27 RI

"There's no one here!" Turning the house upside down, Gu Yue Bo did not find Fang Yuan anywhere. A huge rock weighed on his heart. With Fang Yuan and Tie Xue Leng's sudden disappearance, it easily caused him to relate them together.

"Speak, where is Fang Yuan?" Gu Yue Bo's face was grim like water, as he screamed at Tie Ruo Nan who just arrived.

"How would I know where Fang Yuan is?" Tie Ruo Nan's attitude was tough. Even against a Rank four expert, she did not relent.

"Hmph, why did Tie Xue Leng go missing? Tie family's young lady, can you give me an explanation?" Gu Yue Bo said as he got closer to Tie Ruo Nan.

The young girl's expression was slightly stunned. The truth was, this matter had been very peculiar from the start.

The original plan was that her father and her would come here next year. Back then, Tie Xue Leng was solving another case when a white crane suddenly descended from the sky.

The white crane carried a letter, and passed it to Tie Xue Leng.

After seeing this letter, Tie Xue Leng changed his plans and put down the case at hand, heading immediately towards Qing Mao mountain.

If not for the letter, the Tie family father and daughter would not have gotten here so early.

As his daughter, Tie Ruo Nan knew her father well. Normally, only exceptional cases would cause Tie Xue Leng to make such a decision.

But, what caused her to not understand was that this Qing Mao mountain case was only about Jia Jin Sheng's death.

Although Jia Jin Sheng's death involved the asset struggle of the Jia family, its severity level was merely average, and was far below the point where the divine investigator has to put so much emphasis on.

Towards this, Tie Ruo Nan was always doubtful.

And now, Tie Xue Leng mysteriously disappeared, not even telling his own daughter.

Where did he go? What did he do?

"Father, you have an injury, please take care of your body." Tie Ruo Nan was worried.

This situation had happened several times before. Every time, it was when Tie Xue Leng was fighting against a strong foe and could not distract himself to protect Tie Ruo Nan, thus choosing to battle alone.

His injuries right now were caused by a strong foe under such circumstances previously.

"Although father is injured, he is after all a Rank five expert. Ordinary Rank four Gu Masters are not his match. Father, I believe in you, I will wait for you to return!" Tie Ruo Nan's eyes shone with light as she encouraged herself.

Gu Yue Bo got closer as the young girl raised her head, staring right at the Gu Yue clan leader. "Explanation? You want an explanation, but does it mean I need to give you one?"

Gu Yue Bo's face grew even grimmer as he said, "Little wretch, you sure talk tough, it seems I can only take you captive and use you to exchange for our clan's Fang Yuan!"

"Hehehe." Tie Ruo Nan laughed instead. "Gu Yue clan leader, would you really dare to do such a thing? My uncle is the current Tie clan leader, do you want to cross swords with my Tie family?"

Gu Yue Bo stopped in his tracks.

He was anxious and almost forgot.

Tie family!

It was but a super clan, having thousands of years of legacy, standing strong even today. Standing tall in the Tie clan mountain fort was the Demon Suppression Tower, imprisoning countless demonic Gu Masters, the symbol of the righteous faction.

Gu Yue clan was only a slightly average clan, and was smaller than Jia clan. But Jia clan was also merely a young clan, unable to compare with the Tie clan.

Even in the entire Southern border, the Tie clan is a first class powerhouse, a large clan with strong foundations!

Tie Ruo Nan's words softened. "Gu Yue clan leader, I am not here to be enemies with you. But please believe in my sincerity. I do not know where father went, but I will not leave or secretly run away. The Tie family only dies in battle, there are no cowards that run from battle. Not only will I stay here, I will also arrest the criminal that killed Jia Jin Sheng!"

"Fang Yuan might not be the murderer!" Gu Yue Bo frowned, showing a fierce expression.

"But he might be!" Tie Ruo Nan stared, her heroism overflowing; at this point she was refusing to relent.

Both sides stared for a long time. @@novelbin@@

Tie Ruo Nan continued, "Fang Yuan went missing, so it is very likely that he is escaping for his crimes, thus he has greater suspicion. But I will definitely not malign an innocent party!"

"Hmph, I hope so." Gu Yue Bo swung his sleeve and left.

Fifteen minutes later....

Gurgle gurgle.

The spirit spring's whirlpool moved violently as a lotus image flickered above the spring water like an image.

Pieces of primeval stones were thrown in by Fang Yuan, causing the appearance of the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus to become clearer.

"Earlier at the classmate gathering, they gave me around ten thousand primeval stones. Together with Gu Yue Mo Chen's forty thousand, I've already thrown them all in. Why is it that this Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus still hasn't shown its true body?"

Fang Yuan stared intently through the crystal walls, glaring at the center of the spirit spring, feeling uncertain.

The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus was very precious. After continuous advancing and reaching Rank six, its value would be no less than the Spring Autumn Cicada.

Even in his previous life, Fang Yuan had only heard of it, and never interacted with it.

Thus right now, it was his first time seeing one, and so he was slightly unsure.

But he soon calmed himself, laughing, "Around fifty thousand primeval stones, it's more than enough. Why am I worrying over nothing here? So what if the refinement fails? Hehehe."

Thinking so, he no longer hesitated. Taking in a deep breath, he jumped up, knocking onto the crystal wall.

This wall was formed by the Moat Gu.

When Fang Yuan knocked onto it, it was like jumping into the water. There was a ripple in the walls as he was instantly swallowed up.

Water surrounded Fang Yuan from all directions.

Fang Yuan opened his eyes, but he could not see the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus.

The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus could only be seen through the water crystal walls before extraction.

Fang Yuan knew this well, and was not surprised. He had already estimated the distance, and even accounted for the refraction of the light due to the water, and grabbed according to his memory.

This grab, was like grabbing out of thin air, conjuring a lotus.

The lotus was blue and white, its petals closed, looking like a lamp filled with a holy aura. But it had its own consciousness, and even though it was grabbed by Fang Yuan, it resisted.

But that was nothing!

Just by leaking a little of the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura, this Rank three flower Gu was instantly refined.

Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus obtained!

In the spring water, Fang Yuan's lips curled into a smile.

He willed, and the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus turned into a white blue light, shooting into his aperture.

Without the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, the numerous whirlpools in the spirit spring vanished. The spring water that was filled with vitality turned into a puddle of still water without any signs of life.

"The spirit spring is no more. This place is no longer safe, I have to leave as soon as possible." Fang Yuan's expression turned serious, and just as he was about to leave, something suddenly happened!

Deep in the spirit spring, a blinding blood colored light shot out.

A large suction force suddenly appeared. Caught off guard, Fang Yuan was sucked deep into the water.

The spring water turned red, becoming blood water, wrapping around Fang Yuan completely, dragging him down.

Sky Canopy Gu! Thunderwings Gu!

In the moment of crisis, Fang Yuan screamed in his heart and a white armor appeared on his body. At the same time, a pair of large lightning wings appeared behind his back.

Thunderwings spread, giving Fang Yuan an upward force. But the blood water came endlessly, and its suction force became greater and greater; there was no way to oppose it.

Puff...

Hearing the water all around him, Fang Yuan was dragged by the currents, along the tunnel, heading straight down.

Just when his breath was used up, the surrounding pressure vanished.

Fang Yuan took a deep breath. At least he did not die of suffocation, but he found that he was falling from a high spot.

He subconsciously activated his wings, but the Thunderwings Gu was in bad shape.

The originally strong wings, were tired and soft.

Fang Yuan's heart sank. He tried his best to maintain his balance in the air, slowing his descent.

This was an area underground. It was not dark, but filled with red light. Fang Yuan was falling from about fifteen metres, and below him, was a pond.

But this underground pond was not of the transparent colour; it was red, like blood water.

No, it IS blood water!

The piercing blood stench assaulted Fang Yuan as he continued to fall.

This situation was weird no matter how he looked at it, so for safety, Fang Yuan did not want to land in this bloody pond.

Chainsaw Golden Centipede!

He activated the Chainsaw Golden Centipede, his palm entering the centipede's mouth and swinging it like a whip.

