Beneath the ice

For a moment everyone in the immortal gu house was focused on Mo Xuan.

"What's wrong with this person? Is he mentally unstable?" Qinyang could hardly interpret his unprompted outburst. "I should stay clear of him." She warned herself.

Hao Meng didn't react, but Mo Xuan's dark thoughts mingled with his own.

Bao Zhi could acutely feel Mo Xuan's human qi and infer his mental state from that.

"Such a pure expression of anguish! No wonder, no wonder..." Bao Zhi studied the patterns of human qi emanating from Mo Xuan. "Being born without memories, yet having a developed body, is a unique phenomena with unique opportunities."

Bao Zhi continued to analyze in his mind.

"He has the mental capacities of a man, however he has experienced the world through just the events of a few days. Naturally, his understanding will be skewed and exaggerated."

"How unfortunate for him, it had to be such moments."

Bao Zhi sympathized with Mo Xuan, he could tell how genuine his feeling were, how real it was for him.

Bao Zhi also realized Mo Xuan possessed a good talent for human path.

Mo Xuan's words rang in his hears.

"These are such poisonous thoughts! I need to nip this problem in the bud."

"Since the foundation of his views are incomplete, the conclusion is naturally flawed too."

"A child may not know how to feed itself, or what to eat, yet he knows hunger. Mo Xuan too, is like this, grappling with feelings he cannot yet understand."

"Nonetheless, every expression of the idea that 'nothing matters' debases of the human spirit. Humans are the spirit of all living things."

Bao Zhi stepped forward, his eyes held understanding, not judgment, a stark contrast to Mo Xuan's disturbed state.

"Mo Xuan." Bao Zhi began. "You are in pain, and that pain speaks to your humanity."

"You are overwhelmed because you've tasted the suffering of this world in its most raw form. But understand this, pain is not an enemy."

"You may feel as though you are drowning in an ocean of suffering..." Bao Zhi said, stepping closer.

But then he paused, not for the dramatic effect, but on account of his inner shock.

He sensed a gu worm forming inside Mo Xuan's body!

His eyes gleamed with anticipation and excitement, as this was a human path gu.

"...but just as the tide rises, so too does it fall. You are not trapped in this pain; you are merely passing through it, and in doing so, you become stronger. You become whole."

Mo Xuan, still clutching his chest, stared at Bao Zhi in confusion.

"But... it hurts so much. How can I bear this? How can anyone?"

Bao Zhi observed the flicker of change in Mo Xuan's eyes and sensed the delicate balance in his emotions. He decided to offer Mo Xuan deeper wisdom.

Mo Xuan was unaware of the mystical events inside his body, but Bao Zhi could tell as clear as day.

The small gu worm was the size of a fingernail and had the appearance of a golden firefly.

"How to bear it? The answer is not as quick or as easy as you may want. The two most powerful forces in any battle are patience and time. In time, you will understand more about yourself and the world around you. With patience, you will learn to navigate it without letting it consume you."

Bao Zhi could see Mo Xuan grasping his meaning, but uncertainty lingered in his gaze, not yet accepting.

How could he trust someone else's word in face of his own reality?

Bao Zhi felt the gu refinement progressing, he continued.

"You are still at the beginning of your journey. When a person first begins to be educated, they often blame others around them for their pain. They see the cruelty of the world and curse it."

"But as they grow, they turn that blame inward, seeing their own faults and feeling guilt. That is where you are now, drowning in self-blame and anguish."

Bao Zhi's voice softened. "But when a person is fully educated, when they truly understand life, they blame neither others nor themselves. They learn that suffering is not a punishment or a failure, but part of the path humans walk, something to be lived through, not fought against."

Bao Zhi could feel the gu worm was on the cusp of complete refinement.

He couldn't help but recall a part in his mind from The Legends of Ren Zu. "The door of life and death had two routes, one was the road of life, the other was the road of death. No matter which path it was, there would be a lot of suffering gu."

Suffering gu!

It was one of the legendary gu recorded in the fable of the human race's ancestor.

Feeling a strange resonance with this gu worm, time seemed to slow for Bao Zhi.

He had a minor epiphany!

A flash of inspiration sparked in his mind. An unspeakable intuition guiding his actions, he activated various gu worms to create a killer move.

This all took, but a moment in reality.

Standing before Mo Xuan, Bao Zhi placed his hands on his shoulders and looked in his deep blue eyes.

"You stand here now, not because you are weak, but because you are alive."

At this moment Bao Zhi activated the core and last gu of this killer move, Perception Warp immortal gu.

"To feel pain is a sign of life."

"But to feel the pain of others... That means you are human!"

Immortal Killer Move — Alive in suffering, Human in perception!

Mo Xuan's breath trembled as he gazed at Bao Zhi, his wild expression faltering for a moment.

He felt the dams in his heart burst, his ocean of sorrows receding and dissipating.

A shared sense of oneness and belonging took over him.

The sudden change overwhelmed him, unable to express this strange feeling through words or actions.

Mo Xuan slumped into Bao Zhi's arm, abruptly asleep.

The others watched in silence. A strange wave of emotion passed them by, leaving a solemn expression on their faces.

Only Jue Shi seemed unaffected.

At this time, not even Bao Zhi knew the profound consequences this technique would lead to in the future.

He broke the silence.

"Let's move on. We have gathered all the information here that mortals could provide."

His next target was a public blessed land where he could transact with immortals. The resources he brought from Bao clan's immortal treasury were mostly with the intent to sell them.

Bao Zhi also needed Connecting Heaven and Divine Sense gu to use Treasure Yellow Heaven, the largest marketplace of gu immortals. Gu masters did not have these gu or the resources to refine them.

