Hou Niao really did spread his peacock fan. Bai Qingqian was not surprised, because she saw her man practicing it every day and knew it was an exceptionally formidable Five Elements art.
The fan spread from his lower back, not beneath his buttocks, so these were not tail feathers.
The blind old man's two blank, pupil-less eyes did not move at all. There was no telling how he saw, but in the wondrous world of cultivation, the methods of perception were endless. There was nothing a blind man could not do.
"Water and earth are passable. You could catch a few mice or sweep away a few sparrows with them. The others leave something to be desired. Rather than spreading those lights and leaving them on display, you would be better off hiding your shortcomings. They aren't meant to be shown off."
Hou Niao smiled awkwardly. "I don't normally bring out the metal, wood, and fire profound lights. They would only invite ridicule. Since you wished to see them today, Senior, I reluctantly obliged... you wouldn't laugh at me anyway."
Gu Sou said, "The Five Elements are the foundation of all things. You cannot take them too seriously. But their true essence lies in transformation, in mutual generation and restraint. Single-mindedly strengthening just a few of them is inadvisable. Your understanding of the Five Elements is still very limited. Strengthening a particular aspect to some degree is a necessary compromise, but you must not take it too far.
"The cultivation world has no shortage of fools who specialize in a single element. They will never understand that specializing in one element cannot possibly bring them to the ultimate realm. It is like a wooden bucket. What good can a single stave do? Only when all the staves grow together can