When Fang Yuan stepped into the battle stage, all the random thoughts were cast out of his head.
He calmly sized up the opponent in front of him.
Tang Xiong.
He was eight feet tall, wide shoulders and a thick waist. Just his arms alone were as thick as Fang Yuan’s thighs, as he stood on the stage without an upper garment or shoes.
His chest was filled with black chest hair, giving off a wild and formidable aura.
“Little scoundrel, you killed my little brother? Today, I shall send you to accompany him in the afterlife!” Tang Xiong looked at Fang Yuan with bloodshot eyes, the flames of hatred could be clearly seen.
The surrounding temperature was burning as if it was the torrid afternoon heat of July or August.
The ground was boiling hot; black and red mixed together to form the lava terrain.
This was a mid-scale battle stage. There were only few spectators about dozens, most of them came to watch how Tang Xiong took revenge.
As for Fang Yuan, he might have obtained two victories but it still wasn’t enough for him to be famous.
“Tang brothers grew up relying on each other; now Tang Qing is dead and only Tang Xiong remains.”
“Hehe, I am waiting to see how Tang Xiong tortures this kid to death.”
“Eh, what is this kid’s name?”
“I think he was called Gu Yue Fang Zheng, a no-name junior.”
“This kid is too thoughtless, he actually dared to break the unsaid rules and kill his first two opponents.”
“He should be a demonic Gu Master who had only recently entered the city…”
“Alas, the young do not know to conduct themselves. This day wouldn’t have come if he had shown mercy.”
The audience continued talking about the match, but no one was optimistic about Fang Yuan.
Wei Yang was in a disguise and was looking at the battle stage with a burning gaze. Tang Xiong also walked the strength path, he was a rank two peak stage expert but could unleash with the strength of three bears and even won his way through to fourth inner city. He was a strong opponent for the current Fang Yuan.
Ding!
A clear ring of the bell announced the start of the match.
Tang Xiong roared and charged straight at Fang Yuan like a wild bull.
The ground of this battle stage was made of dark red lava rocks. Fang Yuan could feel the scalding heat from the ground even though he was wearing boots. While Tang Xiong was barefooted, he did not pay any attention to the heat.
Tum tum tum.
Every time Tang Xiong’s feet stepped on the ground, it produced a loud and deep sound. At the same time, his every step shattered the lava rocks and left a deep footprint in the ground.
Fang Yuan narrowed his eyes, his gaze as sharp as a blade’s edge!
He was at ease despite Tang Xiong’s aggressive momentum; the corner of his lips curled up into a cold smile as he outrageously charged at Tang Xiong head-on.
“Has he gone crazy?”
“He dares to face Tang Xiong head-on?”
“He could have had a chance to survive if he prolonged the match, this is simply charging towards his doom.”
The audience shook their heads as they looked at this scene.
Fang Yuan was young, his body was not even half as muscular as Tang Xiong’s. The scene of him charging at Tang Xiong was like a lamb colliding with a big ox.
Bam!
The two fiercely collided against each other, the enormous strength sent both of them flying.
Tang Xiong was thrown back six steps, as a clearly shocked expression showed on his face. ‘How could this kid have such huge great strength?’
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was thrown back three steps, as the white light armor protecting his body shook.
The result of the collision amazed the audience.
Some had their jaws wide open and some repeatedly blinked their eyes, not having expected Fang Yuan to possess such strength.
“My strength is actually less than his? No wonder little brother died at his hands!” Tang Xiong’s expression changed, and looked at Fang Yuan properly for the first time.
Fang Yuan shook his numb arm, his expression was still indifferent; this result wasn’t beyond his expectation.
He possessed the strength of two boars and a crocodile, there was also some increase to his strength due to using brown bear innate strength Gu these days. And Tang Xiong, he only possessed the strength of two bears.
Grand bear Gu!
Tang Xiong roared, the muscles on his body expanded visibly and his body size grew by a fold; he temporarily gained the strength of a bear.
Bear palm Gu!
A ball of yellow light covered his palms and soles. After the light dispersed, his hands and feet increased in size by over three times; turning into thick and enormous bear palms.
Whooshh!
He jumped with ferocious strength, next, he waved his right palm smashing at Fang Yuan.
The strong wind produced from his motion sent Fang Yuan’s clothes fluttering before the bear palm even hit him.
Fang Yuan was still calm, he clenched his left palm into a fist and struck directly at the bear palm.
Fist and palm struck, producing a muffled sound. It was a draw.
However, following immediately, Tang Xiong’s arm swept horizontally and another palm also came smashing over.
Fang Yuan used offence against offence; bang bang bang, fists and palms struck each other multiple times, the wind was screaming from their attacks.
The audience revealed astonished expressions when they saw Fang Yuan equally matched as he attacked Tang Xiong head-on.
‘This youngster has some skills to be able to duke it out with Tang Xiong!”
“What was his name again?”
“This is a tough nut, Tang Xiong is in trouble. Grand bear Gu has a time limit, and once the effect disappears, he will be disadvantaged.”
However, right at this moment!
A fierce bear’s roar resounded throughout the battle stage.
A phantom image of a black bear appeared behind Tang Xiong; it opened its bloody mouth and roared towards the skies.
Beast Phantom!
Tang Xiong got lucky and was able to unleash the beast phantom.
The smack that should have been extremely normal, now had the strength of a bear!
Fang Yuan could not dodge in time and hurriedly put up his arms to stiffly block it.
Boom.
