Bai Ning Bing snorted coldly- as if he would let his prey get away!
He had not seen the Hundred Li Earth Wolf Spider before, but chased after it without hesitation as it burrowed underground.
"Hey! Come back here and fight me like a man!"
Needless to say Fang Yuan did not turn around, using up as many primeval stones as possible to propel the Rank 4 mount forward into the earth.
Bai Ning Bing, despite having a vast reserve of primeval essence, found that he could not keep up. Although Fang Yuan could not use the spider to its full potential with his Rank 3 cultivation, the fact still remained that it was a top-tier Rank 4 movement gu. On top of which, they were burrowing through the ground, a place where Bai Ning Bing had a distinct disadvantage when it came to moving with his gu worms. The trails left by the spider would sometimes collapse, or the ice would not mix well with the soil, or something would get in his eyes.
This was not the kind of terrain that he or his gu worms were used to transversing.
Within minutes all he could see was Fang Yuan's form turning into a miniscule shadow on the horizon as the light became dimmer and dimmer.
"Tch! Fang Yuan, you may have escaped this time, but we will meet again!" Bai Ning Bing yelled out after Fang Yuan, even though the latter could not hear him.
He crawled up out of the earth, returning to where there three bodies were placed.
"Where was that gu worm...?" he was looking for the Plunder Gu- he hadn't seen anything like it as of yet while on Qing Mao mountain.
After a few minutes of searching, he found it, but it had self-detonated. Gu carried the wills of their owners, and could be destroyed with just a thought. Normally people would not do so while they were in a clan, because their gu worms would be recovered and go to their families. Currently, with the rules set up by the three clans coming together, this was still maintained even if someone from another clan found another clan member's gu worm. All clans kept detailed records of what gu worms their Gu Masters had, so unless they were people like Fang Yuan who were purposefully keeping some gu worms secret it was not possible to take a Gu Master's gu worms as loot.
But of course, most people were not like Fang Yuan and their gu worms were public record among the clans. And so, according to rules, their gu worms would be returned to the clans and to their families.
Rules? Regulations? What did Bai Ning Bing care for either of them?
If he had feared the clan's rules and regulations, he would not have slain these three Gu Masters so readily. It was one thing to kill the Xiong clansmen- those were people of another clan and as the Bai clan's genius and future hope he knew his clan would save him. However, killing his own clansman would've without a doubt resulted in resentment and anger from the rest of his clan members.
What did he care even for them?
What did he even care for the world?
HIs only goal was to pursue exciting opportunities wherever he wandered- no matter how dangerous or who he was up against.
That was the only way that he could ever get his blood rushing, and feel his heart pounding.
The Xiong clansmen had likely already figured such out, and had chosen to detonate his gu worms rather than letting someone else have them.
A pity, because it was quite an interesting gu worm.
However, he had found something even more interesting.
A rival- someone to compete against. Something that he could look forward to.
No doubt, eventually, the two of them would cross paths again.
'Heh- next time we meet, Fang Yuan, I will definitely take your life!' Bai Ning Bing thought.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was riding atop the Hundred Li Earth Wolf Spider. It was a good thing that he had obtained the Pit Viper Gu, as he could not see anything where they were currently burrowed underground.
The spider could move through earth and soil as easily as a fish would move through water, however, its defenses and offense were not that good. Fang Yuan still had to remain on alert, and with the Pit Viper Gu he could somewhat sense his surroundings. The best part of it was that most things that were a threat to him were living creatures- the downside of course was that he would easily miss nonliving things like traps that might be set up.
But, no single gu worm was perfect. That was why there was no strongest gu worm, only the strongest Gu Master.
Once they were at a safe distance, the spider burrowed them out. Fang Yuan looked around- they were truly alone.
'Its speed is truly something worthy of a Rank 4 gu worm!' Fang Yuan thought. No wonder the Flower Wine Monk had been able to spread such terror with an upgraded version of this gu worm. He would be able to wander the Southern Border and attack and retreat with impunity so long as he had the mobility of the Thousand Li Earth Wolf Spider.
Fang Yuan placed the spider back in his aperture, with it fitting inside the infinitesemal space with ease despite its size.
Fang Yuan brushed the dirt off of him- he didn't particularly care about the dirt, but the main issue with this gu worm was that it was hard to feed. Despite having 'wolf' in its name it did not feed on anything as convenient as wolf meat, rather it needed a special kind of soil that could be found on a neighboring mountain. It was easy enough to get there with the help of the spider itself, but very inconvenient and he might not be able to find large amounts of that soil where he would later go on.
He returned back to the village and turned his attention to refining the Moonlight Chainmail Gu. Despite being a Rank 3 gu refinement, he managed to succeed on his first attempt and he pocketed the newly formed gu worm in his aperture.
Now, he finally had a complete set of Rank 3 gu worms. But this was not the end of collecting gu- the next step was to assemble a group of gu worms that complimented each other and belonged to the path one intended to cultivate.
He reported Bai Ning Bing for his actions, saying that he had barely been able to run away in the nick of time, as if he didn't there was a slight chance Bai Ning Bing might end up framing him or changing the scenario in such a way to implicate Fang Yuan. As it was, from that fight, only he and Bai Ning Bing had survived, and neither had a recording gu worm with them, so it was just two people's words against each other. This could not be considered to be strong evidence, at least, not against an elder like Bai Ning Bing.
As it was though, thoughts of Bai Ning Bing were far from his mind- the only thing he could think about was the inheritance that was about to fall into his hands!