Reverend Insanity

Wei Yang was distressed, he had been having a headache for the past few days.

Shang Yan Fei wanted to recruit Fang and Bai, but even after Wei Yang’s probing, the two did not show a hint of interest in joining them.

This was normal.

They were youngsters. Hot-blooded and at the peak of their lives, having grand aspirations and did not want to be under anyone, always thinking that effort was the key to success in this world.

Naive, so very naive.

Wei Yang could understand, he went through this phase in his youth.

Thus, he did not directly recruit Fang and Bai.

Once he made it clear, and got rejected, there would be no way to salvage the situation. Wei Yang was a sly fox, he had already devised a plan to make the two slowly fall into his trap.

He did not think of anything scheming or devious. For something like recruiting talents, the important thing was willingness. If they were forced, it would ruin the entire result.

Especially after Wei Yang had interacted with these two for a few days, he knew they were not the type to give in.

Thus, Wei Yang decided to take it slow as he influenced them gradually, using a righteous method to achieve victory.

For this, he had great confidence.

“What does a Gu Master’s cultivation rely on? Resources! It is easy for righteous Gu Masters, but for demonic Gu Masters… hehe.”

Wei Yang was once a demonic Gu Master, fighting his way out of the battle stage.

He knew the hardships of being a demonic Gu Master.

Gu Master’s cultivation could not steer away from primeval stones, Gu worms, and food to feed them. The higher the cultivation, the greater the need for them.

At the start, Gu Masters could still fulfill this need using their own abilities.

But later, they would find that the resources needed were too huge, and competition got more intense, sometimes they were even unable to procure food for themselves!

When Wei Yang was rank one, he stepped into the battle stage. From rank one to two, then to three, the stronger he got, the weaker he felt.

Like a scholar, the more he learned, the more ignorant he felt about himself. The stronger Wei Yang got, the more he knew how weak he was.

An individual was so weak, only by relying on others, and relying on a clan, could one survive better.

When he realized this, he accepted Shang Yan Fei’s offer.

He had gone through this himself.

“When Fang and Bai learn how weak they are alone, Shang clan’s recruitment will come to fulfilment. But before that, I cannot watch Fang Zheng step into the wrong path, this would expend his youth and effort, and put that great talent he has to waste!”

In Wei Yang’s perspective, Fang Yuan choosing the strength path was a huge mistake.

The hot-bloodedness and ignorance of youth.

Strength path?

From Shang clan battle stage, among those demonic Gu Masters who managed to make it out, which one used strength to dominate? None!

Strength path is one for bottom feeders, it cannot help a Gu Master in succeeding.

Thinking of relying on the strength path to make it big in life? Fat chance!

Nonetheless, things did not advance as he wished.

These days, Wei Yang had approached Fang Yuan and advised him many times, but each time, he was rejected as Fang Yuan kept a firm attitude.

Wei Yang learnt just how stubborn Fang Yuan could be, after failing many times, he went back and considered it carefully, finally deciding on a new method of advising…

This day, he came again.

“Brother Wei, you are advising me to enter the battle stage, and participate in battles?” Fang Yuan showed a confused expression.

“Yes, I relied on the battle stage, cultivating step by step, I will definitely share my good experience with you.” Wei Yang gave a sincere gaze.

Next, he lifted three fingers: “There are three benefits you can gain from entering the battle stage.”

“Firstly, you can earn a fortune. Each battle that you participate in, as long as you win, you can gain primeval stones. The more viewers you get, the more the primeval stones you earn.”

“Secondly, you can gain Gu worms. There is a rule in the battle stage, the winner can choose a Gu from the loser and take it from them.”

“Thirdly, entering the battle stage can train your battle tactics. At the same time, it examines the strength and cooperativeness of your Gu worms. It would help you to make the relevant adjustments.”

Fang Yuan heard Wei Yang’s final sentence, and understood in his heart.

These days, Wei Yang had advised him to give up on the strength path, and change to another path. After failing, he decided to use an indirect method, using the battle stage to let Fang Yuan experience the weakness of the strength path, forcing him to give up on it.

“The cultivation of the strength path was decided after a long and thorough analysis, it has great benefits for my future, how could I change it? But, the battle stage is also part of my plans…”

Thinking so, Fang Yuan nodded, agreeing with Wei Yang.

Wei Yang was joyous: “Back when you fought with me, you only borrowed the use of the battle stage. Shang clan’s battle stage has a refined system, if you want to participate, you will need to sign up for it. Follow me!”

Thus, the two came to fifth inner city’s battle zone.

This was far more crowded than third inner city, as people moved about, all sorts of voices entered Fang Yuan’s ears, and an intense atmosphere assaulted him.

“Did you hear? Li Hao won again, this is this thirteenth consecutive victory, before long, he would be able to rise to fourth inner city.”

“He has rank three cultivation, it is certain that he will enter fourth inner city.”

