Inside the treehouse, thoughts churned unceasingly in Fang Yuan's mind.
Relying on the wisdom accumulated from his past life's experience, Fang Yuan detected the existence of Wang Da.
Then what was Wang Da's strength?
Fang Yuan had never met this Wang Da, but relying solely on the items before his eyes was enough for him to analyze a lot of intelligence.
"Courage is built on the foundation of strength. He collected information on me and still wants to launch revenge against me; being so confident, it seems his cultivation must definitely exceed Rank one!"
"For these three years, he has moved around these three locations marked by red circles, struggling to survive in the cracks between the three great villages. Almost every day he has to brave the danger of being discovered and encircled; this shows he does not have the ability to roam the outside world alone. And the Gu Master cultivation required to roam alone must be at least Rank three."
"In this way, the preliminary estimate is that his cultivation is at Rank two."
Cold light flickered in Fang Yuan's eyes: "Calculating it, he went missing three years ago. To cultivate to Rank two now, his aptitude should be between C grade and B grade, and the total amount of primeval essence in his aperture should be in the range of forty to seventy percent."
"For these three years, he was able to survive in the cracks. At the same time, he could live in his home right under Jiang He's eyelids; among the Gu worms he possesses, there must definitely be one with the effect of stealth and concealment."
In a battle between Gu Masters, the most important thing was intelligence.
Although Fang Yuan did not have any reconnaissance-type Gu worms, relying on his own experience and wisdom, he forcefully analyzed Wang Da's cultivation and Gu worms roughly.
Soon, he outlined an image in his heart of a Rank two demonic path Gu Master, harboring monstrous hatred for the murder of his family, lurking somewhere wanting to hunt and kill him.
"If I can kill others, others can naturally kill me too. There is nothing to this." Fang Yuan could not help but chuckle aloud.
In this world, everyone had the right to live, and everyone had the opportunity to die.
Those who kill, people will constantly kill them.
Since he had killed people, he had to be prepared to be killed.
If he was killed just like this, then die; there was nothing big about it, and absolutely no regrets. This was the path he chose himself.
On this point, Fang Yuan had long had the deepest realization.
This was the resolve of the demonic path!
"Wang Da wants to kill me, so this current mid-year assessment is absolutely an excellent opportunity. Usually, students live inside the village; with his Rank two cultivation, it is impossible for him to infiltrate the village, that would be purely seeking death."
"He may have analyzed the possibility that I would come out to hunt. But Qingmao Mountain is so big; for him alone to hide his tracks while searching for my traces alone is too difficult. This current opportunity is when he is most likely to make a move."
"He is a Rank two Gu Master, and moreover, the kind of demonic path Gu Master honed by struggling to survive for three years, living days where the morning does not guarantee the evening. With my current combat strength, I am definitely not his match. But this does not mean I don't have a shred of a chance at life."
Run!
Fang Yuan instantly decided on this direction.
There was nothing shameful about surviving. Since he could not fight forcefully, then he would run.
Breaking through in the midst of battle was something that fundamentally could not happen for Gu Masters. Challenging someone of a higher level was possible, but that was also built on the foundation of the Gu Master having special Gu worms in hand.
Fang Yuan had quite a few Gu worms in hand, but the Spring Autumn Cicada was near death and asleep, unable to be used. The Liquor worm, White Boar Gu, Little Light Gu, and Moonlight Gu, none were trump cards that could allow him to challenge higher levels.
Knowing clearly that one is not a match but still fighting to the death, that is stupidity named "hot-bloodedness." Even if one won, it would be nothing more than the favor of fate.
Fang Yuan had been cautious all his life. Even if he had trump cards, as long as the odds of winning were small, he would choose to avoid battle as much as possible.
He liked to control the situation, using various methods to amplify the winning rate to the limit as much as possible. What he liked to fight the most were battles where victory was certain.
Only when he had absolutely no other choice would he risk a fierce battle.
Therefore, the things he often did were bullying the weak, plundering resources, and continuously becoming stronger. Strong enough to surpass the level of the original enemy, then come back to reclaim the scene; which is to say, continuing to bully the weak.
There was nothing shameful about this. Those who proactively challenged and risked their lives to fight strong enemies to the death just to prove their bravery were the true fools.
But precisely this value system had been constantly promoted and commended. This was because any organization needed the continuous sacrifice of individuals to maintain the interests of the organization's higher-ups.
One only needed to think to know that survival is the premise of all activities.
To survive and realize the ideals in one's heart, that is a person's greatest bravery.
To die for ideals, that is a fool. To live on ignobly for ideals, that is a warrior!
On Earth, Han Xin endured the humiliation of crawling between legs, Cao Cao was chased until he cut his beard and discarded his robe, King Goujian of Yue tasted feces to show loyalty to his enemy in order to survive…
So, screw glory, reputation, and face!
No matter which world's organization, they would all promote this kind of value system. The more a place needed sacrifice, the more they would promote this. For example, the army.
"Then where should I go to minimize the possibility of encountering Wang Da?" A map surfaced in Fang Yuan's mind.
"Wang Da already knows I have the beast skin map. Right now, he should be lurking in the mountain forest, searching for me everywhere according to the distribution of wild boars on the map. I cannot go to these places; only by doing the opposite can I fight for a glimmer of life." Thinking of this, a slightly crazy retreat route faintly took shape in Fang Yuan's mind.
