Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The sweeping winds of Datong have created an unprecedented crisis. Even the miraculous 88-cornered Zhenyang Tower could not survive beneath Datong Peak. The question now is how to escape before the Datong winds destroy everything, and how to carry as many supplies as possible with you during the escape.

Within the legacy of the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable lie countless precious treasures. In particular, the 88-cornered True Sun Tower possesses the ability to absorb the essence of heaven and earth. All the treasures of the entire world are automatically absorbed by it. This results in the Northern Plains being extremely barren of immortal Gu, because once a generation of wild Gu worms is formed, they are automatically captured and transferred to the tower.

Fang Yuan's current plan is to take all of this, but he doesn't have any advantage on the battlefield. Even if he reveals all his trump cards, he'll at best be evenly matched with the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable. Under these circumstances, trying to escape with the treasures here is undoubtedly extremely difficult. Moreover, while the value of the Gu worms collected here is high, it's far less than the most precious one here—the Wisdom Gu.

These are the three earliest recorded Gu worms in the world's mythology, and also among the most legendary. They are mentioned at the very beginning of the Chronicles of the Human Ancestor. The Human Ancestor was the first human in the world, but people at that time were extremely weak. When he was surrounded by an enemy called "Dilemma" and faced a desperate situation, three Gu worms appeared before him.

The largest of the three Gu worms told people that it was called the Power Gu, and that if they wanted its help, they should offer themselves to its young master.

In this situation, the man had no choice but to sacrifice his youth. In doing so, he gained immense power and overcame his predicament. However, as time passed, the difficulties multiplied, surrounding him once more. This time, the most beautiful of the three Gu worms spoke, saying, "Man, my name is Wisdom. If you sacrifice your middle age, I can help you."

The ancestor of humanity had no choice but to sacrifice his middle age. He gained wisdom and figured out how to deal with difficulties, and in this way, humanity overcame one obstacle after another.

But he grew old quickly. After sacrificing his youth and middle age, all that remained was old age. In his old age, he soon lost his strength and wisdom. Both of the Gu worms abandoned him out of disgust.

At this point, only the seemingly weakest third Gu worm remained beside it. The Ancestor of Humanity was extremely helpless. He had already sacrificed his youth and middle age, and now only old age remained. But if he were to sacrifice his old age as well, his lifespan would end, and he would die.

But the last Gu worm didn't take his life. Instead, it told him, "I am the Hope Gu. I don't want your life. I only need your heart."

And when a person surrenders their heart to it, the Hope Gu unleashes unprecedented power, once again defeating all difficulties, leaving behind a saying that resonates throughout the world: "When facing adversity, surrender your heart to hope." This is also the origin of the name of the Hope Gu that constitutes the void within each person.

In this story, which can be called the beginning of a myth, the Wisdom Gu undoubtedly occupies a pivotal position. Obtaining this Gu worm is no less significant than destroying the legendary Destiny Gu.

Fang Yuan, of course, wanted to scheme and acquire it. Although he had already obtained the Wisdom Gu in his previous life and squeezed out a great deal of benefits from it, gaining a wealth of knowledge and improving his overall abilities, he was still far from fully realizing the Gu's potential. If he could gain recognition again in this life, he would surely do even better than in his previous life.

And now is the perfect moment. Datong Peak is about to utterly destroy the entire Royal Court Blessed Land. The Wisdom Gu will not escape this fate. Gu worms possess their own intelligence, though most are ignorant. A few, however, can still assess their situation, especially the Wisdom Gu, whose intelligence is the highest.

Under immense pressure, Fang Yuan approached the Wisdom Gu and directly conveyed his thoughts to it: if it didn't want to die, it should come with him.

As he drew closer to the Wisdom Gu, his body began to age irreversibly, and the rate of aging accelerated. This was the price of the Wisdom Gu. Under normal circumstances, no one could use the Wisdom Gu without paying a price, not even those who had achieved the Venerable level. This was also why, even though the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable obtained this Gu, he did not make much effective use of it.

