He stared at the woman in shock.
"Shit. Shit! She's a Soul Path Cultivator!" His thoughts moved rapidly, however his body still remained frozen.
Still.
While controlling his body seemed impossible, it seemed that he still could control his Gu partially.
More than that, he also observed that the aura petrifying his body was dissipating.
Immediately, he understood why.
"Every Gu has a 'cooldown' in the same way you cannot lift an object forever, a Gu can only keep its maximum activation during a certain period.
Of course, the Gu will likely recover just as quickly…" Thoughts crossed his mind extremely quickly.
"I need to force her to retreat, then I will close my eyes." He pressed the clouds forward, with his body still frozen.
Irrespectively of whether she left or stayed, it would benefit him regardless.
However, his eyes widened at the next moment, as he saw a cloud of smoke appear.
And from it, a massive bear surging through.
"What the fuck? Am in RI's world or damn Naruto?" He cursed under his breath.
And that was not even the worst part, the ice projectiles that had been shoot surged towards his body.
Before he was struck however, Heavenly and Gu Power surged through, creating a layer of cloud armor to defend him.
And as he was struck, he chuckled.
Using the sheer speed of those projectiles, he pushed his body backwards, and then using his wings he flew away whilst closing his eyes.
At the same time, he also triggered his Rain of Ideas Killer Move, hundreds upon hundreds of drops of rain were shoot at tremendous speed.
"Protect me!" Bai Lin Hua ordered, the bear extended its four legs as much as he could, the scene looked almost comical.
Of course, Kao Dao Ji could not afford to let out a chuckle, instead he roared.
The aura in his body surged, and the clouds grew darker.
Little by little, the electricity around him rose.
Bai Lin Hua observed this with a smirk, of course, she would not let him finish his move.
She raised her index finger and said.
"Attack him, flying bear!" However, the following scene surprised her.
As the bear, trying to follow her instructions began to fly in a chaotic way, as if it was drunk.
She lowered her brows, almost instantaneously she inspected its body.
"I see…" She muttered while staring at it.
Then, she stared at Kao Dao Ji with a huge grin in her face.
"It seems that the rumors were unfounded, you do not Cultivate Soul Path, do you?" She squinted her eyes.
"Was it Wisdom Path instead?" She stated, the greed in her eyes very apparent.
"Good! Once I subdue you, I will enslave you, by then, you will act as my middleman and produce more of those Gu's for me." She said as if she were stating a fact.
Kao Dao Ji snorted coldly.
"Is that so? Well, I really hope your abilities reach the level of your ambition." With that, he finally finished the Killer Move.
The sound of the wind roaring was heard.
From a thousand of clouds, lighting surged like tides.
However, Bai Lin Hua even without her bear remained confident.
From her body a soft, celeste light surged, waves of soft energy surged through in response to his attack.
Kao Dao Ji observed her with mild curiosity, even without his eyes opened, he could still 'see' in the sense that as a Land Spirit his vision was all-enveloping.
And no matter how he looked at it, her aura was far weaker than his own.
"Let me see what gives you the confidence to withstand my move." He said.
The lighting struck her body, which shone intensively, however contrary to his expectations she was not fried in the slightest.
At the contrary, the force seemed to flow smoothly across her body.
Bai Lin Hua smiled lightly at him, letting out a soft chuckle she said.
"You seem surprised? You should not be, after all, do you not recall what was the power of a Grandmaster?
The power to mimic all Paths, of course!"
Kao Dao Ji's eyes widened at her words, using his lapse of judgement Bai Lin Hua pointed her finger at him and then.
[Conductive Soul]
By mimicking the essence of Metal Path, the electricity in her body was redirected towards Kao Dao Ji.
Kao Dao Ji gritted his teeth.
[Cloudfield Gu!]
As fast as he could, he triggered the Gu, and several clouds appeared, then, he hardened those same clouds with Cloud Armor.
The two forces collided again.
This time, Kao Dao Ji was in the back foot, his body retreated backwards.
While inwardly, he muttered.
"A desolate beast, Immortal Gu, and even Grandmaster Attainment, how am I even supposed to fight this?"
He kept retreating backwards, trying to think of an strategy, however at the next moment.
He saw the scene of the flying bear charging towards him.
"How?" He said in shock; however, his surprise only became greater as he stared at the head of the bear, whose skull now had an incision.
