Fei Cai did not stop his hunt after a single black venom python. Instead, he traveled deeper into the forest. He was clear about the fact that any gu master must have an efficient system of gu worms. Gu masters use, nurture, and refine gu worms. These three subjects were so elaborate that nobody could ever proclaim to have mastered any of these aspects. And attaining an efficient system of gu worms was just one of the many complicated subjects in these three aspects.
'Every gu worm belongs to a certain path. After going through the library, I'm certain that any aspect of life and nature can be turned into a 'path' if the gu master is talented and insightful. A well-developed path of gu worms would have its set of attack, defense, movement, investigative, refining, support, and other variants of gu worms. Just like my current set of gu worms. Ice Wall gu is to control the flow of battle. Floating Ice Crystal Shield is a defense type gu worm. Icy Breath can turn my surroundings colder and is a support type gu worm. The same applies to the enslavement path. Many young gu masters believe that enslavement path just comprises of only Enslavement gu worms but that is incorrect.'
'My rank 1 galloping thought gu is a mixture of two paths— Enslavement and Wisdom. But it naturally lies under the enslavement path. To control beast groups, a gu master needs to think like a beast sometimes, too. Not to mention, there are gu worms like beast share life gu, which is an enslavement path healing type gu worm. But, innovation has changed things. Despite the high demand for resources for such a path, another path has now intermixed with enslavement path.'
'Enslavement path, Wisdom Path, and Soul Path. These three dao were actually founded and pioneered by three Venerables! However, aside from the Soul Qi gu worm series, the computer gu has no other soul path gu worm of different types because it was innovated after Thieving Heaven by Spectral Soul Demon Venerable! In this case, the inheritance given by Fei Qing is richer in soul path gu worms.'
Fei Cai sighed softly. Even Thieving Heaven's major was Theft Path but Fei Cai couldn't pursue it. First, the path and its gu worms were highly coveted. Second, the resources needed to refine theft path gu worms were extremely rare.
'But with a basic set of Ice Path gu worms, I will be able to deal with most of the situations. Then, I can freely dabble into other paths and even try to fulfill Fei Qing's condition. Before that, I need to refine instinct gu worms once again. I have already purchased the materials... let's do that tonight.
Fei Cai's gaze flashed and he stopped. He suddenly found a strange shift in the surroundings and his slightly rusty experience kicked in. Stepping down of the horse, instead of making Lo take the risk, Fei Cai controlled the horse using enslavement gu and made it charge into the direction of the slightly greyed-out region. The ground was charred and the middle region of the surrounding trunks was darker in color.
*Neigh*
With a loud call, Terror Horse charged into the region valiantly as a small shadow hurriedly escaped and perched on the nearest branch. Seeing the beast, Fei Cai and Lo became slightly excited.
The beast's body was the size of an ordinary dog. Its body was covered with dark-red feathers and a long neck stretched out, revealing soft and tender flesh. But the bird beast had terrifying claws.
A Violent Ostrich!
This beast had no sense of home and roams the forest, attacking every living being in its gaze and feasting on it. This type of bird would always end up dying to someone stronger but not only that, the strength of the beast was categorized as equal to a rank 1 gu master. This fact made Fei Cai more cautious and it called back the terror horse under its control.
"Lo, keep your poison arrow prepared," Fei Cai commanded and made the youth take a step back. A small glow from Fei Cai's body perked up the ostrich on the tree. A small gu worm floated. It looked like a palm-sized white-furred mole. It instantly dug into the ground and disappeared while Fei Cai began to sense a connection with the surrounding of a radius of 100 steps as if he was in a strange globe. The Ostrich fell into the range but Fei Cai did not make a move yet. The mole was the true form of the Ice Wall Gu worm.
Now that he had deployed the gu worm, Fei Cai raised his hand and shot a spiral snowflake the moment Ostrich's head twitched towards the arrival of the terror horse.
*Pew*
The spiral force of the snowflake gave it a penetrative force as it tore through the wind.
