Knowledge requires sacrifice by blood
"Kekekeke, my hard work... kekekeke, is finally complete..." A hoarse and funereal voice speaks amid a satisfied laugh.
This laughter comes from a dimly lit dark room, entirely made from floor to ceiling and walls of a type of black obsidian as dark as the night sky, allowing not even the slightest light to emerge.
Yet, as if to challenge this declaration, the walls, ceiling, and floor bear luminescent white markings forming various irregular shapes with no discernible pattern, except for the floor, which features a pentagram also in luminescent white, shining much brighter and filled with designs that might seem like strange and unknown marks to mortals, who might mistakenly think they are random doodles made by an insane person.
However, immortals would recognize almost all these symbols, except for two, even though they have been carved uniformly at different points of the pentagram, which appears to be part of some ritual in the eyes of mortals.
The reason immortals can recognize these marks is that they are Dao Marks, and not just a few. In fact, if counted one by one, each one of the five points of the pentagram presents exactly Ten Thousand Dao Marks, identical to each other but entirely different from those at other points of the pentagram.
Clearly, this is the work of a highly skilled immortal, and not only that but also of great wealth. Any immortal with significant standing seeing this room would know that the black obsidian making up the room is a rare Rank 7 Information Path material, quite difficult to obtain in the current era where Inkmen are a scarce people.
Moreover, if a mere Rank 6 immortal saw the Dao Marks on the floor, he might cough up blood at the number of Dao Marks carved there. In each point, there are more than he could dream of achieving as a Rank 6 immortal, since even at the peak of his strength, after all tribulations, he would have at most nine thousand five hundred Dao Marks.
Even a mid-level Rank 7 immortal might feel the same, as the five points together total fifty thousand Dao Marks, while the maximum he would achieve at his peak cultivation in Rank 7 would typically be thirty-two thousand Dao Marks.
This shows that whoever made this place not only possesses unimaginable wealth but also did not hesitate to spend it lavishly.
"Dao Marks... these are really the foundations of the Gu system in this world?" Yu Lian says, looking at the Dao Marks carved into one of the pentagram's points below her feet, which feature two types of distinct drawings divided into equal parts.
One set resembles drawings unsuccessfully attempting to represent a green tree, easily recognized by any immortal as Wood Path Dao Marks, while the other set looks like a failed depiction of dark purple smoke, which immortals would recognize as Poison Path Dao Marks.
"Kekekeke, of course, they are fragments of the Great Dao that governs this world," Kuang Luo To, now in his main body rather than a Will, responds in a low tone.
He is currently at the top point of the pentagram, presenting a large number of drawings that attempt to represent scrolls. These drawings on the floor are Information Path Dao Marks with no other Dao Marks drawn alongside them.
"This... is so interesting... it's a pity my world didn't have something similar," Yu Lian says, still fascinated and intrigued by the concept of Dao Marks, which she only recently learned about when Kuang Luo To explained the drawings on the floor to them.
"Your world probably had something similar; you just didn't know about it..." Chen Wei responds almost automatically while counting the approximate number of drawings below his feet for the fourth time.
"In my world, we understood that everything was made of atoms... and that everything was governed by a set of rules we called the laws of physics..." Chen Wei says, leaving everyone in the room curious, but he could care less about their curiosity when he has his brow furrowed after arriving at the same approximate result for the Dao Marks drawn on the floor for the fourth time.
Clearly, the three girls, who have no idea how significant each of these marks is, cannot understand what he feels seeing a number he estimates to be in the tens of thousands of Dao Marks carved as if they were nothing, but he knows this is more than the average rank 6 immortal would have.
And Together they have more Dao Marks than a Rank 7 immortal would have, which is even more impressive when below his feet, like Kuang Luo To, there are drawings of only one type of Dao Mark, but these drawings would be unknown even to the most informed immortals. These are, of course, what Chen Wei imagines to be Blood Path Dao Marks.
These Dao Marks are lazy drawings attempting to replicate the shape of a red drop of blood, closely resembling a drawing of light blue water droplets, also appearing to have been lazily drawn while at the pentagram's point where Wang Mei stands.
