Under the power of the Rank three Gu worm, Qing Shu's eyes turned into a jade green colour.
At this moment, his aura changed. From a vibrant human, it turned into a deep serene forest feeling.
"Oh?" Bai Ning Bing showed slight shock unknowingly. He pouted in dissatisfaction, "It seems that after a long time, you've gained some interesting new skills."
Icicle Gu.
He willed the Gu, and five sharp icicles appeared out of nowhere.
"Go." Bai Ning Bing's ice hand pointed, and the icicle shot out.
Pow pow pow.
From Qing Shu's palms, two vines grew out. The vines danced in the air like two snakes, dancing agilely, easily deflecting the icicles.
The icicle changed directions, only scraping Qing Shu's shoulder, and stabbed deeply into the ground, the hard mountain rock, and the forest that stood like a statue.
Qing Shu easily broke through the attack, causing Bai Ning Bing's attack to be futile.
Bai Ning Bing laughed coldly, "Your whipping skills got better, but I want to see, how many icicles can you block?"
Saying so, Bai Ning Bing's eyes shone with a mild blue light.
Ten icicles appeared immediately, floating in front of him before shooting towards Qing Shu.
After that, ten more were created...
Like this, over several times, it turned into an icicle rain.
Swoosh...
The icicle tore through the air, emitting a sound that shocked people's hearts.
Qing Shu dodged while manipulating his green vine with both hands, dancing like a shadow.
His whipping technique after countless practices, had gotten to a level where he could command them like his fingers, fully in sync.
But there was too many icicles; Qing Shu was bound to miss some, and his shoulder was hit by an icicle.
The icicle penetrated his right shoulder, and the tip appeared from behind him.
Pin Needle Gu.
Qing Shu controlled the pain, sweeping his long hair. From the tips of his hair, numerous jade coloured pin needles shot out.
The pin needles engulfed Bai Ning Bing, but he managed to activate the Water Shield Gu in time—it had gotten stronger too, and was much thicker than before, being no weaker than a Rank three Gu worm's defense.
The pin needles entered the water shield and slowed to a halt, before being purged by the water currents.
But this also forced Bai Ning Bing to stop his icicle attack.
Seeing this opportunity, Qing Shu ignored the pain and pulled out the icicle from his shoulder by force.
There was no blood dripping out, one was due to the icicle's cold air, and the other was because his body was gradually turning into wood.
Bai Ning Bing kept the Water Shield Gu, his gaze attracted to Gu Yue Qing Shu's injury.
From the opening on his torn shirt, he could see Qing Shu's injury, revealing the rings of the tree trunk, and his flesh could be seen recovering at an observable speed, and on the newly grown muscles, the tree's ring lines were formed.
At the same time, both his ears started to become longer, and his hair turned jade green, with green leaves growing within. Both his hands, from the fleshy colour of a normal person, turned darker and more reserved. His skin became harder, and turned into the brown tree bark.
This was the first time he had used the Wood Charm Gu without considering the consequences!
The Wood Charm Gu was causing him to turn into a tree spirit, and at the same time, Gu Yue Qing Shu could feel the rich natural essence in the air.
These essence could not be felt by ordinary Gu Masters. Only special lifeforms like tree spirits could feel, absorb and use them.
Gu Yue Qing Shu felt that he was soaking in his mother's liquid, thick essence enveloping him, giving him a strong sense of fulfillment.
On his body, the Moonwhirl Gu did not change, but the Green Vine Gu, Pin Needle Gu and the vitality grass all showed signs of growth. With Qing Shu's identity as a tree spirit, when he uses these wood attribute Gu worms, their power is amplified!
Gu Yue Qing Shu breathed deeply, he had never felt so strong before! The rich natural essence gave him an almost infinite source of primeval essence to use. This was the power of the Wood Charm Gu.
But in his heart, a deep sense of fear also rose.
He knew that if he was greedy over this strong and comfortable feeling, and used the Wood Charm Gu without restraint, he would eventually turn into a dead treeman.
Any thing had its price.
Gu Yue Qing Shu soon suppressed this fear. He stared at Bai Ning Bing and said two words —"Let's fight."
Thus, the intense battle started.
Green vine vs Ice blade, Icicle vs Pin needles!
One was the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, with insane primeval essence recovery rate, and the other was the wood charm tree spirit, using all the natural essence as his own.
This battle, had far surpassed the realm of ordinary Rank three Gu Masters.
Fang Zheng stood on the slope, watching dumbstruck. He had never seen such an all-out intense fight!
Normally speaking, Gu Masters have limited primeval essence, and they always have to keep 10% of it as reserves. Carefully using them, like thin ice.
But now, be it Qing Shu or Bai Ning Bing, both were using it without constraints as if they had an unlimited supply of primeval essence.
The entire path was wrecked by their battle. Huge trees fell and were destroyed, mountain rocks smashed to bits.
After a long time...
Blue bird ice coffin Gu!
Bai Ning Bing grabbed an opportunity and opened his mouth, and from within, an ice blue bird flew out.
