"What sort of nonsense have you idiots gotten me into now?!"
Huang Mei roared at the members of the Ten Tyrants who had scurried back to his cave like cockroaches in a house the moment a lamp had been lit. They had returned carrying Gu Yue Fang Zheng's provocative message, but by now, the insult had spread so far across San Cha Mountain that Huang Mei had already heard the rumors.
"Who told you all to go out and make trouble?" he bellowed, his face dark with rage. "Don't you all realize we're not on Nan Mountain anymore?"
Slap!
His palm flew ruthlessly, his minions could do nothing but take a beating silently.
The Ten Tyrants were a infamous group that ruled over Nan Mountain, and Huang Mei was their overlord. With a cultivation base at Rank 4 Middle Stage, he naturally had a heavy reputation to protect. He was a demonic path Gu Master but was not a lone cultivator, he essentially ran his territory like an earthly mob boss; his authority relied entirely on fear, prestige, and ruthless dominance. No one had ever dared to openly cross him.
Yet now, this newly emerged Fang Zheng had publicly mocked him - even insulting his long-deceased mother. If Huang Mei failed to answer such a direct challenge, he would lose all respect among the demonic path, which for a man in his position was tantamount to death. Ignoring it was simply impossible.
At the same time, Huang Mei did not genuinely want to fight Fang Zheng.
For one, the Three Kings Inheritance was currently underway, and Heng Mei wanted to extract maximum benefits from the opportunity. Even if he challenged Fang Zheng and won, he would likely suffer injuries, expend primeval essence, or lose valuable Gu worms. Worse yet, it would leave him vulnerable to an ambush by other lurking demonic Gu Masters eager to pick off a weakened victor.
Furthermore, despite being a unfamiliar name, Fang Zheng was clearly no greenhorn. He had recently defeated Xue San Si. Although she was a woman, her raw power was something he respected and did not dare provoke.
Additionally, Fang Zheng had another rank four Gu Master at his side: Gu Yue Qing Shu. While Huang Mei had the remaining members of the Ten Tyrants behind him, not all of them were skilled fighters, and their coordination was abysmal - a common flaw among selfish demonic path cultivators.
To counter Fang Zheng, Huang Mei needed a reliable, powerful ally. He reached out to Fei Li, another strength path demonic Gu Master with Rank 4 Middle Stage cultivation.
Fei Li's vital Gu was the Expend Strength Gu, which was exceptionally effective when fighting fellow Strength Path cultivators. Unlike other paths, Strength Path Gu Masters didn't require massive amounts of primeval essence to fight, relying instead on physical stamina. However, the Expend Strength Gu artificially amplified an opponent's physical strain during combat by doubling it, dragging any battle into a brutal war of attrition that rapidly exhausted their physical body.
After paying a substantial sum to enlist Fei Li's aid, Huang Mei marched alongside his new ally to confront Fang Zheng at his cave dwelling at the time that Fang Zheng had stated.
As Fang Zheng stepped out of his cave, he glanced at Huang Mei and smirked. "Oh? It looks like you've finally shown up... and you brought your boyfriend along, too? How cute."
Huang Mei's brow furrowed in rage. "Fang Zheng! You dare publicly mock the head of the Ten Tyrants? You are courting death! Affronting a man's reputation is no different than stealing his wealth. Do you truly think I am someone you can push around so easily? Take back you words, or else don't blame me for being ruthless."
Despite his fierce chest-thumping, Huang Mei was still trying to project an intimidating aura to force Fang Zheng to either retreat or negotiate. He still wished to avoid a life-or-death battle. Normally, unknown Gu Masters sought out famous opponents to kill them and strengthen their prestige especially those among the demonic path, but Huang Mei already possessed a solid reputation.
Fang Zheng, being a member of the righteous path, had far more to gain from clan connections than sheer notoriety. Why was he pursuing this feud so aggressively?
Huang Mei couldn't remember ever doing anything to provoke the man, or the Gu Yue Clan either for that matter.
Before Huang Mei could ponder further, Qing Shu stepped out from behind Fang Zheng.
"Oh? Fei Li, you came straight to us," Qing Shu said calmly.
Fei Li was mildly surprised and flattered that Qing Shu knew his name, but his satisfaction and warm feelings vanished with Qing Shu's very next sentence.
