Reverend insanity: Heaven devouring demon venerable

Ning Zu was sitting in a lotus position, absorbing the immortal essence in the Immortal Essence stones. 

Not too long ago, he tricked the land spirit into giving him these precious stones, painting the idea that he didn't trust an artificially made land spirit to protect him and that he would rather protect himself by himself. 

The spirit had no time to argue with Ning Zu over this matter, so it just gave up and gave him the stones. 

Each one of these stones could give you a bead of green grape immortal essence, almost equivalent to an infinite amount of mortal essence. 

The spirit, on the other hand, was having a hard time; it couldn't approach the weird forming clouds no matter what it did. 

It used different methods of different paths, but it couldn't reach the clouds.

After Ning Zu finished absorbing every immortal essence stone, he got up, transferring all of it with his Gu to his Guardian, except for two Gu. 

One was the Yin Yang Rotation Gu, capable of healing someone completely at the cost of losing 10 percent of their maximum essence capacity and turning to the opposite sex. 

The other one was just a cheap rank 1 storage Gu that could store a soul inside it.

But that soul belonged to an otherworldly demon known as Gu Yu Fang Yuan, a treasure for those who know how to use it.

With these two Gu, Ning Zu was about to create history. 

He walked to the dream realm, letting himself be sucked in and be used as refinement material. 

His Guardian didn't join him. Instead, it refined all of the mortal Gu that tried to kill Ning Zu moments ago, taking them all to his aperture. 

The land spirit, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered right now, as a calamity was brewing, and the high amount of Heaven's Will in this land wasn't helping at all. 

———

Ning Zu opened his eyes, finding himself in a vast imaginary world that didn't seem to end. 

It felt as if Ning Zu was in a warm lake, all of his worries and dark thoughts nowhere to be found. 

In this world, you would look like what you imagine yourself to be.

He was in his original form, standing tall with long white hair and crimson red eyes. 

In front of him was another person, a young lad with facial features that did not make him stand out, looking at Ning Zu with disdain. 

"Ah, you're that otherworldly demon from the Gu Yu village," said Ning Zu after he noticed him with a warm tone, as if he wasn't the one who caused his death. 

Fang Yuan wanted to say a lot; he wanted to curse Ning Zu for what he did to him, but… he just couldn't. 

He was scared—scared of this guy, scared of the zombie that killed him, who was supposed to be his ancestor. 

Maybe if he had more time to get used to this world, he wouldn't have been as scared as he was. 

But he wasn't, he was still thinking that he was in a world where he could become a superhero of some sort, just like those depicted in his original world. 

Ning Zu approached him, putting his hand on Fang Yuan's shoulder. 

"Don't worry, kid, it's going to be alright. I can promise you that." 

Fang Yuan felt uncomfortable. He may seem young, but if you counted his age in his previous world, he would have already reached his thirties. 

Ning Zu knew that, but Fang Yuan was still a child in his eyes. After all, he lived for so long that even he lost track of how old he was. 

Fang Yuan tried to muster up the courage to talk to Ning Zu, but just a look in his eyes that reflected his face made him look away. 

Ning Zu chuckled, finding it funny that someone like this would have a life of misfortune and suffering just because he was from another world. 

"You might hate me, despise me even, kid, but trust me, I am doing you a favor," said Ning Zu. 

"I've lived in this world longer than you can imagine, and it's been nothing but cruel. People die in the billions every day. People without morality decide who's righteous and who's not, and the top organizations in this world only care about controlling all five regions for the so-called sake of humanity. 

And to top it all off, as a person from another world, you won't be able to enter the Door of Life and Death. Your otherworldly Dao marks will prevent you from doing so." 

Fang Yuan, hearing that, was extremely confused. He couldn't believe half of what he heard, and the other half didn't even make sense. 

Ning Zu saw that, so he put his hands on top of Fang Yuan's head, sharing some of his memories with him. 

Without Gu, he forced those memories into Fang Yuan's mind using pure soul pressure. 

He could do that because his soul wasn't like a normal soul, after all, it had many imprinted Dao marks on it.

Ning Zu didn't share important memories, he just showed him some of the people he knew who died terrible deaths, and as someone from Spectral Soul's era and his own Dao guardian, he saw a lot.

Fang Yuan, seeing that, dropped to his knees, breathing heavily from the horrors he saw. 

He forgot everything around him, what he saw was too chaotic and unbelievably unbearable.

"Now you see, kid, I am doing you a favor here." Said Ning Zu.

Fang Yuan, hearing that, snapped back to reality, barely forming his words. 

"I… I don't… I don't want to die!" he screamed in the vast space, tears flowing down his eyes. 

Ning Zu chuckled. Humans were really interesting creatures; even after seeing the horrors they might face, they would still want to live. 

"Don't worry, kid. I can't kill you even if I wanted to," said Ning Zu, making Fang Yuan look at him with a little confusion. 

"You normally shouldn't be here, kid, so Heaven's Will, the one that overrules the balance of this world, tries to kill people like you." 

Hearing that, Fang Yuan lost all hope once again. 

"But you see, there is a secret that only a select few people know." Ning Zu put his hand back on Fang Yuan's head as he said that. 

