Reverend Rizzsanity

257. Rise, O’ Fickle One (2)

“Here, Senior Sister Ju.” A warm voice snapped the dazed Ju Lin from her thoughts as the woman looked up to the smiling features of a middle-aged man. His appearance was simple, much like his clothes and straight brown hair reaching his hips. She took one of the bowls from his hand, her gaze momentarily landing on the green-colored sect token affixed on the belt of his robes.“Senior Sister? Me?” Ju Lin smiled bitterly before taking a quick sniff of the bowl. “I’m merely an outer disciple, Brother Beng Jiang. Thank you.” She ate the porridge from the bowl before exhaling in contentment. Her routine was strict and unforgiving. Daily combat did not always end with her victory and ten consecutive defeats meant losing the privilege of learning from her master. Fortunately, she met Beng Jiang along the way.

Where several inner disciples, perhaps to scorn Lo Jik at someone else’s command, gave up their benefits and stepped down to the roles of outer disciples to compete with her, Beng Jiang’s presence was a ray of hope in Ju Lin’s life. He represented a warmth different from her parents and a pillar of stability significantly less demanding than Lo Jik.

Initially, Ju Lin suspected Beng Jiang for a long while. She couldn’t trust anyone due to her connections with the gu master acknowledged by the legendary Love Gu. Fortunately, it was Lo Jik himself who cleared Ju Lin’s doubts. He couldn’t have his disciple nurse unnecessary feelings towards him. Being a under his tutelage, Ju Lin needed to spread her wings already and seek a potential partner… or even a couple of them. Who was Lo Jik to judge?

“You will soon take on the three-year small examination from the sect and become an inner disciple.” Beng Jiang smiled breezily. “And you are more skilled than me when it comes to refining gu worms. So, you are indeed my senior sister.”

Ju Lin pursed her lips and dodged his gaze.

“It’s… it’s not like that,” she mustered.

“We’re both rank 3 gu masters.” Beng Jiang continued. “It won’t be long when your cultivation advances to rank 4. Hehe, I’ll be the one relying on you when that time comes.”

“Shouldn’t you be the more reliant one?” Ju Lin blurted before her cheeks turned a shade pink.

Beng Jiang couldn’t help but chuckle as he whistled teasingly. “So forward, Senior Sister. I suppose you learn many other things from your master, Fickle—”

He stopped quickly as Ju Lin’s earlier enthusiasm faded, making way for a sharp glare.

“Hmph!” She tossed the bowl of porridge aside and stood from her chair.

“I didn’t mean any disrespect to Senior Gu Yue, Sister Ju!” Beng Jiang hastily chased after Ju Lin while cursing himself internally. Ju Lin was easy to talk to, and a slip of tongue regarding Lo Jik was the worst mistake he could have made. As the couple moved through Dang Hun City, a group of elders convened for a meeting of their own.

“Sigh, we will be leaving soon enough.” Elder Ya couldn’t help but sigh again. The earlier spectacle of Black Moon’s successful ascension left a deep impression in everyone’s heart. Jirou Na and others also discussed among themselves, sharing few pointers and such. Black Moon’s public status as one of Lo Jik’s wife, however, forced many to consider the man known to hold favor of several great beauties and Shu Zhe.

‘As if a man of his nature can successfully tackle the second step.’ Le Tao scorned Lo Jik. ‘He is called that name for a reason.’

‘Shu Zhe… I won’t let her surpass me.’ Jirou Na’s eyes burned with determination. While Shu Zhe had once lied about killing her family to achieve victory, the joy of their survival could not suppress the sting of defeat in Jirou Na’s heart.

Meanwhile, far from Dang Hun City, Shu Zhe stretched her arms and walked out of her house. She let out a breath of turbid air, quite exhausted from cultivation. Her cultivation no longer included the mind-numbing routine of nurturing her aperture walls. As a peak stage rank 5 gu master, the former sect leader focused on understanding wisdom path through refining wisdom path gu worms, incorporating them into killer moves, further polishing her gu set, and increasing her knowledge about several other extinct wisdom path gu worms.

All of this was necessary to deepen her foundation and nurture her human qi for the next step. Unlike other ordinary gu masters, Shu Zhe wished to become a proper wisdom path master before shattering her aperture. Needless to say, she also needed to convince one of the supreme elders to defend her during tribulation. The most likely option was Black Moon.

‘Shu Ye is part of Anti-Feng faction, so nobody from that group will help me. Meanwhile, I cannot cough up an appropriate price for the Feng and neutral faction’s support. I’m also not like Jik’er and Black Moon. Black Moon was appointed the position of the sect’s fairy… of course, she was already a gu immortal before that. Meanwhile, Lo Jik holds too much importance for the sect. Aside from Black Moon, he is the best person to ask. Unfortunately, other supreme elders would not easily support his choice of becoming a gu immortal.’

Shu Zhe’s eyes glimmered with schemes.

‘He would have to force the sect’s hand to accept his ascension or the suppression won’t end even if he becomes a gu immortal. Unfortunately, how can we push Spirit Affinity House into such a position. It is no different from an ant trying to coerce a behemoth! We are truly powerless…’

She did not feel despair. Successfully enduring the period of her cultivation being crippled had a way of turning one’s heart and hope sturdy in face of unreasonable odds.

