Southern Border, Lanni Mountain.
Approaching noon, the sun shone high in the sky, the clear expanse stretching for ten thousand miles without a cloud.
Deep in the back forests of Lanni Mountain, a small youth was locked in a standoff with a massive bear.
The tension was palpable.
The bear stood a towering nine feet tall, stout and powerful, its fur a brown hue, thick and glossy. Its maw was agape, revealing sharp, bestial teeth, and its crimson eyes fixed on the youth before it, brimming with ferocity.
The youth facing this bear looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen years old.
He stood only five feet tall, looking especially slight and delicate compared to the beast.
The youth had thick brows and large, bright eyes. He gazed back at the bear with unwavering courage, showing no intention of retreating.
Roar!
The brown bear let out a thunderous roar, its jaws gaping wide as it lunged at the youth.
Don't be fooled by the bear's heavy build; any seasoned hunter knew that beasts like this possessed explosive strength.
The bear burst from stillness to motion with startling speed!
The youth felt the foul wind of the charge rush at him. In the blink of an eye, the brown bear was already upon him.
Yet his expression didn't change. In the fraction of a second, he activated a Gu Insect.
A Movement Gu shifted his position abruptly.
The brown bear pounced on empty air, its head crashing into the thick tree trunk directly behind where the youth had stood.
With a muffled thud, the sturdy trunk was snapped clean through.
A groaning sound followed as the great tree toppled, crashing to the ground with another heavy impact.
Numerous birds in the surroundings scattered in panic, fleeing into the sky.
The youth silently gasped. *Lucky I dodged in time,* he thought. *If the bear had hit me directly, even with my defensive Gu, I'd have broken bones or worse.*
However, having evaded that strike, the momentum of the fight tilted dramatically in the youth's favor.
A sharp light blazed in the youth's eyes. He let out a low shout, "Big stupid bear, taste my Sword Qi Gu!"
Before the words had left his lips, he extended his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together, and aimed a distant point at the bear's back.
The next instant.
*Shhh.*
A soft sound issued from his fingertips as a pale white, semi-transparent beam of sword energy shot forth.
The sword energy sliced through the air, striking the bear's back.
However, a wild Gu's aura suddenly flared across the bear's body. At the point of impact, its fur instantly hardened, forming a plate-like barrier.
The sword energy hit this hard plate with a muffled thud and was immediately exhausted.
The brown bear shook its entire stout body, completely unharmed.
It shook its head, having recovered from the brief dizziness, and once again turned to face the youth.
The youth was dumbfounded.
"Are you kidding me? This big stupid bear actually has a wild defensive Gu on it! How am I supposed to hit it with my Sword Qi Gu now? Grandpa, you didn't deliberately put that wild Gu on the bear, did you?" the youth yelled.
"Hehehe, good grandson. It took me walking over ten miles of mountain paths to find this bear. For you, it's quite the sparring partner," came a voice from above in the tree trunk.
As it turned out, the youth's grandfather had been perched high up in the tree the entire time, watching his grandson's battle with the bear.
The youth's greatest tool was the Sword Qi Gu.
But at this moment, against the brown bear, its effectiveness was minimal. Each use of Sword Qi could only shave off a little bear fur.
With no other choice, the youth resorted to dodging everywhere.
The bear's charge was fierce, but ultimately, it was still a beast with limited intelligence.
Though the youth couldn't harm the bear, he was quick-witted and had been in no small number of battles before. Relying on experience, he dodged and weaved. The bear repeatedly failed to catch him and even crashed into several trees.
Seeing his grandson's wretched state, the grandfather burst into laughter. "Brat, now you see the weakness of your Sword Qi Gu, don't you? It's a piercing attack. Once countered, it just drains your True Essence for nothing. Here, grandson, take this Gu."
With that, the grandfather flicked his hand, tossing a Gu Insect toward the youth.
The youth, in his attempt to catch it, nearly got swatted by a bear paw and fell flat on his face.
Fortunately, he was quick. He rolled repeatedly on the ground, narrowly avoiding another vicious bite from the bear by a hair's breadth.
Having gained some distance, he sprang to his feet.
"It's the Mud Gu!"
The youth recognized the Gu Insect in his hand with a light shout.
Although this Gu wasn't his own, since his grandfather had voluntarily lent it to him, the youth could activate it without any hindrance.
True Essence flowed into the Mud Gu, and the Gu emitted a hazy grey glow.
The youth gave his hand a slight shake. The grey light detached from the Gu and fell to the ground beneath the bear's feet.
*Gurgle... Gurgle... Gurgle...*
Countless bubbles erupted from the soil beneath the bear's paws.
In the blink of an eye, the patch of land turned into a pool of soft mud.
The bear's hind legs sank deep into the mire, trapping it.
It struggled wildly, flinging mud in all directions.
The mud splattered across the youth's body and face. Tense and focused, he ignored it and hurriedly activated the Mud Gu again.