After a period of haggling over the exact amount of compensation for helping to escape Tian Qucheng blessed land, Qinyang and Bao Zhi moved on to their next exchange.
"For a price of ten immortal essence stones, I will tell you what the fundamental cause is behind this calamity." Qinyang began.
She scrutinized Bao Zhi for his reaction. Was her price too low or way too excessive?
She found Bao Zhi unreadable.
"But for twenty immortal essence stones, I will tell you the cause and also explain its workings in detail." She continued, probing Bao Zhi's financial bottom line.
At face value, this price was very expensive for just some information. Twenty immortal essence stones could purchase rank six level killer moves and even some inheritances in Treasure Yellow Heaven.
But this price was also trivial to someone if it concerned their life and death. Bao Zhi could easily afford this expense, the information was much more valuable in his eyes.
Without further ado, Bao Zhi produced ten immortal essence stones.
"So as we agreed, no takebacks if you don't like what you hear."
Bao Zhi nodded in understanding. "Let's hear what it is."
"Heaven's will."
Bao Zhi raised his eyebrows, carving deep furrows across his forehead, as if his thoughts were plowing through a field of doubt.
He pondered on these words for a moment.
'Heaven' had many interpretations.
In a literal sense, there were the Black and White Heavens. Did those have an unseen influence in the soul beast tide?
Heaven and Earth was also another way people referred to the great dao. Was this calamity then simply the result of nature taking its innate course?
"Are you saying there is a deeper meaning?" Bao Zhi realized.
Qinyang smiled deeply, holding out her hand.
Another ten immortal essence stones changed hands, and Qinyang collected her thoughts.
"You have heard the saying, between you and me only the heaven knows. That is not wrong, heaven's will is everywhere in the five regions and two heavens."
"Heaven's will, just as the name suggests, is a type of will, like malicious will or curious will. Except this type of will is produced not by people or gu worms, but by heaven and earth itself."
Bao Zhi was shocked internally. "Such a thing can exist?"
"Imagine heaven's will as the very mind and intent of the world itself, not just a natural force or metaphor for impartiality." Qinyang raised a finger. "Heaven's will is far more than that, it's like the world's conscious keeper, thinking, reacting, and actively maintaining the order of the five regions and nine heavens."
"To put it simply, heaven's will is sentient. It's everywhere, constantly watching over and adjusting everything."
"As for why? Its goal is to maintain balance, protecting the world by controlling everything from the growth of living beings to the rise of immortals."
"When something becomes too strong or threatens the world's natural order, heaven's will acts against it. It isn't emotional like humans, it doesn't hate or love, it just acts to ensure balance."
"Gu immortals build power, accumulate resources, and defy limitations. But heaven's will sees this as an imbalance. It doesn't want one person to become too powerful or for anything to disrupt the natural order. That's why calamities, tribulations, and things like lifespan gu exist! They are tools heaven's will uses to keep everything in check. The biggest of such tools is Fate gu."
"Heaven's will can influence living beings, people less so, but beasts and plants more so. It was heaven's will who directed these soul beasts here and destroyed that blessed land."
Bao Zhi stared at her. His mouth opened, but there were no words on his lips.
This revelation was more profound than he expected.
Thinking back on his first revival, he was already aware, it was a heaven defying act. He knew from historical records these would be met with calamities and tribulations.
But to think there was a grand consciousness pulling the strings behind it all?
A cold shudder ran through his body.
It suddenly all made sense to Bao Zhi, why the myriad tribulation at his first revival targeted directly his refinement formation. Why Xu Lian's earthly calamity turned into a much deadlier tribulation, ending up killing him and why the soul beast tide changed course, arriving earlier in full force at Tian Qucheng blessed land.
This was the work of heaven's will!
Time and again, Bao Zhi refused to accept the path set out by heaven's will, he stubbornly defied death.
"The heaven wants to take away surpluses and replenish deficits. Isn't this in clear opposition to human path building up surpluses and decreasing deficits? No wonder... No wonder the will of heavens wants to erase me." Bao Zhi thought.
After a moment of silence he had a question.
"What is the relation of heaven's will and gu immortals? Why can gu masters receive the aid of heavenly inspiration when ascending? Isn't helping contrary to suppression?"
Another ten immortal essence stones richer, Qinyang happily continued.
"This is in line with heaven path's all encompassing nature. All beings are under the heavens. The heavens wants to develop the world, but it can't do it by itself. It has a reliance on the living beings under it, every one of them is a chess piece for heaven's will."
"At immortal ascension, it grants a part of its own power and authority in the form of an immortal aperture and heavenly inspiration, like a king granting fiefs to his vassals."
"The highest form of this authority is the dao lord status of the venerables, directly handing over a whole branch of the great dao to a single person. But even this absolute authority over a path is just temporary, and all the possessions will be reclaimed in due time... Killer moves turned into tribulations, attainments of true meaning stored in Primordial Domain and immortal apertures broken down by the winds of assimilation."
"Yet, the most profound level the heaven exercises its authority, and the common denominator of life in general, is the lifespan. It is a grant heaven gives to every living being. An opportunity to prove their value to the heavens."
"The heavens want someone to succeed only as long as their success is aligned with its own goals. But it doesn't want one to succeed if it comes at the cost of the overall world itself. This is where the notion of heaven being impartial comes from; it wants balance not between itself and the living beings, but to rule over the inhabitants and have balance between them."
Bao Zhi had heard enough, he left with a troubled expression.
"Ah, he just left?!"
