Long Xuan's Treacherous Scheme

"You knew? How did you guess?" Long Wanli stared at him in disbelief, his expression stunned.

Back then, the two were vying for the position of family head. Both were the most outstanding geniuses in the Lineage and had many supporters. The former family head was afraid of infighting among the family members, so he decided to decide who would be the family head by drawing lots.

Whoever draws the bamboo slip with the character for "dragon" written on it will become the head of the family, while the loser will have to guard the Sacred Tree for fifty years and take some time to calm down.

This is tantamount to confinement, and it was this idea that the former head of the family came up with to prevent infighting among their own kind, thus separating the two for an extended period of time.

Long Wanli couldn't bear the hardship, so to avoid being trapped in the cage, he tricked everyone by replacing all the bamboo sticks with blank ones.

Let Long Buhui draw first; no matter which way he draws, he will always get a blank bamboo stick.

If the bamboo stick you draw has no characters, then the remaining bamboo sticks must have characters, right? Everyone would think that way.

So when Long Buhui saw that he had drawn a blank bamboo slip, he didn't bother to watch Long Wanli draw any more slips and went straight to the holy land to guard the Sacred Tree. He stayed there for fifty years.

Long Wanli used this dishonorable means to successfully seize the position of family head. Although the Lineage prospered under his leadership, he still felt guilty towards Long Buhui.

He originally thought this secret would never be discovered, but he Long Buhui already knew about it, which left him stunned on the spot.

"Hmph! Why do you always look at me with such apologetic eyes when you haven't done anything wrong? You're giving me such a glaring mistake that I don't need to guess."

At this moment, outside the Long Family, a large number of Gu cultivators from the Soul Clan split into four directions—east, west, south, and north—and attacked the various mountain strongholds of the Long Family.

In an instant, war raged on the outskirts of the Long Family, and letters seeking help flew from all directions to the Lineage in the center.

At this moment, at the northernmost point of the Long Family, six Soul Clan Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage stopped in their tracks, looking at the vast array before them. Everyone was stunned and showed surprise.

"What a vast area! This person must be incredibly wealthy. There must be a huge Medicine Garden inside, filled with high-grade spirit medicine. Otherwise, there would be no need to set up such a large-scale array."

Looking at the array before him, one of them revealed an extremely greedy gaze and said.

"Hehe! Looks like we've stumbled upon a real swindler. There must be incredible wealth inside. Why wait any longer to go in and loot it?" Another person revealed a greedy look and turned to the others to suggest.

"Fourth brother, don't be reckless. Although you are proficient in formations, this formation covers such a large area that it is unlikely to be broken so easily."

One of the most composed Gu cultivators from the Soul Clan stopped the other five who were about to make a move.

"Hmph! Is it necessary to be so cautious? I can even break the Nine Dragons Formation that protects the Long Family, let alone this outermost outer formation. It's just a small formation; watch me break it with ease!"

"That's right! With Fourth Brother's mastery of formations, why should we be so cautious? Don't forget our mission; speed is of the essence. Besides, I've heard that the Long Family has developed something called Cement. Formations made from this material, although extremely large in area, are incredibly fragile and easily broken. Don't be fooled by the appearance of this formation; it's all a bluff!"

"Hahaha... That's right! The formation set up with that kind of trash is utterly vulnerable. Watch me break it with a flick of my wrist."

The fourth member of the Soul Clan, a Gu cultivator, laughed loudly and flew straight in.

Upon hearing that the formation was made from such garbage as Cement, the other Soul Clan Gu cultivators all showed disdain and, without the slightest hesitation, followed suit, rushing inside.

At this point, only the most composed Gu cultivator from the Soul Clan remained. After sighing, he finally put aside his concerns and was the last to rush in.

At this moment, the letters of appeal from all directions finally broke Long Wanli's embarrassment. He took out a small house from the Insect-Rearing Pouch, pulled out a pile of letters from inside, and after casually glancing at the contents, his expression slowly changed.

In the past, he might have directly dispatched a large number of experts to provide support in various places.

But now that he already knew something bad would happen today, it would seem too much like a diversionary tactic to lure the tiger away from the mountain if this were to happen again.

After a moment's thought, he ultimately decided to send only a small portion of his Lineage to support the various mountain peaks, while the majority would remain behind.

"What happened? What's going on?"

Seeing the change in Long Wanli's expression, Long Buhui immediately walked over, reached into the small house, pulled out a letter, glanced at its contents, and flew into a rage.

"How dare they! There are even Devil Cultivator who dare to plunder my Long Family. I really don't know what my Long Family has relied on to amass wealth."

"My term has come to an end today. After all these years, my body has become rusty and I've been itching to stretch my muscles. I'm going out now and slaughter them all."

Long Buhui rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush out.

"Come back? Be careful not to fall for their diversionary tactic!" Long Wanli hurriedly stopped him and gave him a wink.

Long Buhui stopped, looking thoughtful, and then retreated.

Seeing that their Lineage hadn't fallen for the trick, Long Chao and Long Chen's expressions changed slightly, and they exchanged a glance.

