What's the real you?

{3 weeks later}

The sound of gunfire in the distance. Bullets flying so close to you, that you would thank the heavens that you haven't been hit yet.

Tide was running hoping to make it alive to the next trench, when suddenly an explosion, likely a mine tripped by the person running in front of him pushes him off his feat.

As he was disoriented, a captain pulls him back up to his feet, "Get up! Today isn't the day you die, soldier!"

....

Tide wakes up feeling sweat roll down his forehead, "Finally!", [It took me 10 attempts to beat that dream. That must have been Bill who pulled me up. With my mini-apertures practicing dream path, when they die I don't suffer any damage to the soul, but my mind will switch from an awake state into a dream-like state, kind of like when you're still waking up in the morning]

{1 week ago}

Tide was ecstatic, "I found a gu worm in my body!"

Hong Yu quickly takes a look at the gu worm, "See-through skin, with a river flowing inside of it. That would be a Delay River gu! When you give it primeval essence it produces water that when applied to something will slow down the effects of time on it. It was made to slow down feeding periods for gu while still being able to use them. They went extinct over 1,000,000. In the time of Red Lotus Demon Venerable!"

Confused, Tide looked around to see if there were other gu hiding around where he found it, "Why would he give this gu? It doesn't seem to be of much importance to my current situation"

"Paradise Earth always has a reason." - Hong Yu rubbed his forehead with his fin, "Maybe try applying it to your membrane."

nodding his head, Tide commanded some of his mini-apertures to stop pushing and help activate the gu.

When the gu activated, a clear liquid started to flow out of its skin. The mini-apertures took the liquid and applied it to the membrane. Absorbing the liquid, the membrane which looked thin a frail like it was about to pop at any moment, started to thicken, and then slowly any pushback on the mini-apertures, stopped.

Hong Yu was the first to pick up on the change, "It would appear that the clear liquid produced by Delay River gu sets a new boundary line for your membrane. Which will help with two things. One it will be a lot easier to push the membrane because its boundary won't be pulling back like a bow that has its string cocked back as far as it can be pulled. And two, with this you can take breaks from pushing the boundary because it won't reset back to the start"

Tide was surprised, "So instead of delaying the contraction of my membrane, Delay River gu reset its boundary."

"Muscle-melting gu has the effect of melting muscles, but on your membrane, it has the effect of reducing elasticity. In other words, gu don't have the same effects on your membrane as they normally would. You've been experimenting too much with poison path on it, when rather you should employ all paths"

{Normal time}

"Done with your dream path practice?" - Hong Yu

Tide nodded, "My current limit for dreams at a time is 5, if I go past that it will directly affect my brain and put me to sleep. While my apertures were busy experimenting on my membrane did you notice anything that they might not have noticed?"

"They've gotten a lot better at spotting any changes that gu worms apply. But I did notice that Man Triumphing Heaven gu had a very strange effect. But it wasn't on the membrane, it was on one of the mini-apertures." - Hong Yu furrowed his eyebrows, "It would seem that the mini aperture that used the gu is starting to decay"

After hearing that, Tide quickly corrects Hong Yu, "That one's name is Augustus", he then commands some of the research mini-apertures to pay careful attention to it.

The normal procedure for a mini aperture when dying was to crumble into a lot of small pieces, but this mini aperture(Augustus) was slowly losing its original golden luster and turning into sand.

After a few minutes, it became black sand.

Tide and Hong Yu were waiting for it to rebuild itself, but after a few minutes, it stayed black sand with no visible changes.

Hong Yu broke the tension, "I believe that means it's dead"

Tide didn't like the prospect of permanently losing a mini aperture, especially now that he has named them, "We don't know that for sure. Maybe it just needs more time to rebuild itself.", [Normally I would get a vision that would help to stop me from doing something stupid. Did it not happen this time because I was asleep? Or maybe this didn't happen in my past life?]