And the brain had been removed!
He stared at this, tongue tied, his surprise became even greater.
"How is this possible? She's enslaving a being without a brain? But how? How hasn't his soul scattered without a brain?"
To that, one could only look at Bai Ling Hua who was there with her arms crossed, her expression of confidence.
"Heheh. He must be wondering the method I used, but how could he ever guess about my Enslave Spirit Gu?
Unlike most methods which enslave souls, this one targets the deceased lingering wills of a beast, or a man…" As she thought of this, the greed in her eyes surged yet again.
Indeed, before striking Kao Dao Ji she had already mentally prepared for a 'disappointment.'
In case, Kao Dao Ji truly was a Soul Path Land Spirit she would annex him, if he was not, then she would simply enslave him!
Naturally, for such a good Gu there was one flaw which was that it could only target one being at once.
Still, the loss of one Desolate Beast would be acceptable for taking over a Blessed Land, especially one whose Land Spirit had at least one Immortal Gu.
Even more so, because as long as she did it right, no one would find out.
By then she could use the Kao Clan to clean his Tribulations for her, while she reaped all the benefits.
Hell, if the situation turned right, she could even use him as her spy.
And who knows, maybe that would turn to be helpful someday.
Still.
She closed her eyes, while inwardly complaining.
"Controlling a corpse is truly too difficult without a brain, luckily my soul foundation is just enough to barely do so."
Kao Dao Ji kept flying using his wings to barely evade the attacks of the bear.
Whilst inwardly, his mind went at full speed.
"The situation is not hopeless yet! At the very least, as long as she's in my Aperture, only Immortal Killer Moves and Gu's will be useful.
Yes, she may be stronger than me, but just how much Immortal Essence does she have?
300 beads? 500? As long as the quantity is not too huge, I only need to persist." With cold sweat in his forehead, he turned his head to the direction where the woman was.
But to his surprise.
She had not gone to chase him.
"Huh? Why hasn't she attacked me? Does she think the beast will be enough?" He frowned.
Of course, he did not lose his attention from the Desolate Beast even though he kept retreating backwards.
"Could it be that her soul foundation is at the limit and thus, she cannot move herself alongside the beast?" But soon he shook his head.
"No, that is impossible. She's a Grandmaster in Soul Path after all, with her attainment even if she lacks the relevant Gu to raise her Foundation, she could create a Killer Move to do so.
After all, even if it's not for that purpose, she has already shown an Immortal Gu." His frown became deeper.
He kept analyzing the possible cause.
Until suddenly, he had an strange thought.
"Is she really that strong?"
"Before she stated that she was a Grandmaster in Soul Path, and indeed mimicked another Path, but that is not something exclusive to Grandmasters.
While not exactly the same thing, I can achieve something similar with my Rain Gu." His eyes narrowed in suspicion.
In the end, he decided to take a risk.
Of course, he would not be so obvious.
"Damn woman! I may be running out of Immortal Essence, but do you truly think you can force my hand?
Do you truly think that if you keep forcing me, I will not blow up my Immortal Aperture?" He shouted pretending to be low of Immortal Essence.
Bai Lin Hua observed this, while inwardly pondering.
"Is he really low of Immortal Essence?" She wondered.
Whilst she knew Land Spirits could not lie, this one was surprisingly cunning.
She would not be surprised if she broke this common sense and tried to deceive her.
Still, her gaze became resolute.
"Based on what I know about him, chances are this is both true and a lie.
While he may not be running out of Immortal Essence, he's already quite desperate.
If I keep pushing him to the edge, chances are, he will really blow himself up eventually.
But if I chase him, I can give him fake hope that he can still defeat me.
Besides, the danger is not that high, while my Quasi-Grandmaster Attainment is not enough to mimic all Paths, I can do just fine with Metal Path, with that I am not afraid of lighting.
The essence of water and ice are also quite similar, and our attainments both seem to be even.
Whilst Cloud Path?
Well, there is a reason why this is a minor Path even across history few have reached Rank 8 with it, and their strength was below the norm.
The only real tool he has that can truly harm is his bizarre Wisdom attack.
However, as long as I stay away from those clouds, I do not have to fear this possibility much."
Then, she added.
"Besides, if I truly want to take over his consciousness, I will need to touch him, sooner or later." With this thought, her fighting desire surged.
And so, she swinged her wings, and flew towards him.