Speaking of Wang Mei, like Chen Wei, some of the Dao Marks below her feet would not be recognized by immortal Gu Masters, who might only notice their aura similar to Wisdom Path.
Specifically, the Dao Marks carved into the floor are poorly done drawings of a pinkish-blue heart that, despite being awkwardly drawn, still display great beauty and elegance, like the not seen here Wisdom Path Dao Marks that resemble a bluish-purple brain.
"Kekekeke, we can give you some time to reminisce about your old world..." Chen Wei, hearing these words from Kuang Luo To, simply shakes his head in disagreement.
Although he believes his secrets about his original world have already been discovered by Kuang Luo To, he still doesn't want to talk about them, as in the almost impossible scenario where the toad cannot read his mind, he could remain safe and have an advantage, albeit a small one, against the toad.
These thoughts not only pass through Chen Wei's mind but also become a strong conviction, which might be shocking to someone who saw the two interact harmoniously and amicably like a master and disciple with great affection for each other.
In fact, he imagines that some innocent youths or foolish people might call him an ungrateful and unfilial young man for still distrusting Kuang Luo To completely after all the benefits and teachings he provided without asking for anything in return.
But Chen Wei, who knows the nature of people, imagines that it's impossible that a immortal who reached Rank 8, the pinnacle of the Gu world in the absence of a Venerable, would be a charitable person wanting to help him just to be the master of a future Venerable.
"Well, if you have nothing to say, then we can start assimilating the immortal inheritances... right, honorable immortal?" Feng Hua asks with doubt while looking at Kuang Luo To, who had an expectant expression, hoping Chen Wei would talk about his world, which ended after Chen Wei shook his head.
She, like the other girls, is at a point of the pentagram that presents two sets of equally divided Dao Marks carved into the floor, half of which are the same as the scrolls Kuang Luo To has at his point of the pentagram.
But the other half are different drawings from the others, as they are three wavy lines on top of each other, attempting to resemble wind, though poorly drawn. Nonetheless, in the eyes of any immortal, they are obviously Wind Path Dao Marks.
"Kekeke... alright, let's begin," Kuang Luo To says in a harsh voice as he starts activating various killer moves in sequence.
Immortal Killer Move - Book Mountain Legends Emerge
Immortal Killer Move - Legends Come True in the Eyes of the Gifted
Immortal Killer Move - Inheritances Passed Between Generations
Immortal Killer Move - Peerless Geniuses Learn Ancestral Knowledge
The moment Kuang Luo To took to activate the various killer moves was so brief that even Chen Wei wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the pentagram below his feet starting to shine brightly, as well as the Blood Path Dao Marks glowing a deep dark red.
But before Chen Wei could see anything else, he finds himself alone in a completely black environment without the slightest light, sound, or sense of place, as if he were in a void where concepts like time and space are nonexistent.
However, after what could have been a mere moment or thousands of years, a giant white and black mountain appears before him, filling his entire vision as if it were his whole world now.
"What... what is this?" Chen Wei moves around the mountain, floating like a spirit among various words floating on the mountain.
"Each of these words seems to contain profound knowledge..." Chen Wei murmurs before his attention is caught by a collection of words appearing to be written in red ink, emanating a bloody aura.
"All human blood shares the same characteristics derived from the great ancestor Ren Zu..." Chen Wei murmurs as he reads some of the information contained in the words, which, once read, enter his mind and begin to be assimilated.
"Blood is the essence of life and a heavenly gift given to beings who live in the Gu world..." Again, after reading this amount of information, it enters his mind, which now feels fuller as he tries to assimilate this information.
"The blood essence of beasts is the source of their vitality and thus the source of their lineages..." Information enters without stopping, filling Chen Wei's mind.
Not all this information is useful to him, as some of it is just basic knowledge like blood types, veins carrying blood, or blood being pumped by the heart.
But amid this basic information, there is also deep and hidden knowledge that even Chen Wei finds extremely intriguing as he assimilates it into his mind, eliminating various doubts and blocks he previously had in his attainment of the Blood Path.
"This is the effect of the killer move... it's incredible!" Chen Wei says excitedly as he moves quickly from group of words to group of words, absorbing knowledge that enters his mind.