Hong Yu tried to comfort Tide, "Cheer up kid. It's only one, you still have plenty of mini-apertures." - after he noticed no change in tide's expression, he changed his direction of comfort, "Tell me about Augustus. You said the name was from this powerful family called Rome?"

Tide wasn't sad about losing a mini aperture, his current emotions could be better described as concern, after all, if he can lose one mini aperture, then it means it's possible to lose all of them, "Rome can be better described as a clan rather than family. Augustus was the name of one of their emperors, which is short for a clan that rules over a lot of other clans. The name means majestic. I called him by that name because was like a large tree, that would cover the world, causing reverence in his allies, and respect from his enemies"

After saying that, suddenly the black sand showed a twinkle like a heartbeat.

Hong Yu's eyes widened, "Look! something changed! quick! Tell me more about Augustus!"

Tide also noticed the change, "Um, the mini aperture Augustus had great leadership talent, he would make sure the membrane pushers, pushed in unity. And lastly, he would join in, showing his support to the rest of the pushers."

The black sand started to shine brightly regaining its once-golden shine, then it started to float, reforming itself back into the shape of a mini aperture, but just before it was about to rebuild its head, the transformation path dao marks on it clumped around its flesh forming in the shape of heavy armor that a roman general might adorn before going into battle.

After what felt like an eternity of just staring at it, Hong Yu was the first to speak, "Man Triumphing Heaven gu's ability is to forcefully awaken an aperture for mortals without any cultivation talent, my only guess as to what has just happened is that your mini aperture has awakened into an individual mini aperture. This would imply that Paradise Water gu is most likely predominantly human path. And the fact that you further increased the results of their use by gaining human path attainment further enforces this idea, but there's one problem, where in the world did master Paradise Earth get human path attainment?"

While Tide didn't remember everything about Reverend Insanity, he did remember of the existence of a human path Quasi-supreme grandmaster inside a certain whale. He was so impressed by how far ahead Paradise Earth prepared for this, that he spoke his thoughts aloud, "Paradise Earth thought this far ahead!?"

Hong Yu wanted to know more about this, and it seemed like Tide knew something, "What do you mean?"

Tide wasn't exactly obliged to speak about the existence of Shen Shang, [I had almost forgotten about what is inside that whale. And how does this fish not already know? Did Paradise Earth intentionally keep it a secret from him? And if so, why?], "This is likely one of those pieces of information that are meant to not be disclosed to you"

Hong Yu was already used to this. This was one of those things Tide called, 'On a need to know bases' - Hong Yu knew that when he was young he was foolish, so foolish that Le Tu would often keep secrets from him, but it still hurt remembering the times' when Paradise Earth would leave and not tell him anything. If fish could have tears Hong Yu would be a sobering mess right now. He knew that this was likely one of those secrets that Paradise Earth had intentionally kept from him.

Hong Yu decided to open up a little as a result of remembering the time when he asked if he could refine more Paradise Water gu, "Hey Tide." - he says in a low and somber voice

Tide had only once ever heard Hong Yu speak like this, it was during that vision of him in bed because he had used a tampered tiger beast thought gu. He could tell that this fish was likely good friends with Paradise Earth. But to Tide, this fish was someone who would instantly enslave him if he found out that his loyalty to Paradise Earth was practically non-existent.

Tide lets out an exasperated sigh, "Listen, Hong Yu, the information you want to know is directly from Paradise Earth's time, and if he didn't tell you, I don't think I should either.

Hong Yu lets out a sad chuckle, "No it's not that... I could tell that much by the fact that it has something to do with Paradise Water gu." - sighing again he speak in a soft voice, "I'm going to tell you about the time when I and Le Tu were refining this Paradise Water gu." He paused to think for a moment, "It starts At a large..."

{Hong Yu's dark past}

At a large pot made of dark red water that moved like fire, Two immortals were having an argument.

Hong Yu: "What I'm saying is, if we swap some of the Man Triumphing Heaven gu for Beast Strength Placenta gu then that will help increase the success rate by ten percent!"

