Crisis!

Crisis!

"Who?"

Gu Shaoyou's face changed drastically. The ginseng in his hand was snatched away before he even caught sight of the thief. This person was no opponent he could face; he instinctively retreated half a step behind his younger brother.

"Cough!"

The figure stopped before Gu Shaohan and the other. He was a middle-aged man in his thirties, clad in black armor and holding a long saber.

The middle-aged man calling himself Sun Hailong had a sallow face and coughed twice from time to time, as though he were gravely injured.

Gu Shaoyou's face turned pale. Even from four or five zhang away, he could smell the dense stench of blood wafting from the middle-aged man and striking him full in the face.

"Give us back the ginseng!" Gu Shaohan roared, charging at Sun Hailong.

"Hehe, so impatient!" Sun Hailong chuckled. Endless brutality and greed surfaced on his sallow face.

Gu Shaohan was, after all, a martial artist at the first stage of Foundation Establishment. With a leap that stirred the wind, he arrived before Sun Hailong, reaching out with a Tiger Claw to snatch back the ginseng!

Delight flashed across Gu Shaohan's face as his fingers touched the ginseng. Then, amid Gu Shaoyou's cry of alarm, a pale, slender hand viciously clamped around Gu Shaohan's throat and lifted him into the air!

"Let go of... Aah!... Brother!..." Before Gu Shaoyou's horrified eyes, Sun Hailong opened his mouth, his teeth stained bright red with blood, and savagely bit into Gu Shaohan's neck!

Amid Gu Shaohan's shrill, despairing screams came a bone-chilling sound of chewing!

"Monster! You're a monster! Aah! Aah! Aah!"

Gu Shaoyou collapsed onto the ground and scrambled backward, letting out agonized, terrified shrieks. Tears and snot streamed down his face!

Terror! Despair! Anger! Fear! Gu Shaoyou curled into a ball, trembling violently as he watched his younger brother's neck being bitten by the demon before him!

Sun Hailong chewed in huge mouthfuls, blood flowing from the corners of his lips. Gu Shaohan's full body gradually withered away, drained completely of blood!

Bang!

Sun Hailong flung aside Gu Shaohan's shriveled corpse, stuck out his blood-covered tongue to lick his lips, and slowly walked toward Gu Shaoyou.

"What delicious medicine! If I hadn't encountered you two precious remedies, I would probably have died! I really ought to thank you. Don't worry, I'll be quick! You won't feel any pain!" Cruelty and savagery leaked from Sun Hailong's sallow face, while an eerie blood-red glow shone from his eyes!

"Younger brother! No! Don't! Don't come closer! Aah! Aah!" Gu Shaoyou sat on the ground, screaming madly and flailing both hands before him without pause. He was on the verge of collapse!

"Hmm? You actually..." A foul stench drifted over. Sun Hailong stopped, furrowing his brow as fury appeared on his face!

Gu Shaoyou lay prone on the ground and wailed loudly. Waves of foul stench rose from him; he had been frightened into losing control of both his bowels and bladder!

Though Sun Hailong cultivated the Bloodthirsty Marvelous Skill, that did not mean he would eat anything! Even badly injured, he could not bring himself to bite prey that reeked so foully!

"Trash like you! You can't even protect your own younger brother! What's the point of living?" Sun Hailong's low voice suddenly turned violent as he prepared to kill the trash before him with a flying kick!

"I... I know where there's someone else! He's a genius! He reached the second stage of Foundation Establishment at ten! He also has a hundred Purple Gold Coins on him!" A flash of inspiration struck Gu Shaoyou, and the words spilled from his mouth in a rush.

Though Gu Xuanzhen's lavish gift to Gu Shaoshang had not been publicly spread, there were no secrets that stayed hidden forever. In the end, it reached the ears of someone who cared to listen!

Whoosh!

The whip-like kick carrying Gang Wind halted abruptly. The howling gale scattered Gu Shaoyou's hair, covering his entire face like that of a madman.

