Fang Zheng stood far away, not even daring to take a deep breath as he watched.
The battle had reached the climax, the winner and the loser decided from this showdown.
"Lord Qing Shu, hang in there!" Fang Zheng was so nervous his body was shaking, he knew that going over would only cause trouble, thus he could only cheer for Gu Yue Qing Shu loudly.
As if he heard Fang Zheng's voice, the ice blade storm got smaller, forcefully suppressed by Qing Shu.
"Damn it, I can actually get into a situation where my primeval essence is insufficient…" Bai Ning Bing gritted his teeth, rotating slower as his primeval essence recovery could not keep up with his expenditure, getting into a helpless situation.
The Northern Dark Ice Soul physique's primeval essence recovery was very fast, but the recovery speed at Rank three was still slightly inferior to the tree spirit's ability to extract natural essence. If Bai Ning Bing could cultivate to Rank four, his recovery speed would greatly surpass the Wood Charm Gu.
Except, in life and death battles, there were no "ifs".
No matter who was the victor, the results had to be accepted.
Eventually the ice blade storm stopped, but Gu Yue Qing Shu also paid a heavy price.
His arms were large like a horse carriage, and at the moment on his left arm he had two fingers left and three on his right. Both his palms were sliced off by half due to the ice blades.
But when his palms gradually gathered together towards the middle, new tree branches grew again rapidly from his palm, interweaving together.
The two palms formed a wooden cage, trapping Bai Ning Bing within.
"Damn it!" Bai Ning Bing gritted his teeth. His primeval essence was running dry, he could only be at Qing Shu's mercy.
"We won!!" Far away, Fang Zheng jumped at this sight.
"Am I going to die…?" Bai Ning Bing shouted in his heart, his eyes widening as he saw the two palms approaching. When both palms clasp together, he would be smashed into a bloody meat pie.
But the palm's speed became slower, and slowly stood in mid-air.
Bai Ning Bing was stunned momentarily, before realizing that Gu Yue Qing Shu's body had developed problems, instantly being overjoyed.
"Damn, I was so close…" At this moment, Gu Yue Qing Shu's heart was filled with helplessness. His hands had lost all senses, completely turning into wood.
At the same time, he gradually lost the connection to his intestines and lungs. The Wood Charm Gu's ability had corroded his entire body, bringing him to the brink of death.
"No, it cannot end like this! I can still use the Green Vine Gu!" Gu Yue Qing Shu forced himself to focus and activated the Green Vine Gu.
Numerous thick vines appeared and attacked Bai Ning Bing through the openings of the cage.
Bai Ning Bing dodged quickly but he had undergone several battles, and his stamina was greatly depleted. Furthermore, there was little space in the cage, and he could not move much, thus eventually a vine entangled onto his right leg and tripped him.
"It's over." Qing Shu sighed in relief, as he quickly moved tens of green vines to follow up.
At his moment of life and death, Bai Ning Bing's aperture finally recovered enough primeval essence for his usage requirement.
He used all the primeval essence without further thoughts, sending it all into the Ice Blade Gu, and formed a new ice blade.
The ice blade was sharp and cut off the green vine on his right leg. Bai Ning Bing rolled in a sorry state, managing to avoid tens of vines.
The green vines hit the ground and penetrated the thick earth. The soil flew around, and the green vines attacked once again.
Bai Ning Bing breathed heavily as he used the ice blade to defend desperately.
The green vines attacked from all directions, as if he was walking on thin ice. A single mistake by Bai Ning Bing would cause him to be instantly killed by the vines.
But he was after all a top tier genius. With the stimulation of death, he squeezed out all the potential in him, and his evasive actions became quick and clear.
Although he was tripped sometimes by the green vines, he managed to avoid the danger and eventually kept his life.
The green vines were cut by the ice blades, and their amount became less and less.
It was not that Qing Shu did not want to activate the Green Vine Gu and produce more vines, but it was because the surrounding natural essence had been almost fully absorbed by him.
Although outside, there was still essence in the air gathering, the diluted essence in the air was no longer able to fulfill the Green Vine Gu's needs.
There was an even worse piece of news—the Wood Charm Gu's strength had completely corroded Gu Yue Qing Shu's body, and was starting to take over his consciousness.
Gu Yue Qing Shu's consciousness started to become dazed, and he had intermediate blank outs.
The aura of death was blowing on his face.
"Is it going to end? No…" He was indignant, forcing his mind to focus and put in the last ditch effort in killing Bai Ning Bing.
He could no longer see anything, for the Wood Charm Gu had taken over his eyes, and he could not hear any longer either, his ears merely an accessory now.
He only had a meager sense of touch.
Relying on Bai Ning Bing's retaliation, he judged the distance and position, and attacked.
His efforts were rewarded, as Bai Ning Bing was finally captured. A vine wrapped around his neck and raised him up, gradually tightening.
Bai Ning Bing could feel difficulty in breathing, it was no use even if he opened his mouth. Along with Qing Shu, they was progressing towards death.
Fang Yuan breathed roughly, an intense battle had ended.
On the floor lay five corpses with opened eyes, they were all Bai clan Gu Masters.