Le Tu shakes his head, "I know you mean well Hong Yu, but it has to be Man Triumphing Heaven gu"

"But just think about it, with Strength Place..."

Le Tu shakes his head again, "No buts. You're going to have to trust me on this"

Hong Yu frowns, but quickly recomposes himself, "Alright, alright. But just this once."

Le Tu had a heavy jolly laugh. After a full minute of laughing, he took in a breath of air, "By the way, you said you wanted to talk about something?"

Hong Yu very carefully prepared his next words, "You said that we'll only be making one of these gu"

Le Tu Squinted his eyes telling him to stop

But Hong Yu wasn't going to let this go, "But think about it, with this gu, your people could easily surpass all the previous venerables. The Huang Jin bloodline would look like a joke in comparison.

Le Tu was getting angry, "I told you that we won't rule the world with an iron fist like the other venerables"

"I know what you said! But if we don't have any power, then how are we supposed to get anyone to follow you?"

Le Tu frowned, "Are you saying that power is the only reason you follow me?"

Hong Yu quickly corrected, "No, of course not! But you... you know what I mean"

Le Tu looked towards the ocean above their heads, it was clean and pure, reflecting any light that was shined upon it within kilometers of distance, "Unless a good man is at the top with this gu it will only cause destruction, not abundance in its wake. One day you'll understand. Until then I ask that you wait, can I ask that of you, my best friend"

Hong Yu lowered his head in shame, his fins lowered, "Ya, you can trust me, my best friend"

{}

Tide quickly interrupts: "That doesn't seem too bad, I mean it's not like you did anything wrong yet?"

Hong Yu lowered his head to the side.

"Wait! Don't tell me."

Hong Yu weakly nodded, "I did, I broke the promise"

Tide was at first surprised, then confused, "but, wait. How come I haven't heard of any others with this unique aperture?"

"Let me finish the story, and you will know" - He noticed that Tide was keeping his mouth shut so he continued the story, "Shortly after Paradise Earth's death..."

{Hong Yu's dark past}

Hong Yu was floating over thousands of his children, "With all of these Paradise Water gu I can easily start an army that will improve at a speed faster than any gu masters have ever had before in the history of this world. I'll prove you wrong Le Tu, in the end, power is the only way to change things as they are."

After placing the Paradise water gu in them the result was that it looked the same as any normal aperture, except that it had its own sentience, allowing it to refine itself and even to help guide the gu master in the use of gu, like a friend always there to point out with what you're missing.

Within 30 years Hong Yu had thousands of rank 6 gu immortals

{}

Tide: "Wait. Sorry, but why did Paradise Water gu do something different to them than it did to me?"

Hong Yu patiently explained, "I don't know for sure, but I think Paradise Earth likely foresaw me breaking the promise, and instead gave me a branch recipe to help him fix the main recipe. That way I could help him fix problems in the main recipe without knowing the main recipe"

Tide nodded after he understood, "Alright continue the story"

{Hong Yu's dark past}

Within 30 years Hong Yu had thousands of rank 6 gu immortals

But he quickly learned that while this gu will improve cultivation speed and experience in combat, it won't help to improve character. He tried to teach them compassion and caring, but they were like spoiled brats with no care for one another.

After seeing his children bicker and complain about the smallest of things, that's when he realized where this was going. In the end, he didn't make an army that will improve the world like Paradise Earth, but instead, he had made impulsive weapons that will likely rule the world through tyranny and suffering.

{}

"I remember when I held little Weilai close to me, and I told everyone to go into purple water. 'It's going to be ok', I said, 'daddy loves all of you.', I told them. They couldn't tell that I was lying, to them. I was the one person they could count on to help them when they were having trouble. The one person they knew would never..."

Hong Yu's heart was aching, he tried to speak but his chest was clenched too tight, no words came out. He paused for a moment to calm himself a little.

