Four months later.
Once more Kao Dao Ji stood amidst white clouds, observing his surroundings.
The tiny steel like threads, have become overly abundant, covering the whole skies like a fishing net.
At the same time, one could also see that the layers of clouds in the aperture had grown livelier.
Unlike before, whilst one could only see the vast white clouds now, one could perceive if observing carefully the myriad of ants moving and swarming the zone.
With a lot of fairy-fly like wasps, and dragon flies chasing after them.
Apart from this there were some bigger spiders that had appeared, they seemed to climb on top of the myriad of steel like threads, to create their webs.
The lights were also vibrant, unlike before which was slightly dark, now there were countless of light sources spread everywhere.
There were also the gorgeous dandelions which flew freely through the air, dancing like a million of stars.
The scene looked quite magical like a fairyland, however that was only in the middle layers.
He lowered his gaze, turning his eyes towards the 9th layer of clouds.
Which looked quite different.
Those clouds had turned greenish, and their edges had turned sharper.
Not only that but they also continuously released a certain 'gas', which produced unpleasant feelings.
If an ordinary person were to get even 3 kilometers nearby, their eyes would begin to burn.
And if they dared to linger it was likely they would lose their vision.
Similarly, their skin would also burn and hurt, their blood would feel boiling and evaporating.
Such a thing was of course, no mere coincidence.
Over the past few months, he had dedicated himself to finding ways of 'degrading' the 10th layer, for his current methods were simply too inefficient.
During this period, he recalled the power of his Acid Rain Killer Move.
The essence of this Killer Move did not linger in poison, but rather in a quality water was already quite good at.
Dissolving.
While most people may not pay much attention to this quality, water is an excellent dissolver.
Be it paper, salt, or even most chemical products water excelled in absorbing them and degrading them to their smallest components.
Upon recalling this theory, he decided to modify his Killer Move to be able to dissolve clouds!
Once he had this direction, he wholeheartedly began to pursue it.
And thus, he begun to research in Water Path during this period.
Coincidentally, during the process he felt the barriers regarding 'Quasi-Master' were slowly vanishing.
He felt that as long as he had a couple more of such inspirations, he would be able to become a Master.
Kao Dao Ji stared at his aperture, trying to find another inspiration.
But as he was doing so.
His eyes suddenly widened.
"A Gu? I am perceiving a Gu?" He muttered.
As a Land Spirit his intuition regarding his Aperture was a thousand times stronger than an ordinary Mortal, and as long as he had that intuition.
His eyes darted across the field, almost immediately he found the location.
No.
It would be more appropriate to say 'locations.'
His eyes turned towards a few of the fairyflies whose stomachs were shining brightly.
Some with golden bright colors, others with dim grey splendor.
Immediately he figured out what was happening.
"Their bodies are producing Gu's.
And is not just one, but two!
Not only that, but across my aperture there are actually already thousands of Gu's…" He felt both joyful and shocked, as well as a bit disappointed in himself.
He had been so engrossed in his own things that he had missed such a development in his aperture.
Still, as the shock passed, overwhelming happiness came.
And why?
Because he had already investigated those fairyflies thoroughly.
And based on all the records of his Clan, there was truly no such insect in history.
While before, it could be said to be a curiosity, with little actual value now that he knew it could provide Gu's his excitement reached the limit.
Inwardly Kao Dao Ji prayed in his heart.
"Please…Let those two Gu's have a good effect."
Without further ado, he used his Heavenly Power and immediately opened the stomach of those two fairyflies and the Gu's flew towards his two palms and he caught them.
He glanced at the Gu on his left hand.
The Gu looked quite strange.
Like many Cloud Path Gu worms, it had a shape akin to that of a cloud, however it also looked wrinkly, not only that but it felt very heavy to the touch and was grayish pink.
It also had a very 'squishy' feeling to it.
There was a sticky liquid oozing from it.
Touching the Gu for a brief instant he wondered.
"This texture…It feels like touching butter, buts its appearance..."
"It almost feels like I am seeing an animal's brain not a Gu." With this there was some trepidation in his heart, could it be that the Gu Worm was actually a Wisdom Path Gu?
If so, it would be fantastic news!
But then his expression changed a bit, as he looked at the other side of the Gu from which one could see a sad face.
The face looked like it had been drawn by a five-year old, which looked quite amusing.
"Human face? Holy. Do not tell me that this is a Human Path Gu?" His shock became even greater, but he shook his head.
He should not reach such hasty conclusions, besides he had yet to inspect the other.
The other Gu looked like a sun.
Not the 'sun' in the skies, but like a three-dimensional version of the drawing of the sun made by a kid.
With its pointy tails and all.
However, just like with the other Gu there was a drawn face.
This one however looked like an smiling face.
"Sad face, happy face….Sun and Cloud…" He muttered to himself.
