49 Ground bear transformation

The third round of royal rumble started amidst the cheers of the spectators in the arena. Gu Guangzhi was transported into the maze with the help of Rank 3 Scramble space Gu and Rally point Gu. Space path Gu were some of the oldest gu insects that were used by humans. However, with the transitions of eras, they were now rare. Scramble space Gu was actually a peculiar type of defensive gu insect that is meant to be used against other space path gu masters. Space path gu masters would often travel from one point to other as if they were teleporting between locations and use this teleportation to their advantage. With Rally point Gu they could teleport to a fixed point within a short distance. However with Scramble space Gu, the location to be teleported would be randomized causing the enemy gu master to miss his target. Thus, with help of Rally point Gu and Scramble space Gu, the contestants could be randomly teleported with the arena. Gu Guangzhi was quite fascinated with the ingenuity of this usage. He remembered a saying that was common in the gu world, 'Humans are the spirit of all living beings and Gu are the essence of heaven and earth.' Only with such applications were humans able to rule over this world.

As Gu Guangzhi was transported into the maze, he felt the connection to his water wolf be disconnected. He thought that it must've been the Jia clan's doing to isolate the contestants from the outside world. Gu Guangzhi decided not to take his water wolf's help in this competition. His primary objective for this competition was to improve himself. So he left behind to safeguard Yu Wen Zi.

Inside the maze, there were sturdy and tall walls all around. The ceiling was relatively high and it was dull. However, if an exit opened in the maze, the ceiling would be slightly illuminated to show the way. Gu Guangzhi used Tremor sense Gu to get a sense of his opponents. Through the light footsteps, he could discern the movements of his opponents. He identified a lone target and made his way towards the target.

His opponent, who was also a Rank 3 gu master, wasn't careless either. He quickly used Rank 3 Snowflake Gu and shot fist sized snowflakes towards Gu Guangzhi. These snowflakes were sharp like ninja shurikens and danced in the air swiftly making their way to Gu Guangzhi. Gu Guangzhi used his newly refined Rank 2 Bear spring Gu to transform his legs and drastically improved his movement speed, avoiding the snowflake shurikens.

Gu Guangzhi initially refined Bear body Gu, Bear arm Gu, Bear leg Gu, Bear heart Gu and Bear head Gu of Rank 2 to facilitate transforming into a ground bear. These recipes were fairly common in the shops. However, he decided to improve upon these gu insects by combining them with other gu insects he had. His aim wasn't to create higher rank gu insects but to create more powerful Rank 2 gu insects.

However, it wasn't easy to create new gu recipes out of nowhere. A gu master needed to have sufficient expertise with the materials being used to create new gu recipes. So he decided to use the bamboo family gu insects he was most familiar with to create new gu insects. By combining Bear leg Gu and Bamboo spring Gu, he created Bear spring Gu. Bear leg Gu usually gave charging speed but had less agility. But Bear spring Gu transformed the user's legs to give additional agility along with great endurance and speed. After reaching Rank 3, he felt that his Rank 1 Pronghorn beetle Gu was lacking. So he created this gu for aiding him in movement.

Gu Guangzhi was agile but his opponent was able to control the movements of the snowflake shurikens to a great extent and a shrunken was about to pierce Gu Guangzhi's chest. Gu Guangzhi immediately transformed his torso into bear's body that had an exoskeleton armor made of bamboo. This was the effect of Rank 2 Armored bear Gu. It was created by combining Bear body Gu along with Bamboo cage Gu and Beast hide Gu. It transformed the user's body into that of an armored bear. This had an excellent defense for a Rank 2 gu insect, sometimes even rivaling some Rank 3 defensive gu insects. The snowflake shuriken tried to cut through the bamboo armor but it looked much tougher than it appeared.

Gu Guangzhi then used Rank 2 Bear arm Gu. While his left arm transformed into that of a ground bear, a new bear arm started growing at a rapid rate from his right shoulder giving Gu Guangzhi two bear arms. Using Rank 2 Drill claw Gu, he smashed the oncoming snowflake shurikens. As he transformed his head using a Rank 2 Bear head Gu, he roared like a real bear. His Rank 2 Mountain bear Innate strength Gu greatly suited his body now. He charged towards his opponent with tremendous strength.

However, the Rank 3 snow path gu master was no pushover. He activated his Rank 3 Hardened snow Gu. His body was covered with hardened snow that greatly improved his defense. Then he used Rank 2 Snow spike Gu to cover his body with spikes made of hardened snow and started going toe to toe with Gu Guangzhi. Gu Guangzhi's Killer move Ground bear transformation had several powerful gu insects but it was still a Rank 2 killer move. Maybe it could overcome initial stage Rank 3 gu masters but this snow path gu master seemed to be at Rank 3 middle stage with plenty of battle experience so Gu Guangzhi started taking damage.

As Gu Guangzhi started bleeding more and more, his eyes shone as if he had waited for that moment. Gu Guangzhi knew the limitations of his killer move. He didn't enter the gu competition without a way to fight gu masters with higher cultivation. After he refined Rank 2 Bear heart Gu, he spent a lot of effort to combine it with Rank 2 Dagger tail Gu. The resulting gu was Rank 2 Bleeding heart Gu. The more the gu master was hurt, the more the strength it could give. So as he activated Rank 2 Bleeding heart Gu after taking all the damage, his strength rose to a drastic level. Confident that his punch would instantly kill the snow path gu maser, Gu Guangzhi gave an uppercut unleashing all his power.

The veteran snow path gu master, inches away from death, realized this and activated his vital gu, Rank 3 Snow masquerade Gu. The snow path gu master was turned into layers of snow almost instantaneously making him a snowman. Gu Guangzhi's punch smashed him to bits and pieces. As the snowman was blown apart from his punch, Gu Guangzhi was confused, "Huh! It's over? Something doesn't feel right!"

However, the dispersed snow soon started gathering at one spot and formed into a snowman again and silently melted away to reveal the gu master again. Snow masquerade Gu was a life saving gu that could transform the gu master into snow for a short period of time to give them immunity from physical attacks. However it had a huge primeval essence consumption. After battling with Gu Guangzhi toe to toe, the snow path gu master had already spent a lot of Rank 3 primeval essence. After the use of his Snow masquerade Gu, his primeval essence reserves were very low. He didn't have any confidence to take another one of Gu Guangzhi's punches so as Gu Guangzhi got ready to launch another attack, he suddenly shouted, "I surrender!"