Kao Dao Ji sighed and repeatedly shook his head.
"I am afraid it is not possible."
Kao Yu Hun stared at him with wide eyes.
"Why? Don't you trust me to fulfill your dream?"
Kao Dao Ji smiled bitterly.
"It is not that I don't, but… the dream I had, the dream I have, is…
To break free from the shackles imposed on us by the Heavenly Court! To reclaim the Five Continents for ourselves and fly freely.
Such is my aspiration!"
At those words, Kao Yu Hun stared at him blankly.
"Those requirements… aren't they a bit too absurd? Come on, just who on earth could even accomplish this? A Venerable?" Despite his minor dissatisfaction, he sighed.
"You are right… I truly lack the capabilities to do that," he said with disappointment in his tone.
He closed his eyes and added,
"Well, I think I will be leaving.
I need to inform the Elders about what happened, and also, regarding your circumstances…"
He was about to fly with his two wings; however, just as he was about to do so—
"Wait," Kao Dao Ji said.
Kao Yu Hun turned his head to glance at him.
"Senior… my circumstances are difficult… You know how difficult it is for Land Spirits to thrive."
Kao Dao Ji stared at him with a regretful expression.
"I have my own difficulties," he stated. While he did not mind providing aid to an outstanding youngster, the youngster was already dead.
A Land Spirit could no longer grow, at least not in rank; that was a known fact. Hell, even gaining attainment was difficult. Furthermore, the lack of replenishment in their Immortal Aperture made them fated for death.
Under those circumstances, why would he sacrifice himself for it?
"You misunderstood. I am not just asking for help.
I have a deal in mind, which will benefit us both greatly!"
Kao Yu Hun raised his long, white, feather-like eyebrows, mildly interested.
"Go on."
"I am willing to let you borrow a Gu of mine, my 'Lightning Current Gu.'"
"Pardon me?" Kao Yu Hun tilted his head, seemingly in disbelief.
"You heard me right. I am willing to lend you my Gu. In return, I only need two favors:
One, for every year you borrow my Gu, you will give me five Immortal Essence Stones.
Second, you will agree that during tribulations, you will come to help me, even if you are not chosen by the Clan to do so.
And if you are unable to, then you must compensate with an additional fifty Spirit Stones for an Earthly Tribulation and five hundred for every Heavenly Tribulation," Kao Dao Ji explained.
Realization appeared in Kao Yu Hun's gaze; his expression softened.
Inwardly, he thought,
"Sigh. So even ghosts wish to cling to life, huh?" He shook his head inwardly. Those two terms were not exceedingly difficult; however, they revealed his desperation.
Kao Yu Hun nodded to him and was about to agree; however, at the next instant, his following words surprised him.
"In addition, if I ever find myself in a dangerous position and feel like I am going to die again,
well, I will simply detonate all my Gu, regardless of whether you still have time remaining or not."
"Hah… so you do not trust me after all?" He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Kao Dao Ji shook his head.
"It is not that I do not trust you, but I cannot risk it.
Regardless, if you are willing to agree, I can extend those terms not only to you, but to any descendant you may have in the future.
Of course, this contract will only be valid for as long as I remain alive."
Kao Yu Hun's expression revealed some surprise.
"I see! He wants to tangle me with benefits. In the future, regardless of the contract or not, I will be forced to help him when he's in danger, whether I want to or not.
Still, I never expected that he would come up with such a good scheme. Strange, I thought Land Spirits were supposed to be dull."
He decided to probe him slightly.
"I am impressed. The plan you made is too well elaborated to be made up just now," he said.
Kao Dao Ji sighed.
"You overestimate my abilities. This plan of mine I already made some time ago, before I had my ascension.
I just hoped I would never have to use it."
As he heard those words, Kao Yu Hun nodded.
"Indeed, a Land Spirit could not make such a sophisticated plan.
Still, it is obvious that he did not trust me as much as he said he did. Then again, considering what happened, I cannot exactly blame him," he thought to himself.
Then, after some pondering, he replied,
"Having said this, right now my finances are a bit tight, so I am afraid I will only be able to provide four Immortal Essence Stones…"
Kao Dao Ji stared at him blankly and barked,
"No bargaining."
Kao Yu Hun frowned.
Knowing that trying to negotiate with a Land Spirit was like trying to convince a mule, in the end, he accepted the deal.
Still, inwardly, he was smiling widely.
