Kao Dao Ji stared at the skies above.
And clicked his tongue.
"It's coming." He muttered, turning his head towards Kao Yu Hun.
Kao Yu Hun stood up from his chair.
Staring at the skies, with his arms crossed.
"Alright." He replied calmly.
"Where is the Tribulation converging?" Kao Dao Ji pointed towards the skies.
From the clouds above, there was resonance.
A blue, celeste pulse was unleashed towards all directions.
And suddenly.
All the surrounding Rainy and Clouded Thoughts began to flow towards the skies.
Kao Dao Ji snorted coldly.
"Star Constellation, do you truly think the same trick will work twice on me?"
He clenched his fist.
A white aura appeared in his hand.
[Yang Qi Resonance]
The surrounding droplets and clouds, which were rapidly being generated, were suddenly pulled towards Kao Dao Ji.
Whilst nowhere near enough to actually pull them at his side, they were just about strong enough to disrupt the process of formation of the cloud-beasts that had been created during his previous Tribulation.
However.
There was a cascading effect.
As if a switch had been triggered, those Clouded and Rainy Thoughts Gu had their magnetism power multiplied by a hundredfold.
They began to surge at his location fiercely!
To which Kao Dao Ji widened his eyes.
An expression of shock appeared on his face.
A tyrannical force appeared, like a meteor surging for vengeance, and the target was obvious!
"pff…As if." The fear in Kao Dao Ji's face vanished, and he could not help but laugh.
He casually snapped his fingers.
Thousands of White sparkles appeared everywhere.
[Multiply]
Several similar 'Qi Magnets' appeared all around his aperture.
They began to pull the approaching Rainy and Clouded Thoughts, diminishing the tidal force into a myriad of far more manageable tiny bullets.
Or so it would have happened, but just when the stream was split in two, there was yet another change.
The rainy and clouded thoughts became yin-yang balanced, and hence the magnetic effect stopped.
Still. Most of the force had been dissipated.
Of course, that did not mean the attack was over.
As if reacting to his actions.
The Tribulation once more changed.
The Clouded Thoughts Gu and Rainy Thoughts Gu exploded, fusing strangely.
Pinkish-Grey droplets descended towards the oceans of his aperture; the intention was obvious.
To which Kao Dao Ji's eyes shone with a deep gleam.
"She is trying to poison my seas and affect the living beings within it! However, if she's employing such a tactic, does that mean that she does not think she can kill me with a mere Earth Tribulation?"
Of course, he would not believe such a thing so easily.
He needed to probe first.
"Kao Yu Hun!" He shouted.
To which Kao Yu Hun flapped his wings into the air, stretching them fully.
A powerful tide of wind was unleashed, and within it, there were thousands of small wind blades.
Effortlessly, they sliced through the rainy thoughts in half, stopping their effect entirely.
Whilst this happened, Kao Dao Ji too unleashed another move.
He flexed his palm, and immediately a massive explosion surged.
Millions of water drops were immediately boiled, and countless others were pushed in all directions.
Of course.
Both of their Killer Moves were insufficient to target all the droplets of rain; only around a fourth of the Tribulation had been dealt with so easily.
Whilst the numbers sounded impressive enough, there was a major flaw.
Those pinkish droplets had already descended towards the surface, but their pinkish texture vanished as they mixed with the seawater.
Still.
Neither of the two panicked. Kao Yu Hun's eyes shone brightly, whereas Kao Dao Ji merely focused on his inner senses as a Land Spirit.
By relying on those aspects, they both discerned several trails of rainy and clouded thoughts Gu flowing through.
Kao Yu Hun frowned.
"This is rather tricky. Wind and Lighting both disperse in water." Of course, as a Rank 7 Immortal, it would be far too laughable if he could not fight against mere mundane water.
Still, he could not go all out, lest he destroyed too much of the wildlife.
He concentrated his energy while swimming deep into the water.
From his fingertips, he unleashed a thousand lightning needles.
They made their way through the water and pierced individual thoughts.
Yet.
It was far harder than before; by this point, the trails were already dispersing far too greatly.
Each thought was getting farther and farther away from the others, and once more, he was unable to go all out as he did not dare to approach those thoughts carelessly.
Whereas.
Kao Dao Ji used his Heavenly Power to produce several tidal waves.
The water began to flow in a spiral containing several bubbles of thoughts, which he then dispersed with acid rain.
However.
Whilst dealing with yet another bubble, his eyes suddenly widened.
One of the streams of water was heading towards a very peculiar spot.
"Kao Yu Hun! Watch out!"
