Reverend insanity: Heaven devouring demon venerable

In a Grotto Heaven

Ning Zu was sitting cross-legged on the tiger's head, his eyes open but emptier than usual. 

His Guardian, on the other hand, was gathering food path materials around the Grotto Heaven. 

That was Reckless Savage's rule: you can use any material here, but you can't bring any of them outside to the real world. However, if you manage to refine something using those materials, then it's yours. 

Both Ning Zu and the Guardian were quite relaxed. 

Ning Zu was safe from anything in this grotto as per the inheritance rules, and the Guardian was invisible to anyone except Ning Zu or someone with superb investigation abilities. 

On the other hand, the Heavenly Spirit was tense, just waiting for the three-month deadline to end. 

Looking at Ning Zu, the spirit sighed in frustration. 

"Is this guy mentally ill or something? For the past two months, he did nothing but sit on the tiger's head until he passes out from exhaustion." 

The spirit couldn't make sense of it. It expected a lot of things from the inheritor of its master, but this was quite disappointing. 

Unknown to it, Ning Zu was gaining the maximum benefit he could possibly get here. 

It may have looked like Ning Zu was just sitting there all the time, but he was actually observing the abundance of food path Dao marks in the scattered tiger limbs. 

When he was awake, he kept trying to break through in his food path attainment,, and when he passed out, his aperture automatically refined itself with the help of puppetry path methods, like the one Xiong Wei Xu used in the Xiong clan's prison. 

Using that with his Great Strength True Martial physique's natural abilities, he had already achieved Rank 5 initial stage cultivation not long ago. The land spirit even gave him a Persistence Gu to stop him from detonating. 

But the spirit had no way of knowing the truth.

Sighing deeply from afar, the spirit gave up, setting a barrier around Ning Zu and teleporting elsewhere to tend to the Grotto Heaven's matters.

Just as it left, Ning Zu's eyes opened wide, his muscles tensing with excitement. 

He finally broke through in his understanding, achieving quasi-grandmaster attainment in food path. 

Ning Zu stood up, a small smile appearing on his face. 

"Reaching quasi-grandmaster attainment wasn't that challenging," he thought. "I observed Ming You's food path killer move more than anyone else, and I have an excellent food path inheritance in my mind. Adding my previous attainments, I reached this level faster than anyone in history." 

Ning Zu was happy with his progress, but he knew he had hit a wall now. 

"Reaching quasi-grandmaster attainment in any path is a walk in the park compared to trying to achieve grandmaster attainment. You'll need at least a hundred years to pull that off, but…" 

Ning Zu grinned, jumping off the tiger's head and walking to one of the many limbs around him. 

"I need to refine three things before I destroy this place, and now is the best time." 

A pink light flashed on his forehead as a small pink diamond-like Gu emerged from his brain. 

This was the Immortal Gu that he refined while being in a coma not too long ago, and now it will be put to use.

Ning Zu then called for his Guardian, which immediately appeared above him. 

Ning Zu could summon it anytime he wanted. It existed between a phantom and solid state, allowing it to appear next to its master whenever called, something that has to do with his rule path attainment. 

Inside its aperture, a storage Gu containing all the food path materials it had gathered swam happily in its essence. 

Yes, the Guardian possessed an aperture, one that functioned completely like any other aperture, though it couldn't exceed its master's cultivation level. 

It shared its master's talent, even possessing an extreme physique itself, but it had a different one from him: the Desolate Ancient Moon physique. 

The Guardian was complex, and Ning Zu still needed to understand it better. 

But now wasn't the time. 

With a single thought, the storage Gu inside the Guardian disappeared, reappearing in Ning Zu's aperture. 

Taking a deep breath, Ning Zu emptied his mind. 

He threw the rank 6 Gu at the limb, breaking it and releasing a dream realm that sucked the limb in completely.

"My decades of researching dream path paid off," he thought. "This rank 6 immortal Gu is the fruit of my hard work." 

Ning Zu then threw an egg into the dream realm without hesitation—the same egg he had made at Bai village. 

Almost a minute later, the dream realm began shrinking before expelling the egg. 

The egg landed beside Ning Zu, shrinking until it was as small as a grain of sand. 

Ning Zu picked it up and stored it, not bothering to check if the refinement had succeeded. That's how much he trusted the immortal Gu's ability. 

'It will need a host to hatch, the creature born will be based off whatever creature it was in.' Ning Zu deduced.

He didn't have any attainment at wisdom path, but he used to be a great grandmaster in information path before leaving his attainment behind to his split soul.

