Kao Zha Ji frowned deeply.
He truly could not understand how this had happened.
As a Quasi-Great Grandmaster in Cloud Path, he had an intuitive understanding of the cloud arrangements, it was akin to how a person could perceive a sound.
The closer it was, the easier it was to know where it was, and what it was.
Whilst it was still possible to conceal things from him tens of thousands of kilometers away, it was utterly ridiculous to secretly enter into his domain without him noticing.
Yet because he did not understand how this was possible, he felt the wariest and the most anxious regarding the fates of his subordinates.
Da Chou Jidan saw that expression.
Moreover, he also considered his situation.
Whilst revealing the exact locations of his Grotto Heaven would bring trouble in the long run, in the short term, it was not that threatening.
After all, even if you know how the coordinates without a proper map, you still cannot move freely in the two heavens.
But those coordinates could act as a 'clue', with them deducing the location of the Da Clan would be far easier.
And by proxy, the Kao Clan's location, too, would be uncovered.
"But if such a thing were to occur, even if we had truly begun an attack on his Grotto Heaven, we would have no other choice but to stop. And seek diplomacy, making an enemy out of the Kao Clan under the crisis would obviously lead to our doom"
The more he analyzed, the more he realized that he was not bluffing.
"It seems our Clan truly was schemed by!" He frowned down deeply.
"Da Ji Rou. The situation has changed. Please follow my command and retreat.
I repeat, retreat." Yet no matter how much he urged, Da Ji Rou did not reply!
His expression grew bitter.
Whilst not the only possibility, there was a decent chance the elder was already dead.
He stared at Kao Zha Ji whose expression was anxious, before finally replying.
"Whether you believe me or not…I had nothing to do with it. In fact, I suspect we are being schemed by somebody." Da Chou Jidan replied somberly.
The eyelids of Kao Zha Ji trembled.
"Is that your excuse?" He said in rage.
"Even if you were telling me the truth, do you think I care? My Clan is in this situation precisely because you made me get away and leave my Grotto Heaven unprotected.
If my Clan perishes, so will yours!"
Da Chou Jidan's lips trembled.
"We still don't know the situation. The least we could do is go and check…" His body flew towards Kao Zha Ji subtly.
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" Kao Zha Ji shouted unleashing a Rank 8 Killer Move.
"You will stay between 40 and 50 kilometers away from me, if I see you getting too close or far.
I will reveal everything." He narrowed his eyes.
Da Chou Jidan paused.
Indeed.
He wanted to get close to him if something truly had happened to the Kao Clan.
Then Kao Zha Ji would likely grow unstable and would actually carry on his threats, but during the instant when his mind was in the greatest shock, there would also be an opportunity to kill him in one move.
Da Chou Jidan sighed.
Unable to do anything else, he only nodded.
He distanced himself slowly, once the distance was quite far enough.
The two began to fly.
And as they did so.
Kao Zha Ji looked like a hawk.
His eyes were reddened, and they darted around the area.
Trying to survey for even the slightest possible intruder, he also took a few glimpses at Da Chou Jidan and also perceived the fluctuations within the wind.
If anything, suspicious things were to happen, he would know.
Similarly, Da Chou Jidan's wariness was nearing its limits.
He was observing his surroundings to see if the supposed attacker was heading towards his Clan now.
Of course, he found the possibility rather unlikely.
He hardly believed the Kao Clan would perish this easily; at most, they were currently under attack.
As for destroying a Grotto Heaven, destroying a Rank 8 Gu House, in just a few minutes, that seemed far-fetched.
Nobody in the world could accomplish anything like that.
Even Heavenly Court would fail at that.
Of course, they also could have diverted their forces to attack both sides, but that seemed far too suicidal. Other possibilities, such as creating a smokescreen blocking communications to make it seem their target was there, whilst they actually targeted his Clan, appeared in his mind.
But he pushed the doubts aside.
He could not afford to leave Kao Zha Ji's side, moreover he still had plenty of hope.
As his most trusted subordinates were still in his aperture, worse came to be there would still be hope of rebuilding.
The two pushed their doubts as they finally neared Sky Lord's Grotto Heaven.
But as Kao Zha Ji entered.
His pupils widened.
The skies were dyed red, and it was raining blood.
The streets were overwhelmed by countless of dried corpses.
Whilst the cities seemed utterly devastated.
More than anything.
There was an overwhelmingly massive red tree.
Upon witnessing such a scene, his expression dried.
"Crimson Soul!" His expression hardened as a name appeared in his head.
At that moment.
Da Chou Jidan too finally stepped into the aperture.
His eyes widened in bewilderment.
"Hahahah…."
He turned his head towards Kao Zha Ji, who was holding his head whilst laughing.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" He began to laugh madly.
And as he laughed, the rain began to fall into his cheeks.
Red blood dyed his face.
Which soon mixed alongside tears.
The wind howled.
Slumbering inside Kao Zha Ji's aperture.
Countless Mortal Gu 'Hatred' were refined as his emotions reached their peak.
Perhaps if the Immortal Gu had not been refined already, it would have been refined in the spot, too.
"The culprit must pay for its sins!" Da Chou Jidan rapidly shouted to try to divert the blame.
A tiny unnerving smile appeared, as Kao Zha Ji stared at him with wide eyes.
"Indeed they will pay."
Noticing the meaning of his words, Da Chou Jidan tried to wave his hands as he muttered.
"This, it is very obvious I had nothing to do with it. And like I said, I can help you to-" Da Chou Jidan rapidly replied.
