Chapter 506: Long Kun

Seven days later, Xuantian City.

On this day, which marked the Ancestor of the Tu Family's birthday banquet, a large number of Gu Cultivators rushed from all over to attend, including no few Gu King Level powerhouses.

The Tu Family counted as a medium-sized family within the Xuan Yuan Empire; their clan Ancestor was merely at Gu King Mid Stage, possessing limited influence. The reason the Tu Family commanded such great prestige, capable of inviting a massive tide of Gu Kings to offer birthday wishes, was that they were among the first families to submit to the Great Jin Empire.

With the Tu Family acting as inside agents, the Great Jin Empire quickly conquered this stretch of land, earning the Tu Family deep trust from the empire.

Because the Great Jin Empire was under siege by multiple nations and fighting on many fronts, they suffered a severe shortage of manpower; consequently, they handed management of this territory over to the Tu Family. Thus, the Tu Family rose to power, becoming a family everyone here had to curry favor with, one that no other family dared to provoke.

How could the famous powerhouses surrounding them dare not attend the Tu Family's birthday banquet?

Therefore, a birthday banquet hosted by a small family compelled many renowned powerhouses to condescend to attend; even if they did not respect the Tu Family's face, they had to respect the Great Jin Empire's face.

By making the correct choice, the Tu Family rose overnight; not only did they gain control over an entire region, but they were also rewarded by the Great Jin Empire with a vast quantity of Puppets, causing their strength to skyrocket overnight. The Tu Family could no longer be considered nouveau riche; they now possessed absolute strength to suppress all resisters.

That group of prestigious Gu Kings truly had no choice but to give face.

By holding a birthday banquet for their Ancestor at this time, was the Tu Family not also conducting a test? Families that attended the banquet were essentially submitting a pledge of loyalty, while those that did not attend would, barring accidents, become the Tu Family's primary targets of attention next.

The Tu Family was a small family with a small territory; how could they not seize the opportunity of their rising power to grab more land? This would inevitably require striking against certain families.

Long Xuan traveled a thousand li to reach the Tu Family, arriving just in the nick of time.

Gazing at the Tu Family residence before him, which resembled a fortress, Long Xuan nodded, secretly sighing in admiration: "As expected of nouveau riche; this fortress is easy to defend and hard to attack, lavishly decorated; its construction cost probably rivals that of the Eight Great Families in Xuan Yuan City."

Everywhere around the fortress, there were guards every five paces and sentries every ten paces; atop the towering walls, a large number of Puppets holding weapons patrolled.

Among them were no few Golden Puppets of Gu King Level, which looked familiar to Long Xuan.

He knew all too well the combat power of these Puppets; to speak without exaggeration, this group of Puppets was sufficient to annihilate any family in this region.

"Tsk, tsk, are they trying to give a warning display to those attending the birthday banquet? Actually placing so many Puppets out in the open."

"However, while these Puppets are life-threatening existences to others, for me, annihilating these Puppets would take but an instant."

The corner of Long Xuan's mouth curled up; finally, he took out his gift and joined the queue walking toward the Tu Family main gate.

The gift was nothing valuable, merely a single Thousand-Year Spirit Medicine; up to now, his luxurious Medicine Garden held too many Thousand-Year Spirit Medicines, making them completely worthless to him.

However, there were simply too many Gu Cultivators attending the banquet; Long Xuan queued at the main gate for a long time before finally handing over his gift.

After a Tu Clan Gu Cultivator inspected the gift, he revealed a look of joy and hurriedly shouted loudly: "Elder Yang, congratulating with one portion of Thousand-Year Spirit Medicine!"

Under the gazes of a crowd, Long Xuan finally stepped through the Tu Family main gate.

As expected, his disguised Identity aroused no suspicion from anyone.

Even quite a few Gu Cultivators familiar with Elder Yang greeted him, and Long Xuan smiled and responded to each one.

Because he possessed Elder Yang's complete memories, normal conversation made it difficult even for old friends familiar with Elder Yang to detect any flaws.

Soon, an old man who was obviously very familiar with Elder Yang walked over, patted his shoulder, and laughed warmly: "Elder Yang, you have finally arrived; Master Tu has been waiting for a long time. Please, come inside, come inside!"

After all, he now held the Identity of a Gu King; regardless of where one went, a Gu King was a rare and prestigious existence; how could there not be someone from the Tu Clan coming to welcome him after he entered the gate?

Long Xuan had already obtained all of Elder Yang's memories, so naturally, he knew the identity of the newcomer.

From those memories, he learned that the person approaching was none other than Tu Liang, the Family Head of the Tu Family, a cultivator at Gu King Early Stage; for a Family Head to personally come out and welcome him counted as giving him ample face.

"Hehe! Wasn't Elder Zheng with you? Why don't I see him?"

Tu Liang suddenly glanced behind him; upon failing to see Elder Zheng's figure, he asked puzzledly.

