Le Tu opened a jade, his expression bewildered.
Scenes of majestic dragons, overwhelming attacks filled with power and beauty, overwhelmed his senses.
Followed by close descriptions of those Killer Moves.
Inwardly, Le Tu's excitement could not help but grow greater as he imagined.
"I am not interested in using that light beam, however, what if I were to modify this concept? What if instead of unleashing a beam that fries the target's brain, it made them sleepy?"
Le Tu's expression flickered as he considered this possibility.
But then suspicion flickered in his face; he stared at the jade Kao Dao ji had sent with a deep frown on his face.
"I still do not get it. Why? Why is he showing such deep trust in me?" While he acted kindly, there was no lack of smiling tigers in the world.
Behind their friendly face, who knows what their innermost thoughts may be? Besides, even kind people had to eat.
Was it truly wise to risk so much in his integrity?
Le Tu pondered. "The worst part is that this nonsensical idea may actually hold true. Based on the rumors in TYH and his own confession, Kao Dao Ji is a Land Spirit. And they tend to be rather naïve; perhaps that could explain his simplicity.
But is this truly all there is to it?" He squinted his eyes. The situation seemed fishy, even if he assumed the Land Spirit to be naïve, who was to say that there was not somebody hidden behind the scenes, manipulating him?
The Kao Clan was a prime suspect; perhaps they were trying to use him, a half-breed, to infiltrate the human forces.
Regardless.
There was no harm in taking this sweet pill; at worst, he would simply cut ties with them when the time came.
"But that is not to say I am ungrateful; if I decipher anything, I will help them." His expression flickered, remaining entranced by the description.
"Hey, what are you doing?" A little girl's voice spoke behind his ear.
Le Tu's body suddenly shot forward.
He was completely startled by the sudden voice until he turned his head and saw her.
Shung Mia Yin.
"Tee-heh, master, you are still so careless…" The childish voice spoke.
Suddenly, her gaze fell into the jade.
Using her innate perception, she rapidly read through its contents; her expression rapidly changed.
"That Kao Dao Ji must be a great friend of yours. To share such a precious thing so freely…"
Le Tu could not help but laugh awkwardly.
"Somewhat. Anyway. I am a bit stumped regarding this."
Shung Mia Yin frowned.
Her cute face turning ugly.
"Even if you say so…Master. I don't know what to say. I never specialized in Wisdom Path."
But then she paused.
"Well. Actually, I saw something. But I am not sure if it's of much use."
"It's a bit hard to explain, but it is born out of a simple concept. Yin seeks Yang and Yang seeks Yin.
When Extreme Yang is born, Yin naturally emerges, and the opposite occurs.
You can imagine it as magnetism."
Le Tu nodded at her words, but then asked.
"It makes sense, however ,what does it have to do with my friend's dilemma? Does it help us in suppressing similar Tribulations, or does it help us in imitating such an ability?"
Shung Mia Yin puffed her cheeks.
"Be patient, master."
"Sorry, sorry." Le Tu coughed.
"As I was saying."
"If my guess is not wrong, the Tribulation was actually not that difficult to solve. The main problem lies in their nature.
In the initial steps of the Tribulation, it does seem that the generated clouds were composed of equally Yin and Yang parts.
However, as they devoured more and more energy, they seemed to tilt towards Yang.
When enough Yang accumulated, there was a sudden change; they stopped forcefully absorbing the Yang, and instead, it let its natural tendency to seek harmony took hold, which is when their suction force reached its peak.
Most of the Clouded Thoughts Gu were devoured during this period."
Shung Mia Yin explained carefully.
"To stop this from happening, there was one easy solution."
"Fight fire with fire. By sending Yin Clouds, they could have stuffed those Cloud Dragon heads and could have bought some more time to destroy them. There was also the possibility of surrounding them in a Yang field that repelled everything."
Le Tu nodded rapidly.
He rapidly engraved her words onto a solid plate, which he planned to share with Kao Dao Ji later.
However.
Shung Mia Yin suddenly added.