Even without his lost attainment, his experience was still there, helping him deduce things better than most wisdom path masters.

Clearing his mind again, he prepared for the next refinement.

Turning his attention to the storage Gu filled with the food path materials gathered by his Guardian Ning Zu pulled it out, trowing it into the dream realm. 

It was sucked in with every material in it.

But nothing happened. 

Why? Well… The reason wasn't that simple.

The dream realm was the Dream Seeker Gu, capable of refining anything as long as the user desired it enough and provided sufficient materials. 

It could be used three times before requiring a recharge period of ten years. 

The problem multiple possibilities: either Ning Zu didn't want it badly enough, or he hadn't provided enough materials, or both.

"Hmmm..." Ning Zu began deducing in his mind, and after a while he was confident the materials were adequate. 

"Compared to the egg I made, collecting these materials was quite easy, all I had to do is let the Guardian pluck them for me, so… maybe the Gu doesn't think I want the refinement to succeed badly enough because I didn't work hard to obtain them." 

His food path quasi grandmaster attainment and dream path attainment that was nearing master level, told him he was right. 

"Hahaha," Ning Zu chuckled softly. "If that's what you want, I'll give it to you." 

The puppetry Gu was activated, making black strings appear on Ning Zu's fingers. 

Without hesitation, he used them to sever his own fingers, sending them into the dream realm. 

Without a hint of discomfort, he waited, but the dream realm remained unmoved. 

"It seems it's still not satisfied. Well, that's expected. What I'm asking for is a lot, after all." 

Ning Zu then glanced at his Guardian, who smiled warmly at him. 

"All right, let's try it out." 

Taking a deep breath, he used the strings to wrap around his neck, tightening them until his head flew off, severed from his body.

The Guardian caught the head and placed it into the dream realm. 

Meanwhile, Ning Zu's body stood motionless, blood flowing from his neck. 

The dream realm finally responded. Though it didn't require the head as material, the sacrifice showed sufficient desire, enabling the refinement began. 

Ning Zu's dismantled body on the other hand kept oozing with blood, making a little blood lake below him.

The Guardian looked at him, getting into a praying posse as the five leaf clover mark on its armor turned to a little green dote.

Suddenly, a green hue appeared on Ning Zu's severed neck and hands, growing and reshaping into his lost body parts. 

And with a *pop*, the light faded, leaving Ning Zu whole once more. 

Ning Zu touched his face in awe of the healing power that was used.

"This is simply... amazing." 

This was the Guardian's ability: Burning Luck, Bursting Life, it could fully heal its master from any injury as long as he wanted to, and as long as it didn't stay on him for more than a day.

However, the drawbacks were severe. Ning Zu's luck had plummeted drastically, and even without luck path attainment, his human path attainment allowed him to sense it. 

He envisioned his luck as a black coffin with a flaming skull atop it, burning with deep purple fire. 

"This is worse than I expected," Ning Zu thought, "but... it's all going as planned." 

Then, an arrow shot out from the dream realm. Ning Zu barely dodged, the arrow's rank 5 aura that radiated when passing made Ning Zu smile.

Before his smile could form completely, more weapons followed: bows, swords, shields, and countless others. Each was a food path Gu, radiating mortal Gu auras. 

Ning Zu didn't panic, he activated a mortal Gu he had been preparing for such a moment: a rank 5 Dragon Ink Qi Gu.

Ink Qi surged beneath his skin, turning him into a figure of pure ink. A dragon's head formed from the ink, swallowing his head, taking the role of protecting his now most vulnerable part.

This form granted him incredible speed, if he was a rank 5 Gu master in the Xiong village, he would have used it without a second thought.

He dodged the weapons with grace, though some managed to cut him. His body healed rapidly, ink flowing to patch up the damage. 

But Ning Zu couldn't use this form for long. Prolonged use could turn him into a puddle of ink permanently. 

Still, the onslaught continued, weapons flooding out of the dream realm. Many crashed against the barrier set by the land spirit, preventing them from escaping the grotto. 

As the weapons' numbers dwindled, Ning Zu began grabbing and using them against each other.

These were Eating Gu type Gu, each designed to consume specific material. 

'This is one of the four parts of the food path inheritance: 'Eating Gu.' They're easy to feed and incredibly dangerous. Truly worth it.' Thought Ning Zu.

Then without warning, the dream realm pulsed with light. A hammer-like Gu emerged, trembling with rank 6 aura. The dream realm began shrinking, signaling the end of the refinement. 

