The insides of the Gu house shattered into countless pieces, Dio spat blood.

With his eyes wide shock, he touched his chest.

Despite he had used his defensive technique 'Sponge-Bone Armor', he had received a tremendous amount of damage.

Principally in his internal organs, his lungs had literally melted, 'tattoos' of the marks the lighting left were still clearly seen, though they're healing at an incredible speed.

But, the damage wasn't the cause of the shock Dio felt.

"Ma Shang Feng...

Is he truly here?

No, if he was, I would have been killed on the spot...

After all, let alone a rank 5, if I wasn't a hard-counter towards Ma Pa Hung his rank 4 peak Cultivation would have been more than enough to destroy me.

My luck has also been 'reminding' me of this fact."

Dio smiled bitterly.

The reason why he had been too reckless to directly advance towards them, it was because his main source of energy his Heavenly Body, Spirit and Essence Lotus had ran out of power.

Currently, he was unable to acquire at the desired speed Blood Qi, if that went on for long, let alone become stronger, if he didn't act quickly he would begin to weaken himself.

Dio touched his chin, upon recalling something, he frowned lightly.

"Leaving that aside even though I saw his technique, I didn't see him, but, I saw his 'substitute', Ma Xuan Hin.

Perhaps, Ma Shang Feng gave a copy of those Gu's and taught him those Killer Moves before leaving?"

That was indeed a possibility, any tribe with a long standing would have hundreds of Gu's of all ranks, and considering how the last patriarchs had focused on 'Water' related paths, it was no wonder if they had ten copies of the same Gu's the tribe leader used.

However, Dio shook his head.

"No, I was told that Ma Xuan Hin used in the past an 'Scholar' Gu, to temper his body and mind, raising his affinity with Information path at the cost of losing potential in other fields, furthermore, even I Dio would struggle on copying a Killer Move in such little time.

...

Then what it is?

I don't know, perhaps I need to look around to search for more clues."

He activated 'Vision of Disaster' Gu and glanced at the ground, at the clouds, even at the rocks, until finally with some hesitation he glanced at the barrier.

His eyelids twitched, whilst his eyes bleed, Dio was doing his best to endure the primal fear towards the sunlight of a Vampire.

"Space Qi...

I see now.

Around the edges of the barrier there's a lingering 'Space Qi.'

So that's how he managed to hide behind our noses so easily, and escape with ease.

...Maybe that is the secret, maybe he used 'Space Qi' to teleport a previously arranged technique to deal with me?"

He tilted his head lightly.

"There must be a secret regarding this, now that I think about it, each of the techniques also had a limit of duration between 7 to 10 seconds, this must be some sort of limit of this Formation?"

He guessed randomly.

At this point, he was beginning to make a mental image of the whole scenario.

"That seems likely, after all when I was attacked by all those techniques I noticed that they lacked identity, they didn't seem to come from the same person.

How so?

Simple, when I Dio fight, I attack by using the highest amount of strength in the quickest, most explosive way I can.

And I use my body as the foundation to do so.

Ma Pa Hung had his identity on using 'Explosive Seed Release Gu', as the core of all his techniques, whilst the rest of his Wood and Earth techniques focused on support or defense.

Whilst his true attacks were vicious, involving Blood, Soul and Poison Path.

Others such as 'Feng Zhan' fight, they suppress or confuse the opponent, before dealing a single fathal, conclusive strike!

Everyone has an unique style, the fact that he hasn't one is proof that those are not his 'own' techniques."

Dio figured most of the info, with a few mistakes along the way.

However, would that be enough?

Without him realizing, the threads of Fate were driving everything towards its end.

Meanwhile.

Ma Shan Hu and Earth Champion were currently absorbing a Gu with the form of a blue jewel tadpole, it was small, agil and it was swimming in a tide of Water Qi inside their apertures.

The fish was constantly vibrating with a golden aurora, that was the effect of the Killer Move 'Harmonizing Qi River.'

With this Gu they could amplify the effects of Flash Inspiration Gu tremendously and could continuously absorb more and more inspirations without damaging their souls.

In front of them there was a bulk of similar Gu's.

That was because inside the Spirit Spring there were actually multiple exotic species of fishes and Gu's.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Most were rank 1 or 2, whilst there were a few rank 3 Gu's and there was a single rank 4 Gu.

It was called Transmutation Qi Gu.

Transmutation Qi Gu could change the nature of any Qi towards another, it could also be used to transform any path into Qi path wave.

Water into Qi water, Fire into Fire Qi and so on.

It could even be used to destroy the opponent's techniques and make it your own!

A new path was revealed in front of him, each of his needs were covered.

If he wanted to raise his strength and vitality he simply had to convert other kinds of Qi into 'Human' and 'Strength' Qi, with this his 'Harmonious Body' Killer Move was strengthened by a five-fold.

He could also use this Gu to strengthen his soul to tolerate more 'Flash of Inspiration' Gu by producing Soul Qi and Wisdom Qi!

That and the fact that he had a continuous supply of 'Flash of Inspiration' Gu meant that he was in a virtuous cycle were he was constantly getting stronger.

Since Dio's luck had stopped suppressing him, everything was a breeze.

However, he was still worried about his future, he didn't knew when his tribesmen may find him.

His worries were not only for his lack of strength, but also because he was worried of damaging his former tribe.

He smiled at Earth Champion and said.

"I just had an inspiration, by using the inheritance of my grandpa as reference I can also add a new Gu to my 'Lucky Shiny eyes', that is to use a Flash of Inspiration Gu!

With it, I can take a glance in a target, no matter if they're hundreds of kilometers away, with this, we can avoid all threats!

If needed we can flee safely."

After saying this, he immediately selected his first target, Ma Shang Feng.

He began to wave his hands, forming a circle with a hand and a square with the other.

