The Long Family's Plans
The city lord's words silenced everyone present, leaving a heavy feeling in their hearts.
Clearly, this was the worst possible moment. The Gu King within the city was no longer able to resist Shi Haojun, and the only option was to hold out until reinforcements arrived; otherwise, they would die, and no one in the city would survive.
Long Xuan couldn't help but twitch his brow. Good heavens, only one meal every two days! He'd probably faint from hunger. His focus was clearly different from that of a normal person.
"That's right!" Yan Pojun suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said, "The city's protective formation must be kept open around the clock to resist the plague, so we still need a huge amount of Spirit Stone to fight this protracted war."
"We'll discuss how many Spirit Stone each tribe needs to pay at the meeting later. Now, please bring Qian Jinjin over here."
The Qian Clan Merchant Association just held a sensational auction in the Western Land, making a fortune. If there is anywhere in the city with the most Spirit Stone, it is definitely the Qian Clan Merchant Association.
The auction of Living Wood alone raised 40.1 billion Spirit Stone Spirit Stone, enough to sustain Blackstone City for a very long time.
Moreover, this sum of Spirit Stone is definitely still in the hands of the Qian Clan Merchant Association, Shi Haojun could not possibly take it away.
Putting aside the rest of the wealth, he can now openly take these 40.1 billion Spirit Stone without anyone saying anything.
So he immediately thought of ordering someone to invite Qian Jinjin over.
However, someone immediately looked puzzled, slowly raised their hand, and said, "Reporting to the city lord, she seems to have sensed an impending crisis for Blackstone City, so she couldn't wait to run off with the money as soon as the auction ended."
"She took all her valuables with her when she left, and many of the Qian Clan's shops have closed down. She's no longer in the city."
"What? They ran away???" Yan Pojun's voice suddenly rose, his head full of question marks.
"She's truly wicked!" Yan Pojun suddenly felt an urge to vomit blood.
However, he quickly calmed down, thinking that even without the Qian Clan Merchant Association, the city's Spirit Stone should last for a long time.
After all, the Qian Clan Merchant Association had just held a large-scale auction, attracting a large number of Gu King. Each Gu King brought a huge amount of Spirit Stone to participate in the auction, and many Gu King hadn't even had time to leave yet.
Take Cai Xuan for example; he has at least 40 billion Spirit Stone on him, which he himself said at the auction.
Yan Pojun suddenly glanced at Cai Xuan out of the corner of his eye.
Cai Xuan suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and finally realized something, his expression turning bitter.
He really wanted to slap himself right then and there. What was he thinking, coming in like an idiot? Why didn't he leave earlier?
They insisted on coming to exorcise demons with a noble spirit, but now they're completely trapped here, and they're even out of Spirit Stone.
Blackstone City is now an isolated city, a dead city, cut off from water and food. All the surrounding cities are probably dead, and no one is coming to its aid. He is very likely to be trapped here and die.
Looking at his own body covered in wounds and several dead supreme-grade Gu worm, Cai Xuan gave a bitter smile. What was the point of all this?
Why didn't you leave earlier?
He regretted it; he was truly filled with remorse.
Yan Pojun's devilish voice continued, "We must now conserve not only water and food, but also Spirit Stone. From today onwards, no one is allowed to cultivate by absorbing the spiritual power of Spirit Stone. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."
"The City-Protecting Formation should also have some unnecessary functions disabled. Only one barrier should be open during the day, and two barriers should be opened at night to save Spirit Stone consumption as much as possible."
"Everyone, get to the city wall now. Close the two barriers outside the city and clear out all the Plague Corpse below the wall. Don't let the Plague Corpse increase the consumption of Spirit Stone."
As the city lord issued his orders, the entire city sprang into action once again.
After being examined several times by Alchemist from the Alchemy Clan and Medicine Clan, all the Gu King were confirmed not to be carrying the plague, and they all ran to the city wall.
As soon as the two barriers outside the city walls were breached, a large number of zombies instantly surged to the foot of the walls.
But they were met with attacks from various fireballs, lightning bolts, and wind blades.
The last barrier on the city wall was clearly one-way; attacks launched from inside the city could pass through the barrier and hit enemies outside.
Attacks launched from outside the city walls cannot penetrate the barrier and are completely blocked by it.
Only I can hit you, but you can't hit me.
Under such a defensive configuration, it is extremely difficult to breach this fortified city. Blackstone City is known as the strongest city in the Western Land, and it has never been captured from ancient times to the present. This is no joke.
The large number of Plague Corpse had already been burned to ashes by Yan Pojun's sea of fire, and very few survived.
Before long, the horde of corpses below the city was completely wiped out.
With no Plague Corpse consuming the City-Protecting Formation's energy, the group felt much more at ease and slowly descended the city wall, returning to the city.
Shi Haojun watched quietly, and seeing that the people inside the city were determined to defend it to the death, a smile crept onto his lips.
If they think they really only have this many Plague Corpse, they are sorely mistaken.
