Seeing an unwelcome guest appear midway, the people from Chihua Gate were enraged again. Tian Fangfang on the side asked, “Martial Uncle, how did you get here?”
“When the juniors don’t know better, as an elder, how can I not keep watch?” Gu Baiying said.
Hearing this, Tan Tianxin let out a cold laugh: “Smart of you to know your place, but it’s too late. Having angered our Chihua Gate, just wait for death!” After speaking, his long sword thrust toward Gu Baiying’s chest.
The silver spear in the white-robed youth’s hand merely waved lightly, and the spearhead suddenly extended like a silver radiance piercing toward the sword tip. Immediately after, with a “Smack!” sound, a figure heavily crashed into the gambling table, knocking it over completely.
The other two – Huang Fan and He Ri – seeing this, both charged forward with swords raised. But that long spear suddenly turned around, and countless flying snow shot out from the spear tip, surrounding these two people like a cage forged from swan feathers, trapping them both and preventing them from approaching.
The youth was dressed in brocade white as snow, with a vermilion hair ribbon that made him appear both bright and passionate. He walked unhurriedly to Tan Tianxin’s side, then… stepped on his face.
The surrounding people gasped in shock.
One move – it was over in just one move.
His gaze was deep and cold, but the smile at the corner of his lips carried a hint of provocation. Looking down at the person on the ground from his superior position, he spoke unhurriedly: “You seem to have mistaken who the junior I was referring to is.”
“Stop!” The cultivator named He Ri struggled to break free from the spear wind’s restraint, but helplessly couldn’t advance. He could only threaten rather unimposingly: “Who exactly are you? When did the Taiyan Sect produce such a rule-breaking madman? Quickly release my senior martial brother, I…”
“Rules?” Gu Baiying looked at him. “Who set the rules? You?”
The youth’s tone was arrogant, his insolent attitude startling everyone around. Tan Tianxin had late-stage Golden Core cultivation and could rank among the disciples participating in this trial. Yet in this person’s hands, he was like a defenseless child. What exactly was his background?
“Who exactly are you?” Tan Tianxin asked with difficulty. He was a genius among Chihua Gate’s new generation disciples, while Taiyan Sect hadn’t recruited any good prospects from the clans in recent decades. Last year, they could only recruit talent from ordinary civilian cultivators. This person, who had just fought him, used profound elemental force, almost completely suppressing him. His cultivation was at least mid-stage Yuan Ying, but when did the Taiyan Sect have such a person? If they did, the elders couldn’t possibly not have told him!
“There’s no harm in telling you.” The youth withdrew his foot and spoke with composed confidence: “Taiyan Sect, Gu Baiying.”
In an instant, the gambling house that had still been filled with private discussions suddenly became so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone’s gaze fell upon that handsome youth holding the silver spear.
In the cultivation world’s sects, perhaps no one had heard the name Gu Baiying before, but it was impossible that no one had heard of Qinghua Xianzi’s name. And the son that Qinghua Xianzi gave birth to had always been a mysterious existence in the cultivation world.
As Shaoyang Zhenren’s youngest disciple, it was said he had very high talent, breaking through to Yuan Ying at fourteen years old, almost perfectly inheriting Qinghua Xianzi’s appearance and cultivation. However, people in the cultivation world rarely saw him. Some had tried to secretly glimpse his distinguished appearance when visiting the Taiyan Sect, but came away empty-handed. Gu Baiying wasn’t at the sect year-round, mostly traveling outside with his senior martial brothers. Always unable to see him, the cultivation world began to speculate, saying that Qinghua Xianzi’s son Gu Baiying was just a mediocre mortal, and the so-called young genius was just a lie fabricated by Taiyan Sect to save face.
But now, if this youth claimed to be Gu Baiying, then all those previous rumors would immediately collapse on their own.
“Impossible…” Tan Tianxin’s expression was uncertain. “How could Gu Baiying come to Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm?”
You must know that among the cultivation world’s sect secret realm trials, Gu Baiying had never participated. The spiritual fruits and herbs in Li’er Kingdom’s secret realm had already been picked clean, with little profit to be gained. How would it be worth troubling Gu Baiying to make the trip personally?
Gu Baiying ignored him and only turned back to ask the three of them: “Are you injured?”
Tian Fangfang said, “No, Martial Uncle, your timing was perfect.”
Zanxing thought, how could it not be timely? She only had a few voice transmission talismans on her, and now one was used up.
Gu Baiying then looked at the people on the ground – the two disciples from Liuli Sect. The brother who owed the debt had already been beaten unconscious, and his junior martial brother held him while hurriedly thanking Zanxing and the others: “Thank you, fellow cultivators. When Rong Yu returns to Liuli Sect, I will surely inform the elders of this matter and present gratitude gifts.”
“Forget it, brother,” Tian Fangfang said. “Your senior martial brother looks seriously injured and probably can’t even enter the secret realm trial. This was already a losing business – if you add gratitude gifts on top, wouldn’t that empty your sect’s coffers?”
Liuli Sect was a small sect with meager resources. Rong Yu’s face showed some embarrassment as he mumbled with his lips, wanting to say something but not daring to.
Zanxing looked toward his senior martial brother, about to inquire about the injuries, when the Panhua Stick at her waist began to tremble slightly.
Why would the Panhua Stick move for no reason?
Just as Zanxing was puzzled, she saw something that seemed to be wriggling under the skin at the back of Rong Yu’s unconscious senior martial brother’s neck. She instinctively called for Gu Baiying to look: “Martial Uncle, look…”
The next moment, Gu Baiying suddenly reached out and fiercely struck the back of the unconscious person’s neck. Before anyone could see clearly, they heard a sharp, piercing shriek from within the gambling house, like a sharp object scraping the bottom of a pot, causing splitting headaches.
From the back of Rong Yu’s senior martial brother’s neck flew out a golden light shadow about an inch long. It moved extremely fast, suddenly darting toward the crowd. With a “Chi” sound, a silver spear descended from above, pinning this light shadow to the ground, preventing its escape.
All this happened too quickly for anyone to react. When they came to their senses, they saw the light shadow pinned by the spear tip writhing violently, struggling while emitting ugly shrieks, until after about the time of a cup of tea, it slowly quieted down.
This was a golden insect, no longer than a finger, with densely packed belly legs that made one’s scalp tingle to look at. It resembled a centipede but was softer than one. Below its head was a pair of ugly chelicerae with some bloodstains stuck to them.
Someone timid in the gambling house asked in alarm: “What is this? It looks rather frightening.”
Mu Cengxiao frowned: “A gambling bug?”
“Exactly, a gambling bug.” Gu Baiying withdrew his silver spear and used a control technique to confine the insect in a light prison, confirming his answer.
“Junior martial brother Mu, what is a gambling bug?” Tian Fangfang asked.
“A type of demonic insect that often hides in gambling houses and halls, parasitizing people’s bodies when they’re off guard. Those parasitized gradually lose their intelligence and become addicted to gambling, until they die from gambling with no cure possible,” Mu Cengxiao answered, then seemed somewhat puzzled: “However, I read in the classics that once a gambling bug successfully parasitizes someone, it won’t leave the host unless the parasitized person dies. How did Seventh Martial Uncle discover it?”