Chapter 508: New Plan

Long Xuan immediately leaped out from the ruins; seeing a vast sea of Tu Clan Gu Cultivators charging madly toward him, he deemed it beneath him to deal with these minor lackeys personally and instead commanded his Puppet Army to slaughter them.

The Tu Clan was merely a small Cultivation Clan; having just lost four Gu Kings, they possessed no Gu Kings left besides their Ancestor, so how could they possibly stand against the Puppet Army?

In merely the span of a moment, a vast sea of Tu Clan Gu Cultivators died miserably under the puppets' blades; the scene descended into chaos, and what had been a fine longevity banquet suddenly became a river of blood, transformed into a banquet of slaughter.

Seeing family Gu Cultivators continuously dying miserably, Tu Gang's eyes nearly split from rage; unable to restrain himself any longer, he drew a broken blade from his Storage Ring and charged at Long Xuan.

"Old fool, no matter who you are, you are certainly going to die today."

Tu Gang roared in anger, striking directly for Long Xuan's face with a single blade strike.

Upon seeing this broken blade, Long Xuan's eyes brightened; knowing this was the Tu Clan's Clan-Treasure, the Demon-Slaying Blade, he drew his own Famous Blade, long unused, and actively met the attack.

Although this old man was at Gu King Mid Stage, Long Xuan felt not the slightest fear.

The Ten Absolute Body excels most at fighting across realms; as long as the opponent is not a Heavenly Pride of the Qi Luck Child level, defeating them while crossing realms is absolutely not difficult.

How could he possibly regard this character, who was clearly just a supporting extra, with any importance?

The two instantly clashed; on the ruins, blade light flashed, their speed so fast it became an afterimage; since both were masters of the blade, for a time they fought in an deadlock, neither able to gain the upper hand.

Yet although Long Xuan was clearly only at Gu King Early Stage, one full Cultivation Realm weaker than his opponent, he actually gained the upper hand in their duel; Tu Gang, this Tu Clan Ancestor, was continuously suppressed and beaten.

Whether in Blade Technique or in physical strength, Long Xuan was superior to him by more than a single notch.

Under Long Xuan's frenzied attacks, the Tu Clan Ancestor was quickly wounded.

Witnessing this scene, all the guests let out cries of shock, their faces filled with disbelief.

"Who exactly is this person, that he can fight a Gu King Mid Stage with the power of a Gu King Early Stage?"

"Tsk, tsk; with every rank a Gu Cultivator ascends, the gap grows larger; fighting across realms might be possible at lower realms, but at the Gu King realm, it is nearly impossible to achieve; this person's background is absolutely not simple, for those capable of fighting across realms at the Gu King stage are few and far between throughout the entire Gu World."

"Heh! It seems the Tu Family has truly kicked an iron plate this time; I fear the Tu Family will be annihilated today by this person alone, and there will be no hope of establishing this Tu Alliance either."

The crowd discussed incessantly, many showing expressions of schadenfreude, as they could not wait for the Tu Family to meet with misfortune.

Although there were many guests attending the longevity banquet, not one stepped forward to offer aid; all acted as spectators eating melon seeds.

"Ten Absolute Body?" A shocked voice escaped Tu Gang's mouth as he looked with slightly constricted pupils at the old man currently battling him.

"What? He is actually a Ten Absolute Body! No wonder he possesses the ability to fight across realms; if he has such a constitution, then it is not surprising."

Upon hearing this, Long Li also revealed a grave expression, then suddenly spoke in disbelief: "How is this possible? In this current era, the Cultivation Speed of a Ten Absolute Body is as slow as a crawling turtle; they are unsuitable for cultivation."

"This person actually managed to cultivate to the Gu King realm with such a constitution; truly, no one knows how he accomplished it."

"Once a Ten Absolute Body truly cultivates to the Gu King realm, it is truly too terrifying; if he is allowed to grow to Gu King Peak, then throughout the entire Gu World, there will be very few who can defeat him."

A brilliant light shone in Long Li's eyes as he said joyfully: "It seems the Long Clan has produced an extraordinary Heavenly Pride; if this person can truly grow up, it will truly be the fortune of the Long Clan."

Long Kun nodded, saying with an excited voice: "This person's talent is crucial to the strategic development of our Long Teng Empire; even if we must pay any price, we must recruit him into the Empire."

He clenched his fists tightly.

At this moment on the battlefield, Tu Gang stared at Long Xuan with a ferocious expression, roaring furiously: "Old thing! You forced me to this!"

"No matter who you are, if you dare slaughter my clansmen, you are certainly going to die today!"

Tu Gang let out a furious roar; his aura suddenly began to surge violently, and in the blink of an eye, his Cultivation Realm actually reached Gu King Late Stage.

