The rain poured heavily from above, and snake-like lightning danced in the sky randomly. This sustained for the entire night.
Fang Yuan lay on his bed, hearing the shouting of Gu Masters outside his house and the sound of their footsteps in the rain.
He squinted his eyes, visions of his past life flashing in his head again.
In his previous life when the wolf tide attacked, he was still a Rank one Gu Master, and being part of the support group, he hid within the village and managed to escape the disastrous fate.
But this time, he was already a Rank two middle stage, and he had the Four Flavor Liquor worm, currently moving towards upper stage. Thus, he had to be like other Gu Masters, resisting the wolf tide in such a dark night.
"The rain is pouring outside, and they still have to fight the large amount of lightning wolves in this poor vision, this is truly torture," Fang Yuan snorted in his heart.
He did not sleep in the rented apartment, but instead he was at the inn.
If Fang Yuan was at the rented house, he would definitely be forced to partic.i.p.ate.
"The clan higher-ups have definitely underestimated this wolf tide’s severity, the correct method would be to hide in the village and defend to the end. Unfortunately, they are blinded by past experiences..." Fang Yuan flipped around in his bed while thinking about this.
Outside the window, the rain splattered all over the place, it was definitely a storm.
Sounds of thunder constantly entered his ears.
On the streets, Gu Masters hurriedly moved about, the sounds of their footsteps and furious bellows never having a pause.
At once, the cries of the wolves reached the village.
This was destined to be a sleepless night.
Whether it was the Gu Masters who were risking their lives fighting, or the mortals hiding in the village shivering, or even Fang Yuan. After sleeping until the midnight hour, they naturally awoke.
He did not get up, but opened his eyes in the darkness while lying on his bed.
The sounds outside the window entered his ears. People’s life and death battles, he could imagine, along with the thunderstorm outside the village. Gu Masters and wolf packs formed an extraordinarily lively stage. No matter which character, they were displaying the essence of life.
Life was like a show, this was a good show. But Fang Yuan had no intentions of joining the act.
On the contrary, he felt a sense of unexplainable loneliness.
A loneliness with boundary.
This was not because he was a transmigrator, reincarnator, or the fact that he carried an unspeakable secret.
But because, everyone was born lonely!
Humans are like isolated islands, floating in the sea of fate.
Human encounters are like the collision of these loneliness islands, and once they touch, there would be an effect.
Sometimes, the islands would stick together, in the name of ‘interest’, ‘kinship’, ‘friendship’, ‘love’ and ‘hate’.
But eventually, they would separate, walking towards the path of destruction.
This is the truth behind life.
Unfortunately people are always afraid of being alone, they craved the liveliness of human crowd, and they refused to do nothing with their time.
Because once they face loneliness, it meant facing pain and hardship.
But once they can face this pain, people would obtain talent and courage. Thus, there is a saying — High achievers are definitely lonely.
"This is the feeling of being lonely. Every time I savour this, it strengthens my resolve to pursue the demonic way!" Fang Yuan’s gaze shone, thinking of the story of Ren Zu.
Legend says, Ren Zu had obtained the Att.i.tude Gu. Att.i.tude Gu was like a mask, and without a heart Ren Zu couldn’t wear it.
Because before this, Ren Zu had given his heart to the Hope Gu, and from then on he never feared difficulty.
But if Ren Zu wanted to use the Att.i.tude Gu, he needed to have a heart.
Ren Zu was troubled, thus he asked Att.i.tude Gu; he said, "Oh Gu, sometimes att.i.tude says its all. Now that I have encountered a problem, you know it, thus I’m here to seek advice."
Att.i.tude Gu said, "This is not hard. Ren Zu, you lack a heart, thus you just have to find a new one."
Ren Zu was confused, asking again, "Then how can I find a new heart?"
Att.i.tude Gu sighed, "Heart, is nowhere and everywhere. Finding a heart, it is both easy and difficult. With your situation, you can obtain a heart now."
Ren Zu was overjoyed, "Quick, tell me, how?"
Att.i.tude Gu warned him, "This heart, is called loneliness. Human, are you sure you want it? Once you obtain it, you will face endless pain, loneliness and even fear!"
Ren Zu did not listen to his warning, he continued asking.
Att.i.tude Gu could not defy Ren Zu’s orders, thus he said, "You only have to stare at the sky on a starry night, and say nothing. Once you reach daylight, you will obtain the heart of loneliness."
That night, it was a star-filled sky.
According to Att.i.tude Gu’s instructions, Ren Zu sat alone at the mountain peak, staring at the night sky.
Before this, his life was very difficult, constantly struggling for survival, he had no time to admire this beautiful yet mysterious sky.
But now, as he stared at the starry sky, his thoughts began floating. Constantly thinking about himself, such a meagre and weak being like himself, living a life of constant fear and insecurity.
"Sigh, although I have Hope Gu, Strength Gu, Rules and Regulation Gu, and Att.i.tude Gu, to survive in this land, it is still difficult as ever. Even if I die tomorrow, it is not shocking. If I die, will the world remember me? Will anyone rejoice over my existence, and grieve over my death?"
Thinking of this, Ren Zu shook his head.
In this world, he was the only human, how can there be others?
Even with Gu accompanying him, he still felt a strong sense of —
Loneliness.
Heart of loneliness!
At this moment, when Ren Zu felt lonely, his body suddenly had a brand new heart.