I survived! This monster didn't kill me! Gu Shaoyou roared inwardly, then said in a trembling voice, "My lord, his name is Gu Shaoshang. He's eleven this year..."

"Interesting! A hundred Purple Gold Coins! A genius... what does a genius's blood taste like? Hehe, hahaha!" A cruel smile appeared on Sun Hailong's face as he turned and headed toward the place Gu Shaoyou had indicated.

Gu Shaoyou staggered after him, without the slightest thought of running away!

That is...! Gu Shaoyou's heart shook violently!

Beneath Sun Hailong's shattered black armor, a massive palm print covered his entire back! It was clearly visible, as though branded there by a red-hot iron plate!

"True Body Crossing requires far too much Source Power! I still need a hundred points before I can choose the world I want to visit! A One-Star Level world only gives me three chances. I can't waste them!" Gu Shaoshang sat cross-legged on the ground, pondering for a long while.

Over the past two-plus months, even Gu Shaoshang did not know how many wild beasts he had killed! His Flying Dagger Technique had reached level nine. With inner strength infused into it, its killing power had surged! He only lacked the final "flying dagger redirection" for this to become the first martial skill Gu Shaoshang had mastered completely! Its power far exceeded his own martial realm!

"What a pity! A boar close to becoming a demon beast was worth only 0.1 Source Power! Source Power is too hard to come by!" Gu Shaoshang sighed softly, then felt that he was simply being too greedy.

In only a few months, he had gone from newly entering the first stage of Foundation Establishment to nearly perfecting the second stage, covering a path that took others years! How could he still ask for more?

"Mindset! My mindset has become impatient!" Gu Shaoshang silently admonished himself and understood where the problem lay. "Although I manifested Teng Qingshan's Xingyi Quan experience, there are still some bottlenecks I don't fully understand! I lack the guidance of a true Grandmaster!"

Training in fist arts was never something one could master merely by following a secret manual! The sort of thing Gu Shaoshang had read about in martial arts novels from his previous life—leaping off a cliff, obtaining a martial arts manual, and becoming an expert through solitary practice—did not exist, whether in his former world or this one!

Even the Tiger Roar Fist, far simpler than Xingyi Quan, had taken Gu Ji more than half a year of meticulous instruction, and he had taught only one-third of it!

Gu Shaoshang naturally knew his weakness: he had no one to guide him. His slow progress in Xingyi Quan was the clearest proof! Even with Teng Qingshan's experience, he could not quickly attain the Grandmaster Realm.

"Foundation Establishment! Foundation Establishment!" Gu Shaoshang murmured twice, then smiled with firm determination. "Without forging a Supreme Grade foundation, how can I speak of roaming freely through the Myriad Heavens and Worlds?"

After refreshing the projections, Gu Shaoshang looked at the enormous gap remaining before he could choose to cross over and secretly frowned.

"No choice. I can only keep going into the mountains to fight wild beasts!" Gu Shaoshang thought as he exited the Mirror World.

Gu Shaoshang climbed a small hill and stopped to gaze into the distance. This was a place he especially liked.

In the distance stretched beautiful rolling peaks, thick with verdant trees. At the mountaintops stood strangely shaped rocks and ancient, vigorous trees, while old vines as thick as buckets coiled like horned dragons. Lush green grass and fragrant wildflowers spread everywhere, brimming with boundless vitality and life.

Faint beast roars drifted over from afar. That area was already considered part of the depths of Great Ming Mountain. Gu Shaoshang had been there many times, yet an inexplicable sense of danger always warned him away, and he never dared enter!

"Who?" Suddenly, the sound of footsteps slowly approached. Gu Shaoshang's left hand tightened slightly as he concealed a flying dagger in his grip.

"You're quite vigilant! Much better than that trash!" Sun Hailong emerged from the forest at an unhurried pace.

Thanks to reader Ziwei Taiyi for the reward. Lastly, a humble request for recommendations and bookmarks!