On Qing Mao Mountain, the night in Gu Yue Village was gentle.
Fang Yuan, as an Elder, resided in the Clan Leader Pavilion, transferring Rank Three Peak Snow Silver Primeval Essence to Fang Zheng. At this time, Fang Zheng was already at Rank Two Peak, only one step away from Rank Three.
The relationship between the Fang brothers was becoming more harmonious by the day.
Some time ago, Fang Zheng persuaded Fang Yuan to sell the inheritance left by their parents to their Uncle and Aunt. Fang Yuan had no time to manage these assets anyway, so he simply sold them all.
The evening breeze brushed past the wind chimes under the eaves of the Clan Leader Pavilion. Amidst the crisp tinkling, Fang Zheng successfully made a Breakthrough to Rank Three. He had previously borrowed the Rank Three Jade Bone Gu from Fang Yuan to refine jade bones, and now he was returning the Gu worm.
"I used the Jade Bone Gu to modify my bones and paired it with the Rank Three bone spike Gu; it couldn't be more suitable. Even the power of the bone spikes growing from my body has increased significantly."
Fang Zheng's heart was full of joy. The Rank Three Breakthrough was like a beam of light, making him feel that the road ahead was smooth.
Fang Yuan was also quite satisfied with his performance. Although Fang Zheng was simple-minded, his combat strength was impressive, and he studied exceptionally hard, making him a good prospect for his own use.
Just then, the voice of a guard came from outside the door:
"Elder, Elder Medicinal Consort has come to visit with her granddaughter, Gu Yue Yao Le."
"Oh? In that case, Fang Zheng, come with me. It's the perfect time to report the news of your Breakthrough to Rank Three to the Family."
As Fang Yuan spoke, he took back the bone flesh reunion gu, pushed open the door, and prepared to welcome Medicinal Consort.
"Yao Le?"
Hearing this name, Yuan Fang couldn't help but think of Gu Yue Yao Le's tragic ending in the original work, and his heart stirred slightly.
At the door stood a grey-haired, decrepit old woman holding the hand of a charming and cute little girl; they were exactly Gu Yue Yao Ji and Gu Yue Yao Le.
Gu Yue Yao Le had just entered the academy this year. At fifteen years old, she had a beautiful appearance.
The girl had large eyes, clear and agile, looking at Fang Yuan curiously. Her eyes were pure and innocent, as if she didn't yet know that bad Uncles or bad brothers existed in this world.
It turned out that Gu Yue Yao Ji wanted to further attach herself to the Clan Leader's lineage, so she planned to betroth her granddaughter, Gu Yue Yao Le, to Fang Yuan.
This marriage was beneficial and harmless to Fang Yuan, but he could have also intermarried with the Chi faction or Mo faction. Therefore, he was in no hurry to settle it and wanted to demand a betrothal gift first to test the waters.
Fang Yuan's behavior was clearly taking advantage while acting like the victim. However, he didn't expect that although Gu Yue Yao Ji was an old woman, she was shrewd and calculating, very good at judging the situation. Before he could speak, she took the initiative to offer the betrothal gifts.
Outside the Clan Leader Pavilion, over a dozen Mortals pushed several carts of gift boxes inside. They contained precious wines, ten thousand primeval stones, antique paintings, gold and silver jewelry, various Gu materials, and even ten Family slaves were sent along.
Fang Yuan was quite satisfied with this betrothal gift but pretended to hesitate and shook his head. Just as he was about to decline politely, Gu Yue Yao Ji seemed to have anticipated it. She raised her hand and clapped, and another cart was driven up from behind, containing another ten thousand primeval stones.
"This old woman is too shrewd..."
Fang Yuan's heart was shaken, and he finally accepted the marriage. The dowry he gave in return was only one thousand primeval stones, plus a Rank Two Big Belly Frog and a Rank One bone spear gu, and he also lent the Jade Bone Gu to Gu Yue Yao Le for one month.
The next day, Gu Yue Village had triple happiness:
Gu Yue Chi Shan broke through to Rank Three last night and was promoted to Elder alongside Ancient Moon Fangzheng this morning; immediately following that was the marriage of Fang Yuan and Yao Le.