This sudden turn of events shocked the entire assembly.

"Not good! This old yin-bastard actually hid his Cultivation Realm; he has been at Gu King Late Stage from start to finish; we were all deceived by him."

"It's dangerous; fighting across one realm already makes one non-human, but fighting across two realms is simply impossible; I fear this Heavenly Pride is going to perish here today."

Cries of shock rose from the crowd, yet just when everyone thought the outcome of this duel was certain, another unexpected change occurred.

Under the shocked gazes of everyone, Long Xuan roared angrily; spots began to appear on his right face and right arm, and his eyes gradually turned red.

His momentum surged instantly; within a single breath, he actually advanced from the Gu King Early Stage realm to the Gu King Mid Stage.

If he could crush a Gu King Mid Stage while at Gu King Early Stage, then naturally he could also crush a Gu King Late Stage while at Gu King Mid Stage.

Thus, a dramatic scene unfolded: although Tu Gang was clearly at the Gu King Late Stage realm, he was still suppressed by this mysterious person whose true Cultivation Realm was Gu King Early Stage.

At this moment, all the guests in the hall instantly inhaled a sharp breath of cold air; no one remained calm now.

To crush a Gu King Late Stage while at Gu King Early Stage; such a thing was simply inconceivable, and no one would believe it if told.

"Hiss! Fighting across two realms and still achieving domination; how is this possible?" Long Li inhaled a sharp breath of cold air, speaking in disbelief.

"It seems the Long Teng Empire is truly about to produce a War God; once a person capable of fighting across two realms at the Gu King stage breaks through to Gu King Peak, I dare not imagine how terrifying he will become; who under heaven could possibly be his opponent?" Long Kun said, his voice trembling slightly.

"Who exactly are you!" Tu Gang looked at his opponent in disbelief, a hint of fear hidden within his eyes.

At this moment, his body already bore multiple blade wounds, each deep enough to reach the bone, yet his opponent had not even a single hair injured; being crushed by someone two stages lower than himself, Long Kun simply could not believe his own eyes.

"Heh! I have no habit of revealing my name to those about to die."

The corner of Long Xuan's mouth curled up as his offensive power increased by another thirty percent.

This was his first time employing the power of the Curse Seal Gu in battle; the effect was not bad, actually granting him directly the exaggerated combat power to fight Late Stage while at Early Stage.

It must be known that his Curse Seal Gu was an improved version of a Gu Worm created from the Seven-tone Scale Melody; the power it enhanced was far more than a single Cultivation Realm, at least one and a half realms.

Under such circumstances, how could Tu Gang possibly be his match?

Soon, Tu Gang could no longer withstand his offensive; his head was severed by a single blade strike. Just as Tu Gang's soul fled from his flesh, before it could escape far, it was struck by a Thunder Tribulation flying in from behind; without even time to let out a scream, it turned directly to ash and vanished.

Simultaneously, the vast sea of the Puppet Army had basically cleared out the Tu Clan Gu Cultivators; on this day, the Tu Family ceased to exist completely.

"As expected of the power of a Divine Artifact; it is truly terrifying; if not for that broken blade, dealing with this old fellow would not have been easy."

Long Xuan discarded his Famous Blade, which had been chipped and rolled by the Demon-Slaying Blade, and collected the black Demon-Slaying Blade that had fallen to the ground; after playing with it fondly for a moment, he stored it in his Storage Ring, picked up the Storage Ring from the corpse, gathered the puppets around him that he had been controlling, and finally departed with long strides.

The entire hall fell silent; Tu Gang, who had just been high-spirited and domineering, had actually been easily slain by a mysterious person crossing two Cultivation Realms, and along with him, the Tu Clan, which had been at the height of its power, was exterminated; who could have expected this?

Many guests still wore faces of complete confusion.

"Well, it seems we are no longer needed; someone has already acted in our stead; a Gu King Early Stage actually easily annihilated a medium-sized Cultivation Clan; if I had not seen it with my own eyes, I would find it hard to believe this is real."

Long Kun curled the corner of his mouth, turned to look at Long Li, and said: "Let's follow; we must recruit this person into our hands."

As soon as his words fell, the two flew together in the direction where Long Xuan had disappeared.

The two had barely left when the crowd, as if waking from a dream, ran madly toward the core area of the Tu Family.

Each person's eyes glowed with greed, clearly preparing to loot the Tu Family's treasures.

All the Tu Family's strong ones have been cleared out—now is the time to act.

The guests who had just been so courteous now resembled nothing but bandits.

Yet they were clearly a step too slow—while Long Xuan searched the secret chambers for the Demon-Slaying Blade, he had casually taken every valuable treasure, leaving behind only worthless trinkets.

