Kao Dao Ji raised his hands into the air.
While nothing came out at first glance, there was a strange, pungent odor.
Furthermore, one could see strange fluctuations within the air as well as a soft sound of the air dancing around.
At the next moment.
A tiny sparkle of lightning was produced, followed by.
A deafening sound could be heard, and a massive explosion took shape as pale-yellow flames rapidly came out.
Kao Dao Ji stared at the bright explosion with a tiny smile on his face.
"Da Zhen Qi's research was truly extensive!" He praised loudly.
Da Zhen Qi cultivated a method of Fire mixed with Cloud Path; however, more than anything, he used Cloud to support his intense flames.
The method he employed was rather simple. Cloud Path contained the essence of several gases within itself.
Some of which were flammable.
Acetylene, Hydrogen, Methane, Carbon Monoxide and more gases were highly flammable, requiring just the slightest spark to produce intense flames.
And those were just the mundane materials. Da Zhen Qi researched extensively the myriad ways of producing synthetic materials extensively, using both mundane and highly ranked materials.
Kao Dao Ji smirked.
Once more, he raised one of his arms.
Unlike before, this time one could see tiny white streams of energy surging.
Followed by which came the spark.
And then.
There was yet another explosion!
This time it was a hundred times larger; more than anything, it looked like the heavens and earth had changed colors for a fraction of a second.
As rainbow-lights flashed by.
And the surrounding clouds melted into nothingness.
Whereas from Kao Dao Ji's hand, an intense smoke was coming out, and there was the scent of rotten flesh.
"Augh…." Kao Dao Ji grabbed the hand, which now looked scorched black.
Tiny green droplets fell in his wounds, rapidly treating the scorched flesh.
"Good! While the efficiency is massively diminished, as does its timespan. The firepower is truly incredible! Moreover, if I master this, I could learn the way to mimic Fire entirely…"
He clenched his fist, which had already healed entirely.
Suddenly.
He raised his eyebrows.
A blooming smile appeared on his face.
"He is back already?"
"Hahahah!" A wide grin appeared on Kao Dao Ji's face.
Without a single hint of hesitation, he opened his aperture.
From which one could see Kao Yu Hun.
Kao Yu Hun flew towards him rapidly, and Kao Dao Ji waited patiently.
With a flicker of his hands, he created a pair of chairs, a table, and summoned some food.
He immediately sat down in the middle of the skies, whilst staring at Kao Yu Hun.
"Come here!" He raised his hand.
Kao Yu Hun, who had a gloomy expression at having to part with a pair of Immortal Gu, had a change in his expression, and he became warmer and smiled similarly to him.
He reached him and almost instantaneously sat down alongside him.
"Kao Dao Ji, you truly have brought us some needed respite." Those were the first words Kao Yu Hun spoke.
Immediately, he began to drink from a wine that Kao Dao Ji had summoned, similarly Kao Dao Ji began to drink.
Albeit it was more like a carbonated drink with a flavor akin to strawberry.
It was the most similar product he could find in Treasure Yellow Heaven, which resembled the drinks he used to have on earth.
A rare sense of nostalgia washed over Kao Dao Ji's mind.
However, as he pondered over this, he frowned ever so slightly.
"Funny…Despite being an Immortal, everything regarding my life before is so blurry that I can hardly recall my name, and I do not even recall the names of my parents or friends.
I only have a vague sensation of their faces…" His expression changed, becoming one of suspicion.
But he simply shook his head.
"I must be overthinking. It has been almost two decades since I arrived here!"
At this thought, his expression became slightly worried; his next Tribulation was imminent.
Kao Yu Hun raised his eyebrows, mildly puzzled at his sudden change of expression, but still, he added.
"To be honest, I did not expect this." He shrugged.
"Their decision for a truce was obvious, but to do so, so eagerly and so compliantly was something I never expected; they did not even bother to negotiate.
I wonder if the intel was all that valuable…"
Kao Dao Ji squinted his eyes briefly, understanding that he was being questioned once more.
"As I said before, I have my reasons to keep my secrets hidden."
"Sure, you do." Kao Yu Hun squinted his eyes slightly.
"Heh. Heh." He chuckled.
"Anyway." His eyes looked away.