The Wisdom Gu indiscriminately devours the lifespan of anyone who comes near it, just as in legends, it steals away a person's middle age. Even for a Venerable One, lifespan is extremely precious, so he rarely has the opportunity to ask this precious Gu worm any questions.

Fang Yuan is in the same boat now. His lifespan is rapidly dwindling, even though he is still relatively young. He has already consumed a 30-year-old lifespan-reducing Gu, yet it's still insufficient to counteract this lifespan reduction. Wrinkles soon appear on his body, and age spots begin to appear on his face. If this continues, he will die soon.

But this price wasn't paid in vain; at this moment, he felt his mind was incredibly clear. Various ideas were flowing freely. There was nothing he couldn't understand at this moment. If he were to use this knowledge to study lethal techniques, he could develop the one he needed almost instantly. If he were to use it to solve problems, he could probably solve the most difficult problems of the century in a matter of minutes.

Initially, the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable didn't have a better way to utilize this Gu worm. So he resorted to the simplest and most brutal method: using human lives as a price. His own lifespan was, of course, extremely precious, but the lifespans of others had a price—for ordinary people, their lifespans were actually very cheap in the eyes of extraordinary beings. Human life was practically worthless; demonic cultivators would slaughter tens of thousands of people at a time. Paying money to buy their lifespans, making them pay the price to use this Gu worm, was, for these people, even considered a blessing.

Even so, utilizing the Wisdom Gu is difficult. First, while weaker children have relatively long lifespans, their limited strength prevents them from constructing lethal attacks using the Wisdom Gu. They can only rely on the Gu's inherent characteristics. Second, young people often lack sufficient knowledge reserves. Even with rote learning, without a long lifespan to accumulate experience, their understanding is ultimately too limited. Therefore, they cannot fully integrate their wisdom to solve problems. Hiring stronger individuals, consuming their own lifespan, requires a higher price. As a result, the utilization rate of this Gu remains consistently low.

The cost of developing the Wisdom Gu is extremely high. However, the wisdom it grants is unparalleled by any other Gu worm. Fang Yuan estimates that he has five minutes to develop a powerful countermeasure against the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's will, completely suppressing and sealing him. But under the influence of this aging aura, let alone five minutes, he might be too old to walk in just two more minutes. In that situation, he only has one option: to transform himself into a dead person. Living people have limited lifespans, but the dead do not, just like the current will of the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, which is unaffected by the aging aura. However, the problem is that in this state, he cannot utilize the power of wisdom.

Fang Yuan is now planning to exploit a bug, one he exploited in his previous life. He'll use threats of death to coerce the intelligent Gu, so that when faced with mortal danger, the intelligent Gu will compromise.

Normally, a dead person without a lifespan cannot be utilized. Fang Yuan had already prepared a killing move: transforming himself into a Celestial Zombie. In this way, he would no longer be a true human, and in a sense, he could be considered dead. In a dead state, there is naturally no lifespan to speak of. A Wisdom Gu normally wouldn't recognize the dead, nor would it lend its wisdom to them. But now, if he didn't enter this dead person's body, he would be assimilated and completely dissipate into the world.

At this moment, the Wisdom Gu seemed to have no choice but to compromise, contributing its wisdom to a dead person to help itself escape its predicament.

Fang Yuan gained the recognition of wisdom in this way in his previous life. However, that time it was a coincidence, coupled with a certain degree of arrangement by Ju Yang. This time, he came prepared. The killing move he just used—transforming himself into a zombie—was something he had prepared long ago. There are many similar killing moves, some with severe side effects; after transformation, not only does one's strength decrease, but it also weakens over time. But some don't have such severe side effects. In fact, some not only have no side effects but can even enhance one's strength to a certain extent. Furthermore, when necessary, one can use certain methods to transform back into a human and regain the ability to improve one's cultivation.

