The City Lord's Ruthlessness

Finally, Yao Chen broke the silence, saying, "City Lord, please speak frankly. If it's about collecting Spirit Stone from various races, don't be shy about saying it."

"This is a matter of life and death for the entire city, and I don't think anyone would hesitate to speak up. There are no fools here."

Yan Pojun sat at the head of the conference table, glanced at him, and said, "You misunderstand. I didn't call this meeting to raise any Spirit Stone. The Spirit Stone can be provided by the Gu King of the Outer City for now. There's no rush."

"The reason I called everyone here today is because I've come up with another plan to repel the enemy, and I'd like to discuss it with you all," Yan Pojun said calmly.

Upon hearing this, all the Gu King present straightened up, their eyes lit up, and they showed excitement.

"Lord City, please speak your brilliant plan without further ado," someone below said impatiently.

"Actually, it's not a brilliant plan at all." Yan Pojun paused for a moment, then slowly said, "As everyone knows, Shi Haojun into demonic possession entirely because of Shi Rui, and his return is solely for revenge."

"He wants to kill everyone in Black Moon City, leaving no one alive. However, this auction has attracted too many people from Black Moon City into the city, and these people are all his targets. We, Blackstone City, have been caught in the crossfire."

"I'm thinking, if we wipe out everyone in Black Moon City Black Moon City and throw all their heads in front of him, he has the ability to hear our thoughts, and he can definitely sense that there are truly no remnants of Black Moon City left in the city."

"Blackstone City is, after all, the place where he was born and raised; his mother's family and relatives are here."

"Perhaps he was truly certain that all his enemies were dead and would retreat, and would not slaughter his mother's clan's city."

Upon hearing this, everyone was shocked, not expecting Yan Pojun to have this plan.

They slaughtered everyone in Black Moon City. There were tens of thousands of Black Moon City Black Moon City people in the city, including more than twenty Gu King. Now only a dozen or so are dead, but that's still a considerable number.

If he issues this order, the city will surely be stained with blood.

However, everyone now wore thoughtful expressions, considering whether the plan was feasible.

Yan Pojun was right. Blackstone City was, after all, the place where he was born and raised, his hometown. He grew up here and has too many memories of it.

If he were truly certain that all of the city's enemies were dead, he might actually spare Blackstone City and retreat.

Everyone's spirits were lifted.

The whole affair was started by the people of Black Moon City, so what's wrong with pacifying the matter by taking their heads?

At this moment, the Stone Clan patriarch sighed and said heavily, "Our decision back then has completely offended Shi Haojun. He probably won't give the Shi Family any face."

"My estimate is fifty-fifty. If we kill all the Black Moon City people in the city, there's a fifty-fifty chance they'll retreat, and a fifty-fifty chance they won't."

"You've probably forgotten what kind of Gu he's cultivating. It's the infamous Forbidden Gu. The growth of Forbidden Gu requires constantly killing people and slaughtering entire cities. In its final stage, it can even require the slaughter of an entire domain."

"He's completely possessed by evil now. Even if he doesn't seek revenge, he'll keep killing. Can he really let Blackstone City go?"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Indeed, Shi Haojun's madness has reached such a level that it may no longer be simply about revenge.

Even if he were to kill all his enemies, he could still continue the slaughter. If he stopped, the growth of the Forbidden Gu would stagnate. He had already experienced that heaven-defying power; would he really be willing to halt its growth?

Everyone instinctively shook their heads; there wasn't a single naive person present.

They knew that killing everyone in Black Moon City might make Shi Haojun retreat, but that was only possible because he was considering his mother's clan's feelings, and the chances of that happening were slim.

Even if there's only the slightest chance, they want to give it a try.

After all, it's someone else who dies, not yourself. What's wrong with trading someone else's life for your own chance of survival?

"The city lord probably knows that the chances of this plan succeeding are not high. What if Shi Haojun doesn't retreat after we implement this plan?" Long Yuan asked, frowning.

"It's alright." Yan Pojun revealed a cruel smile, "I had long anticipated the possibility of failure, and the possibility of failure was quite high, but we must try."

"Even if we fail, it doesn't matter. Food supplies in the city are limited; the deaths of more people will save a lot of food."

"We can also take this opportunity to kill those unfamiliar faces whose origins are little known, mistaking them for people from Black Moon City, thereby alleviating the food shortage problem."

"Furthermore, when we are besieging the Gu King of Black Moon City, we can deliberately make a bigger commotion and prolong the battle, luring them into the mortal population. We can then use the residual power from the Gu King's battle to kill them as well, which will alleviate a lot of the food shortage."

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned. The elders present stared wide-eyed at the city lord in disbelief.

Because of this auction, a huge influx of unfamiliar faces flooded into the city. Should they all be killed?

Killing people from Outer City is one thing, but the city lord actually wants to slaughter the people of the city itself. You should know that less than 10% of the newborns of each Lineage have the aptitude for cultivation. The vast majority of the family members have to be ordinary people and are placed in various places in the city to continue to produce offspring for the Lineage.

The number of these mortals was enormous, numbering in the millions.