"He had an urgent matter arise and cannot make it; he entrusted me to convey his apologies to your noble family; I hope the Tu Family will not take offense."

Long Xuan casually fabricated an excuse to brush it off.

Elder Zheng had long since been ground to bone and scattered to ash by him; how could he possibly appear now?

"Hehe! No harm done; everyone has urgent matters sometimes; how could we delay his urgent affairs because of our clan's birthday banquet? I understand!"

Tu Liang wore a beaming expression, seeming to not take the matter to heart at all.

However, at this moment, killing intent surged in his heart; he had already sentenced this Elder Zheng to death.

The reason the Tu Family held this birthday banquet was to exclude dissidents; they intended to use this banquet to see how many submitted. Those people and powers that did not give face would all be annihilated by the Puppet Army.

The "urgent matter" cited by Elder Zheng gave no specific details; in his view, it was purely an excuse, a deliberate refusal to attend showing they did not place the Tu Clan in their eyes.

For this Gu King who refused to give face, he had already been added to his must-kill list.

"Hehe! This old man still has other guests to entertain, so I won't chat with Elder Yang for now; please, go inside first, and we can catch up later."

After quickly finishing the pleasantries, Tu Liang smiled and walked toward another Gu King who had just entered through the main gate.

Seeing Tu Liang go to welcome others, Long Xuan breathed a sigh of relief; just as he prepared to stride away, his peripheral vision caught the person Tu Liang was welcoming, and he suddenly stopped, unable to help but freeze for a moment.

Under his Penetrating Vision Ability, he discovered quite a few Solo Gu unique to the Long Clan within this person's body, including a powerful Dragon Blood Battle Gu.

The person walking in was actually a Long Clan Gu King; this layer of Identity might deceive everyone here, but it absolutely could not deceive him.

Clearly, the person entering had used Disguise; having killed some Gu King, they had assumed that Identity to come here.

Long Xuan could not help but feel puzzled.

The Great Jin Empire was currently under siege by all the empires of Central Earth, including the Long Teng Empire.

This meant the relationship between Long Clan Gu Kings and the Great Jin Empire's forces was hostile; under no circumstances could a Long Clan Gu King possibly appear here.

Could it be that the Long Teng Empire arranged for personnel to infiltrate here, intending to cause trouble at the Tu Family's banquet?

Long Xuan frowned secretly; this Long Clan Gu King had used Disguise to sneak in, and their purpose was clearly not simple. This banquet would likely see a major incident soon; he did not know whether it would affect his upcoming plans.

After pondering for a moment, Long Xuan bothered no further with the reasons for this Long Clan Gu King's arrival; he walked to a hidden corner, activated Earth Escape, and mysteriously vanished. The Demon-Slaying Blade was the Tu Family's Clan-Treasure; because of this blade's existence, countless Tu Family Gu Cultivators had comprehended Crazy Demon Knife Intent, becoming minor experts.

Long Xuan did not believe that a normal transaction could allow him to acquire the Tu Family's Clan-Treasure.

Since normal transactions were impossible, he could only resort to stealing.

The Heavenly Mechanism Eye possessed powerful array-breaking capabilities, and he also had Earth Escape; when it came to stealing, he was confident he was not much worse than Di Xin.

Soon, Long Xuan infiltrated deep into the Tu Family grounds; this place was already the Tu Family's core area, impossible for outside guests to enter.

Therefore, very few people were here; only a few Tu Clan Gu Cultivators stood guard at the entrances of important buildings.

In a deserted corner, Long Xuan emerged from beneath the earth; activating his Penetrating Vision Ability along with his Golden Finger ability, he scanned the surroundings.

Quickly, dense Progress bars appeared all around; the various pavilions seemed to have lost the obstruction of walls, and the treasures inside appeared clearly before his eyes.

With these two abilities, all the treasures hidden by the Tu Family were laid bare before his eyes.

Soon, Long Xuan vanished from the spot and slipped toward a certain building.

Half an hour later, inside a certain Secret Chamber, Long Xuan poured out all the treasures from his Storage Ring; upon failing to find the Demon-Slaying Blade, his expression quickly darkened.

He did not know the Progress of the Demon-Slaying Blade, nor was his Penetrating Vision Ability useful everywhere; for instance, what lay inside a Storage Ring could not be detected by either his Penetrating Vision Ability or his Golden Finger.

Thus, Long Xuan had searched the Tu Family's core area for a long time, yet after a full half-hour, having already combed through half the Tu Family's territory, he still had not discovered the whereabouts of the Demon-Slaying Blade, and his brows knitted tighter and tighter.

"Half the area remains unsearched; I hope the final half does not disappoint me."

Long Xuan took a deep breath and continued slipping toward the unsearched regions.

The rest of the Tu Family's core was layered with numerous Array Formations; every major treasure pavilion and Secret Chamber was guarded by formations, and under such layered protection, it was impossible for anyone to search the entire Tu Family within an hour.

Breaking an array was easy; the difficulty lay in silently dismantling every single formation without alerting anyone.

