Bai Clan's Plot

The central square was already packed with people.

Cultivators from all races in the city gathered here, and the crowd was noisy. The heads of the Western Land Ten Clans had all arrived and were sitting in the seats closest to the arena, accompanied by many Spiritual Sea Stage experts from various Lineage.

They were all there to observe the ceremony, or rather, to watch the spectacle and witness this gamble.

The Long Family and Bai Clan families had already entered the arena, sitting opposite each other on the east and west sides of the stage, their eyes darting around each other in a provocative manner, their tension palpable.

The refined-looking city lord, Yan Pojun, sat on the north side of the arena. After taking a sip of tea from the table, he said in a deep voice, "Now that both sides are present, there's no need to waste any more time."

"Today Long Family and Bai Clan will decide the ownership of a Geng Metal Ore Vein through a martial arts contest."

"As the lord of Blackstone City, I have the right to maintain the stability of the city. Therefore, I have come here specifically to witness this. Whoever loses must accept the outcome of the bet and must not seek revenge or provoke conflict for any reason. Anyone who violates this rule is disrespecting Yan Pojun!"

Yan Pojun slammed his hand heavily on the table, unleashing a powerful aura of Peak Gu King, suppressing the entire scene.

At this moment, the entire arena fell silent. Everyone quieted down, and under such a powerful aura, many people's expressions changed slightly, revealing a look of fear.

Blackstone City is teeming with powerful figures, and there are countless Gu King. However, there is only one Peak Gu King in the entire city, and there are probably no more than ten Peak Gu King level in the entire Western Land.

Once you reach the Gu King realm, each advancement becomes extremely difficult, and only one in a hundred Gu King can cultivate to the Peak Gu King realm.

As a rare Peak Gu King, Yan Pojun could almost be considered the strongest person in Blackstone City. When the strongest person in the arena spoke, no one dared to disrespect him.

After the room fell silent, Yan Pojun an authoritative gaze and continued, "I have reviewed the list of participants submitted by your Long Family and Bai Clan. To save time, I will randomly assign all twelve matches. Do you have any objections?"

"I have no objection. I trust the city lord's character, so let the city lord assign them randomly."

Bai Zhan, the head of the Bai Clan family, responded immediately without hesitation.

"I have no objection either; I'll follow the city lord's arrangements," Long Yuanshan immediately replied.

How could they dare to have any objections? To express their opinions at this time would be to question the city lord, to embarrass him in front of everyone, and they would suffer the consequences, possibly even losing the competition. They were not fools.

"Very good! The first match will be between Long Yun and Bai Changfeng. The two of you, step onto the stage now!"

City Lord Yan Pojun acted swiftly and decisively, without uttering a single wasted word, and directly ordered the start of the first battle.

Everyone perked up and focused their attention on the Long Family and Bai Clan factions.

"Go Long Yun! Defeat that Bai guy!"

We believe in you! Don't let us down!

The group of Gu cultivators from the Long Family cheered for a beautiful young woman, their shouts and encouragement filling the air.

The girl named Long Yun suddenly felt pressured, but she quickly clenched her fists, her eyes hardened, and she revealed a confident look before swiftly jumping onto the stage.

The Bai Clan family genius who jumped onto the arena opposite them also looked young. Both of them had the aura of the Early Marrow-Cleansing Stage. To be able to break through to the Early Marrow-Cleansing Stage at such a young age, they must be rare geniuses in their respective Lineage.

"Bai Changfeng, Early Marrow-Cleansing Stage, please enlighten me!"

Bai Changfeng spoke politely, but his face revealed a sinister look, his eyes flashing with a fierce light, his ruthlessness undisguised.

Long Yun immediately became wary and politely said, "Long Yun, Early Marrow-Cleansing Stage, please enlighten me."

City Lord Yan Pojun then shouted, "Begin!"

As soon as the city lord finished speaking, Bai Changfeng rushed towards Long Yun at lightning speed, a speed that seemed unbelievable for someone in the Early Marrow-Cleansing Stage.

At this speed, Long Yun was instantly suppressed, and under Bai Changfeng's attacks, she was in grave danger, completely powerless to fight back.

She knew instantly that she was no match for this man, but remembering the expectant looks in her people's eyes, she couldn't bring herself to admit defeat.

If she were to be knocked down as soon as she went up, how could she face her people? Therefore, she gritted her teeth and persevered, her eyes filled with stubbornness.

Upon seeing this, the Bai Clan's Gu cultivators cheered loudly, while the Long Family's Gu cultivators fell silent, and the Long Family's high-ranking members all frowned deeply.

"Something's not right. Bai Changfeng is good, but he shouldn't be this strong, let alone a match for Long Yun." Long Qian frowned and said with doubt.

"Something is definitely not right. Long Yun is a dual-attribute Earth-grade genius of our clan, while Bai Changfeng, although he has good aptitude, is definitely not one of the top five geniuses in the Bai Clan. Even if Long Yun is not good, she shouldn't have been beaten so badly that she couldn't fight back."