Relying on the Stealth Scales Gu to sneak attack, with the advantage of the Moonglow Gu and the strength of two boars along with his 500 years of experience, he displayed shocking abilities.
Although he told Qing Shu he was going to return to the village, it was just an excuse.
After leaving for a distance, he used the Stealth Scales Gu to hide himself, moving around the battlefield and going to the area where Man Shi and Xiong Li died.
He collected the Gu worms in Man Shi and his group mates' corpses, and when he got the Xiong Li's corpse, he found that the corpse was missing, not to mention their Gu worms.
"It seems that Xiong Lin collected their corpses. What a waste, I wanted to get Xiong Li's Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu." Fang Yuan sighed.
Leaving Xiong Lin alive was not what he wanted.
But back then, after he had killed Xiong Jiang, Xiong Lin was already vigilant, thus killing the latter would expend much effort.
At that time, Bai Ning Bing was close by. If Fang Yuan and Xiong Lin fought, Bai Ning Bing would be overjoyed.
"But the Brown Bear Innate Strength Gu might not be on Xiong Li's body. He already has the strength of a bear, he might have given the Gu back to his clan already."
Fang Yuan focused his gaze and escaped the mountain path battlefield.
Qing Shu and the others fighting against Bai Ning Bing would cause a huge commotion, and it will be detected by the surrounding wolf packs and Gu Masters.
Although Fang Yuan was not optimistic about Qing Shu's group, he had seen firsthand the power of the Wood Charm Gu in his previous life. Against Bai Ning Bing, there would at least be an intense struggle.
He was unwilling to give up such a chance, thus he chose to wait at the surroundings.
At times, Gu Masters were attracted by the sounds of the intense battle, so Fang Yuan lured some wolf packs over and restrained them.
Those that he cannot stop, Fang Yuan would strike with his own hands.
"The mountain path battlefield's noise has come to a halt, it seems they are deciding the victor already." His right ear had roots growing out, digging into the mountain walls, allowing Fang Yuan to hear some things from the battlefield.
Honestly speaking, Qing Shu's performance was better than expected. After Bai Ning Bing lost his right arm, the effect on his battle strength was much greater than Fang Yuan had expected.
But soon, Fang Yuan's expression changed.
He heard large amounts of footsteps from two directions, heading towards the battlefield.
One direction was from Gu Yue village, while the other direction was from the Bai clan village.
Each group had at least twenty people. It was not something a bold lightning wolf pack could block, and Fang Yuan could not lure two groups of wolf over anyway.
"It seems the news about this battle has been found out by someone, so these are the reinforcements sent by the two clans, I have to enter the mountain path immediately."
Fang Yuan's distance was shorter, thus being the first to enter the mountain path.
The battlefield's scenario was not out of his expectations.
From the cage's opening, he could see Bai Ning Bing hanging by the vines on his last breath, but was still barely alive.
"The ice muscles' defense are stubbornly sustaining Bai Ning Bing's life. Hmph, unfortunately, you have encountered me." Fang Yuan's killing intent surged as he took a few steps forwards, sprinting towards Bai Ning Bing.
Swish swish swish.
Suddenly, a flurry of pin needles surrounded Fang Yuan like rain droplets.
It was Gu Yue Qing Shu's Pin Needle Gu, attacking Fang Yuan.
"What's going on?" Fang Yuan retreated immediately, avoiding the pin needle rain.
He focused the gaze at the large tree, realizing at once, "It seems that Gu Yue Qing Shu's consciousness had been blurred to the point where he can no longer differentiate between friend or foe. He's merely relying on his will and attempting to kill Bai Ning Bing. Anyone that intrudes the battlefield would be regarded as an interferer by him."
At this moment, Bai clan Gu Masters appeared from the mountain path.
Seeing such an intense battlefield, their faces showed a shocked expression.
"The lad over there, don't make any unnecessary movements!" A Rank three Gu Master shouted towards Fang Yuan, his tone full of warning and threat.
"This Bai Ning Bing is such a cockroach." Fang Yuan seeing this scene, laughed coldly in his heart, knowing that he could not have the last strike.
Firstly, Qing Shu's consciousness was blurred, a green vine was insufficient to kill Bai Ning Bing who had the ice muscles.
For Fang Yuan to get close to Bai Ning Bing, he had to break through Qing Shu's trap, but this way, it would divert much of his attention and might even help Bai Ning Bing in escaping his predicament.
Even if they broke through by force, Bai clan's Rank three Gu Masters and Rank two elites were not for show, they would definitely stop him.
Furthermore, fighting against Bai Ning Bing had danger as well.
Bai Ning Bing's aperture had recovered primeval essence sufficiently to at least use the Blue bird ice coffin Gu.
Even if Fang Yuan managed to kill Bai Ning Bing, these Bai clan elites would not let go of him, they would definitely kill Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan sighed in his heart, "The distance is too long, there are at least twenty steps to get to him, and my Moonglow Gu's attack range is only ten steps, furthermore… to kill this Bai Ning Bing who is destined to die anyway, I would need to put my life at such risk, greatly interfering with my rebirth plans, it is not worth it."
Thinking so, Fang Yuan took a few steps back.
This was evidently a weak and cowardly movement, causing the Bai clan Gu Masters to breathe a sigh of relief.