The raiders and the raided

With all eyes on him, Chi Yan pointed his finger at Bai Bing Yi, saying, "I know you, Bai Bing Yi. You are the number one among the Rank 2 Gu Masters of the Bai clan. You specialize in offense. I heard that no Rank 2 defensive Gu can resist your Water Drill Gu. Your team is also the acclaimed strongest team of the Bai clan."

After pausing for a moment, Chi Yan nodded and continued, "You people are very impressive. If our teams fought under normal circumstances, then it might have ended badly for us. But at this moment even our primeval essence is low, so the situation seems quite hopeless."

"You are a dangerous enemy indeed…" Chi Yan dragged his words and then suddenly pointed his finger at the sky, calling out: "However! Today is a special day. Your team lured a few hundred crippled lightning wolves to surround us and exhaust our primeval essence, and then you came here to attack us at our weakest, but that proved to be your mistake!"

After making his claim, Chi Yan went silent, staring straight at the Bai clan's Gu Masters.

Everyone frowned. What is Chi Yan talking about?

Not giving others a chance to speak, Chi Yan continued, "Consider the weather."

Chi Yan then waved his hand with a profound expression.

The Gu Master presents looked around at the village littered with wolf corpses and at the dark night sky, frowning.

"How foolish, how naive! Hahaha! The weather is why you will lose!" Chi Yan called out confidently.

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?" one of the Bai Bing Yi's Gu Masters asked.

"He's nuts. Don't listen to his nonsense."

"Ha, ha, ha! You don't get it, do you? You really don't get it!" Chi Yan started chuckling, having a laugh out of the Bai clan's Gu Masters. He was mostly laughing because his stalling tactic was working.

Bai Bing Yi was about to open his mouth, but Chi Yan raised his hand and promptly interjected: "If you have looked behind, you would have understood what I'm talking about."

Two of the Bai clan's Gu Masters looked behind, while the others remained weary.

However, a sense of unease creeped into all of their hearts due to Chi Yan's confidence - he simply wasn't afraid of them as if he was not in danger of dying at all, and it made them even more suspicious; they were suspicious and their attention was half-diverted, pondering over Chi Yan's strange words.

Chi Yan looked behind himself for a moment and then smirked at the Bai clan Gu Masters, saying, "There's one thing that you need to know!... Fuck, I'm not gonna die here!"

Chi Yan suddenly turned into a lump of smoke and then disappeared as he merged into the shadows.

"Fuck, he was just stalling. Quickly, kill him!"

"Go, kill him!"

The Bai Clan's Gu Masters sprang out of their spot, activating their Gu to reveal and kill Chi Yan.

Chi Shan's team was speechless, but after a moment's lag they also prepared for combat.

Bai Bing Yi moved his hand and sent out a wave of water needles at Chi Yan's previous location. Because of the large distance between Chi Yan and the Bai Clan's Gu Masters only Bai Bing Yi was able to send out a ranged attack that could reach him.

But what Bai Bing Yi didn't expect was that Chi Yan didn't run away, but the moment he activated Shadow Follower Gu he instead moved and quickly hid behind Chi Shan's large frame!

Bai Bing Yi's water needles ended up hitting the air in the empty street.

"Damn that kid!" Gu Yue Shi He cursed as he kept his distance and prepared his ranged Gu worm.

Chi Shan's eyebrows were kneaded deeply but he quickly resolutely entered the fight with the Bai Clan's Gu Masters, acting as a vanguard.

Meanwhile Chi Yan observed in hiding as an intense fight broke out.

Previously he managed to stall for around a minute with his empty speech which allowed him to recover around 4% primeval essence, being at 73% now. But the most important part was that the Bai clan's Gu Master came to realize that he was stalling and only wanted to use their moment of distraction to run away.

Chi Yan didn't have five hundred years of experience to come up with an elaborate speech on the spot, but all he did was state the obvious and then suddenly divert everyone's attention with a single remark.

The truth is that back on Earth Chi Yan played a lot of MMORPG games when he was still young. He engaged in both player versus player content and raiding, but was mostly focused on doing raids and killing bosses.

