Competence (2)

The Lighting bamboo Gu transformed into a strong array of lighting and was directed at Bai Ning Bing. Bai Ning Bing activated his Water Shield Gu to quickly form a condensed water sphere for defense. But just as the lighting was about to hit him and kill him in his water sphere, he cut off the primeval essence to the Water Shield Gu. The connection to the water sphere and his nostrils was cut off separating him cleanly from the water sphere.

The lightning hit the water sphere and covered it brilliantly but the lightning didn't reach Bai Ning Bing. He was nicely insulated from the lightning attack. As the lightning attack wore off, Bai Ning Bing expected to see a shocked look on Gu Guangzhi's face but instead he saw Gu Guangzhi coming up too close to him. The lightning attack was a decoy and with a Rank 2 Bamboo sword Gu in hand, Gu Guangzhi made a full power strike using 5% of his primeval essence. Bamboo sword Gu was a peculiar gu in that it required discipline as its food. When practiced everyday, its power would grow stronger bit by bit. Gu Guangzhi was using this Bamboo sword Gu for ten years now, repairing it every so often when it was damaged due to his boiling essence. It had quite a bit of attack power.

Bai Ning Bing raised his arms to protect himself. He was a user of Rank 3 Ice Muscles Gu. It strengthened his muscles greatly but they were still effected by the strike. As Bai Ning Bing's arms were slashed due to the fierce attack, another full power attack came in aimed at his throat. As the bamboo sword was inches away from his throat, he immediately poured all his Rank 2 primeval essence into a Rank 3 Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu. He opened his mouth and an ice bird came flying out. Earlier, he had boasted that he would use only Rank 2 primeval essence against Gu Guangzhi, so he limited his primeval essence to Rank 2 red steel primeval essence. Now, due to the extremely dire situation, he used this Rank 2 primeval essence to activate Rank 3 Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu. The resultant ice bird was much weaker but it collided with the bamboo sword and exploded.

Due to the close proximity of explosion, Bai Ning Bing was initially hurt as well. The explosion from an ice bird could completely cover the surroundings in ice and freeze freezing anyone present nearby to death. But due to Bai Ning Bing's Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique and his cultivation with Ice Muscles Gu, he was able to tank the hit and he was healing rapidly. As he recovered and opened his eyes, Bai Ning Bing could only see the destroyed Bamboo sword Gu. Gu Guangzhi was no where to be seen. As he looked up in the air, he saw Gu Guangzhi flying in the air with the help of Rank 2 Bamboo wings Gu.

Bai Ning Bing was surprised that Gu Guangzhi was able to survive the ice blast but he soon noticed that the ice around him was weaker than what he expected. As he looked around, he remembered that the air around him was much warmer than normal when he launched the ice bird. As he looked around, he noticed the faint smell of burnt hell rise grass and Kerosene Gu. Hell rise grass was an extremely combustible fire path mortal material. Gu Guangzhi's actions were soon understood by Bai Ning Bing.

'Earlier, his lightning attack wasn't just a decoy for his bamboo sword attack. He must've expected that I had some type of ice path gu as a last resort. So when the brilliance of the lightning strikes blinded me, he ignited the hell rise grass along with Kerosene Gu in the surroundings to weaken my ice attack. That move must've weakened my ice bird's explosion enough for him to react in time and fly away using Bamboo wings Gu.'

Bai Ning Bing looked up at the sky and spoke to Gu Guangzhi, "How interesting. If I had used my Rank 3 primeval essence to produce that ice bird, your little trick wouldn't have worked. You used metal path, lightning path, sword path and fire path. I thought you would've used blood path next! Instead you used wind path to fly away. How boring."

Gu Guangzhi's Bamboo wings Gu consumed a bit of primeval essence for every moment it was used. His primeval essence reserves fell to 6%. He said as he landed, "I belong to the righteous path. I don't need to use blood path to defeat you." Bai Ning Bing sneered and looked down on him. The lighting attack and ice blast earlier had drawn attention from the Bai village and several gu masters came rushing to the spot. Gu Guangzhi used the last of his primeval essence to use Bamboo cage Gu to restrict the movement of the incoming gu masters as he called for his water wolf. Sharp bamboos burst forth from the ground and restricted the gu masters. His water wolf appeared from his hair band and picked him up to leave.

Bai Ning Bing was surprised by the appearance of the water wolf. He used Icicle Gu and threw several ice spears at the huge water wolf but the water wolf used its Rank 3 River flood Gu to counter them and escaped safely into a river. Bai Ning Bing was no match for the water wolf's speed in the river.

As the other gu masters broke free from the restrictions of bamboo cage, one of them recognized the water wolf.

The gu master spoke up and questioned his partner, "Isn't that the water wolf of Gu Guangzhi from Xiong village?"

His partner replied, "Gu Guangzhi? Isn't he the D-grade gu master who fights exceptionally during the wolf tides? Did he come to sneak attack lord Bai Ning Bing?"

'D-grade aptitude? Not even C-grade?' Bai Ning Bing was stunned when he heard that dialogue.

Another gu master spoke in anger, "This is too daring! Attacking lord Bai Ning Bing in a sneaky way. We must make the Xiong clan pay for this!"

Bai Ning Bing spoke up, "Nothing happened here. Absolutely nothing. Don't speak of it anymore."

The gu masters present couldn't say anything as Bai Ning Bing walked away.

Inwardly, he thought to himself, 'Gu Guangzhi! That was a truly exciting battle. I look forward to fighting you again. But this time, I will prepare an appropriate ice coffin for you to cleanse myself of this disgrace.'