Venerables path creation feat (RI)
I think path creation is a high tier feat that the Venerables share. I am only at chapter 1230, so this is only based on what I know so far, so I might be wrong. Please do not spoil me in the comments.
A path is not just a type of ability. It is basically an entire cultivation system based on one aspect of reality. It has Gu worms, Gu recipes, killer moves, immortal killer moves, dao marks, cultivation methods, attainment, inheritances, refinement methods, resources, counters, ways to fight, defend, investigate, move, support, grow stronger, etc.
So when a Venerable creates a path, they are not just making one strong move or one good ability. They are basically creating a whole new system of cultivation.
The first big part is that they need to recognize that a normal phenomenon can even become a path. Souls already existed, but Spectral Soul turned souls into soul path. Thinking, deduction, thoughts, emotions, etc already existed, but Star Constellation turned that into wisdom path. Luck already existed, but Giant Sun turned it into luck path.
So they are basically looking at reality and seeing a hidden system inside it. Most people would just see souls, thoughts, luck, etc as normal things in the world. But a Venerable sees that it can become a complete path, with its own dao marks, Gu, recipes, killer moves, refinement methods, cultivation methods, inheritances, etc.
And that is why I do not think this is just a hax feat. The creation of a path itself is also an intelligence feat. They need to deduce, reason, experiment, research, separate concepts, understand principles, and create a system from very limited knowledge. Not literally from nothing, because things like souls or luck already existed, but from scattered things that were not a complete path yet.
This is also why refinement, Gu recipes, dao marks, and path development feel almost like science in RI. It is not just random magic. It has materials, formulas, steps, failure rates, principles, experimentation, deductions, etc. So creating a path is kind of like creating a new scientific/cultivation field inside the Gu world.
Then they need to understand the core of the path. Soul path is not just “soul stuff.” It includes soul strengthening, soul damage, soul defense, soul search, soul foundation, soul manipulation, etc. Food path is not just eating either. It includes nourishment, digestion, consumption, feeding Gu, turning resources into strength, etc.
So the Venerable needs to take something vague and massive, then turn it into clear principles that people can actually cultivate and use.
After that, they need to create, discover, adapt, or systematize Gu and Gu recipes for the path. This is already a very high level feat because creating even one Gu recipe can be extremely difficult. Even one Immortal Gu recipe can require atleast thousands complex steps, and everything needs to go right. When the path is new, they cannot simply copy an already finished system either. They need to deduce the foundation from limited knowledge.
Then they need to develop killer moves and immortal killer moves. Immortal killer moves can require thousands of Gu working together, and every Gu needs to fit the structure. If the balance, timing, activation order, or dao mark interaction is wrong, the move can fail or even backlash.
Another thing that makes Venerables so impressive is that even after very long periods of time, later cultivators still struggle to fully understand or surpass them. They can study their paths, inheritances, methods, Gu recipes, killer moves, etc, but the deepest methods of the Venerables are still not easy to reproduce.
For example, Reckless Savage could instantly change forms, and even after so much research, people still do not fully understand how his transformation path methods reached that level.
So the time passing point is not just “many years passed.” It means countless cultivators, clans, sects, Gu Immortals, geniuses, researchers, inheritances, etc existed after them, and yet the Venerables are still almost unreachable in the paths they created.
A simple analogy would be science in our world. A scientist does not create gravity, medicine, chemistry, etc from nothing. The phenomena already exist. But turning those things into an actual field of knowledge is still a huge feat.
That is basically how I see the Venerables. They do not create the phenomenon itself. They create or systematize the path around it.
The strongest part is attainment. Attainment means how deeply someone understands a path. With high attainment, you can create and improve killer moves, deduce Gu recipes, see weaknesses, understand principles, innovate, etc. From what I understand, Venerables have supreme grandmaster attainment in their main path, which is the highest level of attainment.
Spectral Soul also shows how hard supreme grandmaster attainment is. He had his own cultivation experience, his own lifespan, 100k years of accumulation, many split souls, and when those split souls died, their memories, cultivation knowledge, and attainment returned to him. One of his split souls even almost became rank 9. Yet even with all of that, he still only reached supreme grandmaster in a few paths and great grandmaster in others.
So that shows how hard supreme grandmaster attainment is. Even with absurd talent, time, split souls, knowledge, etc, you still cannot casually reach the highest understanding of many paths.
In conclusion, I think Venerable path creation scales so high because refinement, Gu recipes, dao marks, killer moves, resources, and path development are basically the Gu world’s version of science.
So when a Venerable creates a path, they are not just creating abilities. They are basically creating an entire scientific/cultivation field from scattered parts of reality, then turning it into Gu, recipes, killer moves, inheritances, counters, and a road where future cultivators can grow stronger.