Kao Dao Ji's jaw trembled as he observed the figure of Le Tu as well as his black, darkened eyes.
An aura of intense might appeared as he stared at him.
"That sensation!" Immediately, he raised his guard to the limit; whilst others were unaware of this, there was a change in the Qi flow whenever either of the two used the technique.
Instinctively, he prepared for Le Tu to charge towards him and yet-
Le Tu simply turned to the side, right towards Uru Hong Jing!
"Huh?" The expression on Kao Dao Ji's face grew peculiar as he saw this.
From his perspective, all the little coincidences that had happened thus far seemed to have been made to kill him in particular.
And now, seeing the blade that was meant to kill him turn to the side, his expression could not help but change.
Until he recalled.
"Wait. Mediocrity Gu!" His pupils shrank as he had an ominous feeling.
Thankfully, before Le Tu could reach Uru Hong Jing, the man simply teleported towards Kao Dao Ji's direction.
Of course, due to the suddenness of the things, he could not teleport exactly to his location but only somewhere close.
Once more, Le Tu gave chase to him; however, Kao Dao Ji's body began to shine too.
In the exact same colors!
That is right.
He had learnt the method from Le Tu himself a long time ago, unfortunately it was less suitable for him.
With no Earth Dao Marks, he could not decrease his weight quite as much; even so, as the tides of steam jetted from behind his wings, his speed almost reached two thirds the one of Le Tu.
And considering his distance was closer, he was able to intercept Le Tu.
"Stop, Le Tu. Cannot you see? You are being manipulated by the Tribulation."
Le Tu snorted coldly.
"You think I don't understand something so obvious?
But to say I am being manipulated is too excessive. The only thing that this Tribulation has done is to draw in the feelings I had since a very long, long time..."
He then turned his gaze towards Uru Hong Jing.
"Just look at him! Look at those eyes.
Can you honestly tell me that you believe he has not murdered and tortured the innocent to get as many eyes as he has?" As those words were spoken.
His body shone once more, charging towards him.
But Kao Dao Ji intercepted.
Golden plasma took shape in his hands.
Le Tu frowned ever so slightly.
He lowered his head and raised his arms to block.
At the same time, his body hardened and was covered in a layer of golden jade.
Moreover, the pupils of Kao Dao Ji widened, as he realized.
[Fire Generates Earth!]
Whilst his cloud was not exactly made of flames, they were both plasma, and as such, a portion of the 'flames' rapidly turned to ashes, which surrounded the body of Le Tu, pushing his defenses to a new level.
Kao Dao Ji unleashed an explosive surge with both of his hands; at the same time, he shouted.
"Is that so? Then. If he is as cruel as you say, why did you decide to save him? You had the perfect chance to let him die!"
A cover of flames appeared, covering Kao Dao Ji's vision.
Even so.
He kept pressing forward.
Golden flames could be seen in his hands being unleashed towards Le Tu, however.
From his left and right, a pair of dragons rapidly took hold.
Forcing Kao Dao Ji to retreat.
But just as he did.
His expression suddenly changed as from the mouth of those dragons' blue flames came out!
Just like Kao Dao Ji could use Le Tu's method, Le Tu could use one of Shung Mia Yin's methods.
"Why? Why did I do no such thing? Because I am a coward! That is why!" Le Tu shouted.
The two dragon blasts were shoot in such a way that they made an 'X', whereas Le Tu crossed that same intersection.
His hands began to spin together.
As he held onto the power of those flames, those hands were set alight creating a beautiful fire ring.
Indeed.
While he held no Dao Marks of Fire Path in his Aperture, his Immortal Gu did.
That may sound odd, but one only had to consider another thing.
If a thousand Dao Marks already double a Killer Move's effect, then a newly ascended Rank 6 Immortal could double the power of a Rank 9 Immortal Gu?
Obviously not!
In reality, all Gu carried pieces of Dao Marks within themselves, but in ordinary Mortal Gu, the effect was too insignificant to be noticed.
But regarding Immortal Gu, it was far, far more noticeable.
