"Father- what kind of nonsense are you talking? Why would you ever kill me?" the man asked his father, laughing, though his father did not so much as crack a smile in response and the man's laughter died out awkwardly. "Father... you are serious? Do... do I betray you in some way?"
The father shook his head. "No. I have seen the future and I am fated to kill you in an accident during battle. Even if I hope to avoid it, it is inevitable if that is what fate has decreed. Whatsoever fate decrees will certainly pass. I have envisioned endless scenarios but there is no way out of this prediction."
"So what will we do? You just... have to be more careful is all!" the man said, unable to think of anything more profound, despite being a Wisdom Path expert.
"There is no escaping fate," the father said. "However, there is an exception... it turns out that by being an Otherworldly Demon, I am somewhat able to resist fate."
"Ah! So the problem is solved then!"
The father shook his head. "It would be if it were a certain event that led to this tragedy- but no, even if I change what I do, the river of fate always corrects its course and one way or another, my child, I cause your death. My child, I have come to realize many things while living for over three hundred years in this world. Back where I came from, men could not survive for longer than a century- but there is a universal truth between both of these worlds. There is no such thing as eternal life, and those who strive for such are fools. What is important is not living forever- but living life to the fullest. Even if I could live for a million years, I would never want to live knowing that I had killed my one and only son. The only reminder of the wife I found in this strange world before she passed away. There are no certain ways to circumvent fate even for an Otherworldly Demon... except for one."
The man became filled with panic as he realized what the natural conclusion to this was going to be. "No! Father! We can think of something else! We can find another solution we-"
The father shook his head as he gently smiled. "There is only one way to be certain that I avoid my fate. I leave my entire inheritance to you, my son. May you lead our clan well." He then sighed. "Truth be said, it is possible fate will correct itself to take your life regardless, but if my actions can buy you even a single more breath of time in this world, I am fine with it. I have taught you all I know, and you are ready now. Once you are Rank 7, feel free to absorb my blessed land for your own aperture. My land spirit will readily acknowledge you as its owner."
The father then self-detonated, dissolving into tiny wisps of light as his immortal aperture fell to the ground.
The man was filled with a sense of sadness and loss.
With that the entire dream realm was finally over. It had been rather straightforward, with very little parts that took his input.
It didn't even feel like he could've failed the dream realm, which meant that the system wasn't lying and it was indeed quite straightforward.
However, it had still strained his soul, which was to be expected given it was just an ordinary level soul. Fang Yuan felt like he could sleep for three days and three nights. Even with his own sense of perseverance he could feel his eyelids drooping.
The effort had been well worth it though- his attainment level in Human Path had gone from Ordinary to Master level in a few hours. If he had been left on his own, such an endeavor would have taken him 50-60 years if he were studying on his own and 5-10 years if he had some kind of guidance (like an inheritance or teacher in the path). With that said, the higher one's attainment level, the harder it would be to increase it. It would be harder to get to Grandmaster, harder still to Great Grandmaster, and only the Venerables had ever reached the heights of Supreme Grandmaster in any single path.
With his newfound attainment in Human Path, Fang Yuan sent his mind to the strange Rank 4 Gu Worm that he had obtained which was resting in his aperture. He was now sure that it was a Human Path gu worm, but the issue was that his attainment level was still too low to be able to identify a gu worm that was completely new to him. He was only able to get a vague idea based on certain clues. If his attainment level in the Human Path were to rise further, he might be able to know its exact name even if he had never seen it before.
"Brother, are you alright?" Fang Zheng asked. To him, it just looked like Fang Yuan had been meditating for several hours and given him some strange instructions. Fang Yuan had woken up before the allotted time period was over, so he hadn't had to try to force Fang Yuan up, but now that the whole ordeal was over Fang Zheng naturally had several questions- all of which Fang Yuan wished to avoid or deflect for now.
"I'm fine," Fang Yuan said, yawning, and waving his hand in a nonchalant manner. "I'm just a bit tired." His soul was fatigued, and the best way available for him to recover it was to sleep. "I might call in sick tomorrow."
"What was that small thing you pulled out? Some kind of gu worm?"
"Don't worry about it, it's not important," Fang Yuan said, stifling a yawn. "But, I wanted to talk to you about something else. I think it's time that I break through to Rank 3 very soon."
"Right now? But you're just at Rank 2 Middle Stage!"
"Yes, but the merchant caravan is coming," Fang Yuan said. "And very soon. There are some gu worms that can help me- and we need to prepare primeval stones for when I breakthrough to Rank 3."
"Understood!" Fang Zheng said.
"I'm going to sleep," Fang Yuan said, wandering off to the place where he could sleep.
He mulled over what he had seen in his dreams. Had the dream about his parents really been theirs? Or had the system generated that dream? As far as he knew neither of his parents would have any talent in the Human Path so it was odd that was the attainment level it gave him.
As for the second half of the dream, involving the Wisdom Gu Immortal who had predicted he would accidentally kill his son, and deciding to preferably kill himself rather than let that happen. Even that felt that it would be more of a Wisdom Path dream realm than anything else, yet it had granted him attainment in the Human Path.
Who were those two Gu Immortals he had seen in his dream? They never addressed each other by name, nor did he know which clan they belonged to. Only that they had likely been in the Western Desert at some point in the past- which was not much to go on.
Fang Zheng meanwhile, started cultivating, though he only did this for a while before once again using the Nine Leaf Vitality Grass in order to generate more primeval stones for Fang Yuan's future breakthrough. Also, he had some idea of what Fang Yuan wanted to buy from the merchant caravan, and they would need loads of primeval stones for the same.