"Don't worry, you're only at the Second Transformation. I won't take advantage of you. I'll suppress my cultivation to the Second Transformation as well. Come — let's have a truly fair fight!" Bai Ningbing shouted with wild laughter.
Facing the manic Bai Ningbing, Fang Yuan's expression remained calm. He gazed at Bai Ningbing and said flatly, "You want to kill me? Then come."
The moment he finished speaking, Fang Yuan took a single step forward, his body descending from the high ground like a willow catkin.
Bai Ningbing's laughter cut off abruptly, replaced by fury. "Don't you run!"
He immediately broke into a sprint, chasing hard after Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan let out a cold, silent laugh and headed straight for the valley.
The two plunged one after another into the battlefield within the valley. The wolf pack erupted into a frenzy, swarming Fang Yuan and Bai Ningbing with attacks.
The Gu Masters who had been driven to the valley floor had already lost one of their own. The remaining four, seeing the wolves suddenly grow agitated, lit up with hope on their faces.
One of them even shouted, "Hold on, brothers! Someone's here to reinforce us!"
"Why are there only two?" They caught sight of the blurred figures of Fang Yuan and Bai Ningbing.
"It's him!" As the figures drew closer, a strange expression crossed Gu Yue Manshi's face.
He recognized Fang Yuan — it was this man who had publicly defeated him. Those eyes had dredged up the deepest nightmare buried in his heart. He would never forget Fang Yuan.
He had once sworn that he would work hard and reclaim his honor.
But now, Fang Yuan had personally rushed here to "save" him, and this only added another layer of complicated feelings to Gu Yue Manshi's heart.
"Wait — the second person is..."
They soon recognized Bai Ningbing as well, and every one of them showed shock on their faces.
"Bai Ningbing. Bai Ningbing!" Gu Yue Manshi's eyes went wide. He had never expected to encounter Bai Ningbing again under circumstances like these.
...
"Bastard, stand still!" Bai Ningbing's shouts came from behind.
Fang Yuan ignored him completely, weaving and charging through the wolf pack.
His entire body shimmered with a white jade light, deflecting the fangs and claws of the lightning wolf pack. But this also caused the True Essence in his Empty Orifice to plummet rapidly.
Not far behind him, Bai Ningbing snorted out a continuous stream of mist from his nostrils, forming a spherical water shield that enveloped his whole body.
Countless lightning wolves slammed into the water shield. Every one of them had their impact absorbed by the flowing water swirling across its surface, then was flung aside by the momentum.
By all rights, Bai Ningbing's cultivation had already reached the Third Transformation, but his performance right now was mediocre. According to his own words, he had apparently truly suppressed his cultivation and was using only Second Transformation strength to deal with Fang Yuan.
At Second Transformation strength, Bai Ningbing was slightly faster than Fang Yuan and had far more True Essence. But when it came to trudging through the wolf pack, he was falling further and further behind Fang Yuan.
The key reason lay in the difference in their raw power.
Fang Yuan had the strength of two pigs, while Bai Ningbing's strength was slightly lesser. Fang Yuan could withstand the wolves' collective impact and keep pushing forward. Bai Ningbing's mist shield, while capable of absorbing some of the force, could not smash through and carve a path the way Fang Yuan could.
Awoo!
The attention of the alpha lightning wolf was drawn to Fang Yuan and Bai Ningbing as well.
It let out a howl, and the ordinary lightning wolves beside it immediately parted like a tide, clearing a path.
The alpha lightning wolf surged forward on all four legs, charging straight at Fang Yuan.
Seeing this, the four trapped Gu Masters all couldn't help but show expressions of worry.
As for Bai Ningbing behind Fang Yuan, he spotted this spectacle and burst into hearty laughter.
But in the very next instant, Bai Ningbing saw Fang Yuan's figure ripple like waterlight — and then vanish from his sight entirely.
His laughter cut off abruptly.
The Gu Masters at the valley floor also erupted in commotion.
The alpha lightning wolf had lost track of Fang Yuan. It roared in fury, but didn't slow down — it charged toward Bai Ningbing instead.
A smile reappeared on Bai Ningbing's face. "Heh heh heh, interesting, truly interesting! You really are quite amusing! Hahaha — well then, let these be the appetizers before the main course!"
As he spoke, his eyes suddenly shifted from black to blue, like a clear azure sky.
He stood on a single leg, leveled his ice blade, and began to spin. The slender ice blade carved streaks of slashing light that split through the air, creating a spectacle like a tornado.
The snow-bright blizzard of ice blades rampaged through the wolf pack.
Countless lightning wolves crashed into the storm and were shredded into chunks of flesh. But very little blood sprayed about — the blood had already been frozen solid by the bitter frost.
The alpha lightning wolf let out a furious roar, its savagery fully provoked. The Gu Insect residing on its body also began to unleash its power, wreathing the wolf in arcs of golden lightning.
Every hair on its body bristled, and golden lightning coiled around its torso and limbs like chains, forming a crude suit of chain armor.
It thundered forward on all four claws, hurtling like a golden meteor straight into the blizzard of ice blades.
BOOM!
A deafening crack of thunder rang out. The ice blade storm halted abruptly. A broken shard of ice blade flew spinning through the air, then with a sharp hiss, embedded itself into a boulder.
White frost billowed outward in all directions.