Gu-Dueling Tournament Begins
At this time, the area around each Gu Pit was extremely lively, with many onlookers. The Gu-Dueling Tournament was one of the most exciting events in the Lineage, and everyone would come out to watch the excitement.
Before long, the family head Long Wanli, stood up from a high Cement platform and began a lengthy opening speech.
It's unclear what method he used, but although his voice wasn't loud, it could be clearly heard by everyone, even bystanders far away from the stage.
However, his speeches were all formulaic, full of meaningless drivel, and utterly unappealing. Just as everyone in the audience was starting to doze off, the Gu-Dueling Tournament officially began with his announcement.
At this moment, the audience finally opened their eyes and instantly became alert.
Then Long Wanli put down his long speech and took out a list with the names of each participant recorded on it.
The battles between the ten Gu Pit will take place simultaneously, and those whose names are called will compete in their respective Gu Pit.
There is also a referee next to each Gu Pit. After determining the winner, the next group of contestants will take their turn to fight Gu.
However, the order of the battles and the selection of opponents do not seem to be determined by drawing lots, but rather by direct assignment by the Lineage.
This gave Long Xuan a bad feeling.
Originally, he intended to use the slight clairvoyance ability of the Eye of Heavenly Secrets to draw a good lot, always choosing the weakest opponent and always going last.
I never expected the Lineage to do things the way they always do; there wasn't even a lottery involved. Isn't that ridiculous?
Shouldn't these things be done by lottery? Otherwise, how can fairness and impartiality be ensured?
His Lineage's unconventional methods disrupted all his plans, leaving him with no way to cheat.
Just as he was still in a daze, Long Wanli's voice suddenly came.
"Long Xuan, Long Ye, proceed to Gu Pit Number One for the Gu Battle."
Long Xuan froze. Good heavens, he was the first one to go on stage. Moreover, the No. 1 Gu Pit was the closest and most conspicuous position to the Lineage's high-ranking members on the stage, attracting the most attention and the largest audience.
The No. 1 Gu Pit is the most eye-catching spot, attracting half the attention of everyone present.
This is the consequence of not drawing lots, Long Xuan sighed, and then, disregarding martial ethics, he sent his clone up, showing absolutely no intention of respecting his opponent.
At this moment, Flame Clone received the order from his soul. The corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily, but he could only bite the bullet and go up. The main body didn't give him a single supreme-grade Gu worm, but only threw him the Insect-Rearing Pouch containing two teams of Gu Insect.
The second team's Gu Insect are all Low-Grade Gu Insect, so why should he fight them? They're ordering him to win but not feeding the horses. He's really in a tough spot.
He looked at his opponent, who had already reached the edge of the Gu Pit. Long Ye was a Gu cultivator at the Mid Marrow-Cleansing Stage. Although he was one level higher than him, the game of Gu fighting only involved Gu Insect, and the Gu cultivator's own realm did not bring much advantage.
But aren't these game rules also limiting his Ten Extremity Physique? If he can't participate, how can he win with just a few Low-Grade Gu Insect? How can he possibly win? You have to know that the Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage of the Long Family have High-Grade Gu Insect or supreme-grade Gu worm.
Seeing that Long Ye had already thrown all his Gu Insect into the Gu Pit one by one, especially a huge Earthworker that was particularly eye-catching, this had become the symbol of the Long Family Gu cultivators, and every Long Family Gu cultivator had one.
Helpless, Flame Clone finally reached for the Insect-Rearing Pouch that his main body had just given him. After examining the Gu Insect inside, his eyes suddenly lit up.
He brought that guy along too? Isn't that a bit much?
At this moment, the Flame Clone finally calmed down, revealing a devilish smile, full of confidence for the battle to come.
He patted his Insect-Rearing Pouch, and immediately a swarm of Ice Bee Ice Bee buzzed out of Insect-Rearing Pouch, covering the sky in the blink of an eye.
At this point, the number of Ice Bee had exceeded ten thousand, and with many Ice Bee guards who had completed their metamorphosis appearing in the swarm, the Ice Bee had fully formed a fighting force and were able to help Long Xuan solve his problems.
This was the first battle for the Ice Bee, and all of Ice Bee were excited and eager to try. Ever since their stingers evolved into Ice Needle that could be infinitely condensed, the Ice Bee seemed to have all become belligerent.
The queen bee, the largest in the swarm, was the most excited, her fighting spirit soaring as she looked down.
Suddenly, a large swarm of bees appeared at the top, immediately attracting the attention of everyone present.
The onlookers who had been watching the other Gu Pit all turned their attention to this place, their expressions filled with shock. At this moment, Gu Pit No. 1 had become the focus of everyone's attention.
Spirit Insect can reproduce on a large scale. Due to various limitations, very few Gu cultivators prefer to fight using swarms of insects. However, once a swarm of insects forms a fighting force, it is truly terrifying.
Although Spirit Insect are weak, if there are enough of them, it is perfectly normal for them to swarm and kill a supreme-grade Gu worm.
However, cultivating insect swarms is too expensive, and it's difficult to find suitable insect species, so it's rare for the Gu-Dueling Tournament to feature Gu-Dueling Arena with a swarm of insects.
Such a rare battle scene naturally attracted everyone's interest, so the onlookers who had been watching the other Gu Pit all ran towards Gu Pit number one, looking at the swarm of bees in the sky with curious eyes and excited expressions.
