In this Gu world, looking at the past to the present, in the period of over three million years, ten Gu cultivators stood at the peak of the world, looking down on all the living beings.
In the long river of history, the five regions and two heavens had countless geniuses and heroes. If these people were akin to shining stars in the sky, then the ten rank nine Gu Immortals were each like suns, they were bright and dazzling, spreading their radiance over the whole world.
Their glory had never faded, their legends continued to be widespread.
They were the ten great venerables!
From the start of history until now, they were —
Three million years ago, Remote Antiquity Era: Primordial Origin Immortal Venerable, Star Constellation Immortal Venerable.
One million years ago, Olden Antiquity Era: Limitless Demon Venerable, Reckless Savage Demon Venerable, Red Lotus Demon Venerable.
Three hundred thousand years ago, Medieval Antiquity Era: Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.
A hundred thousand years ago, Late Antiquity Era: Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable.
These ten stood at the apex, dominating the world with unparalleled might, they suppressed their entire era with no rival that could match them!
Their methods were terrifying, even after a long period, they still remained like eternal arrangements.
Their intelligent schemes spanned across the eras, existing throughout the past and present, they used all living beings as their pawns. Even after death, they still continued to influence countless future generations.
Towards these people, Fang Yuan had the deepest feelings in this aspect compared to everyone else in the world.
Fang Yuan was extremely clear about the gap between him and these venerables. Even though he was the number one demon of the current world, having pseudo venerable battle strength, he was not confident in fighting against a venerable.
Venerables dominated heaven and earth, everyone else other than them were ants.
The fate war was a huge lesson to everyone, any method left by any venerable could turn the entire situation around just like that.
Only a venerable could resist another venerable.
Putting it crudely, the reason why Fang Yuan succeeded in the fate war was because he struggled and managed to survive while sandwiched between the battle among the ten venerables and heaven’s will.
Towards these venerables who invested in him and treated him as a pawn, for every bit of admiration that Fang Yuan held towards them, there was also an urge to challenge them. For every bit of wariness he felt towards them, there was a bit of desire to match them.
If they could become venerables, why couldn’t I, Fang Yuan, do it?
Furthermore, in order to pursue eternal life, the so-called rank nine venerable cultivation level was merely the stepping stone for Fang Yuan.
The plan to become venerable had already been set the moment he was reborn!
Years ago, when Fang Yuan had just been reborn, he looked up at the sky during those nights, viewing the moon, he felt incredibly minuscule. But now, he had already risen to the skies, venerable level was merely his next step of advancement.
But how could he become a venerable?
Fang Yuan did not know, he was uncertain, he did not understand.
There was a huge secret behind the ascension of a venerable!
This secret had never been publicly spread.
The ten venerables seemed to have some sort of tacit agreement, they kept this secret together.
Nobody in the world could find out, they could only analyze using some clues and common traits that everyone knew.
Among the ten venerables, there were nine males and one female. This meant that there was no gender restriction in becoming a venerable, it was possible for both sexes.
Venerables possessed invincible battle strength but they were not omnipotent. Giant Sun Immortal Venerable and Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable had once asked Long Hair Ancestor to refine Immortal Gu with them.
Two kings could not exist at the same time. In every great era, there was only one venerable, there had never been two venerables in the same time period. Contests between venerables were limited to the type in the fate war, where they competed using methods they left behind.
Each venerable possessed immense innate luck, phenomena could be seen for some when they were born, their lives were smooth sailing, for example, Red Lotus Demon Venerable. Some were not apparent in their early days, they only grew explosively after a certain period of time.
Seemingly, in the growth of every venerable, there would be one Dao Guardian in existence. Each Dao Guardian played a monumental role in the journey of the venerable’s growth, they could be either friend or enemy.
It was publicly recognized that every rank nine venerable’s main path was at supreme grandmaster.
The venerables were still restricted by lifespan, there were records in history where venerables used their full strength to hunt for lifespan Gu.
The ten venerables were all humans, there had never been a variant human venerable.
