This was the first time Fang Yuan had found himself within a painting, it was a very odd feeling. He felt himself become part of the art, his body turning into a strange collection of brushstrokes. He looked down at his hands, where he could see the individual lines making up his fingers. Everything about him- his clothes, his gu worms, and his aperture- had all become part of the painting.

Despite still having access to his aperture, Fang Yuan found that he could not use any of his Gu worms. He was unable to move, suspended above the scene the painting depicted, as if he were stuck in the sky and looking down. It didn't seem as if the two people in the painting had noticed him, even though he was sure the person swooping down on the figure in the valley had seen him right before he was dragged in.

The person on the ground was still sitting there, oblivious to the fact that someone was watching him. Now that Fang Yuan got a better look at the Gu Master who was swooping down, he realized that he did, in fact, recognize the face.

It was a face that was not widely known, mainly because the person tended to use a different face when wandering around. That wasn't to say that no one knew his face - once he had reached the pinnacle of the world, he could openly show it and do as he pleased. After all, once he reached the peak of the world, who would care if someone saw his face or not?

"Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable," Fang Yuan mouthed to himself. Confusion began to cloud his mind. It was one thing for Genesis Lotus Immortal Venerable to capture someone like him, a mortal, and put him in a painting. How had he been able to capture another Venerable and place him into a painting as well?

From his very limited understanding of the painting path, it had a way of remaining hidden without conflicting with most dao marks. However, the amount of dao marks on a Venerable should have been more than what the path could truly handle.

The Gu Master on the ground suddenly looked up as the shadow approached him and then moved away two paces. As Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable descended, Fang Yuan felt that the other Gu Master in question was likely just a mortal given that they made no attempt to hide, it was clear. As for Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, although he could hide his traces, by this point, there was actually no need to.

"Who are you?" the Gu Master on the ground asked.

"First, I want you to answer my question," Thieving Heaven answered. "Are you named Guo Lian by any chance?"

"Yes, that's me," he answered. "But who are you?"

"You may know me as Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable."

"Wow, you're Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable! I'll be honest, when I heard about your name, I thought your skin would be a bit darker."

THDV: ...

Thieving Heaven stared at the Gu Master blankly. "Now, what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, no, I didn't mean anything like that," Guo Lian answered. "I just meant that, you know, you're from the Western Desert and all, right? Isn't the sun, like, really hot there? Wouldn't your skin have become a bit darker? But it looks like you've kept up with a pretty good skincare routine, my man."

"Despite hearing my name, you don't seem to be quite scared," Thieving Heaven observed.

"Oh, that's because I don't have anything worth stealing," Guo Lian answered.

"Well, I'm not here to steal anything from you," Thieving Heaven said, "or at least I would prefer not to. Although the world may know me as Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable, the truth is my name is Ben Jie Sun, and I am merely a wanderer looking for a way back home. As much as I believe you are as well, are you not, Guo Lian? Is it not true that you are also not originally from this world?"

'So, Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable was also an otherworldly demon?' Fang Yuan thought to himself. 'And this other Gu Master is one as well. There are three of us all being otherworldly demons being brought here -this can't be a coincidence. This must be part of Genesis Lotus's plot, but what is it?' Otherworldly Demons were rare, but not unique. One of the disciples of the Blood Wing Demon Sect happened to be one - Fang Yuan, though, felt no kinship with other Otherworldly Demons.

"Oh, so you mean, like, you're from another world too? Amazing!" Guo Lian said. "I've been looking for someone else who also came from my world for a long time. I was hoping I could find someone I could finally talk to. This is so cool! It's great that we managed to meet, right?" Guo Lian then said: "Aight, listen up. The name's Guo Lian. Main character energy, no cap. I'm here for a glow up and a good time. Bet, if we ain't vibin' here, we can go ahead and meet up in Ohio so long as no one's acting sus, fr, fr."

Thieving Heaven Demon Venerable frowned. "We might come from other worlds, but I don't think we come from the same one. I didn't understand what you just said."

"Oh, so there are other worlds other than the one I came from and this one?" Guo Lian said. "Okay, that's interesting."

"Did you just refine a gu worm?" Thieving Heaven asked.

"Yeah, I did. For some reason, whenever I speak words like that, I end up refining this kind of gu worm. I don't know what it is, though." Guo Lian took something out of his aperture, and Fang Yuan immediately recognized it as being Stupidity Gu.

"Right, right," Thieving Heaven said. "The reason why I came here was not really to chit-chat, but rather because I had heard that you had stumbled upon an interesting development."

"I mean, if you're talking about the weird gu worms, I can show you, but most people don't think that they're very good. But I have a question first: you're Rank 9, right?"

"Indeed, I am. That's what it means to be a Venerable," Thieving Heaven answered.

"So, how did you manage to get your special ability?" Guo Lian asked.

"What special ability?" Thieving Heaven asked.

"Well, you know. I've always been wondering about that ever since I came to this world. Like, it has all these weird insects that you can use for fighting, and it's completely filled up with people who look like they're from Chinese culture. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese culture! I just love talking the lingo. Knee-how and ari-gay-toe, you know. That's all cool and good, but when people like us go to a different world, we're supposed to get special abilities, right, which make us really strong or something?" Guo Lian said. "For whatever reason, when I came to this world, I just had, like, trash-grade talent. I've been stuck at Rank 2 forever. So, how did you manage to get your cheat skill and then get to Rank 9?"

"I don't know how to tell you this," Thieving Heaven answered, "but there was no special ability."

"Then how did you get to Rank 9?" Guo Lian asked.

"You just have to work hard at Gu Master cultivation or get lucky, like everyone else," Thieving Heaven said.

"Wait- I don't get any advantages for being from another world?"

"No, not really... unless you have some knowledge that you can apply in this world, but even that effect is kind of limited in how much change you can really bring about."