Ambushed

Xiong Jiao Lin was Gu Guangzhi's team member at one point in time. She was part of his team for a couple of years and got promoted to Rank 2 and then switched teams. However, no one treated her like a member of the Jiao faction. Most members just called her Lin and she was not treated specially by the interior affairs hall. So Gu Guangzhi had no idea about her being a part of Jiao faction. However, Jiao faction learnt about this small connection and had now come to Gu Guangzhi with a marriage proposal.

Gu Guangzhi had a good impression of her. She was a dedicated person during the missions and didn't talk about others behind their backs. She respected him for his battle prowess and took pointers from his battle style. He got ready to meet Xiong Jiao Mei and approached her.

"Greetings, madam Jiao Mei. I am sorry that I can't offer you a better hospitality.", said Gu Guangzhi as he served her some tea.

Gu Guangzhi used to live in the outer edges of the Xiong village and never employed any servants. He didn't want any of his secrets to be spilled. So, even when he broke into Rank 3 and the clan leader offered him a much better place to live along with a few servants, he refused them. Upon further insistence, he accepted to live in the small villa offered by the clan.

"Oh, that's alright. I heard that you've always been busy doing risky missions and cultivating all the time. You need to take good care of your health as well. You've lived the lifestyle of a risky battles and frugality when you were a Rank 2 gu master but you need not take such risks anymore. You are soon to become an elder, so you can leave the frontlines to the lower ranks.", said Jiao Mei as she sipped her tea slowly. She didn't like the low quality tea served.

She continued, "In fact, I am here to talk about your marriage. You must've already heard from your teacher about Jiao Lin. She has fallen in love with you for a long time now. She was just shy and hasn't spoken up about it till now. When she heard that clan leader had asked you to get married within a month, she was continuously sobbing and stopped eating. I only came to know about this now. So please Gu Guangzhi…", she said as she held his hands, "marry my daughter. Her life is in your hands now.", shedding a fake tear.

Gu Guangzhi was put in an awkward situation. He knew very well that she was lying straight to his face about Jiao Lin and what not but he couldn't outright reject her. He was a master of battling and refinement but when it came to social interactions, he was an amateur. Even Yu Wen Zi was shaking his head in disappointment at Gu Guangzhi's awkwardness. After several rounds of persuasion, he finally relented and agreed to meet Jiao Lin before making a decision. Xiong Jiao Mei kept assuring him that there was no real need for a meeting since they already knew each other and it was best to get married right away but Gu Guangzhi said that he wanted to talk to her directly before coming to a decision. Xiong Jiao Mei left Gu Guangzhi's residence after setting up a date to meet Jiao Lin. Apparently, she was on a mission so she couldn't come at the moment.

Later that day, Gu Guangzhi went into the mountains again. His refinement was often dangerous so performing refinement in his own residence might cause suspicion in the clan. So he often went into the mountains for refinement. Gu Guangzhi had only three Rank 3 gu insects at the moment. Bamboo swamp Gu as his vital gu, Bamboo stalk Gu he got as inheritance and Turn Rock Gu that he received from the clan when he became a Rank 3 gu master. Feeding the numerous Rank 2 bamboo family gu insects that he had, was never a big problem for Gu Guangzhi because of his Rank 2 Bamboo culm Gu but now, he felt a small burden to upgrade his numerous gu insects to Rank 3. Deducing a recipe for Rank 3 Bamboo culm Gu also proved difficult for some reason. So Gu Guangzhi focused on other ways to improve his battle style.

Besides, as he learnt more about gu insects and Dao marks, he learnt about conflicting Dao marks. In order to grow powerful as a gu master, one needed to choose a path and focus on cultivating in that path. If he continued to use all different paths, he might overwhelm his opponents in the short run but he would grow weaker in the long run. So, he chose Bamboo swamp Gu as his vital gu. In southern border, earth path resources were very rich, hence he would have an easier time cultivating it.

In the battle with Bai Ning Bing, Gu Guangzhi had an inspiration when he used hell rise grass. It was an easily combustible material. Gu Guangzhi had been conducting some experiments to fuse it with Grass Puppet Gu, Bamboo fire flower Gu and Quick swallow bird. Grass Puppet Gu was widely used in Qing Mao mountain for target practice when it was Rank 1 but as its Rank increased, it could be used to create increasingly powerful grass soldiers that could fight mortals or even gu masters. Quick swallow birds were tiny birds that lived in groups in the forests. They were very quick but had very little stamina so they would often end up as snacks for the wild beasts in the forests.

As Gu Guangzhi was researching on ways to fuse them, the experiment failed and Gu Guangzhi received backlash from it. This was not new to Gu Guangzhi. He had been injured in this way multiple times in the past while researching with refinement. He took out his Bamboo culm Gu and took a small sip. He didn't want to get drunk again. Just then, he heard a whooshing sound. Before he could react to it, an icicle hit his hair band and knocked it off. Before Gu Guangzhi's water wolf could come out of the hair band, one of the attackers used a Storage lock Gu on the head band. Thin chains wrapped around the head band and didn't allow the water wolf to come out. Gu Guangzhi was also attacked simultaneously with a Water Drill Gu and Water current Gu but he activated Pronghorn beetle Gu and used its burst speed to dodge. As he looked around, there were eight gu masters poised to attack him.

"Looks like you've come prepared.", said Gu Guangzhi.

"Of course. We've been searching for a few months now but it was difficult to find you in these mountains. Now that we surrounded you, we'll show you happens to those who attack lord Bai Ning Bing!"