A Rank 8 Immortal Gu, for example, could possess over 100,000 Dao Marks!
Celeste's flames flew, condensing towards his hands.
"You, a coward? You almost killed yourself to save him, how can you call yourself cowardly?" Kao Dao Ji retorted, trying to shake Le Tu from his delusion.
A cloud curtain was unleashed, of the coldest essence.
Blocking the flames.
More than that.
Several dark blue projectiles of rain were shot from that cloud, even Le Tu, as mighty as he was, could not ignore the power of Soul Path.
He was forced to avoid while still charging towards Kao Dao Ji.
"I was foolish, not brave. I was never willing to make the hard choices!" Le Tu replied coarsely.
Suddenly, from his hair, those mushrooms were unleashed like a tide, surging from all directions.
But Kao Dao Ji was not helpless; the clouds mixed together with the air.
And the air pushed away every particle of those fearsome mushrooms.
Even so, that distracted his focus.
The energy of Le Tu surged.
As he shouted.
"I used to tell myself that I could not kill, that I could not harm. I justified myself by saying that violence only breeds violence.
That by using force, I would only prolong the world's suffering.
Because a person's ability is limited, even if I became the strongest, I could never reach every corner in the world. In the same way that Heavenly Court could not eradicate our races, I would never be able to create world peace."
Kao Dao Ji frowned.
Lighting and ice crystals were shot towards Le Tu.
However, Le Tu stopped attacking all of a sudden.
He took a deep breath and pressed his two palms together as if he were praying.
The attacks reached his body.
Piercing through several parts of him.
Surprising Kao Dao Ji, who could not believe he would suddenly stop defending himself.
"BUT THOSE WERE ALL EXCUSES!" Le Tu's golden palm was unleashed.
The flames merged together with the flames.
Yet, in spite of that, the palm was far weaker than in previous instances.
Because, unlike his previous opponents, Kao Dao Ji knew perfectly how horrible an idea it was to keep attacking once he began to charge that move.
Even so, it gave him quite an opportunity as Kao Dao Ji contended against the palm with his whole body.
The two dragons struck fiercely once more!
Kao Dao Ji's eyes widened.
He activated several Immortal Gu's consecutively to defend himself.
Even so-
He screamed in agony.
His whole body was bathed in flames.
But then.
Just as his flesh was burnt, it healed just as quickly.
Countless micro clouds appeared in his blood torrent, rapidly multiplying.
And that was not all.
Amidst the smoke, a thin pinkish aura began to take hold rather subtly.
Le Tu, who was on the other side, did not perceive it.
But he prepared another move!
Several mushrooms appeared once more across his hair.
However.
Their shine was completely different; they were covered by a golden Yang Qi.
"He managed to reach Extreme Yang in Poison Path?" Kao Dao Ji's eyes widened.
He raised his guard, preparing for his following moves, but he would never expect that Le Tu would simply pluck and eat the mushroom.
His body flickered briefly before growing in size.
"???" Kao Dao Ji's expression became rather peculiar.
Especially because Le Tu had a solemn expression as he did so.
"I was too afraid to step out of the line; if I acted too willfully, I knew that the immortal community would take notice of me, and they would remove me.
Only by acting like a fool, minding my own business, and just acting kindly, but without actually threatening the interests of others, could I find the room to grow!
My beliefs turned into nothing more than empty platitudes that could not threaten the interests of anybody."
Then, his expression turned ugly.
"I-I was also afraid of tainting my hands in blood, I was afraid of what my mother would think if she saw me."
Resolve appeared in his expression.
"What else can you call me other than a coward who was afraid of getting his hands dirty?
BUT NO MORE!"
Once more, he charged towards Kao Dao Ji.
His gigantic body unleashed a fierce punch towards him, which Kao Dao Ji nimbly avoided.
But just as he did.
His eyes suddenly widened as he realized that Le Tu was not attacking but instead directly ignored him to charge towards Uru Hong Jing.
"I take it back; you truly are a coward. Come here, bastard, finish what you started!" Kao Dao Ji shouted anxiously.
