The Legends of Ren Zu, Chapter Six, Section Four (continued):
"Fairness, hmm? Yes, I have seen Fairness Gu," Ren Zu said. Ren Zu had encountered Fairness Gu while going through the Door of Life and Death in order to rescue Verdant Sun, though he had ultimately lost his own life during this attempt. "But, Fairness Gu separated from Fate Gu at that point. The only fairness that one can find is in death."
"That is all true, human," the Mushroommen Mycelium said. "And so, seeking fairness - all the Mushroommen do now is try to kill each other. Perhaps then they will finally gain peace once they find Fairness Gu in the afterlife."
"But what if there weren't any differences?" Carefree Wisdom Heart asked. "Then Envy would have no effect on you."
"Oh human," the Mushroommen Mycelium said. "So long as people are alive, there will be differences between them. Some will be tall, some sort, some beautiful, some ugly, and even if they are born the same - life experience will set them apart. Differences will exist unless the population of a race is reduced to one. When your father, Ren Zu, was the only human - it was the only time in history where it could be said that all of humanity lived in harmony. The moment another human came into the picture, there were differences!"
"But," Carefree Wisdom Heart said, "even if there are differences, we cannot always be fighting one another."
"Is there a way to get rid of Envy Gu?" Ren Zu asked. "Or a way that you can help us otherwise?"
"Human, if you can get rid of Envy Gu, you can perhaps stop this infighting," the Mushroommen Mycelium said.
"But, we are currently wounded. I don't think that we can help you," Ren Zu answered.
"Oh human, then I will aide you," the Mushroommen Mycelium said. "You may find the cure for your ailments deep below, in my roots."
"In your roots?" Carefree Wisdom Heart asked.
"Yes, although we live within Green Heaven, Heaven and Earth touch each other, and through the Earth, we are able to continue making our poisons," the Mushroommen Mycelium said.
"Poison? You intend to feed us poison?" Great Strength True Martial asked.
"Oh humans, poison and medicine are oftentimes one in the same - the same things given in different quantities and with different intentions. Go and look in my roots, and you will find the solution to your woes," the Mushroommen Mycelium said.
The trio made their way to the vast network of roots planted by the Mushroommen Mycelium. There, they found quantities of strange blue liquid.
"Oh humans, this liquid contains the essence of Heaven, you may drink sparingly from it," the Mushroommen Mycelium said.
The three of them drank a small amount of it.
Right next to this puddle was another one filled with a strange green liquid.
"Oh, humans, this liquid contains the essence of the Earth, you may drink equal to it what you drank from the essence of Heaven," the Mushroommen Mycelium said.
The trio began balancing the two liquids, and soon enough, Carefree Wisdom Heart and Great Strength True Martial felt relaxed and at ease.
Ren Zu, however, was still not satisfied.
"What is going on?"
"Oh, Ren Zu, man is the spirit of all things, and gu are the essence of Heaven and Earth," the Mushroommen Mycelium said. "To you, who are the spirit ancestor, naturally the balance between Human, Heaven, and Earth is harder to achieve. But do not overdrink, oh Ren Zu, or you will have trouble digesting it."
"Understood," Ren Zu said. He had to drink far more Heaven and Earth essence than his children, but indeed began feeling better.'
His wounds and trauma that he had recently undergone slowly faded away.
However, it was here that Ren Zu ended up making a mistake.
He drank too much Earth Essence!
"Oh no, I don't feel too good," Ren Zu said, clutching his stomach.
In moderate dose, the Earth Essence was medicine - but Ren Zu had taken too much.
It was poisoning him instead!
The Earth Essence poured into his body, concentrating in his liver - the detoxifying organ of humans.
But even his liver was about to be overwhelmed, swelling to three times its size before it burst forth from his stomach.
"AGH!" Ren Zu yelled out as a child emerged from the large fragment of what had once been his liver.
A man stood up. His skin was a soft brown, with golden hair the color of fresh crops waving in the wind from atop his head. He had a gentle gaze, with irises the color of the freshly ploughed fields.
"Hello, Father," he said.
This child was Ren Zu's ninth child, and fifth son, Profound Earth Origin!
***
As Fang Yuan pondered over these words, new insight came to him.
First of all was from the fact that Ren Zu and his children had to balance Heaven, Earth, and Human essence in order to maintain themselves.
This could be seen as balancing the three Qi during Immortal Ascension, or how Immortals had to balance them by placing down their Blessed Lands from time to time.
Now though, in the context of the Mushroommen, he felt that there was another meaning to it.
But what?
Like a flash of lightning, inspiration struck him.
He realized why these words seemed so familiar - not because he had read them in The Legends of Ren Zu before but rather in the texts back when he had been in the dream realm with Xie Han Mo.
He had studied the inheritance left behind by the Immortal Apothecary - and had noted that it was strange just how much of it he remembered.
Dream Realms normally did not contain much direct information other than that what was required to solve them, instead transferring attainment levels in a more indirect way. Much in the same way that even when a normal person dreamed, they weren't able to read anything in their dreams or if they did, it was nonsensical gibberish.
This however, had been different and very detailed. Fang Yuan still remembered pouring hours over that information and practicing making pills by hand.
The combination of Human, Heaven, and Earth's essence - what if it did not just refer to Qi, but in the refinement of pills!
Pills also required the balance of those three - he had just not realized it because none of the texts left behind by the Immortal Apothecary stated it so directly.
However, rummaging through it in his mind, with new insight gained from re-reading The Legends of Ren Zu, he felt like it had to be true. Not to mention the direct reference to Ren Zu's liver being of importance - something stressed time and time again during his Pill Path studies.
Had these legends predicted the eventual rise of the Pill Path? It was not inconceivable, there were many paths mentioned in those stories which did not arise until later. The Water Path, for example.
Building upon this further, Fang Yuan had been granted control over the Mushroommen Blessed Land left behind by Paradise Earth.
The same Paradise Earth Immortal Venerable who was part Mushroomman himself - meaning that he would have been the most likely candidate to know where the current Mushroommen Mycelium was located.
Mushroommen were known for having innate Earth and Poison Path dao marks - but it could it be that they had Pill Path dao marks as well. Either that, or the Mushroommen Mycelium could greatly aide in the development of the Pill Path much like Dang Hun Mountain could help in Soul Path cultivation.
Being a path that had not been developed well in the past, it would have been difficult to detect were that the case.
Fang Yuan's mind began racing.
He had many questions - the foremost being - had Paradise Earth already factored this into his plan?