In the exchange of blows, he was already panting heavily. Gao Wan, on the other hand, maintained a deep, steady breath. There was a significant gap in stamina between the two.
At the same time, as Gao Wan warmed up, his body gradually heated. His punches grew faster and faster, shaking off the numbness and sluggishness brought by the cold. He was finally beginning to show the true depth of his decades of hard training.
"Kid, you can't beat me. The clan rules clearly state that you are not allowed to use the Moonlight Gu within the academy. You're done for — today, you are destined to become my prisoner!" Gao Wan laughed hideously. With his vast combat experience, he tried to use words to break Fang Yuan's fighting spirit.
"I'm still just a teenager. My body hasn't fully developed, and my physical ability can't compare to this brute's." Mental State Chapter Thirty-Five: Let the Ice Roar. After five hundred years of tempering, how could his fighting spirit possibly be shaken?
"Moonlight Gu!" He activated his True Essence with a thought while leaping a step backward, putting distance between himself and Gao Wan.
Gao Wan moved to close in, but suddenly saw a layer of blue watery light emanating from Fang Yuan's palm.
His expression darkened immediately. "Kid, using Gu Insects in combat within the academy — that is a violation of clan rules!"
"So what if I'm violating them?" Fang Yuan gave a cold laugh. He had studied the clan rules and mastered them thoroughly — never for the purpose of obeying them.
Without hesitation, his palm sliced toward Gao Wan in a cutting motion through empty air.
With a sharp hissing sound, the blue Moon Blade shot directly toward Gao Wan's face.
Gao Wan gritted his teeth, raising both arms and folding them together in front of his face to form an arm shield. At the same time, he didn't stop moving, charging toward Fang Yuan with the intention of enduring the blow head-on and finishing this quickly.
The Moon Blade struck his arm, and with a wet squelch, flesh and blood sprayed into the moonlight. An excruciating wave of pain shot through Gao Wan's nerves. Caught completely off guard, he nearly blacked out from the agony.
"How is this possible?!" His charge came to an abrupt halt. With dawning horror, he discovered that both of his forearms had been sliced open horizontally in deep gashes. Blood gushed ceaselessly from the wounds, and from the side he could see the blood-soaked muscle and flesh. He could even see the pale, fractured bone.
Gao Wan was struck with terror. "Impossible! A First Transformation Initial Stage Moon Blade should only be able to wound my flesh. How could it cut through my bones? Only a First Transformation Middle Stage could do this!!"
Of course, he had no idea that although Fang Yuan was only a First Transformation Initial Stage Gu Master, the refinement provided by the Wine Worm had granted him True Essence at the First Transformation Middle Stage.
With Middle Stage True Essence powering it, the Moon Blade fired from the Moonlight Gu naturally wielded far greater power than an Initial Stage one.
"This is bad — there's something wrong with this kid!!" Caught off guard, Gao Wan had already suffered devastating wounds. His fighting spirit completely evaporated, and he made the immediate decision to flee.
"Think you can get away?" Fang Yuan sneered, launching into pursuit as Moon Blades fired off from his hand in rapid succession.
"Help!!" Gao Wan screamed and shouted, fleeing with all his might, his cries echoing far through the silent academy.
"What's going on? Someone's calling for help!" The shout alarmed the nearby academy guards.
"That's a servant left behind by Miss Mo Yan of the Mo Family." The guards rushed over, saw the scene of pursuit and killing, and all stopped in their tracks.
"He's just a servant — there's no need to protect him!"
"Leaving him behind is already giving the Mo Family face."
"We should still be careful, though. Don't want him desperate enough to lash out and hurt that Fang Yuan."
The tense guards surrounded them but didn't intervene, content to simply watch from the sidelines.
This servant called Gao Wan could die for all they cared — it had nothing to do with them. But if Fang Yuan died or got injured, that would be their responsibility.
Seeing this, Gao Wan's heart went completely cold. He let out a shrill, desperate cry: "We're all people from other families! You can't just stand there and watch me die!"
He was losing more and more blood, and his speed was steadily slowing.
Fang Yuan caught up from behind, his voice cold as ice as he pronounced Gao Wan's death sentence: "Keep screaming. No matter how loud you yell, it won't help you."
As he spoke, he flipped his blade-hand, and two consecutive Moon Blades shot out.
With two whooshing sounds, they struck Gao Wan's neck squarely.
Gao Wan felt his heart go cold, as if he had stepped into a bottomless abyss.
In the next moment, his vision violently spun, and he actually saw his own feet, his chest, his back... and his severed neck.
Then, he welcomed complete darkness.
Gao Wan was dead.
Decapitated by two Moon Blades from Fang Yuan, his head went flying while his body ran another ten meters before it finally collapsed. Bright red blood gushed from his neck like a fountain, staining the surrounding flowers and grass blood red.