Reverend Insanity - Verdant Heart Seed

Bao Zhi has successfully deduced the opening time of Time Fisher Grotto.

"This phenomena is surprisingly rare." His conclusion was not what he initially expected. "If my calculations are correct then Time Fisher Grotto opens just once in every eight hundred years."

"This would explain why the rumors have picked up this time again, the next opening is about a month from now."

A month was both a long time and not long at all.

Bao Zhi still had to determine the location if he wanted to catch the opening!

"The two desert regions of Immemorial Desert and Floating Sand Plains are too far apart to consider visiting both on the given day. It would take over a day even with the immortal gu house to traverse the distance." He thought to himself.

Without further clues, Bao Zhi couldn't determine which one the actual location was, so he had no choice but to go and look at the two locations.

After multiple days of travel, he arrived at the edge of Immemorial Desert.

Immemorial Desert was a desolate land of grey stone with a hint of rust. Strange rock formations, sharp and thin crystalline spires punctuated the landscape of Immemorial Desert.

This place was dense with time path dao marks, nurturing time path gu worms like day gu or month gu.

Gu immortals had no interest in developing this area. Not only because of the prevalence of soul path in this era, but because this place didn't produce immortal materials.

Mortal gu masters would sometimes try their luck here. But to them, this seemingly empty place was not without dangers.

One could easily lose their sense of time here, leading to all kinds of unexpected problems, like venturing too deep, getting lost or dying of thirst.

If gu masters accidentally came in contact with the crystalline spires, they would be inflicted with time path injuries, in the mildest case losing lifespan at an accelerated pace until the injury was cured or dying on the spot in severe cases.

Bao Zhi activated his immortal killer move as he flew in the air, surveying the land below.

Immortal killer move — Human Qi Perception!

Using the human path Warp Perception immortal gu as the core, the killer move expanded Bao Zhi's dense human qi over a large area, blanketing the pointy rocks and barren ground equally.

Bao Zhi could detect many lifeforms hiding in the cracks and crevices as he passed by, but he was uninterested in these critters and mortal gu worms.

He continued his search for three days, but in the end, he came up empty handed. Nothing related to Time Fisher grotto was uncovered.

But he had discovered traces of other gu immortals recently. Bao Zhi suspected their purpose here was the same as his.

"Continuing like this is a pointless waste of immortal essence. My investigative killer move is only at rank six. Finding the rank eight grotto itself is impossible without specific space path methods. Or maybe time path methods in this case could also provide some help." Bao Zhi sighed to himself and concluded his search for clues.

His next destination was Floating Sand Plains.

He had to travel for five days without stopping to reach the lands where one could see the well known clumps of dark sand rising and falling.

Floating Sand Plains were a geologically active area with fire and earth path dao marks.

The plains were dotted with round pits that glowed red hot. Faint plumes of smoke emanated from their depths, filling the whole area with a rotten smell.

One could see trodden paths among the red pits.

This place, despite its hostile appearance was a popular place for gu masters to collect iron sand and sell it as a refinement material.

Even the ground was covered with low grade iron sand, but as it was mixed with sooth and other contaminants, it was unsuitable for gu refinement without processing.

The purest iron sand could be obtained by extracting the magnetic lava directly from the pits and letting it cool and crumble into pure magnetic sand.

Bao Zhi could detect much more activity here.

Even gu immortals were flying in the sky!

A faint smile appeared on Bao Zhi's face as he concealed his presence, and approached one of the gu immortals.

He followed the gu immortal for a while. Soon, he became certain, this rank six gu immortal was also searching for something just like him.

"Just as I expected, others who obtained the clues also came to the same conclusion, checking out these two desert locations."

But not Bao Zhi, nor the other immortals found what they came for.

Without results, Bao Zhi was at an impasse. Which location should he choose?

Choosing blindly, it was a one in two chance he chose correctly.

"Considering the immortal essence stones I spent to investigate the two desert areas and Hao Meng's situation, I can't leave this up to luck." He thought to himself.

"Hm?" A moment of realization hit him. "Luck!"

"Even if I do not know the correct location, I can still get lucky!"

What an absurd line of reasoning if taken out of context, but luck was a real force in the gu world!

Luck was first isolated from human qi, it was how it was first discovered.

"Considering that I have an unusually large amount of human qi, does that mean I have a larger amount of luck as well?"

Bao Zhi had no attainment in luck path, not even ordinary level.

But it was only natural; Giant Sun Immortal Venerable, the creator of luck path has never spread it. Luck path couldn't become a mainstream path like strength and transformation path did in the olden antiquity era or soul path in the current era.

There were very few luck path cultivators, and the general knowledge of luck path was very surface level.

It was common knowledge among gu immortals that after Red Lotus demon venerable damaged Fate gu, many changes occurred.

Fate gu represented certainty and predestination. With its power weakening, certainty gave rise to uncertainty and variability.

Luck path was the way of tapping into this variability and making use of it.

"I need to check this." Bao Zhi had an idea.

He accessed Treasure Yellow Heaven and purchased a batch of one hundred purple gold rocks.

These rocks were mainstream goods in rock gambling dens.

Gu masters would try their luck and open these rocks carefully to see if there was a gu worm inside or not.

Yes, even some gu immortals liked to gamble or continued their habit after becoming gu immortals like they did as gu masters.

Bao Zhi, like other gu immortals, could naturally use a killer move to determine their contents at a single glance without opening them, but he deliberately refrained from doing so.

He laid out all hundred purple gold rocks on the ground.

Then without much pondering, he chose ten purple gold rocks and set them aside.

"The odds of this happening..." The results shocked him!