…
In the mountain forest under the dusk, tree shadows layered upon each other, and wild grass grew lushly.
A pair of scarlet eyes hid in the deep shadows. The hatred and anger contained in those eyes were simply unwashed by surging rivers and unextinguished by anything.
"Fang Yuan, I finally found you…" Wang Da gritted his teeth, tearing and chewing this name in his belly.
Under his gaze, not far away, a thin teenager with a pale face was rapidly running and weaving through the mountain forest.
The enemy was right before his eyes, but Wang Da did not make a move. Instead, he obscurely turned his gaze to several other locations.
In these locations, an exam-monitoring Gu Master was hidden in each.
To prevent cheating and to treat casualties at the first moment, dozens of Rank two Gu Masters were hidden and scattered in this nearby area. There were also several elders as high as Rank three holding the fort on the distant hillside.
Wang Da had carefully prowled and weaved through this mountain forest and had already collected quite a bit of relevant intelligence.
"If I want to kill Fang Yuan, I must first eliminate these three Gu Masters in the surroundings. Otherwise, once I reveal myself, I will face obstruction. Perhaps I could kill Fang Yuan at the first moment, but I would also be besieged and killed by the Gu Masters rushing over subsequently."
"I have Rank two middle stage cultivation, and the primeval essence in my body is still at fifty percent. To strike first and gain the upper hand, killing these three Gu Masters first, is very difficult. I must strike consecutively within a short period of time. Otherwise, once they realize the death of their companions and their vigilance increases greatly, my tracks will be exposed…"
"Shadow Follower Gu." Wang Da slowly closed his eyes and silently chanted a name in his heart.
Immediately, his body quickly turned into a lump of dense darkness, flowing and moving within the tree shadows.
Everything was completely silent.
In a dense patch of grass, a Rank two Gu Master of the Gu Yue clan squatted inside, letting out a bored yawn.
"It really is boring, accompanying this group of junior students; it's really like being a nanny," the Gu Master muttered softly, not sensing in the slightest that a lump of shadow had already enveloped him.
A pair of skinny, bony hands slowly extended from the darkness.
These hands were incomparably pale, the joints large, and ten fingernails protruded sharply. The nail plates were all dyed a layer of dark purple, faintly emitting a fishy scent.
"What is this smell?" The Gu Yue clan Gu Master twitched his nose, subconsciously frowning.
He was just about to check, but it was already too late.
At the instant Wang Da pounced like a poisonous snake preying on food, he struck with lightning speed!
One hand covered the Gu Master's nose and mouth. The other hand stabbed ruthlessly directly from behind. The dark purple fingernails were as sharp as blades; his five fingers easily sank into the Gu Master's body, reaching his heart.
The intense poison on the fingernails eroded the heart in a split second. And through the blood, it spread throughout the Gu Master's entire body.
The Gu Master's body tightened all over, and then he had no more breath.
Although both were Rank two Gu Masters, with a sneak attack, one calculating against the unsuspecting, the battle had ended just as it began.
"In total, used ten percent primeval essence, still have forty percent left." Wang Da paid attention to his aperture, did not stay, and once again melted into a lump of darkness.
A moment later, the second Gu Master hidden behind a mountain rock also fell victim to Wang Da's vicious hand. His pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks, and he collapsed on the ground.
The toxins rampaged in his body; soon, his whole body turned purple, and two trails of dark purple blood meandered out from his nasal cavity.
"Still have thirty percent primeval essence left." Wang Da chanted silently, and his figure once again turned into a lump of darkness.
"Who is it!" The third Gu Master was hidden on the branch of a large tree. He sensed something wrong at the critical moment, and when Wang Da made his move, he fiercely turned around, his two hands firmly blocking Wang Da's two poisonous hands.
"Damn it!" Wang Da gave a sinister grin. His ten fingernails fiercely grew wildly, extending five centimeters in an instant, piercing into the Gu Master's forearms and breaking his skin.
The fresh blood flowing from the forearms rapidly turned into a dark purple.
"This is Love Separation?!" The third Gu Master saw this situation and was instantly terrified to the extreme. The highly toxic purple qi had already tainted his face.
Knowing he had no anti-poison Gu worms on him and would undoubtedly die this time, he fiercely revealed a look of absolute resolve and roared loudly: "Then let's die together!"
He opened his mouth and fiercely extended his tongue.
There was a crescent moon mark on his tongue; it was exactly the residing Moonlight Gu.
A moonblade flashed out, hitting Wang Da's left shoulder squarely, then piercing out from his back.
Blood spurted.
Wang Da gave a muffled grunt, his body swaying a few times, but that Gu Master's eyes had already rolled back white, having not a trace of breath left.
"That's right, this is Love Separation…" Wang Da stood up shakily on the sturdy tree branch, revealing a trace of a miserable smile.
Love Separation, known as the number one poison among Rank two Gu worms! To refine it, one needed Rank one Breath of Life Grass, a Widow Spider, a Red Needle Scorpion, and a loving heart.
To refine this Gu worm, Wang Da had personally killed the wife who loved him deeply and dug out her heart!
"Everything for survival, I had no choice but to choose power… This is the resolve of my demonic path!" Wang Da's eyes were crimson red as he stared tightly at the teenager in the distance.
"I abandoned love, leaving only kinship, yet you stripped it away! Fang Yuan…" he roared in a low, deep voice, "I will make you regret what you have done incomparably!"