"..." Dio looked at Dio with cold anger, but he calmed himself down.

"Sigh, tell me, what do I gain out of this whole-ordeal, why I should help you?"

He asked, at the end, he realized that there was no point in playing with dumb or nice with Limitless, as he wasn't naive.

And even if he was, he could read his mind, thus, any deception would be pointless!

With this realization Dio comprehended that his only way to talk with such a creature was about a pure transactional deal.

Limitless however simply smiled to him and thought to himself.

"Actually, whether you decide to help me or not, Heavenly Court will hunt you down to the end of heavens and earth.

After all, they not only aim to Fate supremacy, but also to mankind supremacy.

And you, you rejected your humanity long ago."

Obviously, he didn't say this to Dio, he was already annoyed, and with his stubborn and egocentric and impulsive attitude, he may do something foolish such as crushing Destiny Gu if he was forced.

And, even if he could stop him now, he couldn't do so when he eventually leaved the edge of the world.

So, instead of using hard approaches, he instead laughed heartily and said.

"My friend, take a seat."

With a flicker of his hands, limitless created two clouds one behind Dio and the other behind him.

Those clouds solidified into two soft couches.

"Wait, now that I think about it, you must be thirsty the journey to go here must have been too mentally and physically exhausting to you.

I'll prepare a grand drink befitting of you, Dio."

On a blink of an eye, he created a table, a jar and two glasses.

The jar contained an odd mixture of various immortal materials.

"This is an specialty of the Great Era, some call this drink a 'dream come true', heh."

At the top of this drink there was a dense pinky foam, which seemed to be at the brink of leaking, yet not a single drop fell from the jar.

The foam was very strange, even though at first glance it looked plain and simple the more you looked at it, the more beautiful it became.

If you looked at it for too long, you'd fell into some memories of your life, some from your infancy, some from your adulthood and so on.

This drink can literally make you sleep with the eyes open, but that was natural, as it was a dreamy material.

Dio inspected the contents of the drink carefully.

He glanced below the foam, and noticed a few other substances.

Such as multiple red sprouts of energy of an sparkling substance, the fragments exploded onto bits, which would fuse and explode once more.

It was like an endless loop of fireworks.

Close to the reddish sprouts there were multiple grayish-pink 'clouds', which were stacked onto each other like multiple folds of neurons on the brain.

Those clouds were dancing on odd-complex patterns, like if they're dancing, it was such their beauty that Dio was hypnotized by them for a second.

If it wasn't for his profound attainment and if he wasn't so proficient on his own mental-tricks he would have been completely held captive by them.

Anyway, another substance that Dio looked with pure absolute glee were the pinky 'stars', and the thin stardust which followed closely those brain-clouds.

Finally, below all there were multiple white stones which were constantly releasing a thin fog which left many bubbles which were constantly going 'up.'

Dio was mysteriously attracted by that immortal drink, he began to mutter.

"This...

I don't know why but the pinky foam, brings me to many memories that I buried deeply in my heart.

It's almost, as if I was caught on a dream, or a nightmare.

Heh, a dream come true, yes, that thing is like a dream coming to reality.

But, the other substances...

The reddish sprouts, heh, something tells me that they're rather spicy, and explosive, and likely related to Fire, but how exactly?

Those clouds on the other hand makes me thing about cognition, somehow, I feel that if I were to drink them, my cognitive functions would increase tremendously.

As for the stars that follow them, they make me think about the folklore and mysticism towards the 'shooting stars' in many cultures across the history."

Limitless clapped heavily.

"You truly are knowledgeable, although I believe you know all of this mainly due to all the Heavenly insights you had recently, hah.

Is such a shame though, on your world there's no Refinement path, and hence, your attainment and comprehension towards those white stones is lacking.

But, I'm sure you'll comprehend their importance soon..."

Dio nodded slowly, he still felt slightly suspicious to the drink, but after a long inspection he said.

"mmm, my own intuition tells me that it's okay to drink this.

As for the chance of this being poisoned the probability is rather low, after all, if I am on at illusion, then the drink isn't real, if everything that has passed is real, then I'm hopeless anyway against this Limitless.

Though, if I skipped a detail or I ignored something relevant, I can only blame myself for being so stupid and naive to believe your words..."