Divine Sense gu had an extremely huge demand for primeval essence. Even a rank five peak stage gu master might only be able to last for several breaths. Thus, usually only gu immortals or land spirits would use it.

Connecting Heaven gu could allow the will or divine sense to enter a set blessed land or grotto heaven. Naturally, gu masters had no use for this gu either.

Bao Zhi had a pressing issue on his hand. Even more pressing than the grand goal of reclaiming his grotto heaven before someone else would take control of it.

He could feel an empty, uncomfortable sensation in his chest. His intuition told him clearly what this was. His immortal gu, Verdant Heart Seed had to be fed!

"Since its refinement, I have used it three times already. Any more uses are not possible in this weakened state."

Like mortal gu, immortal gu also consumed its relevant food. Understandably, immortal gu needed more and higher rank materials. But the feeding interval was also longer, measured in terms of months and years compared to mortal gu's just days and weeks.

"Fortunately, Perception Warp and Hole Earth immortal gu can still last a long while."

Being in Bao clan's care, these two gu were fed by them recently.

After a day of travel, Jue Shi spoke up.

"We will have to stop because of that."

He pointed at Hao Jiong's corpse.

"The blessed land's fall is currently suppressed, but it cannot be delayed much longer."

Other than Qinyang, no one else knew of Hao Jiong's immortal aperture still being in her body.

Actually, Qinyang just forgot about it.

Mo Xuan and Hao Meng had no idea what a falling aperture even meant.

Bao Zhi was surprised at the gu house's ability to restrict the fall of an immortal aperture. He could not replicate this effect even in his prime!

Thinking about it, he connected the dots in relation to the refinement formation that suppressed Xu Lian previously. "Most likely, this ability is intrinsic to the gu house and the refinement formation just uses it as a sub formation."

Qinyang was suddenly deep in thought. "Right! We need to carefully choose the location." She glanced at Bao Zhi from the corner of her eye, wary of his intentions. "It would have been best if he didn't know. This is Hao Meng's inheritance after all."

Bao Zhi and Qinyang debated on the ideal location.

She thought to herself. "Placing it in the Earth Cave is not bad, as it's well hidden. But if we do that, how will Hao Meng access it? He is just a rank six gu immortal and the environment... Wait. Bao Zhi is also just at rank six, right? And if I am at Hao Meng's side then we can come and go with this immortal gu house, while he is restricted."

After her error with the agreement, she was very cautious with Bao Zhi. This person shouldn't be underestimated!

With Bao Zhi's advice, they made a small detour, locating the closest entrance to Earth Cave.

On the way Qinyang explained the situation and the relation of immortal apertures and blessed lands to Hao Meng.

It had to be said, Hao Meng had a lot of interaction with immortals in the Lingering Mountains grotto, but these were only superficial interactions, he knew very little about gu immortals.

The Wondrous Inspiration Pagoda quietly arrived, back again in the dark depths.

Hao Meng stepped out, the dead body of her mother in his arms.

He gently placed Hao Jiong's corpse on the ground.

Standing on the edge of the gu house, Jue Shi clapped his hands at once.

"It is done. I released the aperture. Soon the blessed land will settle and the opening will form. The remains can now be refined, they shouldn't be thrown away."

Hao Meng snapped his head, eyes spewing fire, glaring at Jue Shi. But he restrained himself from making a commotion at such an important occasion.

Feeling the stares from the others, Jue Shi felt the need to explain.

"You don't know? A gu immortal's body contains dao marks. You can refine ice path gu worms from these ice path dao marks. Or even snow and related gu worms. If you don't know how to refine, then it can still be sold so others can refine it."

"This Jue Shi! He is totally clueless. How can he say such a thing in front of him?" Qinyang rolled her eyes.

"Why are all these people so weird! One is a preachy trickster, that other blue eyed guy is an emo cry-baby. This Jue Shi... Can't he read the mood or is he just retarded?"

"No. No, I shouldn't be that judgemental. Different world, different rules. It is I, who is an outsider here after all." Qinyang shook her head mentally. "Hmm? Maybe they all think I'm the weird one?" Now she got extra self-conscious of how she acted. She opted no to say anything.

Hao Meng carried the body back in the gu house.

They waited in silence.

After what felt like a long time, a cold blue, hexagonal entrance appeared in front of them.

Hao Jiong Blessed Land has opened!

Hao Meng was the first to step inside, followed by Qinyang, then Bao Zhi.

Mo Xuan stayed with Jue Shi in the gu house. He was curious, questioning him tirelessly, what dao marks and refinement were.

Inside the blessed land the landscape was a frozen realm of ethereal beauty.

They arrived on a vast expanse of blue-white ice, with veins of frozen rivers beneath the surface glowing faintly with an icy hue.

Crystalline ice mountains rose in jagged peaks on the horizon, their sides slick and gleaming, covered in a sheen of white frost.

Qinyang stared at the beauty of this world, reminding her of both the snowy mountain she first arrived at and her memories from Earth.

From underground, geysers erupted in a slow, graceful dance, spewing columns of cooled vapor that instantly crystallized into delicate ice clouds. These frozen mists drifted lazily through the air, joining the shimmering frost.

Hao Meng was very familiar with this place, he lived most of his life here. The icy clouds were like just what he used to travel with.

In the distance, creatures born of ice itself roamed the terrain. Some appeared as massive wolves with coats made of frost and eyes glowing a pale blue. Others were serpentine beings, their bodies translucent and twisting, leaving behind trails of ice wherever they went.

Cloaked in white snow, suddenly the land spirit appeared in the air.

Hao Meng inhaled the cold air sharply, instantly recognizing her face.

"Who are you? Are you invading my land?"

* * * * *