He dashed through the woods on the hunt for a lone girl. Her partner may have been able to kill him if he went for the eyes. But then he would have probably been seen by him. He didn't go for his back or guts either because he was covered in armor. Her partner probably though that the exposed part of his back head was the easiest way to kill Gu Zhi, little did he know that Gu Zhi had diamond bones. Now he was dead and Gu Zhi was hunting his partner down.
He couldn't let her live as she had witnessed the whole thing. If that guy had any significant backing they would surely attack the Gu clan if she told them they were responsible.
Gu Zhi was steadily closing the distance, it didn't seem like she was a body cultivator. She ran slow, compared to others and had an outfit more for spell-casting then close combat.
She turned around with a spell at the ready, as she brought her hand up to her mouth and blew. A torrent of fire came spitting right at Gu Zhi who was running her down and thus right in the line of fire.
Gu Zhi didn't seem concerned as he brought he arms to cover his face as he dashed out of the way. He might have been lightly burned but with him being this close the fight was already over. Before she could cast another spell he got right beside her and punched her in the gut.
The strike was so strong it brought her to the ground instantly. With tear's in her eyes she begged for her life.
"Please, I didn't attack you, it was my stupid partner, I can lend you my bod-"
He stomped her head in.
Like a watermelon that was dropped from a high height it burst. As the surroundings were panted in blood and brain matter he calmly dragged the body by grabbing one of the legs and walked back to his wife.
"Here's the other one" he said as he dropped the headless body.
"good work, I just finished carving out his bladder, we have to clean them and then smoke them over a fire to prevent rot from seeping in" she said.
He nodded and said "She was a fire mage, with a forest like this something back there should still be burning, I'll grab what I can get and bring it back here".
They then got to work as she started removing the headless corpses clothes to carve out the bladder while Gu Zhi went to go grab some fire.
With fire and bladders, they were able to make some water-tight water skins but the quality wasn't the best. It would have been better if they had some leather to use. But the two assailants they killed didn't have much as their clothes were mostly made out of silk and cloth.
"What should we do with the corpses, it would be waste to not eat them".
She rolled her eyes and said "how barbaric. No, watch and learn".
Gu Xiao brought their bodies to a tree and cast a silent spell.
The tree grew to life as they consumed the bodies and used there nutrients to grow some delicious fruit.
"Grab as many as you can and eat till your full, there will be a long journey ahead of us" she said.
Just like that they stocked up on supplies, the worst you could do in the wilderness is let yourself starve and go thirsty. You would be an easy target for whoever had their eyes on you. In the cultivation world strength was justice and weakness was sin. There was only kill or be killed. That is, at least true if there are no eyes looking. People will catch criminals and tie them up, but if you can get away with the crime, people turn into savages.
With no eyes watching in the palace, people know that they can do whatever they want if they're not caught or rather if they leave witnesses.
Suddenly gentle people turn into cold-blooded murders, friends might become rapists, and lovers might stab you in the back.
Trust is more precious than gold in this land, and those who had a partner to trust their back to were considered the wealthy here.
Gu Xiao and Gu Zhi kept moving north, careful to inspect their surroundings. The palace usually places people in the same age group amongst each other in a shared trial. If someone was to old or young they would be put into a separate space with their partner that determined the difficulty of the trial. If an old couple were to try their luck in the palace of eternal love, they would be put in a much harsher environment then Gu Zhi or Gu Xiao.
Thus the pilgrimage trial, as the first trial in their age group, it wasn't that hard.
Especially when food delivered itself to them of their own volition.
A couple had ambushed them a while ago at an impasse. The perfect place to stage an ambush, unfortunately for them Gu Zhi and Gu Xiao weren't easy targets.
As they were passing a ravine the walls moved as earth spikes shot out from them.
Gu Zhi moved fast as he used his body to protect Gu Xiao. He used his bones to block the bones while a women shot purple mist into the ravine.
Seeing the disadvantage that they were in Gu Zhi grabbed Gu Xiao and threw her on his back like a piggy back ride. He then climbed out of the ravine using his pure body strength as he jumped form one wall to the other climbing up using his feet. The ravine was quite narrow so it wasn't that impressive for a body cultivator, once he reached the surface he found a man sitting in a meditative position casting a spell.
With his partner still in the ravine is was time for Gu Zhi to rush at the spell caster and bring him into close quarters.