After those words, he took the first sip.

"Delicious, this is truly an immortal drink!"

He felt the intense sweet taste of the pinky foam, then, the spicy and rich crisp sprouts of 'fireworks.'

"So, refreshing, I never felt such mind clarity!"

After his second sip, he was exposed directly to those cognition clouds, and his mind began to wander, as his tongue touched those pinky stars.

They're composed of multiple fragments of Gu's such as Star thoughts Gu's which could help one to formulate solutions to their problems.

Due to this, he managed to solidify many of his Heavenly insights into real attainment.

And after taking the third sip, he touched the white bubbles, and...

He left a soft sigh.

"This taste, is as if I eat all those drinks all anew, their tastes returned to my mouth, amplified multiple times, then, suddenly I felt that the taste left my mouth.

As if the 'fog' had cleansed away all the other substances, so I could eat all those substances all anew without any aftertaste.

Sigh, after tasting such grandiose thing, I fell no other desire than to enslave with my flesh buds whoever devised this, so he can brew this daily for me."

Dio was so immersed on the drink and his own fantasies, that he wasn't realizing he was sweating heavily through all his pores.

Furthermore, the sweat was oil-like.

That was naturally due to a property of the drink.

This drink was actually devised as a method to heal one's wounds, after all, during the great era, where countless wars where held, and where the power structure changed almost yearly who could afford to pay attention to a mere 'good' drink.

The drink had a rather profound effect, it could cleanse away all external wills which were not of the user, thus, with this Limitless began to cleanse away Jonathan's remanent will and his connection with the Heaven of another world.

Of course that wasn't all, as this drink was devised to heal beyond measure, to repair and perfect the body, increasing the harmony on every single part.

If Dio had an immortal aperture he'd notice more of the benefits, but at least, all his body was purged of impurities and old cells, it was repaired beyond belief.

Beyond even, his natural biological state.

Also, Limitless was hiding other many things on the drink such as the equivalent of the fragments of 500 years of Lifespan Gu.

In fact, it was for this same reason that Dio took the drink without much hesitation, as a part of his being knew that he required Lifespan Gu.

Why, its simple.

Even though a Vampire can absorb other vital energy, they also take a considerably higher amount of vital energy for the mere fact of existing.

Also, even though they can use as a substitute the lifespan of others, they can't do so completely, at least a 5% of the ordeal must be from his own amount, so it doesn't become too unstable.

This would be fine normally, after all, most Vampires nourish constantly from other sources, but Dio?

He had been caged for over a century without any food source.

And thus, even though his body constantly repaired the damage, his body was already aged, even if he didn't realize this.

Eventually, when his body ran out of lifespan to use, he'd be transformed into a Zombie, after all the body of a Vampire exists within the realm of both life and death.

If all his life Qi gets replaced by death Qi he will naturally become onto a Zombie.

And what were Zombies?

A sign of decay and regression.

The brain activity of a brain will slowly decrease until it becomes zero, being the only point where they can recover it, when they fall asleep.

As that is the state of natural repair and recovery of almost all living organisms.

Thus, at any other point, they slowly lost conscience, they slowly lose intelligence, they slowly lose memories, knowledge and attainment.

Anyway, Dio, after some brief moments noticed that Limitless was sharing huge amounts of info from the Gu world directly on his brain, such as languages and other basic stuff.

He also shared some basic knowledge of the Gu world such as apertures and Immortal apertures, the 'levels' of attainment (Master, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster and Supreme Grandmaster.)

Apart from that he also shared the tale of Red Lotus with him.

"Once upon a time, on the age known now as the Olden Antiquity Era, a tiny children of Fate was born.

This baby held a talent which truly defied the Heavens, his talent even outclassed mine and all the other Venerables from both the past and the present.

Or as you may say, 'Throughout heaven and earth, he alone was the most honorable one.'

It was such his talent that even the Heavens were envious of him, thus, at the day of his birth, there was tempest and the skies were full of dark clouds.

And multiple Tribulations, befell on him and his village.

Yet, be it a streak of Luck or if it was merely Fated to be, his future master, together with multiple other immortals saved him from his Tribulation.

When the Tribulation finally ended, some tiny fragments of it crystalized on a tiny Red Lotus on his forehead.