The golden centipede's body stretched to the longest, and its tail stabbed into the mountain wall at the side.

Fang Yuan willed with his mind, and the golden centipede's body constricted. This way, it brought his body to the side of the mountain wall.

These walls were slippery and did not have a good landing spot. But as Fang Yuan relied on the Chainsaw Golden Centipede, he managed to find an uneven area and placed his feet above.

"Where the fuck is this?" Stabilizing his body, Fang Yuan immediately observed the surroundings.

According to his estimations, this should be in a place deeper underground, even below the underground cave.

"How can there be such a place?" Fang Yuan was shocked. In his previous life, he was not strong enough to learn about the secrets of the higher-ups.

The truth is, this was the blood pond graveyard, the forbidden grounds that buried the first generation's coffin. Even among clan elders, only one or two knew this secret.

Fang Yuan looked down. This blood pond shone with a bloody radiance. Its circumference was even larger than the village, emitting an eerie and scary aura.

At the top of the cave, there was up to a hundred holes that had water gushing down, bringing the shells, turtles, snakes and fish from the river with it.

Swoosh swoosh...

Streams of water continued to pour down from the holes, entering into the blood pond.

The blood water was turbulent as numerous seafood moved around, entering the pond. However, in a few breaths, all the blood in their bodies were sucked out. They turned into dry corpses and floated on the surface of the water, appearing and disappearing as the waves moved them about.

The blood pond's redness only intensified.

As Fang Yuan looked on, his iris shrunk a little. If he had landed in this pond, even with the Sky Canopy Gu's protection, he would not be in good shape.

He continued to observe, and other than fresh dry corpses, there were also some bones in the water.

Some were fish bones, bear bones, and even human skeletons.

This was a giant burial ground; it was creepy, and bloody.

The ripples and waves in the blood pond raged on and swept into the surrounding walls, the bright red and glowing blood water entering the surrounding soil. This caused the soil to all turn into a bright red color, turning into red soil.

-x-X-x-

"Wait a second, red soil?"

Fang Yuan's mind jolted at the sight.

He stretched his hand out and grabbed the wall beside him, taking out a lump of red soil.

This red soil was very soft and emitted a faint red light. Fang Yuan merely pressed it lightly, but it crumbled down.

"So, it was like this." He seemed to have come to a realization.

The first time he had entered the secret cave inside the rock crack, he saw that the secret cave was full of this red soil which emitted faint glow; there was no need for any other lighting source.

He had felt it weird at the time because Qing Mao mountain's soil was blue-black in color. He had thought this was arranged by the Flower Wine Monk, but now it seemed that the source was this strange blood lake.

Fang Yuan felt even more wary; his five hundred years of experience had almost become an intuition.

"This place is not only strange, but also dangerous. I don't have the time to dilly-dally, I need to think of how to leave here." Fang Yuan raised his head and looked at the cave walls, where hundreds of holes were in the top part of the wall; which was the one connected to the spirit spring?

Fang Yuan hesitated for a moment.

Water could flow down here, but it didn't mean that the passages were wide enough for a human to pass through.

"And...." Fang Yuan looked grave as he tried shaking his two wings.

However, he couldn't control these thunderwings perfectly like before, and the originally clear blue thunder was now stained with some scarlet; it gave off a contradictory feeling of power and weakness existing at the same time.

The Thunderwings Gu had become unreliable, it was very possible for it to screw up and drop Fang Yuan in the middle of flight.

Swoosh....

An inexplicable undercurrent surged up from within the blood lake, giving off the enormous aura of Rank five gu.

"That is...." Fang Yuan's pupils shrunk; a long shadow gradually appeared in the blood lake.

Its length surpassed forty meters and its width over six meters.

This was an enormous python; it dwelled in the depths of the blood lake, but now that it had smelled out the scent of flesh on Fang Yuan, it came out to begin the hunt!

"Damn it....." Fang Yuan felt a pressing urge in his heart.

Right now, he was relying on the Chainsaw Golden Centipede to puncture the wall, barely managing to hang onto the soft red soil. And with his long hair and black gown, he looked like a black ant compared to the enormous blood lake.

Hundreds of black dots appeared in the blood lake and rose up, just like a travelling shoal of fish.

Whooshhh.....

They were much faster than the giant python and flew out of the blood lake within moments, revealing their appearance.

These were not fish, but bats.

These blood colored bats had two long pointed ears with two pairs of wings. The main pair of wings were rather big, whereas the secondary pair of wings was on the smaller side and was below the main wings.

They didn't have claws, but the edges of the two pairs of wings were as sharp as steel blades.

"Rank three — bladewing blood bat Gu?" A name immediately appeared in Fang Yuan's mind. @@novelbin@@

These bladewing blood bat groups were directing their intense murderous aura towards him, but the first thing that appeared in his mind was 'that' image.

In the image from the Photo-audio Gu, the Flower Wine Monk's whole body was covered with blood, with severe injuries to the point of being near death.

Moonshadow Gu was not able to cause such injuries, but these bladewing blood bats were a different matter.

"Could it be that the Flower Wine Monk had come to this place and was injured by these bladewing blood bats?" Fang Yuan's thoughts revolved rapidly.

Flower Wine Monk's death had been shrouded in riddles. Now, it appeared extremely likely that it was due to this place.

"Bladewing blood bat...." Fang Yuan murmured. In fact, this Gu wasn't a stranger to him.

Even though this Gu was a Rank three Gu, it was very easy to feed, its food being blood.

In his previous life, he had established the Bloodwing Devil Sect, and the symbol of the sect was precisely the bladewing blood bat. The resources from the devil sect were more than enough to support close to ten thousand bladewing blood bat Gu, allowing the sect to establish a terrifying might and spread terror.

More precisely, he owed his success to bladewing blood bats.

After over four hundred years in his previous life, he had accidently obtained an inheritance from the Blood Sea Ancestor. With the colonies of bladewing blood bats and his own Rank five cultivation, he became an overlord of a region.

This Blood Sea Ancestor was a Rank seven demonic path Gu Master who took lives as easily as cutting grass, and his evil reputation was such that it resounded throughout the world, having his name recorded in history.

At the beginning, he was just a mortal, but through luck and destiny, he became a Gu Master of demonic path. He started out from the lowest of levels and rose up in ranks, before becoming an authority of demonic path after eight hundred years.

He didn't have high aptitude, thus he had limited primeval essence in his aperture. Therefore, he had a crazed interest towards researching the fusion of Gu worms.

Wild Gu worms possessed their own will and could absorb the natural primeval essence in the air by themselves. However, after a Gu worm was refined by a Gu Master, its willpower would be dominated by the Gu Master, and it would lose the ability to absorb the surrounding primeval essence. It would be able to only absorb the primeval essence in the Gu Master's aperture.

Blood Sea Ancestor had invested a lot of efforts in researching Gu which could absorb natural primeval essence even after being refined by a Gu Master.

The righteous Gu Masters were very afraid of this. They were extremely worried that the Blood Sea Ancestor would succeed in his research. As a result, they organized countless traps before moving in for the kill.

In the end, Blood Sea Ancestor wasn't able to succeed, but it also wasn't a complete failure.

He succeeded in producing the fusion recipes of bladewing blood bat, blood guillotine and blood frenzy Gu.

Rank three bladewing blood bat Gu was his first accomplishment. It was very easy to feed, but it still needed the Gu Master to provide primeval essence. The colony of bladewing blood bats was very special; a Gu Master just needed to control a male bat, and they could indirectly command all the other female bats.

Blood frenzy Gu was his second accomplishment. This Gu was formless; as a ball of blood essence, it survived by attaching itself to other beings. It was a Rank four Gu and had a very unusual ability. Every Gu worm infected by its aura could absorb natural primeval essence every now and then. But it had a great disadvantage — the Gu worms affected by the Blood frenzy Gu would gradually leave the control of the Gu Master and would turn into a pool of blood after a period of time.

Blood guillotine was the Blood Sea Ancestor's last accomplishment. This Gu was a Rank five Gu and was no doubt more advanced than the previous two. Its usability and feeding were fused into one. Usings wars to sustain itself, it multiplied by swallowing Gu Master's blood. It didn't need the Gu Master to provide it with any primeval essence.

