But before Fang Yuan could celebrate further, the space around him fractured. Fang Yuan vanished on the spot.
"Huh? Brother Fang Yuan, where did you go?!" Tian Wu said, looking around wildly.
"I don't see him anywhere. What kind of method is this?" Tian Shan asked, scanning the peak. The surrounding Immortals were equally perplexed.
Fang Yuan found himself submerged in an endless black void. There was air to breathe, but his investigative methods detected massive, dense Space Path dao marks isolating the area.
In a flash of light, a figure materialized before him. It was a manifestation of a Will, which conjured a table and two chairs in the middle of the void. The figure possessed blonde hair and deep blue eyes - a face Fang Yuan recognized.
"Ah, Fang Yuan. I see you finally succeeded in pushing the Impossible Boulder to the top," Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable's Will said with a faint smile. "Did you finally realize that the true Eternity Gu is the friends you made along the way?"
Fang Yuan snorted coldly.
Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable laughed. "Ah, well, that was simply a joke. Come, take a seat. We have matters to discuss before I hand over the inheritance kept here."
Fang Yuan sat down across from Thieving Heaven's will.
"I suppose you have many questions," Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable asked.
Fang Yuan didn't waste time and went for the most critical inquiry. "Is it true that the Gu World is ending? Both Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable and Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable have claimed as much." Although they had told him so, Fang Yuan was naturally skeptical of such an extraordinary claim.
Thieving Heaven waved his hand, conjuring a miniature, glowing diagram of the gu world, depicting the Five Regions as a disc below and the two heavens as a dome above this disc.
"The gu world is structured like this - a flat domain held together by specific boundaries. The boundaries consist of the regional walls," Thieving Heaven explained. "Tell me, Fang Yuan, do you know what lies outside this world? The place where Otherworldly Demons like us come from?"
"Other worlds?" Fang Yuan deduced. It was the only thing that made sense.
Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable nodded. "Yes. But between our worlds and this one lies a massive sea of chaos. Even Venerables cannot survive within the chaos outside the gu world for long. You have a long journey ahead of you, Fang Yuan. Some answers you must discover on your own, but allow me to guide your perspective by asking you a few questions."
Thieving Heaven leaned forward. "First, have you been able to make Rank 0 gu worms?"
Fang Yuan shook his head. "My vital gu is sealed. I must prevent Heaven's Will from tracing it."
The Spring Autumn Cicada was currently dormant inside his aperture. Since it was sealed to avoid Heaven's Will, he couldn't use Thieving Heaven's specialized methods to use it to create Rank 0 gu worms.
"In that case, you must rely on external forces to refine them for you," Thieving Heaven noted. "A portion of my inheritance here will assist with that. But consider this: if Venerables are truly invincible within this world - so much so that Fate Gu must strictly enforce the usage of Lifespan Gu to prevent them from causing a permanent imbalance in the world - why does the world allow them to exist in the first place? Why create Venerables in the first place at all?"
Fang Yuan frowned. It was a deeply pertinent question.
"You wish to reach the realm of Venerables, do you not? Then you must understand this paradox," Thieving Heaven continued. "By now, you realize that without the decree of Fate, one cannot become a venerable. But what purpose do they serve? Heaven's Will could simply prevent their birth entirely. Before Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, there were no Venerables, and the world functioned perfectly fine."
"How absolute is Fate Gu's power?" Fang Yuan countered. "If everything is destined, why was I able to kill Feng Jin Huang in my previous life?"
"So you know the identity of the future Great Dream Immortal Venerable," Thieving Heaven remarked, unsurprised.
Fang Yuan nodded. "During my Immortal Ascension, I extracted that information from the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will."
"But were you truly able to kill her permanently?" Thieving Heaven challenged. "Weren't you ultimately forced to use the Spring Autumn Cicada to reverse time? Think about it, Fang Yuan. And on that note... why do we exist? Why does Heaven's Will deliberately pull Otherworldly Demons into this world?"
Fang Yuan remained silent. "Are the two questions connected?"
"They are," Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable nodded, looking down at the map of the gu world. "Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable and Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable are not wrong. A time will come when the boundaries of the gu world shatter, and the chaos will begin to seep in, assimilating everything. If you don't believe me - contemplate this: the only alternative explanation is that the gu world will exist forever. Do you think that is the case? Naturally, no. All that comes with a beginning also comes with an end. Naturally, the Immortal Venerables want to prevent that destruction. And you are a crucial piece in countering that future catastrophe. You still lack the tools required, but your inheritance is here. However, I have one final question. You pursue eternal life, correct?"
Fang Yuan nodded. "It is the only logical goal worth striving for."
"Then have you realized the fundamental paradox that lies at the very heart of obtaining eternal life?" Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable asked, his eyes searching.
Fang Yuan paused, reviewing his vast knowledge, but found no definitive answer. He didn't even know if eternal life truly existed.
"Ah, no matter," Thieving Heaven sighed softly. "The paradox will make itself apparent to you soon enough along your journey. One final word of advice however... I know that you are studying the Human Path. But remember one thing - The Legends of Ren Zu are not the end-all-be-all of Human Path enlightenment. Ren Zu was the first human of this world, not of all worlds. And we, the Otherworldly Demons, come from other worlds. Our human experiences go beyond that of this world. And we can also invent things beyond this world. Now, let me hand over the inheritance."
Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable explained that this was only one half of a dual inheritance; the second half was hidden in the Eastern Sea.
"In the Eastern Sea, near my other inheritance, you will find a method to parallel refine the Spring Autumn Cicada," Thieving Heaven revealed. "Right now, your Spring Autumn Cicada is sealed from the River of Time. It is slowly starving to death. If you do not feed it, it will eventually perish. You can either attempt to completely cleanse Heaven's Will from it, or parallel refine it using the tools that you find there. Hehe... when I joked earlier that the greatest wealth is friendship, Fang Yuan... I wasn't entirely lying. Keep that in mind when you head to the Eastern Sea."
With those parting words, Thieving Heaven's will vanished.
The benefits of the inheritance were immediately integrated into Fang Yuan.
There was a part of Thieving Heaven's Space Path True Meaning - a massive influx of Space Path insights flooded Fang Yuan's mind, instantly elevating his attainment level to Space Path Master.
Details of various Space Path killer moves as well as a general map of the Gu World and the spaceless tunnel remnants left behind by Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable were also there.
Finally, a massive formation almost equivalent to Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable's Integration Formation was handed over to Fang Yuan, which he kept in his aperture.
And with that, Fang Yuan was ejected from this strange void.