One vs Seven (1/4)
Fang Yuan had been hiding his aura under breath concealment Gu, so when he finally moves, his true strength bursts out on a group that still believes him rank four initial stage. Tie Ba Xiu recovers first and strikes Fang Yuan’s fist out of the air; Tie Ba Xiu lands steadily, and Fang Yuan is sent flying back. Seemingly earnest, Tie Ba Xiu urges him to pull back before he sets himself against the whole of Tie clan and dooms Bai Ning Bing along with himself. The words, though, are in truth meant only to break his fighting spirit. Fang Yuan answers with open killing intent: if he cannot save her, he says, he will simply blame her bad luck, since he has already done his best. Such ruthless indifference chills the seven where they stand. He turns to Tie Ao Kai and tells him to stop scouting, since he came alone, and calls this hidden stretch of forest well suited for killing all seven of them. He then laughs, loud and unrestrained, and the group’s fear grows precisely because a man who does not care whether he dies cannot be reasoned with. ch. 360
Tie Ruo Nan calls the fight, and the formation opens at once: Tie Ba Xiu falls back beside her, Tie Dao Ku and Tie Xian Hua step to the front, and Tie Ao Kai circles to the side. Fang Yuan uses charging crash Gu and bulls straight into the group like a charging animal, smashing stone underfoot. Tie Xian Hua raises an umbrella lotus Gu, a huge black golden lotus that shields her whole body. A white elephant beast phantom over Fang Yuan sends her flying a full ten feet regardless, before she twists back to a landing. He ignores her and drives straight at Tie Ruo Nan instead, whose talent rivals Bai Ning Bing’s own and who has been digging into Qing Mao mountain. He had wanted her dead once already, back at Shang clan city, when the timing was wrong. ch. 360
Half kneeling, Tie Ruo Nan grows a rattan shell grass soldier army with grass puppet Gu, rank three, and has eighteen of them beside her within moments. A single rattan shell grass soldier can kill a rank one Gu Master outright, and a dozen combined by a rank four Gu Master’s strength become one rank four grass sword elite soldier. Tie Ao Kai’s golden needle mosquitoes and Tie Dao Ku’s hand blade Gu and swift shadow Gu meet Fang Yuan head on, and he does not evade either. The mosquitoes pierce him with tiny bloody holes, and Tie Dao Ku’s blows tear long wounds across his chest, yet he only laughs and presses forward, blood running down his body. The group turns grim rather than pleased at the sight: Fang Yuan carries bitter strength Gu, and the worse his wounds, the stronger he fights. Three more beast phantoms appear above him, green bull, horse, and stone turtle, and with unstoppable strength he sends Tie Xian Hua flying again, forces Tie Dao Ku back, and leaves Tie Ao Kai able only to circle uselessly. ch. 360
He is nearly on Tie Ruo Nan when Tie Ba Xiu steps into his path, and the two collide with an explosive crash that throws them both back seven to eight steps in a draw. Excited, Fang Yuan charges again, and Tie Ba Xiu blocks him again. The rest of the group, relieved to see him held, believe him trapped and join the attack together, golden needle mosquitoes, flower rain Gu, and hand blades converging from every side. Fang Yuan’s skin tears further under the barrage, and he falls back on golden shield Gu to defend and self reliance Gu to heal even as he keeps fighting. The harder he fights, the stronger he grows. Tie Ba Xiu matches him blow for blow, drawing endless strength from the earth through his rank five earth overlord Gu and feeding it into his tyrant strength Gu without end. The two of them lock at the center of the battle, trading punches and kicks that shatter stone and throw up dust while the fight settles into a stalemate. ch. 360
A howl announces a new beast phantom, a lightning wreathed thunder boar, and it sends Tie Xian Hua flying once more, shattering her umbrella lotus Gu. Tie Mu catches her as she coughs blood and begins healing her, while rattan shell grass soldiers close in around them for cover. Close to a thousand of the grass soldiers now ring Tie Ruo Nan, holding the line while she keeps creating more. An enslavement path Gu Master like her wins by attrition the longer a fight runs, and the only answer to that is killing her outright, but Fang Yuan cannot reach her while Tie Ba Xiu holds him. Watching him fight, Tie Ba Xiu feels an unwilling admiration rise even as shock at his shrewdness, ruthlessness, calm, and steadiness grows past anything the intelligence on him had prepared for. Privately, he resolves that this junior has to die before his talent becomes a calamity for the whole righteous path. ch. 360