Seeing this, Fang Yuan couldn't help but sigh at the wonder of the butterfly effect.
In the original work, Fang Yuan used to oppress his clansmen everywhere, and the kind-hearted Gu Yue Yao Le complained to Yao Ji.
Because of this, Yao Ji suppressed Fang Yuan everywhere, nearly cutting off his only source of income—the nine leaf vitality grass.
Later, when the Wolf Tide attacked the village and the situation was chaotic, Fang Yuan took the opportunity to knock Yao Le unconscious, tied her up in a cave, and used a bear control gu to control a bear, letting the bear chew the flower-like young girl into its stomach piece by piece like a Little Bear Biscuit.
Fang Yuan then refined her into a Rank Three human beast burial life beast, making a Breakthrough to Rank Three overnight.
After the "Little Bear Biscuit" incident, the words of the "Vajra Sutra" suddenly appeared in Fang Yuan's mind:
"Shed the skin, it is nothing but two hundred and six bones, blood, flesh, filth, hair, and intestines... With no desire and no fear, the great task can be accomplished."
He also recited:
"All appearances of living beings are illusory; having an appearance can also be having no appearance. No appearance of self, no appearance of others, no appearance of living beings, no appearance of longevity. A beautiful woman is but a skeleton of white bones and flesh. All appearances are not appearances; all that has appearance is illusory."
Not long after the wedding ended, Fang Yuan also broke through to Rank Three Peak within a month.
In the underground worm hole of Gu Yue Village, he also selected a Rank Three Wine Sack Rice Bag Gu—this was a Food Path Gu worm that could produce wine. Fang Yuan intended to use it specifically to raise the seven-fragrance wine worm.
Recently, Fang Yuan had also created three new Killer Moves:
The first was named "No Trace," composed of Shadow Following Gu and Hidden Scale Gu. This move allowed Fang Yuan to turn invisible, not fearing strong light, and possessed Rank Three power; Rank Two Gu Masters could not detect his existence at all.
The second was named "Blood Shift," formed by pairing blood wing gu and direct impact gu. This was a movement Killer Move that could increase speed and carry the impact of the direct impact gu when hitting someone, though its primary function was for escaping.
The third was named "Jade Blood Slash," composed of blood moon gu, love-shedding gu, and blood qi gu, improved upon the previous Jade Moon Slash Killer Move.
The blood qi gu was recently purchased by Fang Yuan, the blood moon gu was refined from moonlight gu and blood qi gu, and the love-shedding gu was taken from Wang Da. This Jade Blood Slash could produce moonblades with a bleeding effect and the toxicity of love-shedding gu.
With these Killer Moves, Fang Yuan's strength soared. Even the Bai Ning Bing from the original work would be no match for him now.
At this moment, on the other side of Qing Mao Mountain, inside the Clan Leader Pavilion of Bai Family Village.
Bai Ning Bing sat on a prayer mat, her cultivation already at Rank Three Peak. She heard the Gu Yue Village claiming that the A-grade Genius Fang Yuan was the number one person under Rank Four on Qing Mao Mountain.
She felt displeased, but Fang Yuan's existence might bring some excitement to her life, so she wanted to give Fang Yuan a surprise. She also refined several Rank Three Gu, listed as follows:
Rank Three Ice Blade Gu; once activated, a sharp ice blade would condense in the palm;
Rank Three Ice Spike Gu, which could fire ice spikes to attack enemies;
Rank Three gale gu, refined from her previous Whirlwind Gu, with the same effect as a Fierce Wind Gu.
At this time, Bai Ning Bing had mastered five Rank Three Gu worms (not including Ice Skin Gu) and had improved the Killer Move Ice Blade Storm; her strength was enough to fight a Rank Four Gu Master.
"Fang Yuan? Is that your name? I hope you can add some excitement to my life."
Bai Ning Bing looked out the window in the direction of Gu Yue Village. In her blue icy eyes, there was both expectation and the arrogance of looking down on all heroes.
The Wolf Tide was finally coming.
