Zuo Chen at first thought that there was something akin to a minor earthquake happening.

His investigative Gu worms were being set off by some kind of tremor.

However, that was all the forewarning that he received before he could react further or even think a breath’s time more.

Something jumped out of the soil fifty paces away from him. He immediately paused, seeing that it was a giant spider, the Thousand Li- no, the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider. Rank 4 aura emanated from the gu worm and the Gu Master who stood atop it.

Zuo Chen looked around. He was not afraid of fighting, but naturally, against a single enemy, if he had the aid of those two, it would have been helpful.

‘If only I hadn’t sent them both out to scout the surrounding area. And if only Zuo Ming was more trustworthy, I wouldn’t have had to send Zuo Lin to go and essentially babysit him.’

But there was no regretting that now.

“Good morning,” the Gu Master atop the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider said with a gentle smile. Despite standing before a demonic Gu Master, his face was tranquil, as if he was simply going out on a morning stroll and admiring the weather today. “My name is Gu Yue Fang Yuan, and I am the Clan Head of the Gu Yue Clan.”

“I had some idea that such might be the case,” Zuo Chen said, relaxing a little. There was reportedly no other Rank 4 Gu Master on Qing Mao Mountain.

“I came here to discuss terms,” Fang Yuan said. Zuo Chen had expected that. ‘Quite bold of you to come here alone,’ he thought to himself.

However, that was not necessarily true. There are countless ways of hiding, and Fang Yuan could simply be delaying him and waiting for reinforcements to arrive. There could be other Gu Masters hiding around the place. His investigative Gu worm was not as good as his others which is why he had nearly been blindsided by the Hundred Li Earthwolf Spider, and there were ways that a single gu worm could be fooled.

“So, I take it then that you’re here to express your willingness to surrender unconditionally?” Zuo Chen said, laughing.

“No, actually,” Fang Yuan said. “My offer was completely different. Hand over all of your Blood Path Gu worms to me, and I might consider sparing your life.”

Zuo Chen stopped laughing, glaring at Fang Yuan, who did not so much as flinch, still wearing the same calm expression on his face. “Do you really think that you can kill me? Me, a Blood Path expert, who is a Master in terms of attainment? The legendary Blood Tiger! You dare try to extort me?”

Whenever Zuo Chen mentioned the fact that he was a Blood Path Master to most people; their faces would pale and they would begin sweating bullets. However, Fang Yuan simply smirked and said, “Blood Path Master? How cute.”

‘So, you’re bluffing.’ Zuo Chen assumed.

Even though he himself was only Rank 4 Upper Stage and Fang Yuan was Rank 4 Peak Stage, Zuo Chen was fully confident in his own ability to win.

Cultivation level was not all that mattered when it came to fights, and the Blood Path was an excellent path when it came to combat. Not to mention, he had a trump card up his sleeve: a mortal killer move that he had invented after meditating upon the profundities of the Blood Path for much time.

Fang Yuan sighed. “How unfortunate that you wouldn’t listen to reason, then.” Fang Yuan gave no further warning before striking out at Zuo Chen, who immediately leaped back.

‘This rascal,’ he thought to himself. ‘Attacking someone without even stating that they were going to fight, when they had been negotiating terms just a while earlier. Righteous Path hypocrite!’ Zuo Chen still had his eyes not only on Fang Yuan but on the other parts of the battlefield as well.

Gu Masters like Fang Yuan wouldn’t have come to fight him unless they were completely confident in their ability to win. He might be rumored to be righteous and virtuous, but that did not mean that he was an idiot. Meaning he probably did, as a matter of fact, have some kind of ace up his sleeve.

So, the best thing was to simply kill him as quickly as possible before he could use anything like that. Zuo Chen activated his killer move.

Rank 4 Blood Claw Gu, a gu worm that took the form of a pair of retractable claws around the Gu Master’s fists, causing the enemy to hemorrhage heavily wherever they struck.

Rank 4 Blood Fangs Gu, which did the same, erupting a pair of fangs from the Gu Master’s mouth.