Kao Yu Hun immediately stopped in his tracks and retreated upon hearing his words.
"What is wrong?" Kao Yu Hun asked warily, whilst Kao Dao Ji merely waved his hand in dismissal.
"Deal with another stream, this one's poisoned by some strange thoughts, they have some weird properties, only with my Lumpy Brain Gu can I deal with them!"
Kao Yu Hun stared at Kao Dao Ji, puzzled. He injected some of his Immortal Essence to observe whatever Kao Dao Ji was talking about.
However, upon noticing this, Kao Dao Ji shouted.
"No! No! That is wrong too! Those thoughts, to observe them is like trying to deduce a Wisdom Path Immortal, by attempting to peer into their fortune, they can peer into yours.
Similarly, once you peer into those thoughts, they latch onto your mind.
As I said, only I with my Lumpy Brain can deal with them!"
The expression on Kao Yu Hun's face became suspicious upon hearing such an explanation.
However, he merely shrugged after some pondering.
"Alright."
He flew away towards another stream.
To which Kao Dao Ji finally managed to calm down.
"That damned Star Constellation! She was leading Kao Yu Hun right where Uru Hong Jing is!" He cursed under his breath.
Naturally, his previous words were complete bullshit.
Still.
Kao Yu Hun bought them, or at least was uncertain whether they were true, so it was a success.
Even so.
Kao Dao Ji felt incredibly nervous.
Thankfully, he had been wary of such traps; had he been careless for just a few more seconds, Kao Yu Hun could have uncovered the truth!
His eyelids trembled.
Immediately, he began to go all-out, not sparing the slightest of Immortal Essence; several explosions marched by.
He destroyed everything in his way.
Of course, his body bore the wounds, his bones and flesh shattered, which was why.
Countless Green Cytoclouds exploded inside his bloodstream, rapidly healing his wounds, consuming several Immortal Essence Beads, yet keeping him safe nonetheless.
As this occurred, large volumes of water rapidly evaporated, flowing into the skies.
Producing sparkles of white light.
The nearby Sunny Thoughts were pulled rapidly towards the highly ionised steam.
Kao Dao Ji frowned.
"Seriously? This Tribulation has more layers than a damn onion!" He tried to retreat away, however.
Several of the droplets of Rainy Thoughts began to spin in unison.
Blocking any possible path of escape.
Yet.
Despite noticing this, Kao Dao Ji merely gritted his teeth.
He closed his eyes.
And charged forward, ignoring everything.
As this happened.
His brain rapidly reacted.
He felt overwhelmed by a strange dizziness, sadness, melancholy and was also overtaken by sheer confusion.
His senses felt overwhelmed, yet he withstood almost everything.
The reason was clear.
Lumpy Brain was an Immortal Gu that would adhere itself to the brain of the Gu Master, producing an untold number of folds within the brain, increasing the volume of neurons within it, permanently.
Increasing the amount of thoughts as well as the speed of production, albeit it had a bad side.
If the Gu were to be destroyed, the Gu Master's Brain would feel a backlash as it would rapidly 'expand', as the folds would well…unfold.
Pressuring the brain against the walls of the cranium, killing the Gu Master, albeit this flaw was less extreme for Kao Dao Ji it was still a relatively weak point.
Regardless.
Followed by this, Kao Dao Ji injected onto himself several Sunny Thoughts.
Clearing away his mind, yet also producing an intense headache.
He moved to the right.
Evading a lightning strike, yet.
His eyes widened once more.
Like before, Kao Yu Hun was rapidly heading towards an 'unsafe' zone.
"Kao Yu Hun, help me!" Kao Dao Ji shamelessly shouted to try to distract his supposed ally.
Kao Yu Hun frowned, turning his head towards him before sighing.
"Fine." He flapped his wings and rapidly reached towards the surface.
He charged towards the source of the lightning.
Whereas Kao Dao Ji found a rare opportunity to stabilise the situation, once more, he went all out to destroy those annoying thoughts.
Whereas Kao Yu Hun cleared the skies, the two cooperated for a while.
A few minutes later.
The Tribulation had ceased.
But Kao Dao Ji did not feel the slightest relief, at the contrary.
He had an expression of wariness as he pondered.
"This Tribulation was far too weird!"
"While it tested me in several ways, none were all too difficult."
"It was as if she was not trying to kill me, just..."
His eyes widened.
"She was testing my limits!"
As he realised this.
His expression turned gloomier.
"Star Constellation, what the hell are you doing?
There is a Time Traveller, a Rank 8 Immortal holding onto a Rank 9 Gu, and yet you go to bully me, a mere Rank 6..."