The bronze hall was deathly silent.
Time seemed to have frozen as the atmosphere became very heavy.
Fang Yuan was sitting cross-legged on the ground with the rank six second aperture Gu floating in front of him.
Immortal Gu refinement had succeeded, but Fang Yuan’s attention was not at this immortal Gu.
He turned his head with difficulty and gazed at Bai Ning Bing, his eyes revealing his deep doubts.
Bai Ning Bing who had already recovered his male body was holding an ice blade and was expressionlessly standing behind him.
Tie Ruo Nan slowly walked over and fixed her gaze at Fang Yuan, her expression showing both grief and joy: “Fang Yuan, you had never in your wildest imagination, expect this day to occur right?”
Fang Yuan seemed like he did not hear anything and kept on looking at Bai Ning Bing.
Bai Ning Bing looked at Fang Yuan. With the recovery of his male body, his height had increased, he was wearing a snow white robe, his silver hair was floating in the air and his eyes shone with deep coldness.
He was like a glacier, extremely cold.
“You didn’t expect it, right? That you would finally be defeated by me.” Bai Ning Bing indifferently smiled while looking at Fang Yuan, “Since my resurrection back on Qing Mao mountain, I had been pondering on how to recover my male body.”
“In the days spent with you, I was firmly controlled by you as a chess piece that could be moved at your will. You are not the strongest enemy in my life, but I have to admit that you are absolutely the most terrifying one.”
“Fang Yuan, you are someone with innate talent for scheming, and with your vicious methods, you are a very formidable person. But I, Bai Ning Bing, am also not an ordinary character, how could I become someone’s subordinate? Hmph! The more you controlled me and the more you exploited me, the more I thought of ways to escape, to make a comeback and counterattack!”
“But the Yang Gu was with you and you could cause it to self-destruct with just a thought. Thus, I did not act recklessly but racked my brains to think of countermeasures until one day, I got a superb inspiration and thought of a way.”
“Actually, the scene of you voluntarily hand over the Gu had already happened once on Qing Mao mountain. Hehe, right, that is to repeat the scene back on Qing Mao mountain. The time of my self-destruction will be the time you use the Yang Gu.”
“With this as the start, I began to plot secretly.” The corner of Bai Ning Bing’s lips slowly spread into a smile, “I would self-destruct, but it would naturally not be actual self-destruction since there was a chance you might not use Yang Gu. So, I chose…”
“Ice crystal Gu.” Fang Yuan’s expression was dim as water.
Back at Shang clan city, Bai Ning Bing chose ice path. Among the ice path, there were three transformation type Gu; frost demon Gu, snow fairy Gu and ice crystal Gu. Wei Yang had strongly recommended Bai Ning Bing to choose snow fairy Gu.
Snow fairy Gu was suitable for female Gu Masters while ice crystal Gu was suitable for males.
Bai Ning Bing, however, chose ice crystal Gu as a female which had caused Wei Yang to feel great regret.
“Hehe, you finally get it.” Bai Ning Bing laughed, “That’s right, I originally chose ice crystal Gu not because I was peeved but because snow fairy Gu changed the body to a snow fairy with clear appearance that could not be hidden. However, if I turn into ice crystal and use ice explosion Gu with it, it could form a majestic scene that is extremely similar to the self-destruction of northern dark ice soul physique. You have seen it just now, didn’t it deceive you?”
“Hmph, if I was not concentrating on refining Gu, I would definitely discover the peculiarity, how could you have succeeded so easily then?” Fang Yuan scoffed.
Bai Ning Bing, however, nodded her head with a serious expression: “Right. You are very meticulous, observing everything to the finest details. When I thought of this method, I also felt it would be strange and there would be a great chance of failure. In fact, there was a change in circumstances that made me almost give up this plan.”
The change Bai Ning Bing spoke of was none other than poison vow Gu.
” A great man knows when to yield and when not , my objective was to rely on the poison vow to accomplish my goal. So what if I would be used for some time?” Bai Ning Bing’s eyes turned vague as he recalled, “However, the developments after that made me realize that poison vow Gu was not reliable.”
“The poison vow between you and Shang Ya Zi, despite there being a very ingenious flaw, I felt that you were too confident. And I had also secretly investigated the contract with Bai clan, the rumors however were still leaked out, making me feel even more uncertain. One thing that I have learned about you is that you make the best preparations for everything, calculating even the worst outcomes. Thus, I could not help but consider this situation — what if you were not restricted by poison vow Gu, what would I do then?”
“I knew that if that was the case, I had already gotten into a desperate situation. I was restricted by the poison vow while you were not, I would become your chess piece which you could use or kill with no way for me to retaliate. Just relying on my own power, I would never be able to escape this predicament, but there was one person who could help me at Shang clan city.”
“Speaking of this person, I still need to thank you for the introduction.” Bai Ning Bing smiled mockingly.
He thought of the first meeting with Doctor Su Shou.
It was during the banquet organized by Shang Yan Fei. As thanks to Fang and Bai for escorting Shang Xin Ci to Shang clan city, Shang Yan Fei invited Doctor Su Shou to treat Fang Yuan’s disfigured face.
And to make Bai Ning Bing give up, Fang Yuan intentionally asked her to go together.
After Bai Ning Bing met Doctor Su Shou with her real appearance, Doctor Su Shou’s attitude immediately changed into extreme warmth and compassion.
Doctor Su Shou was one of the four great doctors of Southern Border and had a peculiarity of being attracted to appearance. She was extremely fond of handsome men and beautiful women, as long as their appearance was extraordinary, she would give treatment for free. If the appearance was ugly, she would loathe them and would not treat them even if they gave more money.
