Fang Yuan vs Ju Kai Bei (2)
Recovering from the shock, Ju Kai Bei snaps at Fang Yuan to come at him, and Fang Yuan charges with vertical crash Gu, boar and horse phantoms glowing above his head, boar strength adding to his force and horse strength to his speed. Ju Kai Bei answers with dragon travel tiger steps Gu and, for the first time in the match, dodges of his own accord instead of tanking the hit. Vertical crash Gu can only drive Fang Yuan in a straight line, so once he passes Ju Kai Bei he cuts the Gu and lets a black stone pillar absorb his own momentum. He immediately spins into horizontal charge Gu, brown bear and white elephant phantoms rising together, and catches Ju Kai Bei still unprepared, sending his tall frame flying. ch. 318
The switch works because Ju Kai Bei, used to habitual strength Gu and years of experience, has a blind spot for exactly this kind of flexible, revocable attack. Fang Yuan presses on, and Ju Kai Bei becomes little more than a punching bag, unable to do anything but defend. Spectators marvel that a rank three peak stage fighter is suppressing a rank four one, and credit all-out effort Gu, a Gu some call legendary, with outperforming even rank four habitual strength Gu. Fang Yuan stamps a depression into the stone floor with horse and green bull phantoms, forcing Ju Kai Bei to roll clear, then charges again with brown bear and white elephant under vertical crash Gu. This time Ju Kai Bei cannot dodge and can only raise his arms, and two dragon-elephant phantoms burst out behind him at once, dwarfing Fang Yuan’s pair and throwing him back while Ju Kai Bei is only pushed a step. ch. 318
Two beast phantoms can overpower one dragon-elephant strength. Two dragon-elephants together beat two beast phantoms. Relieved to reclaim his footing, Ju Kai Bei reflects that habitual strength Gu is a bucket he must keep drawing from, while all-out effort Gu is a stream Fang Yuan can open or shut at will, and privately wishes it were his, except Shang Yan Fei would never let him keep it even in victory. He briefly considers defying that order, then drops the thought at once: Shang Yan Fei is rank five and controls the Shang clan, and defiance would cost him any peace afterward. He refocuses, attacks again with dragon travel tiger steps Gu, and fractures Fang Yuan’s arm bones, but Fang Yuan only grins through the pain. ch. 318
All-out effort Gu bursts out three phantoms at once, brown bear, white elephant and green bull, punching a hole clean through the chest of Ju Kai Bei’s ivory armor and throwing him through several more stone pillars. The crowd is stupefied that a phantom count which had just risen from one to two has now reached three. Ju Kai Bei names the cause through gritted teeth: bitter strength Gu, a rank four Gu that turns a strength path Gu Master’s own pain and injury into greater output, up to a limit set by the Gu Master’s own foundation. With Fang Yuan’s body already holding the strength of eight beasts, each fresh wound now opens what amounts to another outlet for that reserve, so where all-out effort Gu alone let him draw one phantom at a time, his own injuries under bitter strength Gu now let him draw three. ch. 318
Yan Tu wonders aloud whether this is the very bitter strength Gu that Shang Ya Zi once bought at auction, and warns Ju Kai Bei that if so, the situation is dangerous: Shang Ya Zi was recently ousted from his young master position over false accounting involving Fang Zheng. Ju Kai Bei tastes only bitterness: both all-out effort Gu and bitter strength Gu are Gu he has hunted for years without success, and this young rival holds both. Worse, every wound Ju Kai Bei lands only makes Fang Yuan stronger, and self-reliance Gu heals him through the fight and keeps his strength at a terrifying level, so that if all eight phantoms ever burst out together, Ju Kai Bei’s three dragon-elephants would be helpless against them. All-out effort Gu, bitter strength Gu and self-reliance Gu together form the secure foundation Fang Yuan built over more than two years in Shang clan city, longer than most Gu Masters take to accumulate such a set in a lifetime. ch. 318