The flying bird chirped, its body like a pigeon, but under the boost of the Northern Dark Ice Soul physique, it gradually turned into the size of an eagle while flying, and after circling for a while, flew towards Gu Yue Qing Shu.
Gu Yue Qing Shu could not dodge in time, so he faced it head on.
Bam.
A sound explosion later, Gu Yue Qing Shu was frozen in an ice crystal as large as a room.
"It's over…" Bai Ning Bing sighed as he had not fully enjoyed himself.
He saw the immobile Gu Yue Qing Shu within the ice crystal, and muttered, "Thanks for providing me such an interesting experience, this battle is the most exciting one I've had thus far. Qing Shu, your death has meaning, I will remember it clearly."
"Lord Qing Shu!" On the slope, Fang Zheng shouted loudly.
"Why are you shouting, you mere ant, the next one will be you." Bai Ning Bing snorted, walking towards Fang Zheng.
At this point, the sound of the ice crystal breaking entered his ears.
"How can this be?" He turned around and saw that within the ice crystal, Qing Shu had undergone a massive transformation.
His body became bigger, and his Rank two Gu Master outfit was almost ripped.
His hair turned into green vines, and palm-sized leaves grew on it endlessly, turning into a thick greenery.
His fingers had turned into sturdy wood, his limbs turning into thick tree branches, only having a rough form for his arms and legs.
With a sound, the ice crystal broke completely.
Gu Yue Qing Shu stood up; he had already changed in appearance completely, the original delicate and handsome human face turned into a sharp-nosed, huge eye tree spirit face.
He was three meters tall with a strong body, wearing tree barks as his armor, and on them were large amounts of leaves and vines.
Bai Ning Bing stared at his transformation in shock; compared to this Qing Shu, he was like a child beside an adult.
"This appearance, did you refine the Wood Charm Gu? This Gu is way harder to refine than my Frost Demon Gu!" Bai Ning Bing found the answer.
"Tree spirit wood charm can use the essence in the air, no wonder Gu Yue Qing Shu had such ample primeval essence." He realized at once, but got more confused.
He asked the question in his heart, "Qing Shu, using the Wood Charm Gu like this, aren't you afraid of turning into a dead treeman? So what if you win me? You're destined to die!"
"Bai Ning Bing…" Gu Yue Qing Shu's voice became low, "I understand you like I understand myself. You and I are both orphans, adopted by the clan leader. Yet we walk on such different paths. A tree dying in a forest is nothing, for as long as the forest exists, numerous trees will continue to grow and rise up. Let's have our final battle, my nemesis!"
Saying so, hundreds of green vines assaulted Bai Ning Bing like giant pythons.
"For the clan? What a fool!" Bai Ning Bing retreated in a rush.
But the green vines' speed was faster than before by several times, quickly chasing up to Bai Ning Bing.
Bai Ning Bing controlled his body and dodged nimbly. Green vines thick as an arm swept near his body, hitting the soil or the mountain rocks, causing the soil to fly and the rock fragments to scatter.
Water Shield Gu!
Bai Ning Bing could not dodge in time, and created his shield.
Qing Shu had seen through the weakness of this Gu worm. He did not attack forcefully, but manipulated the vines to wrap around the shield.
Next, he pulled back his strength, and the water shield came into contact. The surface water current moved quickly as it hit the green vines, causing water to splash everywhere.
The water shield could not endure the strength of the green vines' restriction, and shrunk in size, on the verge of collapsing.
"Not good! If the water shield breaks and I get entangled in the green vines, I will get killed by Gu Yue Qing Shu!" Bai Ning Bing in the water shield was sure of his situation.
In the next moment, the water shield exploded.
Bam!
An ice blade storm exploded from within, becoming larger and larger.
Bai Ning Bing purposely withdrew the Water Shield Gu's defense—since defending couldn't work, he had to fight offense with offense!
At once, the temperature fell and cold air emanated.
The white ice blade storm flew towards Qing Shu. The vines could not stop this tornado, and were cut into numerous segments by the ice blades.
"Nice timing." Gu Yue Qing Shu had no fear, his large body bravely entering the ice blade storm.
With a bam, he knocked onto the white colour tornado.
He opened both hands, wrapping around it.
Crack crack...
The sharp ice blades cut through his body, and numerous leaves and tree bark were sent flying.
The delayed sense of pain assaulted him as Qing Shu growled in pain, but did not let go, using all his strength to grip the tornado.
The ice blade storm was actually shrinking under his strength.
"Damn it! This maniac that doesn't care for his life…" Bai Ning Bing scolded internally. In this situation there was no other way, he could only create more ice blades and rotate faster, competing with Gu Yue Qing Shu.
The ice blades slashed on Qing Shu's body and gradually became blunt, but under the Ice Blade Gu's power, they sharpened once again.
The battle was at a stalemate, out of their control, and no one could hold back and stop.
Either Gu Yue Qing Shu kills Bai Ning Bing, or Bai Ning Bing kills Qing Shu. Pitting offense with offense, the battle was filled with bravery and intensity.