The two ghost fires moved about here and there, they went far and near, with no set pattern, Feng Jin Huang had to be vigilant of these two flames, while also paying attention to refining Gu.
Feng Jin Huang was soon unable to bear it.
Bang.
A soft explosion resounded as one of the Gu refinement fires she controlled was extinguished, the Gu worm inside the flame had already been refined to an incomplete form, but it was a pity, everything was lost!
“First, first senior sister slipped up. So unfortunate, that Gu worm only had the final three steps remaining!” Sun Yao stamped her foot in anger.
Qin Juan also had a heavy expression: “This is the first mistake since the duel began, although first senior sister has a deep foundation, surely enough, dividing her attention to handle so many things was too forceful.”
“What should she do now?” Sun Yao gazed over, seemingly asking for advice.
Qin Juan mumbled: “If it were me, I would dispel a refinement path killer move right now. Because the lead is great, as long as I can maintain this lead and make no more mistakes, the one in a hurry would be the other side. But dispelling a killer move is similar to activating it, because in order to produce a change in the situation, one needs to focus their attention, which can generate a moment of weakness.”
At this moment, on the stage, Feng Jin Huang also had a similar thought: ‘Should I dispel a refinement path killer move? Is this Fang Yuan’s intention?’
‘No, I still have a way. I can use my third chance to send out a sonic wave, and destroy these two ghost fires at once!’ Geniuses like Feng Jin Huang had pride carved in their very bones, and would not be willing to admit defeat.
Feng Jin Huang’s eyes brightened at this thought, but when she cast her gaze towards Fang Yuan, her heart instantly chilled.
Fang Yuan was wearing a malevolent mask, his piercingly cold eyes protruded from behind the holes of the mask, behind it, there seemed to be a smiling expression with a hint of ridicule.
‘No!’ Feng Jin Huang’s mind trembled at this gaze, ‘This is Fang Yuan’s trap. He is already waiting for it! The moment I use my third attack, Fang Yuan will grasp this chance to immediately attack. At that time, my mind would be taxed to the limit and it will be very difficult for me to deal with the attack, I might not even be able to defend and be struck by his attack!’
‘Damn…’ Feng Jin Huang gritted her teeth, a drop of cold sweat slid down from her forehead to her eyebrow and down her cheek.
‘It can’t go on like this, I need to find a way, what should I do? Think carefully, think quickly!’
Bang.
While she was in the process of thinking, another lump of fire she was controlling exploded.
This explosion was much more severe than the first one.
Other lumps of fire were also affected, Feng Jin Huang quickly dispelled her disorganized thoughts and did her best to stabilize the other fire lumps.
“Ahh! First senior sister made a mistake again, how could this be? Not good, first senior sister is injured!!” Sun Yao cried out with her head in her hands.
“The demon Fang Yuan brought her too much pressure, first senior sister should have been trying to think of an urgent countermeasure, and this decreased her attention towards the Gu refinement, causing a slip up. A failure in Gu refinement means there will be backlash, fortunately her injuries are not severe.” Qin Juan’s tone revealed her nervousness, she let out a breath of cloudy air and continued: “But, this is also a good thing.”
Sun Yao did not understand, and grumbled in anger: “Senior sister Qin Juan, what are you saying? First senior sister failed in Gu refinement, and also suffered injuries, why is this a good thing?”
“She has lost two lumps of fire, but her mind is instead partially freed up. She now has the spare energy to cope with the present situation.” Qin Juan analyzed.
Sun Yao patted her chest as she suddenly realized this: “Right!”
“Hehehe.” Fang Yuan laughed again.
Feng Jin Huang’s heart immediately sank when she heard Fang Yuan’s laughter.
She raised her head and sure enough, Fang Yuan took out a third Gu worm. Fang Yuan spoke just like earlier: “Look closely, this is a rank three ghost fire Gu.”
The next moment, three ghost fires were flying around Feng Jin Huang.
“Damn it, damn it!” Sun Yao stamped her foot in anger, “This demon is too shameless, first senior sister has just been able to catch a breather, and now he sends another ghost fire. He is still thinking of forcing first senior sister to make a mistake!”
“That’s right.” Qin Juan had a grave expression, “Like this, the pressure on first senior sister has increased sharply. She probably has to use all her remaining attention on defending.”
Sun Yao clenched her teeth, subconsciously waving her fist: “This demon is not concentrating on refining his Gu, instead he is spending his mental energy on the ghost fires, this is a classic case of neglecting the proper task! He is truly terrible, I really want to give him a few punches!!”
“Damn it, how can this be…” Feng Jin Huang fell into a great predicament, she was clearly in the lead, but when Fang Yuan made a move, she was forced into a passive state.
Feng Jin Huang knew the situation was far from good, the tempo of the duel had already fallen into Fang Yuan’s grasp. She wanted to counterattack, but she did not have enough ability.
The three ghost fires floated around her, sometimes they would even breach the one meter distance before retreating immediately, they were clearly being manipulated to tease Feng Jin Huang.
Feng Jin Huang was only a young girl after all, she was filled with fury towards Fang Yuan’s teasing, but was not able to vent them.
She would have to take a risk if she wanted to get rid of the three hateful ghost fires!
But reason told Feng Jin Huang that she might not necessarily need to take the risk.
Because even after she slipped up twice, she still had a large lead over Fang Yuan.
As long as she maintained this dominance, victory would be hers.
However, when Feng Jin Huang began refining four orifices fire tower Gu, a short while later, Fang Yuan also began refining four orifices fire tower Gu.
This discovery immediately startled Feng Jin Huang: “When was it that he actually closed in the gap between us? Impossible, he has clearly not used even one refinement path killer move yet!”