Zombies are, after all, dead. Although they can retain most of their strength, they will no longer generate immortal essence within their bodies. They must find ways to obtain immortal essence stones from the outside world in order to maintain their power, and they will be unable to break through or improve their cultivation level.

Therefore, to obtain the power of the Wisdom Gu, becoming a permanent corpse was clearly an unacceptable outcome. Fang Yuan had already prepared a way to revert back. He even had a killing move planned to transform into a Celestial Zombie, which would greatly enhance his strength after the transformation, granting him the ability to fight alongside his intelligence.

If nothing unexpected happened, he would definitely be able to leave with this Gu worm and accomplish far greater things than in his previous life. But at this moment, an unexpected event occurred. Amidst a deafening roar, the heavens and earth seemed to crack open in that instant. First, a huge fissure appeared, revealing a chaotic void in the sky. Then, the chaos gradually cleared, revealing the vast grasslands and clear blue sky outside.

But these scenes appeared only for a moment. Immediately afterwards, violent energy surged into it, rushing out from the cracks, almost destroying the entire world.

That was the aftershock of a battle between a powerhouse surpassing the eighth rank. Normally, once a blessed land is established, if it doesn't actively open its entrance, those outside are completely helpless. But nothing is absolute; once power reaches a certain level, these are no longer absolute rules. Terrifying power can tear everything apart, including seemingly impregnable entrances.

Both Fang Yuan and the will of the Giant Sun had an ominous premonition at this moment. In particular, the will of the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable could sense to a considerable extent that its true form was nearby.

As even more immense energy surged in, the cracks were torn open wider and wider. In the process, even the Great Harmony Wind was largely dispersed by the violent energy, which ironically gave the precarious Immortal Aperture a little more time to survive.

At this moment, through the crack in the sky, the battle outside could finally be seen. Fang Yuan saw a warrior with black hair and black eyes, wearing a set of white, ceramic-lustered armor, displaying a style incongruous with this world, like a space warrior. He was wielding a lightsaber thousands of meters long, fighting against more than a dozen of the world's top experts, like a war god, forcing those eighth-rank powerhouses to retreat step by step. Such strength was already considered invincible in an era where Venerables did not appear. But his opponents were equally powerful. They were all eighth-rank powerhouses, and had been enhanced by their luck, so even if they faced the fiercest attacks, they could turn misfortune into good fortune. His own attacks, no matter how randomly they were fired, would eventually hit their targets or have a perfect effect.

This is the power of destiny that aids them. With the assistance of this power, these eighth-rank experts have all reached the threshold of the Quasi-Immortal Venerable realm. Even so, they have only managed to force that war god-like space warrior into a disadvantageous position, and the outcome is difficult to determine in a short time.

Just a few breaths after the spatial rift appeared at the location of the Royal Court Blessed Land, the space warrior-like figure found it. Then, incredibly, he slipped through the rift in an instant.

Fang Yuan had the Wisdom Gu within his grasp, but that guy snatched it away. At this moment, Fang Yuan felt no regret, but rather confusion: "Can't this guy tell what this Gu is? Who is he? Doesn't he know the price of using the Wisdom Gu?"

Undoubtedly, the price of using the Wisdom Gu is lifespan. Every living person will inevitably pay this price, even those who aren't human but belong to other special species. Most of the time, directly using the Wisdom Gu is a losing proposition. Even if one gains earth-shattering wisdom and learns the world's most secret secrets, what meaning does it have for a dying person?

Lan Nuo's rush in to retrieve the Wisdom Gu was clearly suicidal. His lifespan was constantly being cut short during the siege. Even with his current strength boosted by his wisdom and spiritual power, the weakening effect of his dwindling lifespan would only hasten his death. Although his plans were disrupted, his zombie body had already gained the Wisdom Gu's approval. Based on his past life's experience, as long as he obtained the Wisdom Gu, he could still utilize this zombie body without any cost.

[To be continued]

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