Hence, his title as a Venerable.

But, even though his life was Fated to be full of peaks, it was also Fated to be full of lows, countless.

After all a gem must be polished, to reach its limit, that and due to the natural balance of the Heavens, which balances from fortune and tragedy, all Venerables have experienced those tragedies on a lower of higher level.

...

But, as I was saying.

When, Red Lotus was a teenager, he tried to pursue an evildoer, despite his master warned him that it wasn't the time yet.

Obviously the youth can't be blamed, he was at the end, someone young and rash, and besides he was far stronger than him, and he knew he could defeat him with ease.

Heh, his actions ended with the destruction of a village.

And as the young man he was with his big sense of responsibility and justice, he naturally felt a huge guilt.

He confessed the truth to his master, and said.

'If only, if only I had followed your arrangements I could have prevented this tragedy...'

To what his master replied.

'You may think you went against Fate, but that was Fated to occur, to help you understand the responsibility you hold on your shoulders.

As long as you comprehend the deep meaning of this, the death of all of those villagers would be worth it at the end.'

Such words, were like two daggers stabbing on the young Red Lotus heart, still, he followed his arrangements...

The years passed, and the young man, became a decisive, wise man.

Still, he had one and single one defect, his huge attachment ot his two parents.

When those two became old and frail, when they're at their last years, Red Lotus contacted his master, he tried to take from Heavenly Court's treasury Lifespan Gu.

His master told him that they shouldn't take the Lifespan Gu.

But, it was such the love he felt, that he robbed a Lifespan Gu from an immortal, and gave it to its parents...

Naturally, when the immortal realized this, he wasn't happy.

He kidnapped his parents, and said that he would only relent if he convinced Heavenly Court to give him 10 times the Lifespan Gu he lost!

...

The negotiations obviously failed, at the end they fought and the immortal escaped, whilst the two parents of Red Lotus were fatally injured.

The two died on his hands while Red Lotus grieved, asking for forgiveness for doing such foolish thing.

...

All those tragedies, made him indifferent.

Even though he still held and fulfilled his missions he did it coldly, without any attachment of the sorts.

Hell, even when his master told him to go to meet his 'Fated' wife, he did so dutifully but without any real expectation.

Then he meet her, quickly he fell in love.

It was as if she was a childhood friend, she was truly his Fated wife.

The pain that he felt for so long in silence, it was as if it vanished overnight.

Those two lived happily for centuries together, hunting down evildoers and the variant humans who still were trying to suppress humanity.

Until that Fateful night, where Red Lotus passed his last Tribulation to become a Venerable.

She with her body blocked the last impact, and thus, he became a Venerable, even so, he wasn't happy.

Red Lotus cried, he was truly too useless!

If he had only been stronger....

But his wife comforted him, she spoke and said that she wasn't angry, in fact, she found the answer to many things she once considered.

The reason of her life, the reason why she had a Extreme Physique, the reason why she meet him, all so he could pass his last Tribulation.

...

Hearing her 'comforting' words, Red Lotus felt pain, a pain that he had buried deeply inside his heart, emerged completely.

Regret, he felt regret!

And similarly to you who refined Destiny Gu through the power of your will, he refined Regret Gu rank 8.

His master looked at his pupil, he sighed and said.

'I know you must feel pained by her death, but even though you're a Venerable now, your journey has only begun!

You must protect humanity from...'

'Regret, I regret it!' Red Lotus muttered to himself, robotically like a mantra.

...

The two had a heated discussion, where Red Lotus revealed his true colors.

'If more people have to die so I remain on this trone, then I reject being a Venerable!'

...

'Yes, master I know you said that Fate protects humanity, but it also brings many tragedies and suffering.

Yes, thing may go wrong and became chaotic if Fate Gu is destroyed, but I can take full responsibility...

Yes, that's right, I want to revive my wife, and not only her, but my parents, my village, everyone...'

The people at Heavenly Court looked at the Venerable with disgust and then silence, nobody dared to look at his eyes, as he was not an 'heretic', but also a Venerable.

They felt fear and disgust, the people that had taken care of him for so many years didn't even glanced at him directly.

The only one who looked at him was his master, who said sternly.

'If that's truly what you believe, if you're truly able to disregard the sacrifices that so many people did for you...

