Chapter 486: Gu Niangzi II

Liu Yu said: "Understood. I will send people to handle this matter. For the next two months, we must all begin preparing for the Great Zhou Martial Arts Tournament. Since you have arrived just now, there is something I would like to confirm."

He turned around, his gaze sweeping back and forth between Cheng Feng and Gu Niangzi: "For this Great Zhou Martial Arts Tournament, we must work together with all our strength; we really ought to probe each other's bottom lines."

Gu Niangzi raised an eyebrow, and the Red Armored Beetle in her hair flapped its wings, emitting a faint buzzing sound: "Does Lord Liu mean to let me and this Brother Cheng exchange a few moves?"

"Exactly." Liu Yu stood with his hands behind his back, his tone as indifferent as if he were saying the weather was nice today, "Stop at the point of contact and probe each other's depths. The opponents we encounter at the Martial Arts Tournament will not give us any chance to hold back."

Huo Luan immediately stepped back several paces, her face full of the expression of someone watching a good show.

She had long wanted to see Gu Niangzi's methods, and even more so, how Cheng Feng would respond.

Gu Niangzi turned around to face Cheng Feng, her bare feet treading on the bluestone floor. The Black Jade Snake on her ankle slithered slowly, winding from her ankle to her calf, then poked its head out and flicked its scarlet tongue toward Cheng Feng.

"Brother Cheng," Gu Niangzi smiled slightly, the smile as sweet as arsenic coated in honey, "you must show mercy."

Before the words had faded, she moved.

Gu Niangzi's figure was extremely fast, so fast that it did not seem like someone who had just crawled out of a box.

She pushed off the bluestone floor with her bare feet, and her whole body, like a fallen leaf caught in the wind, drifted erratically toward Cheng Feng.

Her dark green skirt hem unfurled behind her, and the Gu insect patterns embroidered upon it swayed in the light, appearing as if they had come to life.

Her first move was not to attack Cheng Feng, but to raise her hand and flick it near her ear.

The red beetle in her hair took flight, transforming into a streak of red light that lunged straight for Cheng Feng's face.

At the same time, the Black Jade Snake on her ankle also shot out like an arrow from a bow, slithering along the ground toward Cheng Feng's ankle, its speed so fast it left only a black afterimage.

High and low, attacking simultaneously.

Cheng Feng did not panic.

The most important thing in Horizontal Training is for the lower body to be as stable as a mountain. He spread his legs slightly, his soles rooted into the bluestone floor like they had grown there. Facing the incoming red beetle,

he did not dodge, but raised his arms to protect his face. The muscles on his arms instantly bulged, and a faint bronze luster rose to the surface of his skin.

Iron Bone Golden Body to probe the depths first.

The Red Armored Beetle collided with his forearm, emitting a crisp "ding" sound, as if it had struck an iron plate.

Gu Niangzi's pupils shrank slightly.

That beetle was no Ordinary item; the hardness of its shell was comparable to Refined Iron, and the force of its impact was enough to pierce a one-inch-thick wooden board. An ordinary person would be left with a bloody hole after taking a single hit.

Yet, Cheng Feng only had a white mark on his arm; not even the skin was broken.

"What a tough Horizontal Training." Gu Niangzi was secretly startled, but her hand movements were not slow in the slightest.

While the beetle was attacking, she had already pressed in close. Her right hand's five fingers were pressed together, and her fingertips, painted with dark red nail polish, stabbed straight at Cheng Feng's throat.

This move looked simple, but her fingernails shimmered with an eerie, ghostly light in the sun—they were quenched in Gu poison.

Cheng Feng turned his body to avoid the vital point of his throat, clenched his right hand into a fist, and slammed it toward Gu Niangzi's shoulder.

This punch had no frills; it was purely fast and heavy. The fist wind broke through the air, carrying a dull whistling sound.

A smile curled the corner of Gu Niangzi's mouth. Her figure suddenly lowered, and her whole body, as if devoid of bones, slid beneath Cheng Feng's fist at an incredible angle.

Her waist was impossibly flexible; her entire upper body almost brushed the ground as she circled behind Cheng Feng, her right hand taking the opportunity to strike at his lower back.

The moment the palm wind touched his body, Cheng Feng felt his lower back go numb.

It was not pain, but a tingling, numbing sensation, as if countless ants were crawling on his skin.