Unfortunately, after the Blood Sea Ancestor created the blood guillotine, due to the many battles and the entrapment by the righteous path, he was defeated.

He suffered from fatal wounds that could not be healed, and he carved out a bloody escape from the layers of entrapment.

The righteous path figures were worried about his final counterattack which could endanger themselves, so they didn't have any inclination to chase after him and looked on as he made his getaway. Since then, these righteous path figures would regret the moment every time they recalled it; they regretted that they let him get away.

The Blood Sea Ancestor knew his death was a sure thing, so he started setting up a large scale inheritance. In the limited time before his death, with the strength of his Rank seven cultivation, he unexpectedly set up hundreds of thousands of inheritance grounds; his inheritances extended everywhere from the Middle Continent to the Southern Border and other places.

Right before his death, he smiled devilishly, "The blood path is not alone, the legacy will continue for all eternity!"

This statement was not in the least false, for countless Gu Masters benefited from his inheritances, and thus the demonic path flourished greatly.

No matter the bladewing blood bat Gu, the blood frenzy Gu or the blood guillotine, they were all very easy to raise and multiply. Maybe in some unremarkable valleys, at poor villages, at no-man deserts, or beside some mountain paths, you might find two or three Gu left casually by the Blood Sea Ancestor.

These Gu were easy to raise and didn't have a high demand for primeval essence, thus they could easily be used by Gu Masters with ordinary aptitudes.

Survival was a difficult thing in this world, so which Gu Master wouldn't thirst for stronger powers? The Gu worms left by the Blood Sea Ancestor represented a whole new strength; this strength was a quick and easy way to rise in power, and it became more welcomed than other Gu worms.

Power itself had no sins; it became good in the hands of good, and evil in the hands of evil. But in the world, how many people could have a resolute mind after a sudden increase in strength?

A man who got money would often become fickle. A sudden rise in strength would certainly nourish ambitions that weren't there before.

As a result, many Gu Masters that obtained the Blood Sea Ancestor's legacy would become a devil that massacred everything. Even many righteous path figures had changed their sides.

The inheritances of blood Gu brought great turmoil and danger towards the whole world.

In each inheritance of the Blood Sea Ancestor, there were often only two to three Gu. However, these inheritances were like a spark of fire that could cause a prairie fire if left alone!

There would be demonic path Gu Masters who would come into possession of the blood Gu every so often and cause chaos. Some of them would fail; killed away in some villages. Some would succeed temporarily and become a huge figure, harming a whole region.

No matter if they succeeded temporarily, or failed, at the moment of their exhaustion, they would also leave behind new blood inheritances.

Thus, the blood calamity continued endlessly. Not only did it not end with the death of the Blood Sea Ancestor through the combined strength of the righteous path, it instead thrived even more greatly with the foundations left behind, unable to be eliminated as it continued for eternity.

It was to the extent that the righteous path figures would frequently curse, "These accursed Blood Gu Masters! We have already killed waves upon waves of them. But if we become even a bit careless, we will see a new one coming up from nowhere!"

By now, the Blood Sea Inheritances were already publicly recognized as the most popular in the whole world, with the greatest number of inheritances. There was no competition!

In the strictest sense, Fang Yuan had received a favor from the Blood Sea Ancestor.

"In my previous life, only after over four hundred years, I found a blood sea inheritance and was then able to begin my rule. Now, if I can subdue these blood bats, it will be like completing four hundred years of effort."

Blood bats charged at him but Fang Yuan was not afraid.

He had the Spring Autumn Cicada, so these bats would submit without question in front of the Rank six aura. The only problem was the Rank five Blood Python that was still concealed, hiding within the blood lake.

"But this situation is somewhat fishy. The Blood Sea Ancestor's inheritances normally only have two-three Gu worms. How come this place has hundreds of bladewing blood bats? Could it be... that rumor is true?"

The rumor said that the Blood Sea Ancestor's hundreds of thousands of inheritances were diversions, and the true inheritances were only a few.

In these few inheritances, the Blood Sea Ancestor was said to have concealed his best Gu worms, or research insights or fusion recipes.

"Could this place be a true inheritance ground of the Blood Sea Ancestor?" When Fang Yuan thought of this, his heart started to beat loudly.

His thoughts moved like lightning and although he thought of many things, only a little time had passed in reality.

Bladewing blood bats charged at him one after another; Fang Yuan was calm, his long hair and black gown fluttering in the air as he climbed up the wall and was going to summon Spring Autumn Cicada.

But right at this time, there was a sudden change!

"As expected, this place is hiding the blood calamity!" A deep and firm voice, loud like the clash between iron and stone, came from the top of the cave and echoed within the blood lake.

Divine Investigator Tie Xue Leng!

-x-X-x-

"Tie Xue Leng, why is he suddenly here?" Fang Yuan recognised the voice, feeling shocked.

This loud voice echoed above the blood pond, causing intense waves to form.

"This is... Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu?" Fang Yuan gritted his teeth. As the loud voice hurt his eardrums, he felt his entire brain buzzing.

Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu, a Rank five Gu, was from a sound-type Gu. Once activated, it could form soundwave attacks that had a wide range, belonging to an extremely strong area-of-effect attacking-type Gu.

The voice that Fang Yuan was hearing now, is only Tie Xue Leng's probing; it was just him slightly shouting and not activating his Gu completely.

This intensity was like Fang Yuan using the Moonlight Gu to open the purple gold rock; it was a type of in-depth control of his Gu worm.

Of course, the Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu also had its weakness. If used for long, it would cause great strain to the Gu Master's throat and vocal cord. Once his limit is exceeded, the Gu Master would become completely mute, losing his ability to speak.

Bam!

A loud explosion occurred as blood and water flew everywhere.

The top half of the huge python's body appeared in Fang Yuan's vision.

Blood river python!

Fang Yuan's irises shrunk as he saw the python with its bright smooth blood red scales, and its head around the size of an elephant. Scarlet-gold coloured sharp bone spikes protruded out from above its eyes, showing its ferocious and frenzy aura completely.

"Blood river python... I remember that in the Gu Yue clan's history, after the first generation clan leader created the village, a blood river python appeared and was a huge threat to the village. Legend says the first gen killed it, but don't tell me..."

Fang Yuan's thoughts moved, thinking of something.

The blood river python was humongous, snake head high in the air, its purple irises staring right at Fang Yuan with two ruthless glances.

It had a ruthless nature, untamable and fed on blood. Even if the Spring Autumn Cicada's aura tried to suppress it, that would only cause it to become more frenzied. Among Rank five Gu worms, it was one of the hardest to refine.

But after the blood river python took a look at Fang Yuan up on the walls, it raised its head higher and turned towards the top of the cave.

At the top of the cave, there was another tiny shadow, floating down from one of the holes at the ceiling.

He wore a bronze mask, his hands behind his back, his gaze cool and calm. Although compared to the blood river python, he was small like an ant, but the imposing aura coming from his body caused a great pressure to emit from him at all directions, like a heavenly being descending down to Earth.

Righteous Gu!

A mind-type Gu that only someone who upheld justice could activate.

People who were villainous or had weak minds and aspirations, were often scared shitless under the influence of the Righteous Gu, afraid of everything as they had a guilty conscience, their battle spirit decreasing in battle and causing them to feel an inability to defeat Tie Xue Leng, thus collapsing without battle.

Screech screech....

Under the pressure of the righteousness, the bladewing blood bat Gu were frantic and could only scream shrilly as a strong pressure pushed down on their bodies. Their wings could only continue to flap as they struggled to stay in mid-air, floating up and down.

They could barely take care of themselves, much less bother about Fang Yuan.

Even the ferocious blood river python slightly lowered its head, feeling Tie Xue Leng's supreme presence.

"What a good Righteous Gu!" Fang Yuan climbed on the wall, smirking.

This suppression from the Righteous Gu had no effect on him. Only those with weak minds could be greatly weakened. He was a supreme demonic overlord, his mind strong as steel, how could this illusionary pressure scare him?

