Potential

Fang Zheng once again returned to annoy Bai Ning Bing once more.

He knew that Bai Ning Bing would likely not be capable of hurting anyone just yet. But the possibility was still there. He will not take any risks, not when the person who almost managed to outsmart his brother, which in his eyes was like climbing Dang Hun Mountain without the aid of his grandmaster and master all the while finishing first, freely walked to do as she pleased.

And so, he set her under constant surveillance in the name of pestering her by the adults' perspective.

As for his brother, he knew where he was, but unfortunately could not regularly visit him. School grounds were school grounds after all, while he was privately tutored.

Once, when he entered school grounds, he saw him.

Long, black hair flowed down his back. Abyssal black eyes which contrasted his pale skin.

There was no doubt, even at just a glance he can tell that it was Fang Yuan, as if he held some sort of spiritual bond with him. He wouldn't be surprised if he did, they were twins after all.

What confused him however, was that his body was completely different.

At least for Bai Ning Bing, she was permanently transformed into a woman. However, Fang Yuan's body, was it not a Gu worm?

He had heard of it before. As one of Star Constellation Immortal Venerable's important allies, of course he would be informed of the "failed" scheme of Spectral Soul Demon Venerable.

This was an entirely new world, yet why does he still possess a gu worm? Was his method of reincarnation special?

Even from a distance, Fang Zheng could also identify Fang Yuan's cold look.

There was no doubt, it truly was his brother. And with this knowledge, comes fear. The chance of utter destruction at his hands.

As Lord of the Demon Judgment Board, Fang Zheng was worried. Fang Yuan may very well consider him an annoyance just like back then when he used his Immortal Gu House to continually pester his plans.

And he may very well stop at nothing, even destroying the clan, to kill him.

Fang Yuan's eyes snapped at his direction. His dark eyes stared right into him, straight into his soul.

Fang Zheng froze in fear, but gritted his teeth nonetheless and showed a defiant look. He knew Fang Yuan could easily kill him, having heard all of his exploits, but if he did, he'd make sure to drag him down with him.

Fang Yuan on the other hand, simply gave a cold look. A look entailing future tragedies in the eyes of Fang Zheng. His gaze lasted a brief moment before turning away and walking off.

All the while, Fang Zheng locked his gaze straight onto him, never once taking it off.

It wasn't until he entered a building that he finally calmed down.

He let out a deep breath he had not known to be held in: "Even in another world, he is just as terrifying as he was back then." A grim expression made its way onto his face.

Fang Zheng clenched his hands into fists as he recalled the memory. He may not be sure he could prevent total annihilation again, but he sure will try and prevent it. He swears it.

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Fang Yuan was quite surprised at the appearance at his younger brother, but not enough to leak out to his face.

He knew very well Fang Zheng would become another annoyance.

But as of right now, he had no possible way to do anything to him, yet.

Once he grows enough in power, he can deal with him. Even with the eyes of the entire clan on him, he can do so.

He returned back to the dorms to cultivate. He had just returned from a lecture from his new mentor until he spotted his now half-brother.

He was interested in his method of transmigration. How did he become an Otherworldly Demon in this world? How many others were there?

Curiousity welled up in his mind. But he suppressed them for now. His current goal after all, was to deal with the immediate risk of starving to death.

Sitting back down on his bed, he cultivated once more, carefully counting down the time on how long he spent cultivating and what time it was now.

He felt it. His Spirit Power increased by 1. Such a measly increase however, signified another step in the right direction.

He heard before of his fellow disciple, the one named "Tang San" having already reached his Spirit Power to 12 courtesy of his mentor being proud and willing to share that piece of information with Fang Yuan.

He was pleasantly surprised as well. From all those he had met thus far, he could conclude that the world he lived in was far less treacherous than the Gu world.

Sure, it may hold portions of its cruelty, but it was not at all comparable to its level.

People here tended to be... kinder, more naive.

And Fang Yuan seeks to exploit it to his advantage. If they were more willing to step into his schemes, what more could Fang Yuan say?