However, just this information could not truly deduce the secret of venerable ascension. One of the most successful deductions in history was the Prophecy of Three Venerables. Immortal Yi Yan said that in the future, there would be Spectral Soul Demon Venerable, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable, and Great Dream Immortal Venerable.
This deduction did not involve the details of the secret of venerable ascension. Furthermore, after Fang Yuan destroyed fate Gu, this prophecy was no longer set in stone.
Then, what was the secret of venerable ascension?
Fang Yuan needed to know about this secret urgently.
Demon Immortal Qi Jue’s success was the best example, it was likely that the venerables were going to revive.
Thus, the best way to deal with this possibility was for Fang Yuan to become venerable himself!
Fang Yuan understood deeply: No matter how many grotto-heavens he annexed or how many immortal materials and dao marks he had, he could not become venerable. Thus, the most important reason why he came to Lu Wei Yin was for the secret of venerable ascension. Other things, like Paradise Earth’s true inheritance or Paradise Earth’s true meaning, were just secondary gains for the current Fang Yuan.
Sitting opposite each other, Lu Wei Yin drank his tea as he smiled.
He was not surprised by Fang Yuan’s question.
He raised his head and placed down his tea cup, he raised three fingers and said directly: “There are four conditions to satisfy if you want to become a venerable.”
“First, the Gu Immortal’s immortal aperture origin core has to produce white litchi immortal essence.”
“Second, the Gu Immortal’s main cultivation path needs to have at least three hundred thousand dao marks.”
“Third, the Gu Immortal’s main cultivation path needs to be at least supreme grandmaster in attainment level.”
“Fourth, after meeting the first three conditions, the Gu Immortal has to break through the Heavenly Dao blockade, after which the immortal aperture origin core will undergo a qualitative change and produce rank nine yellow apricot immortal essence.”
Out of Fang Yuan’s expectations, Lu Wei Yin actually told him the secret of venerable ascension directly and honestly.
Fang Yuan originally thought that Lu Wei Yin would make a transaction regarding this and list some conditions for Fang Yuan. Or more accurately, there had to be a reason why Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable chose Fang Yuan as his inheritor.
Fang Yuan did not know what Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable was plotting.
But he had already decided that as long as he could obtain the secret of venerable ascension, he would be willing to give in to some extent and work with Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable.
However, Lu Wei Yin did not conceal this secret, he directly said it to Fang Yuan.
This was like a transaction where both parties were meant to hand over the goods and money at the same time, but suddenly, the trader tossed the goods to the buyer first.
Lu Wei Yin’s action did not make Fang Yuan relax, he instead became more alert.
Lu Wei Yin had a deep scheming mind, Fang Yuan had lost to him once in the past and failed to regain upper extreme heavenly eagle. During the battle to pursue Fang Yuan, Lu Wei Yin worked with him and killed Spectral Soul together, this battle even showed Fang Yuan his strong mental fortitude and endurance.
How could such a person be so unwise?
Fang Yuan carefully thought about the four conditions of venerable ascension.
“The first two conditions are basically those of a rank eight Gu Immortal who has passed three myriad tribulations. I have already met this condition in qi path, time path, refinement path, and transformation path.”
“As for the third condition of the main cultivation path being supreme grandmaster, I have not fulfilled this criteria yet, but my refinement path, time path, and enslavement path are already quasi-supreme, the difference is not huge.”
“As for the fourth condition, breaking through the Heavenly Dao blockade?”
Fang Yuan frowned slightly as he asked: “What does the Heavenly Dao blockade refer to?”
Lu Wei Yin continued to explain for Fang Yuan: “The way of heaven is to take away surpluses while replenishing deficits, so all things are in balance and mutually restrict each other. A tall tree is the first to face destruction, soil that is nearest to the water will be the first to be swept away by the currents. But the way of humans is the exact opposite, it reduces the deficits and builds up the surpluses, by devouring the weak and continuing to learn, one can grow and make up for insufficiencies to become even stronger.”
“The Heavenly Dao does not want the number of Gu Immortals to increase while they at the same time get stronger, thus calamities and tribulations occur. Calamities and tribulations are part of the Heavenly Dao blockade. Before becoming a venerable, the Heavenly Dao will send a tribulation far greater than any myriad tribulation!”
