Bai Ning Bing's mask had slipped off.
Unlike Ren Zu, who had found it impossible to place on Attitude Gu no matter what he did until he had obtained his Heart of Loneliness, she had no difficulty placing it on her face.
And yet, its burden seemed to be far beyond what its weight would suggest. 'There was a job to do,' she thought to herself, trying to break herself out of this odd train of thought she had found herself in.
The White Form Immortal Snake had not recognized her, apparently, so there was little to do in that regard. It did not seem to want to attack her either.
It was not hard to find those two demonic Gu Masters.
They weren't trying very hard to be discreet.
As it was, in this sort of wide area, barren of most life, anyone who was approaching would be quickly visible unless they were using methods like Fang Yuan's.
They were far away from the village perimeter, so they likely thought they had nothing to
Bai Ning Bing herself made no attempt to hide as she approached the two of them.
Zuo Lin and Zuo Ming were bickering at the time over what to do.
They had very differing ways of dealing with various situations. One of them had joined up with Zuo Chen willingly, while the other had been forced into things.
One was a Blood Path Gu Master, and the other was a Strength Path Gu Master. Although both paths required few resources, they truly could not be compared.
However, they stopped their quarrel once they noticed Bai Ning Bing approaching.
She was not dressed in the uniform of any of the Gu Masters on Qing Mao Mountain, instead wearing a white and blue robe. As she approached, both of them were somewhat awestruck by her appearance.
'What was someone like her doing in an area like this?' Although Zuo Lin couldn't see her face behind the mask, his instincts told him that there was a delicate beauty behind it. As it was, her graceful and voluptuous figure and small, white, and delicate feet were still visible, beckoning the imagination.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Zuo Ming asked as Zup Lin approached this stranger. They had no clue who this person was. Why was this guy just walking up to her?
"Oh, relax, watch and see how I-" Zuo Lin was about to say before Bai Ning Bing shot out an ice blade. It would have struck Zuo Lin in the heart, killing him, had he not swerved away in time.
"What?! What is this?! What kind of person attacks like that without warning or announcing themselves?!" he muttered to himself.
"I told you to be careful!" Zuo Ming said, getting ready for a battle stance.
Although he had no real desire to fight, the fact remained that he was now tied down to these other two demonic Gu Masters.
If push came to shove, he would have no option other than to fight.
A Rank 3 Blood Lance shot out from Zuo Lin at Bai Ning Bing.
She swerved around it with ease. Wherever her feet landed, ice immediately began to spring out coating the earth. 'Could it be?' Zuo Lin thought to himself.
He had heard that the entire mountain was encased in ice from the actions of a demonic Gu Master who apparently commanded cranes, which made little sense. Could it be that it was actually this lady who was responsible for the ice?
Bai Ning Bing activated several of her gu worms in succession.
Although she had lost all of her original ones after detonating, she had been given a set from Fang Yuan. Although the Gu Yue Clan did not specialize in Ice Path gu worms, they were able to purchase certain ones from the Bai clan, who were willing to part with a few of them given the current situation. She had also been able to refine one of her own using ingredients that could still be found around the mountain.
Still, it could not be said that her battle strength was anywhere near what it had been before.
Regardless, she had no fears about losing here.
The reason was that although she had lost some old methods of attack, she had some new tricks up her sleeve thanks to the Dollhouse.
She honed her primeval essence into a small figurine that expanded until it formed a clear, ice-like image of herself. She didn't stop there, pouring in more primeval essence as it duplicated itself once more.
The loss in her primeval essence was noticeable, and her eyes flashed as she stopped creating more puppets. It would've been one thing had this been her from earlier, but her aptitude was currently capped and so was her rate of primeval essence recovery.
Fang Yuan had warned her about this, and she had felt that she would be cognizant of it before the fight. But it was another thing to be mindful of her primeval essence in practice entirely.
This was the first time she was fighting with this kind of limit on her primeval essence and she couldn't go on activating gu worms one after the other without restraint. She would need to be careful of how she used it.
One of the ice puppets launched itself at Zuo Lin, who clicked his teeth. Most of his methods were far less effective against an opponent made of ice, who would not bleed.
"Zuo Ming! Come here!" Zuo Lin roared.
Zuo Ming, on the other hand, was busy dealing with his own ice puppet. Any attempt by him to rescue Zuo Lin was thwarted by Bai Ning Bing, who was continuously striking out at them, aiming for their weak spots and trying to end this fight quickly.
Zuo Ming finally managed to shatter the ice puppet he was fighting against with a decisive blow, leaving Bai Ning Bing momentarily open.
However, as she was about to respond, something leaped out of her aperture without her commanding it: the White Form Immortal Snake!
It hissed as it spat out a large amount of mist on Zuo Ming.
Both Zuo Ming's and Zuo Lin's eyes widened.
A Rank 5 Gu worm from a Rank 3 Gu Master? How is that possible?
However, Bai Ning Bing did not have full control over the White Form Immortal Snake. It was merely helping her out. And so she had to capitalize upon the situation it had created.
As it retreated back into her aperture, the mist gave her a chance to close the distance between her and Zhu Lian, allowing her to drive an ice spear into his back.
He screamed, coughing out a mouthful of blood. 'It's been a long time since I had been injured like this!'
But before he could activate any of his healing Gu worms, the ice puppet was already upon him.
It was clear that he was going to die if he didn't do anything soon.
By now, Zuo Ming had escaped from the mist and saw that Zuo Lin was in trouble.
"Wait!" he said. Even as Bai Ning Bing drew another icicle to throw at him. "I... I don't know who you are, but I had been forced to join up with these people against my will. I don't see a need for us to fight. If there's something that you would want, I can see if I can provide for it."
"Traitor!" Zuo Lian screamed out, even as the ice puppet drove the icicle into his back further, finally piercing his heart.
His healing Gu was not be sufficient enough to counter a blow like this.