Once the city lord issues this order, countless people will die. The number of dead will be enormous, enough to pile up mountains of corpses, and the city will be awash in blood.

This certainly saves food, but isn't it a bit too inhumane?

They realized that this was probably the city lord's real plan! His earlier talk about repelling Shi Haojun was likely just a prelude, something he was just saying for fun.

To save his own life, he would come up with all sorts of insidious schemes; they were truly shocked by the city lord's ruthlessness.

At this moment, all the patriarchs' hands, which were resting under the table, were trembling, and their palms were sweating.

This city lord is so ruthless that everyone who looks at him with fear begins to look at him with apprehension.

Letting such a ruthless person become the city lord, it's hard to say whether it's a mistake or a good thing. The old ancestors looked at each other, their gazes complicated.

Yan Pojun swept his sharp gaze across the assembled elders and said in a solemn voice, "In this apocalyptic world, extraordinary measures must be taken. Do not be swayed by sentimentality. I hope you can understand my approach."

"What I'm doing may be cruel, but you can't deny that it will allow us to hold out longer, and maybe that extra time will be enough to hold out until rescue arrives."

"Sacrificing a few to save the whole city—many people know which choice to make, and their sacrifice is worthwhile."

"Alright, that's settled then. We'll carry it out tonight. Every day we delay is another day's wasted food. Everyone go back and prepare."

After saying this, Yan Pojun suddenly stood up, announced the meeting was adjourned, and walked out, not intending to say anything more.

The other elders at the conference table exchanged glances, finally sighed heavily, and slowly rose to leave...

As evening fell and night deepened.

I don't know if it's just my imagination, but the moon that slowly appeared looked blood red...

Long Xuan hid inside the house, packed all his belongings, and waited for the patriarch's instructions before quickly escaping the place through the Thatch Gu House.

He dared not stay in Blackstone City a moment longer.

That Shi Haojun is simply a freak; he really can't imagine how such a freak could exist in this world.

Good heavens, his dozen or so supreme-grade Gu worm are made from materials worth tens of thousands, or even millions of materials. They're incredibly powerful; who could possibly defeat them?

Even without that Plague Demon Gu, his combat power was already invincible.

That Plague Demon Gu was ridiculously powerful; it could actually rampage through the Gu King's ranks.

Even more terrifying is that the Plague Demon Gu can control any living thing smaller than itself, including viruses that are little known to people in this world.

Good heavens, the virus that could create zombies in my previous life has actually mutated into something else, and it can now control a bunch of zombies at the Gu King level.

How can we fight like this?

The appearance of this thing would mean the end of the world.

Run! This world is too dangerous. He wants to go back to Earth.

Suddenly, just as Long Xuan was anxiously waiting for the patriarch to call out, a chaotic sound came from outside, followed by shouts of killing and screams.

Long Xuan's expression changed drastically.

What happened? Has Shi Haojun already breached the city so quickly?

That's impossible, isn't it? Wasn't it supposed to be that there was a Spirit Vein beneath the city acting Formation Eye, preventing Shi Haojun from breaching it in a short time?

Long Xuan hurriedly pushed open the door and ran out, quickly surveying his surroundings with his Eye of Heavenly Secrets.

Good heavens, the whole city is in chaos now, thick smoke is billowing everywhere, it's like a riot has broken out, there's fighting everywhere, and screams can be heard all around.

Countless corpses lay in the streets, and blood had stained the entire area red.

"What's going on? Why are people killing each other everywhere? Have these people turned into zombies? Has the bio-virus infected the whole city?" Long Xuan was stunned.

He rushed to the top of the spire and looked out into the distance. He saw that fighting was taking place all over the city. A large group of people were frantically slaughtering another group, leaving corpses strewn everywhere and rivers of blood flowing in the streets.

He witnessed firsthand a large group of Gu King chasing and killing more than ten Gu King.

The dozen or so Gu King were chased all over the city, and wherever they went, a number of people died.

The residual power from the battle of the Gu King is immense; if these Gu King were allowed to roam freely, the number of dead would be staggering!

The residential areas in the city are mostly inhabited by defenseless mortals; the Gu King could kill them with a single breath.

The Gu King's battlefield took place in a mortal residential area, which was a disaster for these mortals.

At this time, the mortal settlements were littered with corpses, filled with cries and screams, and countless houses had collapsed and were engulfed in flames, billowing thick smoke.

The scene was shocking and utterly horrific.

"It seems the Gu King of Blackstone City is slaughtering the Gu King of Black Moon City. Blackstone City plans to kill everyone from Black Moon City in exchange for Shi Haojun's forgiveness."

Long Ziyan walked over, stood next to him, and frowned as she spoke.

Long Xuan nodded, then hesitated and said, "The Gu King should all be Gu King from Black Moon City, but aren't there a lot of people from Black Moon City below the Gu King level?"

"An auction has brought a massive influx of Black Moon City residents into the city, but isn't that number a bit too exaggerated?"

"If this killing continues, the death toll will be enormous."

"This accidental killing is definitely not just a small number; if this turmoil continues, Blackstone City might be wiped out by half its population..."