Perhaps the emergence of these Gu world Otherworldly Demons would shift the current world he lives in, but it was far into the future.

Time passed in cultivation. Stretching out hours, to days, to months.

All the way until the students' summer break arrived.

Fang Yuan was set to return to his clan, irregardless if they wish him back or not.

They couldn't return to the village as of right now, he received news that it might as well be a battlefield in its current state.

The three villages engaged in guerilla warfare against the encroaching Spirit Beasts, taking out as many as they could.

Nothing terrible had gone about just yet, and most wish for that outcome.

When Fang Yuan was received back to the clan, they immediately discussed whether he would be sent to the front lines.

He was expendable after all, not to mention his abnormal physique.

The council of the clan now stood before him, discussing his recruitment to the defence of the villages.

"I believe that the bastard son should be sent to fight. His strength alone surpasses most ordinary adult men, this should be enough reason no?" A man who had a mustache that could only be described as devious, said aloud.

"Nonsense, he is but a child! would you, in good conscience, send children right to their deaths?!" An overly compassionate elder slammed his fists on his desk.

"I do believe he could aid in the battlefield, had he been not born extraordinarily strong, I would not have come up with this suggestion. I hardly would consider him a ordinary child." A calm middle aged man countered.

Silent fury brewed beneath the old man's exterior: "You-!"

"Enough."

The man seated at the highest point silenced: "He will be sent to the village. This is final."

In front of the man before them, they could only yield: "Very well, clan leader."

Fang Yuan himself was silently observing the entire council hall. Taking notes of any interesting figures in the crowd, those he should steer clear of and those who are easy pickings for him.

And so, he has now joined a team of Spirit Masters.

He himself was only a level 11 Spirit Master. May be an explosive growth, but as he gets higher and higher, the difficulty in rising in ranks also increases.

It was a strange event for him to level up in Spirit Power beyond 10. He had no bottlenecks.

As without a Martial Spirit, he could rise through the levels without ever needing to hunt.

Fang Yuan, in his current situation considered this to be a blessing.

Without any bottlenecks, he would not be halted in his goal to rise through the ranks as quickly as possible.

Fang Yuan stared at his new teammates, in once again fascination.

Because those in front of him right now, were precisely the same team he had back then during the Beast tide.

Gu Yue Jiao San, Gu Yue Kong Jing, and Gu Yue Hua Xin stood before him.

It was as if this world wanted him to recreate what he had done before.

"You're our new teammate?" The sickly looking man, Jiao San questioned him.

He nodded in response.

"Tch, they just had to have sent us a kid. Come on then, don't get left behind." Completely unlike back then, this Jiao San was rude. Not that Fang Yuan didn't expect it. With no uncle or auntie of his that would have hired him to keep a close eye on him, there was no use in acting kind.

They proceeded to sprint through the forest. All the while, Fang Yuan held a smile on his face: 'If it truly is like before, then this might be an opportunity.'

"We were ordered to reinforce Chi Shan's group. They were caught surrounded by Spirit Beasts. They're stuck in a cave in this general direction. Our job is to lure away those beasts so they can recover." Jiao San debriefed. He'd already done so before, doing it this time again only for Fang Yuan to be informed.

Jiao San suddenly halted and extended a hand to notify the others: "Wait." He spoke quietly.

Suddenly, blue skinned wolves jumped out to intercept them.

"Spirit Lightning Wolves, there's five of them!" Jiao San alerted. His head suddenly turned into a red skinned python snake as his skin turned into scales.

The others also prepared for combat. Kong Jing's head turned into a yellow frog, on Hua Xin's hand, an ethereal purple vine appeared.

Fang Yuan himself only went into a fighting position.

Hua Xin suddenly moved. Her vines travelled to constrict one of the wolves, but the latter moved out of its way.

Jiao San moved to intercept the wolf's trajectory as his mouth opened wide, biting down on the wolf's hide.

Half of the wolf was currently being swallowed up as it struggled relentlessly.

Fang Yuan moved to kick a wolf. The Spirit Beast saw it coming as it responded in kind with a bite.