After searching for a long time without finding anything valuable, the guests flew into a rage, and the surviving Tu Clan members suffered for it—occasionally, screams from within rooms echoed through the halls.

Long Xuan had only killed the Tu Clan's Gu Cultivators with combat capability; the elderly, weak, sick, women, and children—countless non-Gu Cultivators of the Tu Clan—still lived.

But those who commit too many injustices will inevitably destroy themselves; the Tu Clan had offended too many, and without the protection of their Gu Cultivators, the remaining Tu Clan members were clearly doomed.

……

Far away, Long Xuan looked toward the two pursuing men and said, "What do you two want? Speak plainly."

He had long known these two were Long Clan Gu Cultivators—one at Gu King Peak, the other at Gu King Late Stage—and he wondered what they were doing among the Tu Family.

The old man showed none of the arrogance befitting a Gu King Peak cultivator; he smiled as an equal and said, "I am the Great President of the Long Teng Empire, Long Kun. This is my Vice Commander, Long Li."

"You must be from the Long Clan, though I don't know which branch you hail from."

"But all Long Clans under heaven share the same roots and ancestry—we wish to invite you to join the Long Teng Empire."

"With your ability to fight beyond your cultivation level, once you join the Long Teng Empire, you will surely gain the Dragon Emperor's attention, and your official rank will not be low."

"Moreover, name any demand you have—we will do our utmost to fulfill it."

Hearing their intent, Long Xuan thought carefully for a moment.

He barely heard the first half of their words, but the second half sparked considerable interest.

Long Kun said he could ask for anything—so why not directly demand all the upgrade materials for his Gu Worms, and see if he could upgrade them all at once?

This was a shortcut—the Long Teng Empire was vast and wealthy; perhaps they could gather all the materials for him.

The materials he needed were far too rare—if he relied solely on his own strength to collect them, he might never finish.

Driven by this thought, Long Xuan decided to pay the Long Teng Empire a visit.

Being a Scattered Cultivator had its advantages; joining a faction had its own benefits. As long as the profit was great enough, he had no objection to joining a powerful faction.

He could always vanish mysteriously after collecting all the materials—right now, upgrading all his Gu Worms as quickly as possible was the most important thing.

Long Xuan took a list of materials from his Storage Ring and tossed it to Long Kun. "Can the Long Teng Empire gather all these materials?"

Long Kun took the list, glanced at the materials listed, and smiled. "The Long Teng Empire is clearing land in the Demon Night Forest to establish itself in the Central Region—our armies fight countless Spirit Beasts every day."

"So we can easily obtain all twelve Beast King materials."

"The rest of the materials are far too rare—the Long Teng Empire doesn't have them yet, but once you join, our resources can gather them in the shortest possible time."

"If you agree to join the Long Teng Empire, we will give you all these materials for free."

Hearing this, Long Xuan showed a hint of surprise—he hadn't expected the Long Teng Empire to value him so highly, willing to pay such a price to recruit him; the total value of the materials on the list was no small sum.

"The total value of these materials is considerable—can you truly make this decision?" Long Xuan probed.

"Hah! Though I haven't spoken to the Dragon Emperor yet, he is a wise ruler with great resolve—he will certainly pay this price to recruit a Heavenly Pride like you."

"You've just broken through to Gu King—these materials on the list are surely the upgrade materials your Gu Worms need."

"Once you join the Long Teng Empire, we will spare no effort to strengthen your power—the stronger you become, the greater the benefit to the empire. The Dragon Emperor will spare no effort to gather these materials for you."

Long Xuan nodded. "If the Long Teng Empire can gather these materials for me, I have no objection to joining."

"Contact the Dragon Emperor now. If he agrees to my terms, I will depart for the Central Region immediately."

Now that he had broken through to Gu King, Long Xuan naturally needed to move to a place richer in resources—Central Earth was too small for him.

Even without this, he was determined to go to the Central Region.

Hearing this, Long Kun's face lit up with excitement—he sensed this man would become the Long Teng Empire's future War God. Recruiting such a Heavenly Pride would bring immeasurable contribution to the empire, and the Long Teng Empire would surely undergo a revolutionary transformation because of his arrival.

"Excellent. I'll contact the Dragon Emperor now."

Long Kun's face beamed with joy. He immediately took a Straw Gu Hut from his Insect Breeding Bag, placed it on the ground, wrote a letter with utmost speed, and dropped it into the Straw Gu Hut.

Soon, a new letter appeared inside the Straw Gu Hut. Long Kun retrieved it, read it at once, and burst into laughter: "The Dragon Emperor agrees—he accepts all your conditions."

"But with the Long Clan's current technology, the Straw Gu Hut cannot transmit a Gu King."

"I have an important mission and cannot personally escort you back—you must travel to the Central Region alone."

Long Kun said apologetically. (End of Chapter)