Asura Ouyang, Losses to both sides
Bian Si Xuan opens the fight with Ouyang Bi Sang at once. By reputation, Shadow Sword Expert far outshines him; by cultivation, Ouyang Bi Sang, a rank four peak stage Gu Master who has crossed a whole realm to kill a rank five expert, outranks her rank four upper stage. Shadow Sword Expert’s Gu worms complement each other well and carry no shortcomings, and she places high importance on her movement ability. ch. 526
Turning to living shadow, she circles him constantly, cutting in with sword shadows from every angle. He stands rock still and simply defends. Growing impatient, he transforms: his teeth lengthen into blades, two pairs of fangs push out, green hair sprouts over his whole body, his blood slows, and his frame thins further. The aura of danger coming from him grows thicker by ten times as his eyes turn a cold jade green. It is rank five asura zombie Gu, one of the classic zombie line that climbs from rank two roaming zombie Gu through rank three hairy zombie Gu and rank four hopping zombie Gu to rank five flying zombie Gu. ch. 526
The zombie Gu line spreads widely across the five regions. Five great flying zombie Gu are known across the world: asura zombie, heavenly demon zombie, blood wight, nightmare zombie and plague zombie. Gu Masters low on lifespan and without a lifespan Gu of their own often choose this path, becoming a thing neither human nor ghost. Fang Yuan has already met one of its peers: at Qing Mao mountain, Gu Yue’s first generation ancestor once turned into a blood wight to cheat his fate, only for Divine Investigator Tie Xue Leng and others to thwart the plan. ch. 526
Sparks fly where her blades meet his skin, but nothing cuts him beyond a few strands of hair, so she folds every sword shadow into one condensed blade with her overlapping shadow Gu. He grins and grabs it barehanded like snatching a rabbit, and it is her turn to be shocked when the blade stops dead in his grip. He bursts it apart with a clench of his claw, but the shattering fragments tear back into him, cutting off four fingers and nearly the whole right fist. The overlapping shadow Gu is one Bian Si Xuan bitterly earned through several small battles’ worth of merit; fused, its sword shadows strike as hard as a rank five attack Gu. Ouyang Bi Sang feels none of it. The asura zombie form has all but killed his pain, and his deep, bone showing wounds close within seconds, new hair growing over them as his severed fingers regrow as if it cost him nothing. ch. 526
The grab had looked hot-headed, but it was in fact a calculated psychological tactic. His defense and recovery have risen several times over from the transformation, so her strongest attack cannot touch him, and it breaks her will more than any wound could. Battle strength is never only primeval essence; it is nerve as well. Taunting her that open combat was never his style as an assassin, he needles her further, and her attacks visibly thin out over the next several exchanges as she dodges more than she strikes. After ten more moves, she pulls away and retreats toward Hei tribe’s camp; Bian Si Xuan has lost. ch. 526
Liu tribe’s morale climbs while Hei tribe’s falls. Onlookers note Ouyang Bi Sang has already killed a rank five expert with his true killer move, Asura Transformation, and beaten Shadow Sword Expert using only the lesser asura zombie Gu. Her constant harrying has burned through a fair share of his primeval essence, reason enough to send another challenger. Hei tribe answers with Pan Ping, who cannot hold and soon draws his scimitar for sole blade Gu, a strike that can ignore defense but only at a certain probability and needs eight hours’ rest between uses. It fails to get through, but despite having read relevant intel on the move, its speed still catches Ouyang Bi Sang badly off guard. ch. 526
Killing intent rising, Ouyang Bi Sang pursues the retreating Pan Ping. Hei tribe throws three rank four experts into Ouyang Bi Sang’s path to buy time for the rescue. As they surround and batter him, Mo Shi Kuang can no longer stay in camp and charges out to help his sworn brother. Ouyang Bi Sang, already pressing Hei tribe hard alone, waves him off and unleashes his true killer move, Asura Transformation, under the three experts’ assault. He grows into a dark green giant over ten feet tall, his muscles swelling into rock, two new pairs of arms sprouting beside the old, and a third vertical eye opening on his forehead. His fangs turn dark brown as his boots tear apart under his own feet, his landing punching a deep crater into the grassland. ch. 526
His roar shakes the whole battlefield. The three Hei tribe Gu Masters feel their momentum slow. One swat sends a rank four expert flying; the other two strike him with golden blades fast as thunder and cannot move his enormous body at all. Fighting with all six hands at once, punching, grabbing, holding, none of them getting in each other’s way, he presses the attack. ch. 526
The two rank four cannot take it head on and start retreating. He smashes one Gu Master into paste. He crushes the other to death in his bare hands, blood bursting from the man’s seven facial openings as his ribs give way. Cunning Gentleman Sun Shi Han cries out at the sight; Hei Lou Lan’s face turns ugly, and even Tai Bai Yun Sheng looks grave. ch. 526
Liu tribe cheers as Hei tribe’s ranks fall into disorder, and Liu Wen Wu orders the full charge, sending his army forward like a breached flood with Mo Shi Kuang and Pei Yan Fei in the lead. Hei Lou Lan grits his teeth and orders his own army to meet it. Among the great experts, Liu tribe’s champions dominate and put Hei Lou Lan’s side on the back foot from the start. Among the rank and file, Fang Yuan’s wolf group wins: Liu tribe’s Gu Masters are forced to burn precious primeval essence just fending off wolves that cost them dearly even in dying. Liu tribe’s experts hunt for Fang Yuan himself, but he hides as always, and his three rank four lurking soul coat Gu keep his soul fluctuations hidden as long as he stays under eighty percent of his own strength. The battle runs from morning to a blood red sunset over a field of corpses, and ends with no winner. ch. 526
Wolves have already cost Liu tribe dearly. Once its experts give up finding Fang Yuan, they turn on Hei tribe’s own Gu Masters instead. Mo Shi Kuang and Ouyang Bi Sang wear Hei tribe’s Gu Masters down until almost no one on that side is willing to face them. Hei tribe’s fighting spirit is nearly spent by the time night falls and the wolves grow fiercer in the dark; unwilling to bleed his lower ranked Gu Masters further, Liu Wen Wu also starts thinking of pulling back. As killing intent cools with the night, both armies withdraw behind their own defense lines to rest. ch. 526