…

“Did you see Wang Da Han and Ma De Quan’s battle? It was so exciting!”

“Wang Da Han lost to Ma De Quan, losing his most important raindrop Gu, he is nearly crippled.”

…

“Zhao Da Xiong and Zhang Niu’s battle is about to start, go see!”

“These two are both from the strength path, there is nothing nice to watch. We might as well go see the match between Qiao Da and Qiao Er, a battle between brothers.”

…

Wei Yang purposely disguised himself, as he led the way for Fang Yuan, as he said: “You need to have thirty net victories in fifth inner city to advance to fourth inner city. There, you will need eighty net victories to advance to third inner city. What do I mean by net victory? For example, if you won ten battles, and lost two, you would have eight net victories.”

“The battle stage is split into three levels, low level in fifth inner city, middle level in fourth inner city, and high level in third inner city. Little brother, you are a newbie at the battle stage, your wins and losses are both zero. According to the rules, you will have to start at fifth inner city.”

“Don’t be anxious yet, the way I look at it, you should be able to quickly rise to middle level. As for high level, it might take quite some effort, but it should still be quite fast. A year or two would do.” Wei Yang patted Fang Yuan’s shoulders and said.

He acknowledged Fang Yuan’s battle talent, but the strength path only dominated the middle and lower levels, once he got to the high level battle stage, where experts roamed, the strength path’s weakness would gradually show, being greatly suppressed by other paths.

Under Wei Yang’s lead, the two came to a grand hall.

In the hall, there was a great number of Gu Masters requesting battles or checking battle details.

Some were here to participate, some were here to watch battles, and there were even some here to set up their betting business.

Wei Yang did not squeeze with them, but pushed open a small door.

There was a narrow walkway behind the door, and two Gu Masters guarded it.

One of the Gu Masters came forward, saying to Wei Yang and Fang Yuan: “This is a special reception, unauthorised people are not allowed to enter.”

Wei Yang displayed his clan elder token, and the two quickly cupped their fists and gave way.

After crossing the tunnel, it was another hall, with four reception tables.

Three of the tables had guests already.

This place was much quieter than the grand hall.

Fang Yuan used Gu Yue Fang Zheng’s name to sign up. After paying five hundred primeval stones, he obtained a vine information Gu.

This Gu was like a long vine, having many large jade green leaves.

It was a rank one Gu, storing some of Fang Yuan’s information inside.

This Gu was not bought by Fang Yuan but rented to him by Shang clan city. Fang Yuan was in charge of feeding it, but he could not alter the information inside, only Shang clan could.

Of course, it was not hard to hack the rank one vine information Gu, but Shang clan had a backup copy of the information, and with everyone’s watchful gaze, situations where the information was fake rarely happened.

“There are not many rules in the battle stage, there is a high degree of freedom. If you wish to battle, come here to sign up, Shang clan will assign you an opponent. They can be stronger or weaker than you, but you can also designate the opponent you want, although they will have to agree. Once a month, an individual has one chance to challenge another person, where they are not allowed to reject.”

“Moreover, there is also a restriction in the number of battles in the battle stage. A person can only issue one challenge a day. Every ten days, you have to participate in at least one battle or we will remove one win from you. If your overall losses reach five, your qualification will be revoked. If you want to participate again, you will need to sign up again. Now, are you interested in taking part, and trying it out?” Wei Yang smiled.

Fang Yuan nodded.

This was the special reception, the efficiency of the receptionists was high, Fang Yuan was quickly assigned an opponent: “The time is 1:30pm, the location is at number five battle stage, the terrain is grassland.”

There were only about seven minutes till the start of the battle.

Wei Yang brought Fang Yuan over to number five battle stage, his opponent was already waiting inside.

He was a young man, tall and skinny, an ordinary appearance and wore a green shirt.

Seeing Fang Yuan enter the stage, joy flashed across his eyes.

Looking at Fang Yuan, he was just a youngster, how high could his cultivation be?

Looking at himself, he had recently advanced to rank two middle stage, this was his first battle since coming out of closed cultivation, it was a good sign.

Fang Yuan entered the field, number five battle stage was a middle stage battlefield, more than twice as large as the previous flagstone stage they had fought in before.

The battlefield was covered in grass, Fang Yuan stepped on the ground with his boots, feeling the soft loamy soil underneath.

There were only two to three people watching, including the disguised Wei Yang.

Watching battles required primeval stones, Fang Yuan was a nobody. His opponent Tang Qing was slightly famous, but after his closed cultivation, the little attention he received previously vanished completely.

Clang!

The bells rang loudly, signifying the start of the battle.

“My name is Tang Qing.” The young man was a gentleman, cupping his fists towards Fang Yuan.

Jumping grass.

Fang Yuan willed, stepping hard and bursting forth.

“What the f*ck, attacking like that?!” Tang Qing was taken aback, not expecting this youngster to be so shameless, sneak attacking in public.

He completely ignored the formalities!