The sun rose from the horizon, and shone on his face. But Ren Zu felt no happiness, and instead felt an endless pain, despair, confusion and even fear.
He could not endure this loneliness and fear, for all he felt was the advent of darkness and apocalypse!
Thus, he painfully cried, stretching out his fingers and digging out his eyes.
His left eye fell onto the ground and transformed into a young man. He had golden hair and a strong body. Once he appeared, he kneeled at Ren Zu’s feet, saying: "Oh Ren Zu, my father, I am your eldest son, Verdant Great Sun."
At the same time, his right eye turned into a young girl, and she held Ren Zu’s hand, saying, "Oh Ren Zu, my father, I am your second daughter, Desolate Ancient Moon."
Ren Zu laughed loudly, tears flowing out of his empty sockets. He said ‘good’ three times and continued, "I have children now, I can finally endure the pain of the heart of loneliness. From now one, there will be people celebrating my existence, and grieving for my death, even if I die now, you will remember me."
"Only that..." Finally, he sighed, "I lost both my eyes, and can no longer see the light. From now on, you two shall observe this world for me."
It rained the entire night, only at dawn did the rain stop.
Fang Yuan left the inn. Along the streets the pa.s.sersbies carried heavy and sad expressions.
This night, the clan suffered great losses.
The truth was, for the three clans on Qing Mao mountain, none of them escaped this fate; all had suffered heavy losses.
Fang Yuan could tell from seeing the merit board.
After a night, the battle merit board lost twenty-five small groups, all sacrificed in the wolf tide. Even if there was one or two survivors, they were either injured or crippled.
The group Gu Yue Peng was in, was among this.
The dozen over days after this, the situation worsened by the day.
First, the hundred beast king bold lightning wolf had appeared, and then soon after, reports came in that there was the thousand beast king frenzy lightning wolf!
Information like this, caused the Rank two Gu Masters battling to be frightened.
If they met the frenzy lightning wolf, they would need at least three groups to cooperate to deal with it. This is not including the normal wolf groups together with the frenzy lightning wolf.
The three clans had to send out their Rank three elders to deal with the situation.
In this situation, the Gu Masters’ daily lives became very dangerous and long.
Even with the Stealth Scales Gu, Fang Yuan had to be careful and meticulous. After all, he might encounter a beast king cla.s.s lightning wolf with a Lightning Eye Gu.
The good news was that he had previously paid a price to be able to use the Earth Communication Ear Gra.s.s.
This investigative Gu’s range was very large, allowing him to avoid the large-sized wolf packs.
Eventually, the weather got warmer as July was at its end. Even though the situation was not optimistic, under the cooperation of the three clans, the situation was under control.
Somewhere near the mountainside.
Three Gu Masters who had already experienced an intense battle were facing against a bold lightning wolf that had just arrived.
The aura of death was impending.
"d.a.m.n it, insufficient primeval essence, if I had 60%, no just 30%, we would not have to be chased like this!" Group leader Xiong Zhan stared at the slowly approaching bold lightning wolf, like a cat chasing a mouse, he vomited a mouthful of b.l.o.o.d.y water.
"The mountain cliff is ahead, there is no path left, what do we do?" A group member asked with a pale expression.
"What can we do? We can only put our hopes on the reinforcements. I heard lord Bai Ning Bing from my clan has come out of his closed door cultivation and is rushing into battle."
The two original groups, from both the Xiong clan and Bai clan, faced the wolf tide together and cooperated, but now only three people were left.
"Rather than relying on the Bai Ning Bing who is nowhere to be found, I’d rather fight for a chance to survive!" Xiong Zhan gritted his teeth, "The reason why a beast king is so dangerous, is because of the Gu on its body. I have a Plunder Gu, it can forcefully steal a Gu worm from my enemy. But it needs to be sustained when activated and I cannot move. During this period, you have to protect me."
"Okay!" The other two looked at each other and stood in front of Xiong Zhan, helping him block the bold lightning wolf.
Even though they knew that there was little hope, no one was willing to resign themselves to death.
"If the plunder is successful, we have a chance to live! Heaven bless us!" Xiong Zhan’s face was determined as he raised his right arm.
Life and death depends on this!
The three humans and one wolf did not know that, high up on the cliff, a white haired young man wearing a white shirt was staring at this scene.
"Life is so boring..." He sat on the ground, one hand propping himself up, while the other was pouring liquid from his wine bottle.
What he poured out was not wine, but sweet mountain springwater.
He did not drink wine, but only liked water.
As this young man drank, he stared at the show before him.
"Fight, and die. Such a mundane life is too boring. Only with an intense battle like this, can your lives have a hint of excitement and colour. This way, your lives has some meaning."
He laughed lightly in his heart, not showing any inclination to help.
Even if he had the ability, even if his Bai clan member was there.
So what?
To him, loneliness is the deepest darkness, and the light of kinship is just a facade.
He Bai Ning Bing would not do something as boring as saving someone!
太日阳莽 - Verdant Great Sun
古月阴荒 - Desolate Ancient Moon
Important Note: These names are really hard to translate, actually because they are names they should be in pinyin, Tai Ri Yang Mang and Gu Yue Yin Huang.
However the names are relevant to another plot-wise matter… so they had to be translated to English, which was really difficult. For Gu Yue Yin Huang, the Gu Yue here is exactly the same as the Gu Yue clan.