"Micro…Macro…" Kao Dao Ji muttered to himself, repeatedly.
Frowning deeply, while touching his chin.
While explaining to his disciples, about his own theories regarding Paths, he felt very deeply the own limitations of his own understanding.
Furthermore, their very questions also brought several to him.
"Based on my own understanding, Macrocosms was supposed to be about the 'great order' of things, like the universe, the world and so on.
Whilst Microcosms meant about the 'small order' of things, like a well-oiled machine, or…
The human body." His eyes shone intensively.
"Not only that, but humans themselves, cannot they be considered a 'Macrocosms' themselves? Whereas the organs within them can be considered smaller parts of the greater order, similarly, they too are the greater order in comparison to cells."
Suddenly, understanding dawned upon his expression.
"I see! I do recall that in the novel, Human Path Gu Worms were surprisingly stable. One could summon a 'Doctor' Gu or something, and the Gu's effects would linger for days if not months, without additional expenditure.
Was this because of the same principle of an stable macro-microcosm?
And in a way, that nested order of macro and microcosms, was infinitively more stable than the one of clouds."
Suddenly, his expression become complicated.
"In other words, what can only be done by a Master in Cloud Path is trivially easy for Human Path Gu Masters."
Once he had this realization, Killer Moves such as 'Myriad Self' became significatively easier to grasp.
Of course, it was akin to the way an ordinary person could grasp the concept of a gun or steam machine.
The general concepts were there, but to bring such a thing to life was very difficult.
Kao Dao Ji licked his lips inwardly.
Whilst shallow, he felt that he had grasped at least the basic idea of Human Path.
But even so, he was not satisfied by this.
He also wanted to grasp the power of Heaven Path.
"If Human Path can be said to be about nested microcosms, I guess Heaven Path should be the opposite.
About macrocosms, like Heaven itself, apertures and secluded domains of Heaven and Earth."
Once he had this realization, his eyes suddenly narrowed.
"While not entirely, I do feel that Cloud Path contains a bit of the essence of those two Paths.
Perhaps if I deepen my understanding of those two Dao's, my own Cloud Dao could be solidified greatly." He closed his eyes, and sat down to meditate.
Before a bold idea came to his head.
"A world inside a cloud." He muttered to himself.
…
…
…
Jin Quan Hou gritted his teeth.
His armor was filled with cracks, and incisions.
Whilst his flesh was filled with burns, cuts, and necrosis.
Overwhelming.
He was on the ground, panting heavily.
Whilst observing the distant figure of Qin Jiji approaching, his eyelids twitched.
"My Golden Road Gu got damaged after tanking all those blows, I cannot longer use it.
Only Experience Gu remains usable." He frowned.
Almost all of his most powerful moves required Golden Road Gu, at most there was Experienced Thief Gu, but…
Its power was too weak, while it could easily steal objects, and Mortal Gu, Immortal Gu had an intense aura which made it harder to take those Gu.
At most, his best bet would be to steal a few Mortal Gu whilst she employed a Killer Move, but.
He shook his head.
"She's a Time Path Immortal Gu Master, the last thing she fears is lacking time to complete her Killer Moves, this whole time I've been overwhelmed by her speed."
Just as he thought of this, the image of Qin Jiji flickered.
Her body rapidly charging towards him.
Jin Quan Hou however, would not allow this to happen.
He pressed his palms on the ground, and from the earth itself.
Countless of metallic objects emerged one after the other, in the shape of a million blades.
All those blades were jointed-together by a single golden aurora.
Whose image created the one of a massive lion's mouth.
He let out a primal scream.
A golden beam appeared in the mouth of the lion, which was shoot towards Qin Jiji.
Whilst Qin Jiji merely snorted coldly.
While she had more than enough might to directly collide against the lion, she instead sidestepped and retreated backwards.
With her speed, there was no need to fight openly.
She merely slid and retreated backwards, wasting minimal essence, whilst Jin Quan Hou pointlessly exhausted himself to death.
Jin Quan Hou let out a groan.
The lion exploded, and a million of tiny metal shards were shoot.
But she merely smiled in response.
Her body darted and flew around gracefully, evading most metal shards that threatened her, whilst covering her body in a soft mantle to protect herself.
Jin Quan Hou however did not remain still.
He clenched his fists.
[Burning Gold!]
The myriad of metal projectiles and shards, around her were suddenly ignited.
Threatening to overwhelm her from every angle.
But she merely smiled calmly.
With a single gesture.
[Spring's Breeze]
The flames were pushed away towards Jin Quan Hou.
The man barely had time to react, just in time he managed to create a golden wall to block the attack-
A half-mature bamboo pierced through the wall, and his chest too.
Qin Jiji chuckled.
Just as Jin Quan Hou had prepared his wall, she had shoot a single seed towards his direction, and using the wall as its cover, she had been able to conceal this single attack from him.
Of course.
While the attack would have been deadly for an ordinary human, Immortals were far more resilient.
Thus, without giving a single second of respite.
She prepared her final move.
[Sun's rays!] Her middle and index finger shoot an intense red beam towards Jin Quan Hou, who did not even have the time to surrender.
But just as the attack was about to reach him.
The ground itself devoured Jin Quan Hou.
Soon, he reappeared tens of meters away.
His expression was a mix of bewilderment and joy.
"I-I am still alive…" He muttered weakly; the bamboo was still piercing his stomach.
