Chapter 367

Several months later, at Southern Border’s San Cha mountain, Century Boy hosts a huge banquet for demonic Gu Masters in his cave, greeting guests loudly from his main seat while wine and food circle the room. He is over a hundred and eighty years old but keeps a child’s body through return to childhood Gu rather than any true lifespan Gu, and his rank four upper stage cultivation and long years of guiding newcomers have won him a whole following of self-styled godsons and goddaughters, several of whom fill the cave tonight alongside guests Rock Lizard Li Qiang and Fiery Star Bao Tong. ^{ch. 367}

Talk turns first to Shang clan’s Yi Huo, who has suppressed San Cha mountain’s other rank four peak stage fighters so completely that no one there will challenge him, and to the grandmaster Feng Tian Yu, newly arrived to refine a Gu for him. Someone remarks that Tie Ba Xiu could have matched Yi Huo had he lived, and the name pulls every mind toward Fang Yuan. Word spreads that Little Beast King killed Yu Cang days earlier, the fourth strength path Gu Master he has killed this month alone, and that his fierce, brutal reputation has only grown since Tie Ba Xiu’s death. He fights across both paths but confines his violence to strength path Gu Masters, and Li Xian reports that the three kings inheritance secrets Fang Yuan has been selling are mostly accurate and have checked out; Bao Tong calls him one of the leading candidates to inherit it outright. The guests also note that Fang Zheng and Bai Ning Bing now move together as a couple whose combined attacks have left many victims. ^{ch. 367}

That name reaches Century Boy’s ears and sours his expression; Fang Yuan killed his goddaughter Sky Tiger Xue San Si, and though he swore revenge, he backed down the moment Fang Yuan killed Tie Ba Xiu. Li Qiang warns him directly, since he too is a strength path Gu Master, that this Fang Zheng is a brute, mean and devious, entirely unreasonable, cruel and tyrannical. Century Boy privately admits he never imagined Fang Yuan’s violence would reach this far, and reflects that each new generation brings sharper newcomers, that it is not easy even to be a godfather anymore. Aloud he only vows to settle the score once the three kings inheritance has closed, and tells his godchildren to put the inheritance first and steer clear of Little Beast King until then. Some pledge loyalty to Century Boy, some flatter him by calling Fang Yuan unworthy of his notice, and some predict Little Beast King’s luck will run out once Tie clan hunts him down for Tie Ba Xiu’s death. ^{ch. 367}

A voice cuts through the banquet from outside the cave: Fang Zheng, demanding Century Boy come out. The room falls silent at once. Century Boy smashes his wine cup and shouts back, and Fang Yuan answers that he came uninvited on purpose and, since Century Boy is also a strength path Gu Master, demands he come out and exchange moves. Furious but unwilling to fight to the death, Century Boy tries to shame him by naming the notable guests present, Li Qiang, Bao Tong, and the demonic path’s rising Li Xian, as though Fang Yuan is insulting them by intruding. Fang Yuan answers that his quarrel is with Century Boy alone, calls him a puny coward disgracing the strength path’s name, and tells him to come out and die. Li Qiang relaxes at once, Bao Tong is flattered that Fang Yuan even knows his name, and Li Xian watches with a dark laugh, content to let Century Boy face this alone; Century Boy’s expression sinks as he reads the room. ^{ch. 367}