Chapter 141

Under Wood Charm Gu, Qing Shu’s eyes turn jade green and his presence shifts into something forest deep. Bai Ning Bing answers with Icicle Gu, sending five icicles that Qing Shu’s Green Vine Gu easily turns aside, only for a larger follow up rain of icicles, ten and then ten more, to punch through his right shoulder despite his practiced vine work. ^{ch. 141}

Qing Shu pulls the icicle free without bleeding, since his body is turning to wood, and answers with Pin Needle Gu, jade needles shot from his own hair that force Bai Ning Bing to burn time behind a thickened Water Shield Gu strong enough to stop them. Watching Qing Shu’s wound reveal tree ring flesh healing itself, Bai Ning Bing realizes Qing Shu is now using Wood Charm Gu without restraint, his ears lengthening, his hair turning to jade green leaves, his skin hardening into bark, able to draw the natural essence of the air as an almost limitless source of primeval essence that also strengthens his wood attribute Gu worms, Green Vine, Pin Needle and his vitality grass among them, though his Moonwhirl Gu is left unchanged. ^{ch. 141}

Aware that unrestrained use of Wood Charm Gu ends in a dead treeman’s body, Qing Shu suppresses that fear and commits to the fight anyway. Both Gu Masters now spend primeval essence past the tenth every Gu Master is supposed to keep in reserve, burning it as if the supply were endless while the mountain path is torn apart around them under Fang Zheng’s stunned watch. ^{ch. 141}

Bai Ning Bing catches an opening and releases Blue Bird Ice Coffin Gu; the bird swells to an eagle’s size under his physique’s boost and freezes Qing Shu inside an ice crystal as large as a room. Believing the fight over, Bai Ning Bing turns to threaten Fang Zheng, but the ice shatters as Qing Shu emerges transformed into a three meter tree spirit, bark armored and vine haired, who tells Bai Ning Bing they are both orphans raised by the same clan leader who walked different paths, and that one tree’s death changes nothing for the forest, before driving hundreds of green vines at him. ^{ch. 141}

Bai Ning Bing retreats and shields with Water Shield Gu, but Qing Shu wraps the vines around it and crushes it until it bursts, forcing Bai Ning Bing to abandon defense and spin his ice blades into a storm that shreds the vines instead. Qing Shu charges straight into the storm and grips it with both hands, taking cut after cut as leaves and bark fly from his body, and the two remain locked in a stalemate that neither of them can break. ^{ch. 141}