"Fei Li, your death is written by my hands," Qing Shu declared coldly, his eyes radiating pure killing intent. "Your very existence on the same mountain as I am is an offense. I was planning to hunt you down myself, but to think you delivered yourself straight to my door. How convenient!"
Fei Li's jaw dropped. He had never met Gu Yue Qing Shu before, nor did he understand why the man harbored such intense, sudden malice toward him. Nevertheless, he gritted his teeth and raised his fists in a battle stance.
"Hold on, Brother Qing Shu," Fang Zheng said, holding up a hand. "I expected a one-on-one fight. But if you want to make it a two-on-one, that's fine by me. There is no need for you to be involved." Fang Zheng cracked his knuckles and gestured for Qing Shu to step back. "Just like Huang Mei's mother, I can easily take two men at once!"
"What?!" Both Huang Mei and Fei Li stared in utter disbelief.
Fang Zheng was not only refusing to step down, but he was also proposing to fight two Rank 4 Middle Stage experts simultaneously.
Huang Mei couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had come here to see if the two of them could reach a concord. But this person was still trying to pick a fight instead of de-escalating things? Just who was the righteous path person here, and who was the demonic one?
Meanwhile, Qing Shu actually complied, stepping back to guard the perimeter. Fang Zheng had deliberately asked Qing Shu to hold back so that he could watch for interference from the other members of the Ten Tyrants or third-party opportunists. He was not afraid of these two, but it would become a problem if he was caught off guard.
Confident in his own methods, Fang Zheng lunged forward, and a violent battle erupted.
'Attacking without warning? What's wrong with this righteous path scoundrel?'
Fei Li and Huang Mei both got into defensive positions.
Half an hour later, both Fei Li and Huang Mei were in absolute agony. Their surroundings had been completely pummeled and turned into a flat land simply from the background effects of their fight.
Wounds covered their bodies, several of their ribs were fractured, and severe bruising had set in. Fang Zheng, by contrast, remained completely untouched. His defensive gu methods were so formidable that neither of their attacks could break through his guard.
Though they had anticipated his high defense, they had severely underestimated his explosive offensive power and mobility, assuming given the way that Fang Zheng challenged Xue San Si that he must be a defense specialist and was not good in other areas.
To their shock, he was nearly equally good in offense as well as movement.
Whenever Fang Zheng struck, massive beast phantoms manifested in the air above him, landing devastating blows.
Normally, when a Gu Master uses a Strength Path Gu - such as a Horse Strength Gu - they only gain a fraction of that beast's physical power due to the inherent differences in human and animal anatomy, being unable to display that beasts full strength.
However, if a Gu Master successfully manifests a beast phantom, they bypassed human physical form limitations and channel 100% of that beast's true force. Manifesting a beast phantom usually relied on luck, but Fang Zheng possessed the All-Out Effort Gu, allowing him to summon his beast phantoms with absolute 100% success on every single strike.
By now, Fei Li's Exert Strength Gu had gradually taken its toll.
Fang Zheng's breathing was growing heavy, and his muscles felt weighed down by unnatural fatigue even if he was not injured. His opponents still had hope in their hearts. Even if Fang Zheng was stronger in both offense and defense, if Fang Zheng got so tired that he could barely move - what did it matter?
Noticing his own physical drain, Fang Zheng reached into his aperture and retrieved a bright green pill-like gu worm. Unlike standard gu worms that were activated directly from the aperture, this unique worm had to be swallowed whole.
It was a Super Energy Pill Gu - a Rank 3 Pill Path gu worm provided to him by Fang Yuan. Upon consumption, it instantly purged all physical fatigue and granted a massive surge of stamina, allowing a Gu Master to fight continuously for up to three days and three nights without rest.
Many of the witches in the Mushroomman Blessed Land liked to combine this with Blue Pill Gu and hand it to their husbands, enjoying several night's worth of continuous fun.
It had its own drawbacks, however. After being used the Gu Master needed to rest for at least twenty-four hours continuously otherwise there would be deleterious health effects. And using too many pills in quick succession always carried the risk of injuring one's liver.
Fang Zheng popped the pill into his mouth and swallowed. Instantly, the heavy exhaustion vanished from his limbs, replaced by a torrent of fresh energy. He launched himself forward with terrifying speed.
"What?! Despite fighting for so long he's not exhausted at all?!" Fei Li gasped in horror.