Whilst he wanted to build up his previous move, he now knew Le Tu would not give him a choice.
And so.
The hundreds of Clouded Thoughts Gu that had been concealed within the air suddenly detonated.
But Le Tu remained indifferent.
He merely closed his eyes and ignited several Sunny Thoughts Gu to withstand his force.
Noticing that his moves were useless, Kao Dao Ji frowned.
A massive cloud rapidly took shape, which was even bigger inside.
The attack was rapidly being built up; the energy within it was massive.
"Le Tu! Fight me!" Kao Dao Ji shouted.
Yet, despite feeling the ominous aura, Le Tu ignored everything.
And rapidly reached Uru Hong Jing's location, yet.
He teleported once more.
But his eyelids were trembling.
Knowing that he would not stop unless he forced him to, Kao Dao Ji finally unleashed his attack.
The cloud turned lighter by using Earth Yin Manipulation, and then.
It appeared in front of Le Tu before revealing its contents.
Countless upon countless of explosives were hiding within, they all seemed ready to explode in unison, and yet.
Despite everything, Le Tu's expression did not waver in the slightest, but instead.
He prayed again!
The explosions covered his whole body, and his flesh combusted; its smoke rose to the air.
Taking the shape of a golden Buddha.
Uru Hong Jing's pupils widened.
"T-This…Since when was Le Tu this…Fearsome?"
He gulped down.
A golden palm was unleashed at divine speed.
Yet.
"So what? No matter how fast, as long as I can predict its motion, I can always evade it!" He gritted his teeth.
And his body flickered away.
"Hahaahaha!" Uru Hong Jing laughed as his predictions became true; the palm passed just where he previously was.
But then.
The palm changed direction midair, and he flew towards him once more!
He flickered again.
And again.
But no matter how desperately he tried.
The palm always followed after him.
Kao Dao Ji flew at full speed towards Le Tu.
He wanted to force a mental burden so high that he would have no other choice but to cancel it.
But Le Tu stared at him with a deep frown.
"There is no need for us to fight. You are not like him, you are different!
While I cannot say that your actions are pure, you are not like other Immortals.
You do not see races or clans.
That much was proven when you made that project to mix your race with humans.
So please.
Do not make me kill you." His final words did not sound like a threat, but instead they sounded almost as if he were begging.
Yet Kao Dao Ji did not bother to listen to him.
He pressed forward.
A field of clouds appeared surrounding the two.
Then it began to rain.
[Tears in the Rain!]
The rain surged from all directions towards Le Tu.
However.
He merely snorted coldly.
A Rank 7 aura surged!
"Fire Qi Gu! Wait. But wasn't it in Shung Mia Yin's Blessed Land?" But then, Kao Dao Ji realized.
"Shit! While we were in the middle of our fight, he must have convinced her to move her Gu through Treasure Yellow Heaven."
Le Tu stared at him fiercely.
"I am warning you. Don't. Make me. Do this."
Kao Dao Ji frowned.
"Using a Rank 7 Gu is very costly. I do not think he can use it for long, even so…" His expression became gloomy; he did not feel confident in lasting long enough against Le Tu as it was.
Especially because.
Uru Hong Jing's expression turned ugly.
"You forced me! You forced me!" He shouted.
At that moment.
He deactivated Mediocrity Gu.
…
Very, very far away.
In the Red Cradle's Grotto Heaven.
Da Ji Rou was meditating.
Suddenly widened his eyes.
"This…The defenses! They are gone!" An expression of joy appeared on his face at the next moment.
He made the crucial deduction and then.
His jaw trembled.
"Supreme Leader!" He shouted.
"I think I found who the mysterious allies of the Kao Clan are."
Da Chou Jidan stared at him with deep curiosity in his expression.
He listened attentively.
"Do you remember when Le Tu and Uru Hong Jing vanished from nowhere during that Dao Conference?"
"What about them?" Da Chou Jidan asked, puzzled.
"They are there! They are in Kao Dao Ji's aperture!"