But the fact was that Fang Yuan had relied on just Gu refinement techniques, using purely basic skills to close the gap bit by bit, and unknowingly, he had caught up to Feng Jin Huang!
The Gu Masters outside the stage also discovered this.
“Unbelievable, this demon actually caught up!” Spirit Affinity House’s female disciples cried out in shock.
“Actually relying on just Gu refinement techniques to overcome refinement path killer moves… Fang Yuan’s ability far surpasses Feng Jin Huang.” The people who overrated Fang Yuan, continued to overrate him.
“How is this possible? Fang Yuan definitely cheated, everyone knows the power of refinement path killer moves, he did not use a single killer move but caught up? Impossible!” Sun Yao was dissatisfied: “What kind of eyes does the hosting elder have, why is he not stopping the duel and investigating this demon Fang Yuan?”
Qin Juan, however, heaved a deep sigh: “Keep quiet, junior sister! Gu refinement techniques naturally cannot match refinement path killer moves, but in this duel, they can overcome killer moves.”
“Ah, senior sister, what do you mean?”
“Because the crucial factor for victory is not the means, but the two Gu Masters themselves. At the moment, the refinement has already reached the middle to later stages. Fang Yuan’s mind is still fresh, while first senior sister has been exerting her mind since the start, the moment she could relax, Fang Yuan used the threat of ghost fire Gu to overwhelm her. First senior sister is already tired, without ample energy in her mind, any powerful refinement path killer moves will only play a secondary role, thus her Gu refinement speed will naturally slow down.”
Qin Juan sighed, before continuing: “This is all Fang Yuan’s plan. When first senior sister mentioned refining five orifices fire pagoda Gu as the task, he agreed directly. But the Gu recipes and the refinement materials were all put forward by him. The moment this battle of attrition began, he let himself fall behind, preserving his mental energy. At the middle stages, he finally attacked, and although he was behind, he was able to grasp the initiative. Because of her dominance, first senior sister did not want to take a risk, thus she kept delaying dealing with them. However, she did not know that this was Fang Yuan’s sinister plan. Now at the later stages, first senior sister is too tired, her speed is getting slower and will soon be overtaken by Fang Yuan.”
“What?!” Sun Yao worriedly gazed towards the stage.
Soon, her worry turned into reality.
Fang Yuan slowly progressed to being level with Feng Jin Huang, and slowly overtook her.
“Is… is first senior sister going to lose?” Sun Yao’s eyes reddened and tears streamed out, “First senior sister clearly put in so much effort to arrive at the end, she even got injured, but this despicable demon is going to win? I am not willing to accept this!”
“I also feel discontent.” Qin Juan sighed, “But first senior sister still has a chance.”
“There is still a chance?” Sun Yao turned her head and looked happily at her senior sister Qin Juan.
Qin Juan nodded: “Right, don’t forget first senior sister still has three chances to attack. One rank three attack, one rank four attack and one rank five attack. Every attack will be stronger than the previous one, this is the way to make a comeback! This contest has yet to end, there is still hope.”
“Right, we still have hope! First senior sister, you can do it!!” Sun Yao’s eyes brightened as she suddenly shouted loudly.
Her voice attracted the gazes of the people nearby.
The intense sense of honor to the sect and feeling of belonging made the hundreds of disciples of Spirit Affinity House shout together to boost Feng Jin Huang’s morale.
Although their voices could not transmit to the stage, Feng Jin Huang was able to sense it.
“These guys… I cannot lose, I will win! It is time to use my trump card. Refinement path killer move — Ink Transformation!”
Feng Jin Huang shouted in her mind, and simultaneously made three attacks in a row towards Fang Yuan.
Feng Jin Huang staked everything on this, using all her remaining chances to attack!
“Paltry trick.” Fang Yuan blocked all these attacks, while sending out the three ghost fires to interfere with her as much as possible.
The interference did not bring much result, Feng Jin Huang destroyed these three ghost fires. Her refinement path killer move was already close to completion.
“Hmph, revealing light Gu, go.” Fang Yuan sneered inwardly as he flicked out a rank four Gu worm.
At the same time, he also used a rank five attack which arrived in front of Feng Jin Huang first.
Feng Jin Huang was already prepared, blocking the rank five attack, but revealing light Gu, which had neared her, suddenly self-detonated.
The explosion was not intense, but the radiance was extremely dazzling.
‘How? How does he know the weakness of ink transformation?!’ Under Feng Jin Huang’s incredulous gaze, the killer move, ink transformation, was interrupted and forcefully stopped.
The killer move did not successfully activate, the severe backlash from it immediately caused Feng Jin Huang’s organs to be damaged, causing large amounts of blood to flow out of her body!
Her body trembled from the intense pain, and she was no longer able to maintain her control over the lumps of fire. The whole Gu refinement failed, and bursts of enormous backlash assaulted her.
Feng Jin Huang spat out fresh blood as she opened her mouth widely, before falling down to the ground shortly, losing consciousness.
Chaos erupted outside the stage.
Spirit Affinity House’s disciples wanted to go up the stage, but were blocked by the Gu formation.
“Don’t make disturbances, all violators will be punished!” The hosting elder shouted. After stabilizing the situation, he gazed towards Fang Yuan.
For a moment, almost everyone outside the stage looked towards Fang Yuan.
Feng Jin Huang was already unconscious, even if she woke up and tried to refine the Gu again, the materials were far from enough.
Right now, Fang Yuan could not lose, as long as he slowly refined five orifices fire pagoda Gu, he would be the victor.
However, right when Fang Yuan was about to succeed, the incomplete form of the Gu worm in his hand suddenly detonated.
Fang Yuan was startled: “This?!”