He looked down and saw several small tears in the fabric of his lower back, and around the tears were densely packed black dots the size of needle tips—these were the Gu insect eggs hidden in Gu Niangzi's fingernails. If it were an ordinary person, these eggs would burrow into the skin within a few breaths, flow through the blood to the entire body, and then life and death would be entirely up to Gu Niangzi's whim.

But Cheng Feng was not an ordinary person.

The moment those Gu insect eggs touched his skin, it was as if they had encountered a red-hot branding iron; they instantly shriveled and withered, turning into fine black powder that fell with a rustle.

Gu Niangzi's smile froze.

"Impossible!"

She retreated three steps abruptly, staring at the black powder on Cheng Feng's lower back, her eyes flashing with shock, confusion, and a trace of unbelievable excitement.

Her Gu insect eggs were the Red-Bellied Blood-Eating Gu she had cultivated herself, which had an extremely strong corrosive effect on the flesh of living things. Even for a Horizontal Training expert, as long as there was the slightest pore or gap in the skin, the eggs could burrow in.

Yet Cheng Feng's body was like a wall of copper and iron, directly "burning" the eggs to death.

And what concerned her even more was another matter—

Where was her Black Jade Snake?

Gu Niangzi looked down at the ground, her gaze sweeping rapidly. The Black Jade Snake was one of her Life-Bound Gu; it had followed her for seven years and they shared a telepathic connection. Just now, she had ordered it to slither along the ground and entangle Cheng Feng's ankle. By all logic, it should have succeeded by now.

But the scene she saw left her stunned.

The Black Jade Snake had indeed slithered to Cheng Feng's feet, but it had not coiled around him. Instead, it was coiled into a ball, its triangular head hanging low, its entire body trembling.

It was afraid.

The Black Jade Snake, which had followed her for seven years and bitten countless experts to death, was now like a mouse seeing a cat. It did not even dare to flick its tongue, just curled up on the ground, shaking so hard its scales were rattling.

Gu Niangzi's expression finally changed.

She crouched down and reached out to recall the Black Jade Snake, but the snake ignored her summons, staring fixedly at Cheng Feng, its snake pupils filled with instinctive fear.

Gu Niangzi had never seen the Black Jade Snake like this. Even when facing Gu masters stronger than her, the snake had never shown the slightest sign of cowardice.

"You—" Gu Niangzi raised her head and stared fixedly at Cheng Feng, those bewitching eyes shining with startling intensity, "What exactly do you have on you?"

Cheng Feng did not speak, only looking down at the trembling Black Jade Snake by his feet, his expression calm as usual.

But in his heart, he was also somewhat surprised. He himself did not know why Gu Niangzi's Gu insects were ineffective against him, nor did he know why that snake was afraid of him.

The only thing he could associate it with was the bloodline suppression his Flood Dragon Body had over snakes.

After all, this could also be considered an opportunity he had attained in the Acquired Realm.

Huo Luan, on the sidelines, watched with her mouth agape and couldn't help but let out a whistle: "Good fellow, Cheng Feng, you're something else; you even scared Gu Niangzi's snake into submission."

Liu Yu stood to the side, arms crossed, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

He had long felt that Cheng Feng was not simple, but he had not expected that even Gu Niangzi's Life-Bound Gu would feel fear toward him.

And his Horizontal Training was also quite well-tempered.

Gu Niangzi took a deep breath and stood up, hanging that sweet, cloying smile back on her face, but there was a hint of solemnity and wariness in it now.

"Interesting, truly interesting." She walked up to Cheng Feng, and this time, instead of standing on tiptoe, she looked him up and down with genuine seriousness.

"There is only one possibility for why my Black Jade Snake would be this afraid—you possess the aura of a snake species stronger than it."

Her gaze wandered over Cheng Feng as if she wanted to see right through him: "Brother Cheng, have you ever raised snakes?"

Cheng Feng was silent for a moment and shook his head: "No."

Da Hei was so far away from him that there was naturally no need to expose it now.

"Then where does this aura on you come from?" Gu Niangzi pressed, the excitement in her eyes growing more intense.

"Although my Black Jade Snake is small in size, its bloodline is not inferior; if it manages to strike, it can even directly poison a True Qi Realm Martial Artist to death."

"For it to be scared like this, it must be at least a snake of the same level or an even higher grade. You must have something on you."