"Still. There is something odd."
"I thought Tribulations mostly mimicked tragedies and disasters that had already taken place at some point. Whilst the remaining few mimic the powers of beasts, plants, and even Killer Moves of famed figures.
Yet. Doesn't everybody say that Clouded Thoughts is a new Gu?"
Le Tu raised his eyebrows.
Realization appeared on his face.
"Perhaps that Gu naturally appeared at some period? Before humans and even variants were a dominant race?" He muttered, uncertain of his guess.
Shung Mia Yin darted her gaze away.
Seemingly pondering the same.
Until suddenly.
"Wait. I forgot."
"Master. During the past months, you have remained in seclusion. Several things have happened."
"Qin Jiji seems to have developed an interest in Fire Path. She seems to be buying at a high price for Fire Path materials. She even sent an offer to us.
She's buying at a 10% higher price than the market, several Fire path materials.
Whilst her offer sounded great, I know you have a bad story with her, and I am afraid she is plotting something, which is why I decided to wait to inform you."
"The second news is related to the Qiao Clan, regarding Qiao Yun's sister, Qiao Yin."
"After being saved by you, she declared that she fell in love. And wants to marry you, whilst her brother supported her decision. Upon hearing her words, the Qiao Supreme Leader was deeply moved by her.
They have sent a formal notice to you regarding the possibility of a marriage alliance."
Le Tu took a deep sigh.
That story was obviously and absolutely bullshit.
He did not believe even for a second that she fell in love with him, or at least it was not the reason why she spoke those words.
She must have been compelled by the Supreme Clan Leader, after all, the Qiao Clan already knew of his talents.
Furthermore, both sides had already cooperated several times. So, it only seemed logical that they would try to bring him closer and annex such a talent.
Unfortunately.
Le Tu took a deep breath.
"If I marry into the Clan, sooner or later, I will be pressured to have an heir. But." He sighed deeply.
He was a half-breed, that was his greatest secret.
Variant Humans were enemies of humanity. If he were ever discovered, the whole continent would turn against him.
Especially the Qiao Clan, who, due to fear of harboring the label of a demonic Clan, would have no choice but to get rid of him.
Even if they tried to shield him, he still would not accept it.
Because even if he could protect himself, what about his hypothetical descendant?
Would he truly bring such an offspring to the world, just so that they would become a marginalized creature hated by both sides during all his lifetime?
He could not.
There was a deep silence that lasted for around half a minute, at which point Shung Mia Yin spoke.
"Finally. There is the third matter."
"The Uru Clan ancestor. Uru Tan He has become a Rank 8 Gu Master."
"They are organizing a festival between the Jade Dragon River and the Red Dragon River."
"Uru Tan He personally stated: a rising wave lifts all ships. During his ceremony, he intends to use this chance to elevate the Cultivation base of ten thousand Mortal Gu Masters.
A hundred Rank 5, a thousand Rank 4, four thousand Rank 3, and the remaining Gu Masters will be around Rank 2 and 1.
The Gu Masters he intends to elevate will not be just his, but from the other forces.
Not only that, but he's hosting several competitions at the Immortal level; the winner of each competition will be given the chance to receive a meeting with him for an hour, where he will try to solve their doubts regarding their Cultivation."
Le Tu raised his eyebrows; he knew well that he was doing this just to raise his reputation.
Even so.
Even if it was for the wrong reasons, he could not help but smile brightly.
"If what you say is true, I cannot miss this meeting!"
…
Kao Dao Ji sat down and meditated; from his aperture, he summoned a Gu.
A cloud slowly began to take shape, but not inside his aperture.
Outside.
As a Land Spirit, while he was unable to 'move', he was not entirely helpless.
He still could release Gu's and even Killer Moves and push them outside his aperture, in a similar way to an ordinary Gu Master would.
Of course, it was still a failed effort.
It would be like an archer sitting down on top of a tower, no matter how well his marksmanship is.
Or how big his bow is.
That man was completely helpless.
