantly.
As he began to move forward through the dream, he remembered this scene more clearly. This was just a few days before he had managed to find a Lifespan Gu, extending his life by 500 years.
He found the strength to get back up, and that was what mattered. Much like Ren Zu, one had to give their heart to hope regardless of the situation.
This part of his dreams slowly fade.
Currently, his soul foundation had mostly recovered thanks to Paradise Earth's Soul Soothing Tea and his own soul-refining Pill Path methods.
However, the emotional turbulence of the dream realms remained a hurdle.
While Fang Yuan was fine, outside the dream, in the real world, the Gu Yue Clan members suddenly felt a turbulent wave of despondence crash over them.
Many of them fell to the ground, bursting into tears. Fang Zheng, who had been observing from the Clan Head's Pavilion, felt a deep sense of melancholy grip his heart. He remembered how his uncle and aunt had tormented him, how Shen Cui had betrayed him, how he had become crippled and lost all hope, and how he had lived for years in Fang Yuan's shadow, feeling small and worthless.
Inside the dream, Fang Yuan was now speaking to a man with a weathered, depressed face.
"I would normally not sell this," the man muttered, "but I have no choice. Circumstances force my hand, but Fang Yuan - do not think of cheating me. I think 100,000 primeval stones is a fair price."
"80,000 is more than enough," Fang Yuan countered coldly.
The two went back and forth until the man finally relented, inwardly cursing Fang Yuan for every primeval stone he had lost in the deal.
Fang Yuan, however, felt a rare surge of joy. He took the gu worm in question, placed it in his aperture, and activated it.
This was the first aptitude-raising gu he had found in his previous life, which had allowed his aptitude to increase to B-grade, finally letting him break through to Rank Three. Finally! He would be able to break through the barrier that had caged him, and reach Rank 3!
Happiness engulfed his heart. Happiness to the point where he could even lose himself in it. Just like Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu had demonstrated, however, too much happiness could be a bad thing. It could also tie Fang Yuan to this dream realm just as easily as despair could. Fang Yuan was so happy he could think of nothing else. He didn't want to go anywhere or do anything, simply revel in the current situation.
As his joyful emotions peaked, the Gu Yue villagers outside - who had just been weeping in depression - suddenly felt a burst of elation. Some began to hug each other, talking about how grateful they were to be alive.
Li Mei and Yu Sai stopped eating and hopped into bed together.
Fang Zheng found himself no longer thinking of his trauma, but of the times Fang Yuan had helped his rise up once more. He even found his mind drifting to thoughts of Yao Le. Yao Le also found her thoughts first drifting to those of when her grandmother was alive, and then, more recently, to when she occasionally glanced at Fang Zheng...
Fang Yuan now found himself staring at the wall, off balance. This body was smaller than his old one.
"No! Aunt! Uncle! I'm sorry!" came a cry and a scream of pain as the cracking of a whip caught young Fang Yuan's attention.
Fang Zheng was tied to a nearby pole and was being whipped by their uncle. Based on Fang Zheng, Fang Yuan realized that he was about six years old at the time.
"This will teach you to steal food you ungrateful brat!"
"No! Uncle! WAAAH! Brother! Mom! Dad! Help!" Fang Zheng screamed out as Fang Yuan was forced to watch this.
Their treatment would somewhat improve after these events when Fang Yuan began to truly show off his poetry skills, but right now their treatment was truly pitiful.
Resentment and anger welled up in Fang Yuan's heart. It was made worse by the fact that he was an adult in a child's body - he could do nothing even if his mind could try to plot and plan for this.
This feeling of anger dissipated as the dream realm dissolved.
Fang Yuan then found himself sat atop a throne. Two pools of blood surrounded him on either side. The building he was sitting in was made of reddish bamboo and served as his Imperial Palace as well as the headquarters of the Blood Wing Demon Sect. This building was inside his Immortal Aperture at the time, which was filled with Blood Path resources for both him and his subordinates to use.
The discrepancy between this dream and the one before it was immediately apparent. Fang Yuan was no longer dressed in the meager rags his aunt and uncle had given him but instead a regal set of robes fit for a king.
"Supreme Elder, we have found the traitors amongst our midst!" one of his demon generals told him.
Fang Yuan coldly snorted. There was word that two people from the Righteous Faction had snuck into his sect and moved up the ranks, attempting to gain information on Fang Yuan's Immortal Aperture so that they could later on hand this over to the Righteous Path to make it easier for them to counter him.
The two traitors were wheeled in, within his aperture, their gu worms were completely suppressed. They had fears of immense terror as Fang Yuan, the feared demonic overlord, glared at them and said coldly, "Let us start with the soul-searching methods."
It was possible to search people's souls in a way that caused minimal pain. Fang Yuan had no need for such concerns as he tore these people's souls apart even as they screamed and begged for mercy, scanning through their memories.