Chapter 459: Dream Wing Gu

"Where are you going?" Wang Shi kept a close eye on me. This cunning suspense writer would never truly trust anyone—after all, he had murdered his own wife with his bare hands.

"Just looking around." I didn't tell Wang Shi and Feng Minglong the truth. The Deep Well might be our only way out, so I had to treat it with caution.

Wang Shi looked at me suspiciously, as if trying to read something from my face. "I'll go with you."

"Suit yourself." Wang Shi and I quietly slipped away from the god-welcoming procession. The Blood Fox and the Lu Clan Ancestors were tangled up in a fierce fight, creating the perfect distraction for us three outsiders to take advantage of the chaos.

Hopping over the low fence at the village entrance, I picked up my pace and arrived beside the Deep Well at the edge of the village.

"What are you doing here?" Wang Shi had thought I was going to sneak away entirely, but to his surprise, I stopped right after leaving the village.

"There's something wrong with this well," I said with a mysterious smile, offering no further explanation as I leaned over to peer inside.

The well's opening was about a meter in diameter and built from blue bricks. Its exterior was square while the interior was perfectly round, resembling a bagua layout—a design meant to channel the mutual generation of metal and water.

The well was ancient and primitive in design. Perhaps because it was the only source of drinking water in the village, it was frequently maintained. A wooden bucket tied to a hemp rope sat neatly to the side. Everything looked completely spotless, without a single weed growing nearby.

I rested both hands on the edge of the well and looked down.

It wasn't a dry well. About one or two meters down, I could see the pitch-black surface of the water. Not a single ripple disturbed it. The ancient well was dead calm, reflecting my face like a mirror that had transcended time.

'Can I really return to the Yang Realm just by jumping in?' It was only after seeing the well for myself that I realized just how absurd my theory was. It looked like a completely ordinary well. With the sky so dark, it was impossible to see what lay beneath the water's surface.

"Number Twelve, you didn't leave the god-welcoming procession just to look at a well, did you?"

"Would you believe me if I told you this is our hope for escape?"

I looked at Wang Shi with absolute seriousness. His mouth twitched slightly. He knew I wasn't joking, but that was exactly why he couldn't come up with a response. "The edge of the well is slippery. Once you jump down, getting back up will be difficult. Why don't we have Feng Minglong go down and test it first?"

In Wang Shi's eyes, Feng Minglong was the weakest of us three outsiders, and he just so happened to be absent. Although his idea was dark, it wasn't without logic.

"There's no rush. I might be overlooking something important." According to the clues from the Underworld Live Show, the Deep Well was only one of the clues. To actually use this well to escape, we would probably still need to find Old Wei.

'In a village this big, if he really wants to hide, where am I supposed to look?' I couldn't make any sense of Old Wei's situation for the moment. Just as I was lost in thought, the Underworld Live Show Phone in my pocket let out a soft chime.

Ding!

I pulled out the phone and checked it. A brand-new text message had arrived in the inbox.

"Optional Quest Four: A wondrous Gu known as the Dream Wing Gu is hidden within the thousand-year-old locust tree in Suolong Village. Obtain this Gu to be rewarded with five points; present this Gu to the Live Show for an additional thirty points, as well as one Live Broadcast Immunity, one free call for help, and one random live broadcast quest replacement!"

'The fourth optional quest has unlocked!' Staring at the text message in my inbox, I couldn't calm down for a long time. This quest's payout was the most generous I had ever seen. Just capturing this Gu would earn me five points, and handing it over to the Underworld Live Show offered a massive thirty-point reward. What tempted me even more were the perks that followed—Live Broadcast Immunity and the right to randomly replace a live broadcast quest. As long as I used them well, those two privileges could secure me tremendous benefits.

'The wondrous Dream Wing Gu... even the Underworld Live Show desperately wants it. This Gu is definitely not ordinary.' Given the greedy and stingy nature of the Underworld Live Show, the fact that they were offering such lavish conditions to obtain the Dream Wing Gu proved one thing: in the Underworld Live Show's eyes, the value of this Gu far exceeded the rewards they were giving away.

'They've finally shown their true colors. These last two optional quests are the Underworld Live Show's true purpose for sending me to stream in this hellhole.' Whether it was the Good and Evil Sarira or the Dream Wing Gu, both were extremely precious items. No wonder the Live Show had been so cautious, waiting until the very last moment to issue them.

'This thing probably only exists here in the Yin-Yang Boundary. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I might as well risk it. My foundation is too weak right now; whether I keep the Dream Wing Gu for myself or hand it over to the Underworld Live Show, it's a guaranteed win either way.'

