Chapter 136

As the fight against Xiong Li’s group wears on, Bai Ning Bing still refuses to commit fully, not to prove a point but because he has seen Fang Yuan’s Stealth Scales Gu firsthand and keeps part of his attention on guard against a sneak attack that never comes, reasoning to himself that Fang Yuan is only biding his time. Watching from under a tree, Fang Yuan judges the same standoff from his own side: the longer he waits without striking, the more of Bai Ning Bing’s suppressed primeval essence the ongoing battle drains, until an empty aperture would let a single moonblade finish him regardless of his physique. ^{ch. 136}

Feeling the strain, Bai Ning Bing steps back and coughs up a small icy blue bird that the group identifies as a rank three Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu; it locks onto the group’s support Gu Master, Xiong Xin, and explodes on contact, sealing him inside a block of ice with no sign of life left. Using a rank three worm rapidly drains his suppressed rank two aperture without showing its true power, so rather than press the opening, Bai Ning Bing turns to flee the battlefield while Xiong Li’s remaining group, now down a member and unable to keep its encirclement closed, curses but cannot catch him. ^{ch. 136}

Fang Yuan springs from the bushes with a moonblade that Bai Ning Bing deflects, but the blow that follows catches him in the abdomen and throws him back three steps, letting Xiong Li’s group close in around him again. Fang Yuan reveals himself, claiming he has already alerted the clan and that reinforcements are coming, which steadies Xiong Li and reignites Xiong Lin and Xiong Jiang’s fighting spirit, while Bai Ning Bing, hearing his name for the first time, laughs that he wants to kill him even more now. ^{ch. 136}

Told by Xiong Li to hold back and simply cut off Bai Ning Bing’s escape, Fang Yuan instead keeps attacking, and his precise strikes prove decisive enough that the group, already down two members before he joined, pushes Bai Ning Bing into a corner. When Xiong Li throws a heavy punch, Fang Yuan blocks Bai Ning Bing’s only escape route with a moonblade, forcing him to summon his Water Shield Gu and take the hit head on; the barrier breaks but disperses enough force to save him, leaving even Xiong Li impressed by how well Fang Yuan reads the fight. ^{ch. 136}

Fang Yuan works out that the Water Shield Gu, whose defense surpasses even the White Jade Gu, needs open space to form its ball and disperse force, and would fail if Bai Ning Bing were ever pinned against something solid. Before he can act on it, Bai Ning Bing coughs up a second ice bird, which Fang Yuan shoots down with a moonblade before it can lock on, close enough that the explosion freezes half of Bai Ning Bing’s left limb; seizing the opening, Xiong Li leaps in with a punch aimed squarely at his head, one the chapter leaves in the air, saying only that a solid hit there would kill him instantly. ^{ch. 136}