Fang Yuan's composure made Tie Baxiu's heart clench with both alarm and dread.
If this battle had just begun, Tie Baxiu would never have imagined he would find himself in such a position — at a disadvantage.
Yet now, this veteran pillar of the Tie family was forced to admit that his situation had grown dire.
The sole culprit behind this state of affairs was the young man standing before him!
He had fought one against seven, pressing them into this desperate corner.
How on earth had he managed it?
"From the moment the Little Beast King appeared, every move, every word, every action was a trap laid with unfathomable depth, luring all seven of us into his snare. That he possessed a Flight Gu, and wielded such masterful and seasoned aerial combat — that was entirely beyond expectation. By leveraging his ability to fly, he seized the initiative, advancing and retreating as he pleased, picking us off one by one, until this was the result."
Tie Baxiu replayed the battle in his mind, and the chill inside him deepened.
How Fang Yuan had acquired such godlike mastery of aerial combat was no longer the most terrifying part.
"What makes this brat truly frightening is his mind. How can such a young man possess such meticulous strategic thinking? He's practically a monster! If he had walked the righteous path, he would have been its most dazzling new star. But tragically, he has turned that intellect to crooked and wicked ends. This is a catastrophe for all the people under heaven!"
Tie Baxiu suddenly had a premonition that, one day, this young man before him would become a scourge upon the entire Southern Border. When that day came, the land would burn red for a thousand miles, rivers would flow with blood, and who knew how many lives would fall to his poisoned hand!
"No — my situation right now is extremely dangerous. Tie Ruonan can no longer fight, my ranged combat ability is lacking, and the Little Beast King can fly — whether to press the attack or to withdraw is entirely at his discretion. Retreat. I must retreat, race to Three Forks Mountain, and rendezvous with the Four Elders!"
Though Tie Baxiu had been famous for a long time, his temperament was steady and unswayed by vanity.
His true combat power had not yet been fully unleashed. Under the continuous bolstering of the Earth Tyrant King Gu, the Tyrant Strength Gu would grow ever stronger, eventually surpassing Fang Yuan's current limits.
But Tie Baxiu was not intoxicated by his own strength. Seasoned as he was, he saw through his true situation at a glance. If the fight continued, disaster far outweighed hope — the wisest course was to retreat.
Even if it meant fleeing before a junior, it did not matter. Better to suffer ruin to his reputation than to die and perish.
"Besides — Brother Xue Leng, I absolutely cannot let your descendant lose their life right before my eyes!" With that thought, Tie Baxiu made his decision in an instant. Grabbing Tie Ruonan, he began to retreat.
"Hm? He's running!" Fang Yuan's eyes flared with a sharp, cutting light.
This was genuinely troublesome.
Tie Baxiu fleeing was, without question, the wisest move. This location was already near Three Forks Mountain — if the Tie family's Four Elders arrived as reinforcements, it would be Fang Yuan's turn to retreat.
"Kill!" Fang Yuan was naturally unwilling to let that happen.
He pointed a finger, activating the Full Effort Gu and Strength Gu. Beast shadows materialized from nothing into solid forms, raining down one after another to block Tie Baxiu's path.
But Tie Baxiu's strength was formidable. His fists and feet clashed against the onslaught, wind and thunder howling, scattering every beast shadow to pieces.
Fang Yuan suddenly shifted his target — all the beast shadows now lunged at Tie Ruonan.
"Despicable!" Tie Baxiu cursed and threw himself forward to shield Tie Ruonan.
Seeing this, Fang Yuan burst into laughter. If Tie Baxiu abandoned Tie Ruonan and fled alone, Fang Yuan would have been unable to stop him. But with Tie Baxiu insisting on protecting her, he was digging his own grave.
The reason was simple: Tie Baxiu was not a defensive Gu Master — he specialized in offense.
Protecting Tie Ruonan meant sacrificing his own mobility, fighting with his hands and feet bound. It was a case of pitting his own weakness against the enemy's strength.
One fled, the other pursued, and the stalemate dragged on.
No matter how Tie Baxiu raged and provoked, Fang Yuan simply hovered in the air, unleashing beast shadow after beast shadow.
Tie Baxiu could not reach Fang Yuan. He could only endure the bombardment passively while also shielding Tie Ruonan. Before long, he had sustained light wounds.
"He's only at the Fourth Transformation, Middle Stage — how can his True Essence still be so abundant?" Tie Baxiu felt despair creeping in. He had no idea that Fang Yuan not only possessed the Wine Worm, but also the Heaven Yuan Treasure Lotus — his reserves of True Essence were fully on par with a Fourth Transformation, High Stage cultivator.
Fang Yuan's barrage was relentless and unceasing. One beast shadow was dispersed, and the next lunged in immediately.
The beast shadows attacked in waves, wave after wave, each following the last without pause. From time to time, he manifested Thunder Pig and Rock Crocodile shadows that posed serious threats to Tie Ruonan.
Tie Baxiu was running himself ragged, growing weaker by the minute, his strength failing him.
"Why haven't the Four Elders arrived yet?!" Tie Baxiu had been fleeing the entire way and was now nearing Three Forks Mountain, yet the Four Elders were nowhere to be seen.
The route he had chosen was too secretive. To prevent any leaks of information, he had deliberately set out two days early.
All those precautions had now become obstacles to his own escape.
Tie Baxiu was caught in an utterly passive position. The injuries on his body accumulated steadily, escalating from light wounds to serious ones.
The beast shadows grew increasingly threatening. He found it harder and harder to press forward!
Tie Ruonan had become his greatest burden. She struggled repeatedly, and Tie Baxiu was eventually forced to knock her unconscious, tucking her under one arm as he ran.
"We're almost at the foot of the mountain. Just hold on a little longer." Tie Baxiu's body swayed, his vision already blurring before his eyes.
"Am I really going to let him escape?! Damn it!" Fang Yuan hovered in the air, his expression dark as still water, his attacks growing ever more ferocious and relentless, surging forward like a tidal wave.
As they neared Three Forks Mountain, Gu Masters had begun to appear one after another in the surrounding area.