*Sha*
Accompanied by the sound of the branch breaking off and a shriek, the violent ostrich jumped and instantly launched towards Fei Cai. Its beady eyes glinted with a green glimmer but before it could even reach 50 steps near Fei Cai, a meter-long Ice Wall materialized mystically, making the charge of the ostrich turn into an unfortunate crash. Instead of turning this into a training match, Fei Cai instantly controlled his horse and made it tear through the dizzy ostrich!
'Hehe, why would I try to keep an enemy live just to train myself. I will naturally come across many situations and gain more experience in controlling gu worms. In fact, I need to get used to controlling my terror horse, too.'
The forest was a life-threatening location for Fei Cai. Instead of trying to casually turn his battles into a practice match where he would be the one taking it easy while his enemies would look for a chance to kill, Fei Cai abolished the naive thought in its infancy.
Before the terror horse could ruin the corpse, Fei Cai stopped the attacks and made Lo prepare the game.
In a moment, the Ice Wall gu worm dug out and shot into Fei Cai's body. It had the ability to move wherever the gu master was moving but it needed a constant stream of Primeval Essence. Constant use of this gu worm was not efficient due to the expenditure so it was wise to store it after every battle.
Once the group was done with the Ostrich, they continued along as Fei Cai started to observe his surroundings with a cold expression.
---
Time never stops for anyone and soon, days turned into a month. Fei Qing's life had turned slightly stressful. After the Bai Tribe successfully moved closer to the Fei Tribe, Fei Chang led several gu houses to the tribe and delivered them as promised by the terms of the alliance of the two tribes. Seeing that Fei Tribe had already activated their merit board, too. Due to the close proximity of the tribes and the eventual war they might face together, a few of Fei and Bai tribesmen started to hunt together.
'Ahhh!' Horse Monk will within Fei Qing grunted in frustration. "Your son is blemishing my inheritance! How can he continue to use Ice and Snow path gu worms? He only has ten terror horses in his control yet!" Hearing the complaints, Fei Qing, instead smiled. He had no such complaints. In fact, Fei Cai's abilities have surprised many gu masters greatly!
As Fei Qing placated Horse Monk's will, Fei Mang led a team of five rank 1 mid-stage gu masters. Only his body revealed the breath of an upper-stage Rank 1 cultivation. Aside from a vigorous Fei Mang, he was followed by Fei Lu, the female gu master who had proven her worth during the beast trials. Beside them was a group of three Bai Tribe gu masters and another from the Fei Tribe.
"Brother Mang, with you leading us into the forest, we will surely discover more beasts to hunt!" The other Fei tribe youth spoke up as Fei Lu remained quiet for most of the period. She loved delicious meat and fighting. She disliked bootlicking so, in the younger circles, Fei Lu had managed to gain a bit of attention. The three Bai Tribesmen looked quite familiar with the group, too as the only Bai girl spoke with a curious and innocent expression. "I wonder if we will be able to run into Maniac Cai!" Her exclamation changed the flow of conversation and attracted Fei Lu's attention.
"Maniac is the right word to describe him now. Every day, he would enter the wilds early in the morning and return only late in the night. Even his slave has better gu worms than me and he controls Ten terror horses but each time, he will return battered and bloody. His hair disheveled and even his group injured but..."
"He has surpassed the other rank 1 gu masters and has the most merits amongst rank 1 gu masters," Fei Mang completed with an ugly expression. In fact, many kids had tried to get closer to Fei Cai but their fate was destructive. Aside from Fei Mang, for obvious reasons, Fei Cai had actually beaten up kids who continued to pester him time and time again. He would leave the slightly braver and older gu masters of rank 1 cultivation who decided to follow him fatally injured. But nobody found troubles with him when Fei Qing showed his tyrannical might and slapped the father of the gu master who was looking for an easy prey and tried to steal from Fei Cai, only ending up injured and getting devoured by surrounding beasts once Fei Cai left him.
