Although this was Fang Yuan’s motive and Ge Yao took the initiative to join him, Fang Yuan still asked her: “Take care of each other? What do I need you for?”
Saying so, he ran his eyes over her, his tone carried a hint of arrogance.
The girl immediately raised her head: “Don’t you know the poison grassland is filled with purple poison fog and you will be poisoned if you breathe it for a long time. I have detoxification Gu worms with me. Also the deeper you go, the denser the poison fog will become as ghosts and spirits will also appear. At that time, you won’t be able to distinguish the direction, and only my return heart Gu can point out the correct way back.”
Guuuu…
As the girl said this, her stomach suddenly let out a hungry rumbling sound.
Fang Yuan glanced at her stomach and the girl immediately felt her face go red.
She explained while stammering: “This… my big stomach horse was eaten by the poison beard wolves. My primeval stones and rations were all stored there.”
Big stomach horse was a mount that was extremely popular in northern plains. It had two stomachs; one was used to consume food and another was used to store goods.
The Gu Masters of northern plains usually used this type of big stomach horse when relocating their homes.
Fang Yuan curiously asked: “Since your father is Ge tribe’s tribe leader, why are you – his own daughter – using such a common mount?”
“Sigh, he kept my Gu away from me. Being able to escape alone with a big stomach horse and preparing so much resources was already amazing!”
Ge Yao spoke frankly but right after saying it, she felt something wrong and her expression turned sluggish as she realized what she had said.
“Escaped? Could it be that you are escaping from marriage?” Fang Yuan raised his brows.
The little girl exclaimed in surprise and looked at Fang Yuan with wide eyes: “Do you have mind reading Gu? How did you know?”
Fang Yuan laughed, he was only guessing but it was not without any evidence.
In northern plains, the position of women was much lower than that of men, even being treated as goods and casually sold in markets. In southern border, there were female clan leaders, but northern plains had no such precedence and women were not allowed to be in power.
Why was that so?
This tradition dated back to the era of Giant Sun Immortal Venerable.
In Fang Yuan’s memories, during these three years, many great heroes would fight for supremacy in northern plains and a great storm would blow. Eventually, Hei tribe leader Hei Lou Lan succeeded and became the lord of the imperial court for ten years. He was also the most controversial lord of the grassland in future generations.
Hei Lou Lan was extremely lecherous, and after becoming the ruler of the grassland, he made beauties of many tribes part of his harem. But on other hand, he made a new policy to raise women’s status and attempted to create gender equality.
This gravely infringed upon all forces’ interests and led to conflicts, causing an institutional turmoil among all northern plains tribes.
Thus, Hei Lou Lan had only been the lord of the grassland for two years when he was deceived by his own tribesmen to go outside the imperial court and was killed secretly. Immediately following, all tribes allied to overthrow Hei tribe’s rule and again contended for the position of the ruler of the imperial court. The bloodshed and war lasted for an entire five years before it settled.
After this chaotic war, every tribe of northern plain suffered great losses. And in the future, when Central Continent attacked the four other regions, this became the greatest weakness of northern plains.
A lot of northern plains women thus choose to run away in order to avoid marriage. This girl standing before him had come alone to poison grassland even though she was the daughter of the tribe leader. Fang Yuan naturally made such a guess.
Fang Yuan took out food from moving perspective cup Gu and gave them to Ge Yao.
This girl seemed to be very hungry; she wolfed down the food and rolled her eyes, slurring her words: “It was Man Duo of Man tribe who wanted to marry me. He is Man tribe leader’s third son and is thin and small, like a monkey. Moreover, he is suffering from illness and only has rank two cultivation. Usually, he would rely on his father to act tyrannically in his tribe. He has not the slightest bit of heroic spirit! I don’t want to marry to such a good-for-nothing.”
“But Man tribe was a huge force while our Ge tribe has just migrated over with greatly reduced strength. Man tribe’s betrothal gift was also very grand and they also promised to give a piece of fertile grassland to my Ge tribe. Father wanted these gifts and tried to marry me off. And so in my fury, I fled. Warrior Chang Shan Yin, how about you snatch me?”
Northern plains had simple and coarse customs. One of their customs was bride kidnapping.
The snatched bride was often more precious than an officially married wife.
Fang Yuan laughed: “I have no interest in you, eat quickly, we will leave after you are full.”
Ge Yao’s dark pupils darted around: “There is another method, that is, you can marry into my Ge tribe. According to the grassland customs, only a brave warrior can possess beauties. Even if Man tribe wants to find trouble, it has to be done according to the customs; Man Duo, that skinny monkey would have to challenge you to a fight. Warrior Chang Shan Yin, you are so strong, you will certainly beat that Man Duo to a pulp!”
Fang Yuan stopped smiling: “I said I don’t have any interest in you.”
Ge Yao, however, became even more passionate and displayed northern plains women’s characteristic boldness and wildness: “Why don’t you have any interest? Could it be that I am not beautiful? I am the flower of Ge tribe, that kid Man Duo glanced at me from afar and fell for me at first sight, asking his father to propose the marriage! Warrior Chang Shan Yin, there are benefits for you as well in living with my Ge tribe. You are an outsider, if you don’t marry into the tribe, others will not take you as one of their own and you will suffer exclusion and vigilance in northern plains.”
Fang Yuan said with a solemn tone: “I said I am a northern plains native.”