After all, an ordinary Rank 7 Gu Master would be laughing in their dreams if they could reliably rent Rank 6 Gu at the price of merely five Immortal Essence Stones per year.
And regarding the other part about dealing with tribulations?
Well, Earthly Tribulations were not a big deal—only Heavenly Tribulations were, but they were rare.
Furthermore, dealing with a Blessed Land's tribulations was actually a fairly common practice.
Usually, when an Immortal died, the Clan would arrange a random expert to manage it to the best of his abilities.
But in this case, there was an already existing Land Spirit to take care of it.
Then, the Clan would instead give the Land Spirit autonomy of the Blessed Land, but in return, the Land Spirit would give away twenty percent of everything they produced yearly as a tax,
whilst also forcing them to trade any special Gu or materials from their apertures with preference over Treasure Yellow Heaven.
In return, the Clan would send an expert to protect the Land Spirit during every tribulation (which, of course, would be compensated for their stay).
In other words, even without this deal, it was likely that he would already be sent to help him and would be rewarded for it. Thus, the only real pay was five Immortal Stones yearly, and a lot more in case he failed to fulfill.
Upon hearing those terms, Kao Yu Hun was very moved, and after a short negotiation (which basically consisted of Kao Yu Hun trying to lower the price and Kao Dao Ji saying no), the two reached an agreement.
As the deal was completed, Kao Yu Hun flew away, escaping from the aperture and returning to the Clan.
Kao Dao Ji waited patiently for over ten minutes, waiting until he left completely, before sighing in relief.
"Luckily, he did not find out anything wrong. If he had…" He touched his forehead and shook his head.
"Regardless, I am lucky that I managed to make a plan on the spot. If not, my current situation would be very tough."
He shook his head.
"Anyway, now that the greatest danger is settled, I guess I should calm myself a little and sort the new memories I have…"
He closed his eyes for a brief period before opening them again with a strange frown on his face.
"My attainment is quite peculiar. I am a Master in Cloud and Lightning, and a Quasi-Master in Water Path.
In everything else, including Refinement, I am almost completely blank."
While the combination of Paths sounded peculiar, it was related to his predecessor's goal of cultivation.
To understand them, one only needs to take a look at Cloud Path.
Cloud Path is considered very mediocre in almost everything, except for movement, concealment, and aperture management.
And even then, Wind surpasses it in movement, Wood surpasses it in management, and several others surpass it in concealment.
And yet, even though Cloud Path was too mediocre, most people in the Kao Clan ended up cultivating it, both because the Feathermen had a natural talent toward this and Wind Path, and simply because the foundation of their Clan so dictated.
But Kao Dao Ji was not satisfied with those arrangements. He wanted to strengthen Cloud Path until it became on par with mainstream Pathways.
Thus, he had an idea: if Cloud Path was so mediocre, why couldn't he borrow the expertise of other Paths?
While this sounded extremely foolish, and generally it would be a terrible idea, he was not without options.
The Kao Clan possessed quite a few options for Cloud Path cultivators,
like Rain Gu, Thunderous Cloud Gu, among many others.
While their principles were a lot more complicated than that, in practice, what they did was convert Cloud Path into Water and Lightning Path, respectively.
In other words, he wanted to employ Cloud Path to grasp the power of Lightning and Water.
Unfortunately, while this plan sounded great in theory, in practice it was far more complicated than that.
For starters, there was a loss in the conversion. In the same way that one would lose some energy by transforming electrical energy into light, there was a degree of loss in strength compared to employing Water or Lightning Path killer moves directly.
Another factor was that he needed several steps in between. Unlike Water cultivators, who could directly use a killer move and receive the amplification, he knew that he would require a series of steps to gain the respective amplification.
On top of that, there was the most crucial factor,
which was attainment.
What was the point of his strange methods, training exercises, and Gu usage if he knew nothing of either Water or Lightning Path?
Only by having a profound understanding of the three Paths would this method even make sense.
Unfortunately, while Feathermen were natural geniuses of Cloud Path, their talents in Lightning and Water Path left a lot to be desired.
He persisted for decades, trying to elevate his attainments in Lightning and Water Path to Master. Unfortunately, the process was too slow and steady.
And knowing that his own cultivation in Cloud Path was being affected by his indecision,
he made the decision.
He used his Immortal Opportunity to increase his attainments in the two Paths, aiming to raise at least one of his Quasi-Master attainments to Mastery.
Then, he would use the resources of the Clan to fill the remaining gaps and raise it to Master as well.
Unfortunately, before those plans could come to fruition, he died.