As he moved his arms, the faint afterimage of a rainbow appeared within.

Inside this 'rainbow' there was a golden-gray aurora, shining intensively.

Ma Shan Hu extended his arms, shooting a powerful wave and taking from his aperture a Flash of Inspiration Gu he created a portal.

There they saw him.

The tribe leader had a cold gaze, filled with pure absolute killing intent.

Even them that they're not targeted by it, felt frightened as they felt the ripples of Primeval Essence gathering all around his body.

Together with droplets of water and wind currents, he was mounting a 'water dragon' whose figure was shrouded by dark clouds and tempest.

He Cultivated Water, Cloud and Wind path.

Ma Shang Feng frowned, he calculated his gains.

"Sigh, finally I found my old's friend inheritance.

He truly constructed a marvelous palace!

Inside that thing there was a continuous flux of over 7 times the usual Primeval Essence, it was because of this, that all communications were disrupted, also, because of my own foolishness and paranoidness I isolated myself, not allowing anyone to get in contact with such secrets.

Is because of this, that I didn't realized of Dio's threat until this day, because of my foolishness I endangered my own tribe.

Sigh, I'm still too careless, despite my age, I simply kept making the same mistakes and over again.

I always ignored the big picture, didn't I Ma Pa Hung?

...

This is the last step, after our tribe passes this trial, I'll retire, I'm not suited to be a leader, I'm rather foolish and simple-minded, someone more proper should take the lead..."

His mood turned sour as he recalled.

"Ma Shan Hu, my best candidate has been missing, I guess, is your fault, then, Dio?

I should have striked you down when I could."

Little did he know, that the 'inheritance' he had received was less than half of Ma Pa Hung's true achievements.

The whole place, the ample resources and Formations and even the rich Primeval aura were designed with one sole purpose.

To delay him, long enough so Ma Pa Hung could go and massacre them, without his interference.

Every second he spent analyzing, deducing and refining all the Gu's of his so-called inheritance he was getting nearer and preparing his own arrangements.

A lone figure glanced at the horizon.

He had a green hair with brown strands, had well-defined muscles, and rich purple lips.

His skin had a pinkish-white shade, whilst his eyes were red.

The man was incredibly handsome, and had a profound aura with each step he made, flowers, leaf's and grass grew below him.

However, his beautiful image was ruined by the huge tumor between his spinal cord and brain.

Inside it, pus was constantly coming out, and the skin had an obvious dark-blue tone, and seemed to be throbbing.

That was the last piece he lacked, his last imperfection.

His aperture was already at around a 98% and had shown signs of a pseudo Extreme Physique, he was only a steps away.

However, the lasts steps were the hardest.

To achieve his goal he'd require to complete a rank 5; 'Corrupted Bloody Mary Soul Wood.'

Luckily, he had more than enough strength to achieve this goal, for he currently had the strength of over ten 'Wood Spirits' inside his body.

His physical strength even surpassed Dio's.

Ma Pa Hung clenched his fists, while thinking excitedly.

"Heh, even though my brain still has a tumor, I feel completely refreshed.

Thoughts pass through my mind like water flows through a spring, no matter what I think my mind immediately finds a solution.

My techniques have improved by leaps in the last days!"

His smile faded, he added in his heart.

"But to achieve true perfection I still need to do one thing."

Since the last days, he had activated a Killer Move to conceal himself, known as 'Hidden Leaf', leaf's gathered around him forming a barrier which prevented deductions, investigations and even could prevent others from seeing him directly.

This Killer Move had many downsides such as that he would suffer a backlash if he tried to use another Gu whilst he used this technique and that he could only walk around 7 kilometers per hour.

"It was a long journey, but at long last, I have finally arrived.

Huh?

Why is there a barrier arranged, did they notice my presence, impossible."

His pupils shrank.

"That brat who defeated me, Dio!

He is fighting against them, does he has the same plans than I?"

Then, a smile formed on his face.

"Very well, I shall take this chance to swiftly take care of the two sides!"

He shamelessly said, despite the fact that he was far stronger than the two, he was planning to sneak attack on them.

...

Returning to Dio.

"Feng Zhan, is about time, prepare your 'Special Sand.'" Dio shouted.

Feng Zhan nodded, from his aperture he took a dense purple sand, which began to extend covering dozens of meters.

Then, he smirked and added.

"Regardless of what methods you all have, I Dio, have a trump card, do you want to see it?." He winked and clenched his right fist.

His fist turned darker and darker, until it finally turned dark purple, finally he then proceeded to punch the ground.

When his fist hit the ground, ripples suddenly emerged from within it.

"I call this, Death Punch.

Hah, I infuse my fist with Death Qi, which will hit my target, it can do anything, turn my opponent into a Zombie, destroy the crops, kill Gu's, anything!"

In this way, Dio was planning to eventually to sever the connection between the Gu's and its owners, naturally the easiest way to do so, would be to come to the ground and cut them directly.

However, since Dio had arrived to this world, he had been taken for a fool many, many times, he couldn't discard the possibility of them hiding traps beneath the ground.

Thus, to get rid of those he used his 'Death Qi' directly.

Dio smiled lightly, with the 'sand barrier' he completely countered the tactic of those arrowers.

"Your puny arrows can't affect me any longer, so, I'll ask you, what would you do then?

Let me destroy your Formation, or come to face me?

Hah, hah, the choice is yours."

Ma Zhun sighed.

He ordered the advancement of many nearby Gu houses.

The ranks from those Gu houses varied, some were rank 2 or 3 but there was one rank 4 Gu house, a 'Cheetah' Gu house.

Naturally, those Gu houses were not controlled by 'peak experts' as they, were already gone.

Those who controlled them, were very, very weak.

But he had no choice but to employ them.