**Chapter 23: Thought Poison**

Thank you for 700 collections!

Also, check out *Reverend Insanity: Insatiable* by Forthememes. (25 chapters as of now)

It is definitely different, and a bit out there, but in a good way, I think. I can confidently say that the author had some very interesting ideas up until now.

1. Do you think I should create an Auxiliary Chapter with all the RI Fanfics I have featured until now?

2. How many immortals of each rank do you reckon exist at any given time? After Fate Gu was damaged.

3. Do you have any cool ideas for beasts that I can introduce into the story?

By the way, one of the Gu in this chapter was recommended by a reader.

-------

The auction had ended yesterday, and by morning today, they were already setting sail again. But I did not care about that, as I was sitting in a refining room that I could use at the refinement hall free of charge.

In front of me lay two Gu. One of them looked like a mini tombstone, about 2 centimeters high. It reminded me kind of like a keychain that my sister used to wear in my past life.

The other Gu looked like an orange bubble, minuscule, only about 0.5 centimeters in diameter.

They were two of many I had bought over the last week, and honestly, they were the ones I was most excited for as well. They were what I required for a Gu recipe I had in mind for a long time, and if it worked, it would be something groundbreaking that I would absolutely have to refine to the immortal rank.

I put the tombstone-looking Gu and rubbed it on the other one.

"Insurance bought, let's start the refinement. Well, I guess the preparation will have to go first."

With that, I prepared 5 small cups filled with water and lined them up on the table before me.

I reached beneath the table and pulled out something that looked like a cheap imitation of a gas mask from my previous life, and that was because it was a cheap imitation, made by myself.

But a cheap imitation is still better than nothing in this situation.

"It's funny, I have worked on more dangerous poisons without a mask, but this is different, as the dangerous part is the poison in combination with refinement."

Without pause, I pulled 5 envelopes out of my pockets, each one containing a poison I had sealed earlier in the day, with this refinement in mind.

Opening the first one, I thought back to the deer I had tested it on. Most of my poison tests have the unintended side effect of being absolutely disgusting…

This test, in particular, ended in an uncontrolled deer orgy.

That's right, the poison is a very potent aphrodisiacum. And that is not all; it affected not only the body but the mind as well.

"This might not be an important distinction to make, thinking of deer as the target, but for my intended purpose, it was the most important fact about this poison."

I poured the whole envelope into the first cup and stirred it for about a minute until it had dissolved into the water perfectly.

The second envelope was filled with poison that killed concentration even at little dosages.

"At higher dosages, it can lead to mental retardation, in the medical sense. You can achieve an effect similar to a lobotomy."

This one landed in the second cup and did not have to be dissolved, as it did so perfectly on its own.

"I will keep that in mind; that might be useful later for poisoning water supplies… hehehe."

The next poisons caused the victim to lose all sense of balance. After some tests on animals, I tried this on myself, and it made me feel as if up was left, left was straight, and back was sideways.

"An indescribable feeling, truly."

With the third cup filled, I ripped open the next envelope with poison on it, and this one was actually just cruel.

Extreme paranoia and hallucinations were what it caused, an unforgiving combination.

"Have you ever thought that you could not trust your senses? Your mind even? Just terrible."

Without a pause, I entered the last poison; it caused depression and apathy… it was not the most powerful, but for some people, this would be more effective than any other poison.

I looked at my completed preparations, 5 extremely potent poisons, all of them affecting the will and mind. After a deep breath, I started by picking up the orange bubble-shaped Gu.

This was the small thought Gu; I had won it at the silent auction for only 250 primeval stones. To me, this was actually one of the most valuable Gu I had right now, just because it was difficult to replace.

Without hesitation, I dunked it into the first cup, filled with bubbling blue liquid.

After just a second, I quickly took it out again.

For the next part, I had to whisper at the Gu through my mask…

"You are born to fly…"

"Imagine you are a bird…"

"The sky is freedom…"

With each word I spoke, the Gu got more unstable but absorbed the poison. This was visible very well because its color changed to include some dots of blue.

After it had absorbed all of the poison that was still sticking to it, the unstable movements of the Gu stopped at once.

"Nice, that is 1/5 done… "

I continued with the second cup; the liquid in it was a light green color. After I dipped the small thought Gu in it for a second, it began to destabilize and tremble again.

My whispers started again instantly…

"Height is nothing…"

"You are a flying prodigy…"

And after about 5 minutes of me trying to manipulate the Gu into forgetting the fear of heights, it stopped trembling.

"2 out of 5… let's go!"