Long Yuanshan also frowned deeply, his expression puzzled.

Only Long Xuan, standing behind the two, showed a thoughtful expression.

He sensed a very familiar aura emanating from Bai Changfeng.

He had studied too many techniques that involved burning something in the body to temporarily increase strength, so he could naturally sense similar auras.

In his view, Bai Changfeng must have burned something within his body, which is why his strength surged in a short period of time, allowing him to overpower Long Yun.

However, the others are not like him; he can use this forbidden self-harming technique without any major problems arising.

Others, however, cannot. While using similar forbidden techniques may temporarily increase their strength, it also causes irreversible damage to their bodies, essentially crippling them after just one use.

It seems that this person squandered his potential; that is to say, although he gained a surge in power in a short period of time, he paid the price of never making any further progress in his cultivation for the rest of his life.

At this moment, Long Xuan was completely shocked. Had the Bai Clan gone mad? For a mere Geng Metal Ore Vein, they were willing to cripple even the clan's genius? This was too insane! Was it worth it?

"Could he have used some kind of forbidden technique? Or maybe he's on drugs?" Long Xuan said casually.

Long Yuanshan's expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly roared in fury, "It's Berserk Pill! He ate Berserk Pill!"

"The Berserk Pill can more than double a person's combat power, with the multiplier increasing the greater the potential, lasting for a full day. However, the price to pay is a lifetime of stagnant cultivation, completely crippling a genius!"

"Bai Zhan actually plans to have all the geniuses in his clan take Berserk Pill in order to win all twelve arena matches."

"But doing this will cause a generation of geniuses to fall short of their potential. He's actually sacrificing a generation of geniuses to seize all the Geng Metal Ore Vein —how ruthless!"

Was it worth it for him to do this?

Long Yuanshan slammed his fist on the table in a fit of rage. He was utterly shocked. This Bai Zhan was completely insane! For a Geng Metal Ore Vein, he was willing to sacrifice a generation of geniuses. Didn't he know how serious the consequences of a generation of geniuses being lost were?

Long Qian's expression was bitter. He thought he could sweep the situation aside, but he didn't expect such an unexpected turn of events. This Bai Zhan is simply a madman. He is so ruthless and unscrupulous in his actions.

He said bitterly, "We don't know if it's worth it or not, but it's definitely worth it for Bai Zhan. The profits from the Geng Metal Ore Vein are just too huge; he might not actually lose out."

"Moreover, he might not necessarily ruin all the geniuses of this generation. I think he will protect the top three, or even the top two. The top three have a great chance of winning even without taking the Berserk Pill. If he can protect the three strongest geniuses of this generation, the Bai Clan will not have a complete talent gap in this generation."

"What should we do now? We're definitely going to lose this first game!"

Long Yuanshan narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "There's no other way. We can't force even geniuses to take the Berserk Pill just to win."

"However, the overall quality of our twelve geniuses is simply too high, far surpassing the geniuses of the Bai Clan. Even if the Bai Clan clan were to give their most promising geniuses the Berserk Pill, they might not be able to defeat all of our clan's geniuses."

"It's hard to say who will win more, but our clan's gains may fall far short of expectations. Our original expectation was to control 80-90% of the mineral veins, or even all of them."

"But now we might only be able to take half of the mine, or even less than half. This Bai Zhan really caught me off guard!" Long Yuanshan said with a grim expression.

Just then, the battle between the two on the stage was decided. Long Yun flew out of the stage and landed heavily on the ground, covered in blood, lying unconscious.

"Hmph! Useless trash, utterly defenseless."

Bai Changfeng glanced at the unconscious Long Yun with a disdainful expression, then jumped off the arena and walked towards the Bai Clan's camp.

"Quickly, save them!"

A group of Gu cultivators from the Long Family rushed over in a flurry, lifted Long Yun back, pried open her mouth, and hurriedly fed her healing pills to treat her injuries.

Long Qian placed his fingers on her pulse and quickly examined her body with his soul power, then revealed an ugly expression.

"Her Dantian is ruined; she will never be able to condense Spirit Sea in that location for the rest of her life. From now on, she will likely be stuck at the Marrow Cleansing Stage."

Upon hearing this, all the Long Family Gu cultivators revealed their fiery eyes and glared angrily in the direction of the Bai Clan.

Long Yuanshan slammed his hand on the table and glared menacingly at the Bai Clan family.

"These wolf cubs are truly ruthless! A friendly sparring match turned into such a brutal attack. Since they're so heartless, then don't blame me for being ruthless in return!"

Long Yuanshan turned his head to look at the group of angry geniuses behind him and said sternly, "From now on, all of you, go all out! Cripple any opponent you encounter, even if they die."

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

The group of geniuses from the Long Family nodded in agreement, their eyes filled with murderous intent as they looked towards the Bai Clan.

The geniuses of the Far West Long Family exchanged glances. They understood that the upcoming battles would likely be life-or-death. A perfectly good martial arts competition had now turned into a fight to the death. If things went wrong, they might really lose their lives. They had come here as reinforcements.