Time Path dao marks were added to the Blessed Land along with more Pill Path dao marks, causing time within it began to speed up to a small extent. Additionally, Clock Flowers, something which could be used to hasten the maturation of the ingredients of many pills, began to grow within a section of the Blessed Land.
"Husband, what was that about?" Xie Han Mo asked. "Why is the calamity suddenly over?"
"I don't know what happened Master, but it's a good thing that we managed to break through the Earthly Tribulation, isn't it?" the Seven Rainbows Moth King said, only concerned with preserving the integrity of the Blessed Land. "Oh, what's that?"
The Land Spirit had noticed something moving in the sky.
In the sky, a pink light had begun to emerge which shone nearly as brightly as the sun.
Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu!
It had not, as a matter of fact, been consumed after being activated, like Fang Yuan had originally imagined.
It cast a beautiful purple glow over the Blessed Land as it shone nearly as bright as the sun.
"Oh isn't that lovely," Xie Ham Mo said.
"Papa! Papa! Look, a meat-e-or!" Fang Ling said.
Fang Xue clapped her hands and giggled as the pink light illuminated her cherubic features.
Everyone was looking up at Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu.
However, that was not what Fang Yuan was looking at.
He instead turned to take a look at Xie Han Mo, who was still as beautiful as ever.
He took a look at Fang Ling and Fang Xue, his two children.
No matter how lovely this dream was, it was nothing but a dream in the end.
What was stopping him from realizing this dream into reality?
Fate would not allow it?
If Fate Gu was destroyed, he might indeed be able to find Xie Han Mo again. He might indeed be able to make her love him again.
If Fate Gu was destroyed, then Heaven's Will could not stop the production of Lifespan Gu, and the two of them, Fang Yuan and Xie Han Mo, could have lived together peacefully forever alongside their children.
Fang Yuan finally turned to look at Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu as it passed them by like a comet, finally understanding how the gu worked.
"Husband, do you know what that is?"
Fang Yuan did not answer, instead removing a gu worm from his aperture.
And in a single blow, he killed Xie Han Mo!
"Master! What are you doing?" the Seven Rainbows Moth King pondered. It was a Land Spirit and cared nothing for her unlike what it did for Fang Yuan, but it was still quite shocking to see Fang Yuan do such a thing given how lovingly he had treated her earlier.
Fang Yuan did not stop there, killing Fang Ling and Fang Xue as well. And with that, with the blood of "family" on his hands, he began chuckling. "So that was the solution to the dream realm. I see it now."
The dream realm began fading to black. Fang Yuan did not feel any damage to his soul.
Before it could completely dissipate, however, something else materialized. Fang Yuan saw the Spring Autumn Cicada flitter by, and the River of Time appeared once again. This time though, it was flowing against a formless background of empty black and void. The same silhouette appeared deep in its waters, its face still concealed. "Fang Yuan, good to see you woke up from the dream realm. But this doesn't need to remain a dream, you know. If you happen to get rid of Fate Gu, you can use your strength and establish this in reality. The others might promise you the position of a Venerable if you continue to stand with Fate, but what use is becoming a Venerable if it means continuing to live under Heaven's yoke? And if the world does end, let it end on our own terms. At least whatsoever life we live will be free of Fate's influence - it will be our life no matter how short. Now, about destroying Fate-"
Fang Yuan chuckled and shook his head. "No..."
"What? But Fang Yuan if you do so you might be able to-"
"What do I care whether Fate exists or not?" Fang Yuan said. "If it helps me accomplish my goal, then I will continue to stand with Fate. If Fate cannot help me, then I will destroy Fate! All simply according to benefits! Do you think that I want this, a happy life? Do you think that these sweet dreams could bind me? To marry Xie Han Mo, to have children? Perhaps at some point in the past this would've satisfied me. However, I've long since abandoned such desires. There is only one thing in this world that matters: the pursuit of eternal life. There is no other goal worth striving towards. Even if I could go forward in time and live like this, I would not. I reject your offer. The first step in my dream will involve becoming a Venerable. If eternal life truly does exist, then I will clasp it in my hands. Nothing - certainly not what I saw in this dream - can stop me from pursuing that goal!"
The silhouette within the dream realm remained silent as it vanished.
And with that, Fang Yuan had cleared the dream realm.
Although the dream realm had been difficult to deal with - being one of the most complex he had ever encountered, Heaven was fair and balanced.
His gains were equally grand considering the difficulty of the dream realm.
Fang Yuan's attainment in the Emotion Path, a branch of the Wisdom Path, reached Great Grandmaster level! This was the maximum that one could achieve by exploring dream realms. It eclipsed his attainment in every other path up until now. The only thing which came close was his quasi-Great Grandmaster attainment in the Human Path.
The paths where he had Grandmaster level attainment were the Earth Path, the Enslavement Path, the Blood Path.
As a side effect of such an advancement in the Emotion Path, his attainment in the Wisdom Path reached Master level.
Fang Yuan's attainment in the Pill Path reached quasi-Master level. That was not a large amount if one considered it ordinarily, but given how new and poorly developed the Pill Path currently was, that put him several steps ahead of nearly anyone in the Gu World, save for perhaps super forces like the Heavenly Court. Without a doubt, he could leverage this attainment level to some degree simply because of its novelty when fighting others.
He emerged from the dream realm into the same white space where he saw the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will.
Heaven's Will was no longer sending any tribulations his way. His Immortal Ascension had concluded.
A Blessed Land had completely formed within his aperture while he had been within the dream realm.
He had, as a matter of fact, been able to refine the Rank 5 Integration Gu into Rank 6 Integration Gu! Several beads of immortal essence had formed within his aperture, one of which had been used to activate Dreams of Love and Happiness Gu.
However, Fang Yuan frowned. There was one thing that was slightly odd to him: his vital Gu appeared to still be the Spring Autumn Cicada, and not Integration Gu. He had not formed a Time Path Blessed Land, but a Human Path one, and yet this connection remained.
Fang Yuan used one of the Immortal Essence beads, now allowing him to use all of his mortal gu worms without having to worry about primeval essence.
To his shock, humans were already appearing within his aperture. Ordinarily, humans and variant humans would only start appearing in Rank 7 Blessed Lands and in large numbers in Rank 8 Grotto-Heavens. To see them forming like this so quickly - it had to be because of his Human Path dao marks.
Other than that, various Human Path gu worms also appeared in his aperture, instantly refined using his Immortal Essence.
While Fang Yuan was satisfied at having ascended, he did feel cheated by one thing. Because he had been trapped within the Dream Realm, he had been unable to take full advantage of the Heavenly Inspiration that Gu Masters could during their ascension. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most Gu Masters, so it being cut short was rather unfortunate.
"Well done, Fang Yuan," the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will called out. It had shrunk in size by quite an amount trying to help Fang Yuan deal with his tribulations. However, it was still bursting with quite a large amount of Human Qi.