‘He inherited Divine Concealment… all we need is a lucky break.’

‘Eh?’

Shu Zhe watched the sky. It had turned inexplicably dark, which was shocking enough. After all, it was perpetual daytime in Hu Immortal Blessed Land.

“What happened?” Jirou Na, Le Tao, Di Qing, Elder Ya, Han Yu Lan, Zi Jun Zhen, and many others observed the strange incident.

“Hmm?” Ju Lin stopped and looked at the sky.

“Huff, please, Sister Ju. Calm your anger—what was that?” Beng Jiang paused.

“The sky turned dark.” Ju Lin observed. “Just for a moment.”

“Not that.” Beng Jiang shook his head. He was an earth path gu master with great achievement in using investigation gu worms. “The ground… it shook.”

‘The sky turned dark and the ground shook?’ Ju Lin couldn’t comprehend the cause of these changes. Yet, it lasted for a brief moment. It didn’t matter to her.

“Hmph!” She deliberately shot Beng Jiang a cold stare before snorting and stomping away.

<<<>>> 

‘How could this be happening?’ Black Moon’s heart sank. Helping Lo Jik ascend was one chip she relied on to control him in the future and properly establish her faction in Spirit Affinity House. Yet, man proposes and heaven disposes.

Bai Qing conveyed the entire series of events leading to this mess as Little Hu Immortal expelled Lo Jik, Love Gu, and Flying Bear Strength Immortal Gu from Hu Immortal Blessed Land.

Fairy Mi Yao, Bai Qing, and Black Moon kept a close eye on the floating Lo Jik. His body remained midair in a horizontal position; his arms and legs dangled downwards without support, cutting a very morbid appearance.

The sky turned dark and the mountain under Lo Jik trembled. Large chunks of rock crumbled and rolled down, eliciting shocked gasps and cries of outrage.

‘He was injured in the dream realm.’ Black Moon used several investigation gu worms and killer moves. Being a gu immortal, she could use any number of mortal killer moves as long as it wasn’t too complicated for her control. As such, she ensured no other gu immortal hid nearby, ready to strike during their moment of weakness.

Bai Qing and Mi Yao did the same. Soon enough, they also suffered the backlash of using the gu worms as thick clouds covered the sky and the trembling of the mountain intensified. Using gu worms in the presence of heaven qi and earth qi only led to severe backlashes.

The three gu immortals circled Lo Jik and maintained their distance.

‘First step was already completed inside my aperture.’ Bai Qing felt worried. ‘But how will he manage the second step? Sure, he had a special will. Unfortunately, he shattered his aperture to rescue my mother. How could he have prepared for ascension?’

“Hmm?”

“Oh?”

Mi Yao and Black Moon let out surprised noises as Lo Jik suddenly regained control and floated upright. From his pores escaped pure-white and milky human qi.

It was different than the usual process of ascending.

Ordinarily, one’s human qi only left the body in response to the accumulation of heaven and earth qi around the gu master. However, Lo Jik shattered his aperture in Bai Qing’s blessed land. He stayed there for a while, causing a celestial change in her aperture and drawing her blessed land’s heaven qi and earth qi. It led to severe damage to her blessed land and losses to several resource points. But he succeeded in destroying the dream realm around Bai La.

Then, he was expelled out of Bai Qing’s blessed land. By that point his body already started releasing human qi.

Later, he was sent out of Hu Immortal Blessed Land.

As such, to the three fairies’ shock, a dense tide of human qi surrounding Lo Jik as clouds continued to thicken above him.

The sky churned and lightning rumbled above. Meanwhile, the rising purple dust from the ground exploded continuously.

Lo Jik…

He did not look like a tiny ant compared to the whirlpool of cloud and dust threatening to swallow him. His human qi was too pure… too It felt ceaseless and momentarily took focus from the shower of heaven qi and earth qi. More than the light, pure, and green-colored heaven qi alongside the dense and profound golden earth qi was Lo Jik’s pure and supple human qi.

‘How could he have so much human qi? He…’ Black Moon recalled his rather bold scheme for one of her immortal gu worms. He never did exchange that Flying Bear Strength Immortal Gu Worm for something else. Coupled with his impressive strength path foundation…

Not only Black Moon but every other individual present, including Fairy Mo and her mother inside her mind, arrived to the same conclusion.

“Thankfully, he inherited Divine Concealment. Recalling your tribulation still sends a shiver down my… thought.” Fairy Mo mumbled under her breath as Black Moon’s gaze flickered.

‘His human qi far exceeds mine.’ She corrected Fairy Mo. ‘What is he?’

Fairy Mo had no answer.

“He’s taking in the qi.” Mi Yao communicated with the other two. “Things will be problematic if he only has a small batch of special will. Do you have any options, Sister Bai?”

Mi Yao and Bai Qing were of the same faction. However, the former did not wish to incur losses due to the backlashes and wanted Bai Qing to deal with most of the mess.

