Chapter 279

For days, Wei Yang has failed to interest Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing in joining Shang clan, despite careful probing. He does not push directly. A flat refusal would close the door for good, so he means to draw them in slowly, by their own willingness. Wei Yang once fought his own way up from the battle stage as a demonic Gu Master, and only accepted Shang Yan Fei’s offer once he felt how weak a lone cultivator truly was. He judges Fang Yuan’s choice of the strength path a serious mistake, since none of the demonic Gu Masters who ever rose out of Shang clan’s battle stage relied on strength to do it. ^{ch. 279}

After many failed attempts at direct advice, Wei Yang tries a new approach and invites Fang Yuan to enter the battle stage himself, naming three benefits: primeval stones for every win, a captured Gu taken from each defeated opponent, and a real test of how well his Gu worms cooperate. Fang Yuan sees through the plan, that Wei Yang means the battle stage to teach him the strength path’s limits, but agrees anyway, since the battle stage is already part of his own plans. At the Fifth Inner City battle zone, Wei Yang explains the ladder: thirty net victories clear the way to the Fourth Inner City, eighty net victories there clear the way to the Third, and a net victory counts wins minus losses. Newcomers start at the Fifth Inner City regardless of skill, and Wei Yang guesses Fang Yuan could reach the middle tier quickly, with a year or two more to reach the top, where the strength path grows weak against real experts. ^{ch. 279}

Through a private reception reserved for guests with standing, Fang Yuan registers under the name Gu Yue Fang Zheng. He pays five hundred primeval stones for a rented Vine Information Gu that carries his details, a record only Shang clan itself can edit. The rules allow one challenge a day, a mandatory unrefusable bout once a month, at least one match every ten days or a lost win, and disqualification after five total losses. Assigned an opponent within minutes, Fang Yuan is sent to battle stage five, a grassland arena more than twice the size of the flagstone stage he fought on before. His opponent, Tang Qing, is newly out of seclusion at rank two middle stage and barely known to the handful of spectators watching. The bell rings. Tang Qing has only begun a formal bow when Fang Yuan bursts forward and attacks. ^{ch. 279}