Part 13: Love is cruel

Ren Zu could not save his eldest son Verdant Great Sun, and at the final juncture of resurrection, he made a great mistake and was swept away by the Reverse Flow River back into Luo Po Valley. His eldest daughter, Desolate Ancient Moon, heard of this and wanted to go rescue her father. However, one must have the help of Courage Gu and Faith Gu to enter the Life and Death Door. But these Gu were with her father Ren Zu. Desolate Ancient Moon was unable to enter the Life and Death Door. She wanted to rescue Ren Zu but had no ways, so she asked for guidance from Cognition Gu. Cognition Gu gave her two methods. The first method was to enter Space Cave, then open the space door to directly move to Ren Zu's side. She could then use the Space Cave to escape Life and Death Door. However, this method could only rescue Ren Zu's soul and could not resurrect him. Space Cave was first depicted in The Legends of Ren Zu; it was a forbidden ground on the same level as the River of Time. In the River of Time, there were large numbers of time path Gu Worms. Inside the Space Cave, there were countless space path Gu Worms. It connected the five regions, hidden in a place no one knew. Pushing open a door from inside the Space Cave, one can reach any place in the world. The door that connected the Space Cave was also known as the space door. Space door was omnipresent; it could be in a narrow crack or in the wide and boundless sky. Where there is space, there is a door into Space Cave. But from the past until now, very few people could find the Space Cave, not to mention going inside. In the entire human history, only one person had managed to enter and exit it. There were many secluded domains of heaven and earth recorded in The Legends of Ren Zu. For time path, there was the River of Time, for space path, there was Space Cave, also know as space door. For qi path, there was Xi Land and Hu

Land. For rule path, there was Reverse Flow River, Cheng Bai Mountain, and Miniscule Mountain. For information path, there was Qian Kun Crystal Wall, Whisper Forest… and for soul path, there was Dang Hun Mountain and Luo Po Valley… There were also some secluded domains of heaven and earth that comprised several paths, for example City Well, the Blue Sea of Life, and Ordinary Abyss. Gu were the essence of heaven and earth, fragments of the Great Dao, even though secluded domains of heaven and earth had scattered dao marks, the total number usually surpassed rank nine Immortal Gu. The second method was to climb to the peak of Cheng Bai Mountain and find the one and only Success Gu. As long as she made a wish to Success Gu, she could rescue Ren Zu and allow him to successfully resurrect. Desolate Ancient Moon already knew of Space Cave's existence, but she had no idea how to find the Space Cave. Moreover, to let her father truly resurrect, she had to go to Cheng Bai Mountain. Cheng Bai Mountain was not tall and was like a mound. It was peculiar as it was made from millions and millions of pebbles. These 'pebbles' were actually Failure Gu. And there was only one Success Gu, at the peak of Cheng Bai Mountain. Desolate Ancient Moon walked to the foot of the mountain and began to ascend the mountain. Her movement woke up Love Gu, who was sleeping nearby. Love Gu was very angry at having its sleep disturbed and wanted to take revenge against Desolate Ancient Moon. It used its unique power to awaken a piece of stone. The stone gained life because of Love Gu and became a Rockman. The Rockman was tall and mighty, his body filled with gold, silver, copper, and iron, looking very dazzling and gorgeous. After the Rockman was born, the first thing he saw was Desolate Ancient Moon. Her shocking beauty immediately conquered his heart. He started following behind Desolate Ancient Moon, and as he looked at her fair back view, his heart was filled with love. Finally, he could not endure it anymore and ran past Desolate Ancient Moon and blocked her, shouting loudly: “Beautiful lady, your appearance is so dazzling, your body is so elegant and your temperament is so noble. The very first moment I saw you, I was subdued by you. You are my love; please accept my love for you.” The Rockman's physique was huge, completely blocking Desolate Ancient

Moon's path. Desolate Ancient Moon slightly furrowed her brows and sized up the Rockman before speaking coldly: “Love, what is that thing? You want me to accept your love, but where is it?” The Rockman immediately took off the iron pieces from his body and offered them to Desolate Ancient Moon: “Beautiful lady, this is my firmness. I give it all to you; this is my love.” Desolate Ancient Moon disappointingly shook her head; she had no interest in these iron pieces. The Rockman was dazed before taking out the copper pieces from his body and piling them above the iron pieces: “Beautiful lady, this is my obstinance. I give it all to you because this is my love.” Desolate Ancient Moon impatiently said: “Please move away; I have no interest in love. I need to rescue my father.” The Rockman panicked seeing that the goddess of his heart was unmoved. He kneeled down and made up his mind, taking out all the silver pieces in his body and piling them above the copper pieces: “Beautiful lady, this is my dignity. I give it all to you; this will prove my love for you.” Desolate Ancient Moon's furrowed brows deepened: “Listen, I don't have time to waste with you.” The Rockman became more anxious and took out all the gold pieces in his body and put them above the silver pieces: “Beautiful lady, this is my self-confidence. I give it all to you; they represent my love for you.” Desolate Ancient Moon heaved a deep sigh: “Rockman, to express your love for me, you gave up your firmness, put down your obstinance, lost your dignity and even gave up your self-confidence. However, what I see is a very ugly Rockman. Get up; I cannot accept your love; I have more important things to do.” After losing his gold, silver, copper, and iron decorations, the Rockman looked very small and weak, even appearing comical. It lost all the beauty and might it had before. The Rockman wept and begged Desolate Ancient Moon: “Then, how can I obtain your love?” Desolate Ancient Moon was anxious, but the Rockman kept on kneeling on the ground. She thought of an idea and changed her expression to show a smile: “Rockman, since you love me, take out your real heart for me to see.” The Rockman opened his chest without any hesitation and offered his scarlet heart to Desolate Ancient Moon.

Desolate Ancient Moon took the heart and immediately kept it. The Rockman then said: “Now, I can obtain your love, right?” Desolate Ancient Moon shook her head: “Even if you offer your heart, it cannot exchange for my love.” The Rockman was panicking seeing Desolate Ancient Moon had stored his heart away. He said: “Heartless woman, your cold-heartedness has made me despair. Since I can't obtain your love, then please give back my heart. Without my heart, I will die.” But Desolate Ancient Moon did not return the heart and watched as he slowly died. “Why? I love you so much, why are you killing me!” The Rockman shouted before his death. Desolate Ancient Moon looked at him with pity, but her voice was tranquil: “Rockman, I did not want to kill you. But you blocked my path to success.”