"Fang Yuan," the voice of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable said. "As I had promised to you, here is the Integration Formation."
The formation moved into Fang Yuan's aperture, Rank 6 Integration Gu fitting neatly into it as the formation settled in the sky above Fang Yuan's Blessed Land.
"There is something else that you must be aware of," Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable's voice said. "There is a trace of Heaven's Will within your Spring Autumn Cicada. So long as it remains within your aperture, it will be a potential weakness. Heaven's Will will be aware of things within your aperture unless you seal it properly. The best thing to do would be to simply remove it from your aperture entirely if you cannot advance it to Rank Seven at this time. However, because it is still your vital gu, that is difficult to do, and we can only seal it and try to minimize Heaven's Will's influence."
Fang Yuan could only think of one thing - the Rank 9 gu worm he was supposedly supposed to receive according to the system's last quest.
"Regarding the Rank 9 gu worm, allow us to first tell you a story, Fang Yuan, upon human nature" the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will said, its voices echoing and merging with each other in the vast, empty white space. "It is said that at one point, there was a man who was neighbors with another person. This man was rather jealous of his neighbor, though he never said this outwardly. Inwardly though, he seethed seeing his neighbor's happiness. One day, Heaven decided to take test the man and granted him three wishes. However, the condition was that whatever he wished for, his neighbor would get twice as much. The first thing that the man wished for was for a massive pile of riches. He obtained one, becoming the richest man in the world, before his neighbor received a pile twice as large. 'However, that's fine,' the man thought. 'I'm still the second richest man in the world.' Second, he wished for a large harem filled with beautiful woman. A harem appeared before him, with his neighbor getting one that was twice the size of his own, and with beauties who were twice as beautiful. The man contemplated his third wish for a while before deciding what it was that he wanted. 'And for my third and final wish,' the man said unto Heaven, 'I want you to make me blind in one eye.'"
Fang Yuan pondered the story. He was sure he had heard some variation of it somewhere before.
"True power can never be achieved without a price. Fang Yuan, we promised you a Rank 9 gu worm. Though that will come at a cost. Are you willing to sacrifice for your success?"
Fang Yuan snorted coldly. "Of course."
"Then brace yourself," it answered.
The Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will tore out Fang Yuan's right eye!
The pain was intense enough that even Fang Yuan flinched slightly as blood began oozing from his right orbit.
The bleeding could be stopped using his Human Path gu worms easily enough, but his eye did not reform.
The mass of the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will began shrinking until it was the size of a marble and entered the space where Fang Yuan's right eye used to be. A small amount of the will was leftover, which then entered Fang Yuan's stream of consciousness.
Although he had not been able to take full advantage of Heavenly Inspiration, he could draw from the experiences of many people which were left behind within the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will.
From there, he understood how his Immortal Gu worms worked, as well as the gu worm currently being refined within his right eye.
He was also understood the future plan set in place to a small extent.
With that, the empty white void that surrounded Fang Yuan shattered.
He exited, finding himself not back in Shang Clan City, but in the Mushroomman Blessed Land where he had first met Paradise Earth.
"As promised, Fang Yuan," Paradise Earth said, materializing before him, "I leave this Blessed Land to you now that you've reached Rank Six."
Fang Yuan let out a cold laugh.
He had taken a massive leap towards his dream of eternal life by becoming ascending.
Finally, he was no longer bound by the confines of the Goody-Two Shoes System. It had originated from the Embodiment of Humanity's Collective Will, which was busy refining a gu worm within his right orbit. He no longer needed to bother with missions and the like.
And finally this meant that his demonic nature was unfettered and free, ready to reign havoc upon the world!
This Blessed Land could be useful for Pill Path ingredients in the future, though Fang Yuan put that matter aside for now. He had other things to take care of.
Fang Yuan tore through the Blessed Land, emerging outside of it near Qing Mao Mountain.
Now that he was an Immortal, an entire new world had opened up to him.
Now, as a Rank Six, he could finally have some insight into the true power structure of the world. Of course, among Immortals, he was still at the bottom of the ladder, but compared to being a mortal where one was nothing more than a pawn, this was a massive step up.
It had taken him centuries to reach this point in his previous life.
Fang Yuan covered his right eye with a gu worm that formed an illusion as if it was still there. Not that he cared for appearances. What use was beauty? The loss of an eye was a small price to pay for a Rank 9 gu worm; but it would raise questions if anyone saw him like that. He also didn't want anyone to see the refinement process going on in his right orbit, not that anyone below Rank 9 should've been able to make it out.
The actual loss of an eye did not hamper him by much. Gu worms could sensory information in all sorts of ways. There was Palm Eye Gu - which allowed the Gu Master in question to see through their palm, as the name suggested. In this manner there were all sorts of things that Fang Yuan could do to compensate for the loss of an eye. As such, Fang Yuan's combat strength was mostly untouched by this.
His laughter echoed over the plains as he moved about, as free as a true demon once more.
Fang Yuan flew through the dark night towards new Gu Yue Village.
There was work to be done.