{Hong Yu's dark past}

So He did the only thing he could do, he ensured that the world didn't become hell. He killed his offspring. every last one.

{}

There was a deep and somber silence for the next hour, no words could completely convey the pain in Hong Yu's heart, only silence.

Hong Yu continued to remanence on things he learned from Le Tu. A method for when he dies to turn into a will instead of a land spirit. A method to discern whether someone is telling the truth or lying, although not perfect, because half-truths and abstract truths would still often sound like truths to it, but it was better than being completely oblivious. Le Tu also taught me how to be supportive of those around me.

. . . .

Hong Yu eventually spoke again, "Tide, I want you to promise me this one thing. Don't start something that you might regret."

Tide realized something, [I see, so his hysterical laughter when he was about to enslave me wasn't that of joy, but of sadness. Sadness from having failed his best friend again. Since he changed since then, I can assume it's actually safe to tell him about Shen Shang. Of course, I can't rule out the possibility of him lying through his teeth, but if Paradise Water gu is really human path, and human path helps to improve it, then we need that Shen Shang], Tide decides to take the risk, "Alright, based on how much you've changed, I can assume it's safe to tell you about my possible next teacher"

Hong Yu was worried, "Are you sure? What if I mess everything up again?"

Tide wasn't used to Hong Yu being weak, if anything it made him worry more about whether or not Hong Yu was showing a facade, [I already decided to tell him so why am I hesitating], he breaths in, "Paradise Earth prepared a very interesting individual for the future, to my knowledge he greatly respects Paradise Earth, but by no means am I saying we can fully trust him. What I'm saying is that he will likely pay back an old debt. He goes by the name Shen Shang"

Hong Yu's eye-brows lowered, and his scales changed from the usual deep red to luminous red, "Shen Shang! From the Shen Clan!", he was about to start cursing the Shen bloodline, when he suddenly noticed that Tide was frowning, "Ahem, I mean he's a great guy, cool dude", he starts to whistle to reduce the tension

Tide shakes his head, "Alright, listen up, Shen Shang is inside Paradise Earth's pet whale. He greatly owes Paradise Earth, so we can ask him to teach me, he will most likely agree, but we also need to somehow convince him to join hands with Fang Yuan in helping get rid of Fate gu."

Hong Yu speaks up, "Alright I'll contact Blue Dragon Whale, and ask for him to let us have contact with Shen Shang, but make no mistake! If he tries anythin..."

Tide interrupts, "Cool, make sure to prepare something to contain him, just in case he goes crazy from the black flames"

Hong Yu's eyes widened, "You mean those black flames? The ones that burn everything?"

"Ah, yeah, those ones"

Hong Yu frowned, "Alright, consider it done, I already have a few methods to suppress it already, but why would Blue Dragon Whale keep it a secret? I could have helped him a long time ago. Was it because of?" - he pauses and lowers his head, "You focus on your practice Tide, I'll get this problem sorted out"

{vision of future}

Shen Shang was watching Tide fight beasts and read the legends of Ren Zu. After watching for a while he frowned, "You want me to teach this zero-talent trash?"

Hong Yu was floating at his side with a nervous smile, "Well, hear me out on this. The least you can do is give him a test to see for sure if he has zero talent"

Shen Shang rolled his eyes, "Changing perspective might help you when you're stuck at a bottleneck, but that's not the reason he gained attainment. By heightening his instinct for survival, it helped him to find the thing that he should focus on most. If he was drunk I doubt he would have found anything. The idea of fighting while reading isn't new. As a matter of fact, I can guarantee that Reckless Savage Demon Venerable used this method immensely while he was young. That man hated learning so much, that he would only be willing to go through such a boring thing like learning, if he was in the clutches of death itself, and this kid's best is losing a few limbs. If Tide had zero talent and was working as hard as Reckless Savage Demon Venerable, then I would have considered taking him as a disciple, but his hunger to make it to the top is quite frankly appalling. Don't mistake hard-working and passion as the same thing."