In his case, all he could do was to try from a distance helplessly or use Gu to protect his aperture, but there was little more he could do to defend himself.
This was not much of a weakness before; those who came here coveted his aperture.
But what if they did not?
What if they only wished to see him dead?
Was he then a completely crippled dummy, that would have no other choice but to be beaten to death from afar?
He refused to accept that.
That is when he had an idea.
A Blessed Land can remain in several states:
Fully opened, in which the walls between the outside world and the inside are almost completely vanished, and during which one can easily see the diameter and length of the aperture from the outside world.
Partially opened, in which the walls are partially opened, allowing the surrounding Heaven and Earth Qi to come, and in which the aperture gets synchronized with the outside world.
This state is commonly used before and after a Tribulation comes, after all, Tribulations to manifest themselves require energy.
Without external replenishment, the aperture can only consume the resources within and slowly asphyxiate itself.
This problem becomes even worse during a Tribulation, where massive things are generated out of nowhere.
There is also the fully closed state, in which he currently is.
In this state, the walls are completely closed, not allowing breach or observation.
At this state, the defenses are the greatest, and the outside and inner world's time differences reach the peak.
…
While those states seem completely separate, the reality is a little more diffuse.
For example, Gu Masters can either through practice or the usage of auxiliary Gu Worms temporarily open their aperture,s enabling outside objects to come.
When Qin Jiji put a flag in her aperture, she temporarily opened her aperture, and her aperture greedily devoured those flags before she promptly closed it.
But that state is brief, and the range is also pitiful.
It mostly comes from objects that are not too large, and the Gu Master is currently holding or is in an approximate distance.
(That is also why Storage Gu Worms are still useful even for Immortals.)
Regardless.
The ability to absorb foreign objects was only a paltry trick.
But what if it was not?
What if there were a way to increase the range and width of the objects absorbed?
Kao Dao Ji recalled the memories of his previous life and of several anime and series, and he was inspired.
'Domain Expansion' was one such inspiration.
Of course, the principles were very different.
In essence, he imagined the following:
What if he temporarily opened his aperture completely, devouring anything that was nearby before promptly closing it and trapping everybody who was within range?
Of course, there were several risks in doing this; opening his aperture not only gave him an opening to attack, but it also made him vulnerable to outsiders' attacks.
He could only imagine how bitter of a loss he would suffer if he faced Duke Long's Triple Qi Retraction.
And it was not just that, in the Gu World, there were dozens, if not hundreds, of different ways to target an Immortal Aperture.
There was also the criterion of requiring the manipulation of the walls of his aperture, a feat that already seemed absurdly difficult for Land Spirit,s let alone ordinary Immortals.
All for a gimmick that could easily go against you if you faced the wrong opponent.
In comparison, an ordinary Land Spirit could easily reinforce their apertures with their Immortal Essence, and using their aperture as the battlefiel,d they could consume 3 to fight against 10.
With far greater efficiency, even if they could not win in the long run, they could make a victory so difficult that their enemies would have no other choice but to give up.
…
Needless to say, it became obvious why no other Land Spirits, at least of those he was aware of, made such a Killer Move.
Regarding Immortals, it was even worse; it would be like a man stripping himself of his armor to move faster.
Yet, even though he knew this, Kao Dao Ji had no other choice.
His opponents were very different from those of ordinary Land Spirits, and he had to be ready.
And so, he persisted in his practice.
The cloud was moved around, orbiting approximately thirty meters around his aperture.
Kao Dao Ji took a deep breath, like a man clenching all his muscles; he stretched his aperture widely.
Barely managing to 'touch' the cloud, yet.
It slipped right through his fingers.
"Again."
Kao Dao Ji chanted to himself.
Using his previous attempt, he discovered his mistake.
The second time, he barely succeeded.
And once he did.
He increased the range.
40.
50.
60.
70.
75 meters was the limit he was able to accomplish by purely relying on his physiological abilities as a Land Spirit.
"Now that I know my limits. How do I increase them?
What kind of Gu Worms can be used to increase my range?"