Chen Wei quickly loses track of time, as the only thing he can think of doing is obtaining more knowledge about the Blood Path, which is rapidly boosting his attainment in a speed he never imagined possible before.
And so Chen Wei continued until he had absorbed all the knowledge about the Blood Path that he could find on the mountain, which left his mind filled to the last millimeter. Now, all his attention and strength were necessary to assimilate this knowledge.
Chen Wei tried to do this as quickly as possible because the immense pressure he felt in his mind was not only causing him pain but also giving him a premonition that if he didn't assimilate all this knowledge, he would not only lose a divine opportunity but also could be left with some sort of mental aftereffect.
Thus, for what seemed like an endless time, Chen Wei had to continuously, arduously, and with great effort assimilate all the knowledge he had absorbed into his mind, which now seemed bottomless, making Chen Wei feel a bit regretful for having taken in so much.
"Ahh, ahh... finally, I'm done..." After what felt like decades to him, Chen Wei finally finished assimilating the last part of the knowledge in his mind.
But before he could do anything else or seek more knowledge on the mountain, he saw his entire environment change when his eyes opened, and he found himself lying in his bedroom.
"What... has the effect of the killer move ended?" Chen Wei murmured while still in a stupor after waking up.
Before he could do anything else, he felt someone approaching him quickly as Wang Mei hugged him tightly and kissed him.
"You idiot! You made me worry by taking so long to wake up!" Wang Mei said after breaking the kiss, still hugging him tightly.
"I... how long was I—" Chen Wei couldn't even finish his sentence before Wang Mei interrupted.
"You've been like this for two weeks!!" Wang Mei said quickly.
"The other girls and I were only like this for three days, with Yu Lian being the last to wake up..." Wang Mei didn't stop hugging Chen Wei the whole time, as if afraid that if she let go, he might fall back into a deep sleep.
"I... I imagine you absorbed fewer words from the mountain than I did, right?" Chen Wei said while stroking Wang Mei's head, beginning to recall the time he spent in a state of sleep.
Though he understood the girls' choice to absorb less knowledge, as he had considered the same when he realized how difficult it might be to assimilate everything, he ultimately chose to push forward because it was too good an opportunity to pass up.
And he was satisfied with his decision because it was a risk that paid great dividends. He now felt his attainment had increased to the level of a Quasi-Grandmaster, making everything he knew and could do before seem like child's play.
If he had to describe the feeling in one word, it would be incredible. This is the sensation in Chen Wei's heart, who, now recalling Kuang Luo To's demonstrations of the Blood Path, not only finds them unimpressive but also sees various flaws and shallow concepts that need correction and more depth.
"Mountain? Words? What are you talking about?" Wang Mei asked with confusion and concern on her face.
"The inheritance... I ended up on a mountain where I could absorb words containing knowledge... didn't you experience the same?" Chen Wei asked, puzzled, looking at Wang Mei, who seemed to have no idea what he was talking about.
"The rest of us were just in a completely black space..." Wang Mei paused, as if to remember it.
"...and we received the contents of an inheritance in our heads and had to assimilate the information..." Wang Mei had discussed with the others about their experiences, so she knew they all had the same experience.
"That's... Kuang Luo To said what he did to me was different from what he did to you all—!!??" Chen Wei began to speak with suspicion of Kuang Luo To's actions, but mid-sentence, he was rendered speechless by a large amount of information about an immortal Gu recipe flooding into his mind.
"No, he just said you would take much longer to wake up than we did... and that you were to see him after waking up, but that can wait, right?" Wang Mei, who had her face buried in Chen Wei's chest, takes her face off his chest and looks at his face which makes her shocked to see his expression.
It was because of the look on Chen Wei's face, which showed the most intense anger and hatred she had ever seen, as if he were someone facing the greatest enemy of his life, whom he hated with all his heart and soul.
"That damned toad!!!!" Chen Wei thought, gritting his teeth so hard they cracked, clenching his fists until they bled.
The source of this rage was the recipe for a Blood Path immortal Gu that permeated his mind. Specifically, his anger stemmed from one of the "Gu materials" required for the refinement: the lives of all members of the He An, Feng Zhi, and Xiong Mao clans, without sparing even a single soul.