Hong Yu frowned, "Maybe he doesn't have a talent for human path. Maybe his hunger to not die is restricting his growth, but he is persistent. Persistent enough to impress this old fish. All I ask is that you give him a test."

Shen Shang narrowed his eyes to slit, "Fine. I'll give him a test, but don't say I wasn't being fair."

"That's all I ask." - Hong Yu quickly swam back to Tide with a grin on his face, "I did it I got you a test. Try your hardest!"

All the beasts around Tide fell to the ground dead. Shen Shang walked over to the duo, "Alright I promised a test. The test is very simple. What is your ultimate truth? If that's too complicated of a question, then I ask what is it that you're willing to die for? Because know this, unless your goal is grander than your own life, you will never push yourself past your limits. For me, it was my family, my clan. They all wanted me to become stronger and better than my past self. Along the way, I committed acts of genocide the body count is probably more people than you've ever seen in your life. My own life was important not because I valued it, but because I could use it for something grander than myself. That is my truth" - he then motioned with the wave of his hand for Tide to speak.

Tide gulped, and he started to think. After one hour he finally spoke, "Most of my childhood life I have tried to survive. After a while I got very good at surviving, knowing when to hide in base or pretend like I was injured, or how I learned to keep one ear open at all times to understand the situation of the base. Over time I found others similar to me, survivors, people who knew the in and outs of the base, or at first, that's what I thought. The truth was they were not survivors, in time their numbers dwindled, slowly but surely till I was the only kid who survived that brutal test. The training wasn't even designed to produce loyalty, it was plain and simple butchering for the amusement of those above me. I did have one person I really trusted, he was my training instructor. But in the end, you couldn't even describe our relationship as that of friends, it was just simple respect for a fellow survivor. So yes I do value my life, and I won't risk it. I'm a survivor! That's my truth.

Shen Shang looked Tide in the eyes. Sweat started to roll down Tide's forehead, it felt like an eternity, but in truth, it was only for a single second. "It was a good speech! I could feel it from your heart, and you most definitely believe that to be your truth, but that isn't your ultimate truth. Since you can't even see your ultimate truth, I can't take you in as my disciple."

Hong Yu quickly spoke up, "You said it was a good speech, surely at least that accounts for something"

Shen Shang looked back to Tide and spoke in a way that would make it feel like you were talking to an entity as old as the stars in the sky, "The moment you find your ultimate truth, your suffering will then contain meaning, and when your suffering contains meaning, any and all suffering you have towards that truth will be less. Instead, it will become an adventure like Reckless Savage Demon Venerable running around killing beastmen left and right with no worries to think of. In other words, only when you find your ultimate truth, only then will be able to start your journey to becoming a gu immortal."

He then paused for a moment.

"The next step is to learn more about the world. By learning more about the world, as a consequence your truth will grow, the more it grows, the more suffering you'll be able to endure. Once it grows to a certain amount, your talent will then skyrocket. Often we are just a few steps away from reaching some form of enlightenment. And when your truth is strong enough, it will help you to push through, and grab ahold of enlightenment. Or in other words attainment. Reckless Savage Demon Venerable experienced and learned new things very quickly because all the near-death experiences were all memorable, and awakened his instincts. You should also know that attainment works very close with instinct. That is when you'll be able to start your journey into becoming a venerable."

{end of vision}

The vision had lasted longer than an hour, and Tide's brain was hurting more than any experience he had ever had in all of his life as a soldier. His head was in so much splitting pain that he couldn't even send electrical singles to the rest of his body, his body was completely paralyzed. He couldn't ask for help.

Hong Yu had gone to ask Blue Dragon Whale for Shen Shang. Tide was completely alone, his eyes staring at the sky, but his mind was going blank.

{Mental box}

In a vast expense of nothing, Tide was in the middle confused as to what was happening, one moment he was in immense pain, and the next moment he was here. "Did I lose consciousness from the pain?"

PEIV's will: "Not quite"