NOVEL NEXT Chapter 56: Critical Moment
Swish!
A fish bait fly leaped out of the water at an speed, too fast for the naked eye to follow. Its tiny mouth, lined with razor-sharp miniature teeth, was aimed at a Gu Master of the He An Clan, ready to tear into its flesh.
The Gu Master, seeing this, wore an indignant expression but quickly adjusted his posture and redirected the large water shield in his hands to intercept the Gu's attack. "I swear, if I see one more of these little bastards!"
Roaring in frustration, but knowing there was nothing he could do to strike the tiny insect flying through the air at such speed, he braced himself for the impact. His teeth clenched tightly as he prepared to defend against the Rank 1 Gu, which, under normal circumstances, he would have dismissed as unimpressive.
But for the Gu Master, now exhausted from combat and having already fended off a dozen of these creatures in the past few seconds, it was no small thing. In fact, he feared that if he failed to defend himself a few times, it wouldn't take more than a few minutes for them to devour him alive.
After defending himself, the small Gu fell back into the water from the impact.The Gu Master's grip on his shield tightened as he took a deep breath, watching the ripples spread across the lake's surface.
"Ahh… ahh…" He panted heavily, considering retreating temporarily from the battlefield to recover his primeval essence. Suddenly, from the corner of his eye, he spotted another fish bait fly leaping from the water, heading straight for him. Unlike the previous ones, this one exuded the aura of a Rank 2 Gu.
"...Damn it!"
Before he could react and desperately raise his defense, teeth clenched in frustration, a young man with short black hair darted between him and the Gu at an astonishing speed. Without so much as glancing at either the Gu Master or the Gu worm, the young man made a fluid, precise motion with his blood-red sword, cutting the tiny Rank 2 Gu—barely 3 cm in size—with flawless accuracy.
"Elder Chen?!" the Gu Master exclaimed in shock and relief, feeling the immense tension lift from his shoulders as he relaxed instantly. He opened his mouth to thank Chen Wei aloud.
But by the time he started to talk, Chen Wei was already several meters away, far beyond earshot. After hesitating for only a few seconds, the Gu Master decisively retreated to recover his primeval essence.
Chen Wei, meanwhile, continued advancing, unaware of the words of gratitude from the Gu Master, while his mind was moving with similar speed as his feet.
'I don't know these Gu are they some kind of artificial Gu or a type that went extinct a long time ago?' This was the thought that crossed Chen Wei's mind. Coming from a Water Path clan with a rich history, he who had received an aristocratic education and top-quality Gu Master training, including the best tutors and resources the clan could offer rarely did not recognize a Gu especially from the water path. So he is not used to have such thoughts.
For now, he set the thought aside and focused his attention on moving rapidly from side to side, making sudden turns at sharp angles in ways that might seem aimless to an observer. It could easily be mistaken for someone under the influence of a Gu's disorienting effects rather than someone heading toward the hurricane created by Clan Leader Feng Zhi, as many others had.
In reality, he was indeed heading toward the hurricane too, but his erratic movements made it nearly impossible for enemies to predict his path to attack or ambush him. This unpredictability had become especially important after Elder Luo Co had managed to sneak up on him, make direct contact, to trap him in an illusion. If Chen Wei hadn't quickly realized the situation and escaped the illusion, and aided by an elder who, due to Chen Wang's attention on him, was instantly instructed to pull him back before healing him. Without this intervention, it was almost certain he would have died.
Though this method of movement took more time than advancing in a straight line, it offered an advantage. It allowed him to observe the types and effects of the Gu attacking the clan's Gu Masters. Furthermore, it enabled him to save many of his fellow clan members from injuries that could have crippled their combat abilities for a long time—injuries that would have been a significant loss in this battle and perhaps even more so for the clan's future plans. This because even for Chen Wei, a Rank 3 Gu Master from a distinguished family, the loss of a limb like he had suffered was no easy matter to resolve, let alone for Rank 2 Gu Masters without direct support from an elder.
Amid these thoughts and after a short but unusually long time for him, Chen Wei finally arrived at his grandfather's side. The elder was coordinating the battle while launching strategic attacks as part of what could now be described as a full-scale siege on Clan Leader Feng Zhi. When Chen Wei approached, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints, his grandfather paused his attacks momentarily.
"The wild Gu from the lake are causing significant problems for the clan's Gu Masters, and I assume the same holds true for the enemy," Chen Wei reported without wasting time on pleasantries, speaking directly to his grandfather. Even if he could be already aware, failing to report such critical information could lead to severe casualties for the clan in the near future.
"I'm aware. They attacked us here, but fortunately, most were drawn to Liu Bai, who is standing in the middle of the hurricane," Chen Wang responded in a serious, emotionless tone, more like speaking to a fellow elder than to his grandson, who had narrowly escaped death moments earlier. Still, Chen Wei caught the sidelong glance his grandfather gave him again—a look of relief at seeing him relatively unharmed, save for his missing arm.
