Round thirteen…
Round fourteen…
Round seventeen…
Round eighteen…
Fang Yuan pushed through round after round, the number of hound beasts in his command growing steadily. By the end of the nineteenth round, he had accumulated over eighty hound beasts.
Among them were more than forty Chrysanthemum Akita Hounds, over twenty Electric Hounds, and nineteen Hedgehog Hounds.
During this period, he had killed another person — a Water Path Third Transformation Peak Stage Gu Master, from whom he obtained six Gu Insects.
However, he had still not run into Bai Ningbing.
"Round twenty." Fang Yuan kept count in his mind.
The Three Kings' Legacy increased its difficulty by several times every ten rounds.
Starting from the twentieth round, Hundred Beast Kings would appear — battles involving herds of a hundred, several hundred, or even nearly a thousand hound beasts.
Three clusters of light emerged once more from the mist, positioned to the left, right, and ahead.
The cluster in front was tangerine-yellow, roughly the size of a large basket.
The cluster on the left was a ghostly blue electric glow, constantly flickering, about the size of a millstone.
The cluster on the right was like a moon reflected in water, a flower glimpsed through fog — an ethereal, whitish-green shape that seemed to flicker in and out of existence. Of the three, this cluster was the smallest.
Fang Yuan understood perfectly: the size of the light clusters hinted at the number of hound beasts. The larger the cluster, the greater the herd.
The tangerine-yellow light ahead represented over two hundred Chrysanthemum Akita Hounds. The ghostly blue light on the left indicated roughly one hundred and fifty Electric Hounds. The whitish-green light on the right signaled a Yin Hound pack — the smallest herd, just over a hundred.
Fang Yuan eliminated the Chrysanthemum Akita Hounds first.
Once a Chrysanthemum Akita Hound pack had a king, it became far more unified. The larger the number, the stronger its fighting power. Over two hundred Chrysanthemum Akita Hounds would be an outright disaster for Fang Yuan.
Next, he eliminated the Yin Hound pack.
Yin Hounds were peculiar. They had no solid bodies — they resembled dog-shaped wisps of yin energy, drifting through the air. Conventional attacks could not kill them, and they could phase through rock, burrow underground, hide in water, and so on.
Fang Yuan's hound beasts had no such abilities. The Electric Hounds only represented speed; they lacked the talent to project electrical force outward.
After a brief moment of thought, Fang Yuan chose the left direction.
The mist dissipated, and the hound pack surrounded him, following silently. A Second Transformation Hound-Commanding Gu descended from the sky and landed in his hand.
When he stepped fully out of the mist, the Electric Hound herd was scattered loosely nearby.
On a hilltop, a massive hound beast lay sprawled on the grass, its eyes half-closed in a doze.
It was over twice the size of an ordinary Electric Hound, its entire body covered in deep blue fur. The tips of its fur were sharp and glinted with faint sparks of electricity.
This was the Hundred Beast King — the Great Electric Hound!
"Heaven-sent opportunity!" Fang Yuan appraised the entire battlefield, his eyes flashing with sharp light as he made his decision in an instant.
With a sweep of his hand, he threw his entire force forward without hesitation.
Over eighty hound beasts enveloped him in their midst and charged toward the Great Electric Hound.
The Great Electric Hound reacted swiftly. Its ears twitched, and it snapped its eyes open, standing up in a flash like lightning.
It raised its head and let out a long howl, summoning the Electric Hound herd on the surrounding hills.
Receiving their king's call, the surrounding Electric Hounds immediately responded, converging on the king's position from all directions.
Though the Electric Hounds were fast, Fang Yuan held the initiative.
He concentrated every ounce of his strength into a single thrust, striking directly at the heart of the formation without the slightest hesitation!
Some of the nearby Electric Hounds reached the king's side before Fang Yuan did.
"Charge!" A look of iron resolve flickered in Fang Yuan's eyes. Moments like these demanded decisiveness above all else. Having made up his mind, he pressed forward without looking back.
The Electric Hounds that moved to block him were quickly scattered by his charge.
Fang Yuan's formation was dense, while the Electric Hound herd was loosely gathered and had assembled in small numbers.
"WOOF!"
As the Hundred Beast King, the Great Electric Hound saw its subordinates being slaughtered and was instantly driven into a frenzy. All four paws thundered against the ground as it lunged at Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan directed his thoughts, splitting over twenty Electric Hounds into two squads that flanked left and right. Nineteen Hedgehog Hounds formed into a formation and charged headlong at the Great Electric Hound, utterly fearless. Meanwhile, the main force — over forty Chrysanthemum Akita Hounds — surrounded Fang Yuan in a looser formation, advancing behind the Hedgehog Hound ranks.
The Great Electric Hound plunged straight into the encirclement Fang Yuan had laid and found itself trapped at the center.
Fang Yuan ignored the severe drain on his mental energy, pushing his hound beasts to their limits and executing a masterful coordination of forces.
The Great Electric Hound was even faster than the Electric Hounds, but under Fang Yuan's deliberate encirclement, its greatest advantage was neutralized.
It threw back its head and howled wildly, attempting to summon its subordinates.
Its underlings were rushing frantically toward this location, coming to their king's rescue.
On one hand, Fang Yuan had to keep the Great Electric Hound pinned. On the other, he had to fend off the incoming tide of hounds from outside. The pressure was immense, and before long a dull ache throbbed in his head as a layer of sweat beaded across his forehead.
The situation was growing dangerous.
Had he opted for a direct head-on clash, even victory would have come at a devastating cost — his remaining forces would have been nearly wiped out. That was why Fang Yuan's strategy was to capture the king to subdue the pack.
But if he failed to control this Hundred Beast King, then he would be the one encircled and annihilated. Not only would he fail and have no hope of advancing to the next round — he might even lose his life on the spot.
Within this Gu Immortal's blessed land, apart from the Gu Insects granted by the Legacy, no other Gu could be activated. For this reason, Gu Masters were extremely vulnerable to death.
The Force Gu and the Full Effort Gu on Fang Yuan's person likewise could not be used.
Of course, he still held his ultimate trump card — the Spring Autumn Cicada. In its current state, he could just barely activate it once more. But activating the Spring Autumn Cicada carried enormous risk. There was a very high chance he would simply self-destruct and die for nothing. So unless he was driven to the very brink of desperation, Fang Yuan would absolutely not use it recklessly.