"I know you are not the kind of person who merely strikes a conversation for the sake of it, you want me to tell you everything that has passed so far? Don't you?"
"Well. Bai Lin Hua has become a very respected teacher of our Clan.
She has taught several generations of Gu Masters in Soul Path, and some have already become Quasi-Masters.
Amongst the seedlings, the most outstanding member is Kao Dan Xiao, who has already reached Rank 5 Peak Cultivation and who does not seem that far from becoming a Master."
Kao Dao Ji's eyes suddenly widened.
Whilst he was aware of his existence, how did his attainment grow so quickly? He even suspected that he was a clone of Spectral Soul.
"Surprised? You should not be. You are not the only one who has a convenient time dilation. Ours is even greater; currently, he's in a pocket dimension where time is roughly 1 to 110 in comparison to the five regions.
Of course, we have done that because he's already at the last step to reach mastery.
If he succeeds in his Immortal Ascension, we will have an entirely loyal Soul Path Immortal at our command."
Then, he shrugged.
"As for other news? Well. We and other forces have been searching for traces of Crimson Soul, and not much has been found.
He has covered his steps well. He has brought most of his former subordinates into the Tributary Rivers of Time, and we have lost track of them.
Whilst only a few glimpses of his figure have been seen, he has been mostly collecting resources without end.
But there is another interesting piece of information we have uncovered." His expression became grave.
He stared at Kao Dao Ji before sighing.
"Whilst in a flawed manner, he has been witnessed using the power of his Rank 9 Gu to reinforce his Killer Moves!"
Kao Dao Ji's pupils shrank immediately.
"Does that mean…He is the strongest Immortal in the world?"
"Probably. And considering how our previous meeting with him went, our Clan has begun to contact the other Clans to ally in case he arrives.
But not much out of it has passed, nobody wants to be forced to fight a Pseudo Venerable due to a mere contract after all."
He stared at Kao Dao Ji for a couple of minutes as he processed the news.
"Anyhow. That is pretty much what I know." Kao Yu Hun shrugged.
"Now…Regarding the Immortal Gu, well. I don't need to explain much, do I?"
[Soulful Cloud]
[Lumpy Brain]
"Hehehe…" Kao Dao Ji's eyes shine deeply as he greedily takes them.
…
Some time later.
A pair of figures could be seen standing side by side.
Sitting at another round table.
One of them looked like a cracked egg, the figure chuckled.
"Come on, Yu Moshi Nu, you could not even afford to care enough to grace me with your presence today?
Or what do you think I did not notice you merely brought a Will in your place?"
The other figure crossed her arms together.
"Do you think I am an idiot, Da Chou Jidan? For all I know, this 'meeting' is but an excuse to get rid of one of your greatest enemies in one swoop."
"Hahahah! To be honest. Had you been there in flesh, I am not sure I could have held back." Da Chou Jidan grinned shamelessly.
"But that is not why I told you to come."
"Then for what reason exactly? You have not told me anything."
"I am here for one peculiar youth. I am not sure if you know him. 'Kao Dao Ji.'"
"The failure of a son who died during his first Tribulation? Why does he matter?" Yu Moshi Nu suddenly asked, mildly puzzled.
Da Chou Jidan grinned.
"He himself does not matter; that is clear. However, I have found a few odd things happening around him."
"Let me explain. Do you remember that I was forced to make a truce? Well. Do you know why I was forced to do so?"
"Because your incompetent subordinates were captured in a matter of minutes."
"Heh.Heh. Correct. But no matter how I ponder, the situation is riddled with flaws. Firstly, I brought three of my subordinates alongside the Will of a Rank 7.
They were supposed to capture plenty of territories, and yet.
Heh.
Surely you should agree with me that they getting curb stomped by a mere Land Spirit is a bit suspicious to say the least."
Yu Moshi Nu squinted her eyes slightly.
But then she replied.
"There is nothing suspicious about that alone. He could easily have reinforcements." Of course, despite her words, she knew that Da Chou Jidan would answer her doubts.
And so he did.
"This story would make sense if not for a few reasons. One. I already made sure that most of the Clansmen of the Kao Clan were busy; there were at most a few Rank 6 Immortals here and there.
Even if my subordinates could not escape, surely, they could at least have sent a message. But all communications had been blocked.