Suddenly, there was a hint of inspiration in his face.
"I see! The Cloud Gu must be the original, and the Sun one must have been created somehow by the sunflowers spread in my aperture."
If his speculation was correct, then those fairy flies truly carried a lot of potential.
Not only could they create a Gu, but even a series of them depending on the environment.
Of course, he lacked any definitive proof that this was truly the case.
Even so, he felt the probability was quite high.
At this thought, his excitement increased even further.
He stared first at what he believed to be the 'original.'
With light in his eyes.
"Alright, the best way to see its effect is to test it myself!" He thought.
If many Gu Masters heard his thoughts, they would call him crazy, or insane.
After all there is quite the danger in testing an unknown Gu, generally one would employ all sort of investigative methods or research or would simply prepare an slave or two to test its effects.
But he felt no such worries.
The reason of his confidence was of course, his deep Cultivation.
With his strength and the Dao Marks in his body, plus his Rank 6 Cultivation how could he possibly be afraid of a mere Rank 2 Gu?
Even if the Gu was called 'Self Immolation Gu', at most it would heat up his body a bit, with his Rank 6 strength it was quite difficult to target his body.
And so, with a mere thought he injected the faintest trace of Immortal Essence into the Gu.
The Gun shone brightly, intensively with pink splendor.
Kao Dao Ji felt an strange sensation, as the cloud swam towards his cranium, entering through it almost instantaneously.
Despite this, he did not look panicked instead his joy became more evident.
"A Gu that can enter into my brain? There is no doubt about it, it must be a Wisdom Path Gu!"
But at the next moment, his expression changed a bit.
His gaze lost some of its focus, he looked dazed.
"What is…Happening? Why does my head feel so…heavy?" He muttered to himself, whilst he touched his forehead.
He frowned; without any hesitation he triggered a basic Killer Move.
Water Mirror, piercing sight.
Immediately a Water mirror manifested in front of his face.
The mirror, under his command ignored everything regarding muscle and bone, and instead observed the brain.
Immediately his expression changed.
He saw how miniscule, almost atomic 'thoughts' had appeared, those thoughts had the shape of clouds.
"I see! This Gu must be one of those Thought Gu's, however…" He lowered his brows further.
"It makes me no happy, nor sad, nor malicious, nor I can think more efficiently, at the contrary the opposite is happening…"
"It feels like there is a layer, a 'barrier' that is hindering my thoughts, like if my right and left hemisphere were working against each other."
His frown turned deeper.
Before he muttered.
"In my current state, with a mushed brain I do not think I can deduce a damn thing, oh well!" Immediately his expression hardened.
"La la la la la my mind is fast fast fast fast something, something think of something, big bang big bang bing bang bing, boom, boom, boom da."
With still a serious expression he kept thinking all sorts of wild, random thoughts.
Those thoughts were like a million of projectiles, that shredded through the clouds.
Once the clouds were vanished, he let out a long breath.
"Luckily this Gu was only Rank 2, had it been a Rank 5 I am afraid I could not have solved it so easily…" He said.
As for the method he just employed of destroying the Gu?
Well, it was quite rudimentary.
While he did not understood its effects fully, those 'cloud-shaped thoughts', seemed to have an effect of preventing other thoughts from colliding.
However, everything has a limit.
Simply by pushing his mind to the brink, thinking all sort of things randomly, he was able to unravel the Gu in mere instants.
"While this Gu is very weak at Rank 2, what about 4, what about 5?" He lowered his brows again.
As he analyzed.
"This may be a rough guess, but if I were to estimate it.
At Rank 2, the barrier of this Gu is like thin paper, if I put any real strength on it, it simply cannot last.
At Rank 3 the same should occur, at most it may take a bit more effort.
But at 4?
I do not think it would be this simple.
And 5?
Well, unless I got treated by an expert in Wisdom Path, I would likely become retarded for a few years."
The implications of this, were shocking.
That meant that an ordinary Rank 6 Cultivator who did not specialize in Wisdom Path would basically be screwed if they were struck by the Gu.
And yes, they may still live, but they would be fighting with half their brain.
And even that was the best-case scenario, for all he knew once the quantity of Cloudy Thoughts crossed a certain degree, it could stop functional thoughts in the brain like breathing or regulating the heartbeat.
By then, the Gu Master would automatically die!
"Of course, that is just wishful thinking, in reality, is not like I can make my enemies activate this Gu on their own.
At most I could create a Killer Move using this Gu as a core, to then send those thoughts in the head of my adversary.
Naturally the quantity of thoughts sent would decrease massively if this is the case."
Yet.
Despite this he did not look discouraged, at the contrary he was very emboldened by this.
With joy in his face, he said.
"From this day onward, the Gu will be called Clouded Thoughts Gu."