Escape from the horde

The Earth overlord bear had several Ground ruler bears under its command. Ground ruler bears were Thousand beast kings. Each Ground ruler bear in turn had several bears like brown bears, mountain bears and white bears under their command among which some were hundred beast kings. As the bear horde surrounded them, he started looking for the hundred beast kings and thousand beast kings.

Bears weren't agile creatures like wolves. However they were much more powerful in their attacks and charges. So when they surrounded Gu Guangzhi and the frail looking Yu Wen Zi, the bears tried to show their dominance by intimidating them. Gu Guangzhi used his Rank 2 Mountain bear Innate strength Gu to resist a few attacks successfully but this angered them even more. As more and more of them started charging at Gu Guangzhi, he found it difficult to protect Yu Wen Zi.

"You don't have to protect me like fragile goods. I have recovered enough to fight back", said Yu Wen Zi. Saying so, he use Fire snake Gu to attack a brown bear charging at him. He flipped the bear away using its own momentum.

"Not bad but don't push it!", said Gu Guangzhi.

Gu Guangzhi was reluctant to bring out the water wolf as it may raise tensions with the bears but seeing that it was getting more and more difficult to handle all the bears, he brought out the water wolf. The water wolf howled ferociously and Gu Guangzhi used the killer move Alphas among wolves to create wolf puppets. The sudden appearance of these wolves sent the bear groups into frenzy and they fought with the wolf puppets to show their dominance. They mountain bears were naturally strong while the brown bears had natural talent for burst attacks such as charges.

Grass wolf Gu was a Rank 3 gu insect. Earlier, when he produced grass soldiers using Rank 2 Grass puppet Gu they were only capable of taking down mortals with peak strength. But now, the grass wolves created from this Rank 3 gu insect were capable of taking down peak Rank 1 gu masters. They were tougher and stronger. But normal wolf puppets still had a tough time dealing with the groups of mountain bears and brown bears. They had a relatively easier time with the white bears. White bears were good swimmers but the mountainous terrain was not very suitable for them.

However, Gu Guangzhi had specialized attackers of his own. He had three types of modified wolf puppets. Heavy wolves that were strengthened using Turn Rock Gu were good at taking hits from the mountain bears and fighting back on equal footing. Razor teeth wolves that were strengthened using Bamboo spear Gu were very powerful at injuring their opponents. Both Heavy wolves and Razor teeth wolves could fight with peak Rank 2 gu masters. And finally there were Alphas. They were strengthened using both Turn Rock Gu and Bamboo spear Gu. They had great offense and defense. They could contest with middle stage Rank 3 gu masters on their own. Gu Guangzhi was still an initial stage Rank 3 gu master. So it can be said that he had created puppets that were powerful than himself.

However, with all said and done, he still couldn't compete with the bear horde in numbers. He had already spent more than half of his primeval essence to create four alphas, a number of heavy wolves and razor teeth wolves and numerous grass wolves. But they were no where close to the total number in the horde. That was why Gu Guangzhi wasn't looking forward to defeat the entire horde. He only wanted to the escape from them safely.

During all the years he spent fighting the wolf tides, one thing which he observed was that if a beast king died during the battle, the chain of command would break for a short amount of time and there would be disorganization among the beasts. Gu Guangzhi's goal was to get out of the mountain and escape the beast horde. So he looked for an opportunity to create chaos in the horde. As the modified wolves busy fighting the hundred beast kings, he communicated with this water wolf to stall for time. He was looking for the thousand beast king, Ground ruler bear. The Earth overlord bear naturally didn't recognize Gu Guangzhi as an enemy and delegated the task of dealing with such an unworthy opponent to a Ground ruler king. In its view, Gu Guangzhi was just another eyesore that was staying on the mountain it wanted to occupy.

Gu Guangzhi identified the Ground ruler bear standing atop a small peak and giving out directions. Based on its ability to control its subordinates so well, it must have a few gu insects of its own. Ground ruler bears had poor eyesight but they were very good on the ground. This was because they usually had a good earth path communication gu residing on them. Judging from its ability to even direct the horde in a distance, it must be a Rank 3 gu insect, probably a Bear Enslavement Gu. Looking at its claws, Gu Guangzhi was able to identify that it also had a Rank 2 Drill claw Gu on it. It would be extremely difficult to attack if it escaped underneath the ground. Gu Guangzhi planned his moves carefully and gave the signal to his water wolf.

The water wolf used River flood Gu in all directions and then hid inside a small shelter made from Bamboo swamp Gu and Turn Rock Gu closing themselves in. Gu Guangzhi decided to sacrifice his Bamboo wings Gu. It was very weak due to the lack of food but Gu Guangzhi used it to its fullest. He soared high and then unleashed all the remaining Lightning bamboo Gu he had. It was painful for him as these Lightning bamboo Gu saved his life many times. Since he now moved away from Qing Mao mountain, he may not get necessary materials to refine this gu. But it was necessary. The bear horde was huge so he spent all his Lightning bamboo Gu and created a chaos in a portion of the bear horde controlled by the Ground ruler bear. The water from River flood Gu helped in making the lightning attacks more effective. His wolf puppets however were not affected by the lightning as they weren't living creatures. Some of them still perished due to the incredible force of lightning but many of them weren't affected.

Gu Guangzhi used this moment to use Bamboo swamp Gu to create a thin layer of swamp. As the footsteps of the bear horde became muddled and chaotic, the Ground overlord bear found it very difficult to under stand the situation. Gu Guangzhi used this moment to direct all the modified wolves to go for the kill. Unaffected by the lightning, they rushed in to kill the beast kings all at once. As the hundred beast kings began to fall, the Ground ruler bear sensed it and looked into what was happening. Utilizing this moment of confusion, Gu Guangzhi used his Dagger tail Gu to wrap around the Ground ruler bear's neck like a noose. He also used Bamboo swamp Gu to restrict it's paws and he formed several spears out of the swamp using Turn Rock Gu to impale it's limbs. As it was unable to move, he used Rank 2 Mountain bear Innate strength Gu and tightened the noose as the Ground ruler bear rapidly bled to death.

It had all happened in a really fast manner that the Earth overlord bear had lost a thousand beast king and several hundred beast kings while a large portion of it's horde of bears were injured. The Earth overlord bear was pissed off and it roared in anger, directing all the other thousand beast kings in it's command to redirect their subordinates to that direction. But Gu Guangzhi wasn't going to stick around. He caught the escaping wild gu from the Ground ruler bear's dead body and escaped along with Yu Wen Zi to the river. The water wolf carried both of them and escaped.