Empress Wu Ji, this was a figure Fang Tian had read about before, and he could even describe her as a fascinating character because of her philosophy toward life and her resolve to walk the path she had chosen despite the hardships of that path.
But what Fang Tian had not expected was for their paths to cross in Wu Clan City; no matter how slim the odds seemed, meeting her allowed him to obtain a great deal of information. Even so, he could only push it to the back of his mind and apologize to her.
"Forgive me, my lady, I did not mean to bump into you… ah, could you remove your hand from my shoulder?"
Wu Ji was squeezing his shoulder, making his bones tremble and nearly crack under the pressure. Although Wu Ji's cultivation was Rank two, peak stage, because she cultivated the Strength Path, her physical power was sufficient to beat a Rank three Gu Master to death.
"My lady?… oh, it seems you know some etiquette. Fine, since you know your place when you speak to me, I will give you a chance to live. All you have to do is fight me; if you win, I will not only overlook this offense, I will even take you as my companion and make you a member of Wu Clan! …But if you lose—"
Wu Ji now smiled at him slyly as she proposed what would happen if he lost.
"If you lose, you must become my servant for a full year!"
The only thought Fang Tian had about Wu Ji was that she was extremely arrogant and overly confident.
"Perhaps she is considering the possibility of my defeat and forgetting the possibility of my victory. Does this count as poorly judged bullying?"
Fang Tian was not afraid of Wu Ji; although she was considered a genius, this genius had not yet been tempered—she was still young and needed experience. To Fang Tian, who had survived the Bao Clan caravan battle, escaped from the pursuing Gu Masters of Yan Zu Clan, and lived in the wilderness for two months while dodging and fighting for survival, Wu Ji resembled a small and lovely girl.
"Except that this girl possesses two fists capable of turning my face into a bloody paste."
At this moment, Wu Ji gestured at him, her expression turning cold.
"Why aren't you answering? Are you afraid? You can surrender in advance if you want, but the punishment will be harsher."
"Oh no, I was thinking whether I could choose the timing?"
"Yes, you can. From tomorrow up to two weeks, you may choose any time between them; but if you exceed this time, I will take it as surrender, and don't think you can escape from me!"
"Very well then, Lady Wu Ji, two weeks from now will be our duel. I hope it will be a fair contest between us."
Wu Ji laughed, then turned around and presented Fang Tian with her back; the challenge had been decided. A crowd had gathered, most of them Gu Masters, and they gazed at Wu Ji's departing back with admiration and infatuation, while some cast Fang Tian looks of pity and consolation.
In their eyes, his fate had already been decided. After all, this was Wu Clan City; offending a member of Wu Clan was one thing, but fighting one of them in a duel when you were the offender was simply foolish.
Fang Tian left the marketplace, his plans for the day completely overturned. He had originally planned to go search for some profitable work, but due to his bad luck he had bumped into someone from Wu Clan. Worse still, it was none other than Wu Ji, the Wu Clan's genius and future leader.
Yet this was also an opportunity; if he could establish a relationship with Wu Ji and with her future as Empress Wu Ji, the privileges and benefits he would obtain would certainly be enormous. For now, however, Wu Ji was no more than a young Gu Master with a promising future—nothing more than that.
This did not mean Fang Tian underestimated her; on the contrary, he had to be cautious here. He was not living in the mountains or forests where there were no punishments for killing someone or something; he was living in the middle of Wu Clan City, which belonged to Wu Clan. Any offense on his part, and Wu Clan would "serve him tea" in the lakeside wing.
After leaving, Fang Tian went to the section of the city dedicated to buying and selling Gu worms and refinement materials, and spent five thousand primeval stones to purchase many sets of refinement materials.
If he wanted to increase his strength quickly, there were several ways to do so, and with two weeks, Fang Tian was confident of success if he pushed himself to his limits. But he could not yet handle this kind of multitasking; although he could manage two things at the same time due to his bitter experience refining Gu worms, it was still exhausting even for him.
After returning to his beautiful lakeside wing, Fang Tian sat outside the wing on the soft cushions, white light spreading throughout his body. Sweat gathered around his bare torso, yet his expression remained devoid of pain while his eyes stayed closed.
After more than an hour, Fang Tian opened his eyes and vomited a stream of blood.
"Cough… ah, the taste of blood is truly awful… I overused the White Boar Gu, but at least the Forest of Boundless Samsara physique grants me extremely strong vitality, far surpassing other Gu Masters; even this backlash cannot kill me… alright, I managed to extract half of the boar's strength, but the price was muscle tearing—if I had continued any longer, they would have burst."
The surge in strength came too suddenly for his body to adapt, and because Fang Tian had used Gu worms that numbed his sense of pain, he suffered a violent backlash; if he were an ordinary Gu Master, he would have already died.
After wiping the blood from his mouth, Fang Tian activated the Sprouting Buds Gu; hundreds of illusory leaves appeared in the air and descended onto his body, healing all his wounds and even giving him a faint sense of vigor.
Fang Tian barely managed to lift himself from the cushions and dragged his body into the wing to rest. Behind him, a maid rushed to the spot where he had been sitting to clean the blood.