"And from what your father has reported, these wild Gu are causing more trouble for the other two clans' Gu Masters than for ours," Chen Wang added, maintaining his stoic expression. But to Chen Wei, who knew him well, the subtle satisfaction behind his grandfather's impassive demeanor was evident. "This is likely because, even though these Gu are unknown to us, it is clear that the vast majority belong to the Water Path, which gives our clan members an advantage in dealing with them."
Chen Wei nodded, understanding that this confirmed the clan's lack of specific knowledge about these Gu rather than his own ignorance.
Without wasting time, Chen Wang continued, "Our focus now must not be on aiding the other clan members but on dealing with Feng Zhi Clan Leader. Now that he is under siege and being relentlessly attacked by these Gu."
Chen Wei nodded again, accepting his grandfather's strategy while remaining aware of the auras of predominantly Rank 1 and Rank 2 Gu, with a few Rank 3 Gu also attacking the hurricane. After exchanging a few more quick words with his grandfather, Chen Wei resumed his erratic movement style to avoid attacks from both the Gu and the hurricane controlled by Clan Leader Feng Zhi.
This was also especially crucial to him since, moments ago when he asked his grandfather about the situation with Elder Luo Co, the answer was that it remained unknown.
Then still moving erratically in a confused for those looking from the outside but orderly manner to himself, using this to take strategic positions that allowed him to shoot piercing blood thrusts sharply into weak points of the hurricane where they could either break the desirable movement of the air to accumulate great strength and velocity or directly try to hit the leader of the Feng Zhi clan in the middle of the hurricane.
This last part Chen Wei notes has only become possible now and is not something that has been the case since the beginning of the siege on the leader of the Feng Zhi clan. The reason is simple: the hurricane he created and tried to use to massacre the rear guard of the He An clan is not only much smaller, but the air movement has much less intensity, force, and speed.
This makes Chen Wei's gaze deepen, thinking that perhaps his prediction that Wang Xi would have to rush to the rear to avoid great casualties is wrong. But this also makes him think that something is wrong because, even with the clan's great ability to coordinate to deal with superior force threats, especially from the Wind Path, it still shouldn't have come to this point when the origin of the attack is a Rank 4 Gu Master.
'Perhaps this attack has been a trump card with explosive force not characteristic of the Wind Path but weakens over time? Along with the attacks from the clan's Gu Masters, the weakening effect was even greater?' Chen Wei's thoughts collide with each other, creating new thoughts nonstop.
'Maybe it's another consequence of what he used to advance his cultivation to the middle stage?'
Thinking this, Chen Wei moves the corner of his eyes to see Wang Xi fighting the leader of the Xiong Mao Clan directly with full force instead of desperately trying to rush to the rear and stabilize the situation, leaving Ye Nui in a helpless position, only able to defend passively while trying to retreat. For Chen Wei, this is a certain confirmation that his thoughts hold at least some truth.
While thinking this, Chen Wei obviously hadn't stayed still; in fact, he continued his erratic movement, which now caused him to come face-to-face with an enemy Gu Master running to support of Feng Zhi Clans' leader. But upon seeing Chen Wei in his path, the Gu Master's face darkened with regret before he desperately retreated in the same instant.
'It seems that the reserves of the other two clans are arriving in force...' Chen Wei thinks to himself while chasing and attacking the Gu Master without letting him escape.
This is a normal development because just as the He An clan had reserves in the rear guard to reinforce a precarious situation or make a massive breakthrough, the other two clans naturally did the same. Now these reinforcements have arrived at this point in the battle after a few minutes due to the great distance between both rear guards.
'This is going to be a problem since, even in smaller numbers than our forces here, they are fresh before the combat without physical exhaustion or primeval essence,' Chen Wei, thiks as he easily cut the Gu Master running desperately as if cutting through butter.
'Maybe try to use this fear they seem to have of me to try to destroy their morale in attacking?'
In the midst of these thoughts, he hears a sharply loud noise like a call whistle that makes his ears tremble while he feels the air around him stop moving in a disordered and maddening way, along with all the nerves in his body being on edge as if warning him that he is running a mortal danger. Finally, seeing the looks of shock but also enthusiasm and pride on the faces of the enemy Gu Masters in front of him, he does not hesitate.
An imposing blood armor forms around his body to its full capacity in less than an instant, with blood shields repeatedly forming in front of his back as he makes a semi-circle turn to face the shields and so that he can see directly what is attacking him.
But before he could see what it was, a stronger impact than anything he had ever felt hit his body head-on with a blinding flash and in less than a second sent him flying hundreds of meters at a speed too fast for the naked eye to see, only stopping when he collided with the water dome surrounding the lake. It made him feel as if all the bones in his body had broken while he saw the blood armor around his body collapse.
"Ahhh... ahh," Chen Wei breathes heavily, lying face down on the solid surface of the water while his eyes look around dazedly for any danger as his body is unable to make even the slightest movement.
Seeing that there was no one even hundreds of meters away, Chen Wei closes his eyes as he begins to desperately use his healing Gu.