Respite

Shortly after reuniting with his grandfather, Gu Guangzhi faced a difficult situation. Gu Yue Chao wanted his grandson to return with him to the Tie clan immediately. Gu Guangzhi wanted to grow strong by participating in the tournament for sake of his revenge against the Xiong clan but Gu Yue Chao was dead set against this.

"This is absolutely foolish behavior. I will not allow you risk your life like this. I'm already old. I can't bear to lose my family again. If you won't withdraw from the tournament, I will force the Jia clan to stop you from participating in the tournament.", said Gu Yue Chao. He was a respected elder of the Tie clan. He wasn't willing to take no for an answer.

"Grandfather! I too have lost someone I loved. I'm not going to sit idly and let her killers live out their lives in peace." Gu Guangzhi was resolute in his choice.

"You…", Gu Yue Chao sighed, "Tie clan is the symbol of justice in Southern border. I'm an external elder in the clan. I'll make sure someone from the clan investigates this and the Xiong clan is brought to justice."

"I am not that naive grandfather. Tie clan doesn't interfere in the internal affairs of smaller clans. Even if they investigate, Wang Mei will just be a slave in their eyes. Do you think they will fault a gu master for killing a slave? My revenge is mine alone. I'm already a Rank 3 initial stage gu master. I can feel that I'm close to breaking through to middle stage. This tournament has helped me a lot in making such rapid progress. I don't want to give up now!", said Gu Guangzhi.

"You are killing yourself here on the stage and you will kill yourself if you go back to Qing Mao mountain!", shouted Gu Yue Chao. A white light faintly enveloped him adding more power to his voice.

Gu Guangzhi was taken aback but he didn't concede to his grandfather's wishes. Tie Xing De decided to step in and convince Gu Guangzhi. He asked Gu Guangzhi, "I've seen you fight on stage! You have numerous gu insects on you and you use them very effectively. However, tell me, how are you dealing with the expenditure of feeding all those gu insects?"

Gu Guangzhi looked towards Yu Wen Zi. He had taken a considerable sum of money from his teacher at the beginning of the tournament and used it to purchase materials for refinement and feeding his gu insects. As the tournament progressed, his arsenal of gu insects increased and so did his expenditures. However, he was able to manage with his earnings from the tournament.

Tie Xing De continued, "Perhaps you are thinking that you are earning enough from the tournament for your needs. But what will you do once you the tournament is over? The Jia clan isn't so generous that it will support all your expenditures."

"I've always been resourceful. I'll find necessary materials in nature and fulfill my needs.", responded Gu Guangzhi after a while.

"Perhaps, you can find enough materials you need from nature for rank 1 gu insects. But can you say the same for rank 2 gu insects? Didn't you rely on Xiong clan for getting necessary materials? And for rank 3 materials you had rely on the marketplace in Jia clan. How strong do you think you can grow by relying on this tournament?" Tie Xing De paused for a while and said, "Tie clan is not a super force in the Southern border for nothing. We can provide you with much better ways to improve yourself. This tournament is nothing when compared to the might of Tie clan."

Gu Guangzhi became a bit hesitant. His initial goal to enter the tournament was to improve himself but in the last round, he relied completely on his water wolf to win the match. If he was being honest with himself, he didn't deserve to continue in the tournament but he wanted the prize reward.

His latest experiment to transform the killer move Ground bear transformation was not a complete success. For example, he was able to refine Rank 2 Bear arm Gu into Rank 2 Hybrid bear arm Gu. It provided much greater flexibility to his arms to use them like regular human arms with the strength of a ground bear. Similarly, he was able to refine his Rank 2 Bear head Gu to Rank 2 Hybrid bear head Gu which gave him the additional ability to speak like a human in bear form. Thus, he was able to refine his transformation path gu worms into a new set of hybrid gu worms but he was not able to completely transform into a human-beast hybrid. He still had to create the transformation path killer move that would enable him to use all these hybrid gu insects at once. This proved to be a rather difficult task. Since he was unable to use the killer move, his battle strength actually decreased quite a bit.

That was the reason Gu Guangzhi wanted to win the tournament. He needed additional funds for his experiment. As a reward for making Tan Hu join Jia Fu's faction, he received a good amount of primeval stones but it wasn't enough.

"I still have a lot of experiments left to do. Will I really get the resources I need from the Tie clan? It could cost hundreds of thousands of primeval stones!", said Gu Guangzhi.

Gu Yue Chao was slightly taken aback but he wasn't going to back down. With a determined expression, he said, "Do not underestimate the resources of a super force. Compared to my contribution to the clan over the years, it is a small sum."

After giving it some thought, Gu Guangzhi decided to withdraw from the tournament. If he went to the Tie clan along with his grandfather, he could have access to more resources and it would ultimately help him in growing stronger.

Gu Yue Chao was happy that his grandson finally agreed with him. However, the news of Gu Guangzhi quitting the tournament didn't sit well with Jia Fu. But he couldn't do anything against the Tie clan and was forced to repress his anger. To make matters worse, Jia Gui, who was angry that Tan Hu defected to Jia Fu's faction, started picking fights with Jia Fu outside the tournament. It escalated so quickly that the two brothers started brawling on the streets using all sorts of gu insects. The Jia clan patriarch had to personally step in to stop them from killing each other.

After this incident, the gu competition only became deadlier. Gu Guangzhi and the rest were already quite a distance away from Jia city when they heard the news. Gu Yue Chao breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that news. He gave a look of, "See, I told you so!" to Gu Guangzhi. Gu Guangzhi also let out a sigh and said, "I feel like I am the one responsible for this."

Yu Wen Zi chuckled and said, "Don't burden yourself with this. They were like cats and dogs. If not for this, they would've fought for something else. So forget about them and focus on your future. Who knows, maybe you'll find a new life in Tie city."