35 A beautiful girl

Gu Guangzhi felt disturbed knowing that Fang Yuan had something to do with the disappearance of Jia Fu's brother, Jia Sheng. He kept wondering what kind of benefits Fang Yuan obtained by doing this.

Gu Guangzhi thought, 'I think I heard that Jia Sheng was only a Rank 1 gu master with low aptitude. What made Fang Yuan take action against him? Could it be that they found some high ranked inheritance and got into a scuffle about splitting it? Did Fang Yuan kill Jia Sheng?'

Gu Guangzhi thought very highly of Fang Yuan. Such was the image he built up in his mind. He thought that Fang Yuan wouldn't have killed Jia Sheng if there weren't significant benefits involved. Seeing the deep look on Gu Guangzhi's face, Yu Wen Zi said, "But apparently Fang Yuan wasn't involved in Jia Sheng's disappearance. Jia Fu even used a Rank 4 investigative type gu Bamboo Gentleman to find if Fang Yuan was lying but it turned out that he was innocent. I don't understand why you think too much whenever that kid is involved. He is just a Rank 1 gu master while you are a Rank 3 gu master. If he bothers you, just give him a good lesson."

Gu Guangzhi just smiled halfheartedly and left. Lately, he had been contemplating about facing Fang Yuan before he becomes a real threat in the future. Up until a few months ago, Fang Yuan was considered a genius so he was guarded closely by the Gu Yue clan. However, now that he only had a C grade aperture, he was ignored by the clan. Instead they focused on his twin brother, Fang Zheng, who had awakened an A grade aperture. The retaliation from the Gu Yue clan wouldn't be so harsh if he successfully killed Fang Yuan. He might even get away scot free by offering a small compensation to the Gu Yue clan. But why would Fang Yuan stroll out of the safety of Gu Yue village? He was currently in the academy where the security was very tight. It would just be suicidal for Gu Guangzhi to try to assassinate him there.

Gu Guangzhi tried to guess where Fang Yuan and Jia Sheng would've gone by looking into the area where Jia Fu's caravan was setup near Gu Yue village. Gu Guangzhi lived on Qing Mao mountain on his own when he was a Rank 1 gu master but he didn't have comprehensive knowledge about the mountain. His goal was survival so he avoided dangerous areas. He might've easily overlooked some inheritance grounds on the mountain. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. But Gu Guangzhi wanted to give it a try. He just hoped that he would get lucky.

As Gu Guangzhi was looking for clues, he inadvertently stepped into the territory of a wild boar and it came charging towards him. Such a wild beast was not a threat to a Rank 3 gu master like him so he just stood there waiting to swat the wild boar away. But to his surprise a young girl came running towards him, trying to push him out of harm's way. Gu Guangzhi was strong enough to easily resist her but as he looked at her, he let himself be knocked down along with her. The wild boar came charging towards them but Gu Guangzhi easily stopped it with his Ghost claw Gu. The wild boar ran away in fear soon after.

The girl was surprised at his strength. As she was lying on top of Gu Guangzhi's body, being held by him, she blushed and spoke, "I thought you were in danger again. That's why I pushed you out of the way. I'm sorry." She had a beautiful rosy face with fair skin. Gu Guangzhi was mesmerized by her beauty. He held her firmly as she was trying to get up forgetting the fact that he was doing that. "Uhm… excuse me. Can you please let me go?", asked the young girl again. Gu Guangzhi came back to his senses again and let her go.

As he looked at her face closely, he remembered the beautiful face that he had once seen in a drunken state. He previously thought that the girl in his dream was just a figment of his imagination. Now as he saw her in front of him, he was at a loss for words. Finally he asked, "Who are you? What are you doing in these forests? It's dangerous here."

"I live in the nearby village. We are a hunters family so I'm used to these forests.", said the young girl.

"You hunt in your family as well? Aren't there any male hunters in your family?", asked Gu Guangzhi. With the help of powers from gu insects, gu masters didn't have strict gender norms in Southern border but among mortals, females often stayed back in home.

"No. I have an older brother who hunts well but I sometimes sneak out for fun.", said the young girl. Gu Guangzhi was smitten by her. Usually when mortals see gu masters in the southern border, they kneel down in fear but here was a young girl who didn't have any such fear. Gu Guangzhi felt happiness for a second but later remembered that he was now a married man. He had married Jiao Lin out of compulsion but now he had found love.

Gu Guangzhi didn't want to leave her but he had to return to the Xiong village soon. He summoned his water wolf from his hair band. As the water wolf appeared, the young girl was scared again but Gu Guangzhi comforted her.

"Don't worry. It won't hurt you. It is under my control.", said Gu Guangzhi.

"Sorry. Hehe. I don't scare easily but I am more used to wild boars than wolves. We usually hide away during the wolf tides.", saying so she looked at the water wolf in amazement.

Gu Guangzhi then said to her, "I will come back again tomorrow. You can ride the water wolf then." The young girl's face immediately lit up. She immediately agreed and gave a beautiful smile. As Gu Guangzhi was going away, he realized he hadn't asked the girl for her name.

"What's your name?", asked Gu Guangzhi.

"It's Wang Mei.", replied the young girl.

…

The next few days, Gu Guangzhi regularly made trips to meet Wang Mei. Their relationship was blossoming nicely. But unfortunately for Gu Guangzhi, these regular trips were not unnoticed by the Bai clan. When Bai Ning Bing got hold of this information, he was fired up.

'Gu Guangzhi, You've hid your strength well. I was surprised when I heard you took down two Rank 3 gu masters on your own. You better be ready this time because I won't be pulling my punches.'