This Gu, however, couldn't be dodged; it was the Space Eating Gu, jumping the space between it and Ning Zu, hitting him straight in the head. 

Ning Zu nearly dropped to the ground before catching himself. 

He could feel the aura of the Gu it was a rank 6 Gu, an immortal Gu but the Gu was not as powerful as it should be, it was trembling. 

That's because it was being refined into a rank 7 Gu at the moment!

Normally, the Dream Seeker Gu wouldn't be capable of making anything higher than its own rank, but because of the abundance of food path Dao marks used, mainly from the Immemorial Beast limb, it left the dream realm as an incomplete rank 7 Gu.

Ning Zu used all of his willpower to not pass out, activating the Blue Lotus Gu'

'I can't let it go beyond rank 6!' screamed Ning Zu in his mind. 

You might ask yourself, why wouldn't Ning Zu want to have a rank 7 Gu instead of a rank 6? Well, that's simple. 

All this time since his revival, he had been using the Blue Lotus Gu as a means to refine Gu easily, using its rank 8 aura to be exact.

The thing is, Gu of higher ranks can only pressure another Gu into submission if the Gu being pressured is two ranks lower than it. 

So if this Gu reached rank 7, Ning Zu wouldn't be able to refine it at all in his current state. 

Ning Zu pressured the Gu with the rank 8 aura, making the Gu weaken a little bit but in exchange, it retaliated even more violently now. 

The aura shook the other Gu lying on the ground, making them fly off far away. But it seemed as if they were getting closer with every second. 

That's because the Space Eating Gu started feeding on the space around it, making itself stronger and more powerful. 

A rank 7 aura started radiating. Although weak, it was holding against the Blue Lotus Gu quite well. 

Having no choice, Ning Zu decided to use the Blue Lotus Gu's true powers even if the cost was too hefty. 

The ink Qi around his body dissipated along with the barrier around him, leaving only Ning Zu with a shining blue lotus tattoo on his forehead. 

The land spirit was finally alerted, teleporting to where Ning Zu was. It had been planning on saving Ning Zu, but now it watched in disbelief as a mortal was driving an immortal Gu into submission. 

Ning Zu's soul cultivation started weakening, and the Blue Lotus Gu radiated an extreme aura that shook the Gu and stopped it from feeding on the space around it. 

Realizing the severity of the situation, the Gu tried to run away, but Ning Zu caught it with his bare hands, breaking its will and the will of the other Gu around him completely. 

The Gu became broke, turning into something else as black smoke escaped from cracks appearing on it, before it shattered. 

It let out another Gu with a rank 6 aura, resembling a giant dragon's mouth.

Ning Zu observed it with admiration while the blue lotus tattoo disappeared, leaving a slight blue mark on his forehead this time. 

The spirit gave Ning Zu a sharp slap at that moment, making him realize it was standing in front of him now. 

"You fucking bastard! Are you mentally retarded?! You could have died for fuck's sake!" 

The spirit's harsh words entered Ning Zu's ear and escaped for the other, he gave it no attention, looking at the sky with a now clear mind. 

He cut off the spirit's wailing, pointing to the sky. 

"That must mean bad news, land spirit." 

The spirit looked at the sky to see what he meant, horrified by the sight. 

The black smoke that had left the Space Eating Gu just now was growing and taking form in the sky. 

The spirit looked at Ning Zu, searching for answers, but his expression told it he didn't know either. 

It tried to fly toward the smoke, but Ning Zu stopped it. 

"Hey! That thing looks pretty dangerous, you have to protect me!" 

The spirit almost exploded from Ning Zu's shamelessness. He had caused whatever was happening and now he was asking for protection? This showed how much he really cared for the well being of the this Grotto Heaven.

"I am the land spirit of this Grotto Heaven. I will be able to keep you safe from anything." 

The spirit tried to reason with him, but Ning Zu wasn't having it. 

"You're not the real spirit; you're just artificial, I can't trust my life with you, I want to protect myself using my own Gu and skills." 

The spirit raised an eyebrow, he was just a mortal after all.

"And how do you plan on doing that?" 

Ning Zu answered with all simplicity: "All I need are some beads of immortal essence, and I will be able to protect myself by myself." 

The spirit wanted to kill Ning Zu on the spot, but sensing the level of danger approaching, it threw a bag with multiple immortal spirit stones at him without explanation and flew off. 

Ning Zu caught them, barely hiding his happiness. 

Everything was going as planned, and soon, he would get his first revenge since his return.