Second, Kao Yu Hun tried to appear heroic and rescue those endangered zones, as if he were unaware of the situation.
And just a few minutes at most, upon arriving, the situation had stopped entirely.
Which at best says that my subordinates held on until Kao Yu Hun appeared to beat them in the spot. Before rapidly contacting us, they had been beaten before by somebody else.
And he merely appeared to clean up.
If we do assume this, is a bit odd that the Kao Clan would sent Kao Yu Hun, after all, unless they underestimated the forces of their own allies is a bit strange that they would send Kao Yu Hun, even though they could have won entirely in their own.
So, either the two forces were perfectly even, unable to beat the other, and Kao Yu Hun was the tipping point, or they had beaten them before, and Kao Yu Hun was unaware of this."
Yu Moshi Nu frowned deeply.
The situation was beginning to become suspicious.
Even so, she asked.
"Even then, there are several coincidences in this world. Do you have anything else?"
"Nothing conclusive, but."
"My subordinates and I were suspicious of what happened, which is why we tried to rescue them as early as possible, even giving up several potential resources.
All to prevent them from gaining the time to alter their memories perfectly, and now guess what we found?"
Yu Moshi Nu raised her eyebrows; she looked expectant at his following words.
"Nothing. Everything that had happened during this period was wiped clean!
And it was not just an alteration or suppression of memories, but it was pure brute force!
Do you know what this means?"
"It means that they had something they desperately wanted to hide, and did not care the slightest about subtlety." Yu Moshi Nu replied, her tone slightly shaken.
"Of course. Even all of this does not prove anything. But doing so is considered generally impolite; after all, they have lost quite a few memories.
And it will take time for them to readjust to our ranks.
This tells us that they had something they wanted to hide desperately, even at the cost of capital power.
Considering everything, many things could have happened.
The two most likely events are:
Either Kao Dao Ji beat them entirely on his own, or somebody helped him.
Someone the Clan or Kao Dao Ji wanted to desperately keep a secret.
The first choice is obviously false, which leaves us only the second possibility."
Finally.
Da Chou Jidan squinted.
"Somebody must have helped him, someone the Clan did not wish to reveal.
So who could it be?"
"I had several theories in mind. The first is that the Clan secretly nurtured another Immortal, who was strong enough to take them down.
Whilst not implausible, it lacks a proper cause. Why would they hide an immortal's existence from us?
Is not as if they could nurture a Rank 8 from scratch secretly, and nurturing a Rank 7, whilst not trivial, is not that important in the great scheme of things.
Besides, I doubt they would go to such lengths to keep such a secret hidden."
Yu Moshi Nu squinted her eyes.
"I know where you are going with this. Do you want to say that you believe that the Kao Clan has allied itself with outsiders?"
"Possibly, but not necessarily." Da Chou Jidan shrugged.
"Another possibility is that the one who protected him had more emotional reasons to do so."
"Do you recall Kao Dao Zhen, Kao Dao Ji's father?"
"Are you suspecting that he faked his death somehow?"
"Possibly. Even though I doubt he could have overcome a Myriad Tribulation, who knows the methods he employed? Perhaps he did like me and cheated his way out by turning into a Zombie.
Or he found a way to clone or keep a portion of his Cultivation somewhere else.
Regardless.
While there are benefits in keeping his existence known, to not lower the morale.
There is also merit in faking weakness, to later on attack us.
If we assume their intent was to raise their strength in secret whilst pretending to be weak, he naturally would keep his existence hidden at all costs, and would hide it even from other Immortals from his Clan.
However. His emotions won over him. When he saw his son in danger, he disregarded everything to rescue him."
He shrugged.
"Of course that is just one of the myriad of possibilities we discussed, and honestly I hardly believe such an hypothesis. But I cannot deny it entirely.
So...Do you think what I am saying is far-fetched or not?"
Yu Moshi Nu hit the table with her fingernails.
"I am not sure either what all this means. But if you are not lying to me, the Kao Clan must be hiding something big!"
She sighed.
"So…I assume you want to form an alliance with me?"
Da Chou Jidan nodded.
"Yeah. Nothing too drastic, of course, we just need to work together to find the truth.
After all, depending on what their secret may be, our situation may be a lot more precarious than it seems."
Yu Moshi Nu nodded solemnly at those words.