The dream then shifted. Fang Yuan felt a portion of his understanding of the Human Path increase. It was still at the Master level, but there were still grades within each attainment level, and he felt like he understood the Human Path more deeply, even if it had not undergone a qualitative change to the next level. One could still make gains by exploring even parts of dream realms successfully.
He then found himself inside a house. 'So this is the next stage of the dream realm, then', Fang Yuan thought to himself. An elderly man was sitting across from him, and as Fang Yuan examined his aperture, it looked like he was still Teng Mingyu, as his vital gu was still the Rank One Hope Gu.
"Teng Mingyu," the elderly man said. "Are you sure that you wish to do this? There are other ways around this, you know."
"I'm sure of it," Fang Yuan felt that person say. He no longer had control over this person's body. "I want to try to refine my vital gu further."
"I honestly don't even know what you were thinking," the man replied. "Why did you choose Hope Gu as your vital gu? No one has ever done that before."
"Father, I..." he began. "I don't know what it was, but while I was there in the primal spring, I just felt it, almost as if it was calling to me, as if it was meant to be my vital gu. That was how I refined it so quickly."
His father shook his head. "Regardless. Do you really think that you can advance Hope Gu further?"
"I do think so, Father. Please, as one of the elders of the clan, can't you just get me at least 10 minutes? The underground cavern is a sacred place."
The man's father answered, "However, I will see what I can do. If you were an elder by this point, you would have no problem arranging for this by yourself."
"That would take a large amount of time, Father," Teng Mingyu said. "And I would prefer to start getting to it faster."
The dream shifted to another scene.
"I'm sorry, my boy," his father said. "The clan rejected your request."
"I guess there's nothing that can be done to help it," Teng Mingyu said, returning to his room to cultivate. "Once I become an elder, I'll see who stops me then."
The scene shifted again. Now Teng Mingyu was holding the arm of a woman dressed as his bride. That woman was Teng Mei. It looked like Fang Yuan had been transported to the day the two of them were married.
The marriage ceremony differed slightly from Gu villages' tradition, but that was to be expected. There are small variations in tradition from village to village, even on the same mountain, let alone between such large time periods. Even if this also occurred on the Southern Border, Fang Yuan felt that Teng Mingyu had finally advanced to Rank Three, although his vital Gu was still the Rank One Hope Gu.
Many people came up to congratulate him. Among them was Teng Ling, who had now advanced to Rank Two. "Congratulations!" he said, smiling widely.
Even though Tang Mingyu was smiling as he took the man's hand, Fang Yuan could feel his remorse and sorrow. There were still some regrets emerging from this interaction. For a moment, it was just the three of them together, and then an odd, awkward pause passed between the three of them before it ended. "Thank you," he said.
The scene then shifted once more as Teng Mingyu was walking down a set of stairs. "I will only need 15 minutes for this small project," he explained to the guard leading him. "I intend to try to advance my vital gu here."
"As it is, Elder Teng Mingyu," the guard said, bowing before he left. The clan's primal spring was an area that could not be accessed by anyone. After all, if it was damaged in any way, it would completely cripple the foundation of the clan.
Such was the case everywhere as Fang Yuan hadn't been allowed to visit his until he had become an elder.
The guard left Teng Mingyu alone as he walked back up the stairs.
Teng Mingyu approached the primeval spring and took out his vital gu from his aperture. He also had a storage-type gu worm from which he removed a large number of primeval stones.
Then, Fang Yuan found himself in control once more.
'What am I supposed to do here?' Fang Yuan thought. The numerous Hope Gu emitted faint lights in the primeval spring, which in the darkness made them shine like a sea of stars at night.
The sight, while beautiful, did nothing to help him with this current problem.
'Refining Hope Gu to the next step?' he thought would be the logical next step, only he had no idea what kind of experiment that Teng Mingyu intended to do here. Neither did he have any experience with something like this. 'Why couldn't he just pick a normal Vital Gu?' Fang Yuan mused as he examined his aperture.
There were a number of gu worms there of Rank 2 which he did not recognize- but in addition to Rank 1 Hope Gu there was one gu worm that he could identify as likely belonging to the Human Path, though he had never seen it before. Friendship Gu still dwelled in his aperture, appearing to have been unchanged since Teng Mingyu had obtained it all those years ago.
With no leads, Fang Yuan went to Teng Mingyu's storage-type gu worm to see if he had left anything there. There was something- a piece of paper which had scribbling on it.
'This person's handwriting is atrocious,' Fang Yuan thought to himself. 'He would be a perfect physician back on Earth judged on that fact.'
The writing was not only bad, but also written haphazardly in various directions with sections crossed out. It also looked like Teng Mingyu had spilled some kind of dark liquid over the paper.
What he could make out read out as:
The Legends of Ren Zu... Hope Gu was stored within Ren Zu's heart... Derivation Gu... Ren Zu and his children formed the world of humans... Integration Gu can do this in reverse... Can Integration Gu merge humans together to form something...?
Even as Fang Yuan puzzled these pieces of text together, a voice called from up above.
"Lord Teng Mingyu, time is up!"
The guard came down to escort him back up.
"Wait- I just need a few more minutes to finish up!" Fang Yuan protested. The guard, however, was having none of it.
"No can do, even for an elder, the clan rules are strict. Come back later!"
The guard showed no signs of letting up, and Fang Yuan knew that if he attacked the guard in this dream he would simply be ejected. Even an elder couldn't get away with something like this.
Fang Yuan was then ejected from this dream realm once again regardless, signifying he had failed this portion.
He grit his teeth as his soul sustained a mild injury once again before repairing it with Guts Gu.
Refining an unknown gu worm was extraordinarily difficult given the few clues that he had. It was a process that took much time and experimentation- how could he do so in the span of only a few fifteen minute sessions?