Acquaintances

The white bears tried to catch up with the water wolf in the river but due to the water wolf's superior strength, Gu Guangzhi and Yu Wen Zi escaped. When Gu Guangzhi had found a safe place, he assessed his gains and losses. He had gained Rank 3 Tremor sense Gu. It was a good investigative type gu insect of the earth path. It could identify targets in a long range based on the tiny tremors caused due to the footsteps. He had also gained a Rank 3 Bear Enslavement Gu along with Rank 2 Drill claw Gu. However, he had lost his Bamboo wings Gu due to overuse and hunger. He had also exhausted his Lightning bamboo Gu supply he had amassed until now.

To Gu Guangzhi, who wanted to cultivate the earth path, he felt that this was a good opportunity to gain new earth path gu insects. Drill claw Gu was a good example. It belonged to the earth path with metal path characteristics. It could be used for attack as well as escape. If he could find a gu insect to help with his breathing when he was underground, he could even use it for concealment when combined with Earth concealment Gu. So now that he had escaped to safety, he had thoughts of going back and fighting a few more Ground ruler bears to find more suitable gu insects for him.

"You are underestimating the bear horde. This isn't like the time you played hit and run tactics with mountain bears in your childhood. The Earth overlord bear is seriously powerful. It might even have a Rank 4 gu worm on its body. You are not ready for it. Don't go back.", warned Yu Wen Zi.

"I don't have a balanced system of attack right now. With my water wolf, I can effectively use Alphas among wolves to fight but on my own, Turn Rock Gu isn't well suited for attack. I need more earth path gu insects to form a complete system if I want to be powerful enough. This is a good opportunity to find some complimentary gu worms for myself. I'm not going back to wage an all out attack. I will go target a few Ground ruler bears and tactically kill them. I know that I can do this knowing that you are safe here.", Gu Guangzhi tried to reason with Yu Wen Zi.

"Bears are very sensitive to smell. We do not have any concealment type gu insects that are effective in this situation.", said Yu Wen Zi.

"It's okay. I already thought of a solution.", saying so he took out some of the remains of the bears he had fought from the storage of Flowerbud Gu. "I'm going to refine a few transformation path gu insects out of these remains and transform into a bear to infiltrate the horde undetected.", said Gu Guangzhi.

Yu Wen Zi looked at Gu Guangzhi in confusion and asked in a sarcastic manner, "Hey, did you get hit on your head while you were fighting the bears? Transformation path may look easy but do not underestimate it! Even if you can refine all the required gu insects, you've never used transformation path gu insects before. Complete bear transformation is a transformation path killer move. How you think you will master a killer move you are completely unfamiliar with? Did you forget about the backlash you'll receive if the move fails?" Yu Wen Zi paused for a while and continued, "You are still thinking about taking revenge on the Xiong clan, aren't you? That's why you are in a hurry to get stronger. I'm disappointed in you. You need to realize that Xiong clan is just a tiny speck of dust in this world." Gu Guangzhi didn't answer in return. He just remained silent.

"I know where we need to head next.", said Yu Wen Zi. "Come on, let's go!"

Gu Guangzhi looked at Yu Wen Zi suspiciously. Over the next few days, they travelled at a good pace to reach a trail that is commonly taken by caravans. Gu Guangzhi's Tremor sense Gu helped him in identifying a caravan. As they approached the caravan, a few high ranked gu masters raised their guard. Suddenly a familiar voice was heard, "Brother Gu Guangzhi? What are you doing here?"

It was Jia Fu. He had finished his trip to several medium scale clans through several mountains like Qing Mao mountain and was returning to the Jia clan's headquarters. Gu Guangzhi proceeded to explain that he was betrayed by the clan and he had gone his separate ways due to that. He also said that he was lucky to have found the trail of their caravan. Normally Jia Fu wouldn't welcome someone so easily into his group but after the death of his third brother Jia Sheng, he was sure that a big fight was going to take place with his second brother, Jia Gui. He came to know of Gu Guangzhi's exploits at the banquet arranged by the Xiong clan. So he welcomed Gu Guangzhi and his companion Yu Wen Zi into his group. He also gave Gu Guangzhi a token welcoming him into the group.

There were several Rank 3 gu masters belonging to several other clans in Jia Fu's caravan. Some were Jia Fu's direct subordinates while some partnered with Jia clan for benefits. They all sized up Gu Guangzhi as they started traveling together. As he made several connections with other merchants, he even found a nice buyer for his Rank 3 Bear Enslavement Gu. He got a Rank 2 Mucus skin Gu along with primeval stones in exchange. Gu masters usually use this to create a soft layer over their body to protect themselves against blows and lessen the impact but it had another use. The mucus layer on his skin could directly absorb oxygen from the soil allowing him to breathe underground.

Gu Guangzhi was also looking forward to visiting the Jia city where he could find different kinds of materials so that he can start feeding his Hellrise bamboo bird Gu again properly. His Rank 2 Bamboo culm Gu was insufficient to feed all his bamboo family gu properly so he starved some of them, just keeping them alive, so that he could use them effectively once again later. Yu Wen Zi had recovered some of his vitality but Gu Guangzhi knew that Yu Wen Zi had not recovered fully. He was also hoping to find a good healing path gu master for Yu Wen Zi but the chances of that happening were slim. Healing path gu masters were rare and Jia clan wasn't so rich that it could afford a Rank 5 healing path gu master.

After a few weeks, the caravan finally reached Jia city but before Gu Guangzhi could enjoy what it had to offer, tensions rose high in the Jia family.