Bai Ning Bing asked her about the transformation of Yin and Yang, and with the reply he got, he was even more aware of how important the Yang Gu in Fang Yuan’s possession was.
But at the same time, Bai Ning Bing also got to know Doctor Su Shou. Before leaving, Doctor Su Shou had made a serious promise that no matter what problems he faced, he could go find her.
” Cough cough .” Fang Yuan coughed out a mouthful of blood, the ice blade had pierce through his heart, but with the help of healing Gu, he was able to hang on to life.
However, the chilly aura of the ice blade was slowing down the speed of his blood flow, and the numbness the cold brought was spreading to his whole body.
Right now, however, these injuries were minor details: “The person you are speaking, is it Doctor Su Shou?”
“Hehehe, you are Fang Yuan indeed, you are right.” Bai Ning Bing praised.
“That b*tch!” Fang Yuan cursed but also had new doubts, “But didn’t you guys only meet once? Wait… there was also the second time!”
Fang Yuan suddenly recalled something while talking.
At Shang clan city, Bai Ning Bing and Doctor Su Shou had met for a second time!
That time was when Bai Ning Bing lost to Yan Tu by just a little and suffered heavy injuries while also losing her vital Gu. She went to Doctor Su Shou’s place to receive treatment and to recuperate.
“Don’t tell me?!” Fang Yuan seemed to have thought of something and his gaze immediately turned to Bai Ning Bing as if it was the first time he was seeing this cold and handsome young man.
Bai Ning Bing smiled, his blue eyes shining eerily: “It seems you have guessed it. That’s right, I intentionally lost to Yan Tu. Losing a vital Gu is nothing, exchanging it for a chance to evade your suspicions, isn’t it a profitable transaction? At that time, I decided to gamble.”
Bai Ning Bing went to Doctor Su Shou’s place and relying just on his intuition, he decided to take a risk — he told the truth honestly to Doctor Su Shou.
Doctor Su Shou sympathized with his experience and did her best to free him from Fang Yuan’s demonic claws.
Bai Ning Bing asked her if there was a way to dispel poison vow.
Doctor Su Shou replied that she could not dispel poison vow, but there was a way which could get rid of poison vow’s binding.
She recalled from her memories: Once, when she was young and ignorant, she was deceived by her sect’s junior brother into using poison vow Gu to make an oath saying they would never abandon each other. Later, she used this method to get rid of the poison vow.
Bai Ning Bing asked: “What is it?”
Doctor Su Shou’s gaze turned grave and said —’To live, one must die.’
Once the poison vow activated, it would cause the death of the vow maker. Doctor Su Shou was a healing Gu Master and her solution was to intentionally let the poison vow activate and cause the Gu Master’s death, the poison would be removed and then revive the Gu Master.
“This method is a forceful removal. The absolute majority of healing Gu Masters cannot do it even if they thought of it. I am able to barely accomplish it because of the unique legacy from my teacher. But even so, this has a one-in-three chance of failure. If it fails, it will mean death. Think it through.” Doctor Su Shou gave a final warning.
Bai Ning Bing decided on the spot to use this method.
With Doctor Su Shou’s help, he got rid of the poison vow fortunately.
Without the poison vow’s binding, Bai Ning Bing got in touch with Tie clan and Tie Ruo Nan was able to learn the truth.
The truth that person in front of her was Fang Yuan and not Fang Zheng.
At the same time, she also understood the event that occured on Qing Mao mountain.
To deal with Fang Yuan, Bai Ning Bing and Tie Ruo Nan launched a secret cooperation.
“We had used iron cabinet Gu and qi flow Gu around an area and planned to create the scene of the self-destruction. Unfortunately, you refused to rescue her. I could only gather a group and hurry to San Cha mountain to make new plans.” Tie Ruo Nan spoke.
The scene of Bai Ning Bing being trapped for so many days by Tie clan’s four old-timers looked like Tie clan’s reprisal because of Bai Ning Bing killing a Tie clan’s Gu Master in the inheritance, but in truth, it was all a scheme to deal with Fang Yuan.
However, Fang Yuan fought one against seven and slaughtered Tie Ruo Nan’s group which caused Tie Mu Bai to take the stage.
Tie Ruo Nan received Tie Mu Bai’s teachings, cultivating and patiently waiting for news from Bai Ning Bing. This was also the reason why she did not take the initiative to look for Fang Yuan although she had extreme hatred towards him.
However, Fang Yuan made an impressive move that shook everybody; he took control of the whole situation after entering three kings inheritance.
Tie Mu Bai’s death caused Bai Ning Bing to keep silent and conceal himself even deeper. Using Fang Yuan’s trust, he controlled the dog beasts.
With the death of the land spirit, he was unable to suppress the situation anymore and the pressure on him increased. However at the same time, he felt his whole body relaxed as he was free from the land spirit’s surveillance.
He was still not at ease though, thus he intentionally gave way for Yan Jun to probe Fang Yuan.
Sure enough like he expected, Feng Tian Yu was sent out, this proved the land spirit had truly died.
Bai Ning Bing was inwardly happy and again maneuvered the situation to make a way in for Tie Ruo Nan and Tie clan’s four old-timers.
The reason Tie Ruo Nan came to the main hall by herself was also because of this.
“Fang Yuan, I advise you to obediently surrender. Outside, my Tie clan’s enslavement path grandmaster Tie Bai Qi is controlling the dog beasts and obstructing the group of experts. Outside the main hall, there are Tie clan’s four old-timers who are using iron cabinet Gu and qi flow Gu to confine the space so that no one can infiltrate here. Surrendering is your only way out.”
Tie Ruo Nan walked over and held the second aperture Gu in her hand while pronouncing Fang Yuan’s fate.
Fang Yuan was silent.