"Eh?" Fang Yuan's immunity caused Tie Xue Leng to call out in shock, feeling very surprised.

The Righteous Gu had been with him for many years, and he was very sure about the Gu's effect.

Righteous Gu's effect varied. It attacked the mind directly, sometimes having great effect while other times having no effect.

But the times where it did not work, were almost nonexistent. Even righteous people felt a strong suppression in their hearts. After all, their factions did not determine a person's kindness and evil; there are no perfect humans.

But Tie Xue Leng knew deeply about Fang Yuan's crimes. The first time they met, he already implanted a Gu on Fang Yuan, using it to track his whereabouts. After that, Tie Xue Leng could faintly discern the changes in the surroundings where Fang Yuan went.

Those who committed great sins, under the Righteous Gu, would definitely waver. But Tie Xue Leng also met a good number of demonic Gu Masters, that were unaffected by the righteous aura.

"There is only one type of person who would be unaffected by the Righteous Gu even after commiting sins. These are the people with real demonic nature, in the deepest parts of their hearts. They are crazy and adamant, not treating their sins as sins, but thinking of it as natural. To think that this Fang Yuan has such an intense demonic nature! Hmph, I'll get rid of this great demon here first. If Fang Yuan manages to survive, I will come and finish him later!"

Tie Xue Leng hated evil with a burning passion. With a cold snort, he turned towards the blood river python.

Once he appeared, he was locked on by this blood river python. As long as he was distracted in killing Fang Yuan, he would reveal a weakness.

Tie Xue Leng had such a severe injury on him, and at the same time there might be a powerful enemy hidden in the background and observing him. Thus, he did not dare to lose focus.

He stared at this blood river python for a moment, before looking further into the blood pond.

Not long ago, he received a mysterious letter. Inside there was concrete evidence that Gu Yue village held a bloody calamity.

This letter was held by a red-crowned crane coming from the sky, with a questionable source.

But Tie Xue Leng would rather believe it than miss it. After all, the blood calamity was not ordinary, he could not take it lightly. If he lost focus, it would expand and spread like a plague, harming the world.

The best method to deal with it was to eliminate the source before it forms into a strong force.

Coincidentally, he already had another request at hand — it was Jia Fu paying a high cost to ask him to investigate Jia Jin Sheng's death.

Tie Xue Leng thus brought his daughter and rushed to Qing Mao Mountain.

He ordered his daughter to investigate Jia Jin Sheng's case. It was to nurture and train Tie Ruo Nan, but also to act as a red herring, stalling for time and hiding in the background investigating this issue.

The first time when he met Fang Yuan, he implanted a Shared-sense Gu on him. Although it was merely at a whim, he did it due to his accumulated experience and instinct.

Shared-sense Gu was formless and colorless, like a signet. He had implanted over tens of them, but the only successful one was the first one he implanted.

"First gen Gu Yue, I know you are not dead. You hid for nearly a thousand years plotting this scheme, but unfortunately, it's all going down the drain." Tie Xue Leng opened his mouth, causing the air to tremble.

But there were no changes to the blood pond. Instead, the blood river python opened its mouth, screaming furiously.

It was born ferocious, unable to be suppressed. The Righteous Gu triggered its ferocity.

Bam.

It stretched its body abruptly, the huge snake body rising with the tides of blood, bringing a killing intent that tore through the skies, pouncing towards Tie Xue Leng who was in mid-air.

Tie Xue Leng was already wary against the blood river python, and he quickly moved, avoiding the blood river python's bite.

The python's body was too long, and its momentum was too strong. It ended up crashing all the way onto the ceiling of the cave.

A loud bang ensued as a portion of the ceiling collapsed, and large amounts of debris fell and caused much commotion in the blood lake waves.

"Hmph, First gen Gu Yue, you think you are safe with just a blood python protecting you? You might as well appear now," Tie Xue Leng snickered. He moved about in the air, and the blood river python's attacks were like a gentle rain pelting on him.

The blood river python attacked furiously, getting more worked up as it continued to miss.

It had unparalleled strength, able to display it all and cause great damage.

The entire space was shaking from its strength like an earthquake, and the blood lake began to raise strong ripples.

"Fuck!" Fang Yuan was caught by the crossfire, and as the red soil softened, his foothold had been ruined.

He could only use the Chainsaw Golden Centipede as well as the Thunderwings Gu to move along the walls. Meanwhile the rock debris was falling down like rain.

As he had expected, the Thunderwings Gu was really in bad shape. Fang Yuan's thunderwings were extremely weak and lethargic, unable to provide him much boost in speed.

But the strange thing was, the Thunderwings Gu was taking lesser and lesser primeval essence from Fang Yuan. During the period where Fang Yuan moved about, it started to absorb primeval essence from the surrounding air to replenish itself.

At first, this situation was uncommon and happened in short intervals.

As Fang Yuan continued to dodge, he did not notice initially. But eventually, the intervals got shorter and the duration lengthened.

At the same time, the Thunderwings Gu got weaker and weaker.

"I get it, its the Blood Frenzy Gu!" Fang Yuan's mind shone with inspiration.

Only when affected by the Blood Frenzy Gu will such a situation occur.

Plop!

Fang Yuan put in 100% effort, but eventually still fell into the blood lake.

The blood river python was rampaging everywhere, using its thick tail to sweep across the place, causing large debris to fall like rain.

Fang Yuan activated the Sky Canopy Gu, covering himself with a white armor. He was good at swimming. In his previous life he had lived in the Eastern Sea for a long time, thus he had sufficient training.

The falling rocks were as large as houses, and he tried his best to avoid them. Sometimes he swam underwater, sinking into the lake to use the water to reduce the impact of the rocks.

But for the smaller fragments, some were fist-sized while others were like grindstones, and he could not avoid them all.

The white light armor was firm like a monolith, but it could not handle the full impact of the rocks, causing him to feel pain when they hit his armor. At the same time, his primeval essence also decreased with each hit endured.

Thankfully, the Righteous Gu's power was surrounding the area, causing the group of bladewing blood bat Gu to fly around randomly, not finding trouble with Fang Yuan.

But Fang Yuan's expression was solemn.

The Thunderwings Gu was half crippled after being corrupted by the Blood Frenzy Gu, and without a special Gu to clean it, it would soon turn into a puddle of blood water, turning into a new pollution origin.

How did it get infected by the Blood Frenzy Gu?

Fang Yuan considered the previous events, and there was only one explanation — in this blood water, there was a Blood Frenzy Gu inside.

The Thunderwings Gu continued to weaken, and started to become uncontrollable.

Thankfully he activated the white light armor in time, otherwise if the Blood Frenzy Gu got into his body and entered his aperture, most of his Gu worms would get corrupted.

But if his primeval essence was expended, or if this armor was broken, the consequences would be severe!

"I have to leave this place as soon as possible!" Fang Yuan gritted his teeth, trying to find a way out from the surroundings as he swam around.

Large amounts of red soil on the mountain walls collapsed from the battle. @@novelbin@@

The cave ceiling was completely destroyed beyond recognition as well. Tie Xue Leng floated in mid-air, engaging the blood river python in combat.

Rank five battles were not something Fang Yuan could interfere in.

The more a Gu Master advanced, the larger the difference in battle strength among ranks.

Maybe with a sweep of the blood river python's tail, it could break the light armor and cause the Sky Canopy Gu to be gravely injured, breaking all of Fang Yuan's bones in the process. Perhaps with a simple wave of Tie Xue Leng's hands, it could send Fang Yuan falling into an impasse.

The situation right now was like two giant elephants fighting, while Fang Yuan was a domestic cat. Although he had tiny claws, there was nothing he could do.

"Wait, a cave entrance?"

-x-X-x-

The tunnel entrance wasn't big and should have been buried by the red soil before. But now, as the blood lake surged up in a huge wave, the red soil in the surrounding walls were washed away, sinking down in the lake. As a result, the tunnel entrance cleared up again and became visible.

No matter what, this tunnel entrance was like a light of hope. Fang Yuan immediately turned around and started swimming towards it.

