Suddenly withdrawing strength
Chi She reports finding the sickly snake’s group locked in battle with a wild boar king, identified by Jiao San’s red lava python, the only one of its kind in the village. Fang Yuan’s heart stirs at the news, since combining his Gu worms requires wild boar tusks and the boar king’s are the most suitable he could find, while the old Gu Master in Chi Shan’s group scoffs that the sickly snake group’s ambition in taking on such prey outstrips its strength. Despite their usual disdain for Jiao San, Chi Shan orders the group to go support them, reasoning that clan cohesion demands it of clansmen against outside threats even where personal feeling runs cold. ch. 94
Watching from a distance, the group sees the wild boar king already battered and bleeding from its fight with the red lava python, and Chi Cheng excitedly wonders aloud whether its body carries a Black Boar Gu. Gu Yue Kong Jing rushes over to wave off the help, insisting the sickly snake group can manage alone, but the blue-haired female Gu Master calls out the real fear that Jiao San’s group wants to avoid splitting the spoils. Chi Shan hands the kill to the old Gu Master, who spits out a web to entangle the wild boar king while Jiao San pulls his python back for emergency healing from the group’s healing female Gu Master, and once the web is cast, Chi Shan tells Fang Yuan to go help and leads his own group away without hesitation despite the wild boar king’s value, keeping his earlier word that the kill belongs to Jiao San’s side. ch. 94
Jiao San calls Fang Yuan forward to grab the wild boar king’s tusks and buy time while the python heals, promising not to pursue the matter of his unauthorized absence if he performs well, and Fang Yuan agrees and suppresses the beast’s struggling with his grip. Internally, Jiao San had never intended to kill Fang Yuan outright: a member’s death would both hurt his standing with the clan and risk a thorough punishment hall investigation, and it would violate the belief that blood is thicker than water and family comes first; he had only promised his uncle Gu Yue Dong Tu to slow Fang Yuan’s growth, standing to gain a fortune if he could delay it past age sixteen. Seeing the situation as his opportunity, Jiao San resolves to let the beasts injure Fang Yuan without striking a personal blow, and orders Hua Xing to plant the corrosion blood grass Gu on the wild boar king while he keeps healing the python. ch. 94
Fang Yuan then lets the strength drain from his grip on the tusks, and the wild boar king wrenches free with a furious swing that flings him aside and immediately follows with a second sweep that catches Hua Xing, breaking her body in two and killing her on the spot. ch. 94
