Chapter 36 — The Opportunist
Within a few movements...
Li Tianyu arrived at the battlefield.
The scene before him was chaotic.
Three groups of Gu Masters were fighting one another.
Humans.
Hairymen.
Rockmen.
It wasn't a simple battle between humans and variant humans.
It was a three-way conflict.
Every side was fighting every other side.
The Gu World had never truly been divided into two absolute factions.
Humans versus all variant humans.
Such a situation had never existed.
The various races of the Gu World had their own interests, ambitions, grudges, and territories.
They fought one another for resources.
For territory.
For influence.
For survival.
For hegemony.
If every variant human race had truly united against humanity...
Humanity would have been annihilated long ago.
Instead...
The Gu World was a vast struggle between countless races and factions.
Alliances formed.
Alliances broke.
Enemies became temporary allies.
Temporary allies became enemies.
The battlefield before Li Tianyu was a perfect example.
The three sides each possessed:
Four Rank Three Gu Masters.
Thirty-four Rank Two Gu Masters.
And one hundred and twenty-three Rank One Gu Masters.
More than one hundred and sixty Gu Masters were fighting across the battlefield.
Yet Li Tianyu didn't care about the overall battle.
His attention quickly focused on the variant humans.
A cold light flashed through his eyes.
Then...
He raised his hand.
"Fire Path Killer Move — Crimson Soul Snatch."
Boom!
Crimson flames erupted from his body.
Dozens of fireballs formed in the sky.
Then...
They rained downward.
The targets weren't the humans.
They were the variant humans.
Hairymen.
Rockmen.
Rank One.
Rank Two.
Rank Three.
Li Tianyu attacked them all.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Explosions erupted across the battlefield.
The variant human Gu Masters immediately reacted.
"Who?!"
"Attack him!"
"Kill that bastard!"
Gu worms activated one after another.
Attacks shot toward Li Tianyu from every direction.
Li Tianyu didn't confront them directly.
He immediately activated his flight-type killer move.
His body transformed into a crimson streak.
Whoosh!
He slipped through the gaps between the attacks.
A massive rock projectile passed beneath his feet.
A blade of wind sliced through the place where his body had been a moment earlier.
A beam of light shot past his shoulder.
Li Tianyu twisted his body.
Dodged.
Accelerated.
Then...
More crimson fireballs descended.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
His attacks continued raining down upon the variant human Gu Masters.
He wasn't trying to kill them.
His real target...
Was their Gu worms.
Because of the chaos, several Rank One and Rank Two Gu Masters were unable to react in time.
Their bodies were struck by Crimson Soul Snatch.
Their apertures trembled.
Then...
Flame-colored spheres emerged from their bodies.
Each sphere contained a Gu worm.
"Don't let him take them!"
Some variant human Gu Masters immediately understood what was happening.
They desperately attacked their own Gu worms.
They wanted to destroy the stolen Gu rather than allow Li Tianyu to obtain them.
But Li Tianyu was faster.
He intercepted the flame spheres.
His figure flashed through the battlefield.
One.
Two.
Three.
The Gu worms disappeared into his aperture.
His Crimson Soul Snatch wasn't merely an offensive killer move anymore.
It had become a terrifying method of stealing Gu.
Several Rank Three variant human Gu Masters quickly abandoned their original opponents.
They activated flying Gu worms.
"Don't let him escape!"
"Catch him!"
"He's only one person!"
Several figures shot into the sky.
Li Tianyu glanced backward.
A faint smile appeared.
'Too slow.'
He accelerated.
The Rank Three Gu Masters chased him through the sky.
Yet Li Tianyu moved like a slippery eel.
Every time they thought they had cornered him...
He changed direction.
Every time an attack approached...
He dodged.
And whenever he found an opening...
Crimson fireballs descended.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The battlefield became even more chaotic.
Occasionally, Li Tianyu activated another killer move.
"Fire Path Killer Move — Blazing Sanctuary."
Crimson flames expanded around his body.
Incoming attacks were burned away.
Some attacks still managed to slip through.
When that happened...
Li Tianyu simply activated another killer move.
"Fire Path Killer Move — Phoenix Rebirth Flame."
Warm crimson flames enveloped his wounds.
His injuries rapidly healed.
He continued moving.
Continue stealing.
Continue dodging.
He didn't fight anyone directly.
He didn't need to.
Li Tianyu had another reason for targeting only the variant humans.
He couldn't afford to become the enemy of everyone.
If he attacked the humans as well...
Then both sides would have reason to hunt him.
That would be foolish.
Becoming the enemy of one side was manageable.
Becoming the enemy of every race...
Was suicidal.
So he deliberately left the humans alone.
Only the Hairymen and Rockmen were targeted.
Even then...
He didn't steal everything.
Approximately half of the Gu worms belonging to the variant human Gu Masters were left untouched.
Li Tianyu wasn't interested in completely crippling them.
They still needed enough Gu worms to survive.
They needed enough strength to retreat.
They needed enough resources...
To eventually seek revenge against him.
Because if they survived...
He could steal from them again in the future.
A living source of Gu worms was much more valuable than a dead one.
As the battle continued...
The situation gradually changed.
The Hairymen and Rockmen realized that Li Tianyu was targeting them.
They also realized something else.
If they continued fighting one another...
They would eventually be overwhelmed.
Thus...
The two variant human races temporarily formed an alliance.
"Deal with the humans first!"
"Agreed!"
The Hairymen and Rockmen turned their attacks toward the human Gu Masters.
The battlefield immediately changed.
Two races against one.
Yet...
Li Tianyu had already stolen roughly half of the Gu worms from the variant human side.
Their combat strength had been significantly reduced.
As a result...
The temporary alliance didn't immediately overwhelm the humans.
The battlefield remained locked in a chaotic balance.
And Li Tianyu continued flying above them.
The Rank Three variant human Gu Masters chased him relentlessly.
Li Tianyu constantly changed direction.
Sometimes he descended.
Sometimes he rose.
Sometimes he flew sideways.
Sometimes he suddenly stopped and accelerated in another direction.
Every movement was designed to avoid their attacks.
He rarely had the opportunity to stop and carefully target a specific Gu Master.
But he didn't need to.
The battlefield was enormous.
There were simply too many Gu Masters.
Eventually...
Another wave of crimson fireballs descended.
Several Gu worms were forced out.
Li Tianyu intercepted them.
One after another...
They entered his aperture.
Half an hour later...
Li Tianyu finally stopped.
He glanced at the battlefield one final time.
His harvest had already reached an impressive level.
Twenty-eight Rank Three Gu worms.
Two hundred and ten Rank Two Gu worms.
Seven hundred and sixty Rank One Gu worms.
A faint smile appeared on Li Tianyu's face.
His success wasn't because he had defeated the enemy.
He hadn't.
It was because he had never truly fought them in the first place.
He had simply used the battlefield...
As a hunting ground.
Suddenly, several human Gu Masters shouted toward him.
"Fellow Gu Master!"
"Help us eliminate these variant humans!"
"Together, we can finish them!"
Li Tianyu glanced toward them.
He didn't answer.
There was no reason to involve himself any further.
He had already obtained what he wanted.
The moment he became involved in the actual battle...
His risk would increase dramatically.
Li Tianyu turned around.
His crimson flames surged beneath his feet.
Whoosh!
His figure shot into the distance.
The battlefield continued behind him.
The humans.
The Hairymen.
The Rockmen.
They continued fighting.
Li Tianyu didn't look back.
For him...
The battle was already over.
And the Gu worms he had stolen...
Were the true spoils of war.
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