My son did not kill yours. If you cannot bear the loss, then teach your other kids better!
But Fei Qing's action did not surprise anyone in the upper brass of the tribe. He has been domineering since ever and everybody knew his love for his only family even if he didn't show it. In fact, Elders did not complain because Fei Cai's performance was truly exemplary.
But this incident finally stopped the opportunistic tribesmen from trying to rise from Fei Cai's coattails.
*Crash*
The group's expression changed suddenly!
The six of them stopped and the female from the Bai Tribe activated a short-ranged investigative gu worm of the wood path. This was Bai Tribe's specialty and she obtained this gu after exchanging many merit points.
"What is it, Xi'er," the nearby gu master inquired as the girl's expression changed to that of shock.
"It's—" Before she could complete, another crashing sound disturbed the surroundings as the group found a large reptilian figure swinging its tail and rooting out a couple of surrounding trees.
"A Moon Alligator?!" They all were shocked as they gazed at the snow-white alligator, the size of a large house chasing a rather small figure.
"Fei Cai!" Mang exclaimed as a feeling of dread emerged in his heart when he gazed at the snarling alligator charging at Fei Cai. Fei Cai didn't stand still even when he found the group. Instead, he focused on the injured alligator. Its snow-white scales were torn from many locations as blue-green blood continued to cover its large body.
"Heavens! That is a Moon Alligator! It has a strength of rank 2 gu master!" One of them exclaimed but their observation was cut short when an equally cold youth rode a terror horse and followed the path with nine other horses.
"Look, it's Slave Lo and Fei Cai's horse group!" Another shouted but instead of following, they chose to stay still and observe from afar.
Meanwhile, the charging moon alligator came to a stop when another wall of Ice blocked its path only to be crushed instantly. But that only made things harsher for the injured alligator since the broken shards shot towards the point of impact, which was now covered by the tail of the alligator.
Ice Reform Gu!
The only ability of this gu worm is to reform the shattered ice near its range. It did not have high attacking power and relied on Gu Master's wits. The broken shards, under the restorative effect, stabbed into the tail and formed the ice wall once again but it only managed to leave a deep gash. Not enough to leave a fatal injury.
"Do I have to use this?" Fei Cai's boots were covered with ice as he continued to skid along the forest despite the uneven surface, leaving a trail of plain ice that was plain and smooth like a mirror. This was the movement type gu, Ice Skid Gu. But the natural terrain of the forest could barely stop the moon alligator as it charged and continuously reduced the distance. In fact, Lo and the ten horses were being left behind.
"Damnit! I have been careful but this Moon Alligator itself targeted me. Not to mention the fact that it has a rank 1 gu worm that is capable of camouflage, greatly reducing my ability to detect it." Fei Cai cursed in his heart but his expression was calm.
"I'll use it then!" Fei Cai's thoughts were diverted once again. Suddenly, his legs were growing large, increasing his stride before it was covered with a layer of ice and snow. Then, the same thing happened to his arm, torso. By now, his physique looked strange. He had grown to the size of 9 feets. His entire body was made of ice and snow and his speed had greatly increased but his head looked tiny in comparison. Instantly, his face went through the same changes. His head grew and was covered with ice and snow.
Snow Beast Arms, Heart, Legs, Torso, Head!
Snow Beast Transformation!
"Amazing!" Fei Lu gasped but Fei Cai couldn't keep tracks of others. He was currently under extreme pressure.
After all, manipulating so many gu worms was not easy but this transformation wasn't enough. Gritting his teeth, Fei Cai used the snow beast strength gu as it melded into the transformation, instantly doubling his attack power. This was the common trick of transformation and strength path without marking the body with dao marks but it also had its disadvantages.
"Grrgh!"
The alligator snarled when it saw the transformation but its thoughts were interrupted when Fei Cai suddenly stopped and delivered a punch to the head. Two trees were uprooted instantly as the alligator stopped for a moment. Fei Cai, after a month of maniacal hunting, wouldn't give the alligator a chance to recover so his ten feet large body picked up the tree, showing extreme strength and with the accompanying phantom of a snow beast, struck the head of the alligator once again!