BOOM!

Another intense explosion occurred in the air. The enormous force of the explosion struck the surroundings and violently pushed Fang Yuan forward.

"Damn it!" He cursed.

Great amounts of red soil had fallen down and buried the tunnel entrance again.

Iron fist grappling Gu!

In the air, Tie Xue Leng took a deep breath and slowly extended his right hand when he felt the time was right.

There was a ripple in the air before him and a giant black iron hand appeared; it appeared slow but pressed down on the blood river python's tail within moments.

Blood river python struggled fiercely, and with its wet scales and slick body, the iron hand slipped off it and burst out with golden-red light.

Tie Xue Leng, however, had plenty of battle experiences and wasn't downcast. He slightly raised his head, puffed up his cheeks and blew strongly towards the Blood River Python.

Whoosh!Pitch black oil fell down like waterfall and formed into the shape of a dragon in the air, before plunging towards the Blood River Python.

Oil Dragon Gu!

The blood River Python was furious. It snarled and started tearing at the Oil Dragon Gu.

The black oil dragon was not in the least inferior to Blood River Python in terms of physique, but it was only a Rank four Gu and did not have a physical body; it was soon torn to shreds by Blood River Python.

Tie Xue Leng smiled, on the contrary.

Beasts were beasts, if a Gu Master had personally controlled it, they would have seen through this classic and ordinary battle tactic. The Blood River Python had been refined and although it had a Gu Master's imprint on it, it didn't have the wisdom of humans. @@novelbin@@

The oil dragon was exterminated, causing backlash to the Oil Dragon Gu in the aperture.

Tie Xue Leng didn't care; he stopped using the Oil Dragon Gu then began activating Fire Dragon Gu.

He gave a loud shout and his body shook, and then a Gu that looked like a flame shot out of his aperture. The flame quickly formed into a fire snake, winding around its own body.

As the fire snake flew, it grew bigger, then it immediately started growing scales, claws, horns and sharp teeth. Its face started becoming more like that of a horse; it had changed into an enormous fire dragon.

This Fire Dragon Gu was also a Rank four Gu, but it was able to cause a lot of pain to Blood River Python.

This was because of the oil dragon; when it was wiped out, great amounts of black oil stuck to Blood River Python's body, and now the fire dragon was causing the oil to catch fire and roast the Blood River Python.

Besides the snake, the black oil had also fallen on the lake surface. Right now, a raging inferno was burning on the bright red blood lake, causing the air temperature to increase rapidly.

The fire dragon was not the Blood River Python's match at all, it suffered heavy injuries and kept on shrinking. But every time this happened, it would drill into the raging inferno and recover some of its power.

With the raging inferno, the fire dragon had a homeground advantage.

Blood River Python was constantly being burned as it fought with the fire dragon, there was even a smell of scorched meat coming off it.

Blood River Python had a berserk nature and it would erupt with even stronger counterattack if it got suppressed. But right now, it was actually shrinking back, giving up on the fire dragon and diving deep into the blood lake.

Humans were the highest of all living beings and possessed the intelligence to develop new concepts. With Tie Xue Leng's tactics, two Rank four Gu were able to make the Rank five Blood River Python retreat.

But Gu were the essence of the world, containing the secrets of heaven and earth, a portion of the natural laws. And Blood River Python's ability was extreme self recovery.

As it sank to the bottom of the lake, the blood water continuously nourished it, rapidly healing the wounds on its body. The fire dragon had the field advantage; so did the blood python. As long as the blood lake existed, it was like a cockroach that couldn't be killed.

Fang Yuan's situation was even more perilous.

The inferno on the surface of the blood lake was constantly spreading, burning even hotter, and the flames were roasting him alive.

The pressure on the Sky Canopy Gu was getting bigger and bigger. But the most critical point was not this, but rather it was the increasing difficulty in breathing.

The flames used great amounts of air to maintain their combustion, and this place is underground and was originally a half-sealed area, which meant it took more time to replenish the used oxygen. Fang Yuan was gradually starting to feel suffocated.

"Although Oil Dragon Gu and Fire Dragon Gu sent Blood River Python retreating with their combined efforts, this is only temporary. As long as there are large amounts of blood water, Blood River Python will recover with a terrifying rate. Once it comes out, it will have recovered to its peak state and the Fire Dragon Gu would no longer be its match. But, this is basic knowledge, it is impossible for Tie Xue Leng to not know this. Then he...."

Fang Yuan bobbed up and down on the blazing lake; his thoughts were revolving rapidly. And his heart tensed when he thought of this.

If he wasn't wrong, Tie Xue Leng should have achieved his intention by making Blood River Python retreat.

Tie Xue Leng needed enough time and he needed the situation to be like this to prepare his following killing move.

Sure enough, in the next moment, while floating in the air Tie Xue Leng suddenly extended both his arms and a deep roar emerged from his mouth.

He withdrew the righteous aura that had been suppressing everything, and whole-heartedly poured his Rank five primeval essence into the copper mask.

The copper mask started to brighten up; it was only a glimmer at first but within few breaths of time, it burst out with an extremely dazzling green light, as bright as a fragment of the sun.

The green light shone upon everything like a monarch overlooking the heavens and earth. For a moment, the red soil, blood lake and raging inferno were covered with a layer of dark green light.

The green light contained a mystical power.

Under this power, the mountain rocks began to shake and crumble.

From above the cave, huge rocks came crumbling down, flying towards the copper mask. Great amounts of soil and rocks from the top to bottom of the red walls also slowly flew up.

Tie Xue Leng's face was already shrouded by the light from the copper mask. Great amounts of mountain rocks gathered around the copper mask and condensed together into a human shape.

Debris continuously converged from all around and the rock figure kept on getting bigger.

From one meter in the beginning, it rapidly grew to three meters... five meters...eight meters...and finally reached eighteen meters!

Giant Mountain Puppet Gu!

The giant figure with indomitable spirit descended towards the blood lake.

Its two feet touched the bottom of the blood lake, but the water only reached up to about its waist. Its body was very robust and grand; horse chariots could run on its two arms and it could hold an elephant on its fist.

Its face looked simple and unadorned; it was the enlarged version of the copper mask.

"Fire dragon, come." It spoke, and its voice seemed to shake the heavens and earth.

The fire dragon which was churning in the fire sea flew up and coiled around the giant puppet's right arm like a snake, and its head rested on the right shoulder of the giant puppet.

Next, the Oil Dragon Gu flew out and formed a pitch black oil dragon which coiled around the giant puppet's left arm and its head rested on the left shoulder of the giant puppet.

With dragons on his left and right, the giant figure appeared like a heavenly deity descending down!

Fang Yuan used all his strength to swim towards the tunnel entrance. When the debris had flown and formed the giant puppet, the red soil covering the tunnel entrance had also gone with it, once again revealing the opening.

This battlefield was becoming more dangerous, the tunnel entrance could be buried again at any time; Fang Yuan didn't dare to stay longer.

The fire sea gradually died out, and suddenly a huge red wave rose from the blood lake.

Blood River Python initiated its attack from the lake; it coiled around the giant puppet and moved upwards. The giant snake head smashed towards the giant puppet's face like a ram.

This attack was very powerful and if it really struck, more than half of the giant puppet's head would be destroyed.

"Iron fist grappling!" The giant puppet shouted; the air split open and an iron hand flew out, grabbing at the snake head.

With a loud boom, the iron hand shattered but Blood River Python's attack was also stopped.

Tie Xue Leng won a brief respite. The giant puppet's two hands grabbed towards Blood River Python in tandem.

Oil dragon and fire dragon seized the chance and climbed Blood River Python. The two snake combined and formed a blazing flame, roasting Blood River Python.

Blood River Python kept on hissing in pain and struggled furiously. But why would Tie Xue Leng let it escape so easily? The giant puppet's hands were like pincers as they firmly pressed on the Blood River Python.

The Blood River Python was not able to escape. Its body was scorched black, giving off the smell of burnt meat. This stimulated its vicious nature; since it couldn't escape, it coiled around the giant puppet and violently contracted, trying to kill it by constriction.