"If you directly die from Heaven's Will attacking your body, you will actually be transported to your original world and reincarnated with no previous memories." 

Fang Yuan, hearing that, became conflicted. 

He wanted to go back to his world after seeing the terrors of this one, but he didn't want to lose his memories. 

He thought about his life on Earth, how he was a respectable scholar and how much he worked to achieve that. 

But looking back at his life, he had no real friends. He was an orphan from birth too, having no family or lover that he would want to return to. 

"Alright… I have decided. I want to go back." 

Hearing the words coming from Fang Yuan's mouth, Ning Zu was happy that his plan was working. 

On the other hand, cracks started to appear on Fang Yuan's body as Heaven's Will started invading it. 

Heaven's Will is able to invade dream realms after all.

Fang Yuan was scared, he felt no pain, yet it only made him fear what was coming even more, but Ning Zu assured him that it was going to be alright. 

So he let go of his body's control, breaking into pieces that faded into nothingness, getting transported back to his world as his memory were washed away.

All that was left of him were his otherworldly Dao marks, staying still. 

This was why Ning Zu helped Fang Yuan. All of his words and convincing were to try and get these pure otherworldly Dao marks. 

These Dao marks were the only thing he needed, and he needed them to be separated from the soul. 

He opened his mouth as much as he could, swallowing the Dao marks. 

Then, the vast world started shaking as it became the final refinement. 

———

The spirit tried all sorts of methods to stop whatever was happening, but nothing it did worked. 

"Heaven's Will is hell-bent on delivering this calamity, but why? After absorbing the Green Heaven fragment, the Blessed Land should stop getting tribulations, so why is it getting one now?" 

As it was trying to understand, a blinding light came out from the dream realm below. 

From it shot out Ning Zu's body, completely broken and without an aperture, quickly turning to dust. 

The Immemorial Beast's limb came out next, still full of Food Path Dao marks but with fewer than it previously had. 

The dream realm shined more as it became smaller and smaller, taking a human-like shape. 

At that moment, the spirit realized that dream realm was what was causing the calamity to start forming. 

This tribulation wasn't made for the Grotto Heaven; it was made because whatever was forming, Heaven's Will couldn't let it be! 

The dream realm returned to a Gu form, lying dormant inside the mind of the human that was forming. 

The light died down, leaving a tall, naked figure, youthful and muscular, exuding the aura of an expert who knew it all. 

His long white hair, almost kissing the ground, fluttered gently. 

He looked at his hands and new body, which exactly matched his soul. 

Ning Zu then touched his forehead, feeling a mark there. 

The Blue Lotus Gu was no more—it blended with his body, becoming a part of it. 

Ning Zu caressed his stomach, feeling his aperture. 

It was completely filled, meaning that he had an extreme physique. 

But what extreme physique? Was it a Time Extreme Physique? A Wood Extreme Physique? What could it be? 

Ning Zu's rank 5 aura burst around him, refining the rank 6 Immortal Gu that looked like a dragon's mouth with a green bead of immortal essence, making it into his vital Gu. 

The aura was still rising, as something was forming. 

Then beside him, a flying woman with white armor and messy brown hair appeared. She also wore a golden mask that hid her burned face. 

His Guardian stood next to Ning Zu on the other side, happy to see the woman. 

But the only people who could see the woman right now were Ning Zu and his Guardian. 

Why? 

Because she was also a Guardian that formed from Ning Zu being reborn into a new body. 

She looked just like Ning Zu's mother before she died. 

But Ning Zu paid her no attention; he was too mesmerized by his newly acquired aperture. 

Stretching his hands in the air, he looked at the black sky and recited: 

"A life forged in the crucible of relentless pain, 

Yet I rise, defying fate's cruel reign. 

I've bled for promises, wrestled with regret, 

And in the silence, found truths I won't forget. 

At times, I've dreamed of shedding this skin, 

Escaping the trials that rage within. 

But my soul can only endure and grow, 

Carving paths where no light shows. 

A legacy that I will etch in the river of time." 

Ning Zu, high in happiness, screamed for the world to hear. 

What he achieved was something no human could do, except for the legend Ren Zu himself. 

He made an extreme physique, a Food Path Physique to be exact, one that never existed until now. 

"Its name shall be the Immemorial Savage Gluttony Physique, the first artificially made extreme physique." 

After announcing that, Ning Zu felt his Food Path attainment reach Grandmaster level, achieving in mere minutes what should have taken centuries. 

Heaven's Will, in return, went mad, ready to deliver a devastating catastrophe that would wipe this entire Grotto Heaven from existence. 

The spirit had no way of stopping it now. It couldn't kill the reason why this was happening, and it couldn't expel it without its consent. 

It teleported down to Ning Zu, hoping to put some sense into him. 

But just a look in his eyes, it knew.

This guy was completely out of it right now. 

It clicked its tongue and teleported far away to prepare for the tribulation. 

While that was happening, the new Guardian smiled under the mask, making a Gu that the other Guardian had appear in its aperture and activating it, covering its master's naked body in elegant clothes. 

Not only did it look like Ning Zu's mother, but it also acted like her.