Hou unfurrowed his brows and relaxed himself, his shoulders dropped. He took a breath and stood facing Lao Zu.
Lao Zu held out his small childish hand and activated his techniques. From the outside nothing could be seen, but Hou could feel he had started.
His whole body tingled and he could sense Lao Zu watching him. Not from one direction, though, it was as if he was inspecting Hou from all sides, inside and out.
Hou's Celestial Law Amplifying Physique then shook, it vibrated intensely. Hou thought to himself,
'Perhaps Lao Zu's technique is being amplified by my physique...'
Hou spoke to Yue mentally,
"Try stopping the Amplifying effect of the physique if you can,"
"I can try, but the extreme resonance is making it hard to manipulate the Celestial Ink."
Hou nodded mentally then prepared himself for the continued investigation. He twitched as the investigation sped up. The tingling turning to stinging, he clenched his fists. Hou's nails bit into his palms hard enough to draw blood if not for Hou's various enhancements.
Then Yue finally did what he needed, and even more! Instead of simply stopping the amplification, he reversed the order. Now the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique transformed, becoming a Celestial Law Disrupting Physique!
The investigation slowed abruptly, any technique inside the body was rejected and the Celestial Ink fought to disrupt the laws. Blood trickled from Hou's nose, the reversion of the physique having a toll on him.
Hou quickly sniffled and brush his nose with the inside of his robe, the multi-coloured blood absorbed into the pure white robe and disappearing.
Lao Zu immediately dropped his hand,
"All done. I would continue, but it seems the physique you inherited from True Sage of Celestial Ink countered me, and you paid the price There's no need to push you any further, I got enough"
Hou opened his eyes then staggered to his chair and flopped down. He leant his neck back and spoke to Lao Zu,
"Thank you, that started to hurt,"
"I am sorry, it wasn't meant to hurt. It must be due to the physique. Does it have some sort of name already?"
Hou had a moment of cognitive dissonance as he watched the small child speak to him so eloquently,
"Uh yes, the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique."
"Hmm, straightforward I guess. Mo, put me down!"
Mo Huai smiled and obliged, carrying Lao Zu and placing him on the table next to Hou. He then stood behind Hou.
"Tea?" Huan Die spoke to Mo Huai who was now standing right beside her.
Mo Huai thought for a moment and nodded, holding out his hand. Huan Die reached for his teacup on the opposite side of the table and filled it with the purple tea.
She passed it over,
"There you go, prepare me another batch of Miasmatic Lavender as well"
Mo Huai nodded and focused back to Hou and Lao Zu. Lao Zu was shuffling on the table and once he got into the position he wanted he continued,
"From what I gather, the physique is made of Celestial Ink. This is the magnum opus of True Sage of Celestial Ink, as in his title. The Celestial Ink is a sort of ink which can change the world, akin to the great myths of Yao Tian. Or to a lesser extent, what Gang Yi did in Cloud Sword Mountains."
"Gang Yi? Is that Nine Clouds Sword Master's name?"
"Yes it is, so that's the basics of what the physique is. But there's also something else, I couldn't verify since it rejected me when I got there though, I th-"
Huan Die cut him off,
"Is it perhaps due to the consciousness?"
Lao Zu turned his head,
"You also sensed it? Impressive old woman,"
Huan Die slapped Lao Zu lightly on the back of the head,
"Hey! I'm not as old as you"
His golden-orange eyes flashed. For a heartbeat, the room bent toward him, then he sighed and let her comment slide. Lao Zu's eyes welled with tears but he held them back and ignored Huan die while pouting his lips. He turned back to Hou and continued,
"Yes, I think there's a separate consciousness within the physique that controls it, and that's why it rejected me. I'm not sure, but logically it might mean True Sage is alive and waiting to reawaken within the Celestial Ink. He might even have given you some help, perhaps random thoughts or dreams you had. He might have influenced them with his weak consciousness in order to help you."
"I did have a dream before and made a technique..." Hou said something but inwardly he was sweating,
'Phew, it seems he was close to finding Yue. I mean what he said might not be wrong, True Sage's consciousness is in here but it's been combined with Yue's.'
Lao Zu looked at Hou deeply,
"You have high prospects, very good disciple Mo. Now onto what I expect is your next request... To make his Spirit Stone Soul, or to help. I think it should be done easily, let me bring him with me somewhere quickly. I'll bring him to a location where he can easily form the Spirit Stone Soul."
"The Sky Solidifying Spring?!" Mo Huai cried out, with a look of shock on his face.
In doing so, he spilt a small amount of his tea. Hou looked up at Mo Huai and asked,
"What's the Sky Solidifying Spring?"
Mo Huai shook his head,
"Normally it's a place only for direct disciples of the Sect Leader. It can help form a stronger Spirit Stone Soul. It could even help me to refine my own,"
He rubbed his glabella and looked towards Lao Zu,
"Am I right?"
Lao Zu smiled and then averted his gaze,
"Ha ha, yeah... You are right, yeah. Think of it as my final gift to True Sage, I won't let others know about it."
Mo Huai exhaled and then swing out his arms,
"Sure, do it. But anything happens and you sort it."
Lao Zu put up his small arms and surrendered,
"I swear,"
Then Lao Zu jumped off the table, swinging with his arms. Then as he was sin the air, he limbs elongated and then he grew. His whole body stretched and morphed. His bones crackled like snapping twigs. Skin stretched over new muscle, his robe melting into a disciple's uniform much Like Hou's. But instead of white with gold, it was pure gold with cloudy white details.
As he landed on the ground, he was a young teenager of around fifteen. The two looked like siblings, both extremely handsome and young looking with pale skin. However, Hou and striking pink hair while Lao Zu's stayed a toxic black, like a void.
While Hou was actually more than a hundred years old, due to his various experiences and body reformations, he looked young. Almost as young as the Sect Master now.