As Hou was slowly taking each step into the air, Lao Zu started to talk,
"Well, do you have any guess, you seem to be focused on it?"
Hou took another step and answered truthfully,
"I might've seen in before. I don't remember especially right now!"
Lao Zu chuckled and watch as Hou stumped up a few more invisible step, becoming ever closer to him.
"Well, I'll tell you when then... It's all the qi in the area turned into a liquid form. It's easier to use when I need it now, I can use just a small amount of the liquid to replace a huge amount of me talking energy."
How's foot slipped as he heard what the liquid below was, he quickly regained his footing before he fell completely. He thought to himself
'That's where I've seen it before, duh. In Yue's inheritance, there was a lake of water just like this. I guess this is how he could reform my body and keep me alive that first time, a huge amount of qi'
Lao Zu watched as Hou continued to slowly walk up and commented,
"Should I tell you?"
Hou looked up confused and threw out his arms. Lao Zu pushed himself of the invisible stairs he was sitting on and fell down to Hou's level.
He pushed right through the air, falling instantly down beside Hou. Exactly when he was level, the air solidified and he stood next to Hou.
"Instead of doing it like a non cultivator, think like what you are. You're a cultivator, don't let thoughts restrict you changing the world!"
Lao Zu then pushed Hou, instantly losing his footing and he started to fall. As he was falling, he was free to think to himself.
'Cultivator.... I'm still using a mortals mindset? Why should I need belief that change the world, I change the world and that creates belief. I am a cultivator, I use mental energy actively, changing the world with action!'
Hou's eyes flashed mid fall, he used his mental energy to changed the world. He didn't rely on thoughts and belief, instead he morphed the world himself.
He shot out mental energy, injecting the air below him. The mental energy used to create the effect, the air solidified. Hou hit the solidified air floor and then stood up.
He closed his eyes and focused on what he needed, he ejected mental energy downwards. Through his feet, he released mental energy, willpower.
'Wills were just me talking energy, so why am I treating them any different? I can inject mental energy with different ideas and 'types'. It's my willpower, the power to solidify the ground with the laws there!'
Hou ran forward, each step solidifying under his feet. Lao Zu watched and himself began running. The two then ran upwards in a spiral, not worrying about falling.
Occasionally Lao Zu would jump back down. Or jump up multiple steps, swap lanes. This was all easily done once Hou figured out the techniques. He copied Lao Zu, running through the air freely!
They burst through into the sky, out of the building. Hou watched as he ran above the massive circular bathhouse, the cloudy pillars showing how far he's ran up.
Then a far bit above the building Lao Zu stopped, relaxing his aloof energy and standing still. Hou caught up and stood next to him with a big smile,
"Is this it?"
"Take a look for yourself, step in" Lao Zu stepped aside and gestured inwards.
To Hou it looked like just any patch of air but he did not falter, he believed in Lao Zu and jumped in.
As he entered the area of the Sky Solidifying Spring, he felt his whole body contract. It was like he was being squeezed from every direction. The air around him couldn't be breathed in. He started to suffocate.
He started to thrash in the spring, as he was about to use a technique he heard Lao Zu from the outside,
"Again, you're thinking too mundane. Do you need to breath? No you need oxygen laws, think about that"
Hou instantly comprehended what he was saying and communicated with Yue inside him,
"Quick, absorb the air around us with cultivation, push the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique to it's max!"
Yue mentally nodded and started to take control over the body again. He stopped trying to breathe or flail, he had complete control over the body.
Then he started to manipulate the Celestial Ink that formed the physique, pushing it's attractive force to it's max. With just a small amount of mental willpower, The began cultivating.
The air around him, while not solid, could be absorbed with meditation. It was sucked in by the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique and used to replace the air it would normally breathe. Yue clawed at the air, not for breath but for the concept of oxygen. Hou's lungs, just like anything, was a lattice of laws, he could use the laws to breath rather than physically.
"I did it!" Hou shouted from the inside
Lao Zu stood on the outside a spoke to himself, quiet enough that Hou could not hear,
"The first part, very well done. But now, you need to form the Spirit Stone Soul to survive the next step, if you do this...now that'll be impressive"
Hou was celebrating when suddenly he felt a pulsation in his body. It was like the body was breaking, only being held together by the Celestial Ink.
The makeshift Celestial Law Amplifying Physique started to fall apart, the body and Celestial Ink stretching out apart. It clung tightly but it started to fall into a blob of ink. His ribs splintered like glass under pressure. The Celestial Ink shrieked as it stretched and separated.
Hou's body turned normal and then he couldn't breath! He was reliant on Yue and the Celestial Ink to absorb the laws, without it he couldn't do it!
There was just a small slither of Celestial Ink on his hand still in contact with the Celestial Ink when Hou had an idea. With the slight connection he still had with the Celestial Ink he talked with Yue,
"It's now or never, you need to form the Spirit Stone Soul, not just body and soul, three-way. The laws are trying to break us down, we need to form the spirit stone which can block them. I'll leave the body with my quasi-Nascent Soul, take it over!"