Kao Dao Ji stood before a crowd.
Observing his surrounding disciples.
In truth, close to three months have already passed inside his aperture.
And yet the promise of 'guidance' had been postponed.
But it could not be helped.
There were several 'crises' inside his aperture; while not exactly life-threatening, they were certainly unfavorable.
Contamination in the rivers, pollution, and high electricity field which lead to headaches and other mental afflictions in living beings.
Clouded Thought Gu's which suddenly mixed in the air, acting as a poison for any creature who devoured them, and even the ones who eat them.
Among many other issues, he still needed to deal with to create his perfect environment.
Yet.
While he still wanted to delay things a bit further, the heart of the Featherman in his aperture was already wavering.
Had they not received those Thunder Stones before, they would likely be rioting right now.
Even then, their pay needed to be fulfilled.
There was a large crowd.
Among them, Kao Qian Hangse stood out the most.
Whilst he was nowhere near reaching Rank 5, he was one of the few who had the greatest hope of succeeding.
Kao Dao Ji cleared his throat.
"Kao Qian Hangse, I cannot help but notice that you have something in mind.
What do you wish to ask?"
Kao Qian Hangse stopped in its tracks.
"I've long since heard that Masters in the Cloud Dao, can create clouds which can be sustained for months and years, with barely any expenditure.
Just how does one come to accomplish this? And why are Cloud Gu Masters the only ones who can do this?"
Kao Dao Ji blinked.
"Huh…Such a difficult question from the start?" He thought inwardly.
He touched his chin, and after a small pause, he said.
"As you said, Masters in the Cloud Dao can indeed do this.
As for the reason why we can, and others cannot, is simple.
You only need to take a simple glimpse at the essence of other Paths.
Let us begin with fire.
Fire, by its very nature, always requires 'energy', a fuel to sustain itself.
Thus, to sustain a Fire Path Killer Move it is fundamental to continuously provide fuel.
Whereas other Paths like Wind or Qi Path are too whimsical and flickering, to try to put those objects within a 'box' is simply a fool's errand.
Sustaining the Killer Move is like putting water into your hands; no matter how good your technique is, the water will always slip through the cracks.
…
Of course, one may argue that there are also more 'stable' Paths, such as Metal or Earth Path.
Indeed, even an ordinary Gu Master who is not competent can, on their very first try, create a stable pile using a single Gu Worm of either of those two Paths.
Yet.
Despite this, the Killer Move is not sustained.
Do you know why?
Because while the shape may be preserved, the energy within is not.
When one uses Primeval Essence, the nature of earth temporarily changes; it becomes like a fluid, able to move at the whims of its master.
Taking the shape of sand or stone, yet once one stops providing it with energy, it simply freezes on its tracks.
Clouds, however, are very different.
While Clouds may look stable on the surface, within, they are like a storm.
Tiny drops of ice continuously get generated by the intense cold within; some even collide with each other, producing electricity which slowly builds up in the form of lightning.
There are also drops of water that continuously fall as rain, and there's also the water that is continuously being absorbed.
To put it in other words.
While there is an unstable microcosm, the macrocosm as a whole remains stable.
And so, with the right methods, one can sustain a Killer Move for a very long time."
Then, Kao Dao Ji shrugged.
"Of course, that is not to say that it is entirely impossible to achieve this in other Paths.
Is just that the required mastery would be ten times greater."
Kao Dao Ji took a long breath after saying those words.
While he had long since instinctively 'understood' those principles, since the very first day he came into this world.
He had never verbalized them.
They were more like an instinctive understanding.
Yet now that he had forced himself to verbalize his thoughts and ideas, he felt they were a bit clearer than before.
Nothing too drastic, but the change was already there.
"Protégé's effect?" He thought to himself.
But at the next moment, he saw one of the Featherman raise her arm and say.
"Hey! It's my turn now. Grand Lord, I have a question.
One of my friends told me that I was stretching myself too thin by leaning into too many schools of thought of water path.
He told me to stick to salted water.
Should I heed his advice?
Also. What exactly is a school of thought? I'm not sure yet what he meant."
Kao Dao Ji woke up from his thoughts and replied.
"Ehem. A school of thought is simply a perspective and approach, or the lenses one employs to understand a Path.
Regarding Water there are several schools of thought regarding the different kinds of water.
There is distilled water, sweet water, salted water, toxic water, and so on.
Depending on the composition of materials within the water, the properties of it change.
Many Gu Masters, understanding this point, tend to focus on just the kinds of water they understand the most and specialize in them.
But while that is a common approach, it is not the only one.
There are also other Water Gu Masters, who, instead of specializing in a few kinds of water, employ every single one of them.
Depending on their needs.
Neither of those Paths are wrong; there are disadvantages and advantages in either approach.
Just choose the path you think suits you the most." Kao Dao Ji explained patiently.
And as he replied to the second answer, another Featherman raised his arm to ask another question.
And so did another, and another.
And another.
For several hours, Kao Dao Ji remained busy answering any and all the questions of those excited Feathermen.
Meanwhile.
There was a man with deep, dark red eyes and a pale blueish face flying amidst the distant clouds.
He had his arms crossed while he was observing a certain place.
The Red Cradle.
Based on his subordinates' reports, Bai Lin Hua seemed to be interested in the case of Kao Dao Ji and his supposed Soul Cultivation.
Initially, their very first conclusions were that the Kao Clan had purposefully shared this information to purposefully bait Bai Lin Hua towards her death.
Yet, a deeper investigation revealed that those rumors did not originate from the Kao Clan, but rather from the Da Clan.
A neighboring Grotto Heaven.
"But what would be the point in doing this? Was the allure of Soul Path so great? Or perhaps, they hoped we would be tricked, and we would get entangled against the Kao Clan?" He frowned.
"Or perhaps, there's another culprit behind the scenes, possibly the same Kao Clan, trying to see if they can make a fool out of me." His frown turned deeper.
An unwise man would have struck first, before asking questions.
Of course, he would not do something like that.
His purpose was simple.
People from Grotto Heavens were very unified in mind, whilst secrets were seldom shared with mortals, pretty much any Immortal was allowed to know all but the deepest secrets of the Clan.
Thus, his idea was simple.
He would lurk in the zone and try to capture any Rank 6 Gu Master from that Clan.
After doing so, he would read their memories.
If they were the culprits, then he would retaliate.
If they were not.
He would alter the memories of the captured Immortal, making them forget everything, and creating a proper alibi.
Before he moved towards his next suspect.
As he thought of this, his gaze briefly turned towards the distant Kao Clan.
And especially towards a certain figure.
Kao Dao Ji.
…
"The essence of Refinement? Mmm...Well, that is…Hah. Not quite my expertise, let me say." Kao Dao Ji muttered awkwardly; he rubbed his nose.
But then.
He felt a chill in his back.
"What is going on? Why do I have this sense of danger?"