Long Chao shook his head at him, deciding to abandon the plan, but Long Chen showed a resolute look. Now that the die was cast, he had no choice but to proceed. The other places had already taken action, so how could he stop the plan here?

Seeing that Long Wanli could no longer send out more experts, Long Chen no longer hesitated. Now he could only rely on his own side to create turmoil and attract more experts from the Long Family.

He immediately tore off the Insect-Rearing Pouch from his waist and scattered it on the ground. Instantly, twenty Gu cultivators appeared out of thin air in the center of the field, four of whom even exuded the aura of the Spiritual Sea Stage.

All the Long Family Gu cultivators were taken aback when they saw twenty more people suddenly appear in the arena.

Can you even put a person Insect-Rearing Pouch? This was the first time they had ever seen anything like it.

Long Xuan was also startled by the sudden appearance of the people. Was this some kind of magical transformation? How did they manage to put people into Insect-Rearing Pouch and bring them in?

"Not good!"

The group of the Long Family Gu cultivators quickly reacted and swiftly distanced themselves from the unexpected guests.

However, Long Chao was a step too slow and was pierced through the heart by Long Chen's sword, falling to the ground.

"Long Chen! What are you doing?!"

Many people were stunned by this sudden turn of events. None of the Long Family's Marrow Cleansing Stage Gu cultivators had received any news, so they were all bewildered by this scene and did not understand what had happened.

Only Long Wanli's expression remained unchanged, as if he had expected this to happen all along. He remained calm and watched their performance without saying a word.

"Kill them! Finish them quickly!"

Long Chen had no time for idle chatter. He flicked the blood off his sword and led his group of experts to attack in all directions.

However, at this very moment, another unexpected event occurred.

Suddenly, five elders at the Spiritual Sea Stage appeared from all directions, grinning maliciously as they charged towards the approaching Soul Clan Gu cultivator.

Upon seeing these ferocious faces, Long Chen's expression immediately changed, and his heart turned cold.

"Oh no!"

With a large number of powerful figures suddenly lying in ambush here, he knew he had fallen into a trap. The news had most likely been leaked beforehand, and if he wasn't the one who accidentally leaked the information, then it could only be Long Chao.

"Damn it! I knew you were unreliable! You've really screwed me over! Die!"

Long Chen kicked Long Chao hard, sending him flying.

"Withdraw! Every person who can leave is a chance!"

Long Chen roared and began to turn and break out of the encirclement.

"Hahaha..." Long Buhui loudly, "Want to leave? You think you can leave? All of you, stay here!"

Having been trapped here for fifty years, his body had long since become rusty and desperately needed a fight to loosen up his muscles. Therefore, he was most excited when he saw a fight to be had.

He clenched his fists, making a cracking sound, and excitedly rushed forward.

The patriarch Long Wanli, also put away the small house containing the Thatch Gu, then sneered and joined the battle.

With the addition of these two powerful ally, the Long Family now has seven Gu cultivators at the Spiritual Sea Stage. Seven against four is enough to crush them, and there is absolutely no chance of losing.

At this moment, the group of Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage of the Long Family finally reacted, and then they all showed anger, releasing their Gu Insect to attack the group of enemies in the Marrow Cleansing Stage.

The number of Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage of the Long Family was greater than that of their enemies, and they were all top-tier cultivators of the same level. The Gu cultivators in the Marrow Cleansing Stage had no chance of being at a disadvantage on the battlefield.

A chaotic battle erupted instantly, turning the scene into utter chaos. Upon hearing the commotion, the two guards at the Marrow Cleansing Peak outside also changed their expressions and rushed in angrily, joining the battle. This made the situation even more unfavorable for the Soul Clan Gu cultivators.

Seeing this, Long Xuan's eyes darted around, and an idea immediately came to him. He hurriedly shouted, "Quickly move the battlefield further away! Don't let them resort to desperate measures and destroy the Sacred Tree!"

Upon hearing his reminder, Long Lie, who was blocking the doorway, immediately changed his expression. He then deliberately created an opening, leaving a way for him to escape.

The Soul Clan's Spiritual Sea Stage Gu cultivators would never let go of such a golden opportunity, so they all ran out through the opening.

"Don't go!"

"Chase them quickly!"

"Don't let them get away!"

All the Gu cultivators of the Long Family ran out through that door. Before long, only a few corpses remained on the ground; there was no one left alive.

Even Long Xuan chased after them with an angry expression, leaving no one behind.

The once bustling holy site instantly fell silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop, as if nothing had ever happened.

But the quiet atmosphere didn't last long. Soon, a fluffy rabbit jumped out of the ground and looked at the tall Divine Dragon Tree in front of it with excited rabbit eyes. It was truly an excellent material for alchemy!

It couldn't wait any longer and pounced on the tree, climbing up and using its sharp rabbit teeth to bite off four thick branches. After stuffing all the branches into a Storage Bag, it jumped into the ground and ran away.

At this point, the sacred land fell silent once more. However, the once majestic and extraordinary Divine Dragon Tree was now in a terrible state, with white liquid continuously oozing from the broken parts, dripping onto the ground with a pitter-patter sound.