Reverend Insanity: Dream Gu

The battle strength Fang Yuan displayed after obtaining the Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu in the second timeline was enough to reveal just how terrifying that Gu truly was. Even then, Fang Yuan possessed only an incomplete version, and his mastery of it was nowhere near that of its original owner, Spectral Soul Demon Venerable.

Looking back now, Lin Yan finally understood why Feng Jinhuang had never advanced beyond Rank Six, even after five hundred years in the first timeline.

This realization had shaken him deeply in his previous life.

Back then, his cultivation had been advancing at an astonishing pace. It was not that he had never dreamed of reaching Rank 9 Venerable realm within a single lifetime. Unfortunately, by the time I understood the truth, it was already too late.

When Spectral Soul Demon Venerable returned after refining the Sovereign Immortal Fetus Gu at Yi Tian Mountain, Lin Yan had not even reached the peak of Rank Six. How could he possibly contend with Shadow Sect, let alone a Rank Nine Venerable?

Even three hundred years later, after reaching the peak of Rank Seven and becoming a Great Grandmaster in several paths, Lin Yan still could not suppress the doubt in his heart. If he had advanced so rapidly over those three centuries, then Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, who had possessed an even greater foundation from the very beginning, must have become even more terrifying.

Against such an existence...

Even Heaven’s Will had been left with no choice but to begin the second timeline.

Because of that uncertainty, Lin Yan never dared alter the established timeline in his previous life. He quietly placed all his hopes on the second timeline, doing everything he could to leave behind even the slightest chance for his future self.

Even when the Thousand Wishes Tree was within his reach, he forced himself to walk away. He knew Fang Yuan was destined to obtain it, and he could not afford to disrupt that opportunity.

The same was true for Han Li of Sandwell Oasis. Lin Yan never interfered with his fate, allowing him to walk his destined path independently.

When the Great Era unfolded and Dream Realms began appearing throughout the five regions, Lin Yan could no longer monopolize them. To avoid exposing himself, he deliberately stayed out of the struggle between the super forces, choosing instead to devote his time to researching killer moves that would prove useful in his second life.

Afterward, around the fourth century of his previous life, Red Lotus Demon Venerable finally set his plans in motion. At almost the same time, the Blood Path demonic gu immortal Fang Yuan obtained the Spring Autumn Cicada recipe and began gathering immortal materials to refine an Immortal Gu.

Meanwhile, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable and Heaven’s Will reached a rare tacit understanding, joining forces to divert Spectral Soul Demon Venerable’s attention.

Only then did Lin Yan finally breathe a sigh of relief. From that moment onward, he devoted all his efforts to developing a killer move capable of resonating with the Spring Autumn Cicada, allowing him to return together with it and be reborn into the second timeline.

Heavenly Court possessed a similar Rule Path killer move known as Benevolent Equality. Its effect was self-explanatory

In his previous life, Lin Yan’s Rule Path attainment had already reached a high level. However, he lacked the core Benevolence Immortal Gu, which was hidden within the inheritance of Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable. Unwilling to involve himself with another Venerable or disrupt the future for the sake of a single Immortal Gu, he chose another approach.

Benevolent Equality as his inspiration, he spent many years developing a Rank Eight Rule Path killer move of his own.

He named it [All Roads Lead to the Same Destination]

The killer move was built around two Rule Path Immortal Gu: Resonance Immortal Gu and Different Immortal Gu.

Fortunately, obtaining the two Immortal Gu was not particularly difficult. Resonance Immortal Gu happened to be one of the food sources required to feed Fire Transformation Immortal Gu. In his previous life, Lin Yan had already deduced his Immortal Gu Recipe and spent years gathering intelligence on his whereabouts. Only after the Gu Immortal who possessed Resonance Immortal Gu perished during the chaotic war of the Five Regions did he seize the opportunity to refine it. As for Different Immortal Gu, it had never belonged to anyone.

Using Resonance Immortal Gu and Different Immortal Gu as the core, Lin Yan also created another Rank Eight Rule Path killer move, Parallel Without Conflict, which allowed different dao marks to coexist without repelling one another. It was a trump card he had specially prepared for his second life.

Even so, that alone was far from enough.

Neither Rank 6 Spring Autumn Cicada nor Benevolent Equality was truly as invincible as they appeared. Under normal circumstances, at most they could only reverse time for a few years. Only with the assistance of Heaven’s Will Could Spring Autumn Cicada accomplish the impossible feat of traveling back five hundred years.

To ensure nothing went wrong, Lin Yan created the Dream Path killer move Great Dream Thousand Autumns to escort and protect his rebirth while concealing it from Red Lotus Demon Venerable’s attention. At the same time, he developed Self Will Gu, using the special Self Will it produced to resist the influence of Heaven’s Will.

After all, there was no true reversal of time in the Gu World. Rebirth merely meant that a fragment of will from the future used Spring Autumn Cicada as a vessel to travel upstream along the River of Time, returning to an earlier point in the same timeline.

The reason Fang Yuan will be able to survive within the River of Time for so long was partly because it was protected by Spring Autumn Cicada, and partly because it was sheltered by Heaven’s Will. In fact, Heaven’s Will had been subtly influencing his will the entire time.

Even with all those advantages, Lin Yan had only managed to follow behind Spring Autumn Cicada through the River of Time by relying on Heaven’s Will to clear the way. Despite the journey being as smooth as it could possibly be, he barely made it through. By the time he reached the past, his will had suffered devastating losses, with less than one percent remaining.

Much of what he had painstakingly accumulated over five hundred years had been lost forever.