Pitiful Young Man
Ying Wu Xie, Hei Lou Lan, White Rabbit and Fairy Miao Yin come out of Fang Yuan’s sovereign immortal aperture to guard his body. Fang Yuan tells Tang Fang Ming he will personally explore the dream realm now. Under his alliance with Tang clan, Tang Fang Ming gives Shadow Sect’s immortals partial control of the formation concealing the dream realm, so that they control it alongside him. Since Fang Yuan’s body will lie unguarded while his soul is inside, the split control lets Shadow Sect and Tang clan restrain each other, so neither can harm his body. Fang Yuan leaves his body and enters Thieving Heaven’s dream realm. ch. 1491
Fang Yuan’s perspective attaches to a young male body inside a tattered tent in Western Desert. He realizes this must be Ben Jie Sun, the name Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable carried before he transmigrated into this world, an otherworldly demon like Fang Yuan himself. The youth has not yet begun Gu cultivation. Fang Yuan can only watch as a will attached to him, unable to control his actions. This is a rare situation even for Fang Yuan. ch. 1491
The young man is dirty, tattered, really pitiful and poor, his chest covered in blue-black wounds from a beating, and his tent freshly torn by the same bullies. He mutters that this world, where humans control Gu worms for power, feels like a nightmare he has not woken from in over a decade. He recalls that his tribe’s sacred land opens tonight, when he can awaken his aperture and gain Gu Master power. He hopes that power will let him escape and return to his true home. In pain, he rises and walks out toward the oasis under the moon. ch. 1491
At the oasis, larger, richer-dressed youths, his earlier bullies, gather too. Western Desert custom demands the youths make no sound during the ceremony, though their faces may distort and they may weep, on pain of severe punishment or even exile, which means certain death for a mortal. Wild hope Gu live among the reeds around the pond, and though the traditions differ, Southern Border awakens an aperture with hope Gu by a quite similar process. One by one the youths enter the reeds, and when his turn comes Young Thieving Heaven’s aperture awakens to only the worst D grade. A D grade aperture holds only twenty to thirty percent primeval essence, most such Gu Masters can reach rank one and few rank two, and it is all but confirmed they end at the bottom of the hierarchy for life. Young Thieving Heaven cries out in shock, is seized and silenced by the officiating Gu Master, struggles intensely, and is struck unconscious. Fang Yuan’s own vision goes dark with him, and even his unravel dream technique has no effect, so he can only helplessly wait for the next scene, guessing this dream realm must be very special. ch. 1491