Although the giant puppet was made from condensed mountain rocks, its body had the softness of the red soil. With Blood River Python's constricting force, its waist quickly shrunk by a fold.

Cracking sounds emerged, and fragments of rocks flew in all directions.

Under the stimulation of death, Blood River Python burst forth with an even greater strength.

Fang Yuan finally climbed to the edge of the tunnel entrance, when suddenly the giant puppet gave out coughing sounds.

Tie Xue Leng's old illness had reappeared!

The giant puppet's hands loosened, and the Blood River Python hissed and its body suddenly jumped ahead.

However, the giant puppet's hands tightened again. The Blood River Python opened its mouth wide and revealed its sharp fangs, its head crazily swaying but it still fell short by a distance.

It was not able to retaliate and it was gradually losing its strength; it would burn to death soon.

But right at this moment, dense bloody fog rose up from the middle of the blood lake.

"Blood Frenzy Gu!" Fang Yuan's eyes showed a hint of dread; he immediately climbed the tunnel entrance and went inside it.

The bloody fog rapidly pervaded the air, and the raging inferno on the bloodlake had completely extinguished.

A whirlpool appeared in the middle of the blood lake.

The whirlpool had started from the middle of the lake and quickly spread from there, growing bigger until its edges were touching the surrounding walls.

"Humph, Gu Yue first head, you couldn't endure it anymore?...." The giant puppet coldly snorted.

A giant blood wave reaching as high as ten meters gushed out of the middle of the whirlpool.

And from within the blood wave, a vertical crimson coffin gradually rose up.

" Hehehehe ...." A hoarse and strange voice was transmitted from inside the coffin, and anyone that heard this voice would feel cold to the bone.

"Young junior, thou dare spoil my plan, thou court death and I shall give it to thee!" Before the voice had died away, the coffin lid shot out like a catapult, revealing a shrivelled corpse.

He had a scarlet face and fangs, his hair red like blood, his eyes deep and contained a fire that seemed about to extinguish.

He had no skin, and thin strips of red muscles were clinging onto the white bones, giving him a shrivelled and fierce look.

"Junior, thou art wounded but yet dare to provoke me. Today, thou shalt die!!" The corpse spoke, but there was no movement in its mouth, the voice had come from its abdomen.

He kept on saying ' I ', ' thou '— these were the speech habits of thousand years ago.

"Rank five Blood Wight Gu! Is he really the first head?" Fang Yuan was flabbergasted, but wasn't surprised.

In this magical world, there were plenty of Gu Masters who lived for centuries. Besides using the most orthodox way of increasing lifespan through the Lifespan Gu, there were also some demonic ways to make one live forever.

For instance, the Rank two Roaming Zombie Gu.

If this Gu was used for too long, the Gu Master would turn completely into a zombie and as long as they sucked blood at specific times, they could live freely forever.

The Gu Yue first head in front of him had used such a way.

Blood Wight Gu was a major Rank five advancement route of the Roaming Zombie Gu. Along with the Asura zombie, heavenly demon zombie, nightmare zombie and plague zombie, they were called five great flying zombies.

The Lifespan Gu was difficult to find. The first head had turned himself into a blood wight flying zombie and buried himself here!

-x-X-x-

In the blood lake, two strong foes opposed each other.

"Even the Rank five Blood Wight is only a zombie at the end. First gen Gu Yue, you are no longer a living person, you are full of death essence. Your aperture is dead too, and even though you can store primeval essence, every bit you use cannot be replenished, you cannot recover on your own," the giant puppet said coldly.

"Hehehe... although I cannot recover primeval essence, so what? I can continue to use primeval stones to regain primeval essence. You have an injury on you, yet you dare disturb me... die!" First gen Gu Yue shouted.

At once, blood mist spewed out, and as blood waves raged on, a large group of insects flew out from the blood lake.

It was the Rank five Blood Guillotine!

At the same time, troops of bladewing blood bats flew out from the cave ceiling and emerged from the blood lake, joining together and attacking towards the giant puppet.

A large pack of bats, almost a thousand of them, formed into a huge army.

Although they were Rank three and were a close-combat type Gu, but numbers made up for quality, even the Rank five Tie Xue Leng felt a headache fighting against them.

But that was not the end, for after First gen Gu Yue's consciousness awakened, under his command, troops of blood bats continued to show up, gathering here.

He had operated there for almost a thousand years, and had a heaven shattering scheme. He had converted the place into his personal backyard, thus having a great location advantage.

Blood bat groups were organised, staying in formation in the air, continuing to move around like a strong army, surrounding the giant puppet.

The blood river python stopped struggling, instead coiling up its body. This caused Tie Xue Leng to feel a threat, and he concentrated his mind even further.

A Gu's power although strong, was unintelligent. A blood bat army with or without a Gu Master's control, had a hell of a difference.

"First gen Gu Yue only just appeared, and yet he has turned the tables, almost suppressing Tie Xue Leng. He has great location advantage, having his troops at his disposal, while Tie Xue Leng has an injury on him, the situation is not looking good."

Fang Yuan had hid into a cave in the walls, using the shadows to hide and observe the battle.

"But Tie Xue Leng has roamed the Southern Borders for many years. With an injury on him but still entering this trap, he has to have some trump card. No matter what, there's going to be an intense battle soon, this entire district might even collapse. Should I stay here and observe? Staying here is very dangerous, this is the deepest part of the underground cave, I might get buried alive. If I stay and watch the show, what are the chances of me benefiting from their conflict?"

Fang Yuan thought quickly, evaluating the gains and losses.

He was only Rank three initial stage now, and there was a high risk in staying. As long as he got hit indirectly by one of their attacks, he would get heavily injured.

But if he really gained something from this, surviving to the end, the benefits would be overwhelming. After all, what a Rank five Gu Master owns could help him save up to a hundred years of hard work!

"High risk high return..." Fang Yuan heaved a long sigh, and planned to retreat.

The situation was no longer under his control; there was too much risk in staying.

Birds die for food, people die for fortune, these situations, he had seen much of them in his previous five hundred years of living.

He was vigilant in nature. As long as he lived, there would always be more opportunities in the future. After all, he knew countless secrets and many unexposed inheritance grounds; they were all profitable and useful to him, he did not have to risk his life here.

Just when Fang Yuan was about to leave, a small amount of blood bats flew out from the army and towards him.

This blood bat group had around a hundred, causing Fang Yuan to quickly retreat.

"My clan junior, don't worry. There are traps set up in that cave, and even underground beasts reside there. These blood bats can ensure your safety," the first gen Gu Yue's voice resounded.

When Fang Yuan heard this, he ran even faster.First gen Gu Yue was slightly shocked, not expecting Fang Yuan to be so observant at such a young age, able to sense his evil intents. Immediately, he pushed his will and another group of hundreds of blood bats chased after Fang Yuan.

His distraction caused Tie Xue Leng to discover a weakness that wasn't really a flaw.

Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu!

Howl!The giant puppet opened its mouth, giving off a howl that shook the nine heavens. At once, the overwhelming soundwaves rushed towards all directions like the sound of thunder.

The bladewing blood bat Gu closeby were instantly murdered by this power, falling down one by one.

Blood bat groups further away were in disarray from the attack, flying randomly in the air.

The concentrated bat army earlier had in a split second, gone into chaos and could not have any utility in the next short period.

Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu was as high as Rank five, and it was an area-of-effect type that specialized in dealing with blood bat groups. When Tie Xue Leng first used it, the power was not strong, but that was due to him keeping it down forcefully. Now that he used the body of the giant puppet, he could display the true power of the Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu.

Even numerous Blood Guillotine all over the sky were killed. As the blood mist dispersed, clear vision returned.

The soundwaves bounced off the walls as the entire space within the mountain started trembling.

With the giant puppet as the focal point, the blood lake's water level was forced downwards, forming a bowl shape in the lake, and the blood water oozed out through the cave opening.

But before that, there were sound waves spreading.

Fang Yuan was caught in the crossfire, his white armor shimmering, almost breaking apart. To endure this soundwave attack, his aperture's primeval essence was used up by about 10%.