After dipping it into the fifth cup of poisoned water:

"You love the thrill of heights…"

"The peak of the world is where you belong…"

*Crack*

"Nooooo… I failed… "

I heard the crack and instantly knew what happened; that last sentence was not like the others I had used all along in the refinement, it had another intent behind it. So there was a conflict, and the refinement failed.…

"Damn it!"

Then I saw the thing I feared would happen ever since I heard the first crack….

Over the small thought Gu, that had cracks on it, there appeared a small tombstone.

This is another Gu I bought, the Death Replacement Gu. It can only be used once, and if a Gu dies, or rather is just about to die, like my small thought Gu just now, it takes all the damage onto itself and dies instead.

It had cost me even more than the small thought Gu, 500 primeval stones. And I only used it in this refinement because the wisdom path small thought Gu is very difficult to replace.

Kind of like how I bought the small thought Gu for 250 primeval stones, this is possible, but if I wanted to buy another one, it might be impossible even after bidding 10,000 primeval stones.

This is not a problem of demand or price, but rather of supply.

The death replacement Gu crumbled to dust, and that dust landed all over the cracks of the small thought Gu, healing them up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Such shitty luck to lose the Death Replacement Gu on the first try...

For that one had to know that the Death Replacement Gu would only activate if the Gu it had bound to had a 100% chance to die. If it would just get badly injured, it would not activate. In that case, I could have just waited for the Gu to heal the injury on its own…

No use crying over spilled milk...

I don't feel too bad about it; that is the reason I bought it after all. My emotions are not affected, so I can continue to try the refinement again right now."

As all the prepared materials were still usable, I just started again, by dipping the small thought Gu into the first cup of poison and began whispering to it...

"The sky is freedom..."

"Imagine you are a bird..."

"You are born to fly..."

...

...

...

After arriving at the fifth cup of poison, I did not make the same mistake again and just whispered some general affirmative words against a fear of heights. And what do you know, the Gu stabilized without a problem, but this time what came out was not a small thought Gu, but a poison thought Gu.

"Hahaha! Success... This is one of the best feelings in the world, to improve, get better, just surpass my past self... Haaaa," I let out a deep breath...

As I look at the poison thought Gu, I notice that the original orange color has already been diluted so much that it became nothing more than a background color.

It had dots all over its surface: green, blue, white, red, and colorless. The last one seemed the most unsettling, as if something should be there but you could not detect it.

This is a Gu that in theory should influence the thoughts of the user. If it is used for a prolonged period, it can even change the character of the Gu Master.

But that still needs to be confirmed...

I put it in my Aperture and instantly notice that it still has a kind of will of its own. I have refined it and become its owner, but I knew that I would not be able to take the Gu out of my Aperture anymore.

"Don't tell me??? Interesting..."

After about 5 minutes, the Gu consumed 5% of my upper-stage primeval essence and activated on its own.

Now, normally this was a cause for extreme concern...

"Hahahahaha!"

But I could only laugh and think of the monstrosity that I had created...

The reason I had whispered about heights for the duration of the refinement was to set the thoughts the Gu should manipulate...

This was one of the flaws I had inherited from my past life, a crippling fear of heights. This was something I would have to overcome, and the poison thought Gu is the perfect way.

It will poison my thoughts with acceptance of height and will change my character to not be afraid of it anymore.

By rank 3 at the latest, I could have used other Gu to make that fear go away, but this was useful as a proof of concept.

My goal is to refine the Gu to rank 2 once I myself reach that rank. Then I would inflict thoughts like:

"Fei Yu Zhen Wei is your God; you will do everything to serve him..."

and

"Your life has no meaning other than to obey and benefit me..."

This will be a godlike enslavement Path Gu. I just wish I had other wisdom path Gu to replace the objective inside this Gu with this Enslavement Idea just now...

"It is not that bad though; I can live with waiting for rank 2... especially as the rank 1 version will only work on mortals and rank 1 Gu Masters..."

"And to be honest, I have not given up on my plan of enslaving a rank 2 peak stage Gu Master."

The poison thought Gu would be very good for that, as I could permanently alter the personality of a rank 2 Gu Master to be loyal to the death to me. And then I could advance them to rank 3, and their personality would stay the same...

"The Gu cannot be taken out from the Aperture until the process is completed, as I have just learned by experimenting on myself. This leaves the only two counters to this Gu: one is to suppress and refine it with a Gu that is 2 ranks higher; the other is wisdom path."

"This is just extremely unfair, especially at the mortal level of cultivation."

With some evil plans in mind, I just smile and think about enjoying the view from somewhere high up, without being scared to death...

"Soon... very soon, I will be rid of this damn fear of heights…"

1952 words