Chapter 186

The giant puppet needles First gen Gu Yue that as a zombie he cannot recover primeval essence on his own. First gen Gu Yue laughs that primeval stones serve just as well, and orders his death. Blood mist parts to release a swarm of rank five Blood Guillotine insects. Troops of bladewing blood bats, nearly a thousand strong, rise from the lake and cave ceiling to mass against the puppet. First gen Gu Yue has drilled this army as a schemer who has run the lair for almost a thousand years. ^{ch. 186}

Watching from a wall crevice, Fang Yuan judges that First gen Gu Yue, only just arrived, has already turned the tables on Tie Xue Leng, nearly suppressing him. Tie Xue Leng fights injured, on unfamiliar ground, against a trained army with the location advantage on its side. What a rank five Gu Master owns could save him up to a hundred years of effort. Fang Yuan, only rank three, decides the risk of getting caught in an attack meant for someone else is too high, and turns to retreat. ^{ch. 186}

As Fang Yuan turns to leave, First gen Gu Yue sends around a hundred bats after him. He calls out that the bats are only there for the junior’s safety, a lie meant to slow him down. It makes Fang Yuan run faster instead. First gen Gu Yue is unsettled that someone so young sees through him, and sends hundreds more bats after him. His distraction opens a gap Tie Xue Leng takes. The puppet unleashes the Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu at full rank five strength. The soundwave kills bats and Blood Guillotine insects outright and shoves the whole blood lake’s water level down. Fang Yuan is caught at the edge of the blast, and his armor nearly breaks. The shock drains about a tenth of his aperture’s primeval essence. But the wave wrecks the second bat group outright and scatters the first into chaos, buying him distance. ^{ch. 186}

He runs on weakening thunderwings, his eyes now adjusted to the glow of the red soil, but the bats close to under a hundred steps. Fang Yuan decides to loose the Spring Autumn Cicada despite the risk of drawing Tie Xue Leng’s and First gen Gu Yue’s attention, and wills it to appear. It does not move. ^{ch. 186}

On the mountain slope above at dawn, Gu Yue Bo stands with the Bai and Xiong clan leaders as the preliminary competition opens. Gu Masters under thirty from the three clans split into three visibly unequal groups, Xiong clan deepest in numbers and Bai clan thin but lifted by Bai Ning Bing alone. Each must gather thirty tokens across a hundred li by nightfall, with no restriction against killing. Gu Yue Bo searches the gathered Gu Masters for Fang Yuan and cannot find him, and his worry deepens. ^{ch. 186}

Back in the cave, Fang Yuan’s panic lasts less than a second before he steadies himself and checks his aperture: the Spring Autumn Cicada is undamaged and recovering, only motionless. He works out why. Once accepted as his vital Gu, it stays fixed in the aperture and can no longer be summoned out. The restriction reminds him of the Water Curtain Skyflower. ^{ch. 186}