The dream realm shifted once more.
Fang Yuan felt that there was an increase to his attainment in the Human Path once more. However, he was still lacking somewhat to get to the quasi-Grandmaster realm. The dream wasn't over yet, though so there was still a chance to advance even further.
Fang Yuan found himself in the same house, except a portion of it was on fire.
Fang Yuan barely had a moment to take this in when he noticed a pair of beady yellow eyes glaring at him from the darkness. 'Lions,' he realized. He checked his aperture.
He had Rank Three Hope Gu now, meaning that Teng Mingyu had likely succeeded in advancing it to Rank Three as well. However, that would be of no help to him in this fight. As for the other gu worms, there was Rank Three Integration Gu. There was still Friendship Gu. And just like before, there were a number of Gu worms which he was not sure about.
He got out of the way as the lion leaped, but there was little that he could do with his own physical strength.
'There must be an offensive Gu worm among these,' Fang Yuan thought. 'If I picked one, he would soon end up dying.' He knew one of them was a storage Gu worm, so that left only three possibilities.
He picked one, and the Gu worm in question leapt from his aperture into his stomach and began releasing something immediately. Fang Yuan felt something travel up his esophagus and into his throat as he then spat out a massive gush of green liquid, the liquid splashed against the lion, dissolving its flesh and bones as it touched it.
'This is a type of acid-spitting gu worm,' Fang Yuan realized. He felt a sharp burning sensation in his mouth and throat, but he knew that there must also be a gu worm for this as well. Of the other two gu worms, he activated one which generated a protective shield around him and the other which actually healed his wound. 'I should have used the defensive Gu worm first before this,' Fang Yuan realized as his primal essence was rapidly depleted. 'It would've prevented this kind of corrosive effect.' It was like how one had to use defensive gu worms or strengthen one's bones before they could properly use Strength Path gu.
With this lion taken care of, there was much to be done. He ran out of the house to see that the village was infested with them.
'Where did so many lions come from?' Fang Yuan thought. This was not something from a beast tide. No, this looked like the work of an Enslavement Gu Master.
Three more lions pounced at Fang Yuan, though he defeated them with ease. Around him, he could hear the screams of the surrounding villagers as well as the roars of the lions.
He began running through the streets, wondering what it was that the dream required him to do. It could be surviving this fight. It could be killing a certain person, or it could even be saving a certain person. You could usually only figure out these things via trial and error, though Fang Yuan only had the resources to try once for now.
As he was walking through the streets of the village, he came upon someone whom he recognized. "Teng Ling!" he shouted out.
Given how close the two of them were, there was no way that Teng Mingyu would have simply wandered off and left him there. Fang Yuan was sure that doing so would lead to the end of the dream realm and him failing.
Teng Ling had been severely injured, and even Teng Ling's healing gu could do little for this. It was likely that his own healing gu was made specifically to counter the acidic effects of his offensive gu, and not for wounds like this. It was not as good as Doctor Gu when it came to healing.
"Don't mind me," Teng Ling said. "Save Teng Mei and... save the villagers. Save yourself!"
"Who did this?" Fang Yuan asked.
As if to answer his question, a voice cut through all of the other noise. It was cold and distant, as the North Wind itself. "Die, die, you Teng clan bastards! Today I take my revenge for my humiliation!"
There was a scream. "No, please! Let us go! What did we ever do to you?"
The cold voice answered, "Your mistake was being born in the Teng Clan. In your next life, don't be surnamed Teng." Then there was a scream that was swiftly cut off by the roar of the lion.
'I see,' Fang Yuan thought, 'so a demonic Gu Master might have been insulted by someone from this village and came back for revenge. Or perhaps it was a mortal who managed to find a way to cultivate and then came back for revenge for some kind of humiliation in the past.' There were numerous stories in the world, though he had personally never heard of the Teng clan.
Fang Yuan then turned his attention back to this person's aperture.
His improved attainment in the Human Path told him there was something that could be done here. Friendship Gu and Healing Gu along with it, Integration Gu, and Hope Gu!
He had formed a killer move, though he had no chance to test it. However, given its simplicity and the fact that it used only a few gu worms, it shouldn't have been too difficult to pull off with his attainment level.
He used Healing Gu and then used the other three Gu worms together.
Mortal Killer Move - The Bond Between Friends!
This turned the original path of the Healing Gu worm to the Human Path. Its effects became apparent as Teng Ling got up as the healing effect was greatly magnified. "That was," Teng Ling said, looking at his healed wounds, "something that you should have saved for someone else."
"Where is Teng Mei?" Fang Yuan asked.
"You mean she's not with you?" Teng Ling wondered. "How could you let her out of your sight at a time like this?"
Teng Ling answered for Fang Yuan. "She had gone for a stroll with my father late at night. I didn't think that she'd be caught up in something like this."
"Then there's nowhere we can just sit around not doing anything!" Teng Ling said. "Let's go!"
The demonic Gu Master in question was riding a Lava Lion Lord, a Rank Four Beast King. Every time it roared, small tendrils of flames would escape its mouth. Its mane was made of scorching flames, which would sear everything in its path.
Teng Mingyu was still only Rank Three, and there was no way that he stood a chance of beating this person. 'Or is there?' Fang Yuan thought. Even if there wasn't, that didn't mean that he had automatically failed the dream realm. There must have been some solution to this problem.
Teng Mingyu's vital Gu shuddered. Fang Yuan barely managed to avoid the claws of a lion who had been waiting in ambush before he killed it.
"No, please!" a Gu Master pleaded before the Lava Lion Lord.
But he died - because he was surnamed Teng!
"Teng Mei!" Teng Ling yelled out. Fang Yuan saw that Teng Mingyu's father was desperately holding off a group of lions, along with a few other elders behind him. Teng Mei looked extremely scared, but thankfully unharmed for now
"Good, good," the demonic Gu Master said. "Your resistance only makes my victory all the sweeter." He then turned his gaze towards Teng Mingyu. "Him, take him out as well!" A group of lions surrounded the two of them.
"We might be done for here," Teng Ling said. "But even if we are, it was a pleasure to fight with you, brother."
"We're not done yet!" Teng Mingyu answered.
'The hopes of the Teng clansmen... Their desire to see the next day... The bonds that had been formed between all of them.' Integration Gu activated, bringing them together.
Their wills combined as numerous small portions of their will were gathered around Integration Gu.
Fang Yuan instinctively realized what he had to do next. He would have liked to practice this killer move before trying it out as well. It was a miracle the earlier one had worked, but there was no time for second chances here.
Mortal Killer Move- Hope of the Clansmen!
The will of the Teng clan gathered around Integration Gu. Before being rocketed out towards Hope Gu, which began shining along with Friendship Gu.
A bright light began to surround the Teng clansmen, and with that, there was a flash of bright light and Fang Yuan found himself back in his room.
'So that was it. The dream realm did not show what the ultimate fate of the Teng clan had been.' Fang Yuan now felt his Human Path mastery finally reached quasi-Grandmaster level. 'So that is what it wanted to show me,' Fang Yuan thought.
Not only had his his attainment level in the Human Path increased, he also had a bit of direct information from that dream realm. 'I learned how one can advance Hope Gu. It looks like there is something else that I will have to add to my things to do,' Fang Yuan thought.