In the blink of an eye, five days passed.
Fang Yuan had another battle scheduled.
"You opponent today has quite the background." Wei Yang walked towards Fang Yuan, instructing him to be careful.
Fang Yuan nodded.
He had never fought without adequate preparations, after being in an alliance with Li Ran, he obtained a lot of valuable information about the battle stage participants.
Li Ran was a spy, undercover for eight years, his job was to gather information anyway. His understanding of the battle stage surpasses even Wei Yang.
"Li Hao was also once a strength cultivator, rising to fourth inner city. He once had a glorious past, but encountered a bottleneck. In terms of strength cultivators, they were strong at the start, but start to show weakness in the middle stage, stuck there with no way to progress further. Li Hao was greatly traumatised, giving up on the strength path and changing to a support style."
"Well, it was due to him finally getting lucky, choosing a good rock in the gambling den and obtaining the rare position swap Gu. With his rich experience, he immediately sold all the Gu he had and purchased a mountain back toad in the auction house."
"Next, he relied on the cooperation between these two Gu and won all the matches he participated in. Relying on the Gu and primeval stones he won, he slowly accumulated his assets and gathered a new set of Gu worms. He is forcefully challenging you because he wants that all-out effort Gu, you have to be careful."
Wei Yang said, as he patted Fang Yuan's shoulders and blended into the crowd.
Fang Yuan looked deeply at Wei Yang, as he walked onto the arena.
Whenever there was an important battle, Wei Yang would come and watch. Fang Yuan understood he was mere to act as mental support for Fang Yuan. One reason was because Shang clan wanted to recruit him, but more likely...
It was because he treated Fang Yuan as a real brother!
Relationships between people is this weird.
Some people interact for tens of years without getting closer. Some people just talk once and become close friends.
Fang Yuan understood Wei Yang's emotions. He could see his former shadow in Fang Yuan. This strong sense of acknowledgement, as well as Fang Yuan's candid nature, made him treat Fang Yuan as a close friend.
"Wei Yang…" Fang Yuan thought, as he walked to the center of the arena.
The terrain of this arena is a large sized swamp. Black rotten mud, giving off a putrid smell, and there were even puddles everywhere.
Li Hao had not arrived yet.
Outside the battle stage, large number of spectators were gathered.
This was the most people Fang Yuan had seen at any of his battles. Standing on the arena, he looked around to see people all around him.
Everyone conversed at the same time, causing the entire battle stage to be full of noise and chattering.
"This Fang Zheng is in trouble today!"
"He had been so arrogant these days, he should be taught a lesson."
"Youngsters think too highly of themselves, he really thinks one all-out effort Gu makes him invincible!"
"Li Hao is here." Someone shouted.
The crowd went silent, before going wild again, their voices bursting through the roof.
At the entrance, Li Hao appeared.
"Lord Li Hao, we're all counting on you!"
"May you win your thirtieth match and advance to fourth inner city."
Among the crowd, many people shouted, some screamed.
Compared to Fang Yuan, they thought more highly of Li Hao. When Fang Yuan first came, he was extremely arrogant, killing many opponents, ruthless and cruel. He had the purple thorn token, causing everyone to be jealous of his good luck.
In contrast, Li Hao was a veteran in the battle stage. He had first walked on the strength path, then fell from fourth inner city. He had risen from the lowest part of his life, signifying the spirit of 'never give up' in the battle stage, it would ignite everyone's passion.
Li Hao carried a light smile as he walked onto the stage.
He was thin, wearing a flowery robe and makeup, as he walked casually towards Fang Yuan.
But around sixty steps away, he stopped, not advancing further.
Fang Yuan, in his previous few fights, used the vertical crash Gu to assault his opponents, sending them flying, easily winning in one strike. Li Hao was a veteran in the battle stage, he obviously made preparations for that.
The vertical crash Gu's effective range was fifty steps, he was safe at the sixtieth border.
"Strength cultivator, hehe…" He gave Fang Yuan a sweeping glance, filled with disdain: "Young man, unfortunately, your consecutive victory ends here. Do you know, looking at you now, it is just like me in the past. There is no future in the strength path, so what if you have the all-out effort Gu? Thank me, after I defeat you today, you will know it is for your own good, letting you understand the insufficiency of the strength path."
He started lecturing Fang Yuan with his status as a senior.
"You sure talk a lot, can you shut up?" Fang Yuan folded his arms, with a plain expression.
"You…" Li Hao's face flushed with fury, as his laughter was filled with animosity: "Hehehe, young man, you do not respect your elders, you are bound to suffer."
At this time, with the sound of the bell, the hosting Gu Master announced the start of the battle.
Vertical crash Gu!
Fang Yuan took a big stride, charging forward.
Pew!
The soil under his feet danced like waves, splashing high up on his left and right.
"Wow, what a grand sight." Li Hao laughed lightly.
He knew very clearly the vertical crash Gu could only charge fifty steps ahead. Every time it is used, there is a cooldown period of five breaths.