Then, you're not fit to be a member of Heavenly Court.'

Red Lotus left shortly after.

He isolated himself, far, far away, then he entered in his aperture.

Here, the interference of Fate Gu was slightly lower, and so he could theorize of a concept of a Gu, 'Self Will' Gu, a Gu inspired by the strange nature of the otherworldly demons, which could filter Heaven's will influence outside his brain.

With that Gu that gave him 'mental freedom', he created his masterpiece, Spring Autumn Cicada.

This Gu could allow its user to inject a part of his self, his 'will' on the River of Time, with it, he could send his conscience back to the past.

Then, he did all he could to save his wife.

But it was all pointless.

No matter how powerful he became, the Tribulation became increasingly more powerful, and thus, even if he became ten times stronger he couldn't pass the Tribulation successfully, without the death of his wife.

But he still tried, over and over and over again.

Thousands of times, he watched his wife die before him.

First he cried, then he grieved, then he sighed, then he glanced at her corpse indifferently as he began to calculate his new step.

Even though he hadn't realized yet, he was getting detached from her death.

In one of the many cases, he simply left his wife to die, as she tried to say her last words but to no avail, he didn't listen.

Yet, he kept trying, even if it was meaningless.

In one of his attempts he used the power of a Love Gu rank 9, one of the few rank 9 wilds Gu's on all the universe.

And he made a breakthrough, he prevented her death.

Of course, it had a cost, he was not longer a Venerable, but it didn't matter to him.

Finally, there was a change!

Quickly he explained this to her, which heard silently everything he said, finally when he finished speaking.

'Slap.'

Red Lotus was dumbfounded, why he was slapped by her?

His wife cried and said. 'Are you the same Red Lotus I knew?

How could you have such heretical thoughts?

Is no wonder you didn't became a Venerable!

Yes, I know did you did this for me, but did I ever asked to be saved?

Besides, I am not the only who sacrificed her life, her everything to you...

The others immortals from Heavenly Court who died in this Tribulation, why didn't you tried to save them?

You don't care about them!

You're so selfish, your egoism has condemned humanity, how can you protect humanity if you're not a Venerable.

Quick, fix this, even if I have to die-'

Red Lotus stabbed her chest with his his fist, then he coldly replied.

'Perhaps, your death will return everything back to normal?'

Then he left, his wife tried to say something before her death, but obviously he didn't care.

There was no trace of regret, sadness or even love on his heart anymore.

She truly died on his heart that day, and he never tried to go back in time again.

He went on solitude again, he asked himself what he was going to do now?

Return to Heavenly Court and forget all of this?

Go back in time once more, and attempt to save his parents this time?

What a joke!

His love for his wife had vanished and was cleansed away by the endless tides of time, he couldn't afford to allow this to happen to his village, to his parents.

But, he couldn't return either to Heavenly Court.

After all even though he still felt some attachment to his master and the other members of Heavenly Court, everything was outshined by his unwavering hatred.

Hatred towards the thing that made his life a hell, which played like him as a toy.

Thus, he realized that there was only one path left for him.

Destroy Fate Gu!

...

Yet, despite he used Love Gu to its fullest potential he could merely make some minor wounds to that rank 9 Fate Gu.

Knowing there was nothing left for him, he allowed his master to kill him.

But even on death he still keeps struggling, after all, he left some arrangements on the River of Time for that possible successor he foresaw in one of those countless possible futures.

An otherworldly demon who had the slimmest chance of destroying Fate Gu...

Heh, his plan sounds naive, and we all know that.

Yet, I followed his arrangements to the best of my ability, and I was not the only one.

Giant Sun, Thieving Heaven and others have followed his steps and have made their own arrangements to aid that successor.

Obviously, we all have our agendas and hidden meanings, after all, how can you expect people from different ages which goes from over a million years, cooperate wholeheartedly?

But, we have one agreement.

To aid Fang Yuan to become strong, strong enough to destroy Fate."

Limitless smiled at Dio widely and said.

"Yet, who would ever tell you two would come on the same age?

Hah, this is truly interesting.

Anyway, after saying all of this, and even though I believe on Fang Yuan, is never a bad idea to have a backup plan, and there's where you go, Dio."

"..." Dio.