"This battle is over. Of the ninety-percent True Essence she'd started with, seventy percent was consumed, leaving only about twenty percent..." Having secured a victory, Bai Ningbing left the martial arena.
As she walked, she reflected on the battle.
After every fight, she would review and analyze. Today's battle against Tie Daoku — while it was unfortunate she hadn't killed him — still yielded considerable gains.
"That last battle was intense but brief. Yet I burned through so much True Essence, and I have Grade A Aptitude recovery at that. When combat gets heated, the True Essence consumption of this Gu set really adds up."
Many Gu Masters struggled with this very problem when combining their Gu.
Powerful Gu — who wouldn't want them? But typically, the greater a Gu's effectiveness, the more True Essence it consumed.
Of course, there were also Gu that were both powerful and efficient. But those were rare Gu, and their prices were steep.
Although Bai Ningbing still had some funds, her financial situation was no longer comfortable. She was smart enough to recognize her predicament and proactively began cutting her spending.
In the past, she had spent freely without a clear understanding of Yuan Stone value. That was because her clan had been fully backing her.
Now, managing her own finances, she had already undergone an important shift in awareness over the past while.
Fang Yuan was growing stronger, and Bai Ningbing was also making rapid progress.
"If only I had Fang Yuan's Heaven Origin Treasure Lotus. At least until the Third Transformation, I wouldn't have to worry about True Essence consumption." At this thought, a surge of envy welled up in her heart.
That fellow Fang Yuan followed the strength path. Strength-path Gu consumed the least True Essence, and with his ninety-percent Grade A Aptitude, his True Essence was abundantly plentiful. The Heaven Origin Treasure Lotus, sitting in his hands, couldn't even display its true value — it was a pearl cast before swine!
"If I could buy the Heaven Origin Treasure Lotus from Fang Yuan?"
Bai Ningbing shook her head, quickly dispelling the impractical notion from her mind.
She knew exactly what kind of person Fang Yuan was.
She had never seen him suffer a loss. If one day she truly managed to take the Heaven Origin Treasure Lotus from him, she would undoubtedly have to pay a far heavier price.
"Without the Heaven Origin Treasure Lotus to support me, I'll have to cut down on my current Gu instead."
After careful deliberation, Bai Ningbing decided to abandon the Snowball Gu.
The Snowball Gu was a mid-to-high tier Third Transformation Gu, originally intended to serve as her ranged attack method.
But this Gu consumed far too much True Essence.
A single snowball shot was manageable. But in an intense battle, how could one fire off just a single snowball?
After five or six shots, the True Essence drain became severe.
"Abandon the Snowball Gu. Keep the Ice Cone Gu. The Ice Cone Gu is only Second Transformation, but it can still serve a restraining function. Paired with the Ice Explosion Gu, it can create a real threat."
The Ice Explosion Gu was a Third Transformation Gu that could detonate ice blocks to deliver devastating instantaneous damage.
The larger, older, and colder the ice block, the more powerful the explosion.
In the battle against Tie Daoku just now, it was the Ice Explosion Gu that had turned the tide.
Of course, after detonating the ice, if Bai Ningbing was caught in the blast, she would also take damage. But if she transformed into an ice crystal first, the damage would drop by a tier.
Thinking back on the thrilling battle, Bai Ningbing licked her lips, feeling a rush of excitement.
Most ice-path Gu Masters focused on defense or on trapping enemies. Only fire-path and lightning-path Gu Masters pursued explosive power.
But Bai Ningbing was contrarian by nature. The Ice Explosion Gu had been her own inspiration, and the results had exceeded all expectations.
"The Ice Explosion Gu performs excellently in combat — spectacular, even. I'll continue to develop this approach." Bai Ningbing secretly resolved.
She had originally admired straightforward, ferocious offense — sharp ice winds that shredded everything in their path. But after spending time with Fang Yuan, influenced by her surroundings, she had gradually developed an interest in more cunning tactics.
She was fascinated by all forms of brilliance in the world.
"Ice Crystal Gu, Ice Blade Gu, Ice Cone Gu, Ice Explosion Gu... Could this combination defeat Fang Yuan?"
In her mind, Bai Ningbing always treated Fang Yuan as her primary hypothetical opponent.
"Fang Yuan walks the strength path. He has the All-out Effort Gu. In close combat, he's even more formidable and overbearing than that fellow just now. With my current means, beating him won't be easy. Unless I can recreate my killer move."
Bai Ningbing's killer move was the Ice Blade Storm she had created herself. Originally, she had used the Whirlwind Foot Gu combined with the Cyclone Gu and Ice Knife Gu to form an ice-wind tornado.
But now that Bai Ningbing's horizons had widened, this combination was outdated. The ice-wind tornado could bully Second Transformation cultivators well enough, but at the Third Transformation level, it was already stretching thin.
For days, Bai Ningbing had been contemplating how to improve her killer move, but she still hadn't found a breakthrough.
Suddenly, she thought of something and quickened her pace: "Right! Today is Fang Yuan's first battle after moving to the Fourth Inner City. If I go now, I should still make it in time!"
...
"Kill him, kill him!"
"Zhu Ba, get moving! Ram that brat to death already!"
"Looks to me like Zhu Ba doesn't even need to lift a finger — that kid Fang Zheng is about to collapse on his own."
"Heh heh, this kid's in trouble. Running into Zhu Ba right off the bat — it completely counters his strength-path fighting style."
At the edge of the martial arena, the crowd buzzed with commentary, heads crowding together.