The maze illusion was formed by stitching together images and required the Mind Eye Technique to support it, consuming a great deal of mental energy.
If someone else closed their eyes midway, he had to quickly add another image the moment they opened them, or he could not pull them back into the maze.
That only made the mental energy it consumed even greater.
"I could try narrowing the range and reducing the number of images, creating a small-scale illusion to seize a fleeting chance to strike."
In many fights, a split-second advantage was enough to decide the winner. Liu Feng understood that.
With no target to test it on, he stopped trying and instead used the Zen Eye Technique to peer inside his own organs.
Deep within his chest, a strange Gu insect lay motionless amid his flesh and blood. Its body was dark and covered in specks like stars, as if it were asleep.
In the flesh near his heart, an egg with a fiery-red shell had also hatched halfway.
"I've absorbed the medicinal power of both Insect Crystals into my body. Now I just have to wait for Fire Eater to hatch."
As Liu Feng pondered how long Fire Eater might take to hatch, he suddenly cocked his head and listened. Someone outside was calling for him.
"Liu Feng, today's the day you're crippled."
"Please, you two, come inside. The passage is narrow, but I imagine that won't bother you."
"Stop. What's that smell inside? Go call that man out."...
Under the steady drizzle, some of the Gu Children stood beneath trees while others huddled under stone eaves. More than a hundred had gathered there.
In front of a stone cave beneath the cliff, Su Jing and her brother Su Anjie led the way, with two Spirit Monsters in cloaks behind them.
The Black Wolf Spirit at the front twitched its nose and refused to enter the passage.
Just then, a Gu Servant hurried over and said cautiously, "Brother Su, eight Gu Children were ambushed. They—they all threw up! It was probably that man surnamed Liu!"
Su Jing and Su Anjie exchanged a glance, then shouted toward the cave.
"You've done every evil under the sun! You stole our precious medicine, chopped off our arms, and now you're bullying the new Gu Children too."
"Liu Feng, do we have to go in there and drag you out..."
She hadn't finished speaking when Liu Feng emerged at an unhurried pace, dressed in blue. But when people got a good look at him, everyone who knew him stared in astonishment.
Like Liu Xing, who had undergone a complete transformation, Liu Feng's appearance had changed considerably.
He stood taller now, and the bluish-black discoloration caused by the accumulated poison from Gu implantation had completely faded from his skin.
He was slender, with a narrow face, delicate features, and clear-cut lines to his face. He looked every bit the refined, otherworldly young man.
"Y-you're Liu Feng? You owe my brother and me our arms!" Su Jing froze for a moment, then scolded him sharply.
Su Anjie had been itching to act. He pointed at Liu Feng and said, "That's him. Please, eat both his arms raw."
At the words "eat raw," the Gu Children watching from behind immediately grew excited.
Among them, five figures with their faces wrapped in rags hid in the crowd. Their eyes were filled with venom.
"That bastard surnamed Liu really has undergone Metamorphic Rebirth and become a Gu Master!"
"Good. Now he'll have to go to the Valley Master and fight Liu Xing to the death."
"Let's see if he can get past this first." These five were none other than Ma Kun and the four others whose Gu implantation had failed.
Speaking of Liu Xing, he wasn't there. Ma Kun's words seemed to remind him of something, but who knew what he was plotting.
"Look, the wolf spirit's using a spell..." Some Gu Child cried out in alarm.
Everyone turned to look. All the onlookers, including Li Xiang'er and Leng Qiuyue, tensed.
In front of the stone cave beneath the cliff, the short, powerfully built Ape Spirit hadn't moved at all.
The Black Wolf Spirit's cloaked figure shifted and became six figures, which abruptly scattered and pounced on Liu Feng.
Their hoods fell back, revealing snarling wolf heads baring their fangs.
Liu Feng stood rooted to the spot, as if he hadn't reacted in time. All six bloody maws sank their teeth into him.
The six bites only tore the blue fabric on Liu Feng's left shoulder, with a sharp rrip.
Clearly, the one that had bitten there was the Black Wolf Spirit's true body.
Under a large tree in the distance, timid Li Xiang'er covered her mouth and gasped. Beside her, Leng Qiuyue's lovely face had gone deathly pale with fright.
But when they looked again, the five doppelgangers had vanished, and the Black Wolf Spirit's true body let out a howl of agony and sprang back two zhang. Blood poured from its mouth, packed with sharp fangs.
The blood in its mouth wasn't Liu Feng's. It was its own. Its tongue had nearly been twisted into a pulp.
"The Soldier Gu blocked it! How did Liu Feng know it was coming?" a Gu Servant cried out.
Only then did everyone see a hideous insect leg twitching on Liu Feng's torn left sleeve, spattered with blood.
"Human brat." The Black Wolf Spirit's eyes blazed with murderous fury.
With a howl, its cloak billowed, and seven clouds of black smoke surged from beneath its body.
Each cloud dragged a tail half a zhang long, like a fierce ghost appearing in broad daylight. They all rushed at Liu Feng with shrill cries.
The Black Wolf Spirit kicked off the ground. Its figure blurred, then vanished among the seven clouds of black smoke.
In the blink of an eye, the onlookers saw Liu Feng's figure swallowed by the swirling smoke.
Yet the move that had just terrified every Gu Child vanished like smoke in the wind the very next moment. A howl of agony, even more miserable than before, reached everyone's ears.
The black smoke burst apart, and a black wolf as large as a calf emerged from its cloak.
Behind it, a young man wielding a hideous greatsword gave chase. It was Liu Feng, who had slashed the Black Wolf Spirit across the waist and belly.
"He's only just hatched an Exotic Gu. How could he possibly fight Second Senior Brother's Spirit Monsters..."
Su Jing and Su Anjie stared at the scene in disbelief, their expressions stunned.
As far as they were concerned, Liu Feng had only just hatched an Exotic Gu and had never fought anyone using magic. How could he have driven the Black Wolf Spirit into such a sorry state?
"Hmph." A sudden angry snort came from behind the siblings.
The Ape Spirit's cloak tore apart where it stood. Its muscles swelled, and every hair on its body bristled.
Before the two could react, a great spray of dirt flew backward. The earth and stones beneath the Ape Spirit's feet cracked as its sturdy Spirit Monster body shot toward Liu Feng.
The Ape Spirit was powerfully built. Its legs crossed as it rapidly closed the distance to Liu Feng!
At the instant it reached him, it twisted its waist, drove its arm forward, and threw a punch—all three movements executed with the practiced form of a martial artist.
Bang! A gust of force surged outward.
The punch was both fierce and precise. It bypassed Liu Feng's blade and struck the body cavity of the Soldier Gu, Split-Tooth. Liu Feng and the Soldier Gu were sent flying together.
Beneath a distant tree, the two women watched Liu Feng fly nearly ten zhang, blood scattering through the air.
"Wu Yue, your illusion is useless against him! We'll attack with our Spirit Monster bodies."
"Finish it quickly. Tear off both his arms."
As the words fell, the earth and stones beneath the Ape Spirit's feet cracked with a sharp report, and its massive form vanished once more.
Nearby, the Black Wolf Spirit was both furious and humiliated. Its specialty, illusion magic, had been useless against this human brat.
The fur along the wolf's neck bristled. The black wolf, as large as a calf, dropped onto all fours and charged like a stream of black water, sweeping toward Liu Feng from one side while the Ape Spirit attacked from the other.
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