Fang Yuan moved like lightning, lunging toward Tang Qing.
Whoosh!
A fierce gust erupted. Tang Qing's vision went black before he could react—Fang Yuan's fist hammered into his chest.
In that instant, a searing wave of pain crashed through Tang Qing, nearly knocking him unconscious on the spot.
The wind howled past his ears as the world blurred and rushed backward. Fang Yuan's power-packed strike had launched him through the air.
He hit the ground, his vision spinning—grass, then the training arena's canopy, grass, canopy again. He scraped along the earth, tumbling and rolling, the turf torn away by the violent friction as rich dark soil churned up beneath him.
Grass clippings and black mud covered him head to toe. The smell of crushed grass, wet earth, and fresh blood mingled together and flooded his nostrils.
He lay on the ground, his gaze unfocused. The long tumble had left his body feeling like it had come apart at the seams, every limb aching dully.
But all of these sensations were nothing compared to the searing agony in his chest!
He glanced down at his chest and sucked in a sharp breath.
The left side of his chest had been caved in by a full two inches. Skin and flesh were torn open, exposing a jagged bone-white rib—clearly snapped.
Great gushes of blood pulsed outward as if they would never stop.
Fang Yuan's immense physical strength, combined with the success of his ambush, had dealt Tang Qing a devastating blow.
Tang Qing's eyes went wide. After the initial shock, a volcanic eruption of rage and hatred surged through his heart.
"That little bastard—sneak-attacked me! Wounded me like this—I'll kill him! I'll carve him into a thousand pieces!"
"Die!" Right at that moment, Fang Yuan's low bark echoed in Tang Qing's ears.
Fang Yuan crossed several strides in an instant, arriving before Tang Qing. He raised a foot and stamped down viciously between Tang Qing's legs.
Tang Qing's vision swam and he squinted instinctively. Fang Yuan activated his Tian Peng Gu, enveloping his body in a shimmering phantom armor of white light. The radiance made Tang Qing's heart tremble.
A Third Transformation Gu Master!
Fang Yuan had been using his Breath Concealing Gu earlier, but now that he was fighting in earnest, he could no longer hide his Third Transformation aura.
Tang Qing was terrified to the point of losing his soul. Such a young Third Transformation Gu Master?!
He frantically activated his defensive Gu Insects on instinct, and a swirl of green wind instantly coiled around his body.
Fang Yuan's stomp, long premeditated, would have crushed Tang Qing's groin to pulp. But the gust of green wind intercepted it, reducing its force drastically.
"Aaaagh!" Tang Qing's mouth gaped wide, his features twisted into an agonized grimace, and a blood-curdling scream tore from his throat.
Despite his defense, the blow had struck a vital area. He felt as though he had been electrocuted. His core muscles spasmed, launching him upright into a sitting position, and his arms instinctively moved to shield his groin.
A cold gleam flashed through Fang Yuan's eyes. His left fist clenched and drove forward in a savage straight punch.
He put everything he had into this punch.
The wind screamed!
CRACK!
The white-glowing fist smashed into Tang Qing's face with bone-jarring force.
Tang Qing's scream cut off abruptly. He toppled backward at even greater speed, the back of his skull slamming into the ground.
He lay motionless, without the faintest trace of breath.
A fatal blow!
His entire nose bridge had been driven into his face. His eyeballs bulged outward, protruding more than halfway from their sockets. His skull had shattered in an instant.
Blood seeped slowly downward, staining the dirt and green grass around him.
Fang Yuan gazed down from above, and the scene seemed to freeze in place.
Several breaths passed before shouts of alarm finally erupted around them.
"Dead—he's dead!"
"Someone was beaten to death!"
The two or three Gu Masters watching the fight stood frozen in shock. Even Wei Yang could not suppress a flicker of unease on his face.
Deaths in the training arena were rare, despite how often fights broke out.
First, both fighters had their own means, and a losing side could always surrender. Second, the presiding Gu Master could step in at any moment. Third, fighters generally showed restraint—they all operated in the same arena district, seeing each other day in and day out. They might clash over interests, but they rarely fought to the death.
There were two main reasons Fang Yuan had been able to kill Tang Qing.
First, Tang Qing had just emerged from seclusion, and his combat reflexes were severely dulled. Under normal circumstances, had he deployed his defensive Gu Insects in time, he would not have met this fate.
Second, Fang Yuan looked young, and he had used his Breath Concealing Gu to mask his aura. This put Tang Qing off guard. Then Fang Yuan had launched a sudden ambush, dealing a crippling blow with his very first strike. The follow-up moves came with rabbit-and-magpie swiftness, too fast for the presiding Gu Master to intervene—before anyone could react, Tang Qing was finished.
The presiding Gu Master came sprinting over.
But when he saw Tang Qing's caved-in face and the brain matter and blood seeping from the cracks in his skull, he abandoned any thought of treatment.
"Young man, your hand was far too heavy!" He glared at Fang Yuan, his tone laced with disapproval.
Though the fight had been brief, he had seen every moment of it. Fang Yuan had held complete control of the situation—he could have held back and spared Tang Qing's life, but he chose not to.