As the wolf packs grew day by day and food became increasingly scarce, the desperate crippled and old wolves began to attack Qing Mao Mountain.
Villagers at the foot of the mountain were often taken by Electric Wolves, and in Xiong Family Village, there were even drunken Gu Masters who were devoured by Electric Wolves in the wild.
When the bodies were discovered the next day, the abdominal cavities were ripped open, all internal organs eaten, and the flesh torn until only the heads and broken bones, which the Electric Wolves disdained to eat, remained.
This incident alarmed the three major villages of Qing Mao Mountain.
According to the predictions of reconnaissance Gu Masters, in less than a year, or at most a few months, the wolf packs would launch a massive attack—even if those attacking now were just the old, weak, sick, and disabled, they were still a force not to be underestimated.
Thus, the three families cast aside their past grievances and formed the Three Clans Alliance to fight the common enemy and overcome the difficulties together.
Once the Alliance was formed, the Three Clans Grand Competition followed. This competition would be fought by Rank Two Gu Masters from the three clans. Since Fang Yuan was already an Elder, he naturally didn't need to participate personally.
He also didn't participate in the high-level meetings of the three clans, but simply stood on a distant hillside, quietly watching the Three Clans Grand Competition below.
On the field, the referee shouted loudly:
"Gu Yue Chi Cheng versus Xiong Lin!"
Xiong Lin was the number one Genius of Xiong Family Village. Although not the strongest Rank Two, he had impressive combat strength. He had seventy percent primeval sea; although his Aptitude was far inferior to Fang Yuan's, he still had hope of reaching Rank Four in the future.
And his opponent, Gu Yue Chi Cheng, was the future leader of the Chi faction. Back in the academy, he was often "protected" by Fang Yuan.
Both were at Rank Two Peak cultivation, but Fang Yuan favored Gu Yue Chi Cheng more—Chi Cheng had borrowed the Bear Strength and black swine gu from Gu Yue Chi Shan, adding the strength of one bear and one swine, and had also obtained a Rank Two Spiral Bone Spear Gu, causing his combat power to soar.
The two bowed to each other and said in unison: "Excuse me."
Before the words fell, long hair suddenly grew on Gu Yue Chi Cheng's legs, and he leapt backward, retreating four or five meters—this was the wonderful use of the Dragon Pill Cricket Gu. Immediately afterward, he chopped with his right hand, and a water-blue moonblade shot toward Xiong Lin.
Xiong Lin did not dodge or avoid it. A layer of brown bear fur suddenly covered his body, forcefully blocking the moonblade—that was the protection of the Rank Two Bear Skin Gu.
Then, Xiong Lin lunged toward Gu Yue Chi Cheng, activating the Bear Palm Gu. His hands instantly turned into thick bear palms, slapping fiercely at Chi Cheng. Unexpectedly, a white spear suddenly blocked Xiong Lin, as Chi Cheng had activated the Rank Two Spiral Bone Spear Gu.
"Good spear!"
Chi Cheng shouted lowly, swinging the white spear at Xiong Lin's face; Xiong Lin barely managed to dodge.
An inch longer, an inch stronger. Although Xiong Lin had the Bear Skin Gu for protection, facing this white spear with full piercing power, he couldn't help but be extremely wary and could only retreat passively.
"moonlight gu!"
Chi Cheng activated his Gu worm again, and another moonblade shot out, hitting Xiong Lin's right arm.
Xiong Lin was instantly enraged. He took the opportunity to grab the thrusting white spear, activated the bear grand gu, burst with the strength of a bear, and slammed into Chi Cheng, knocking him directly to the ground.
"Bear Palm Gu!"
Xiong Lin followed up with the attack, slapping his palm at Chi Cheng. However, Chi Cheng activated the Dragon Pill Cricket Gu again, leaping to avoid the attack, and then tangled with Xiong Lin once more. The two went back and forth, and for a while, they were evenly matched.
The two fought for a long time, and it was hard to tell who was winning. But because of this, Chi Cheng's primeval essence was the first to be exhausted, and he had to admit defeat and leave the field.
