Chapter 217: Giving others a hold on oneself
Translator: ChibiGeneral Editor: ChibiGeneral
Howl!
In the forest, a plump black bear as large as two meters was standing on its two legs.
It growled towards Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing, but the two were indifferent, causing the black bear to become furious. It landed on all fours and pounced towards the two youngsters.
Do not be fooled by the bear's clumsy looks, its running speed was, in fact, very fast - twice the speed of ordinary humans.
Seeing the black bear nearing fifty steps from him, Fang Yuan's lips curled up into a smile as if he had achieved his target.
Bam.
With a loud bang, soil was sent flying.
The black bear cried out pitifully, its advancement came to a stop as if it had suffered a blow to the head.
Overcame by anger due to suffering such an absurd attack, it quickly changed to another direction and rushed towards Fang Yuan once again.
But after only stepping out for ten steps, the ground exploded again.
Howl!
The black bear's chest was blown to a bloody mess, its eyes turned red as its rage reached a tipping point, rushing forward once again.
"A wild beast after all, lacking in intelligence." Fang Yuan sighed as he retreated.
The black bear chased relentlessly, but there would be an explosion every few steps it took.
After rushing for another few dozen steps, the black bear's body was full of injuries with none of its fur intact. It was limping as its four limbs were crippled, there was no longer the fearsomeness of before.
Its anger had subsidaed, and the instinct for survival kicked in.
Even though Fang Yuan was standing no further than twenty steps away, it chose to retreat.
But Fang Yuan had already anticipated its retreating path, and dug a deep hole on the path, burying at least five Charred Thunder Potato Gu in there.
BOOM!
With a loud explosion, the battle ended.
At the same time, in the tent, wisps of smoke hovered in the air..
In the smoke, images flashed, as they portrayed the process of Fang Yuan's battle in real time.
"Elder Mo Xing, what do you think?" Bai clan leader spoke after the battle ended.
Only she and Bai Mo Xing were inside the tent.
"If I am not wrong, this Gu Yue clan young master is using the Charred Thunder Potato Gu? This Gu is an expendable type, absorbing energy from the ground to grow, and explodes after impacted with vibrations. Among rank two Gu worms, it has strong attacking power but this Gu is severely weakened on Bai Gu mountain. Bai Gu mountain has no soil, and even the mountain rocks are made of bones, the Charred Thunder Potato Gu cannot be planted." Bai Mo Xing continued evaluating.
Bai clan leader shook her head: "You analyzed well, but that's not the point. Did you not notice, Fang Zheng did everything by himself - from burying the Charred Thunder Potato Gu to the end of the battle. He has a rank three bodyguard but chose to use the rank two Charred Thunder Potato Gu himself through a tedious process. Every time he buries a seed, he has to use primeval stones to recover his primeval essence, but he insists on doing it himself, what does that say?"
Bai Mo Xing's eyes shone: "I understand, this Fang Zheng is an upright person, not one of those who like to scheme and skive. He agreed to enter the hunting competition, thus no matter how hard it is, he will not use outside forces to cheat."
"Scheming and skiving characters have weak will, while upright characters are indomitable. If we want to find out the location of the spirit spring from these two people, the best way is to do so is indirectly, by using our wits. Hehe, my confidence in last night's plans have increased again." Bai clan leader smiled.
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"Luckily I was able to accomplish my goals." After half an incense was burnt through, Fang Yuan placed a torn bear skin in front of the Bai clan leader.
"Hehehe, in such a short time, junior managed to kill an adult black bear, as expected of Gu Yue clan's young master." Bai clan leader's face showed a trace of shock, which immediately turned into a smile.
"Junior might as well go back to rest, the Green Copper Relic Gu will be sent over shortly."
"Thank you clan leader, this junior will take his leave."
Fang Yuan and Bai Ning Bing moved out of the central tent and back to their tent.
Soon after, a Gu Master brought over the Green Copper Relic Gu.
Fang Yuan took it, and immediately used it on the spot, raising his cultivation from middle to upper stage.
Gu Master's small realms were easy to break through and was just a matter of efforts and time. Big realms, however, needed aptitude to breakthrough.
Relic Gu, Stone Aperture Gu along with many other Gu worms could reduce the time needed by Gu Master to raise their cultivation.
As for rank one upper stage, it is still rank one. This small growth could not change or affect the situation at all.
At night, Bai clan leader organized a banquet again, inviting Fang and Bai.
Bai clan's tradition was to hold banquets everyday during the hunting competition. Large bonfire banquets were held in the open areas. As for the small banquet in the central tent, only the first few ranked participants would be invited.
But because Fang and Bai had different identities, they still remained on the guest seats.
"Come, let me introduce to junior our clan's rising star. You youngsters should interact with each other." During the banquet, Bai Mo Xing started the conversation.
There were four youngsters in the tent; two males and two females, all were rank three Gu Masters.
One of the guys was Bai Mo Xing's nephew, Bai Mo Ting; he had a slim body and was ranked third in today's hunting.
Among the two girls, one was called Bai Cao Shuai who looked very careless, but was ranked fourth. The other was called Bai Lian, she had white skin and thick eyebrows which gave her a fresh aura; she was the most beautiful girl in Bai clan.
