Right now, Impossible Boulder was only about a size equaling Fang Yuan. However, as Fang Yuan went to go push it with his hands, it seemed to increase in density. Just like in The Legends of Ren Zu, the boulder would increase in size and weight so that it would be harder and harder to push up towards the top of the hill, adjusting in terms of difficulty to whoever was trying to push it.
Feng Yuan was able to get the boulder about three-fourths of the way to the top before he found that his hands gave up, and he moved aside as it rolled back towards the bottom. Many of the Gu Immortals who had been watching him shook their heads.
"As expected, no different result here."
"Even when Rank 8 Immortals can't do it, how could this Rank 6 possibly do so?"
Fang Yuan discovered that there wasn't just a physical aspect to moving Impossible Boulder - there was also a psychological one. As he was pushing, a voice in his head began nearly screaming, 'Yes! You can do it! Almost there!' and when he failed, it urged him to try again. Is that why the Rockmen in the story had set up tents simply to move Impossible Boulder?
"Here, let us try together," Tian Wu said towards Tian Shan. "Let's see if we can help Brother Fang Yuan."
Remembering how things had worked in The Legends of Ren Zu, the three of them tried to move Impossible Boulder together. Just like in the legends, now that it was the three of them working together, the boulder suddenly increased to become even larger and denser, so that they were still only able to get it about four-fifths of the way to the top before it rolled down to the bottom.
"So, this is clearly not easy," Fang Yuan said.
"Indeed, it is not in any way as easy as one would think," Tian Hai said, shaking his head. "After Reckless Savage Demon Venerable had managed to do so, moving the boulder to the top on his own, it was lost for some time before our clan managed to find it just a few years ago. Since then, we've been trying to accomplish moving the boulder to the top, but even our Rank 8 supreme elder was unable to do so on his own."
Feng Yuan began putting the puzzle pieces together, and he understood both why the Tian Clan had let him try to move the boulder, and also why they weren't so hostile towards him even though he had found an important inheritance ground of theirs by mistake.
Although the Impossible Boulder was a secluded domain of heaven and earth - meaning its value was massive - if one took the interpretation of The Legends of Ren Zu and applied it, it was impossible for a single person to claim it on their own. In The Legends of Ren Zu, Boundless Force Samsara had only been able to move the Impossible Boulder to the top with the help of the Rockmen working together.
Because of this, although naturally the Tian Clan wanted to monopolize this secluded domain of heaven and earth, they were unable to. And so, they had invited people from other clans as well as lone cultivators to see if they could move this boulder to the top. Its location was still somewhat kept a secret given the formation surrounding it, but given that the underlying message of the story was that people had to work together in order to move it to the top, they were fine with someone like Feng Yuan trying in case he managed to succeed.
This was a world where the strength of a single man could outweigh the power of ten million others. For this task, however, Fang Yuan could not rely solely on his own power.
Fang Yuan was now perplexed as to how he was going to try to get this boulder to the top. That seemed to be what Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable wanted for him to be able to unlock the secrets of the inheritance kept here, yet his mind could not find a way to do so. A Venerable naturally could have just done so on their own, or if Fang Yuan happened to have the power of a rank nine Gu worm somehow, he could do so. But the gu worm which was currently being refined behind his right eye was far from complete, and it also had a different purpose rather than moving this boulder.
"Well, Fang Yuan," Tian Shan said, "if you happen to have any other ideas on how to move this boulder, you can certainly let us know. If you happen to find out, we would reward you handsomely." He laughed, while some of the other Gu Immortals chuckled as well. To them, Fang Yuan, being just a Rank 6 cultivator had no hope of moving the boulder to the top, nor of deducing a plan to move the boulder to the top either.
Fang Yuan himself was lost as to how he might attempt to conquer the Impossible Boulder. From what The Legends of Ren Zu said, it seemed to involve some kind of human path method combining the strength of multiple people in order to move the Impossible Boulder. Of note, Fang Yuan had discovered through trying to move it to the top along with Tian Wu and Tian Shan that although the boulder increased in difficulty the more people who tried to move it, it did not seem to increase linearly in proportion to them. In other words, Feng Yuan felt that if he managed to assemble more people, and if they happened to push in the right way - much like how Boundless Force Samsara had done so in The Legends of Ren Zu - he might be able to succeed in pushing this boulder to the top.
For now, though, he had to pause and wait, considering what his next move was going to be. He sat down and laid down his immortal aperture some distance away from the formation. It was a good thing that he had turned back when he did in order to deal with his first earthly calamity, because finding Thieving Heaven Demonic Venerable's inheritance was not going to be as easy as he had first assumed.
***
Inside Fang Yuan's aperture, on the Fang Yuan Continent:
For once, life was actually looking up for Wang Tian. He had managed to take full advantage of the primeval spring in question, which not only brought him primeval stones but also small varieties of aquatic life like fish, which he could easily feast upon, as well as many gu worms who were attracted to the primeval spring's primeval energy. He had managed to advance to Rank 2 Middle Stage with the help of the various primeval stones he was able to harvest from the primeval spring in question.
Inside the safe environment of the Fang Yuan Continent, he could use the primeval stones as he pleased. It was not like growing up in the dangerous wilderness that surrounded many villages in the Five Regions.
Most luckily of all, though, Wang Tian felt, was the fact that he hadn't been discovered yet. If those people who hunted Gu masters as well as Gu worms happened to find him and this primeval spring, he still did not have the strength in order to fight back. For that matter, his Vital Gu was still showing signs of starving for whatever reason, even though it had been somewhat reasonably well-fed when he had been helping Huang Fei find his reindeer.
For that matter, his friend had not visited him yet. And though Huang Fei had promised to come visit him once more, Wang Tian did not put too much stock into that promise anymore given how much time had passed. He figured that either Huang Shan had forgotten about him, or had thought that it was a bit too risky to tell Wang Tian anything given how the two of them really didn't know each other that well. Either that, or he simply did not have enough time in order to come and visit Wang Tian. Wang Tian knew that Huang Fei was not leading an easy life, and could not blame him for not finding the time to visit.
One day, however, Wang Tian found a silhouette near the source of the primeval spring and immediately became wary. 'There's another person here,' he thought to himself. This would likely mean the end of his easy life collecting massive amounts of primeval stones and advancing in his cultivation easily. Other humans now knew about the primeval spring!