Wei Yang stood on the opposite side of the arena and simply said, "I would request that you go easy on me, Senior Sister." This, however, had the opposite effect, as Bai Ning Bing snorted and glared at him like a bull ready to charge. It caught him off guard. His words were not insulting in any way. Why did she react like this?
"Don't call me senior sister!"
"Oh well, in that case, Lady Ling Ding Ch-"
"Not that either! You can go ahead and call me 'sir'."
Wei Yang's words caught in his throat. This was an unexpected development, however, he simply nodded, and then two large beams of light erupted from both of his hands.
"His Light Broadswords!" Little Zhao yelled out. This appeared to be a signature gu worm.
Bai Ning Bing charged forward, sending out a number of bone spears. Wei Yang had not seen such a gu worm before and wanted to test out what it could do, letting them strike him. A defensive barrier of light appeared on his body, which faltered slightly, but resisted the bone spears completely.
"This is good," Wei Yang said. Bai Ning Bing had not gone all-out immediately at the start, however, next she let out a flurry of Rank 4 Gu.
Rank 4 Icicle Crash Gu!
Bai Ning Bing had already transformed most of her muscles into ice, and this gu allowed her to burst forward, nearly as fast as an avalanche and extraordinarily deadly in terms of momentum, turning her body into a weapon itself. However, the next moment, Wei Yang was not standing where Bai Ning Bing had rushed towards, and was instead in another part of the arena.
Bai Ning Bing stopped right before her face could crash into one of the walls. Either the Icicle Crash Gu was hard to control once it had been activated, or Bai Ning Bing had not used it more than a few times and was not used to maneuvering it.
A number of bone spears then flew out at Wei Yang, which he countered by batting them aside using his light broadswords. Bai Ning Bing then went for a ranged attack that she was more familiar with, sending out icicles as long and thick as daggers at him. Once again, he disappeared in a flash of bright light.
"If I'm not mistaken, that is Rainbow Light Gu," Fang Yuan said towards Little Xiao.
"Right you are," Little Xiao said. "It allows the Gu Master to travel at the speed of light. Its main drawback, though, is that once activated, if you can't think fast enough, you'll end up crashing into a wall. You need to use an assistance-type gu worm to think fast in order to use it properly. Senior's insight is truly profound to have recognized it so quickly."
Fang Yuan had another gu worm in the series, Rainbow Cannon Gu, or he did at some point. Currently, that was with Fang Zhang, so naturally he was able to recognize something that was a lower branch of it.
Bai Ning Bing continued moving across the arena. Her attacks were fierce, however, no matter what she did, she could not land a blow upon Wei Yang. Whether she tried close combat, ranged combat, mid-size combat, or area of effect strikes using her Ice Gu worm, none of them seemed to be able to touch Wei Yang. Resorting to simply using martial arts did not work either.
'This lady is very reckless,' Wei Yang thought to himself. Bai Ning Bing was not coming at him with the intent of a casual fighter. No, she was attacking him as if she really intended to finish him! 'Far too scary.'
Bai Ning Bing did not let up during her attacks at all, continuing to strike him with extreme ferociousness. However, her blows still could not land upon him. Simultaneously, though, Wei Yang could not do much to Bai Ning Bing. Her defenses were too strong, and his strikes would simply bounce off of her.
"It looks like Senior Wei Yang is truly amazing," Little Xiao said, "to think that he's holding his own against a Rank 4 Gu Master."
Fang Yuan, however, had a slight smile on his face, which Little Xiao caught, "Um, is there something that I'm not seeing?"
"Of course, there is," Fang Yuan said. "There is a big gap between Rank 4 and Rank 3, particularly when it comes to primeval essence. How long can he continue using Rainbow Light Gu? Even if he has a gu worm to cut its expenditure down, it cannot compete with her reserves."
No matter how hard she tried, though, she could not land a hit upon him. At the same time, though, being a prideful genius, she could not give up, knowing that he would definitely reveal his weakness soon. Although he appeared calm, he was sweating inwardly. Her attacks were getting more ferocious and also slightly more accurate with time. He had barely avoided the last blow.
If she had had any more practice with her gu worms, or time to get a full set, he would've been done for.
"Hmm, let's see how you avoid this, then," Bai Ning Bing said, eyes flashing as she folded her arms, concentrating upon her aperture. She had meant for this to be her hidden trump card, but what was the point of that if she didn't know how to use it?
'The stance that she is taking...' Wei Yang stopped himself. "Sir Ling Ding Ching, it is clear who is superior here. Please allow me to surrender."
Bai Ning Bing was in the middle of activating her gu, but then stopped, slightly frustrated that she hadn't been able to test out this new combo of hers.
"Brother Wei you've surrendered?"
"Did you not see what she was about to do?" Fang Yuan asked.
"The combo that she was about to use," Wei Yang said, "involved the Ice Explosion Gu combined with Rank 4 Frost Arrow Gu, isn't that right, La-Sir Ling Ding Ching?"
Even if it wasn't this exact combination of Gu worms, he had guessed close enough that she nodded. The explosion would have erupted all across the arena, and in such a confined space while sending frost arrows raining down on every inch of it - he would have had no way to dodge.
"That is the terrifying power of a Rank 4 gu worm for you."
With that said, however, if the arena had been any bigger, he might have still found a way out. But it was clear that in their war of attrition, she would eventually come out on top.
"It looks like Sir Ling Ding Ching is as fierce as she is beautiful," Wei Yang said, with a gentle smile on his face, only for Bai Ning Bing to glare at him as if she wanted to tear his heart out. 'What's wrong with her? What did I say wrong?' Wei Yang thought to himself. That was a compliment, wasn't it? Shouldn't she be happy at a compliment? In his experience, women were always happy at being praised regarding their appearance, even if it was just empty flattery. But this woman was completely different!
"You fought extraordinarily well," Fang Yuan said to Wei Yang, "it's not often that a Rank 3 Gu Master can hold their own against a Rank 4 for so long."
"Yes, you are incredible, Brother Wei!" Little Xiao greatly looked up to him, and felt in his heart that if only Wei Yang had A-grade talent he too would be at Rank 4 and could've been Bai Ning Bing's match.
"Thank you," Wei Yan said, smiling towards Fang Yuan regarding this. In his eyes, Fang Yuan was far more amicable than this irritable lady - a change from how things had been yesterday when he had been more antsy and she more demure.
Fang Yuan was now behaving like a righteous path leader, while during the fight Bai Ning Bing was more like a demonic Gu Master, he thought to himself.