He was sixty steps away, it might seem dangerous, but he was completely safe.
This terrain was advantage to him. A muddy terrain was unlike a rough and flat surface, it was not suited for charging type attacks.
As expected, Fang Yuan charged forty-five steps and stopped.
But soon after, Fang Yuan turned his body to one side, facing Li Hao with his side view.
Horizontal charge Gu!
The soil and mud were split apart as the phantom image of a wild boar appeared, with a charging action, its speed raised sharply, wild and tough. In the blink of an eye, Fang Yuan reached Li Hao.
If he was hit, he would definitely vomit blood and break a few bones.
Li Hao went pale, at the crucial moment, he activated his vital Gu.
Position swap!
In an instant, he swapped with Fang Yuan.
Fang Yuan was facing Li Hao as he charged, but now, Li Hao was behind him as he charged ahead, getting further away from Li Hao.
"I was careless!" In just this moment, Li Hao's forehead was pouring with sweat.
He did not think that Fang Yuan would be much of a threat to him. After knowing Fang Yuan had the vertical crash Gu and horizontal charge Gu, he did not think much about it, but that almost caused him to be severely injured.
At the crucial moment, his years of experience saved him.
Compared to defending, why not dodge.
One position swap, and Fang Yuan missed.
No matter how great your strength, as long as you hit air, you cannot cause damage, it is pointless.
"This lad has the all-out effort Gu, every move of his strikes hard. I sold my strength Gu and got rid of the beast strength in my body, I cannot compete with him head on."
Li Hao calmed his nerves, and retreated.
He used his movement Gu, his body turning light as the wind, floating backwards, rapidly pulling distance from Fang Yuan.
At the same time, he raised his finger and pointed at the sky, as a green light shot out from his aperture, towards the sky.
It was a jade green light, stopping in mid air, then exploded.
Under the glaring light, the body of the mountain back toad showed itself, descending.
There was a black shadow on the ground, engulfing Fang Yuan, and got larger over time.
Five breaths had long passed, Fang Yuan looked at Li Hao, and activated the vertical crash Gu, charging over.
He raised his speed rapidly, quickly getting out of the shadow's range.
THe moment he got out, the mountain back toad landed.
Bam!
A loud bang, and the entire battle stage trembled, as black mud and soil flew into the air like tidal waves.
The waves splashed to the edge of the arena, causing the spectators to dodge instinctively, but a huge dark red shield protected them.
The battle stage obviously had defensive Gu to protect the audiences.
"It appeared, Lord Li Hao's mountain back toad!" Seeing this, someone screamed in excitement.
"Even if Fang Zheng charges at Li Hao, it is pointless. Li hao only needs to use the position swap Gu, and easily change position with the mountain back toad… hehehe."
But Fang Yuan did not charge at Li Hao.
He stopped in his tracks.
The black mud splashed on him like a wave, but were repelled by the canopy Gu's white armor.
Horizontal charge Gu.
After the waves subsided, he tilted his body away from the mountain back toad, and charged horizontally towards it.
Howl!
The roar of a bear was heard, as a brown bear phantom appeared, howling at the sky, giving off its wild aura.
Bam!
Fang Yuan slammed on the mountain back toad's body, causing the toad to sway.
But that was it.
The mountain back toad's unique hill was made of mountain rocks that have great density. It was one of the heaviest rank three Gu.
Once its four legs stood on the ground, it was like an unmovable mountain, causing everyone to gasp at its firmness.
But Fang Yuan did not dare, he raised both arms and smashed on it like a hammer.
Howl!
Above his head, the phantoms of boar, brown bear, and crocodile appeared one after another.
His punches tore through the winds as he attacked without restraint. Hitting on the mountain back toad, thunderous sounds went off like firecrackers.
Such a fierce attack sent the spectators into deep fear, as cold sweat ran down their back.
"If I was the target, I would not have a complete corpse by now!"
"The all-out effort Gu is too strong, really too strong."
"But Fang Zheng's brain is fried, not attacking Li Hao but instead, punching that mountain."
The defense of the mountain back toad was impressive, even with Fang Yuan's ferocious attacks, it did not move, causing people to feel helpless against it.
But Fang Yuan had a cold expression, the more he attacked, the fiercer it got, like this toad had a great feud with him.
Li Hao's expression changed.
No matter how tough the mountain back toad was, it had its limits, it could not endure this rain of punches anymore.
Gua gua gua...
The mountain back toad started shouting, as the pain was exceeding its limits.
"This cannot go on!" Li Hao's heart jumped, as he willed and rode on the mountain back toad.
Mountain back toad started to counter attack, stepping on the mud and charging at Fang Yuan.
With its weight, if Fang Yuan took this head on, he would definitely be sent flying.
Horizontal charge Gu.
His eyes shone brightly, moving away at the last moment, dodging the mountain back toad's attack.
Getting around the toad's body, and hitting again!