Chi Yan was certainly a good player, raiding at a high level, but he was never the best or the most skilled inside the group.

His strength, however, lay in the fact that he was a great tactician.

When he was reacting or improvising in the moment, it often came up in a chaotic way and he made mistakes, but when he had the time to strategize and analyze the fight, he often came up with simple solutions or innovative ideas that helped the group past the obstacles they encountered during the fight.

Now that Chi Yan also received the body and mind of someone with great instincts and combat talent, it created a perfect combination when paired with his strategizing abilities!

Without a moment's delay, Chi Yan soon joined the fray.

Various projectiles were flying around and he could be hit by a stray attack, so he secretly activated a Fish Scale Gu as his most basic layer of defense. Fish Scale Gu was only a Rank 1 Gu, so it could still be masked by the Rank 2 Shadow Follower Gu without problems.

Since many Gu worms were simply laying in the Chi family's warehouse as Gu materials and still required to be fed, Chi Yan kept this Rank 1 Gu on him precisely for these kinds of stealth operations and as a test before potentially refining Fire Scales Gu. The Rank 1 Fish Scale Gu was stronger than Copper Skin Gu and Bronze Skin Gu, only being slightly weaker than Jade Skin Gu.

At this moment Chi Yan wasted no time as he sprinted toward the Bai clan's group in an arc.

Yesterday the snow had already fully melted and thanks to the cold temperature during the night the ground had frozen. Right now Chi Yan's traces weren't revealed as he gradually closed in on the Bai Clan's Gu Masters.

This is why the weather was why Bai Bing Yi's team would lose! If they attacked just yesterday then there would be mud on the ground and if they attacked two days ago there would be snow, but now they would not be able to notice his traces!

Among the Gu Yue clan Gu Masters, Chi Shan already rushed at the enemies, but was stopped by the defensive Gu Master from the Bai clan.

The Gu Yue clan's Gu Masters prepared a desperate resistance, dodged attacks while counterattacking at the same time, while the Bai Clan Gu Masters also attacked.

With such an intense fight, no one had the spare time or attention to search for Chi Yan.

As for the Bai clan team's scouting Gu Master, using his scouting Gu required a lot of focus, so he obviously couldn't do it while fighting.

Because Gu Yue Shi He was present it was a five versus five fight, but everyone knew that the Gu Yue clan's Gu Masters would quickly fall into a disadvantage.

In the first place, the Bai clan's group also had superior offense and was simply stronger, while the Gu Yue clan's group was low on primeval essence.

Even though Chi Shan's team also had five members, not only they had to converse primeval essence, but they lacked a powerful attacker. Gu Yue Shi He was with them as the fifth combatant, but his attacks didn't complement their group's teamwork, because he lacked experience in fighting together with them.

In the back of the Bai clan's group, being protected by his teammates, Bai Bing Yi was slowly preparing his attack. The Water Drill fully formed in his hand after a while and he soon noticed an opening, and threw out his fist.

The water drill flew like a bullet and drilled into Chi Shan's chest covered in Iron Skin, and a large amount of water splattered.

The drill stuck to the Iron Skin and kept rotating, the drill's rotation intensifying, forcing Chi Shan to take two steps back.

Chi Shan shouted as he poured in primeval essence into his Iron Skin, forcefully resisting the water drill. His Iron Skin and the water drill were at a dead lock for a few seconds, but the close-range Gu Master from the Bai clan didn't stop attacking Chi Shan with an Iron Axe that he also had to defend against.

Using this chance, one more Gu Master from the Bai clan's team also focused his attention on Chi Shan, sending out a water arrow to break Chi Shan's defense.

It was at this moment that the Bai clan's Gu Masters felt the temperature rising. 'Strange, why do I feel warm?'

The same moment they noticed a fiery claw suddenly appear out of nowhere, clawing at them.

The fire claw reached one of the Bai clan's Gu Master in no time and slashed at its head, neck and upper chest. The Gu Master was taken by surprise and the upper half of his body was instantly decimated.