"Due to his physique and due to his superior attainment and environment, the tribulation was mainly in Cloud Path.
However, due to his other attainments, Vital Gu, plus the excess amount of Water and Lightning Path Gu he carried in his aperture, the tribulation contained some traces of Lightning and Water Path.
In total, I received 1,114 Cloud Dao Marks, 443 Lightning Dao Marks, 207 Water Dao Marks, plus a few Dao Marks in other Paths like Time and Space Path.
If I were to give a total, I received roughly twice the Dao Marks that a newly ascended Immortal should have.
My aperture is also quite large, around 5,831.4 kilometers in size, with a time ratio of around one to twenty-one.
Then again, an elevated time ratio is anything but helpful.
Considering the deal I made with Kao Yu Hun, I should place my aperture in the world and synchronize its time with the five regions…"
"Regarding my methods, I have two Immortal Gu under my control.
Rain Gu is very weak on its own, as it only has the effect of forcing the surrounding clouds to rain; however, it can be complemented well for moves like Acid Rain or Green Rain, plus it synergizes well with my other Gu.
Cloud Field Gu, on the other hand, has the effect of summoning a vast amount of clouds.
Whilst not powerful in any way, it can act as a force multiplier for other killer moves.
Plus, the rapid creation of clouds can also act as a shield and cover, so its effect is not half bad."
"As for the food they require, well, disregarding Lightning Current, which requires a huge amount of Rank 5 materials, the food of Cloud Field and Rain Gu is quite simple.
The food of Cloud Field is large amounts of water vapor, whilst Rain Gu's food is clouds.
Even if I disregard my full aperture, just by expending a few Immortal Essence Beads, those Gu will feed each other basically forever. Speaking of which…"
"Regarding Immortal Essence, whilst I have only a little more than thirty Immortal Essence Beads generated by my ascension,
My 'father' gave me roughly three hundred and fifty Immortal Essence Stones before perishing—a sizeable amount.
While I could use them as coins of exchange, it would be a bit stupid considering my situation, so I guess I will convert two hundred of them into Essence and keep the rest of the Immortal Stones as money."
Then, he added,
"Finally, as a Land Spirit, I have other qualities that Gu Masters do not have."
With a thought, he glanced at a nearby cloud.
He raised his hand and moved it to the left; then the cloud followed his will and moved with it.
Immediately, a tiny grin appeared on his face.
With tremendous precision, he was able to command and move the clouds effortlessly.
Then,
His grin became wider. He closed his eyes and tried to seize control over a dozen clouds around him.
However, he gritted his teeth.
He felt that "pulling" the surrounding clouds was a lot harder than before. After some more testing, he soon discovered his limits, which, needless to say, were quite disappointing.
"Based on my memories of him, my strength in using Cloud Gu should be stronger than most Rank 5 Gu, but far weaker than most Rank 5 killer moves."
He was a bit disappointed,
but not too much.
"Even if it's weaker than ordinary killer moves, nothing stops me from using both at once.
At worst, those killer moves will be amplified a bit further. I could also make use of my Heavenly Powers to make more intricate killer moves than those an ordinary Immortal could do.
That is worth exploring further…" He shook his head.
While testing around and exploring his full potential was certainly something he would have to do later,
there was something more fun he could try.
He made a grandiose gesture as he stretched his two arms widely, shouting,
"Let there be light!"
And just as he said this, intense lightning befell everywhere,
producing intense white lights of immense power.
"Let there be sound!" Following the lights, soon thunderous, explosive sounds emerged everywhere.
"Let there be wind!" This time, the impact was much softer. Still, by stretching his mind to the limit,
a powerful wave emanated from his body, which spread across the whole aperture.
"Let there be rain!"
Countless droplets of water descended from the clouds.
Those drops of water condensed into countless tiny, pearl-like ice structures, shining brightly in all the colors of the rainbow.
Such a majestic scene.
Even Kao Dao Ji, who was the culprit, could not help but be awed.
He clenched his fists.
"Hahahahaha!" He laughed heartily.
The power he held, the beauty his body now carried, the exquisite control, his amplified senses—products of his Land Spirit being brought—
they felt…
so wonderful.
Of course, even amidst the intense joy, he understood that he was by no means the "strongest."
Still, the power he had was simply beyond anything he ever dreamed of.
And amidst that myriad of thoughts and sensations,
a certain resolve emerged.
"If this is not a dream… I will do anything it takes to stay like this forever."