The soundwaves echoed in the narrow cave, and Fang Yuan's ears could not endure the buzzing and he almost tripped on the ground.

But this soundwave was at least helpful to him.

For the two groups of blood bats chasing him, the second was already decimated, and the first were in chaos from the attack, flying all over the place in the cave and not being able to chase Fang Yuan.

It was a rare chance, so Fang Yuan quickly sprinted, pulling some distance from the blood bats.

This group of bats were the furthest from the soundwaves, thus recovering quickly. They flapped their wings, continuing their assault.

There were about a hundred blood bats, all Rank three. Fang Yuan could not fight against them and could only run away.

Earlier, the cave was dark and he did not know the directions. But now, his eyes had adapted to the dark environment, and he could see a bit of the area.

This was all thanks to the red soil emitting light.

Although his thunderwings were already unreliable, it could at least help a little, thus Fang Yuan activated it with all his strength.

But even so, the two had a great difference in speed, and the distance was slowly shortened.

"The distance is almost there, it's time to use the Spring Autumn Cicada!" Fang Yuan gritted his teeth. As the blood bat group continued to get closer, he could only use this method!

Bladewing blood bat Gu was only Rank three, so the Rank six Gu aura completely dominated them. But Tie Xue Leng and First gen Gu Yue were nearby.

Once the Spring Autumn Cicada appears, it would cause a great mirage and the commotion would attract their attention.

But Fang Yuan had no choice. With the situation before him, he could only hope that they were concentrated in fighting, and could not split their attention towards him.

Screech screech...

The blood bat group continued to get closer, almost less than a hundred steps away.

Fang Yuan breathed out in anticipation, thinking in his heart, "Spring Autumn Cicada, come out!"

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Fang Yuan was stunned, standing on the spot; the Spring Autumn Cicada was in the center of his aperture, unmoving while emitting a brilliant yellow green light.

"How can this be?!" Fang Yuan was shocked.

...

Far away, the sky glowed amidst the mist.

It was dawn.

On the slope, Gu Yue Bo, Bai clan and Xiong clan leader stood side by side.

"Even though the real competition is tomorrow, we have to have a preliminary competition. The time is just right, shall we start?" Xiong clan leader smiled as he said.

Bai clan leader snorted, ignoring him.

"Then let's start." Gu Yue Bo answered while distracted. He moved his gaze to the Gu Masters gathered there, trying to search but could not find Fang Yuan among them.

His worry intensified.

These Gu Masters were all under thirty years old, and while standing together, they distinctly split into three groups.

Taking one glance, the three clan's strength was apparent. @@novelbin@@

Xiong clan had the most Gu Masters since they retreated at the start, and kept most of their battle strength. Gu Yue clan and Bai clan had less members, but Bai clan had Bai Ning Bing. He alone was enough to promote the Bai clan's overall strength to the top of the three clans.

Xiong clan leader shouted, "This competition will be held around the surrounding hundred li, all the way until night time, ending when the sun sets. Battles will not have life-and-death restrictions, but I hope you can control yourselves. You have a token in your hands, and the ones who collect thirty of them gets the qualification to enter the three-clans competition! Ready, and start!"

Life and death battles, only those who qualify can enter. There is no participation limit, and the surrounding hundred li is the stage. Even entering midway is permitted.

This is not a fair competition. But the three clan leaders did not have any opinions or grudges towards it.

In this world, survival is based on one's own strength, one's fist. The stronger you are, the more rights you have to gain more benefits. If you are weak, then you should begrudge your luck and lay low, accumulating strength and becoming strong.

...

In a few breath's time, Fang Yuan felt like two or three years had passed.

His forehead was full of cold sweat; the Spring Autumn Cicada was unable to come out, how could this happen?

Spring Autumn Cicada is his vital Gu, it was very important to him. A Rank six Gu, his final trump card, to think it could not be controlled! This was too severe, and Fang Yuan had to place all his attention on this problem.

In the dark cave, he squinted.

He only panicked for less than a second, before calming himself down.

His mind moved like lightning, his spirit entering his aperture; there was nothing wrong with the Spring Autumn Cicada, it was still recovering quickly.

But no matter how Fang Yuan willed it, it remained stagnant at the center, not moving even a single step.

"I get it!" Fang Yuan was enlightened, "This Spring Autumn Cicada, once it becomes a vital Gu, it stays in the aperture and can no longer be moved."

Gu was the essence of living beings, it had endless possibilities, and all sorts of forms and abilities.

For Gu worms — nurture, use, and refine, all three were deep and profound and often were there special cases in these aspects.

On 'nurturing', Gu worms only ate specific food. On 'refine', they had all sorts of requirements.

On 'use', the Bamboo Gentleman could only be used by a Gu Master that has never lied. And to use the Righteous Gu, it needed the Gu Master to have a heart of justice.

Or the Photo-audio Gu, dying after one use, while the visuals could stay on the rock walls for a period of time.

Once the Spring Autumn Cicada is refined, it stays in the aperture and can no longer be moved. This specialty, reminded Fang Yuan of another Gu — The Water Curtain Skyflower.

-x-X-x-

The Water Curtain Skyflower Gu was a Rank four Gu. Once used, it would turn into a giant spherical water shield. The defensive strength of the shield was extremely good and it could even resist attacks from Rank five Gu. However, it had a big weakness; it couldn't be moved and couldn't be stopped. The water shield isolated the inside and outside world, so even the owner couldn't freely enter or exit. Thus, this was used by many forces to protect their territories.

Fang Yuan was not familiar with Spring Autumn Cicada.

In his previous life, he died by the besiegement of the righteous path after just having succeeded in refining the Spring Autumn Cicada; he simply didn't have the time to experiment with it. Also, Spring Autumn Cicada wasn't his vital Gu at the time and this characteristic hadn't revealed itself.

In this life, his cultivation was still low, so he didn't dare to randomly let out the Spring Autumn Cicada.

Spring Autumn Cicada was classified as one of the most unusual Gu and was extremely mysterious. The records of the insights and experiences of its users had never been spread.

Furthermore, once a Gu reaches Rank six and above, they become the only one of their type in the whole world. If someone wanted to refine them, they would only have a probability of success after the previous Gu died, otherwise it was a hundred percent failure.

Thus, this led to Fang Yuan knowing about this characteristic only now.

"Rebirth isn't an easy thing, the Spring and Autumn conceals disaster. Spring Autumn Cicada's recovery speed is increasing more and more, and even the cultivation speed of an A grade aptitude with a sea of resources might not be able to match its speed. Their aperture will sooner or later explode under the pressure of Spring Autumn Cicada!"

Fang Yuan clenched his teeth.

Rebirth was beautiful but possessing Spring Autumn Cicada was equivalent to having half a ten extreme aptitude. It was like being under the execution post where you could be executed at any moment!

"If I can't let Spring Autumn Cicada out, then does that mean I can only use it to rebirth again?" Fang Yuan's frowns deepened.

This appeared to be the only way. A rebirth would mean Spring Autumn Cicada would enter a weak state again, and at the same time, Fang Yuan could escape from this dangerous situation.

This situation seemed to be perfect, but it contained many problems and huge dangers.

First of all, there was no guarantee of the rebirth being successful.

Fang Yuan had gone through rebirth once and he was only able to bring back his valuable experience.

He came to an understanding by integrating the Earth's concept: The world is a three-dimensional space and time is an axis connecting the past and present. Without time, space would be stationary. The movements of every matter was a process, signifying the consumption of time.

There were no parallel dimensions in a world. Using the Spring Autumn Cicada to be reborn was to step across from the latter half of the time axis (future) to some point in the first half (past).

However, Fang Yuan's aged body in the 'future' didn't exist in the 'past'.

Due to the restrictions from the great dao of the world, his body couldn't be brought over to the past, and could only self-detonate. The energy from the self-detonation was a propulsion force and the fragment of the laws of time in Spring Autumn Cicada was like a lone boat which carried Fang Yuan's consciousness from 'future' to be reborn into the 'past'.

Consciousness wasn't a physical matter like a body. Strictly speaking, this 'future' consciousness too, didn't exist in the 'past'.