Ge Yao gave a sweet smile: “Warrior, you can’t deceive me. Your accent revealed your background, and your food is also not the northern plain’s biscuits and dried meat. Just take me, don’t you think our encounter is the arrangement of longevity heaven?”
Fang Yuan lowered his head to cover the cold light that was vaguely flashing in his eyes as the smile on his face became deeper.
“Let me consider it for a while, don’t be in such a hurry to decide.” Fang Yuan said and gave some primeval stones to Ge Yao.
Ge Yao nodded: “You have to think about it properly… properly.”
She took the primeval stones and said with a cautious tone: “I will return these primeval stones to you in the future.”
Fang Yuan nodded.
Ge Yao did not speak anymore and concentrated on absorbing the primeval stones to replenish her primeval essence and recover her strength as fast as possible.
As they continued moving deeper into the poison grassland, the thin poison in the air gradually became denser. They were unnoticeable before to the naked eyes, but now one could clearly see the light purple color.
“Stop, there is a wolf pack!” Ge Yao suddenly stopped, her gaze revealing panic.
Clearly, the battle with the poison beard wolves had left a deep impression on her.
Fang Yuan stopped, and after three breaths of time, he discovered the tracks of the wolf pack with his investigative Gu worm.
He could not help but glance at Ge Yao, indeed as a tribeswoman, the investigative Gu worm on her was great.
Fang Yuan had refined this rank four investigative Gu in Hu Immortal blessed land. But in northern plains, it was suppressed and could not compare to Ge Yao’s rank three Gu.
The wolf pack’s excited howls got louder and louder.
Soon, hundreds of poison beard wolves appeared in their vision.
“So many wolves!” Ge Yao’s face turned pale and her delicate body trembled as she took in a breath of cold air. The wolf pack’s numbers were many times higher than the previous ones, reaching close to a thousand.
The stronger the beast king, more the number of beasts they could control; this hundred beast king was clearly much stronger than the previous one.
“Hmph, what are you panicking for? Just protect yourself.” Fang Yuan snorted and fiercely stomped his foot, charging forward.
Ge Yao exclaimed in shock at this, she wanted to call out to Fang Yuan but he had already entered the wolf pack.
Many poison beard wolves ran and charged at Ge Yao.
The girl shouted in her delicate voice: “Water armor!”
Immediately, water vapor condensed and formed into a layer of light blue armor that covered here whole body.
“Spiral water arrow Gu!”
She extended her finger and a spiral water arrow flew out.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
She killed three poison beard wolves instantly while injuring five or six more.
But at the same time, a dozen poison beard wolves came charging at her.
The girl panicked and retreated, responding in a flustered manner.
“Water dragon Gu!” She pushed with her palms and a three clawed water dragon whistled out and swept through the surroundings, increasing the water vapor in the air.
With the appearance of the water dragon, Ge Yao was able to control the situation.
“Warrior Chang Shan Yin, don’t die!” The girl immediately looked at the center of the wolf pack.
She was almost stunned at the sight.
The scene she saw was not what she had expected, she only saw Fang Yuan charging all over the wolf pack, every collision would send large numbers of poison beard wolves flying.
The ferocious poison beard wolves seemed to be weaker than sheep in front of him.
His whole body was covered in a layer of bright golden light armor, and a golden dragon came out occasionally, sweeping through the surroundings. There were so many poison beard wolves, but they could not subdue him.
He was fierce and fearless, his fighting style was extremely valiant, his every move would cause the wind to scream. His strength was so huge that as long as a poison beard wolf came into contact with his fists or kicks, their skeleton would definitely shatter and they would howl with pain, no longer able to stand up.
Not only that, he was also fighting an intense battle with the wolf king.
This poison beard wolf king was indeed very strong. Lightning flickered arounds its whole body, and it occasionally shot out green venom. Its movement speed was so fast that it created an afterimage when it ran.
“This wolf king has at least three wild Gu.” Ge Yao’s heart sank as she learnt this, becoming worried for Fang Yuan.
Soon, the girl let go of her worry and admiration towards Fang Yuan rose in her heart.
Fang Yuan fought in a smart manner, he was continuously on the move and did not blindly engage with the wolf king, instead using the ordinary poison beard wolves to hinder the wolf king’s movement.
The wolf king had movement Gu but it was restrained by the wolf pack and could only passively take a beating.
Fang Yuan’s fists attacked its targets with high power; Ge Yao’s blood boiled at the scene.
“This is a true man!” She exclaimed in her mind and after disposing of the poison beard wolves around her, she shouted loudly and sent the water dragon to kill the wolf pack.
She was after all a rank three middle stage Gu Master, she was not to be underestimated. The wolf pack immediately turned chaotic from the attacks and a large portion of them rushed towards her.
Fang Yuan’s expression changed as he shouted: “Who told you to come? Move to the side!”
The girl’s face turned pale at the wolf pack’s counterattack and immediately retreated.
Fang Yuan continued to attack with boundless vigor and after spending a huge effort, he finally turned the wolf pack’s attention back to him.
After some time, he suddenly activated a beast phantom and smashed the wolf king’s defense.
Taking this chance, he got close to the wolf king and pressed its skull down to the ground, then he ruthlessly smashed it.
It was a brutal scene. This wolf king that was on the verge of becoming a thousand beast king was beaten to death by Fang Yuan.