Few in the entire Gu World could accomplish such a feat, yet Long Xuan, possessing the Heavenly Mechanism Eye, was one of them.

At this moment, how could the Tu Family's Gu Kings know that a mysterious Formation Guest was touring their various Secret Chambers and treasuries, all without triggering the slightest awareness in anyone?

Another half-hour later, inside a Secret Chamber, Long Xuan stared at several dozen black jars before him, his face gloomy and dark.

At the mouth of each of these dozens of jars protruded the head of a pregnant woman, her hair disheveled, her face twisted in extreme agony.

The bodies of these pregnant women were curled up inside the tiny jars; under his Penetrating Vision Ability, he saw that within each of their bellies coiled a worm, gnawing at the infants in their wombs.

Seeing this scene, even he, accustomed to grand and horrific sights, could not help but feel his scalp go numb and a wave of nausea rise within him.

"Are they refining Tong Gu? Using pregnant women to refine Gu; this Tu Clan is truly brutal."

Long Xuan frowned deeply, his eyes filled with shock.

Along his journey, he had searched countless Secret Chambers; many were Gu Refining rooms, and in every single one, living humans were being used to refine Gu, the methods bizarre and varied, each more brutal than the last, with all those used for Gu Refining remaining fully conscious.

Yet sometimes, being alive was worse than being dead; each of them endured suffering worse than death.

Upon seeing someone enter, they all begged him to kill them; without alerting the snakes by striking the grass, Long Xuan granted them all a quick end.

Gazing at the pregnant women in these jars, Long Xuan could not bear to look any longer; he sent a burst of flame over them, burning them to nothing, and everyone displayed an expression of relief.

"It seems that after the Xuan Yuan Imperial Family was purged, order here has collapsed; without laws to restrain them, many Cultivation Clans have begun boldly capturing living humans to refine Gu."

Long Xuan sighed inwardly, then suddenly narrowed his eyes, a faint trace of killing intent flashing within them.

It was not that he wished to seek revenge for these people; he had never liked meddling in others' affairs, and there were countless pitiful souls in this world—the events unfolding here would not move him too deeply.

It was simply that this was the last Secret Chamber he had searched; he had now combed through every room of the Tu Clan, but alas, his luck was poor, and he had not found the Demon-Slaying Blade in a single room.

In that case, there was only one explanation: the Demon-Slaying Blade must be carried on the person of some Tu Clan Gu King, stored within his Storage Ring.

Under such circumstances, he had no choice but to resort to force and seize it by strength; there was no other way, and he did not wish to do this either.

"So be it! Since the Tu Family has shown no benevolence, capturing living humans everywhere to refine Gu and committing such acts that outrage both gods and men, then if I annihilate the Tu Family, it shall count as executing heaven's will and removing a scourge for the people; killing these pests requires no psychological burden whatsoever."

Long Xuan had never been an indecisive person; once his decision was made, he immediately pushed open the door and walked out.

Inside a spacious hall, heads surged and clamor filled the air everywhere.

At this moment, all the guests attending the birthday banquet had taken their seats; the visitors chatted happily, raising their cups to drink together, creating a truly lively scene.

Although most people looked down on the Tu Family as nouveau riche, and many Cultivation Clans had been betrayed by internal collaborators within the family, causing heavy losses during their war with the Great Jin Empire, they now could only pretend to be in good spirits and perform the necessary superficial courtesies, wishing nothing more than for the Tu Family to collapse immediately.

At one of the tables, a man asked an elder in a low voice, "Great President, when do we make our move?"

"We have already tested the waters; the crowd at this banquet is merely polite to the Tu Clan on the surface, but deep down they have long been dissatisfied with this nouveau riche family, and some even harbor deep grudges against them; once the Tu Clan faces disaster, they will be too busy clapping their hands in delight to offer any assistance."

"As long as they do not intervene, I have absolute confidence in wiping out this small Tribe."

"Once the Tu Family is destroyed, the Great Jin Empire will have completely lost control over this region."

Long Kun glanced sideways at the elder seated in the place of honor, a flash of disdain crossing his eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Do not act impulsively yet; the Tu Family is merely a small Tribe, their highest Cultivation Realm being only Gu King Mid Stage, so destroying them should not be difficult."

"But I did not expect that to consolidate the Tu Clan's position here, the Great Jin Empire would leave behind so many Puppets for them."

"There are simply too many Gu King Level Puppets; for this battle, I do not have full confidence."

The man frowned and, unwilling to give up, said, "Then what should we do? The Dragon Emperor assigned us the task of annihilating all Cultivation Clans that surrendered to the Great Jin Empire, to serve as a warning to others."

"If we do not strike the most powerful Tu Clan, we cannot achieve any deterrent effect; could it be that we must really retreat in disgrace?"

A look of difficulty appeared on Long Kun's face; he sighed and said, "Let us take it one step at a time and observe how things develop; for now, do not make any rash moves." (End of Chapter)