Out of the ten purple gold rocks, eight had a gu worm inside, and five of those were alive!

Upon checking the whole set of a hundred, only twelve rocks contained a gu and those four others he didn't choose all had fossilized dead gu.

He had to check again. He scrambled the rocks and chose with his eyes closed.

Now only six out of ten rocks contained gu. But the five with alive gu were once again selected!

This was all Bao Zhi needed to know; he had good luck!

He immediately produced a wood path mortal gu worm.

Cactus pointer!

This wood path gu had a wisdom path effect, it could arrive at a conclusion given what the user knew. Of course, it would give wrong answers if the assumptions were false.

But Bao Zhi had no clue or bias to continue on, the result would be arbitrary in this case.

This was the perfect place for luck to show its effect!

Bao Zhi held the small seed, known as a cactus pointer, in his hand. He gently buried it in the sand, pressing down on the soil with his palm while channeling a trace of diluted essence into it.

After a few moments, he removed his hand, and the soil began to shift.

A delicate sprout emerged, its translucent green color making it seem fragile. The sprout grew rapidly, changing from a pale yellow-green to a vibrant green, and finally settling into a deep, dark green.

It resembled a cactus, with thick, fleshy stems covered in sharp white thorns.

Soon, a bud appeared at the top of the cactus. The bud grew larger, turning into a beautiful flower. Meanwhile, the main body of the cactus began to wither, its moisture draining away as it shrank.

Bao Zhi extended his fingers and carefully plucked the flower bud. As soon as he removed it, the cactus turned gray and crumbled to dust within seconds.

The cactus pointer was a rank three consumable gu.

Bao Zhi examined the flower bud closely and peeled it open.

Instead of layers of petals, the bud revealed itself to be like a tightly folded ball of paper.

As he unfolded it completely, it transformed into a square sheet of a small paper with a single word written on it: "Immemorial"

With the result in hand, Bao Zhi made a sudden realization. He pondered for a short moment.

"It's not enough to have good luck. One needs to have awareness, and provide an opportunity for his luck. Only by acknowledging its influence can you take full advantage of it."

How many chances in life come by that one misses, simply because one fails to realize the significance of luck in it.

From the depth of his memory, he recalled the old tale of the lone camel.

The lone camel escaped from its owner and wandered the sands of the desert. But soon, after many days, it found itself exhausted. Equally hungry and equally thirsty.

On its right, in the distance the camel saw a field of green grass.

On its left, far away, there was a clear spring.

The camel stood at the midpoint.

Thirst clawing at its throat and hunger gnawing at its belly, it was unable to decide which direction to choose. Each choice seemed a betrayal to the other.

Now it was not burdened by weight of wares but by a dilemma.

Should it starve or should it die of thirst?

Thus, the camel stood still, paralyzed by indecision as the sun climbed higher, casting its harsh rays on the lone camel.

To the fortune of the camel, its owner was looking for it.

When the camel noticed its former owner on the horizon, it panicked and ran in the opposite direction.

The man has lost his camel once again.

But now the camel realized he was closer to the spring water, so it quenched its thirst. Refreshed, then it turned towards the patch of grass and ate heartily.

With both needs satisfied, the camel went on its way.

"Sometimes, a nudge from disorder clears the fog of indecision."

"When the mind is undecided of choice, let the winds of chance blow, for even a startled step leads to the path of resolution."

Had Bao Zhi continued his search, looking for a definite clue in longing for certainty, would he have found an answer or would he have wasted more time? There's no telling.

Bao Zhi made up his mind and headed back to Immemorial Desert once again, now with the intention to wait and enter Time Fisher grotto on its opening day.

He sent a letter gu to the Tang brothers to go and look around at Floating Sand Plains openly, not bothering to conceal their intentions.

He also messaged Hao Meng and Qinyang to join him at Immemorial Desert before the exploration.

But Hao Meng could feel his tribulation nearing. He would most likely die if he were in a grotto heaven when his tribulation arrived.

The problem was twofold, because he couldn't place down his immortal aperture to draw in heaven and earth qi for the tribulation. Then the tribulation would have no other way but to draw heaven and earth qi from his immortal aperture, ruining its foundation or even collapsing it like how the Treasure Blue Beaver blessed land ended.

Second, if Hao Meng couldn't enter personally to face his tribulation, the tribulation could rampage unhindered causing untold damage and destruction until he could intervene.

It would be best if Hao Meng could join the exploration, but Bao Zhi understood this danger was too big.

He supplied Hao Meng with ample advice regarding tribulations and calamities.

Unexpectedly, Qinyang wanted to join. It was unusual to see her leave the immortal gu house so readily and not be buried in formations or information path research.

"I won't object if you bring the immortal gu house. But you are still a gu master. How will you be of help, let alone take care of yourself?" Bao Zhi was not convinced.

"Didn't you send your son, a rank one gu master, to do just this? I'll let you know by the time the grotto opens I will have broken through to rank four." She proclaimed. "So you won't have to worry about me."

Bao Zhi could sense in her a source of new found confidence.

"So be it." He agreed in the end.

...

On the night of opening, multiple figures gathered in Immemorial Desert's moonlit sky.

The full moon brightly shone near the horizon, casting long shadows behind the crystalline spires.

Soon, the awaited moment arrived.

All present could hear a clear voice in the minds.

"The hours one spends fishing are not counted against his lifespan."

"The calm found in tranquility flows onward into perpetuity."

"The eye of Time Fisher grotto opens where the moments fall like sand."

"The rise of the timeless moon unveils the path at the stretch of shadows."

A pillar of light flashed in the moonlit night, attracting the gu immortals like moths to a flame.

Time Fisher Grotto has opened!

* * * * *