Some even took out their Spirit Insect Compendium and hurriedly tried to find out what kind of bee the Spirit Bee in the sky were. However, the Ice Bee were a species created by Long Xuan, so how could they possibly find any relevant records?
The high-ranking members on the platform were all shocked. The eldest elder spoke first, "He actually chose the insect swarm route. Although the insect swarm route is not to be underestimated in terms of combat power, it is simply too expensive."
Long Wanli laughed and said, "Not necessarily. Bees and insects eat honey. As long as the Medicine Garden is planted entirely with flowering spirit medicine, it will be enough to feed them."
"No wonder he wanted such a large area of mountains as his cave abode. If he wanted to cultivate Spirit Bee on a large scale, he would need ample space to grow spirit flowers."
The female elder of the fourth clan frowned and said, "Everyone knows that Spirit Bee are easy to feed, but these Spirit Bee Spirit Insect a fatal flaw: they have barbs on their tails. Once they pierce an enemy's body, they can't be pulled out at all. They are a species that will pay with their life for every attack."
"No one would like such a disposable Spirit Insect. From ancient times to the present, there has never been a Gu cultivator who keeps bee colonies. He is the only one, a pioneer in history."
"This is a new path, an unknown path, one he must explore on his own. Unless he can overcome the fatal flaw that the Spirit Bee are guaranteed to die with a single attack, his swarm will never amount to anything."
The elders all nodded in agreement. The weakness of the bee-insects was too fatal. A huge amount of resources were invested in the early stage, but in the end, they would all be wiped out in a single battle. The effort and the reward were seriously disproportionate. Even a fool would not raise this kind of insect species.
Long Xuan was clearly not a fool. Since he dared to spend a lot of money to cultivate bee-insects and even breed them to a certain scale, he must have already solved this problem.
All the elders showed curiosity, wanting to know how Long Xuan had managed to solve this problem with such Divine Ability abilities.
At this moment, in the No. 1 Gu Pit, Long Ye felt a chill run down his spine when he saw his opponent release so many insects. Tens of thousands of insects ganging up on his single-digit number of Gu Insect —wasn't this just bullying?
Unfortunately, these insects could all fly, so how was he supposed to fight them? Helpless, he could only send out his only flying creature, a giant butterfly, which flapped its wings and flew fearlessly into the sky.
However, it was met with a barrage of Storm of Pear Blossom Needles.
After all the Ice Bee lined up in the air, rear-end down, and aimed at the Gu Pit, at the command of the Bingbing, the stingers on their rear ends rained down like raindrops.
The fearless butterfly plunged headlong into the rain of bee stings. Butterflies are incredibly fragile creatures; how could they withstand the attack of bee stings?
It was instantly riddled with bullets and fell from the sky like a hedgehog.
At the same time, all the Gu Insect on Long Ye's ground also suffered. The Gu Pit was only so big, but the needle rain covered the entire Gu Pit.
Moreover, the dense needle-like rain leaves no room to hide, so they can only run around frantically with their heads covered.
Unfortunately, the Ice Bee can fire their stingers indefinitely. After firing one Ice Needle Ice Needle, another can grow from its tail, creating a barrage of stingers that bombards the ground relentlessly.
Before long, all of Long Ye's Gu Insect were shot into the shape of hedgehogs. The bee venom entered their bodies, and soon all of Gu Insect became motionless.
Only the Earthworker cheated, its body covered in a thick layer of iron armor, making it impossible for bee stings to penetrate its defenses.
Although it could threaten the Ice Bee, don't forget that Long Xuan also had a Earthworker. At this moment, this Earthworker had already been rubbed into the ground by Long Xuan's larger Earthworker.
In this situation, Long Ye had no choice but to surrender.
Thus, the first battle of the Gu-Dueling Tournament ended in a swift defeat, leaving everyone stunned.
This attack method is incredibly brutal and simple. Especially when their movement is restricted within the Gu Pit, all the Gu Insect become sitting ducks, unable to dodge the dense rain of needles. This attack method is truly unsolvable.
It must be said that the competition rules are extremely favorable to these bees and insects. With their activity range limited, the lethality of the needle rain is multiplied several times over.
At this moment, everyone showed a look of apprehension, pondering how they would handle the situation if they were in that position.
The high-ranking officials on the stage exchanged glances. The four elders smiled and said approvingly, "I see. Replacing the barbed bee stings with regenerable Ice Needle is indeed a good method."
Long Wanli turned to look at her and smiled, "Hehe, I've spoken with him once. This kid's knowledge of insects is absolutely monstrous. It's not surprising that he was able to develop a method to improve the defects of bee insects. In terms of comprehension, I would say he's one of the most gifted people in history."
The elders were all taken aback by such high praise, and they all turned their gazes to Long Wanli. Such high praise was rare throughout history; this world's history spanned more than tens of millions of years.
However, when they thought of the Gu Recipe that the prodigy had developed, everyone shut their mouths and fell silent; they really had no way to refute it.
Long Xuan had no idea that Long Wanli had given him such a high evaluation. After winning the first battle, he threw a pill bottle at Long Ye and left the Gu Pit.
His bee venom is a new type of highly toxic poison in this world, and there is currently no antidote. If he doesn't take action, all of Long Ye's Gu Insect, except for the Earthworker, will be wiped out.
Long Ye took the pill bottle, gave him a grateful look, and finally left.
The two arrived quickly and left just as fast; the fight was over almost as soon as it started, leaving everyone wanting more.