Rank 4 Blood Agility Gu, a gu worm which greatly increased the Gu Master’s speed depending on how much blood was stored within it. At Rank 4, it needed about 100 liters to show its full effect.

And finally, Rank 3 Bloodlust Gu. It greatly improved the offensive power of the Gu Master in question; however, it caused a corresponding decrease in defense. Not that Zuo Chen minded. His battle style was to go all out, to kill the enemy in a single strike before they could even react. His philosophy was that the opponent couldn’t hit you so long as they were dead.

All of these Gu worms combined to form the mortal killer move – Blood Tiger!

He leaped at Fang Yuan, intending to separate his head from his shoulders.

His speed and strength were such that even a Rank 5 defensive-type gu worm would have difficulty defending against the blow.

Fang Yuan did have an answer for this however, retreating ten paces so that the first strike missed.

Zuo Chen pivoted as he had been expecting this, activated his killer move again, and went for another strike.

However, just as he was three paces away from Fang Yuan, something happened. The synergy between his Gu worms suddenly broke, and he coughed out a mouthful of blood. Fang Yuan sidestepped him, striking him in the ribs, breaking several of them with his fist and tossing him to the side.

Zhu Chen coughed out another mouthful of blood at the injury. However, he began focusing himself despite the pain.

‘What on Earth was that? What had happened?’ He had gone to strike at Fang Yuan. But somehow… the mortal killer move had failed, causing him to undergo backlash! This had never happened before, and he glared at Fang Yuan with wary eyes.

“Not a bad mortal killer move,” Fang Yuan said. “Too bad that I can spot at least eighteen different flaws within it. You truly do need to work on it better.”

‘Eighteen flaws?’ Zuo Chen thought to himself. He himself knew of only six flaws within the killer move, though he had been unable to patch them up simply because he lacked the requisite gu worms. How had Fang Yuan spotted so many flaws within his technique so quickly? Not only that, he had also responded by breaking it after only seeing it once, causing him to undergo backlash.

During his earlier life, Fang Yuan often had to fight other Blood Path Gu Masters after the Blood Path exploded in popularity after the Five Region’s War and had developed various ways of countering them.

It was difficult to do so to one of Rank 5 with his current strength, such as when facing off against the first gen Clan Head. However, he had been able to spot the fatal flaw within Zuo Chen’s killer move and had been able to respond appropriately.

It was a rather rudimentary killer move, Fang Yuan felt, though it would be overwhelming indeed to any ordinary Gu Master.

Zuo Chen healed himself before launching himself at Fang Yuan once more. This time, he did not activate all of his Gu worms, only using Blood Claws Gu and Blood Agility Gu.

As Zuo Chen felt his strength being sapped from him, Fang Yuan sidestepped his blow once more, shooting out a Vermilion Blood Moon Blade, which nearly bisected him had he not dodged in time.

“Blood Path methods!” he yelled out. “To think that Fang Yuan, who maintains the facade of a Righteous Path Gu Master, was actually dabbling in the Blood Path!” It explained how he had managed to unravel his killer move so quickly before. ‘Is he also a Master when it comes to the Blood Path and its attainment?’ Zhu Chen thought to himself.

He had not been expecting this development at all.

“I will ask you only once more,” Fang Yuan said. “Hand over your Blood Path gu worms, and I may consider sparing your life.”

“I’ve said the same words multiple times to others. Do you think that I would fall to them myself?” Zuo Chen scoffed. “Zuo Ming! Zuo Lin! Come on out and let’s teach this brat a lesson.”

As part of his investigative methods, he was able to sense those with a similar bloodline as himself. He was mainly using this so that Zuo Ming would not betray him. He could therefore tell that those two were nearby, and he was calling upon them to strike at Fang Yuan.

Only that help never came.

It was only when he turned his eyes to see what those two idiots were doing instead of attacking that he realized why they hadn’t attacked.

Because those two were not standing near the battlefield. Instead, there was a woman with long white hair and blue eyes that were as clear as crystal. She was as beautiful as an ice sculpture and carried an expression as cold as the frost that enveloped the base of the mountain. In each hand, she held a severed head- the heads of his teammates.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep