In the blood lake, two strong foes opposed each other.
"Even the Rank five Blood Wight is only a zombie at the end. First gen Gu Yue, you are no longer a living person, you are full of death essence. Your aperture is dead too, and even though you can store primeval essence, every bit you use cannot be replenished, you cannot recover on your own," the giant puppet said coldly.
"Hehehe… although I cannot recover primeval essence, so what? I can continue to use primeval stones to regain primeval essence. You have an injury on you, yet you dare disturb me… die!" First gen Gu Yue shouted.
At once, blood mist spewed out, and as blood waves raged on, a large group of insects flew out from the blood lake.
It was the Rank five Blood Guillotine!
At the same time, troops of bladewing blood bats flew out from the cave ceiling and emerged from the blood lake, joining together and attacking towards the giant puppet.
A large pack of bats, almost a thousand of them, formed into a huge army.
Although they were Rank three and were a close-combat type Gu, but numbers made up for quality, even the Rank five Tie Xue Leng felt a headache fighting against them.
But that was not the end, for after First gen Gu Yue's consciousness awakened, under his command, troops of blood bats continued to show up, gathering here.
He had operated there for almost a thousand years, and had a heaven shattering scheme. He had converted the place into his personal backyard, thus having a great location advantage.
Blood bat groups were organised, staying in formation in the air, continuing to move around like a strong army, surrounding the giant puppet.
The blood river python stopped struggling, instead coiling up its body. This caused Tie Xue Leng to feel a threat, and he concentrated his mind even further.
A Gu's power although strong, was unintelligent. A blood bat army with or without a Gu Master's control, had a hell of a difference.
Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu!
Howl!The giant puppet opened its mouth, giving off a howl that shook the nine heavens. At once, the overwhelming soundwaves rushed towards all directions like the sound of thunder.
The bladewing blood bat Gu closeby were instantly murdered by this power, falling down one by one.
Blood bat groups further away were in disarray from the attack, flying randomly in the air.
The concentrated bat army earlier had in a split second, gone into chaos and could not have any utility in the next short period.
Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu was as high as Rank five, and it was an area-of-effect type that specialized in dealing with blood bat groups. When Tie Xue Leng first used it, the power was not strong, but that was due to him keeping it down forcefully. Now that he used the body of the giant puppet, he could display the true power of the Heaven Earth Magnificent Sound Gu.
Even numerous Blood Guillotine all over the sky were killed. As the blood mist dispersed, clear vision returned.
The soundwaves bounced off the walls as the entire space within the mountain started trembling.
With the giant puppet as the focal point, the blood lake's water level was forced downwards, forming a bowl shape in the lake, and the blood water oozed out through the cave opening.
Fang Yuan who is sitting atop the mountain frowned as he glanced in the clouds and then at Tie Ruo Nan on the ground in the distance.
....
"Hehehe, with this grudge of mine, I shall start taking revenge on your descendants," the elderly figure in the sky laughed, staring down at the battlefield, stretching his thin and dry finger and pointing downwards.
The white crane below him raised its long and elegant neck, crying out in a bright and loud voice.
The voice spread through the skies, and from far away, there were many return calls.
The crane cries went on endlessly, all at different pitches, giving off an impressive magnitude. This was not over a hundred canes, nor a few thousand crying at once; it was the collective cries of over ten thousand flying cranes that could cause such an effect.
"Is there a migrating flock of cranes nearby?" Out of nowhere, Fang Zheng felt a strong sense of danger.
The crane cries attracted the attention of the Gu Masters in the arena, turning their heads to look at them.
"What's that in the sky?"
"From the sound, I'd say its a large herd of migrating birds. Tell all the Gu Masters not to attack recklessly and bring trouble upon themselves!" Bai clan leader was just saying, but suddenly he came to a halt.
His eyes dilated, seeing one, two, three… almost ten thousand cranes in the sky, clumped together and attacking towards the arena.
"How can this be?"
"Get your guard on, defend!"
"Let's escape, there are ten thousand cranes here, there has to be a myriad beast king."
"The wolf tide's isn't over yet, now we have a crane disaster? Oh Heavens, Qing Mao Mountain is truly a place of disasters."
Gu Masters started commenting, expressing the shock in their hearts as their spirits wavered.
"Everyone, the enemy is before us, our Gu Yue village has a method to deal with the enemy, quickly assemble with me and kill our way out!"
The voice echoed in the battlefield, attracting numerous gazes.
"What? Gu Yue clan still has a trump card to deal with a Rank five?"
"Believing in it is better than nothing!"
"Brothers, let's go, gather with the Gu Yue clan leader!!"
They were already despairing, but now that Gu Yue Bo said it, they saw some hope.
"Gu Yue clan… hehe, you are all senior brother's descendants." On the huge crane, the white brow elderly laughed coldly, about to command the cranes to intercept, but on second thoughts, he stopped that idea.
"Why not let these people escape back, so I can finish them off together. But these are all his descendants, so in the battle later, I can use them to threaten him. But these three Rank four Gu Masters have the ability to interfere with the battle, I cannot let them stay, I shall kill them first!"
Thinking so, the white brow elderly screeched strangely, flicking his finger and sending three balls of light flying.
"What Gu is this?" Xiong clan leader was first hit by the white ball, and after getting covered by it, his speed fell drastically, slower than a snail.
The other two clan leaders were the same.
Collision sounds were heard from the back, and under the mystical and cruel fate, the three clan leaders who hated each other worked together tightly right now, battling against the mysterious elderly with their life on the line.
The results of this battle, was decided from the start.
The three clan leaders died one by one as the white brow elderly flicked his sleeves, sitting firmly on the huge crane. Flying cranes engulfed the skies as they gradually forced their way into Gu Yue village.
Gu Yue village was in chaos, and the sad cries of people were heard everywhere.
Immediately, the village fell into chaos once again.
"Senior brother, your junior, I have come here all the way to see you. Why aren't you coming out to meet me?" White-brow elderly stood on the crane's back, his tone full of icy killing intent.
Before he was finished, on the village square, blood water gushed out like a ten metre fountain, and the bright red coffin appeared vertically.
As a blood wight, First gen Gu Yue stood inside the coffin, his blood red eyes staring closely at the white-brow elderly.
"To think that you didn't die… how did you find this place? As expected, that Gu Master earlier was instigated by you!" First gen Gu Yue said hatefully.
....
A few moments earlier—
Tie Ruo Nan stood anxiously at the foot of the mountain, waiting for her father.
Suddenly, the entire mountain began to tremble, and then—she saw him.
A figure clad in a black robe stood atop the mountain, gazing down.
In that instant, his dark irises locked with hers.
And a sudden chill ran down her spine.
Tie Ruo Nan immediately moved, a pair of black steel wings emerging from her back as she tried to flew into mid-air.
But at this time, a green shadow shot over.
Rank five — Giant mountain puppet Gu!
This Gu looked like a bronze mask. Its appearance was simple, only showing both eyes and mouth. The bronze mask was covered in blood, flying towards the young girl's face disregarding her shock.
"Father!" Seeing the blood traces, Tie Ruo Nan screamed subconsciously.
At this time, a large steel hand flew over as well, grabbing Tie Ruo Nan and flying far away without a moment of pause.
The figure atop the mountain cast a cold glance at the fleeing silhouette and let out a dismissive snort.
Whoosh!
In an instant, two massive brown wings—each nearly four meters in length—unfurled from his back. With a gust of wind, he soared down the mountainside, heading straight toward Tie Xue Leng and Tie Ruo Nan.
"Divine Investigator," the boy said as he suddenly appeared before them, blocking their path, "before you leave, hand over all your Gu."
The young man standing before them looked no older than Tie Ruo Nan. Yet his aura—powerful and oppressive—clearly marked him as a Rank 5 Upper Stage Gu Master. Both Tie Xue Leng and Tie Ruo Nan were shaken by the revelation.
Without a word, Tie Xue Leng's giant puppet lunged forward to attack. But in a flash, a white blade shot out from the boy's palm—so fast and sharp that it cleanly sliced through the puppet's arm.
"AAAH!" Tie Xue Leng cried out as the feedback tore through his body. Tie Ruo Nan stared in horror, unable to believe her eyes.
The giant puppet's defense was known to be near-impenetrable, immune to most Gu attacks. Yet this was the first time they'd seen it so effortlessly dismantled.
The boy spoke again, his voice calm but chilling.
"Tie Xue Leng, I'm giving you a chance. Leave your Gu worms behind and go. If you don't—I'll take them from your corpses."
Tie Xue Leng hesitated, then looked hard at the boy. After a moment, he took a deep breath and tossed all his Gu worms—save for a flying Gu—toward the youth."
The massive puppet reverted to its mask form, and it was thrown towards the youth.
Seeing this, the boy stepped aside, allowing them to pass.
Without a word, Tie Xue Leng grabbed Tie Ruo Nan and took to the sky, flying off into the distance.
As they disappeared, Tie Ruo Nan cast one last look back—eyes filled with hatred—before vanishing into the clouds.
The boy simply shook his head at the sight, then calmly collected the discarded Gu worms and stored them away.
He turned and entered a hidden rock cave inside the mountain. Inside, the Heavenly Essence Treasure Lotus still hovered quietly—missing just a single petal.
He tossed in a few primeval stones. As the petal regenerated, he picked up the fully restored lotus and stored it within his aperture, suppressing it with other Rank 5 Gu worms.
This young man… was none other than Fang Yuan.