The well water quickly settled once more, without a single ripple, still shimmering with brilliance.
But the mortal gu that Fang Yuan had thrown in had completely vanished into the well water.
Fang Yuan knew his mortal gu had not been destroyed, because he could still sense its existence.
It was just that this sensing had become extraordinarily faint and weak.
The connection between a Gu Insect and a Gu Master had a great deal to do with distance. The farther the Gu Insect was from its master, the weaker the connection. When a Gu Master used a Gu Insect, flickering their thoughts and issuing ten commands, perhaps nine would be missed, and the Gu Insect would only carry out one.
Of course, this was only true in the vast majority of cases.
There were also a small number of Gu Insects whose sensing range was very far; they could be activated freely even across considerable distances. And some Gu Insects were even more peculiar — the closer they were, the weaker the sensing became, while the farther away they were, the clearer the connection grew.
Originally, Fang Yuan's connection with the mortal gu had been very tight. Now it had suddenly become thin and feeble, as if the distance between them had abruptly stretched enormously.
Following the faint residual sensing in his heart, Fang Yuan slowly locked onto a direction, gradually raising his head.
All he could see was the magnificent ceiling of the Star Palace.
Fang Yuan activated his reconnaissance Gu Insect, and within his field of vision, the roof of the Star Palace gradually turned semi-transparent. Fang Yuan's gaze pierced through the roof, and he saw six enormous circular star shadows suspended in the azure firmament above.
His heart stirred, and his gaze lingered on one of the star shadows. According to the residual sensing in his heart, he knew that his missing mortal gu was right on top of that star shadow!
……
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
The Star Demon Bat flapped its enormous bat wings, immediately stirring up a massive hurricane. At the same time, countless arrows burst into existence out of thin air.
These arrows were composed entirely of starlight and flew at tremendous speed, piercing through the air. They were also incredibly numerous, blanketing toward Immortal Monkey King Shi Lei like a torrential downpour.
Seeing the overwhelming offensive, Shi Lei simply gave a disdainful cold snort: "Nothing but a mere Second Transformation Star Arrow Gu — they just happen to be numerous."
Mortal Path Killer Move — Falling Ash Garment.
Shi Lei's massive body trembled faintly, and in an instant a thin layer of yellowish-white ash-dust coated his entire form.
He neither dodged nor evaded, simply letting the star arrows strike his body.
No matter how many star arrows came, the moment they touched the ash-dust formed by the Falling Ash Garment killer move, their starlight rapidly dimmed. In the blink of an eye, they dissipated without a trace.
The Star Demon Bat lacked intelligence and could not use killer moves. Although the wild Gu Insects parasitizing its body were enormous in scale, it could only rely on sheer numerical accumulation.
How could such an effect compare to the killer moves that human cultivators painstakingly devised through deep contemplation?
"This time, behold my Great Eagle transformation!" Shi Lei bellowed, and a blinding golden radiance erupted from his entire body.
The radiance quickly faded, and Shi Lei had vanished. In his place was a wild beast — the Iron Crown Eagle.
The Iron Crown Eagle spread its wings and circled in the air, its iron-barbed talons radiating a fierce and formidable aura. Its enormous body was in no way inferior to the Star Demon Bat.
In the distance, the Myriad Forms Star Lord quietly watched the battle. Seeing this scene, he sighed helplessly.
The Immortal Monkey King Shi Lei loved battle to the point of obsession; every time they fought, he refused to let the Star Lord lift a finger. Thus far, Shi Lei had already slain eleven wild beasts. Each time he faced a wild beast, he used a different transformation path killer move, transforming into a different creature to fight.
The Myriad Forms Star Lord valued his time and had once tried to persuade Shi Lei, suggesting he use his strongest methods. But Shi Lei flatly refused, saying he wanted to seize this fine opportunity to accumulate as much combat experience in the transformation path as possible — not to waste a single chance, to earnestly build his foundation. In the future, when quantitative change triggered qualitative change, only then could he elevate his own transformation path realm.
The Iron Crown Eagle circled for a while, then suddenly let out a sharp cry and plummeted fiercely toward the Star Demon Bat below.
The Star Demon Bat shrieked wildly, its ferocity flaring. It did not dodge. Instead, it flapped both wings and charged headlong into the Iron Crown Eagle.
The two enormous creatures collided violently in midair. The Star Demon Bat tore with its great maw, the Iron Crown Eagle pecked fiercely with its beak. The Star Demon Bat raked with its bizarre claws, and the Iron Crown Eagle's talons were no less formidable, giving as good as it got.
In a single instant, they exchanged several blows, leaving wounds on each other's bodies. Then both abruptly pulled back, creating distance between them.
The Star Demon Bat gave a triumphant, cackling screech.
The Iron Crown Eagle, into which Shi Lei had transformed, had feathers scattered and broken. It flapped its wings and struggled for a moment before stabilizing its position in the air.
In that exchange, the Iron Crown Eagle had taken a heavy disadvantage, with the Star Demon Bat gaining the clear upper hand.
Not only were its feathers tattered, but there was also a wound on its abdomen, saturated with star path dao marks, continuously oozing blood and suppressing the Iron Crown Eagle's own recovery abilities.
Wild beasts and Gu Immortals were fundamentally different.
A Gu Immortal's body was weak; their power lay in their Gu Insects. Even a strength-path Gu Immortal who tempered a robust physique was still relying on the accumulated effects of Gu.
But a wild beast's strength came from its own physical body. The innate power, defense, and so on of a wild beast's form were things that the human race could not hope to match. Especially as wild beasts grew, their bodies drew close to nature, developing more and more dao marks. When they fought, the wounds they inflicted left behind dao marks. Injuries carrying dao marks were extremely troublesome — they not only nullified the body's natural recovery abilities but also blocked the healing effects of Gu Insects.
Of course, if an immortal gu were parasitizing a wild beast's body, that would be another matter entirely.
The Iron Crown Eagle let out a sharp cry, ignoring its injuries, and charged at the Star Demon Bat once more.
The two collided again in midair. After exchanging several more blows, the Star Demon Bat found an opening. Its bat wing lashed out violently, smashing hard into the Iron Crown Eagle's head.
The Iron Crown Eagle's head swam with dizziness, and it plummeted toward the ground.
The Star Demon Bat soared in the air and beat its wings three times in forceful succession at the falling Iron Crown Eagle.