Chi Yan didn't stop at killing just one of them and continued to control the fire claw, pouring primeval essence into it. The fire claw regained its full power, changed direction and then flew at the second Bai clan's Gu Master.

'Scale Armor Gu!' The Second Bai Clan's Gu Master called out inwardly, activating his defensive Gu. His skin immediately began to grow dark scales like those of a snake.

The fire claw made a grabbing motion at the second Bai clan's Gu Master, clawing at his head. The Scale Armor resisted only for a moment and then was broken as Chi Yan kept his fire claw's power at the maximum.

"-What?!" The second Bai Clan's Gu Master didn't even manage to scream as the claw of fire vaporized his entire head.

He died.

He was shocked as he died.

An attack made by a Rank 2 Gu should never be able to break through a Rank 2 defensive Gu worm so easily! Furthermore, the Scale Armor Gu was not a common defensive Gu, but a really powerful one!

But Chi Yan's fire claw was beyond the strength of a Rank 2 Gu. A typical Rank 2 defensive Gu worm simply cannot stop it!

"Fuck!"

"Kill him!"

The other Bai clan Gu Masters started reacting. Bai Bing Yi and one more Gu Master sent a wave of attacks at Chi Yan to kill or restrain him.

Feeling the attacks coming, Chi Yan responded quickly.

"Fire Cloak Gu!" he quickly shouted under the threat of death. Flames erupted around him and formed a clothing of fire. It was just in time to absorb and stop any attacks sent at him, draining his primeval essence instead.

The Bai clan's Gu Masters' attacks failed.

In the meantime Chi Shan's Iron Skin was penetrated by the combined attack of Water Drill Gu and Water Arrow Gu. He lowly growled as the remaining power of the water drill mangled his chest muscles for a while before the drill finally faded.

His Iron Skin Gu was severely damaged. It might only be used once to defend a half-hearted attack and then it would die if it was forcefully used; without a defensive Gu, his large frame was now an easy target, putting him in a peculiar situation.

Meanwhile Chi Yan called back his faded Fire Claw Gu and caught it in his left hand, turning it back into an imprint on his palm.

After catching the Fire Claw, Chi Yan focused on keeping up his defense while moving to regroup with his team. When he had enough spare mental energy he also sent out a wave of Rank 1 Fire Pellets as he moved.

His objective was already achieved when he assassinated the first Bai clan Gu Master. Killing the second could be considered a bonus.

While Chi Yan was defending against the attacks of the Bai clan Gu Masters, the Gu Yue clan's Gu Masters also sent out their attacks, forcing the two Gu Masters at range to dodge.

After the initial shock of both sides, the combat situation instantly turned around. From an originally five versus five fight that the Gu Yue clan was clearly losing, it transformed into a six versus three fight with Chi Yan joining the fray, contributing his powerful offense and defense.

Naturally, the Bai clan's team was thoroughly overwhelmed!

'Vitality Leaf!' Chi Shan called out in his heart. A green shine enveloped his body and his mangled chest muscles that were oozing blood began to rapidly intertwine like live vines.

Right after, Chi Shan began to tackle the close-range Gu Master of the Bai clan, wrestling with him and holding him with his strength to prevent any Iron Axes from landing on himself.

Behind Chi Shan, Chi Yan's kept sending out endless waves of cheap Rank 1 Fire Pellets that had a power far above Rank 1 Gu.

In such a life and death battle he had an indescribable feeling in his heart that he had never felt before.

His expression was focused and cold, but inwardly he felt great excitement and a sense of accomplishment. The feeling of being in control of the situation, the feeling of being powerful, the feeling of life and death of the other party being firmly gripped in his hand, it was all very intoxicating.

Chi Yan's right hand was extended forward and he continued sending waves of fireballs after waves at his enemies. 

Four, eight, twelve, sixteen, twenty… 

The other Gu Yue clan's Gu Masters were also sending out ranged attacks, while Bai Bing Yi and his other teammate had no choice but to retreat while dodging frantically. The number of projectiles sent at the Bai clan Gu Masters was simply too large.