The ingenuity was contained therein!

'Future' consciousness led to the Gu Master changing himself, and thereby influencing his surroundings. This influence would gradually extend to the whole world; this was the butterfly effect.

When the butterfly effect took place, the world would no longer be the same, causing the existence of the 'future' consciousness to receive the approval of the great dao of the world.

Someone had said that history was like a long river, and a change in an event in the upstream would completely change the downstream.

This mystical world of Gu was like the water in the long river. Almost everyone could only flow along with the stream and go from upstream to downstream. Fang Yuan's consciousness, however, went against the stream, going from downstream to upstream by relying on Spring Autumn Cicada.

When he made changes in the upstream, there would also be changes in the downstream. But the river was still the same river; the world of Gu Masters was still the world of Gu Masters. It was just that history had turned into another corner, bringing another possibility to the equation.

This analogy could be easily understood.

However, Spring Autumn Cicada hadn't recovered completely. It was like a leaky, worn-out boat right now.

Fang Yuan's cultivation was also only Rank three initial stage. There would be an unimaginable difference between the propulsion force of his self-detonation now from the self-detonation of his Rank six cultivation in his previous life. With such a minute force, he simply wouldn't be able to push the Spring Autumn Cicada, let alone flow against the long river of time.

"I probably won't succeed by trying to rebirth through self-detonation. Who is to say that the broken boat won't be stranded in the long river? And if that happens, my consciousness and memories will be ruthlessly washed away by time. To raise the probability of success, it would be best to wait until the aperture is pushed to the limits, stall for time as much as possible and let Spring Autumn Cicada recover more, decreasing the holes in the worn-out boat. At the same time, increasing my cultivation will provide higher propulsive force to go against the stream, after self-detonation." Fang Yuan heaved a long sigh.

This change in the Spring Autumn Cicada was beyond his anticipation. But with his ever cautious nature, he had a plan ready.

The blood bat group was nearing. Fang Yuan, however, had his attention in his aperture.

Yellow-green rays of light flooded his aperture. His white silver primeval sea was as still as a mirror under the majestic aura of Spring Autumn Cicada, but there were dangerous cracks in the light membrane of his aperture. @@novelbin@@

All the other Gu had been suppressed down to the depths of the sea by Spring Autumn Cicada's aura.

Fang Yuan sent his will and a Gu slowly flew towards the surface of the sea, resisting the pressure.

This Gu appeared like a square dice; it was gray and very firm.

This was one of the Gu that Fang Yuan had plundered from Bai Ning Bing.

It was a one-time use Gu, and would disappear once used. But its effects were extraordinary, and once used it would completely extract all the strength and potential in a Gu Master's aperture and instantly raise a Gu Master's cultivation to the peak stage of the same rank.

"Stone Aperture Gu, explode."

Fang Yuan willed it; the Stone Aperture Gu immediately exploded, changing into grey powders just like the smoke from a cigarette, and pervaded the primeval sea.

The aperture's walls were originally a light membrane, but once this grey powder touched it, the light immediately dimmed down. The powder stuck to the light membrane and the light membrane gradually thickened, experiencing a qualitative change from light to stony.

After several seconds, Fang Yuan's aperture walls had thickened by several times and changed into a heavy, sturdy stone aperture.

The yellow-green radiance of Spring Autumn Cicada still fluctuated continuously, but the aperture could now support its pressure.

Fang Yuan was at Rank three initial stage with light silver primeval essence, and his primeval sea shone with light silver light. But right now, his cultivation experienced a sudden rise, leaping from Rank three initial stage to Rank three peak stage, possessing snow silver primeval essence!

"Using the Stone Aperture Gu means cutting off one's advancement route and using up all the potential within the aperture; it will be very difficult to step to Rank four. But, my cultivation has increased and the aperture has turned into stone walls, which is multiple times thicker and firmer than before, and will be able to support the pressure from Spring Autumn Cicada for the time being! Using the Stone Aperture Gu should have been Bai Ning Bing's response to the limits of Northern Dark Ice Soul Physique. Unfortunately, the Ten Extreme Aptitudes are much more troublesome than the Spring Autumn Cicada. Their potential is endless and even by turning one's aperture into stone, the aperture walls will quickly recover."

At this second, the bladewing blood bat group pounced in for the kill.

Fang Yuan gave a cold snort, then took out his Chainsaw Golden Centipede and killed as he retreated.

Fortunately, this tunnel was narrow, and with the Sky Canopy Gu's defense and the Chainsaw Golden Centipede's wide body, Fang Yuan was able to block the blood bat group and stop them from surrounding him.

This greatly reduced their threat.

For a moment, there were only continuous ringing sounds within the tunnel.

The sounds of Chainsaw Golden Centipede's attacks and the sound of bladewing blood bats smashing into the white armor, quickly echoed through the tunnel walls and formed into a medley.

The primeval essence in Fang Yuan's aperture continued to deplete rapidly.

There were close to a hundred blood bats, but without a Gu Master there to control them, there were a lot of internal frictions between the bats and they couldn't form a tacit cooperation. Thus, in reality, Fang Yuan only needed to deal with 30-40 blood bats at the same time.

But even this number wasn't something he could withstand, and he had to retreat while fighting back.

What was even more awkward was that even though he had leaped to Rank three peak stage, his aperture still contained the initial stage light silver primeval essence. Just by relying on his C grade aptitude, the self-production speed of snow silver primeval essence was way too slow. The current situation also didn't allow Fang Yuan to multitask and take out primeval stones to absorb natural primeval essence.

Consuming primeval stones could quickly recover primeval essence, but this method wasn't suitable in a real battle.

Distracting oneself in a life and death battle was asking for humiliation; it was an extremely stupid move and was akin to courting death. At the same time, the efficiency in absorbing natural primeval essence at such a situation was also very low.

This way could only be used during normal cultivation, or to exploit short gaps in battles to quickly recover primeval essence.

Luckily, Fang Yuan obtained a grass gu not long ago: Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus.

Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus could produce primeval stones; it was very precious and rare. But in fact, this effect was only an expression of its innate ability.

Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus was also called 'portable spirit spring' and its innate ability was to produce natural primeval essence. The primeval essence would then condense together to form primeval stones.

The Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus that Fang Yuan possessed was lying deep in his primeval sea; it appeared like an extremely small spirit spring.

Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus's recipe was created by Immortal Venerable Genesis Lotus.

Only the Gu Masters who have reached Rank nine were respected as venerables. For righteous path, they were called Immortal Venerables; and for demonic path, they were called Demonic Venerables.

Immortal Venerable Genesis Lotus was also known as the the person with the fastest primeval essence recovery speed since the ancient times. In this aspect, he was above other immortal venerables and demonic venerables, and it was all because of the Essence Lotus!

Fang Yuan's Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus was only a Rank three and he had just refined it, so it was at its poorest level. But it was already providing a continuous supply of natural primeval essence to Fang Yuan.

The moment this natural primeval essence appeared in Fang Yuan's aperture, it would be automatically refined and turned into snow silver primeval essence.

Supposedly if Fang Yuan absorbed primeval essence from primeval stones, he would still have to divide a part of his mind. But this Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus was his Gu, so using it was as simple and easy as moving his fingers!

Fang Yuan retreated while fighting, and with the assistance of Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus, his primeval essence recovery speed could already be comparable with B grade aptitude Gu Masters.

"Kill!"

He gave a fierce shout before abruptly changing his battle style and charging into the blood bat group.

Chainsaw Golden Centipede exploded forth, and its silver sawtooth crazily rotated around, producing screeching sounds as it cut down on a bladewing blood bat hiding in the rear.

This blood bat appeared rather similar to other blood bats, albeit looking a bit more dominant. This was the sole male bat in this blood bat group, and was refined by the first gen Gu Yue. By controlling it, one could indirectly gain control of the whole blood bat group.

Fang Yuan had been secretly planning this attack after careful observation, and made this attack appear unintentional. With the Gu Yue first head not present on the scene, this attack was very effective.

The male bat died on the spot, twisting into a bloody pulp.

The remaining female bats immediately scattered!