He wanted to see how long the city's Spirit Stone could last under the siege of his own horde of corpses.
The Long Family Estate.
One of the Long Family's patriarchs, Gu King, perished in this great battle. At this moment, the entire Long Family Long Family displaying grief and low spirits.
White silk has been hung everywhere in the Long Family, and the entire clan is holding a funeral ceremony for their ancestor.
A somber atmosphere enveloped the entire Long Family Estate, and the sound of weeping could even be heard from some places.
Not only the Long Family, but all ten major clans in the city had their Gu King perish in this battle, and each clan suffered heavy losses.
At this moment, the whole city was filled with a somber atmosphere, and rows of buildings were covered with white silk.
On this day, countless important figures perished throughout the city, and the entire city observed a moment of silence.
Long Yuan held a huge skeleton in his hands and sighed heavily.
He was also seriously injured in this battle, and lost a top-grade External Gu.
In an environment teeming with insects, releasing External Gu would be certain death; the Mutation Domain, therefore, effectively grants the ability to prevent opponents from using External Gu.
But at the time, he had no choice but to use the Dragon Gu to escape his fate. In the end, he had to sacrifice the Dragon Gu to save his life.
The Dragon Gu was the first Gu Insect he refined in his Gu cultivation career, and he had a deep affection for it, treating it as an old friend.
The loss of the Dragon Gu caused him immense heartache, and he was constantly blaming himself.
"Ah! Old friend! Farewell. My old bones don't have much time left; I'll be joining you soon."
Long Yuan's eyes were red. After placing the Dragon Gu, which had been burned to a skeleton, into a small coffin, he waved his hand and ordered it to be carried away for burial.
"Ancestor, please accept my condolences," Long Yuanshan said from behind.
"I'm fine. All races suffered heavy losses in this battle; our race is considered to have suffered relatively few."
"Alas! I already overestimated the power of the Plague Demon Gu, but I never expected that I would still underestimate it by a huge margin. My and the city lord's misjudgment of the Plague Demon Gu's power has led to our heavy losses!" Long Yuan sighed.
"This is nobody's fault. No one could have imagined how powerful the Forbidden Gu technique was. This is no one's responsibility. On the contrary, we deserve credit. If we hadn't discovered Shi Haojun's conspiracy in advance, Blackstone City would probably have already fallen," Long Yuanshan advised.
Long Yuan nodded; these words indeed brought him considerable comfort. He then turned and said, "Let's take the geniuses of our clan to the Far West Long Family tonight."
"All the clan's valuables and books must be secretly transported there at night, and no one must be allowed to discover it."
"The interests involved in the Spatial House are far too enormous. We've kept it a secret all along. Few people in our tribe know about it, and no one from outside our tribe knows anything about it."
"Once the secret of the Spatial House is exposed, the clan will be thrown into chaos. Faced with death, everyone will rush into the Spatial House to escape, and then we'll be in big trouble."
"Most people definitely can't be moved. If a large number of my Long Family suddenly disappears into thin air, the various clans in the city will surely notice something is wrong."
"We important figures who frequently appear in public absolutely cannot leave. We can only wait until Blackstone City is about to fall, and then as many as we can leave will go."
"In short, the secret of the Spatial House must be kept well hidden. The fewer people who know about it, the better. That terrifying Shi Haojun can hear other people's thoughts. The more people who know this secret, the easier it is for the Far West Long Family to be wiped out. At that time, all the geniuses we left there will be doomed."
Long Yuan looked at Long Yuanshan solemnly, his face serious. Long Yuanshan nodded heavily; how could he not know the seriousness of this matter?
"Don't worry, Ancestor, the matter of the Spatial House will never be leaked. Everyone who knows about it is among the first group to leave."
"Even Long Qian shouldn't be left here just to be on the safe side. Besides, it would be such a pity for him to perish here with his mastery of formations. His life would be of the greatest help to the Lineage," Long Yuanshan said confidently.
"Okay! I trust you with this matter. Go and transfer the Lineage wealth now. I need to go to the City Lord's Manor for a meeting, probably to discuss how many Spirit Stone each clan should hand over. Don't transfer the Spirit Stone; there are plenty of them outside. Don't be stingy now."
After entrusting the matter to Long Yuanshan, Long Yuan hurriedly headed towards the City Lord's Manor.
Also heading towards the City Lord's Manor's Mansion were the most influential ancestors of each race, all of whom were the most powerful and strongest in their respective races.
None of the clan heads were qualified to attend this meeting.
However, those attending this meeting were all the highest leaders of the various clans in the city, but the Gu King from outside the city was excluded. It is unknown what this ruthless Lord Yan is planning.
Some time later, in the City Lord's Manor, the most influential ancestors from each clan gathered together.
Inside the meeting room, besides City Lord Yan Pojun, there were only ten other people present, each of whom was at the Late-Stage Gu King.
Yan Pojun needed to maintain neutrality on the surface, so the Yan Clan sent another ancestor who Late-Stage Gu King.
The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy; no one spoke for a long time, as everyone was still grieving.