Quickly, one of Chi Yan's fireballs landed on Bai Bing Yi's left arm as he was unable to dodge, severing it at the elbow.

Meanwhile the other Bai clan Gu Master, who was much taller than Bai Bing Yi, received two wounds, a fireball at the side of his thigh and a deep moonblade cut on his shoulder.

"Retreat!" Bai Bing Yi shouted frantically.

Bai Bing Yi and his companion broke into a sprint and began to escape, leaving behind the close-range Gu Master that was held down by Chi Shan.

Chi Yan began to chase. His legs crackled with electricity and he quickly caught up to the first one.

The taller Gu Master had an injured leg, while Bai Bing Yi used a movement Gu, so Chi Yan naturally first caught up to the tall one. He sent out a wave of fireballs and the fireballs pierced through the Bai clan Gu Master's back in several places as he ran.

After seeing the first Gu Master drop to the ground motionless, Chi Yan sped up again and began to chase after Bai Bing Yi.

Bai Bing Yi might have a strong movement Gu, but Chi Yan's was faster! His Lightning Step was not only great Gu worm, but it was also receiving the amplification from his Extreme Physique. Bai Bing Yi had no chance of escaping.

Bai Bing Yi looked behind him and saw that Chi Yan was still chasing after him - red skin like a devil, crimson red hair waving in the wind and electric currents flowing across his body as his eyes were firmly locked on his target with cold killing intent.

Bai Bing Yi cursed, 'Fuck, what is with this kid?! Actually chasing after me by himself, me Bai Bing Yi?!'

Bai Bing Yi waved his hand and sent out a wave of water needles behind him. The water needles had low penetrating power but they had a range of 20 meters.

Chi Yan dodged the water needles and then poured in more energy into his movement Gu, chasing relentlessly.

However, in the next moment Bai Bing Yi turned into a cloud of mist and disappeared.

'What the hell…'

Chi Yan continued chasing and then sent out a wave of fire pellets at a place where Bai Bing Yi was. Then another one and another one, sending them to possible places where Bai Bing Yi could have gone.

Unfortunately the fireballs only landed on some houses and started a fire, but Bai Bing Yi wasn't shot.

Behind Chi Yan, Chi She had already caught up to him to provide support.

"Ssssss..." Chi She waved his snake tongue to search for Bai Bing Yi, but after a moment his eyes opened wide. He said, "He's gone. I can't detect him."

Chi Yan frowned. He sent out three more fire pellet waves in random directions, but there was no result.

Eventually Chi Yan was forced to accept that Bai Bing Yi escaped.

"He must have a Gu worm to mask his body's temperature or presence. Chi Yan, let's return," Chi She said, giving Chi Yan a deep look.

Chi Yan pursed his lips and nodded his head.

The two then jogged back to regroup with the others.

On the way Chi Yan checked his Primeval Sea level. 'My primeval essence is at around 45%. When mostly using Rank 1 Gu, my primeval essence is of course unlimited. The only expenditure must have come from the two uses of Fire Claw Gu and the attacks I received with my Fire Cloak, also using the Shadow Follower Gu…'

Despite his great primeval essence recovery rate due to his Extreme Physique, Chi Yan's cultivation was still only Rank 2 middle stage, so he couldn't be careless with his primeval essence expenditure when facing a group. But as Chi Yan thought about it, he was not in as much danger as he initially thought.

If he directly faced Bai Bing Yi's group, fighting fair and square, then it might have been a close shave, but he should still be able to kill one of them thanks to his superior firepower and then snowball this advantage.

The one big downside of not doing a sneak attack and fighting directly though would be that it would give more time to the Bai clan Gu Masters to make up their mind to self-detonate their Gu worms before death.

'Right, I hope I got some Gu worms from the three I killed…' Chi Yan immediately thought about the loot after the kill.

******

(AN: Next chapter in two days from now on Tuesday around 18:00 CEST. Early release today, I hope no one minds.)