The two girls sat opposite each other, forming a stark contrast.
"Bai Zhan Lie greets the two esteemed guests." A young male Gu Master took the initiative and stole the words out of Bai Mo Xing's mouth.
He was muscular and his manners contained arrogance along with strong battle intent. Looking at Fang and Bai, he first paused at Fang Yuan before showing a smile of disdain. Next his gaze was locked onto Bai Ning Bing.
Bai Ning Bing was like a snow fairy with her silver hair and blue eyes, surpassing Bai Lian in terms of beauty. More importantly, she was at rank three peaks stage, attracting Bai Zhan Lie's attention.
He snorted: "It seems that your Gu Yue clan has strong women and weak men?"
Bai Ning Bing was like an ice block, showing no reaction.
Fang Yuan's expression turned cold and slightly ugly.
Bai clan leader interrupted: "This is the number one youth expert in our clan, junior don't blame him for his inconsiderate words."
"Of course not." Fang Yuan moved his lips, facing Bai clan leader: "Brother Zhan Lie is a dragon among men, I am deeply amazed."
His tone was complex, and his expression was perfectly displayed; some tolerance due to being under others' roof, the helplessness of his own weak cultivation and some indignant pride of a youngster.
Even Bai Ning Bing was taken by surprise.
Bai Zhan Lie snorted, while Fang Yuan laughed coldly in his heart.
He knew the Bai clan situation, but Bai clan did not know his true trump cards. The situation might seem dire for him, but he had a strong grasp on the advantage he had - information.
"How to make good use of this advantage, that is the key to getting out of our predicament. Green Copper Relic Gu is a good sign, showing that Bai clan is worried about the non-existent Gu Yue clan remnants. They do not want to do it by force, but instead trick and manipulate us. Is this Bai Zhan Lie the next chess piece? Now that I think about it, his tone earlier was too forceful."
"If he really is the Bai clan's next move, there will be some problems. I might as well give my 'handle' to them, and expose my 'weakness'..."
If he allowed the Bai clan to set up traps this casually, Fang Yuan would no doubt fall into a more passive situation.
Instead, he might as well give others a hold on himself, and expose some fake weaknesses, to gain some initiative.
Thinking so, Fang Yuan's gaze swept through the tent, a ploy brewing in his scheming mind.
He looked at Bai Lian, opposite him.
After staring for a while, Bai Lian seemed to have noticed his gaze, but Fang Yuan turned his head over, seemingly observing something else.
As the banquet continued, Fang Yuan took peeks at Bai Lian from time to time, but avoided eye contact with her.
When the banquet was almost over, Fang Yuan peeked more often.
This situation was easily noticed by the Bai clan leader, and some clan elders.
The clan elders showed some amusement in their eyes.
It was a common thing for youths to get infatuated. Bai Lian was the beauty of Bai clan, it was natural for her to attract the attention of Gu Yue clan young master.
After the banquet was over, Bai Mo Xing excitedly went to see the clan leader: "Clan leader, did you see what happened during the banquet?"
Bai clan leader smiled: "Let me plan a bit more."
The night passed by silently.
During the second day of the hunting competition, Bai clan leader called Fang Yuan again, telling him to hunt a earth horn rhino.
Fang Yuan reenacted the same method, using the Charred Thunder Potato Gu and blasting the earth horn rhino, bringing back its horn.
Bai clan leader praised him and rewarded him with a Clearing Heat Gu.
Clearing Heat Gu was like an armored worm fossil, with a half transparent jade rock texture. He felt a cool air passing on to him when he held it in his hand.
This Gu was a rank two healing Gu, used to cure poison.
Fang Yuan had finally fixed his greatest weakness after getting this Gu.
During the campfire banquet that night.
"This is my son and daughter. Bai Sheng, Bai Hua, stand up and toast this brother." Bai clan leader said.
A pair of twins stood up, raising their cups like an adult, saying together: "Bai Sheng (Bai Hua) toasts Gu Yue young master."
They bowed slightly with a solemn expression, showing their good upbringing. There was no hint of any childishness.
Fang Yuan was slightly stunned and sized up this pair of siblings attentively.
According to his previous life, these two kids would be the famous Righteous Twin Stars, their fame would last a long period of time. Both cultivated to rank 5 and expanded the Bai clan village to an unprecedented height.
At the same time, they were the inheritors of the Bai Gu mountain inheritance, and Bai Sheng even became the Bai clan leader eventually.
In a clan, the clan leader position was usually inherited by the clan leader's own children. But for Gu Yue village, where the clan leader does not have children, they would choose an outstanding youngster from their pure bloodline descendants.
People have a growing process. Bai Sheng and Bai Hua might be grand heroes in the future, but now they were still too young, not even students yet.
Fang Yuan retracted his gaze and concentrated on Bai Lian again.
The banquet continued.
During the period, Fang Yuan continued to peek on Bai Lian, as Bai Zhan Lie continued to find problems, his tone haughtier than before. Bai Mo Xing's nephew Bai Mo Ting was instead peeking at Bai Ning Bing.
Translator's Thoughts
ChibiGeneral ChibiGeneral
Enjoy!