"Alive, but terribly wounded. Let me give you a hand." A voice suddenly spoke from behind.
And the bamboo was forcefully pulled away, before a soft brown substance entered into his chest.
Sealing the wound.
Jin Quan Hou observed at Le Tu, still confused.
"W-Why did you save me?" He asked bewildered.
But then.
A tiny smile appeared in his face as he added.
"Wait. I know. You want me to help you fight against her, don't you?" He chuckled.
Before standing up, with his remaining strength.
"Hah…Hah…At this point, I'm very much spent. But I will do my best."
Then his expression darkened, as he stared at Qin Jiji.
"You venomous woman. You were so ruthless just a minute ago. Do you think I've forgotten?
Even if I don't win, don't think I will let you off easy either!"
Qin Jiji smiled lightly at him.
"You won't let me off so easily?" She laughed heartily.
"I don't think you quite understand what's about to happen." Then, she turned her head towards Le Tu.
"As for you. Do you remember the last time we fought?
And do you remember how did you defeat me? Heh. Heh. Heh."
Her expression became ugly as she said those words.
Le Tu's wariness reached its peak, whilst Qiao Yun who was hiding nearby, concealing himself a few kilometers away also tensed up.
"Well. Let's just say: what goes around, comes around." She tilted her head lightly.
Suddenly.
The body of Jin Quan Hou convulsed.
His body grew inflated, countless bamboo sticks pierced through his soft flesh and skin.
Turning his body into something akin to a hedgehog.
[You reap, what you sow]
She clenched her fist.
The body exploded into countless of pieces.
Not only that but the bamboo sticks were shoot at all directions, and Le Tu who was nearby had no time to avoid.
He barely managed to get enough time to raise his right and left arm to barely block them.
Still, those bamboo pierced through both of his arms in several spots.
Qin Jiji smirked.
Once more, her aura surged.
But Le Tu reacted quickly enough, two earth spikes appeared slicing through both of his arms immediately.
Then, he jumped backwards.
Qin Jiji followed closely, but a single light beam shoot from the distance forced her to retreat.
Even so.
Le Tu was sweating coldly, as he observed that from his two detached limbs, countless of bamboo sticks appeared out of nowhere.
Destroying them entirely.
"My guess was right. This was not a one-off! She can pull this trick as many times as she wants." He thought nervously.
Whilst Qin Jiji smiled coldly.
Her Killer Move was very complicated, in essence it involved the power of Time Path, as well as Wood Path.
The technique used the fact that bamboo grow extraordinarily quickly on their own, back on earth there was an even a torture method which followed similar principles.
By merely pouring some water and nutrients, a bamboo piece could expand, and pierce through the stomach of an ordinary person in less than 24 hours.
Then, what would happen if that already extremely fast-growing bamboo was purposefully breed to grow even faster.
Then, on top of that, one also employed Time Path methods to accelerate it even further?
One could create a bamboo piece that could grow in mere seconds, rupturing a person from within.
Of course to sustain this move, plenty of nutrients were neccessary whilst Immortal's flesh covered a part of its needs, Immortal Essence was vital to fuel their growth.
In other words, this was a very cost intensive Killer Move that could not be used so casually.
Still, the results did not disappoint.
She took a step forward.
"Heh. Heh. What do you think about my gift?
I've been preparing it, since the last time we meet."
As she said those words, her aura surged, and she took another step forward.
Le Tu gulped, subconsciously he retreated backwards.
With his limbs still missing, his position was beyond horrible.
So, as he pressed his feet on the ground, he summoned several earth walls ahead to delay her.
But it proved pointless.
Qin Jiji merely flew upwards, above those earth walls.
Observing this, Le Tu changed his approach.
Instead, he submerged himself deeply into the soil.
But just as he did this.
Qin Jiji smiled.
Using this chance.
She flew towards the mutilated corpse of Jin Quan Hou and retrieved all the flags.
Then.
Without saying a single other word, or even sparing a glance at him, she turned her body and flew towards Qiao Yun.
…
Shung Mia Yin stood whilst observing the scene with a deep frown.
"Sorry, Little Grumpy Flame, but I will have to go.
The situation seems to be getting out of hand.
I cannot let so many people die here, or else my new master will be implicated."
"New master?" Jing Sheng Yang asked teasingly.
Shung Mia Yin stared at the flame with a deadpan expression.
"At this point the results are more than obvious, she has won."
Then, she tilted her head and stared at the flame.
"If you were paying attention, you'd know this too…" She said.
The flame stopped on its tracks, seemingly nervous.
Before shaking its body, as if it were a head and saying.
"Hah…Sorry, I've been distracted by many things. The very thought of following a 'new' master, does not quite appeal to me."
Shung Mia Yin laughed heartily.
"If you could endure me, you can endure her.
Of course, if you do not want to.
You are still free to go."
Then she shrugged.
"And let me be honest, this will probably be the last chance you'll get. Once I get a master, chances are, they will force me to capture you."
Jing Sheng Yang laughed in response.
"What's the hurry to leave? Things are about to get very interesting."
As he spoke those words, he stared at the horizons ahead.
Across the full aperture.
There were black ashes spread around, everywhere.
Those ashes were hidden in the volcanos, were hidden in the ground, were hidden in the forests.
Those ashes had invisibly accumulated through her full aperture, with no one, not even Shung Mia Yin herself being aware of.
And now those sparks were lit.
"Very interesting indeed." The flame added to himself.