With a huge bang, he was sent flying, the white light armor on his body flickered rapidly before dimming.
His arms were numb and would not be usable for some time.
He did his best to maintain his balance in midair; he twisted his waist and landed on the ground on his feet.
The moment he landed, he activated the canopy Gu; the white light armor appeared once more, but this time it looked weak and transparent, its defense had decreased by a lot.
“That is a bear strength phantom, Tang Xiong has flared up!”
“Bear strength specializes in smacking, it is normal for the bear strength phantom to appear since Tang Xiong has already attacked so many times.”
“The situation was still in deadlock, but with the bear strength phantom, that kid’s momentum is destroyed. Tang Xiong holds the upper hand now.”
“According to the previous statistics, Tang Xiong can use the bear strength phantom five times on average in every fight. If that kid has no way to deal with it, he will definitely be defeated.”
Outside the battle stage, the audience kept on making a commotion with their comments.
The appearance of a bear strength phantom meant the true battle was starting, and it roused the audience’s passion.
“I have the strength of two boars and a crocodile; boar strength is good at charging attacks and crocodile strength is good at bite attacks, but I have yet to acquire the bear strength. I can’t bring out the beast phantom by using my fists or palms, moreover the canopy Gu is not good at defending against close combat attacks, and will likely be destroyed by one or two more attacks from the bear strength phantom.”
Fang Yuan’s thoughts flashed through and he decided to change his battle tactics.
Jumping grass.
He willed, and a spring like grass soon grew out from his soles then pierced through his boots.
Just as Tang Xiong was charging at him, Fang Yuan stamped on the ground and leapt far away like a frog.
At the same time, his left palm swiped at Tang Xiong’s direction.
A scarlet colored moonblade immediately shot out of his palms and struck Tang Xiong; the defensive light on his body flickered for a while.
Blood moon Gu might not have high offensive power, but it was a rank three Gu after all.
Tang Xiong was distracted for a moment before he pounced upon Fang Yuan again.
Fang Yuan used the same trick again, throwing scarlet moonblades from afar; he had changed his battle tactics and didn’t engage Tang Xiong in close combat.
Tang Xiong had no choice but to use his movement Gu and chase after Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan kept on attacking and retreating. It was not that Tang Xiong didn’t have long range attacking methods, but they were many times weaker than his close combat power and simply could not threaten Fang Yuan.
Tang Xiong growled repeatedly in anger, and tried to provoke Fang Yuan by cursing at him; the audience also made booing noises since they wanted to see intense close combat.
However, how could Fang Yuan be so easily provoked?
He did not have a complete set of Gu worms and had yet to make close combat his forte. Even the long range attacks were forcefully improvised by him.
Time passed by, both their primeval essences continually fell.
Fang Yuan’s advantage became clearer; he possessed light silver primeval essence of rank three initial stage, while Tang Xiong only had B grade aptitude and red steel primeval essence.
Despite the strength path Gu Masters’ advantage in consuming very little primeval essence, they could not last forever.
By the time Fang Yuan’s blood moon Gu made five to six wounds on Tang Xiong’s body, the latter had no choice but to admit defeat since his healing Gu was not very good and blood kept on flowing out of the wounds.
“Just wait, one day, I will smack you into minced meat!” Tang Xiong covered his wounds and walked out of the stage.
He came with the aggressiveness of the devil but was leaving with a pale face, his steps light and weak.
“To think fourth inner city’s Tang Xiong was defeated!”
“What is that Gu? It could form blood red moonblades and blood kept on flowing out of the wounds it inflicted, I have never seen such a Gu before.”
“This kid is not one to trifle with, he will advance to fourth inner city’s battle stage before long.”
Winner takes it all; most of the audience focused on Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan received his third victory, and according to the rules, he took that grand bear Gu from Tang Xiong.
This was the most valuable Gu in Tang Xiong’s possession. With this Gu gone, Tang Xion only possessed the strength of two bears, his battle strength decreased by thirty percent and there was no need to worry about him now.
However, Fang Yuan was not happy.
The legendary Gu was not in the stellar stone used as a leg support, then where was it?
Was there another piece of stone used as a leg support?
However, when Fang Yuan went back to the gambling den, the foot of that counter was already restored.
Maybe, it was not that gambling den?
Fang Yuan inwardly shook at the thought; stellar stone used to support counter in the rock gambling zone, only this gambling den fulfilled this condition.
“Without the legendary Gu, I won’t have any advantage in walking on the strength path. Strength path had prevailed since ancient times, but now it is just a shadow of its previous glory. If I want to walk on the strength path without the legendary Gu, at the very least I will need an ancient strength path inheritance. Unfortunately, I only have memories of three ancient strength path inheritance, of which one is at Eastern Seas and another at Central Continent.”
“The third one is at Southern Border, but has already been occupied and exploited by Wu Clan for several years now. Now that I recall it, even Empress Wu Ji of Wu Clan walked the strength path. And because of this ancient inheritance, the Wu Clan was able to sit on the throne of Southern Border’s number one force.”
Of course, this throne was only referring to the mortal realm. Rank six Gu immortals were at a level that crossed the ordinary and could not be calculated in this.
Fang Yuan continued to secretly investigate the next seven to eight days without any results.
“Sigh, only one clue remains now, I can only give up if that doesn’t work.” Fang Yuan thought, he was not someone who would waste time on an unsolvable problem.
This final clue was Li Ran — the protagonist who obtained the legendary Gu in Fang Yuan’s previous life.