I quickly made my decision. Taking out my phone, I looked at the livestream room and asked, "Fellow livestream viewers, have any of you ever heard of the Dream Wing Gu? Do you know what it does?"

Even knowing that the Underworld Live Show had planted spies in the livestream room, I had no choice but to ask the livestream viewers. In this perilous situation, I had no other option.

Half-immortal Liu from Qingcheng Mountain: "My young friend, I have heard people speak of the wondrous Dream Wing Gu before. Rumor has it that this Gu is the true essence of heaven and earth. It can travel freely between the real and the ethereal, and it often dwells in the dreams of mortals, feeding off their emotions and desires. Its greatest ability is carrying a person through the Dream Realm and wandering the river of time. I've heard it can even reveal fragmented visions of the future."

'It can enter dreams and predict the future? This Gu is that miraculous?' My understanding of Gu insects was still stuck at Mr. Gu's level. I thought a Gu was simply the result of venomous insects slaughtering each other until the most toxic, most ruthless survivor remained.

Half-immortal Liu from Qingcheng Mountain: "Such a miraculous entity is nurtured by heaven and earth; humans couldn't possibly breed it. Furthermore, because it travels between the Dream Realm and reality, it is incredibly difficult to catch. I had only ever heard of it and always assumed it was a human fabrication. I didn't expect to broaden my horizons here and witness a real Dream Wing."

"The Dream Wing Gu usually dwells in the Dream Realm, but this is the Yin-Yang Boundary. Could there be a mistake? Or is it possible that I'm actually in a dream right now?" The appearance of the Dream Wing Gu made me slightly doubt my own situation.

"Rest assured, my young friend, this old Daoist's judgment is never wrong. The place you are in is undoubtedly the Yin-Yang Boundary. As for the Dream Wing Gu, it is entirely possible for it to appear there. The Dream Wing can travel between the real and the ethereal; Yin and Yang do not form an insurmountable boundary for it. Perhaps this Dream Wing Gu entered the dream of an underworld walker and was brought here as a result. By the way, if you have the Dream Wing Gu on you, you might be able to try another method of leaving."

"What method?"

"The Yang Realm is vast and boundless. There must be connecting points between the two worlds. These passages are extremely secretive, and only the Dream Wing Gu can find them."

I looked at Half-immortal Liu's barrage messages and slowly nodded. "Thank you for clearing that up, Half-immortal. It's a good thing you're online for this live broadcast. Otherwise, I'd be completely in the dark, and I'd probably lose my life."

"You have your own heaven-sent fortune, my young friend. Truth be told, I'm quite ashamed. The first time I watched your livestream, I predicted you were guaranteed to die. Who would have thought that after so many broadcasts, you'd still be alive and kicking? It truly makes this old Daoist want to hide his face in shame." Half-immortal Liu sent a few sweating emojis—a rare sight. It seemed he had picked up quite a few "things" from hanging around my livestream room.

The chaotic brawl between the Blood Fox and the villagers continued. Faint bursts of Buddhist light flashed amidst the crowd as they fought with ferocious intensity. I quietly took my phone and walked toward the old locust tree. It was very close to the Soul Sedan Chair here.

"Half-immortal, I received a message saying the Dream Wing Gu is hiding inside this old locust tree right now, but I checked this tree when I first entered the village and didn't find anything unusual. Do I need to chop its trunk and branches open?" I stared at the ancient locust tree in front of me. Standing before it, I felt like a groundhog that had just popped out of its burrow, only able to look up at its massive canopy.

Half-immortal Liu from Qingcheng Mountain: "If you want to obtain the Dream Wing Gu, you must not harm this locust tree under any circumstances. As the old saying goes, it takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to rear a person. Trees that are over a century old become homes for wandering spirits, known as tree deities. If the Dream Wing Gu really is inside the locust tree, then this Gu has likely already become the locust tree's tree deity. Harming the locust tree means harming the Dream Wing Gu. Furthermore, ancient trees themselves are physical manifestations of feng shui. The fact that this village has been able to multiply in the Yin-Yang Boundary, keeping its incense burning for generations, is related to this tree. If you cut down this tree, you'll be severing the entire village's incense."

"Is it really that serious?"

"Buddhist precepts forbid monks from cutting down trees precisely because lesser spirits and deities often attach themselves to plants and wood for shelter. Out of compassion for these spirits and to avoid inciting their wrath, one must not destroy their homes. If you recklessly damage it, not only will you fail to catch the Dream Wing Gu, but you will also likely suffer an attack from the Gu insect."