After Chi Cheng was the duel between Xiong family's Xiong Jiang and Bai Family's Bai Bing Yi. In the end, Xiong Jiang relied on a shadow injury gu, which happened to counter Bai Bing Yi's weakness of high damage but weak defense, allowing the Xiong family to win another round.
Seeing this, the Xiong Family Clan Leader was full of pride, looking provocatively at the Gu Yue Clan Leader and the Bai Family Clan Leader.
In fact, the Xiong family's current glory was not because their own strength had become greater, but because the geniuses of the Gu Yue and Bai families had already been promoted to Elders and did not participate in the competition.
"Gu Yue Mo Yan versus Xiong Jiao Man!"
The referee's voice sounded again.
Clan Leader looked on with some expectation. Although Gu Yue Mo Yan's progress was slow, she had also broken through to Rank Two Peak. It was still unknown who would win this match.
In the end, Gu Yue Mo Yan successfully defeated Xiong Jiao Man, and the Xiong Family Clan Leader's face instantly turned as black as a pot's bottom.
Fang Yuan watched all this quietly. Suddenly, a rustling of footsteps came from behind him. He didn't turn around but remained fully focused on the arena—he already knew who the newcomer was.
The person had blue eyes and silver hair, with skin as white as snow; it was Bai Ning Bing.
Bai Ning Bing had never seen Fang Yuan and didn't know his appearance, but this person before her gave her an inexplicable sense of familiarity, like... a friend she had never met?
Bai Ning Bing approached, looking at this interesting person with curiosity.
She had always been unfamiliar with and disdainful of the word "friend," but in the dark, she felt that the person before her was her friend.
She was like someone watching a rare animal in a zoo, like a gorilla or a big lion, unscrupulously sizing up Fang Yuan's back, face, shoulders, limbs, and even his fingertips and hair, not even sparing Fang Yuan's boots.
Bai Ning Bing's clean silver hair was stained with mud, and her white hem was also stained with dust, but Bai Ning Bing still looked at him greedily, looking at this "friend" who she found extremely interesting.
Bai Ning Bing sized him up for a full hour. Fang Yuan, however, acted as if he didn't notice her presence, as if there were no one beside him, just staring expressionlessly at the Three Clans Grand Competition below.
"What's so good about the Three Clans Grand Competition down there?"
Bai Ning Bing finally couldn't help but ask.
Fang Yuan remained silent, like a deaf-mute.
This appearance piqued Bai Ning Bing's curiosity even more—this expression, this temperament, this look, it was just like a certain person, just like... "Isn't this just myself?"
She became more certain that the person before her was her only friend.
"Oh! I know... you want to kill all these people, right? But why don't you do it yourself? If it were me, I wouldn't say a word and would have killed them all long ago."
Fang Yuan suddenly turned his head and looked at the silver-haired youth with a cold smile:
"Bai Ning Bing, it's very boring, isn't it?"
Seeing Fang Yuan speak, Bai Ning Bing was overjoyed. Fang Yuan had already guessed what she was going to say next, and as expected, the youth immediately replied:
"Yeah, these days are just utterly boring."
Fang Yuan fell silent again, but Bai Ning Bing burst out laughing:
"You really are an interesting person. Look! I just snatched this from an ugly Xiong family Gu Master; it's quite fun."
Fang Yuan looked over and saw Bai Ning Bing holding a forced take gu between her slender fingers, like a child showing off a new toy to a friend.
She extended the index finger of her other hand and poked the forced take gu, as if wanting to make it move.
(forced take gu: "Big brother, don't mess with me, let the Great Desolate Imprisoning Sky Finger spare a Gu's life.")
"So, you want to kill me too."
Fang Yuan said indifferently.
"Hahaha! You really know! You really know!"
A fanatical light burst from Bai Ning Bing's eyes: "Let's have a hearty life-and-death battle to add some excitement to life! Only a duel where life and death are at stake can make life more interesting!"
"Hahaha, my life has never been so exciting. Although I don't know your name, I have to thank you for letting me kill you!"
Bai Ning Bing laughed maniacally. Seeing this, Fang Yuan turned and rushed down the hillside.
"Hmph! If you want to kill me, then chase me!"
"Stop! Don't run!"