“Other than that, there is lifespan Gu. Lifespan Gu is a heaven path Gu worm, it cannot be refined by people. Even though the ten venerables were invincible in their eras, they were still bound by it. During an era with a venerable in existence, natural production of lifespan Gu will continuously fall.”
“The third blockade is fate Gu, but you have already destroyed it.”
Fang Yuan pondered: “There are basically three types of Heavenly Dao blockades, fate Gu has been destroyed while lifespan Gu is of no concern for now, the remaining tribulation blockade is the greatest hurdle that I will face.”
“Is there a way to deal with the Heavenly Dao blockade? How did the venerables in history get past it?” Fang Yuan asked.
Lu Wei Yin answered: “There are ways to take shortcuts, luck path is one of them. The venerables in history all have immense innate luck, it mostly comes from two sources. The first is the favor of heaven’s will, the second is the adoration of human path.”
“Three million years ago, the variant humans were strong and disrupted the balance, the Heavenly Dao sought to deal with them, so heaven’s will favored Primordial Origin and allowed him to become an Immortal Venerable.”
“The best example of human path adoration is Red Lotus Demon Venerable. He is a child of humanity, he has extremely dense innate luck, when he was born, tribulation struck. The Three Dukes of Heavenly Court had to intervene and block the tribulation for Red Lotus.”
Fang Yuan raised his brows: “Thinking about it, can human path methods be a way of breaking through the Heavenly Dao blockade?”
Earlier, Fang Yuan had used human path methods to interrupt with the Heavenly Dao, allowing him to gain time to take action. In this aspect, he was quite experienced.
Lu Wei Yin nodded: “Indeed, human path methods are a good way of breaking through the Heavenly Dao blockade. Precisely so, the various venerables had a common trait, they all comprehended something from u003cu003cThe Legends of Ren Zuu003eu003e and created their own top tier human path killer moves!”
They continued to converse for some time, Lu Wei Yin answered every single one of Fang Yuan’s questions to the best of his knowledge.
Fang Yuan finally understood the conditions to become venerable, he fell into deep contemplation.
After careful analysis, he found that only two points restricted him from becoming venerable: One was attainment level, the other was the Heavenly Dao blockade.
The latter could be dealt with eventually, Fang Yuan had Cooking Luck Pot in terms of luck path, he also had human path methods, he just had to elevate and develop them further.
The true problem was attainment level.
Quasi-supreme grandmaster attainment level, it seemed very close to the genuine supreme grandmaster, but that was actually very hard to reach.
If there was a suitable environment and sufficient time, Fang Yuan could work hard in cultivation and continue to deepen his comprehension, he believed that in this lifetime, he could definitely reach supreme grandmaster in at least one path.
But now, the revival of venerables had started to cast a shadow on his future.
“What method is there to allow me to get past this problem?”
Dream realms?
Obviously not.
Fang Yuan had already found out that the dream realms originating from Spectral Soul could only reach great grandmaster attainment level at most.
True meaning?
He thought about it: “Don’t tell me, Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable left behind his true meaning so that my earth path could reach supreme grandmaster?”
Seemingly sensing Fang Yuan’s thoughts, Lu Wei Yin shook his head: “Lord Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable’s true meaning can only allow you to reach earth path great grandmaster. However, there is a solution in Paradise Earth’s true inheritance.”
Fang Yuan looked at the smiling Lu Wei Yin, an obscure light flashed in his eyes: “Oh, please do tell me.”
Lu Wei Yin thus said: “Fang Yuan, you have read u003cu003cThe Legends of Ren Zuu003eu003e, you must know this secluded domain of heaven and earth, Primordial Domain. The truth is, if one can enter Primordial Domain, they would be able to make one of their paths reach supreme grandmaster.”
“Primordial Domain?” Fang Yuan was moved: “You know where it is.”
Lu Wei Yin’s eyes flashed with bright light: “At the deepest layer of Crazed Demon Cave!”