The attack only turned the situation severe for the shocked alligator but the snow monster suddenly jumped on the alligator and started thrashing its head. Two spiral snowflakes were launched that impaled the eyes of the Alligator and with a pained shriek, the alligator finally fainted. However, Fei Cai's body continuously produced strength phantom. He was currently transformed into a snow beast. He could use the full strength of a snow beast and activate the phantom but whenever he did that, his low reserve of Primeval Essence would take a hit. This was the advantage of using strength phantom in such a manner.
But the use of strength phantom doubled the attacking power of Fei Cai's fist and he only stopped once he had caved in the head of the alligator.
"Such amazing strength and transformation... he must have used at least four gu worms simultaneously! How can he get so ahead in terms of multitasking?" Fei Mang's heart shook at the sight. Transformation path techniques were popular but they had a high requirement of a gu master's ability to use multiple gu worms at once!
On the other hand, Fei Cai slowly got down from the alligator's head as his body started to revert. He collected his gu worms while Lo finally caught up with an ugly expression.
"Punish me, master! Even after using poison arrow gu multiple times, I couldn't affect this alligator."
Lo knelt and begged as Fei Cai slowly got up on one of the fully equipped horses and gazed at Lo impassively. "Shut up and search the alligator's corpse thoroughly. It is hiding a gu worm. Next, bind the corpse with the remaining nine horses, we'll have to drag the corpse back into the tribe," Fei Cai's order was met with an efficient Lo who instantly started to carefully look and examine the bloodied mouth of the alligator.
"Ah! Master, it is crushed between its jaws!" Lo lamented but hearing no reply, he instantly began binding the tail to the horse group.
"Cousin, are you going to stay there forever?" Fei Cai inquired loudly as a pale-faced Mang and his team slowly walked out. Fei Cai had taken out a primeval stone from the Hollow Shard Gu and started to recover his essence.
"Fei Cai," Fei Mang stated his name. He was barely audible but Fei Cai smiled. The life-threatening fight was not able to fuel his emotions. Fei Cai very much remembered the plan to understand the wisdom path by plotting Fei Mang against Fei Sau. Even though he had used the entire month to do nothing but hunt and refine, surprisingly gaining the title of Maniac Cai, he didn't stop his efforts.
"I really appreciate your concern for my wellbeing," Fei Cai smiled, "After all, it must be hard to give up on supporting your family just so you can take care of your elder brother's problem. Sigh, Cousin. Give up on Fei Sau. He is an admirable Gu Master. I know that. After all, he is taking care of a mortal girl without ill intentions."
Fei Mang, in essence, was a child so instead of using vague sentences, it was far more beneficial to take a direct approach. In just a few statements, Fei Cai exposed his weakness and showed that he did not even have the courage to help a family member in need. Of course, Fei Cai wanted Mang to feel as inferior as he can. But it would take time.
So, as Fei Cai slowly left with his beast group dragging the corpse, the group of gu masters let out a deep sigh. Fei Cai's actions, age, and mocking sneer had put the young boys and girls under an extreme pressure. While they were struggling with ordinary beasts, Fei Cai took out a Moon Alligator in front of their gazes, and quite brutally at that! His horse group, each, represented a rank 1 gu master! How could they not feel stifled at all?
Even Fei Lu had stopped trying to build a relationship with Fei Cai. The girl now feared the young man, just like others of the same age, and that very lit a blaze of fury in Fei Mang's heart!
'I am trying my best! I am learning everything I can! But why can I not help my brother? Why am I subject to ridicule by my cousin? Fei Sau, to clear my name, I will take everything from you and make you beg me!' Fei Mang pledged with extreme hatred.
He was a boy, after all. He never thought of taking revenge on his own family. To him, Fei Sau was the outsider!