“We need to prepare in advance.” Black Moon agreed and looked towards Bai Qing. “Lo Jik would not make half-measured preparations. He must have other types of will besides special will or more batches of special will if he already predicted this situation. Why else would he have left behind a special will? Unfortunately, the second step is the most dangerous. Any imbalance can cause death from any of the three qi. What should we do, Fairy Bai?”

Bai Qing nodded and expressed her understanding.

“I have a method of transforming other types of will into Benevolent Will and heal them. Don’t worry. I will make sure Lo Jik does not run out of will.”

“Such confidence in her killer move… it must be an immortal killer move. To think Bai Qing would be willing to sacrifice an immortal gu worm for Lo Jik.” Fairy Mo sighed deeply. Not even immortal gu worms were spared from the backlash if used in vicinity of heaven qi and earth qi. Bai Qing’s support for Lo Jik was sincere.

‘That’s fine.’ Black Moon had a sudden thought. ‘Lo Jik’s mind has yet to heal… hehe… so what if he becomes a gu immortal? So what if he has so much human qi? He is missing out on one of the most fundamental advantages of ascension!’

The trio watched Lo Jik take in more and more of heaven qi and earth qi, forming a massive cocoon of tri-colored primordial qi. He blended the three streams of qi tirelessly.

‘What a pity.’ Black Moon’s mother shook her head.

Black Moon’s deduction was absolutely correct… if she knew everything about Lo Jik.

Lo Jik had left being several thousands of special will!

Special Will Gu modified one’s thoughts and will into a special will. Unlike other forms of Will Gu Worms, special wills could still think freely aside from following a rule of trigger and response.

So, each special will had a trigger, to which it responded based on the gu immortal’s predetermined wish.

For instance, Lo Jik left a few special wills to take a specific action his soul was on the brink of a collapse.

The condition of his soul was a trigger for these special wills.

And the response to this trigger was to shatter his first aperture, inducing his ascension!

Similarly, Lo Jik left a second batch of hundreds of thousands of special wills in his second blessed land with another trigger and response.

This batch of special will would focus on blending heaven and earth qi with his human qi he started his ascension.

Here lay one of the key aspects of immortal ascension.

Heaven and earth were the cornerstones of the gu world. When a gu master blended their human qi with heaven qi and earth qi, they formed a contact with these very cornerstones of the gu world.

In this state, a gu master stood to interact with heaven and earth directly, learn from it and heighten their understanding of the great dao.

“In reality, a gu master comes to a direct contact with heaven’s will in this state,” Fairy Mo spoke in a reminiscent tone. “This direct interaction with heaven’s will involves exchange of thoughts. We consume thoughts every time we think. In his current state, Lo Jik only has a batch of artificial will created by gu worms. How many could he possible have? Every will is formed by linking several thoughts in an inexplicable fashion. So, thinking causes the thoughts within a will to dissipate. Using this batch of special will to communicate with heaven’s will would be nothing short of a suicide because one’s thoughts are rapidly consumed in this state.”

‘He is too smart to fall for something like this.’ Black Moon noted. ‘So, he is currently missing out on one of the two greatest advantage available to a gu master with great foundation. Given the density of his human qi… he could have even maintained a contact with heaven’s will for a long time.’

“True.” Fairy Mo hummed. “But successfully tackling the second step will lead him to the greatest benefit. Look at the density of remnant heaven and earth qi around him.”

Black Moon’s gaze darkened.

Above Lo Jik was a thick sea of green heaven qi, and below him was a near-solid stretch of profound earth qi!

‘This… how many immortal gu worms can he refine?’ Every spectator thought the same as they focused on Lo Jik.

He remained upright and continued blending the three streams of qi, taking in the combined primordial qi within the spot where he shattered his first aperture.

Unlike everyone’s expectations, Lo Jik also created a third batch of wills to interact with heaven’s will…

Alas…

It wasn’t heaven’s will he found himself in contact with.

Time seemed to stop as Lo Jik steadily took in the last wisp of primordial qi with surprising familiarity.

‘Next step, tossing the gu—’

A loud, rambunctious laughter broke Black Moon, Mi Yao, and Bai Qing’s train of thought as pitch-black smoke covered them. Thousands of sharp swords rose from the smoke, each gleaming with a green, venomous tip.

Four gu immortals appeared and surrounded the group of three fairies.

***

Blooming Ju Lin; Beauties and Shu Zhe; Shu Zhe got done dirty; Fairy Mo’s wisdom path puns; Ju Lin is a tsundere?; Lo Jik: Nigh-divine to his lovers **; Stand against endless heaven qi and earth qi; Prepared; Scheming never ends; Extreme aperture exposed; Ambushed; Batches of will; An immortal undergoing another immortal ascension; Human qi of a gu master with an extreme aperture, blessed land, grandmaster attainment in all known paths, and human and luck path great-grandmaster; Lost advantage; You win some, you lose some; Heaven’s Will; Cornerstone of the gu world; Reality of learning from heaven and earth

Join the discord through the link in the synopsis.

Read 60 chapters ahead @ Patron and Subscribe Star (Links in the synopsis.)

Support the Fanfic through comments, likes, reviews and such (if the published site allows it.)