Kong Jing on the other hand, stayed close to Hua Xin, on the lookout for the remaining wolves that wish to maul her.

The three remaining wolves moved, two went to stop Jiao San as another went straight to Hua Xin.

Jiao San let go of the wolf, but not before slamming it down on the ground with it still inside his mouth.

The wolf cried in pain as it shakily stood back up, with the other wolves standing beside it.

Fang Yuan's kick landed on the wolf's jaw. Surprised by the human's strength, the wolf was sent aerial. Fang Yuan grabbed onto the wolf's neck and slammed it back down as he began beating on its head.

Hua Xin moved once more to constrict the wolf, but once more it weaved out of the way.

Kong Jing's tongue moved as it latched onto the airborne Spirit Lightning Wolf, as he sent it smashing onto a tree's trunk.

A snap resounded as the force developed from the momentum made almost half of the tree splinter.

As Kong Jing warily stared at the downed wolf, a scream resounded.

"Ah!" The high pitched shout caused everyone to look at where it came from.

There, Hua Xin held off a Spirit Lightning Wolf which had bitten her arm. The bitten arm bled profusely as she felt numb across her body, courtesy of the mild grounding delivered from the Spirit Lightning Wolf's mouth.

"Shit, there was another one!?"

Everyone who turned to stare set their sights back on their respective foes, save for Kong Jing who moved as fast as possible.

His tongue lashed at the attacking wolf when suddenly, something slammed behind him.

The wolf that had attacked him had been the one he had thrown. Said wolf quickly recovered and charged at him at full speed.

A clawed paw came at Kong Jing as he desperately made an effort to defend himself whilst his tongue retracted back in his mouth.

Meanwhile, Hua Xin felt she was in a nightmare.

As she stares right into the frenzied eyes of the wolf biting down on her arm, her desire to live blazed. With newfound strength, she struggled against the numbing of her limbs, as the wolf fought hard to push her arm back. She, on the other hand, pushed back.

"Ngh!"

Hua Xin was sent to the ground. Her teeth gritted to the point of hurting her teeth. Yet, even with all this effort, the wolf slowly pushed her back. And she began falling down the pit of terror.

Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of death, as the futility of her actions steadily sunk in.

"Xin'er!" She could not hear them, hyperfocused on the imminent death approaching her.

The wolf finally managed to push her arm back, locking it in place with its own paw. The maw pulled back and opened wide.

It shot towards her throat. Hua Xin closed her eyes in fear.

...

Nothing happened.

No pain hit her. She opened her eyes and saw the gaping maw frozen in front of her.

In the corner of her vision however, she spotted a pale hand grasping on its ear.

Her full vision was returned once more as the head of the wolf was pulled back.

A whine of pain resounded from the wolf as its ear was forcibly stretched. It saw its world go flying before being thoroughly slammed on the ground, parting the grass and painting it red.

Once more, another slam, then another. After the third one, the ear was torn off from its head as a weak cry of pain quietly sounded out from it.

Before it saw the world go dark, the only thing it could see was the sole of a foot.

Meanwhile, Hua Xin was dumbfounded. One moment she stared in the face of death, then in the next she found herself completely fine aside from the pain on her arm drowned out by the situation.

Then, her focus switched from nothing to a bloody figure.

The deep black eyes stared right at her, but what she could see instead, rather than a vast emptiness, was potential.

The blackness signifying the amount of potential said figure held, being a limitless, unforeseeable end.

The savior of her life stood before her now. Heroic presence emanating from him.

His knuckles were dripping with blood, most parts of his body caked with fresh blood not his own. Brain matter even scattered around his foot.

But Gu Yue Hua Xin did not care for any of that. Not while the reason he was in such a dirty state was because of her. A sparkle shined in her eyes as she was completely fixated on him, the charismatic smile adorned on his face was all she needed to form this thought.

Perhaps... he would become the one who will lead the Gu Yue clan to greatness.

This is what she, Gu Yue Hua Xin, truly believed.