Fang Yuan shrugged indifferently. "One life. What's all the fuss about? According to the arena's rules, since I killed him, everything on his body is my spoils. Correct?"
The presiding Gu Master huffed unhappily. "Everything on his body is yours, but we need to reclaim the Vine Message Gu. Young man, let me warn you—showing zero respect for life is a dangerous way of thinking!"
"I sincerely apologize." Wei Yang stepped forward from behind, wearing an apologetic expression. "My little brother here has been wandering the outside world. This is his first time participating in an arena match."
The Gu Master did not recognize Wei Yang, and a hint of disgust crossed his face. "Hmph. Demonic Path Gu Masters are all the same—aggressive by nature, bloodthirsty and murderous. Forget it, there's no reasoning with you. Hand over the Vine Message Gu."
Fang Yuan produced the Vine Message Gu. The presiding Gu Master altered the records within and handed it back.
Fang Yuan probed into it with his mind. The win count, which had been zero, now showed one.
He searched Tang Qing's corpse and found four Gu Insects—three Second Transformation, one First Transformation. All ordinary, with a combined value of roughly two thousand Yuan Stones.
Tang Qing's death had been so sudden that he never had time to self-detonate his Gu Insects.
He had just emerged from seclusion, so he was carrying only twenty or thirty Yuan Stones.
"Brother Fang Zheng, you should try to hold back the killing blow in the future." After they left the arena, Wei Yang advised Fang Yuan.
"Even though in the arena, life and death are each fighter's own responsibility…." Wei Yang shook his head slowly. "There's no need to fight every match to the death. The arena district is big but also small—you'll inevitably run into opponents stronger than you. We all see each other day after day, and we all live in Merchant City. Show mercy where you can."
Fang Yuan furrowed his brows slightly. "But if I show others mercy, they won't necessarily show it to me. I've encountered Demonic Path Gu Masters before who attacked without a second word. You hold back the killing blow, but they won't. My past experience has taught me to strike lethally whenever I can—otherwise, the longer the night, the more dreams of trouble. Never give an enemy a chance! That's precisely why I'm still alive."
Wei Yang fell speechless.
He suddenly realized—wasn't the Fang Yuan standing before him a mirror of his own past? Ruthless in action, trusting no one. At the root of it all was a lack of security.
Demonic Path Gu Masters had the least security of all.
Unlike Righteous Path Gu Masters, who had clans behind them, kin to support them, and steady supplies of resources, and who therefore had a sense of security and could trust one another, Demonic Path Gu Masters were all lone cultivators. Without a clan's backing, they had to secure their own Yuan Stones and food. Many a time, they never knew where their next meal would come from. How could they feel secure?
To survive, they had no choice but to take desperate risks—murdering and robbing. Demonic Path Gu Masters were few and far between, and they seldom dared to target Righteous Path factions. So they turned their claws on each other.
This created a vicious cycle. Trust between Demonic Path Gu Masters became even more impossible. They would often come to blows the moment they met.
With even less security, their methods grew even more ruthless.
Wei Yang had switched from the Demonic Path to the Righteous Path, and his vast experience gave him a far deeper understanding of both sides than most.
Why did the Righteous Path thrive while the Demonic Path was always suppressed?
This was exactly why.
Wei Yang understood Fang Yuan's ruthlessness all too well. It was precisely this understanding that stirred a feeling of pity in his heart for the young man.
"Even though his cultivation has reached the Third Transformation and he possesses remarkable combat talent, he's still just a child, after all. Sigh—the ferocity of his attacks tells you everything about the hardships he's endured. Now that I think about it, if he had shown mercy, that would have been the strange thing, wouldn't it?"
"His mercilessness is just like all the other Demonic Path Gu Masters—it's a habit they all have when they first start fighting in the arena. Wasn't I the same way? Heh, well, never mind. Given enough time, he'll gradually change. It's a subtle, organic process—it can't be forced."
With that thought, Wei Yang dropped the subject and steered the conversation toward the fight.
"Brother Fang Zheng, you mentioned before that you've used quite a few Gu Insects to modify your body and boost your strength. How many exactly?"
"Since you're asking, Big Brother Wei, I'll hold nothing back. I've used three Gu Insects in total—the Black and White Pig Gu, the Crocodile Strength Gu, and just a few days ago I bought a Brown Bear Native Strength Gu, which I'm currently using." Fang Yuan smiled.
"Heh heh heh. The Black and White Pig Gu gives you two pigs' worth of strength, and the Crocodile Strength Gu gives you one crocodile's worth. But think about it, little brother—if a wild boar had charged into your opponent just now, what kind of injury would that cause?" Wei Yang spoke in a guiding, pedagogical tone.
Fang Yuan understood what Wei Yang was getting at and decided to play along. "If that person had no defense, how could an ordinary mortal body withstand a wild boar's charge? He'd be knocked over with a broken spine and a ruptured belly—a ghastly sight to behold."
Wei Yang's smile deepened. "And if you placed that person's head in a crocodile's jaws, and the crocodile bit down—what would happen then?"
"It would be crushed to a pulp, like a ripe melon smashed on the ground." Fang Yuan answered.