Below Bai Ning Bing, the battle was coming to a climactic conclusion.
"Plunder Gu! Activate!" the Xiong clansmen said, putting all of his primeval essence into the gu worm. Stealing someone else's gu worm was extraordinarily difficult- otherwise Theft Path would've been far more widespread than it was now. It was only Thieving Heavenly Demonic Venerable who had been truly able to take the Theft Path to its true heights. These were wild gu worms that he was trying to steal, so it was not as hard as trying to take it from a person, but it still took a massive amount of primeval essence.
His primeval essence rapidly dropped- from 30% to 20% to 10%. 'No! I can't sustain this for any longer!' His essence had already been exhausted from prior fighting, otherwise they wouldn't have been in this scenario in the first place.
When his essence ran out, the move failed and he suffered intense backlash, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
"Oh no! We're done for!"
Right as they thought it was all over, however, the Hundred Beast King suddenly howled as blood erupted from its right flank.
It turned to see that there was someone else on the battlefield who looked like they had stepped out of thin air. This person was emanating a Rank 3 aura, had long black hair and eyes which looked like pits of nothingness. This person raised his arm and a wine-red moonblade shot out, decapitating the Hundred Beast King.
It was none other than Fang Yuan!
"It looks like I was just in the nick of time," Fang Yuan said to the three people who had managed to survive until then.
"Ah... Lord... your name...?" they asked when they could find their voices. Fang Yuan was wearing the uniform of a Gu Yue villager, though none of them recognized him.
"I am Gu Yue Fang Yuan," he answered. "I saw that the three of you were in trouble, so I came to assist you."
"Ah... you have our thanks!"
"Lord is truly too kind!"
"I am moved to tears by lord's magnanimity!"
These words of gratitude came from deep within all three of their hearts. Why? Because none of them was a Gu Yue clansman. If they had been saved by a Bai or Xiong clan elder, it would be different and some of them would feel they had just gotten lucky to be next to the other party.
However, Fang Yuan had to be a true hero, else he would not have gone out of his way to help them.
Right as they were celebrating though, someone leaped down from up above.
It was Bai Ning Bing!
He had been watching what was going on dispassionately from above until now- that was, until Fang Yuan had appeared and killed the Hundred Beast King.
He normally would've written this off as things taking a turn for the boring- it was only in life-and-death situations that one could find excitement, but that was until he laid eyes upon Fang Yuan.
For one, his attacking method was quite odd- it was a crimson-shaded moonblade that he hadn't seen before. He was well versed that moonblades were the favored attacking method of the Gu Yue clan, but this was a novelty, even among their elders against whom he'd fought.
That was simply something weird he hadn't seen before- but as he looked at Fang Yuan, he felt a strange sense of comraderie that he hadn't felt from anyone before in his life.
Loneliness, isolation, uncaring for the world- all of these things seemed to be emanating from this person much like they were contained within himself.
"Hello friend!" Bai Ning Bing cackled as he observed Fang Yuan even more closely- he had no real 'friends' but felt that he could forge a friendship with this person in an instant.
"Elder Bai Ning Bing!" the Bai clansmen there exclaimed.
Fang Yuan, although he hadn't seen Bai Ning Bing in his previous life, immediately knew who this was. Although the fact that he had the Northern Dark Soul Ice physique was not well known outside of a few elders of the Bai clan, Fang Yuan was already prepared for it as he knew what the ultimate outcome of that would be.
As Fang Yuan glanced at Bai Ning Bing though, notifications began popping up from the system.
New main mission unlocked!
Bai Ning Bing Chilling
Description: Marry Bai Ning Bing.
Reward: Rank 6 Dreams of Love & Happiness Gu (x 1)
Fang Yuan: ...
'System, are you crazy? Asking me to marry Bai Ning Bing- and why is this the only other quest up till now that offers an immortal gu as its reward?'
New secret mission unlocked!
It takes a real man to be best girl.
Description: ???
Reward: ???
Fang Yuan, at this point, had no clue what was going on with the system or what to make of that.
"I was wondering, friend, that it would be great if the two of us would fight to the death right now!" Bai Ning Bing said, now surging with bloodlust.
Fang Yuan was unmoved. "Elder Bai Ning Bing, it is inappropriate for us to be fighting when the beast tide is on full swing. And... I wonder why you didn't bother helping your own clansmen when they were in need? Were you not watching this scene all this time?"
"Heh- clansmen? Who cares for them?" Bai Ning Bing said, shooting an ice blade into the skull of one of the people whom Fang Yuan had rescued. "Look at that- whether they died from the Hundred Beast King, or died from me, what difference did it make?"
"Bai Ning Bing- you fiend!"
"How could you do that? Elder Fang Yuan, please save us!"
Fang Yuan though, was unmoved by the person's death. He had already gotten the reward from the system which would help him refine Moonlight Chainmail Gu. So what if they died right after?
"Hehe..." Bai Ning Bing said. "Seeing your face- I know now for certain what kind of person you are! You might stand over there acting all righteous and honorable, but I know that deep down lies the heart of a true demon! Not just a demon, but a demon among demons!"
Bai Ning Bing slaughtered the two remaining survivors. "Ahaha... but if you wish to show everyone that you're righteous, go ahead and see if you can avenge their deaths!"
Now, it was just the two of them facing each other.
Fight Bai Ning Bing?
As if!
Fang Yuan knew that he wasn't his match- even if he also had Rank 3 strength. With the Extreme Physique Bai Ning Bing could easily go toe-to-toe with Gu Masters even a major realm above him, let alone someone like him who had just reached Rank 3.
In a fluid motion, he withdrew the Hundred Li Earth Wolf Spider from his inventory and then mounted it, immediately turning tail.
So what if he had to run from battle?
Only an idiot would still fight when the odds were against them!
As for the system's dumb quests, Fang Yuan had no idea what had gotten into it to even suggest that the two of them got married, but he wasn't about to stand around waiting to see if it finally came to its senses!