"Did I just info dump too hard? I got carried away..." Qinyang chastised herself. "He is only a rank six gu immortal right now... I told way too much considering his scope. Now he might not even believe any of it, thinking I'm just making stuff up. Surely not, right?" Qinyang thought to herself seeing Bao Zhi's figure leave. "Good thing, I didn't start explaining Heavenly Court's meddling with heaven's will or how it can be countered. I can still cover up this slip as information I got from the Wen clan's wills if he gets suspicious."
"Anyway, an extra thirty immortal essence stones are still thirty immortal essence stones!" She beamed at her newfound fortune.
Bao Zhi sat down to meditate.
He finally understood the nagging premonition in his heart when he was contemplating his immortal ascension.
It was his intuition warning him that stemmed from his grandmaster human path attainment.
Just based on his current amount of human qi, if he tried to attempt immortal ascension, the heavenly tribulation and earthly calamity would be even more severe than a ten extreme physique's ascension, not to mention heaven's will would probably target a weakness of his.
The wood spirit charm tribulation was a good example. When it changed form and became a sentient giant, Bao Zhi was at his wits end.
While he was in the dark regarding the contents of a tribulation, heaven's will could pick and choose its methods, not pulling any punches. How could Bao Zhi know what traps he would have to face and prepare in advance?
This formless and invisible enemy placed a great mental pressure on Bao Zhi.
Just a few moments ago he was blissfully ignorant of the deliberate nature of these higher machinations. After all, a fish did not need to understand what swimming was to swim, and people did not need a complete understanding to become successful.
"Heaven's will wants me dead? Good! There is no better acknowledgement that I am treading the right path."
"If the heaven's want me dead then that will only fuel my determination! The stronger the opposition, the stronger I must become!"
"I would rather lose in the right cause which will eventually prevail than triumph in a cause doomed to failure."
"I won't accept. I will not bow to the will of heavens! I will not die a worthless death even if I fail on my path!"
Bao Zhi's deepest emotions came to the surface.
Purpose. Conviction. Defiance.
These were some of the grandest emotions.
In the pursuit of those emotions, other feelings were secondary, fleeting, superficial and misleading.
Sadness, grief, jealousy, fear, joy, shame, sympathy..? Those are emotions which serve only the individual.
No, these were the shared emotions of a greater meaning, beyond the sensation of a single person.
These emotions presided on the same stage as justice, dedication or truth. Because these were all among the truths of human path.
To cultivate human path, it was Bao Zhi's greatest cause and calling in life, he realized.
Before Bao Zhi's mind's eye the recipe of three mortal gu unfolded.
These were the recipes of human path purpose, conviction and defiance gu respectively.
He refined a set of them promptly and stored them away in his aperture.
He got on his feet, there was no time to waste now with heaven's will already plotting his demise.
Bao Zhi visited Hao Meng in his aperture and instructed him to close his immortal aperture's entrance, briefly explaining how this would cause his tribulation to be better manageable, without mentioning heaven's will.
The resources obtained from Tian Qucheng blessed land were piled up high in an empty region inside. Most of them were related to soul path.
Next, Bao Zhi told Hao Meng to start selling these soul path resources in Treasure Yellow Heaven. They would split the profits at 2:1 in favor of Bao Zhi.
He helped Hao Meng to make sure he was getting a good price, paying close attention to the treasure light and avoided the common pitfalls of transactions.
Bao Zhi also produced a vat of Soul Mirror Wine, and gave it directly to Hao Meng.
"Make sure to use this to strengthen your soul. When you can't drink anymore, just sleep some."
"Master, where did you get more of this?" Hao Meng was surprised to see this wine delicacy again.
"More? This from the portion we have bought. I just didn't consume any while we were there."
"Oh." Hao Meng finally understood how Bao Zhi stayed clearheaded after 'drinking' so much wine. Even he was tricked!
Next, Bao Zhi took out a fistful of seeds from a storage type gu.
While Hao Meng was busy with the immortal materials, Bao Zhi set up a formation on the ground.
He used wood path immortal materials in combination with mortal formation and wood path gu.
He placed some immortal essence stones inside and the formation activated.
Great grandmaster wood path and grandmaster formation path attainment!
The seeds on the ground sprouted and grew at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Bao Zhi had arranged their locations meticulously.
These plants were the Brain Melon desolate plants!
Although, it was somewhat inappropriate to place them in a fire path immortal aperture, the aperture's development was still low and the desolate plants could bear it with the help of the formation Bao Zhi constructed.
In a day's time, the first Brain Melon was already ripe and ready to be used.
Bao Zhi quickly produced a will and sent it inside.
He started to deduce human path methods, utilizing his grandmaster attainment in human path.
It couldn't be helped, even though he had a number of immortal gu at his disposal he didn't have a good set of methods to utilize them.
Even the best cooking pot couldn't produce food by itself, without ingredients.
Immortal killer moves needed not just immortal gu but mortal gu as well.
This was a problem, as human path was very lacking in comparison when it came to the amount of known gu worms and killer moves.
Before this, he had used gu from other paths, like the qi path gu worms in his concealed human qi killer move. But this was cumbersome and inefficient. He theorized, if he had human qi gu, it would be a great fit in the concealed human qi killer move.
Roughly speaking and only looking at the order of activation, two gu could only be combined in two ways. Three gu could be combined in six ways. Ten gu could be combined in over three million ways! The progression of possibilities had an explosive growth!
And this was not accounting for activating more than one kind of gu in a single step or using multiples of the same gu in addition. Bao Zhi would still use various other gu, relying on his talents in different paths.
Now, that he had obtained four mortal gu relating to the emotion branch of human path, including the suffering gu which Mo Xuan refined in his body, he finally had some ingredients to work with!
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