"LIKE I SAID BEFORE. I DON'T CARE!" Kao Zha Ji shouted.
Then he pointed his finger at him as he added.
"Even if you had not, so what? You think I have forgotten how you sent your people to kill my Clan's greatest hope?
Besides.
After all is said and done.
There is only me, and at most a few Rank 6 Immortals who somehow escaped, even that is only a possibility.
So I and at most a couple of rank 6 Immortals will be left to manage the resource points we still have.
Assuming they don't get robbed, of course.
With such meager resources how on earth will I be able to feed my Rank 8 Immortal Gu's?
It will only be a matter of time until they die of hunger.
When I become so weak that either of you is able to easily get rid of us, you will come to destroy us entirely.
The only hope I have is to find another location to settle down again.
But where will I find a place in the two Heavens that is stable, rich in resources, and yet devoid of people or threats?
And going to land? For what? So, our people can be enslaved once more?
It's over! The Kao Clan is over!"
As he spoke those words, he transmitted everything he knew to Treasure Yellow Heaven.
Every resource point, every piece of juicy land.
Even Killer Moves that the Da Clan frequently used across history, as well as its counters.
Anything that could harm the Da Clan was freely shared without reserve.
Da Chou Jidan's eyes widened.
Before he could say anything.
Kao Zha Ji charged towards him.
He was prepared to fight to the death.
And yet.
He flew past him.
The expression on Kao Zha Ji's face was utterly bloodthirsty.
His new direction was.
The Red Cradle.
While this happened.
Le Tu observed with bewilderment at Kao Dao Ji's Aperture.
Without additional replenishment of the strange 'cloud walls', or the deliberate repair of his original Aperture Walls.
Kao Dao Ji's Aperture was dangerously getting close to being devoured by the winds of assimilation.
He used all sorts of Killer Moves to try to wake him up.
For several minutes.
Until finally.
Kao Dao Ji opened his eyes.
His eyes darted from right to left, seemingly in disbelief.
"What is this? I…I am able to move, to speak. To think properly…
How long has it been since I have been able to control my body?" Kao Dao Ji spoke as he opened and closed his fists repeatedly.
"It has just been 15 minutes tops." Uru Hong Jing shrugged nonchalantly.
"Also, did you damage your Will or something? You are talking in such a dramatic way…"
Kao Dao Ji blinked a few times.
"Huh…I thought in a loud voice. It's a bad habit I've gotten through all those years."
Then he added internally.
"Is not as if that changed anything, after all. No matter how hard I screamed, not a single sound came out of my mouth."
Then a tiny smile appeared in his mind as he thought.
"I have a mouth, yet I cannot scream?"
He touched his head.
"Ugh…It seems even now that the thief who stole my body is influencing my thoughts.
Still, what a life.
To think that there could be a world as beautiful as the one he lived.
And to think he wanted to live in a world like this.
Hahah…" He rubbed his forehead.
Then he turned towards Le Tu.
"How utterly stupid…That thief ruined everything by bringing that idiot here! And it was not just then; his paranoia ruined everything. I know the people of my Clan. I know them well…The supreme Leader would have sacrificed everything for him, had he asked.
Yet he disregarded those memories of mine and considered them naïve, and yet. Believed that those words he heard from a novel written by who knows who to be true.
Every step of the way, he made the wrong choice.
Until finally. Everything led to this…" He sighed.
Staring at his dying aperture.
And also, to himself.
He did not know what to do about the situation.
Unlike the thief had not inherited a single piece of attainment from his other half.
Whether this was because his alter-ego was too weak or due to Venerable bullshit, he did not know.
He clenched his fists.
"I will not waste the chance I was given to take back the life that I was supposed to have!" By this point, he long understood Star Constellation's role in history.
The power he was supposed to accrue, the legend he would forge.
They had been utterly destroyed, until nothing was left of them.
And it was not just him.
How many more had been ruined by her?
How many of them were being ruined by her during this precise instant?
His gaze regained sanity.
He stared at his aperture, whilst he could not perform as fancy moves as the thief, he still held a few tricks which belonged to Land Spirits.
"Quick! Cooperate with me. Help me to close the hole!" He shouted.
Uru Hong Jing and Le Tu nodded.
"What do you want us to do?"
"Create a patch, use dirt or whatever the hell you have to, to isolate my aperture from the outside world.
Whilst I slowly fill in the gaps…"
Le Tu raised his thumb.
But then he noticed that the expression of Kao Dao Ji had changed out of nowhere.
From a distance.
Crimson Soul roared.
From his palms.
An overwhelming Rank 8 Killer Move was unleashed, heading towards nobody else but them.
The pupils of Kao Dao Ji widened.
"No, not like this! I didn't even have the chance to do anything." He gritted his teeth as the ray approached.
And yet.
Before it could reach them.
A silver barrier appeared halfway, stopping the attack.
A massive dome rapidly took place.
And Crimson Soul was trapped.
"So, you are finally here? And…You brought somebody very interesting."
Amidst the several Rank 8 experts, there was one who stood above the rest.
Blue Lead Immortal.
The man looked aged and withered.
With a very pale, greyish skin that looked sickly.
Whilst his jaw was completely replaced by a metallic object, shining with a blue luster.
He was partially bald with a few strands of hair here and there.
From his metallic jaw, a strange blue gas continuously flew out with every breath.
He was a Rank 8 expert.
And also, the Dao Guardian of Genesis Lotus during his youth.